Next Door Laura

Are the Christmas Cookies Gone Yet?

2012-01-27T01:50:00.000-08:00

If it's safe to bake again read on.

Here is a family favorite recipe that originally came from the back of a package of deluxe white baking chips. It is a great dough that serves as a base for any number of delicious chocolate cookie creations. At Christmas Andes Baking Chips were a hit addition.

Customizable Chocolate Cookie Dough

350F/9-10 minutes

Cream together:

1 c. butter or margarine
¾ c. sugar
2/3 c. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs

Add:

2 ¼ c. flour
2/3 c. cocoa
1 t. soda
½ t. salt

Now add about 1 1/2 cups of one, or several combined, types of yummy somethings.

Our favorites:
White chips
Andes pieces
Raisins (and milk chocolate chips make a Raisinette-like cookie)
Nuts

Enjoy in moderation.

The Berenstain Bears and the Power of Paypal

2012-01-25T01:29:00.000-08:00

If you love the Berenstain Bears and don't have your nose out of joint like someone we know who is still bugged about how Papa Bear is always portrayed as a bumbling boob, then you might want to check out Moda's new Welcome to Bear Country fabric line featuring our favorite fictional ursine family.

Fat Quarter Shop and Hancock's of Paducah both have collections and boy are they swell.The palette of Mama Bear's dots alone is very fun. Throw in the rest of the other colorful patterns and you have gen xers' and echo boomers' kid lit fabric dreams come true.

Speaking of dreams...we would love to lay our head on a pillowcase made with fabric picturing the rolling hills and fabulous tree-houses of bucolic Bear Country. But then, the nagging question of how all those rooms managed to fit into those tiny tree dwellings might just keep us from our rest. Perhaps a frilly dotted apron à la Mama Bear might be a less disturbing-thought-provoking choice.

Basking

2012-01-23T01:42:00.000-08:00

...in the glow

...of a longer day's surprise

...warm yellow sunrise.

Make a Wish

2012-01-20T01:14:00.000-08:00

Back to the '80s to be in our 30s?

Hmmm...if it comes with a mandatory perm, earrings scaled to the big hair, shoulder pads, stirrup pants and leg warmers...

Then that is not what we will be wishing for when we blow out the candles. We are fine staying right here in our correct chronological time and space. Being a fashion victim knows no age.

Save the Date

2012-01-18T01:01:00.000-08:00

Your Wisconsin State Button Society 2012 show and sale is coming up on June 21-23 in a town very near (most of) you.

The show is a great place to find items to add to your collection or just to spend some time browsing and learning about the wonderful world of buttons.

Enjoy a few selections from one of our favorite collecting categories - pearl button cards.

It's Back...

2012-01-17T04:45:00.000-08:00

Wisconsin's winter wonderland. Enjoy!

What happens when Hollywood director David Zucker unleashes his wacky humor on the historic Riverside Theater and the renowned Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra? You get a little something we're quite familiar with in Wisconsin: fun. - TravelWisconsin.com

Let it snow.

Still Standing

2012-01-16T01:17:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the weather outdoors which has more closely resembled that of April than January in Wisconsin had something to do with the early perky performance of the potted narcissi. They may have let their little egos lead them to compete with the springlike activity going on outside the window, but probably vanity was not the reason for their success at growing straight and tall since they remain unbent even with the return of real winter weather. We must give credit where credit's due and thank the think tank at Cornell University for their well researched hot tip on keeping forced bulbs upright by getting them drunk.

Ten days later here they are erect and blooming with no threat of tipping.

This group knows how to hold their liquor. No blotto bulbs here!

Speaking of giving credit where it's due...we wonder if the lab assistant who discreetly dumped their libation in a convenient research pot when the department head showed up unexpectedly at the unauthorized horticulture department Christmas party eventually fessed up and got a bit of credit for the discovery of alcohol's effect on bulb growth? At least that's how we imagine it happening. What? It may have actually been an intentionally tested scientific theory? We like our version of the story better thank you, so we're sticking with it.

