Gifted.

I feel so.....nourished.

All your comments, emails and text meant the world to me.

My flesh and blood people have sent flowers and cards,given me big hugs and allowed my eyes to fill with tears whenever necessary.

Then there are the "just cause" gifts.

Lat week I received a charming creamer ( pitcher? jug?) from a shop in Hudson, New York, a souvenir from my bosses vacation. A few garden roses and a clutch of camomile flowers sit by my right hand as I type.

The last two books I read and the next one up are pass ons.  Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead (meh) from my female boss, Spies of the Balkan by Alan Furst  ( haven't read it yet) from my male boss and The New Work Of Dogs ( loved it, made me weepy in chapters) by Jon Katz sent to me by Jen. 

And in case the books are a little spicy there's a jar full of Haribo gummi bears for GG from her grandmother  Mr. Baby went to Germany to meet his Great-Great Grandmother and brought back the bears and many chocolate bars. Yesterday our neighbor Nelda gave us a jar of honey from Orange County, Ca .  It comes from Backyard Bees Company. A delicious souvenir of her week away.

Books, hugs, honey and words of comfort.

A very full life indeed.

Thank you.

xo Jane

Goodnight My Someone: Pokey 7/12/12

The baddest cat in the whole damn town , Pokey Pokerson was laid to rest under her beloved boxwoods today.  She was covered with flowers from every corner of her yard. The stone that marks her spot was adorned with sprigs of fresh rosemary.  There is a pot of basil by the boxwoods this summer and she would crawl out smelling like a big bowl of pesto. 

We will remember her.

The condolence notes are already coming in.  Here's one from my former partner Tony:

" I am surprisingly sad to hear this news considering she was possibly the meanest ( or fiercest) cat I've ever known..."

 20 years old, only the good die young.

Sleep tight my someone. Sleep tight my fierce little love.

Sneak Peek

Just in case Design*Sponge doesn't come calling.........

What I love most about my home, especially after returning from vacation is:

I can walk outside and pick a handful of flowers to bring some summer in.

I can unpack suitcases and do the laundry setting my very OCD heart at rest.

I can find just one last teeny tiny space and squeeze in GG's highchair  that we brought home from Connecticut.

And when all the chores are done and the evening rolls around I can relax and do a bit of yoga with Mr. Baby.

Child's pose,  Happy Baby Pose.  Oh I get it.

Roadtrip: 95 North

Miles of highways, drinking iced lattes, eating cherries, 80's hits on the radio.  The dog napping in the back seat, me snapping pictures with my phone.  All the best pictures are on Instagram. 

We dropped off the Lab in Connecticut where she spent the week with 2 cocker spaniels, swimming in the Sound and barking at a pin dropping.  Cocker spaniels= noisy excitement.

Off to the Cape with the two of us to stay with 3 white dogs, my ( why doesn't she have her own blog) friend Susan, who dined us, let us read for hours, dished up a granola I liked better than my own, poured my lemon syrup recipe into tall glasses of sparkling water, drove us to get the "best" lobster roll ( a pound and a half of meat on a toasted bun, oh my god) and the "best" ice cream made with fresh cantaloupe.  Her lamb kebobs were also voted "best" on the Cape by us.

She and her husband live on an airpark.  GG hitched a ride in his plane.

I documented.

We beached ( is that a verb?) shopped, slept, picked our own vegetables at a local farm ,got pedicures for ourselves and a haircut for the the little ones.

No wonder I was unplugged all week.

Now we're back.  GG's back to work and I'm back to the laundry.  And back to blogging.  

I'll be by to visit shortly.  Missed you all.  Wish you were there.

Wish we were still there.  Thank you Susan and Jerry.  Love you Alfie, MacTavish and Mutley.

xo Jane

In The Eye Of The Storm

Last night our area experienced a storm that knocked out power in over a million homes, caused supermarkets, gas stations and restaurants to close, weddings to be cancelled and many people to experience sleepless nights while temperatures hovered in the 100's.

We are lucky and still have our electric and internet. But we were caught in the tempest while giving the Lab her before bed walk. We were at the other end of the block from our house when it began.

In a matter of seconds the air went from humid and still to 90 miles an hour with branches breaking off above our heads, flying gravel filling our eyes and GG screaming "get down" at me.  We would crouch beside a car, wait for a break in the wind and move forward until another gust of wind came at us.  We did this for about 10 minutes, mostly with our eyes closed, slipping in the pounding rain with lightening breaking above us in an almost purple sky. It was a very long 10 minutes.

Unusually we had locked the door after ourselves and it seemed an eternity waiting for GG to turn the key in the lock.

Once inside we burst into gales of laughter, hugged the dog and dried ourselves off.

Talk about feeling powerless.

Tomorrow we leave town and and  a very messy yard with tilted plants, a fig tree listing and  an unmowed lawn. We have a broken patio table and leaf debris flung madly about. I debated taking tomorrow to clean it up. Then I got a grip. Remember last year?  We had a earthquake and a hurricane while we were on holiday. Better to live for today.

It will all be waiting for us when we return.

I think it's high time for a vacation!

Carpe diem.

xo jane

P/S. Meg over at Pigtown Design has an excellent post on the storm.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Nordstroms....

First, a big thank you to all who participated in June's flowers in the house.  Whether you brought your garden into your house or your camera into your garden, each and every post was picture and word perfect.

When I get to look at picture after picture of hydrangeas and true garden roses, lisianthus and raspberries, orlaya grandiflower, my new favorite flower,( thank you Denise), bits of shrubbery and handfuls of herbs I am one happy woman. And it couldn't have happened on a better day.....

Because while running errands on Monday with my tall, exuberant friend Anne we suffered a bit of an accident. She tripped, started to slip and threw all her weight and  her 5'10" onto me.  Me with the just healing ankle.  Me with the  now freshly tweaked ankle. I stumbled , I flailed, I staggered and somehow I held us both up.  Too bad no one got a video of that moment.  It must have been the funniest game of Twister ever seen in a mall.

I railed against fate, I complained unceasingly to GG how unfair it was, I talked loudly to myself about how unfair it was and then I got over it. GG said it was an accident.

The brace is back.  Apparently I will zumba no more. At least not till after vacation. But it was just a tweak not a sprain and it was an accident. Right? See why I needed those flowers?


3 more days of work and we're off.  Off to Cape Cod.

Our annual 4th of July party is cancelled.  We're going on holiday.

Your plans?

xo jane

Flowers In The Garden House: June 2012

First ice a latte.  Then wander about the garden with a knife and a Lab.  Cut a flower here, an herb there. Actually stop to smell the roses.  Bring armful of flowers and dog into kitchen and make a mess filling vases and bottles. Bronze fennel alert: inhale deeply.

Fill favorite white vase with echinacea, cottage yarrow, fennel, painted fern, and tradescantia zebrina.

Pose in window.

Fill bottle with stem of red floribunda rose and bit of coleus.

Place in east window. Put on sunglasses.

And then take all the rest, the hydrangea nigra, the hosta blossom, the swedish ivy, scabiosa and one shasta daisy, more of the yarrow and the last of the fennel and make a little posy.

Oh and don't forget to add a bit of origanum rotundifolium Kent Beauty.

Then refresh your coffee, wake your sleeping partner and let your day begin.

As the day progresses you may find said partner has harvested her garlic and hung a large bouquet of it on the mud room wall.

Suddenly transporting you to Greece.

And it all started with a walk in the garden.

What you got?