Guess who came to breakfast?

 

Who could it be here at our waffle breakfast?

 

You guessed right, it's our sweet beautiful granddaughters!

They and their wonderful parents came in on a Friday night and after a precious weekend, all too soon it was Sunday morning when they packed up after a waffle breakfast and it was time to say goodbye.

 

Goodbye until the next time and thank goodness we live in an internet age so I can keep up with them online.

 And while I have some gardening friends that may be viewing the above picture of our elder granddaughter, do you see the two purple plants, volunteers growing in the path behind her? I've forgotten what they are and need help identifying them.

Here they are, cut before the frost got them...

And a closer view of the plumes that were much longer last summer in a pot nearby this year's volunteers...

Anyone know what they are? I sure would love to have some again next summer.

My last vase of zinnias before the frost and one lone echinacea bloom...

And we just had to bring in the pot of pink geranium. Don't know how long it will last as it only gets bright light all day until afternoon sunshine. I've kept small pots of geraniums blooming in the sunny kitchen window all year but didn't have room for this pot in the there.

Some wonderful things you just have to enjoy in the present. Some wonderful things you just have to wait for, right? Like special breakfast guests.

 

 

Mille Fleurs

 

 

 

Every year I read through Richardson Wright's day book called The Gardener's Bed-Book and every year I've wanted to replicate his mille fleurs, if not with the same flowers at least with his colors.

When you have tired of being "arty" in your house bouquets, try a mille fleurs, after the manner of the mediaeval tapestry weavers. Before me as I write stands a modernistic brass vase...and in it a loosely jumbled bouquet of white, cerise, plum and pink Cosmos, lemon yellow and orange Calendulas, pale lavender and white Larkspur, purple Asters, mauve and white Scabiosa, and burnt orange Zinnias.

Richardson Wright in 

The Gardener's Bed-Book

 

This year when I read it I decided to see what our garden had to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

Although the only flower I had that my favorite author listed was one burnt orange zinnia--and it was a volunteer...

And even though I didn't have a brass vase and had to use an old copper piece, I was pleased with how my own little mille fleurs turned out.

 

 

When I researched mille fleurs, that means "thousand flowers," I read that these were usually shown on green background, the flowers shown on European tapestries during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. 

 

My flower arrangement rests on top of a stack of old interior design books edited by Richardson Wright when he was editor-in-chief of House & Garden magazine. These are treasures to me that I lose myself in over and over.

I also own five other books written by my favorite author and my top literary crush, and they stay out all the time for me to read and study, line by line slowly, pages of notes written down.

 

 

I count Richardson Wright as a blessing in my life, sent from the early 20th century to me, especially for such a time as this. 

How about you? Is there a special author who is your own Calgon, take me away blessing?  

 

  

Somewhere in Time

On a scorching August morning I dress in my white linen Schiaparelli...

[Vogue, May 10, 1930]

Take my Agnès hat and secateurs and go to the garden...

Whistling for James Mason to follow; he snaps at a fat bee...

I snip a few flowers...

And seek shade before going inside...

Yesterday I cleaned the kitchen windowsill and washed all the little vases...

And keepsakes...

Now they are ready to hold a few blooms...

To give cheer while I wash the breakfast dishes...

Spots of summer color in my small world...

When the daily news frightens and frustrates me, it is the homey things that comfort me...

When I cannot see family, cherished objects become dear...

Even a humble tea towel lifts my spirits...

James Mason understands...

Sometimes a woman's life seems temporary, fragile, unsure, her night's rest disturbed by fears, real and perceived.

So she goes about her day, one task at a time, with faith that somewhere in time, Joy will come in the morning.

Tea and Sympathy

My post title is misleading as there's no tea here--I don't drink it, wish I liked it. There may be some sympathy simply because you may understand that my mind is wandering and can't seem to focus lately. Maybe Miscellaneous would be a better title.

One of the highlights of my recent days was watching 1956's Tea and Sympathy starring Deborah Kerr and John Kerr (no relation) on Turner Classic Movies. 

Do you see that kitchen? 

The wall of copper? The wood dresser with white knobs? And there's a curtain under the sink and several other pieces of furniture in the room and pretty china in the cabinets and a darling white stove. 

Deborah Kerr was delightful as the wife of a house master at Chilton--get that? The prep school was named Chilton. I had to Google to see if it was real but no, it was made up just like Rory Gilmore's Chilton was. 

