Is there anything sweeter...I ask you...then seeing a little boy excited about an old tub filled with water...on a hot summer Saturday...finding all his toys at Grammy's House...and testing them for their "floatability" factor..    If there is...I certainly don't know what it might be.

Here we are, in the middle of summer, already, and I have a plethora of photos to share with you. Won't you come along? (bring your cup of coffee, cup of tea, sandwich, dessert...this may take awhile;)

After receiving Jeri Lander's generous gift of white bearded iris bulbs, it was time to transplant our entire collection from a temporary bed in the back to a permanent bed in the front...

If I were to take a photo today...you would think surely it was a fall day. The heat..temperatures reaching nearly 110 ...and no rainfall, has left our sweet little front yard covered with dried tulip poplar leaves and crunchy grass.  The soaking rain from last night was certainly a blessing, indeed!

When one has worked terribly hard out in the yard, it is always a treat to enjoy fresh vegetables from a garden.  Sister-in-law Mechelle gifted us with her summer squash, and cooking it in my grandma's skillet, along with a pot of limas and a fresh grown tomato from the market, made the perfect meal for a summer evening....


I found a sweet little vase at the antique mall that reminded me of Eliza, and with a bloom from my mini-penny hydrangea, I thought it was quite precious...


(Please tell me you all are using your pretty pastel quilts, my fellow Friends of Susan Branch, on your dining tables...at least every now and then...for it makes it so nice to cozy up to the table)

Husband, Tim, has been quite busy with a few summer projects...turning our home into a sweet English-like cottage, with flagstone ... (since this photo, he has filled in the spaces with a fine crushed dust, and it is stunning)


The reclaimed fence (from an 1800's Victorian in Ohio) has also been installed...


and Tim has just completed the laying of flagstone along the walkway to the front porch. I will add photos when the project is complete.

He has also found old brick pavers in the bed that held the irises temporarily, and discovered they were manufactured in the early 1900's by a company named 'Egyptian' in Indiana, I believe. He has placed them around the new hydrangea beds he created...


This gate came along with the white fencing, and it will be installed, along with the rest of the fencing, in the front yard beside a row of box woods. Again...I will be sure to post some photos.

While unearthing the bricks, he came upon this one, and we are still amazed at the serendipity...


Tia...plain as day...the name of his daughter (mother of Xavier)...

Our cottage garden is getting established...Phlox planted last summer, has bloomed beautifully, so we added a few more varieties, as well as two fox gloves (thank you, Jeri, for posting the photos of yours....wasn't sure they did well in Tennessee)


You can spy the blooms of the drift roses we planted last summer.  Here they are up close.  I think they are the sweetest little blooms for a little cottage garden...


My younger brother, Brad, who lives in Florida and established the Edible Classroom at his daughter's school, brought a Flashy Trout Back lettuce plant and seeds for Eliza....After all....she had to have her very own cottage garden.

First, I had to pull her away from her poetry...she just loves Burns...



Here are the adorable little tools and watering can...gifts from cousin city mouse... and a wheelbarrow, fencing, bicycle, bistro set, bird bath, and garden gates...gifts from the ladies at Three French Hens, my neighbors at the barn sale...


Eliza certainly has her work cut out for her. See all those tiny leaves popping up? The midnight may sage must be transplanted to make room, and the seedlings separated...


I think she did a wonderful job!  She loves the soft moss beneath her feet... hmmmm....I think she's been reading some books from Hopalong Hollow....


 She sniffs and sniffs those tender little sprouts...


She contemplates the need for a bicycle, but decides that it makes an awfully sweet garden fixture...


The gates look very familiar...



The darling miniature Martin bird house was also a gift from the gals at Three French Hens...



My goodness, did Eliza labor in her little garden! Watering, pulling weeds, trying to keep her moss soft and green..to no avail... but, alas, moss needs shade, lettuce needs sunshine...so I foresee a sweet shade garden with tiny impatiens alongside her mossy moss...

