Category: Monday

a simple garden · Autumn · home · Monday · Seeking Sabbath

Window boxes and railings

A spirit of simplicity1 Comment

There is one single windowbox at our house. It sits on the top of the railing that goes downstairs into the backyard.

All summer I had geranium in it and they grew so beautifully.

We can see out this back door from the living room and when I sit on the end of the bed to put my socks on in the morning I can see the reflection through the bathroom mirror. It looked so pretty.

I thought that it would be torn down when the staircase was replaced over the summer. But…they ran out of time and have decided it is best to wait for the spring before replacing the staircase. So we get to keep the window box for a while longer.

There are lights on the branches and now that it’s getting dark earlier they will be quite pretty lit up.

~What do you put in your window boxes? Or near your doorways?

I have winterberry and a type of holly with small white pumpkins. I also picked up a beautiful, lichen covered brand that had blown down from the neighbor’s house in a recent storm. I went to the nursery in town looking for mums but they were sold out. I got what they had and I am very happy with how it turned out.

Make it pretty Monday

Home and garden Thursday

A wise woman builds her home

a simple garden · Autumn · home · Monday · Tucker

Gathering the kitchen garden

A spirit of simplicity2 Comments

The good

Pork roast with fresh herbs from the garden

The fun

I sure do love this cat, Tucker. I was curled up on the couch reading on Thursday afternoon and he came curling up around my leg and held down my ankle with his paw, lest I should try to escape and ruin all the cozy warmth. The school where I work was cancelled because a storm in the night caused a widespread power outage.

The random

Sunday afternoon turned warm and rather sunny. I potted the Rosemary and brought it indoors to overwinter and I potted some of the parsley and gave it a sunny spot on the kitchen table.

The good, the random, the fun

Autumn · home · Monday

Staying home

A spirit of simplicity2 Comments

The clapboard is finally finished on our house! The windows have all been replaced and painted, the roof is done, and two of the storm doors have been installed!

On Tuesday they will install two more screen doors and begin the exterior painting!

The dark grey/green is called nocturnal grey and it’s for the clapboard, the white is for the trim, and the Navaho red is for the doors.

We live in a historical district of Marblehead, Massachusetts, so these historical looking colours are perfect.

The back story:

In mid-spring my brother was painting the interior of a three-story apartment house in old town Marblehead. The first floor was available to rent and he thought it would be a nice place for my mum to live. She had been thinking about selling her house and renting a first floor apartment. She’s 84 and the stairs and upkeep in her home were getting to be too much for her. After being told that the entire house, interior and exterior were being done over, she decided to make the move.

Meanwhile, the second floor was also opening up to rent. My brother mentioned it to Joe and I, and after thinking about it for a few days, we decided to make the move as well.

We moved into the second floor on 28 June and my mum moved into the first floor at the end of July. We all knew that the house would be a work zone for a few months in early fall.

They started work at the end of August. Wow!

They’ve removed the vinyl siding, repaired some rotting boards and some significant rot at the bottom of the house, installed clapboard siding, replaced all of the windows, replaced the four screen doors, had a new roof put on, and they will begin to paint tomorrow. In the interior they have redone the first and second floor bathrooms with new toilets, new tub/shower, and new flooring, they have redone the first and second floor kitchens with new dishwashers, new stoves, and new refrigerators. They have updated and added some electrical outlets and lighting. They have also repainted the entire house from top to bottom, all walls, all ceilings and all trim, including those in the front stairway and installed new carpet in the entire place. They have also replaced and painted all of the windows.

It’s been a long few months! We are beginning to see signs of the end of the tunnel though!

I think by just after Halloween we should be just about done. Hopefully, the painting will go smoothly and the nice weather will hold out till they are done!

Make it pretty Monday

Home and garden Thursday

Autumn · beloved · home · Monday · our house

It’s good to be three

A spirit of simplicity1 Comment

The fun ~ Verne turned three on Saturday!

The good ~My sister and her fiancé, my brother and his fiancé, my older daughter, Hannah, and my step-sons were all able to make it to Verne’s party!

My sister gave the birthday boy this wooden transporter truck and he loved it…so did his little sister.

The random ~ We think that these will be the colours on the house. The dark grey/green for the clapboard, the white for the trim, and the Navaho red for the doors. Originally, the owners had chosen more of a Florida type of blue/grey but the house is in a very historical district in New England and these colours will look much better!

The good, the random, the fun

Autumn · Monday · our house · Out and about

Home from the market

A spirit of simplicity1 Comment

The fun

Joe and I went out to eat on Friday night. We had a spectacular view of the harbour.

The random

I have to drive through downtown Salem, MA. on my way home from work…in October! The traffic is terrible, the people think they are in some kind of a freak-fair and they don’t even look before droves of them start crossing the streets all over the place, it takes 2 or 3 times as long to get home. The above picture is from a few weeks ago…it’s nowhere near that calm now. I have started going a back way around Salem that has twice as many miles but doesn’t take quite as long.

The good

Sunday morning I woke early and went to the market. I’ve given up going to the large market in Salem. It’s so crazy and it takes forever. Since I am in class all day Saturday and at work Monday through Friday I have started going to the smaller market just around the corner. It’s more expensive but it’s almost always just Joe and I so the bill isn’t as high as it was when we had children in the house.

It’s so much nicer and less time consuming.

The good, the random, the fun

Autumn · home · Monday

An acorn from the house next door

A spirit of simplicity2 Comments

A sweet blue runner on the kitchen table makes a rather cheery statement along with a set of diminutive salt and pepper shakers and a pot of tiny chrysanthemums.

The small bowl is filled with gatherings from walks around the neighborhood.

Eastern Hemlock pinecones from the big tree that grows just at the edge of the driveway, Beech nut shells from the giant tree in the playground where I work, some chestnut shells from the tree at Crocker park just above the swing where Joe and I sit to watch the sunset, and a few acorns from a white oak tree which grows along the roadside on my way to the market.

When my daughters were very young we started the tradition of having a bowl or pretty serving platter in which we would place a few natural things we that we had found outside. It was either on the dining room table or on a table in the entryway. Nature has such beauty and so I have continued this tradition even though my daughters are now all grown up and in their own homes.

Make it pretty Monday

Home and Garden Thursday