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A new Autumn palette

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Janet

I love Fall. I love the cooler weather, the anticipation of back-to-school (yes even at my age I still get excited about the promise and potential of fresh school supplies!), and the traditional Fall colors of deep reds, golds, and bright yellows.

Traditional Fall Colors Leaves | Vintage Floral Cottage

But last year, I fell in love with a very different Fall palette, inspired by the silvery blue ofBlue Moon pumpkins and the soft faded green of my curb-picked dried hydrangeas.

Fall 2016 colors | Vintage Floral Cottage

My new Fall palette was also inspired by this photo by Courtney at French Country Cottage, which I pinned on Pinterest.

Pumpkin vignette by French Country Cottage | Vintage Floral Cottage

Autumn vignette by Courtney Allison of FrenchCountryCottage.net, via Pinterest.

I was able to acquire a silvery blue pumpkin of my own for a small display on my front porch, but it was late in the season by the time this happened and I didn’t event attempt something like Courtney’s sweet little centerpiece.

This year, I’m again captivated by one of Courtney’s images – this time, her beautiful wreath that features, of all things, faded peonies and artichokes.

Photo by and from French Country Cottage | Vintage Floral Cottage

Beautiful Fall wreath by Courtney Allison of FrenchCountryCottage.net, used with permission.

This piece offers up unexpected – but completely Autumnal – colors, and challenges me to upend my attachment to red, brown, yellow and gold, and embrace a new softer palette not of traditional Autumn but rather of Faded Summer: sage, coral, pale butter yellow, and silvery blue. Courtney’s designs and color palettes – and indeed so much of the Fall decorating inspiration I found last year on Pinterest and elsewhere… make me realize: it’s not just the muted hue of a new pumpkin variety that has me excited for Fall. It’s that all muted tones in nature can work together to create real anticipation for the drying flowers, crisp leaves, and dormant sticks and strands in the garden.

Welcome Fall! And Courtney, if you’re reading this, THANK YOU for continuing to create and showcase beauty each and every day at one of my all-time favorite blogs, French Country Cottage!

Posted in Decorating | Leave a comment

Tea for thee but not for me

Posted on August 28, 2016 by Janet

I enjoy a lot of things, but one thing I don’t enjoy – is tea.

I know, I am a dish addict – surely I am mistaken, and I actually love tea, right?

Sadly, no. I love teacups and teapots, tables set for tea with pretty floral china, and sugar/creamer sets and little lemon forks and even Tea Time Magazine… but I don’t love tea.

Royal Albert Sweet Violets | Vintage Floral Cottage
Do you know what that’s like? Do you have any idea what it’s like to love all the accoutrements of tea… but to dislike the actual beverage?

It’s like loving fur and paws and whiskers and sweet little noses and funny feline internet memes… but disliking cats. It’s like loving all the actors, bit players and technical crew members of a blockbuster film, but disliking the actual movie.

Seriously, not only do I not like tea, I don’t even know how to talk about it. I imagine it’s like wine, with lots of airing and sniffing and “fruit notes” and swirling around in the cup.

My inability to enjoy tea pretty much limits my role in any conversation I can ever have with actual tea aficionados:

THEM: “Is that a fruit note I detect at the finish of this perfectly steeped oolong?”

ME: “I DON’T KNOW BUT LOOK AT THE PRETTY FLOWERS ON THAT SAUCER!”

Teacup Spring Melody | Vintage Floral Cottage
So what’s a teacup-loving girl to do when actual tea isn’t her… um, cup of tea?

You might think I’d drink coffee instead, but no – I don’t like that either. My caffeine comes from Diet Coke. And there are few things more – FRAUDULENT – than drinking cola from an English cup.

Royal Albert Old Country Roses | Vintage Floral Cottage

So, it seems, I’m resigned to a life of enjoying my teacups purely for their visual beauty, the delicate, happy sound made when they clink on the saucer, and the cool, smooth feel of the fine bone china in my hands – rather than their actual functionality.

Because this, dear readers, is the alternative.

Diet Coke in a teacup | Vintage Floral Cottage

So, so fraudulent!

Posted in Thinky Thoughts | Leave a comment

Back in black!

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Janet

Eagle nest cam Alcoa Iowa | Vintage Floral Cottage

Here in Iowa we’re fortunate to have several eagle nest cams in place. This rather hilarious image is from the nest cam in Alcoa, Iowa.