And here, fellow gardeners, are the fruits of her labor...



And can you guess who loves when Grammy plucks a few leaves every now and then? Especially on a hot summer day?  Well, it is none other than Miss Violet Sniffy Bunny-Bun....


She had consumed the entire leaf as the camera snapped the photo... she is forever grateful to that little mouse, Eliza.

Grammy has worked up an appetite as well!  Homemade egg salad on fresh egg bread (from Merridee's Bread Basket)


The blooming things outside were transported inside, making each room so cheery.  Tiny drift and knock-out rose buds and blooms for the vanity in the bath....


hydrangeas...



Even a bowl of bright red cherries brought life into the living room...


Sweet Annabelles are always sweet...


A batch of oatmeal-walnut-chocolate chunk cookies are prepared for an upcoming visit from one certain little boy.... these became an instant hit...


If you look closely...above....you'll see a bit of our new/old Hoosier...phase one of the "taking our cottage kitchen back in time" project...


Xavier especially loves this new addition, because there is always a supply of snack fruits... right at his level.  He LOVES bananas!



That I decided it would be so fun to create a little book of embellishments...a cottage alphabet...  So I have begun a project I am hoping we will be able to send to the printers before too long...



R is for Rabbit...


Stickers aren't just for little girls, any more...don't you think?


We were able to enjoy a vacation to Florida, early in the summer, to see my newborn cousin, truly a miracle...Little Desirae....and upon our return, after gazing at the framed photo of her on my art table,  I was compelled to try my hand at painting her likeness.... would I actually be able to paint a human being?  Little toy mousie friends are one thing...but a real person?  This is what came to be...


If you never challenge yourself to try something new...how will you ever know what you are capable of...

I had no idea that one little challenge to myself would prepare me for an upcoming project presented to me by my eldest,  Matthew.  More on this later....but, it reminded me, when I feel those gentle nudges within my heart...it is best that I heed them.  We never know what the greater purpose might be.

Well, I must introduce you, via a lovely photo, to my dear mother, Dottie and my dear new friend, Diann (The Little Cowgirl...who designs and crafts the cutest bloomers and aprons and dresses, etc... providing me with my 'Grammy-wear' as I call it) Here we are at her booth at a What Women Want show....



What you don't see above, is that I had to remove my shoes so I wouldn't tower over them.  You can see the bloomers and under apron I am wearing in this next photo...along with my bare feet...which, after all...is very Tasha Tudor - like, indeed....


Her granddaughter, Callie was adorable in her darling dress and bloomers, as well.

Diann and I met last fall at the Bella Rustica Barn Sale here in Franklin, and were instant kindreds. We are unable to talk on the phone under 2 hours and are often known to talk simultaneously, finishing one another's sentences. She lives in THE most darling log cabin and adores everything Tasha Tudor, to the point of having Corgi dogs. Yes, there are kindreds among us wherever we may go.

Now, my dears...My eyelids are heavy...it is late into the night..and I must close....since you were probably wondering if I WOULD ever close.  But this is catch up blogging...what one must do with all the neglected photos and stories that have backed up and need to come forth. So thank you for enduring, and for that, I leave you with this little treat...

Pick-a-Pick-a-Pumpkin is complete and ready to head to New Hampshire for formatting, then on to Lightning Source for printing, straightaway to Amazon, and with fingers crossed...landing at Barnes & Noble alongside the other Eliza Tales.  Fingers crossed, Fairy Lamps lit, and Prayers lifted up...


Eliza is loving her new chaise dear husband Tim purchased whilst we vacationed in St. Augustine.  She is becoming rather spoiled, it would seem...but, she needed a fainting couch as the news arrived of her story's success...


Xavier knew, though,  that his "Ewiza" would be adored by all who came to visit Grammy's House.



Much love to you all, dear kindreds, and blessings for your day,
Christie