She Stoops to Conquer

2012-01-13T01:54:00.000-08:00

It is our altruistic nature that allows us to risk tarnishing our reputation to make a point. It seems incongruous that someone who has traveled to France twice in thirteen months to learn about fine cuisine would stoop to using packaged foods but, well, it happens. When it does, if our cheaters are not near at hand while we are mixing up a batch of Betty's finest cornmeal muffins - look out diners. Type size on packaging has become so microscopic that every package should come with its own magnifying glass. At least, that is, if producers are hoping to tap the buying power of our vast anaconda-digesting-a-pig population bump of baby boomers. We are the ones who were raised on this stuff right? Jello, cake mixes, and their yuppie cousins risotto mix and tiramisu-in-a-box.

Attention: If you want us to buy it we have to be able to see it.

Suggestion: Ditch all that unpleasant nutritional value information or make that font as small as you like. If a person is buying a convenience food product they really don't want to read about it. Believe us. We get the gist of what it says, and we hate to be glib, but the potluck is in half an hour and at this point we don't have time to care too awfully much.

Kudos to: Oxo for the genius measuring cup pictured above. If we can read the amount called for on the package it is a cinch to find it on this clever utensil.

Bon appetit!

Oh for Cute!

2012-01-11T01:42:00.000-08:00

The Kaffe Klatch was all atwitter when one of our super shoppers showed up with this wonderful find. Most of the usual group of caffeine-addicted acquaintances claim some connection to the land of 10,000 lakes and wanted to know how they could get some too. Sadly, NDL's research has found that Coborn's grocery had these fetching sacks available for a limited time only and now they are all gone! No wonder. They sold for only 99¢ each!

Attractive and oh, so Minnesota on every side, enjoy these photos because that's all we're gonna get.

Bag designed by Shana Shay. Check out her dog portraits!

Soused for Science

2012-01-09T01:43:00.000-08:00

As is often the case, we remember some of the facts, but not all, in any given scientific scenario. When we set some paperwhite narcissus bulbs in stone and water a few weeks ago in anticipation of a midwinter burst of blooms we decided to act on our partial knowledge of gangly growth retardation and corroborate the details later.

Cornell University's William Miller and team have concluded that giving paperwhite bulbs a shot of booze actually helps keep them from falling down(like a)drunk as they are wont to do.

Surprisingly, given our well know fondness for Bloody Marys, we did not have a drop of the recommended types of alcohol in the house. Both the pantry (vodka or gin) and the medicine cabinet (rubbing alcohol) were bare of all suggested forms of bulb inebriates. So, as not to be too late in the growth process with our experiment, we decided to try a glug of cooking sherry, which seemed like a better choice than Grand Marnier. It didn't seem to hurt. Then, when soon after we obtained a bottle of cheap vodka, which we will use for vanilla making, and okay, for the desperation Bloody Mary, we gave it another shot along with additional water to dilute it.

Then, after all possibility of doing it right the first time had passed, and only then did we actually research the issue and find out how it should have been done as outlined in the Cornell University research paper, "Pickling Your Paperwhites".

So far, so good. Buds are coming along and leaf growth is still in check. We apparently got lucky with our glug method of alcohol measuring. Different types of booze require different ratios of dilution, and too much can be fatal. According to the smarties at Cornell: "As with humans, paperwhites can also suffer alcohol overdoses! We suggest 4-6% alcohol as a normal and safe range. If plants are given much more than 10% alcohol, growth problems will start, and 25% alcohol is dramatically toxic. So, moderation is the key!

The little guys made it through New Year's Eve still standing straight. Check back later for our report on how they handle the depressing, dark days of January.

That's All I Have to Say About That

2012-01-06T01:51:00.000-08:00

Forrest has nothing on this guy.

He's seen it all.

Images by: Photofunia and NDL.

Epiphany

2012-01-04T01:37:00.000-08:00

As the new year enters and we enjoy the last of the twelve days of Christmas,

We savor warm memories of the season, then look ahead.

We return to our routines,

And try to remember where we left off before all the happy hullabaloo began.

