The Flower Farm

Hubby came to the flower farm with me last night. How cute is that?



The flower farm is surrounded by rows upon rows of orchards. Set amongst the orchards are two acres of glorious flower fields. The photo above was taken in the dahlia patch, which consists of six long rows of every dahlia variety you can imagine.



This is the back entrance to the flower farm house, a pristine Dutch Colonial that is now operated by our local historical society. Indoors, a local winery gives tastings and shares the history of the house and farm. Let me just say, that I want to move in and play house here!



It was cute to watch hubby walk around and say things like, "how about a purple one?" We had only one pair of pruners so I did all of the cutting. Hubby made his visit more of a nature walk and it was really sweet to watch. It reminded me of that poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay that goes:

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.



The flower farm is such a nurturing place to go. To see so many flowers blooming in abundance offers the biggest case of warm fuzzies. It's also exciting to go home and fill your house with so many beautiful flowers. Our excursion to the farm provided us with four beautiful bouquets of dahlias. The cost: $10.

1. ARRIVEDERCI RAVELLO..........

I seemed to slip into a comatose place ,post holiday but I have snapped out of it and here are my first pictures of Italy........Tah Dah !!!

High up above the town of Amalfi, is Ravello.
These photographs (that I took with my own fair little hands, with Mr. Home's camera that our daughter bought him for Christmas. He didn't get his hands on it for the majority of the holiday !!!!!) are of The Gardens of Villa Cimbrone and Villa Rufolo at Ravello.This is Villa Rufolo.Much of the remaining parts of the Villa were rescued by Scottish Industrialist (we poke our noses in everywhere!!!!) Francis Neville Reid, who owned the Villa at the turn of the twentieth century. It now hosts the Fondazione Ravello, The Ravello Music Festival, which was on when we were there.


Bougainvillea is in abundance, something that we can only grow in the greenhouse or conservatory here in England.

Stunning views, everywhere you go ( obviously after great long walks UPWARDS!!!!)



You are going to see lots and lots of iron gates and terracotta pots with flowers....I took a lot of those......lots and lots......actually...lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots!!!!


This is the entrance to The Gardens of Villa Cimbrone......don't you just love that weathered grey gate ?
These gardens belonged, in Roman times,to the noble Acconciajoco family, then to the enormously wealthy Fusco family. At the end of the nineteenth century, the estate, by then sadly abandoned, was discovered by a well known and educated English traveller, Ernest William Beckett, Lord Grimthorpe.( Us English get everywhere!!!). He was from a group of intellectuals who made the Grand Tour and had come to Ravello to recover from depression after the early death of his beloved wife.This magical place gave him so much pleasure and intense happiness, that he bought the estate in 1904, determined to bring it back to life., which he did with the help of English architects and landscape gardeners such as Harold Peto, Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll.
Well.......what can I say...I think that photography must be in my blood !!!! My husband is never getting his camera back now !!!!





Another good one, I think......not that I'm boasting or anything.!!!!!
This is the crypt, modelled on the Fountain Abbey of Malton in Yorkshire, England.
Although it looks medieval, it was built between 1907 and 1911 and became one of the meeting places of London's Bloomsbury Group.

Oh, it's tough being soooo talented......!!!!!!

Wouldn't you just love this as the entrance to your garden ?

Beautiful.........perhaps it wouldn't look so good in Hertfordshire, England.

I want these terracotta pots.......but I think they cost a pretty penny.

WOW.......even bigger pots (and more iron gates...you aint seen nothing yet!!!!)

Swoon.....not only from this delightful gate and geraniums, but am very hot now and have walked up what seemed like the face of the EIGER...and I need a drink.

I think that this is the entrance to the hotel that costs mega bucks and you get 'coptered in ......as you can imagine, we didn't stay there !!!!!!

Another arty farty one from my portfolio!!!!!!

Sorry....had to tarry awhile, as we have just walked UP again and are now at the top!!!

Well, I think that this is my piece de resistance...what do you think ? Shall I start saving for a mega camera with telephoto lens ????

More of the gardens..this is a well...by now I had reached the point of possibly jumping in it, I was so upwardly challenged !!!!!

I've jumped in it !!!!

Love the lamp, love the arched windows, love the leaves. love the walls ,love it all !!!
LOVE ITALY!!

Thought a little sustenance was in order and possible a little glass........

.........oh, looks like this one's nearly finished. Let's open another bottle.....

...yep.....that's right....keep pouring......up to the rim.....I'm going to need it...I've got to walk all the way down again soon. !!!!!!

Gootbey to Raveollooooo.......beeeuutifll coastline...fandabby dosey grdnssssss.....

think I might have drunk a bit too much wine so I'm signing off now and we will be sauntering down to Amalfi town, the next time we visit Italy.....HIC Hic hic.....

Jackie

P.S. I'm only joking when I say that I think my photos are good and that I'm soooo talented....it's just my humour.........some of them are pretty out of focus!!!!

Sweet Little Owl

I reframed this owl print. This was actually a birthday present that I gave my Grandmother years ago. She loved birds. The print means a lot to me so I thought I'd give it a makeover with an old frame and a lighter mat.

Above is what it looked like before. As you can see it's more contemporary and not as crisp or bright with its darker frame and mats.

For the first time, I tried the Museum Grade UV Glass because I thought the UV Clear I used on my peony piece was too reflective. In fact, I ended up replacing the glass in the peony piece with the Museum Grade UV Glass as well.

Most of the art we have in our home are original oil or acrylic landscape paintings. But lately I've been framing up some prints because I'm working on a salon wall for our den.

The antique frame was $20 (what a deal!). Add in the custom cut Museum Grade UV Glass, which was $23, and the custom cut mat for $12, my new piece of artwork cost me $55.

But more than the affordable cost of hanging a new piece of art in my home, I am reminded of the memory of my Grandmother and her passionate love of nature.