All across America it seems I am hearing about the resurgence of the Bald Eagle population. Which is great, because not only are bald eagles stunning in their beauty and fascinating in their habits… they are also, of course, a symbol of our nation and its freedom. (It would be pretty pathetic to have an extinct creature as our national symbol. All I can say is it’s a damn good thing our founding fathers did not choose the equally noble – but less adaptable – pocket gopher to serve in this important role.)

I mention the bald eagle here as a bit of preamble because there is a rather amazing eagles’ nest just a few blocks from our house, and because this post is indeed about Animals I Don’t See Often.

However, it is not about the Bald Eagle. Instead, it’s about sciurus carolinensis, the black squirrel.

Have you ever seen a black squirrel? I’m 56 years old and I just saw my first one in 2015. That’s right, I went more than half a century without ever seeing one, for the probable reason that they are a rare-ish genetic mutation found in gray and fox squirrels, and I’ve just never lived near any genetically mutated squirrels.

But, now that I live in Historic Valley Junction, I am fortunate indeed because there is a pair of delightfully mutated squirrels that live in the park just down the street.

Black squirrels in Iowa | Vintage Floral Cottage The first time I saw one I thought it was a black cat. But it darted out in front of my car and as I slammed on my brakes I realized it was really a squirrel, in a color I had never seen in fifty-plus years of life!

I was very excited and over the next few weeks I stopped at the park often and tried to snap some pictures. Apparently black squirrels are no more sociable than the non-mutated variety. And, I am not really a patient nature photographer, so all I have are some far-away/blurry shots, sort of like that famous picture of the Loch Ness monster.

Last summer and Fall I worried constantly about “my” black squirrels getting hit by cars. Then as winter approached I worried about them freezing to death. I think I saw them maybe twice, all Winter long.

As the weather warmed in March and April, I would scan the park with hopeful eyes each time I drove by, but with no sighting in over eight weeks, I had resigned myself to the sad realization that they likely did not survive the winter.

Until… !! Just a few weeks ago, I literally squealed with delight upon seeing one of the pair scampering through the park, his bushy tail held high and flicking about, and his jet black body distinct against the bright green Spring grass.

Eagle image by Tony Hake | Vintage Floral Cottage

Image of a bald eagle and squirrel by Tony Hake. Click here to purchase the image in various formats! https://fineartamerica.com/featured/squirrel-gets-perilously-close-to-a-bald-eagle-tony-hake.html

I am so happy to see this unique little creature back in the neighborhood, encouraged that they survived the winter months and hoping against hope that they stay in the grass and out of the street.

And also that the Bald Eagles who live at the other end of the street do not have genetically mutated squirrel on the lunch menu.

Update, April 10, 2018: Just saw one of the black squirrels for the first time today – once again it’s been a really long time since I’ve seen him. So happy he’s still around!

Update, July 2018: I’ve now seen BOTH black squirrels together in the park, so I’m happy to report they are both still with us!

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Re-painted furniture: tiny cottage side table makeover

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Janet

Okay let’s get one thing clear: I’m terrible at “befores.” It’s not that I don’t appreciate – or want to share – a dramatic transformation. On the contrary – but sometimes I forget to take the before picture!

So for this before/after project, please imagine if you will… a tiny, dark brown side table complete with spider egg sacs on the underside, missing its center support and crying out for rescue like the sad puppies in the ASPCA commercial. (I’m pretty sure Sara McClachlan would spontaneously start singing “In the Arms of an Angel” if she saw this table.)

I acquired my little table at an auction several weeks ago… I won’t tell you what I paid for it, but I will tell you that I never… EVER… pay more than $10 for a table at an auction. (Except for that one time I did, because Greg thought he was being helpful by waving his hand with five fingers displayed, thinking he was bidding five dollars… and turned out he was waving affirmative at 25. I was the lucky winner of THAT table too, because no one in their right mind would’ve paid that much for it. Ahem. I will show you that project another time.)

So anyway, the table was cheap. Which is good, because it was awful. Greg redeemed himself (mostly) for the $25 table because he did a LOT of work to this piece. He pulled out all the wobbly bits and re-glued them, AND he rebuilt from scratch the v-shaped support in the lower part of the table using dowel construction and a hand saw. He tied and weighted the whole thing down with heavy books and some sort of secret sailor’s knot (because we didn’t have any clamps), and we left it alone for a few days. When the ropes and weights came off, it was a sturdy little table once again.

Now it just needed paint, which in this case meant two coats of “Romance” chalk paint by Americana (now called “Rouge”). And – voila – no more sad puppy!!