"Counting Flowers On the Wall...."

The old 1966 song of the Statler Brothers ran through my mind over and over as I crawled into my bed one afternoon this week trying to catch up on rest I've missed at night for a week now, coughing my throat raw.

Tissue boxes have been my best friend for eight days now.

The afternoon that I was lying in bed alternating between chills and sweats,

my brain serenading me with the lines,

"Counting flowers on the wall, that don't bother me at all...",

I wondered when I would ever feel well enough to get

photographs of my bedroom for my blog as well as

those for RH's bedroom.

I reached for my phone and shot up at the new fir beadboard ceiling that RH worked on all last week, tearing down a horrible acoustical tile ceiling, thankfully the only one in the house.

That brown thing in the corner that's for the new molding will be painted white when RH finds time to do touch up painting on the walls that he also painted last week with Benjamin Moore Dove White--or the Home Depot's copy of it.

I turned to my left and snapped my reading chair and bed table.

Yep, there's Cepacol and Vick's Vapor Rub and the toilet paper roll I was forced to use when RH had to go buy more tissues. 

And my tall vintage rose lamp that was carefully packed for the move in a huge box by itself with lots of pillows around it.

Otis usually sleeps in my chair while Milo burrows under a blanket in his bed.

Outside one window the tulip poplar is loaded with yellow flowers.

And there's a treasured old piece of embroidery.

I turn over to the right and see my mother's red Bible and another beloved lamp. RH has both my bedside lamps on a remote where I don't have to get out of bed to turn them off after reading at night.

On the far wall is an old lithograph of John Constable's Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows that I've had for fifty years.

I sang "Counting flowers on the wall that don't bother me at all, playin' solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one, smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo, now don't tell me I've nothin' to do" over and over as I coughed continuously and actually thought I had a brilliant idea to shoot the photos for my bedroom reveal from a sick bed.

Fever does strange things to a mind.

Yesterday I actually made my bed and didn't get into it.

Progress.

I do think my bedroom is a vast improvement from the listing photo, don't you?

The fan's gone now. We moved a light fixture from the hall into my bedroom and one from the kitchen into the hall.

A few final photos...will you forgive me for so many, 

maybe for one reason only?

Not because I've been sick but because.....

It's my birthday!!!!

I received beautiful cards...

And Jo Malone Tuberose and Angelica cologne...

And the loveliest flowers...

And a new sink, complete with installation!

Not to mention a whole kit of Young Living Essential Oils that I've been wanting, and a pot of African Paradise that I tried this afternoon in the shower.

And herbs all potted up from RH in 35 year old Italian terracotta pots given to us by RH's brother....

Oh the pictures could go on and on and I bet you're so glad they're not!

My heart is full of thankfulness for coming home to spend this birthday in our sweet little 1935 cottage.

And I'm am so very grateful for each of you who visits Dewena's Window.

Thank you for your patience viewing this harebrained way of posting my bedroom reveal.

Love to you and God bless you,

Dewena

Oreos and Change of Plans

In a post about change of plans, my change of plans have been trivial compared to those whose homes lay in the path of tornadoes and others who may now be dealing with all forms of bad news.

Let's keep them in our prayers and hearts.

This is a purely trivial post on a change of our plans.

I had planned to show you one more room in our new old house, RH's bedroom.

Yep, we each have our own bedroom now--due to different sleep schedules and being too easily disturbed during the night when the other one gets up for nocturnal visits to the bathroom.

RH's bedroom is much like my writing room that you've already seen, paneled in Pickwick knotty pine on walls and ceiling. I had planned on doing spring cleaning in there and showing it to you next, and our youngest son was coming in to photograph it professionally for me.

There will be more about him in a post soon as his second season as technical director of the HGTV series "We Bought the Farm" begins later in May.

Last Monday morning RH decided to just put 4 nails in the ceiling molding in my bedroom as I'd been complaining about it being loose and debris falling down from it.

But first he decided to pull the molding loose to look.

If you notice that top right photo, there was nasty debris under the molding. Yuck, someone had not done a very good job in there many years ago.

Four days later RH and a friend had torn down a hideous old tile ceiling, stained and installed a beautiful new fir ceiling, and painted the room.

So sometime soon I'll be showing you that room and hopefully the other bedroom too. But instead of styling and photographing bedrooms for my blog this weekend, we played.

Well, my granddaughters and I did. Their parents and RH worked in the yard. But even they took time out to enjoy being outside and to play with a drone by photographing the surrounding hills.

