Faded Glory

Posted by Mr Wong at 5:45 PM 0

                                                                         Happy Weekend!
           Hope you are enjoying your weekend so far.  I planted about 200 more bulbs in the garden today-mostly tulips. I am still hoping to get some more next week and get them in the ground right away.
  Anyway,as I was walking through the garden planning for spring, I thought I should capture some of the beauty of the faded glory going on in the garden right now. I sure do love the different seasons as there is always change and something beautiful going on.
                   

              You may be getting tired of my late blooming Monkshood but I love how it gives color right through to November. The virginia creeper on the porch is turning into it's fall colors too.

                           This Elmira rose puts on a great show in Late autumn as well.

     Still lovin' my somewhat faded annebelle hydrangea. They started blooming the first part of July this year and they still have charm. Can't get much better then that!

            Spirea,lilac and limelight hydrangea with frosted hosta's around the tree.

                          I looked out the upstair window and wanted to capture the light from a sunny autumn day and also how rapidly things change as the maple tree was at it's peak for autumn color just last week and already it is getting bare.

                                  Soon we will be taking in the lighter statues and garden ornaments ,benches etc.

         Some people think I would be sad to see the garden season end but for me there is still lots of beauty in all the' faded glory" and I by the time the garden season is completely over I am already planning for the Christmas season which I also love. Also, love the beauty of the garden under a nice cover of fresh snow. and before I know it those newly planted tulips will be poking through giving lots of promise of the beauty to come.I must be getting old because the seasons seem to go by so quickly for me.

                              This old door doesn't actually open into our house  but when we did some renovations several years ago this entrance was changed and rather then  take it out and shingle-I thought it would be nice to leave it and just not have a walkway up-just call me crazy! . I think of this as my old English doorway with the vines growing around it.! On the other side of the door there is a closet. Makes perfect sense to me!!!

      Well , I hope you see the beauty of the faded glory too or maybe you live in a climate where the spring bulbs are just poking through- either way enjoy!

                                                                      Take care,

                                                                                   Carolyn

happy birthday, martha!

Posted by Mr Wong at 4:00 PM 0

Happy birthday to one of our favorite moms, grandmas, great-grandmas and friends!

We love you, Martha!

Hope you have a wonderful birthday!

halloween dinner party

Posted by Mr Wong at 8:29 AM 0

My friend Laurie in California always knows how to throw together the best dinner parties.  Last week when I was in Balboa, she invited a few women over for dinner and we showed up to this.  The perfect little impromptu Halloween dinner party!  Grab a couple of these ideas for your dinner this weekend!

Happy Weekend!

A Perfect Day

Posted by Mr Wong at 5:46 AM 0

Yesterday was a perfect day.

The weather was perfect.  The fall colors were perfect.  

I met my friend, "the other Penny" from Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen, downtown Asheville for some antiquing and lunch.  She is heading back to her winter home this weekend, and I won't see her again until next spring.  I am going to miss her!

We had lunch at a wonderful little French restaurant called Bouchon.  The main restaurant is only open for dinner, but they have a creperie that is open for lunch in the courtyard beside their restaurant.

We both chose chicken pesto crepes with arugula and a side order of Pommes Frites.  While dining the leaves were gently falling off the trees and floating down around us.  

Love this metal capped string light that was in the courtyard.  I will be looking for that style when we built our pergola at our new home.

Speaking of home....I took the pictures below on my way to my current rental home, after a day with Penny.  The color has reached it's peak here and the leaves are falling like crazy.

To the left in the picture below, there is actually a road, but you can't see it because it is covered with so many leaves!

At the end of the perfect day, I had to capture the sun setting through the golden leaves from my deck.

Travel safe Penny!  See you next spring.

more pumpkins...

Posted by Mr Wong at 3:58 PM 0

Some of our pumpkins in a clients' home!  Don't you love them!

Autumn Beauty

Posted by Mr Wong at 2:42 PM 0

                                                                       Welcome!

            I hope you are all enjoying these lovely Autumn days.   I have some Autumn beauty again, to share with you.  The house above is one I love in Charlottetown and it looks especially pretty in Autumn.

                                This is Beaconsfield in Charlottetown as well. At one time it was a nurse's residence but now it is a museum that is open to the public.

       A drive through the country one day last week made it hard to resist taking a few shots of some rual beauty.

                                                       Some Autumn vignettes from around home.

             The sun peaked out for awhile this afternoon so I captured a few shots in the garden.

             The virginia creeper is so pretty this year as we haven't had a really hard frost yet.

                                               These two cuties came down  for some Autumn shots on the weekend.

                                                        Love these colors!

        I am hoping this lovely Fall weather holds for awhile yet as we still have some outdoor projects to finish before the cold weather sets in.

Thank you for your visit,
Carolyn    

The dough bowls have come to town!

Posted by Mr Wong at 2:17 PM 0

Happy Thursday evening to you. To all you dough bowl lovers, this is for you. I know several of you have emailed me about the small to mid size dough bowl which doesn't always come around. I was going to post this tomorrow but couldn't wait! So happy to announce I just got in a FABULOUS lot of dough bowls...might I even say my prettiest batch yet. I want to keep each and every one of them. I have a total of 10 pieces, assorted sizes, long and round.

The rounds are a great size and VERY hard to come by. I got three really big ones (all over 42") one monster at 55" (looks like a canoe) and 6 of the very hard to find mid to small sized. They are a rich beautiful brown, just got cleaned and  freshly waxed and these are seriously beautiful. Old and found in Belgium and Hungary. So first lets take a look at these beauties, email me if you are interested as always. This is what I got from this special lot, so likely they won't go onto the online store as its a limited lot. If you have been waiting for one, trust me they do not get any prettier than this!

UPDATE- All dough bowls are sold. I will be getting in one more box on Monday which I think are the larger ones but feel free to email me on Mon. or Tuesday as I am hoping (fingers crossed) that there are a few more of the small/med. sized. Thanks for your interest, the response has been overwhelming...how I wish I had more!

They measure handle to handle from 15" to 22" long (approx. 12-16" wide)

  I devote my post today therefore on how to decorate with a dough bowl and seeing them in all their many ways........ 

My own is currently filled with a big batch of pears

 Stunning with holiday greenery and pinecones!! The old Painted Cottage

Love the idea of a dough bowl placed on a coffee table filled with candles...gorgeous!

Love the idea of filling one with seashells and placed on a coffee table....gorgeous! Allison Jaffe

Love the idea of adding pinecones and candles....stunning!

Beautiful way to display a bunch of dried hydrangea or any other flowers, Pink Postcard

Love the way this is done in all its Halloween finery, SandandSisal

Gorgeous arrangement of moss orbs in a dough as a centerpiece is spectacular!

Filled with crusty fresh bread and a sprig or rosemary....oh yes! PB

Love the idea of one on a center table with greens, so pretty! The Old Painted Cottage

A no brainer to use on a mantle....for the holidays or any other time. PB

I put flowers in mine and have to say I love the look! 

So...what do you think? Like dough bowls? Have one? How do you like to use yours? I love them and have truly gained an appreciation for them as decorative objects, its so neat to have a piece of history in your home......just thinking of how it might have been used, where, by whom, 50, 100 years ago! Would love to know what you think of dough bowls. Thanks as always for stopping in, wishing you a fabulous evening and weekend!

For everyone in Hurricane Sandy's path, hope you stay safe and out of harms way. It is a brutal storm and is predicted to bring tremendous rain and very strong winds. If we lose power I may not be on the computer for a few days (CANNOT imagine)!!! Lets hope that's not the case! In any case, wishing you well and happy weekend!