Tales to be Told

Hello, lovely friends! By the time you read this, I will be away again for a few days, bound for what I believe to be one of the most scenic places in the world. We are due summery, warm, sunny weather, which we’ve had a lack of the past few weeks. But I have much to share when I return and thought I’d leave you with a few sneak peeks.

Above is one of many from a new image series underway which I’m actually quite excited about. You’ll hear and see the details soon, as well as…

… an epic story told in stone.

… scenes from around my home, including an overabundance of props

• • • •

… and the histories of some precious things

Berries and Cream and Whirling Butterflies

Somehow, these roses remind me of frothy, whipped, double cream – rich and thick and perfect with freshly-picked wild blackberries.

Blackberries are hugely abundant here in late summer and it’s common to see happy pickers on the roadsides with buckets and bowls, eating as much as they put in their containers. As I pass them in their anonymity, I like to imagine what scrumptious delights they are going to treat their families to that night – pie or cobbler or jam from their grandmother’s recipe.

I really do use this gate post quite often to rest jars and pitchers on while I’m tending to the roses. Sometimes I hang my camera from it, too. This is the fence that divides the upper front lawn (seen above) with the upper back garden. We have many bird baths, but the one you can just make out here is by far the most popular. I remember posting about it when we first purchased it – none of the birds would touch it and now they jostle and spar with one another to get in first.

Tremendous bird activity in the garden this morning – robins and tohees and jays and crows and chickadees. A hummer is resting on the wire outside my window as I write this, which reminds me to freshen up their feeders. We don’t leave food for the other birds – plenty of worms and berries for them – but the hummers we take care of throughout the winter when nothing is blooming.

Canning jars are so nostalgic, aren’t they? I have begun my own collection in recent years but most that I use in photos are borrowed from Mom, who has dozens in all sizes dating from the early 1900s. My parents had an antique shop on our property when we were growing up and Sundays were spent on country drives to go “antiquing”. I remember their thrill of expectation and discovery exploring condemned old houses.

These are all David Austin roses – ‘The Shepherdess’, left and ‘A Shropshire Lad’, right.

‘Lady Emma Hamilton’ and ‘The Shepherdess’. The Shepherdess so very much resembles scoops of vanilla ice cream. Mmm, perhaps I’ll get some sugar cones…

One of my very, very, very favorite flowering plants is Gaura lindheimeri, known as Whirling Butterflies or Beeblossom or Indian Feather. Aren’t those the most wonderful names? To me, they are such magical and sweet plants. This one is ‘Pink Cloud’, with beautiful burgundy and green stems. I’ve been unsuccessful keeping them alive through winter, although they are classified as perennials and I do give them heaps of loving care. So, until I learn what I’m doing wrong, I keep buying new plants to add sprinkles of magic to the late summer garden.

Fading in the Fleeting Light of Summer