We reacquaint with those who will share our cabin fever,

And make daring resolutions.

Then we snap out of it, shake our heads, and remind ourselves there is a difference between realistic goals and pure fantasy.

Relax. Keep it real. Go ahead and finish off that last Frango while you power up the old treadmill.

Images by: Photofunia and NDL.

Year of the Gnome

2012-01-02T01:43:00.000-08:00

Get used to it...

Word has it that...

Their time has come...

For long overdue attention...

From hipsters...

Cute furry creatures...

World powers...

And the man on the street.

Images by: Photofunia and NDL.

Merree Christmas and a Veree Happee New Year

2011-12-24T01:45:00.000-08:00

Hope yours is the best Christmas ever!

Suggestion -- Have a happy and healthy New Year too.

Coasting into Christmas

2011-12-23T01:49:00.000-08:00

Some rather quirky, nativity-themed fabric leftover from making a tree skirt became several sets of coasters and even a trivet or two. Coaster use isn't as important in the non-sweaty seasons, but they add a bit of color to a coffee table, and it makes one feel industrious to use up scraps to create something useful. Joelle Hoverson shows how to make these in Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.

What else are we going to do while we wait for Christmas?

What's that? Relax with a glass of wine and some light reading? Good idea!

Rorschach Christmas

2011-12-22T01:49:00.000-08:00

Quick, what do you see?

How about now?

Did you answer stainless steel scrapless cookie cutter? No? Verrry interesting.

Get the picture now? Yes, it's crunch time for getting those Christas cookies done, but we know several boys who would be pretty unhappy if there were no scraps to steal and eat.

Hmmm...there's Santa, Mary and babe, a star, a bell...and a... T-bone steak, a red-nosed dog and an amoeba?

Let's look closer. Yup, that's what we're seein'. Analyze that!

Waiting for Santa

2011-12-21T01:38:00.000-08:00

He's nestled all snug in his bed, but this little simian is going to have a very hard time settling down for his long winter's nap with all this vividness surrounding him.

We knew that we were buying 10 yards of this brilliant Ikea clearance fabric for a reason. We were not really too sure what that was at the time, but it became clear recently when we needed a quick duvet for the spare room bed. Our mathematics failed us the first time we got out the pen and paper to make our calculations. Seemed like we had twice as much yardage as was needed. Of course, we had failed to consider that a duvet has two sides. There went the entire 10 yards in a flash, or rather, in the three days it took us to wrestle a tent's worth of cloth into a giant pillowcase shape.

Close your eyes little monkey. Visualize banana flavored sugar plums....

Cute-as-a-Button Confections from One Smart Cookie

2011-12-20T01:08:00.000-08:00

They were the hit of the button club Christmas party. Our newest member brought them and scored many points in the "getting in the swing of things" category by wowing the crowd of ten button-collecting revelers.

"How did she do it?", everyone wondered. Her technique - fresh-out-of-the-oven peanut butter cookies were impressed with the bottom of a small bottle, then buttonholes were poked out with a straw. That's thinking! This girl has a real future in button society!

We've got a notion that button cookies would be popular at all sorts of events. Quilt, craft, or knitting gatherings for sure, and anywhere else buttons are respected and appreciated. In other words, where wouldn't they be loved?

Me Me Me Me

2011-12-16T01:41:00.000-08:00

In the news this week - box office numbers from the last two weekends were lower than the previous record-low attendance weekends which occured immediately following the incidents of 9/11. How can that be explained? The economy, drought of good films, access to internet entertainment? We're not sure but we did our part by seeing The Muppets not once, but twice in the last two weeks. (It's a long story.) We give it two thumbs up and predict you will like it too. A highlight is a return of the musical stylings of Brett McKenzie, formerly of Flight of the Conchords and music supervisor of The Muppets. Written by Bret himself, Man or Muppet will tug at your heartstrings and make you giggle at once.

Yes, time for going to the cinema during the busy holiday season may also be a factor in the case of the absent audience, but if the cookies are baked, the presents wrapped, and the tree decorated we recommend you get out and support the film industry and our local movie, popcorn, and Jr. Mints franchise.