I won't go into much of the plot here but it was timely as to the prejudice there was in 1956 against people who were different as was John Kerr's 17 year old character who was hounded by the other teenage boys and called "sister boy." The house mistress's heart went out to him and she offered tea and sympathy on Sundays to the boy who was more interesting than all the other so called manly boys put together.

And talk about men back in the 1950s not being able to talk about their feelings, her husband is the poster child. But on to other things...

Old movies have been a respite from the news lately and so have family and dear pets. I'll try to write soon about the gift of seeing family again but for today, here are two pictures of new family pets.

Can you believe that head?

Dear Bridger, named for the Bridger Mountains in Montana, has visited us often the last few weeks. He is our daughter and son-in-law's Giant Schnauzer and he's only one year old! He and I fell in love with each other and I could look into those beautiful eyes for hours. My photograph doesn't let you see them but they're under all that fur. 

And here's my new grandkittie that I haven't met in person yet but my little granddaughters are so in love with her. Isn't that a sweet face?

Jumping to my next disjointed thought, if you read my bedroom post a few weeks ago you might remember that I hoped to find pictures for the blank wall behind my bed. I found the first one!

The first week that one of our local antique malls reopened I was there and spotted this beauty. The label said it was a watercolor and I thought I was stealing it as I handed over a Benjamin Franklin that was a birthday gift from my firstborn and his wife. I felt almost guilty leaving with it but when I was cleaning it before hanging I saw that it was a numbered print of a watercolor--in the 900s even.

Still not sorry I got her though. I think she's lovely and she holds a pink rose, just like the pink rose lamp on the table by her. I'm hoping next to slowly add a group of smaller pictures on the other side of the clock to make up my art gallery for this side of the room.

Here's two other antique mall pre-pandemic finds that were such a pretty blue that I had to show you.

  
These blue and white napkins are a perfect blue for my wedding china, Spode's Blue Bird. 

And I couldn't resist this blue pitcher that's a planter with a drainage hole to the attached saucer. Now if I can only find the right houseplant for it.

Next thought...

Here's how I used some of the olives from the recipe on my previous post--in Jan's recipe for Balsamic Pork Chops with Olives, found here at The Low Carb Diabetic blog. They were delicious! 

Every morning I take my clippers outside to deadhead plants in the garden but I'm saving those pictures for a post to show what my new gardeners have accomplished. They are Bridger's mom and dad and RH and I are so thankful for all the gardening help they've given us lately. 

But late in the afternoon, after I've fed BreeBree and James Mason, I go back outside just to stroll around with them and one day I went over to the far side where a large hydrangea has given us a beautiful view from our bathroom window. 

First I had to take a picture of the bark on our one large locust tree.

And here's the pretty hydrangea. We planted two more in the main garden but this one is only seen mainly from the bathroom window. 

And look who accompanied me on my garden stroll, Mr. James Mason, himself!

And then it's back inside to get supper on the table. My meals these days seem to be getting simpler and simpler. Here's a soup from the cookbook I featured in my last post, Judith Huxley's Table for Eight. 

Her Consommé Belleview is so simple and refreshing!

You just combine some chicken broth (I used two jars of homemade broth I'd made from chicken bones and skin I had in the freezer) and 2 8oz. bottles of Clam Juice, a couple of minced garlic cloves and a pinch of cayenne in a saucepan, simmer and cook for about 10 minutes or so. Then you add 2 tablespoons of dry sherry if you have it--sherry is good added to lots of soups. Serve with minced parsley and lemon in bouillon cups. 

I had a whole set of thin Austrian bouillon cups but only kept two when we moved. For some reason clear soups do taste better out of a thin cup, although I have to admit that the mug of leftover soup I had for breakfast the next morning tasted mighty fine, too.

All I served to go with the consommé was open-faced tuna fish and pimento cheese sandwiches on luncheon plates of the French faience that I found one summer at a Goodwill store. Twelve plates taped together, marked Martres and France! 

Here's a picture of them from an old post. I use them constantly, just as I use all my vintage silver, even keeping it in kitchen drawers so I won't forget to grab it instead of the stainless. 

From what I read on Facebook, the younger generation is just going to get rid of all that stuff when we're gone so why not enjoy it myself, right?

And that's it, folks. No quotes this time, no inspiring message, no rough draft worked on for hours. Those days may never come again, or sometimes I feel that way. 

And no tea even though I'm so envious of the pleasure tea time gives many of you. 

Any sympathy out there? How does a regular day go for you now? Are you mingling in public much? I went to the grocery store with RH for the first time in almost three months last week. It was wonderful!