A small garden to enjoy

 

The tiny front yard has a seating area with a large glider and 3 comfortable chairs on a base of soft mulch.   There is a paved walk from the street  to the mulched area so it is never necessary to walk on the gravel.  Plants were chosen for low to moderate water usage.  Small now while newly planted, I expect most of them to spread nicely in the future.  I planted the pretty white crepe myrtle over the glider  about three years ago when we first bought this property.  It is in very full bloom right now, so full of bees I do not sit there before dusk! 

 

The inner yard at the side and back  of the house has the beginnings of a framework of low water plants, but filled in with any I wish for the present.  My thought on all of this is that if and when the future is dryer and watering rules more stringent, the delicate things can come out and more drought resistant plants can go in their stead.  The basic plantings will be pretty durable and well established I would hope. 

 

My strong preference for a New Orleans brick courtyard, ringed by azaleas, camellias, gardenias and lush growths of English Ivy and other vines crowned and centered by a great magnolia grandiflora  is not in tune with my present reality.     However, there is a small and struggling but pampered magnolia "Little Gem" in the yard; it was given to Jack and me last year by dear friend Jan B.    Jack and Jan left us within 24 hours of each other a few days after last Christmas.    e

 

 

Displaying Cloth Dolls

Thinking of rag dolls, I like to hang them on a wall.   I like one hanging in a group of samplers or children’s clothing or other textiles.    I put a rough brown cord around one’s waist and hang it on a nail, careful that it does not lean out too much.    I used to visit a Doll dealer in Pennsylvania in whose home was a great collection of folk art, all antique and stunning.  She had a nice group of Lancaster Rags, black cloth dolls, on a wall in a hall.  In the living room, two lovely Izannahs hung in a space near the mantle.    A child’s portrait hung above the mantle.  Everything I remember in that house was museum worthy.   

In the house I have now, I would like to find the right space to hang my pockets and sewing rollups and a cloth doll or so in a pleasing wall arrangement.  Perhaps include a small hooked piece and or an early quilt square or a doll quilt.  Wall space here is a dear commodity!  I haven’t found it yet.   e

Rug Hooking Magazine

Tonight I had a nice call from Barb Carroll, we chatted a long time. She said the article she has written for RHM about my pattern "Weaver's Lion"  has been published in the June July August issue.  Weaver's Lion is of course derived from a corner logo of a 19th century coverlet weaver.  Check this out if you are a rugger and also see the information on Barb's web site about a Coverlet museum in Pennsylvania.  Barb will have a large number of new coverlet designs soon, and the profits from the sale of those new patterns will benefit the Coverlet museum. 

 I finished with the sale of our former home yesterday,  and today am just
 creeping around the house trying to decide if I have survived the last
 few rough weeks.  There were an unbelievable number of errands
connected with the repairs and final clean out and sale.   So now I am
starting to dig out from under piles of paperwork and file things and
pay things.  It will be next week before I start the repairs on my own
house. I already have a roofer lined up, will call other workers.
This will be a piece of cake compared to the other property.  And I
won’t have to run back and forth as I am living right here.

I give thanks that I do not live in Moore OK and ask for blessings on those storm victims.   e

Texas pottery bowls

As hard as I have pushed to have the Stoneridge house  done and cleaned the contractor is unable to start his work until next  week.   So I have had to postpone the closing a bit, and hope all still goes through, which I believe it will.  Just a few days after a sale contract for it went into escrow, a storm hit with hail and high wind and rain.  I have done all the smaller things for the property with family and handy man help, but we cannot do gutters and back deck and windows and roof, all of which are still waiting.  When that house is restored I will begin similar repairs for the smaller home I live in.

Truly this has been a challenging several weeks with demands on every ounce of energy and strength I can muster. No time or thought for yard sales that is for certain.

And yet yesterday a neighbor spoke to me outside on one of my trips back and forth on errands and said “there is a nice sale around the corner”. I was rolling that way anyway,  so I parked and got out in time to see others loading about 10 or 12 large toy trucks about 70 years old, bought for $5 to $10 each, and worth large sums on ebay.    But what did I see all neglected and as yet un bought?   Two sweet old brown Texas pottery bowls.   All of this plunder and much more was freshly brought in from a family farm for the yard sale. 

With these pictures, can some of you tell who was the probable maker? I think Meyer on the smaller chocolate bowl. The beige yellow glaze on the rim of the larger bowl  will likely identify it also.  Treasures! Jack loved to get out to the yard sales and find pottery of merit, so I felt I was following the pattern he set.  These are pictured on my kitchen counter against our long time collection of northern stoneware.     e

 

Virginia wrote: 

Yes, Edyth, I believe that the first photos of the small and large bowl are of the Meyer shape.  the coloring in the photo may be a little off, for me to decide if the beige is yellowish.  If the larger one in the first photo is a stark white, I would think it not Meyer's--but the shape is right.  If I had to make a wild guess, I think both of these are Meyer's.  the others that are more rounded and have a different rim and base, I have not known to be Meyers.  I still haven't had time to consult my Meyer's catalogs of their sale in New York, or my old Meyer's books.  

but will try to get to that soon.

 

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