If you really don't have time to relax for a few hours with The Muppets this weekend, enjoy a bit of holiday silliness with a few of our favorites here.

More Frilly, Less Fat

2011-12-15T01:56:00.000-08:00

Made in Wisconsin, U.S.A. Cream City Ribbon is not only pretty, fun, and possessing a sweet name, it also comes with a very interesting story.

Owned by women and producing an eco-friendly cotton ribbon, this company is unique not just to our state, but the nation as well.

Buy it. Use it. Feel really good about it.

On Lexmark, on HP, on Xerox, and Canon ...

2011-12-14T01:52:00.000-08:00

...on Kodak, on Brother, on Dell, and Epson..

Harness up the old printer and lay in the cardstock! How About Orange has rounded up a nice variety of lovely holiday freebies for downloading and printing just in time for your holiday gift giving.

This Rustic Wood Type Holiday Set is made available by the generous folks at Ellinée.

It was in the Cards

2011-12-13T01:16:00.000-08:00

An empty nail on a very blank wall needed something eye-catching to adorn it. A $2 tray from the variety store, some crafty magnets, and a colorful crop of Christmas cards did the trick. It may seem like an easy solution, but we had to think, and think, and think to come up with it. And right pleased we are to have finally thunk it.

It could look better though...

You know where we live.

It Takes a Pair to Avoid Frostbite or, Why Can't We be Friends?

2011-12-12T01:03:00.000-08:00

Usually friendly relations between neighboring states WI and MI became frosty last week when MI residents took exception to a current ad campaign for winter fun in WI which features the state as a left-handed mitten. Don't worry MI, it's just a seasonal thing. You can keep claim to being the year-round mitten state if you want to.

Unless of course you get out-voted in your own election to see which state is really
the mitten state.

The polls are now open.

Photo: travelwisconsin.com

Nutty but Nice

2011-12-09T01:04:00.000-08:00

Let's just stop pretending Nutella is a toast spread and do what we really want to do - mainline it.
Hold on a minute before you bolt for the pantry. Maybe, just for the holiday we can consume it in a more civilized manner than digging it straight out of the jar with a spoon. Let's put it into cookies!

Hazelnut Krinkle Cookies

1 – 11 oz. jar of chocolate hazelnut spread (That's right. The whole jar.)
3 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
¼ c. shortening
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
½ cup chopped, toasted hazelnuts

2 cups finely chopped, toasted hazelnuts
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375F

• Mix dry ingredients.
• In another bowl combine spread and shortening on medium to high in mixer.
• Add sugar. Beat until fluffy.
• Add vanilla and eggs.
• Alternately add milk and flour. Beat on medium just until combined.
• Add 1/2 cup nuts.
• Chill covered several hours until firm.
• Shape into 1” or 1 ½” balls.
• Roll in finely chopped nuts and then powdered sugar.
• Place 2” apart on baking sheet.
• Bake 8-10 minutes.

Hmmm...a mood-altering substance disguised in chocolate baked goods? Mind blowing concept!

'Tis the season to be jolly.

Scenic Shopping

2011-12-08T01:55:00.000-08:00

You don't get this at the mall.

"Join us out here" or browse from home while enjoying the view from your own window.

Holiday Hint: Go anywhere (except for the tavern) during a Packers game to enjoy any activity in near solitude.

An Alien Concept

2011-12-07T01:29:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to make us really see ourselves and our less than logical behaviours. It doesn't get much farther outside than this.

Holiday hint: Save some petrol and some vexation - shop by phone or interweb with a nice nog and a biscuit by your side.

Eggnog on a Stick

2011-12-06T01:17:00.000-08:00

A cookie from a friend's childhood has become a new favorite of ours.

Nutmeg Logs

1 cup butter
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
2 t. vanilla
2 t. rum flavoring or rum
3 cups flour
1 t. nutmeg
¼ t. salt

Cream butter and sugar. Blend in egg, vanilla, and rum flavoring. Add flour, nutmeg and salt.
Roll dough into ¾ to 1” thick “snakes”. Slice 2 – 3” long.*
Bake at 350 F for 12 to 15 minutes until set.

