The Story of Our Dooryard Cottage Garden

When we bought this farmhouse in 1990, the front yard was just grass. Moving day was so exciting and I really didn't see this little house the way you probably see it now in the picture below.

I wasn't even thinking of its possibilities. To me it was beautiful just the way it was. Even the pile of wood in the yard and the rusty tin roof. See the red barn to the right...

I loved it just as it was but I did look forward to spring to see what marvelous plants would come up. Surely the farm wife from the 1920s had planted flowers and bulbs here in this 24 acres. When spring finally arrived here at Valley View, the only things that bloomed were some old yellow daffodils and a Festiva Maxima peony that still blooms beautifully each May. There are fat buds on it right now. There were wild roses on the fences and honeysuckle vine. There was a wisteria vine on the porch corner.

And that was it.

Never fear, R.H. to the rescue!

One of the first things he did was to fence in enough space for a dooryard garden.

He and our sons built the fence and a pergola. Here is R.H. teaching Zack some carpentry skills.

They built geometric beds.

The first paths were made of bark. Yes, it got tracked in all the time. I didn't care. At last I had the framework to make a dooryard cottage garden. This was to be my project now. And I had sons to help me with the weeding.

To be continued.

[If you would like to read my first post at Across the Way about how we found this dear little farmhouse go here. Brenda at Cozy Little House was kind enough to include my first post in her Welcome Wagon Friday and I met so many nice bloggers through her.]

"It Was Beauty She Wanted"

"It was beauty she wanted, she supposed, though that was a high sounding word.

A queer mixture of things, space and privacy, 

thin china and fine linen,

the feeling of breathless delight she had when she watched the moon flowers open

or looked at the college chapel

or saw waves breaking in lace-edged scallops against a beach.

Beauty. 

Lida Larrimore in Stars Still Shine (1940)

[Just a little something pretty to show you while I gather my blogging thoughts about me for the week ahead and a snippet of pretty prose from an author I loved when I was a young girl--after I graduated from Trixie Belden! The dinner plates and butter pats are Spode's Billingsley Rose, the egg cup is Spode's Mayflower.]

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to our sweet Mama!

Our wonderful Mama & Daddy

Our Mama (sitting in middle) with her mother and three of her four sisters

We love you, Mama,

Your four daughters!

Another birthday?

Already?

Happy Birthday to me--

and a big kiss and thank you to my sweet mother!

I love you, Mama!

Note to self: 

Self, Veronique Vienne, in her beautiful little book, The Art of Growing Up, says that growing older "is an opportunity to shed youthful insecurities, revaluate old habits, and get rid of obsolete constraints." Isn't that sentence worth a little study? I think I'll find a few quiet hours soon to ponder upon it.

A Hostess to Herself

Shall we climb these steps to visit a house I love?

Our hostess, Mrs. Harold M. Bixby, is a darling and will welcome us as graciously as she did Anne Morrow Lindbergh in the 1920s when she was a guest there, as described in her heartbreaking Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead. 

"A rather small low house, low ceilings...

and French windows...opening out onto a dark cool garden.

Inside, lovely prints on the wall...bright zinnias in a vase...

upstairs, an old four-poster bed...

and some fine rag rugs,

and very dainty bathroom things...

Mrs. Bixby is quite striking-looking--

young and assured and calm with the assurance of a woman who is happily married,

has a lovely home, children, old enough (herself) to be settled

and young enough to be very nice-looking,

and who has enough time to take on the side university courses on Goethe, etc....

and to pick zinnias!

She is a kind of hostess to herself."

Anne Morrow Lindbergh in Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead

I would adore being a weekend houseguest at Mrs. Bixby's. Always a lover of low rambling houses, I'd carry my overnight bag inside and make my way upstairs to the bedroom with the four-poster bed. After brushing my teeth at bedtime and washing my face, I'd pad my way back into the bedroom across the old soft rag rug and climb into bed.

The next morning I would join Mrs. Bixby and her handsome children at breakfast. Mr. Bixby left early to attend a meeting at the bank. The maid would bring in our half grapefruits first and then soft-boiled eggs in egg cups of Spode's Chinese Rose. Plates of crisp buttered toast would be set at each end of the table.

Mrs. Bixby asks me if I'd like to play tennis with the youngsters after breakfast or curl up at one end of the sofa in her morning room while she takes the other end to read a book she wants to finish this weekend.

I say I'll keep her company. She smiles and says that a few friends will join us later for luncheon on the terrace.

Mr. Bixby should be home by then if not delayed. In any case, he will be here to squire us to the dinner and dance at the country club tonight, and my escort will be here for drinks beforehand. Do I need the maid to press my frock for tonight?

Please don't wake me if I'm dreaming. I'm just playing at being a hostess to myself, like Mrs. Bixby.

Oh, and my escort for the country club dance?

Do tell, how do you play hostess to yourself? Or host, if you're one of my few gentlemen readers?

Unleash your imagination!

Picture credits:

Some of these pictures were from my collection of vintage Woman's Home Companion magazines, others were on Pinterest from tumbir.com. The pretty vanity mirror belongs to Sissie at 

htmlhttp://sissieshabbycottage.blogspot.com/2010/08/lovely-things-to-share.html

The "Zinnias in Vase" was by American artist Jane Peterson 1876-1965. And the table setting with Spode's Chinese Rose has Between Naps On the Porch watermarked on the picture from Pinterest but would not link back to her post. I only have three plates of Chinese Rose so used this lovely picture.

I could not find a picture of the real Mrs. Bixby. I did find one of her husband and he was very distinguished and debonaire but the photo was poor. He was part of the original Spirit of St. Louis team.

Happy Anniversary, Christy & Bryan!

Happy One-Year Anniversary, to our dear daughter and son-in-law, Christy & Bryan!

The very happy day...

When Hers and His became Ours

With all our love,

Mom & Dad

Our Waterfall Today

Back in January we posted about our waterfall. Today R.H. took some video of it after the rain last night and this is just an attempt to see if I can attach video here, a first attempt.

We'll see if this works, if the video is viewable. Meanwhile, thank you to all the thoughtful comments about friendships that commenters wrote on the previous post. As my Oklahoma friend emailed me, "Differences do make us individuals and they are like salt and pepper." And a whole lot of good recipes call for both salt and pepper, don't they? What would eggs be without both?

Have a good Sunday evening, friends. Tomorrow R.H. and I will be wishing a happy anniversary to our daughter and her husband on this blog. Really it will be family time but if you'd like to visit we'd love to have you. You are my blog family, aren't you?