I personally received a clover blossom necklace and tiara fashioned by gifted hands and even Otis got decorated with a blossom.

We met other family for dinner out, played Go Fish, and laughed and talked.

And of course we had a big waffle breakfast on Sunday morning.

Somebody really likes fruit better than waffles.

And Oreos. She really likes Oreos, and hopping on PawPaw's stomach at night while he's resting.

She knows he's just an old softie inside. 

Kind of like Oreos.

And while there's lots of good stuff on the inside, I have to say the outside is pretty sweet too.

I hope your weekend was a good one and that all your change of plans turned out for the best. 

And have a cookie every once in a while.

Zinger Challenged?

We all remember Meg Ryan's character in You've Got Mail.

I loved Kathleen and identified with her in two ways, a love of independent bookstores being one but also because she could never think of a sarcastic comeback to Joe Fox (Tom Hanks). 

Like Kathleen, I am zinger challenged, rarely can get one off.

Have you ever lain awake at night thinking of all the perfect zingers you could have made?

Are you as witty as a standup comic--hours after you need to be?

Are you a fellow member of the "staircase wit" club--that slow reaction comeback known as L'esprit de l'escalier? 

Are you a tortoise surrounded by hares when thrown into an argument, a brilliant answer or zinger popping into your brain at 2 a.m.?

Then again.............

Perhaps it's just as well if we haven't been given the gift of a quick comeback, piercing putdowns. 

Remember when Kathleen had enough and launched her own zingers at Joe?

It stunned him, which probably was a good thing. Kathleen felt vindicated at first but then her natural niceness prevailed and she  was ashamed of herself.

Maybe it's just as well not to have been given the gift of zingers, what do you think?

And maybe an even greater gift is having the gift of returning that zinger, but not unleashing it, even on FaceBook or other social media.

What do you think about this? 

And lest you worry that I'm writing this because I've been personally hurt by this recently, not at all. I just admit to being bothered at the general unkindness seen on social media, the zingers shot back and forth as tempers rise.

Just wondering what some of the kindest people I know think about this...you!

Ever Feel Like Eating Grass?

Our Mr. & Mrs. Smith do.

But do you ever feel like this?

"I feel like a sick dog that wants to go out and eat nothing but grass--only I would prefer asparagus, green peas, green string beans (small kind--no strings), green spinach, Brussels sprouts, broccoli."

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

in Bring Me a Unicorn

Spring does this to me, does it you?

I crave asparagus...

I crave Florida green beans

(with new potatoes)...

Most of all I crave broccoli,

and broccoli salad too...

Let's throw in some scallions, bell peppers,

and jalapenos with the broccoli florets.

Then add some dried cranberries, crisp bacon,

juicy little tomatoes,

and while we're at it saute pecans

with a little sea salt. 

Don't forget to stir a little dressing into it

of mayo, drizzle of olive oil, a little champagne wine 

vinegar, salt and pepper.

This recipe is from a favorite cookbook,

Nathalie Dupree's Matter of Taste.

What else did we have?

A simple recipe from my trusty
Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook,
that I made long ago as a newlywed.

A hamburger pie topped with mashed potatoes

cooked in a black iron skillet.

Man cannot live by greens alone,

at least my man can't.

Here's something else green we can make a meal on.

Do you love guacamole as much as we do?

I'm craving greens lately almost as much

as Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

How about you?

Anyone already have salad makings

growing in your garden yet?

Almost forgot to add this recent pic of me with my sister Teresa when we took a day of sister time.

We wore blue, not green.
And we talked and talked and talked.
Aren't sisters wonderful?

A Glimpse of Lilac

A glimpse out the window on a rainy day

and there is lilac.

Can you see it?

Never having had a lilac,

we didn't know.

So that's what this bush was,

a lilac

that Gladys Taber believed

was loveliest of all.

All shrubbery here having been pruned

for the house to go on the market,

probably at the wrong time of year,

there were only three clusters this April.

I cut one sprig for the house.

And it was enough happiness for one woman.

You might not be able to stand me if I had armfuls.

"There is enough beauty in lilac for a lifetime." 

Gladys Taber

A Bountiful Easter to all of you--

from Dewena and RH

Dewena's List (Better than Angie's List)

1. My favorite artists-in-residence

2. My favorite tea party hostesses

3. My favorite great-grandson

4. My favorite person to watch The Wizard of Oz with

5. My favorite lawn service

Contact Mimi and Pawpaw for references.