Frost with:
3 T. butter
½ t. vanilla
1 t. rum flavoring or rum
½ cup powdered sugar

Sprinkle with nutmeg.

*We horsed around with the dough this once to make mini yule log shapes, but the Play-Doh snake method is the specified and much quicker technique for making these yummy tidbits.

Button Up Your Overcoat, in Red and Green

2011-12-05T01:50:00.000-08:00

There's been a serious sorting of the button box to get some secret Santa sewing projects started off in the spectacular spectrum of the season.

Here's a little something for singing while you're sewing - Button Up Your Overcoat:

Listen, big boy
Now that you got me made
Goodness, but I'm afraid
Somethin's gonna happen to you

Listen, big boy
You gotta be hooked, and how
I would die if I should lose you now

Button up your overcoat
When the wind is free
Take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Eat an apple every day
Get to bed by three
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Be careful crossing streets, ooh, ooh
Cut out sweets, ooh, ooh
Lay off meat, ooh, ooh
You'll get a pain and ruin your tum-tum

Wear your flannel underwear
When you climb a tree
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Button up your overcoat
When the wind is free
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me
Boop-boop-a-doop

When you sass a traffic cop
Use diplomacy
Just take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Beware of frozen funds, ooh, ooh
Stocks and bonds, ooh, ooh
Dockside thugs, ooh, ooh
You'll get a pain and ruin your bankroll

Keep the spoon out of your cup
When you're drinking tea
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Don't sit on hornet's tails, ooh, ooh
Or on nails, ooh, ooh
Or third rails, ooh, ooh
You'll get a pain and ruin your tum-tum

Keep away from bootleg hooch
When you're on a spree
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Button Up Your Overcoat Lyrics
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
BROWN, LEW / DESYLVA, B.G. / DESYLVA, B.G. / HENDERSON, RAY

Candid Christmas

2011-12-04T01:03:00.000-08:00

Our favorite floral and fun-stuff store, Eevy Ivey Over Floral and Vicki's Frame Shop, has a Christmas attitude going on in the card section and we like it. The rest of the shop is seriously spruced up for the holiday season too.

Left: Cheers! to the multi-taskers that make the holidays happen.

Right: My holiday wardrobe hides a multitude of sins...

Please, oh please Santa (or helpers) send us one of these inspired Christmas cards. You know where we live and you know we've been (mostly) nice.

Santa Love

2011-12-03T01:09:00.000-08:00

If you need a little more encouragement - here it is.

Santa is in! Today!

Don't forget your camera!

Santa's Lap

2011-12-02T01:47:00.000-08:00

From Color Me Katie and Improv Everywhere comes Mall Santa Musical.

If you've ever wanted to do it here's some enthusiastic encouragement to go for it. You don't even have to go to a mall to find the Jolly Old Soul, he's right here.

Season's Gloatings

2011-12-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

Decorate. Turn the calendar page. Watch the snow fall. Perfect timing.

You can't make it happen.

But when it does, it's a beautiful thing.

It's Beginning to Look a Bit like Christmas

2011-11-30T05:12:00.000-08:00

As you probably already know, we feel strongly that each season should have its very own chance to shine. No mums on the porch while the geraniums are still going strong. No wreaths out before the pumpkins are composted. And no petunias while the spring bulbs and ephemerals are still putting on a show. It's just common courtesy. Daffodils have feelings too you know.

Well, the pumpkins are in the bin, the leaves are (mostly) raked, and the calendar agrees... It is time for the holiday greenery and lights to have a turn. Temps above freezing are expected for today and snow flurries are predicted tomorrow. Even though it is our tradition to hang the outside decor with noses running and fingers freezing, every few years there is an exception to our usually poor timing and the ritual is actually a pleasant one.

Thank you to all the happy pruners around town (and country) for the lovely greens and the beautiful bunch of red twig dogwood delivered conveniently to the municipal and neighborhood yard waste dumps.

The 2011 neighborhood light show is looking great by the way. Neighbors new and old are outdoing themselves with festive front porch frippery. It will be a beautiful walk for carolers, strollers, and even the mailman (who is now delivering in the dark) throughout the holiday season.

There is one exception to our overlapping-seasons rule. Approval is granted for outdoor lights remaining lit well beyond December 25. It helps to bring a little brightness to our very bleak midwinter. Please, just make sure they are unplugged before you are hanging Easter eggs from your shrubs. Thank you.

That's How the Cookie Crumbles

2011-11-28T01:05:00.000-08:00

After a quarter century of mixing, scooping, swatting little hands out of the bowl, losing focus and burning the last pan, our days of routine cookie baking are numbered. Later this week the last child will be a child no longer. This youngest boy, the non-dough eater, prefers this cookie over all others. The two dough eaters in the family like it too. According to them it is like eating raw breakfast on a spoon with chocolate chips added.

Chewy Choc-Scotch-Oat-Chip Cookies
(a hybrid of Quaker Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies crossed with Nestle Oatmeal Scotchies)

Ingredients:

1/2 pound (2 sticks) margarine or butter, softened
1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips

Preparation
Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat margarine and sugars until creamy. Add eggs, milk and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Add oats, chocolate chips and nuts, if desired; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 9 to 10 minutes for a chewy cookie or 12 to 13 minutes for a crisp cookie. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Makes: ABOUT 5 DOZEN

Photos and taste testing: S. Plasch

Small Saturday Shopping

2011-11-26T01:14:00.000-08:00

Relax, enjoy, and be inspired to support a small business, or DIY far from the madding mall.

Another pretty perusing possibility from Emily Henderson.

Local - It's for Smart Yokels

2011-11-25T01:47:00.000-08:00

Here is the perfect opportunity to shop, show your local pride, support some hometown kids who done good, and stay in your jammies and out of the crush of the big-box stores today.

Lots of good stuff inside Volume One's Gift Worthy goods. See the last page for Black Friday deals.

Bag O' Sliders, Hold the Pickles

2011-11-23T01:57:00.000-08:00

Year after year we have been tempted by this coupon in the Thanksgiving week ad inserts. It's time to go for it. This is the year we make White Castle Holiday Stuffing.

Perhaps we will make a few slippery side dishes while we're at it. Nobody's choking on dry turkey this year!

Best Darn Yarners

2011-11-21T01:54:00.000-08:00

A recent estate sale find reminded us that it is getting to be the time of year for tall tales, fibs, creative fabrications and recreational prevaricating.

World renown Burlington Liars Club, chooses the Championship Lie for 2011 on December 31. To submit your tall tale, send $1.00 with your entry to Burlington Liars Club, P.O. Box 156, Burlington, WI 53105.

It will be hard to top last year's winner, but maybe you will find inspiration from conversation around the holiday table this year. Just ask Grandpa about that walk to school. Once he's warmed up who knows what doozies will follow.

2010 winner:

“I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.” - David Milz, Bristol, Wisconsin

Runners-up:

“My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying.” - Ellen Everts, New London, Wisconsin

“My neighbor’s scarecrow was so good that the crows brought back the corn they stole last year.”
- Daryl Lockwood, Waupaca, Wisconsin

It seems that just as "Virginia is for Lovers", "Wisconsin is for Liars". Hmmm...new marketing motto? Nah, no one would believe it.

Let Your Fingers do the Walking

2011-11-18T01:02:00.000-08:00

In the comfort of your armchair enjoy some shopping from Creature Comforts' Gifted Magazine.

Merry and Bright (Ideas) House

2011-11-16T01:44:00.000-08:00

Bachman's has done it again. Another season, another ideas house.

The Very Best Find Ever

2011-11-14T01:29:00.000-08:00

It was a tent sale miracle.

Never seen before or since. Just one pair of the cutest Eric Carle Hungry Caterpillar shoes ever. And not found by us! Hope the lucky recipient appreciates the excellent shopping skills of the thoughtful gift giver.

Field trip anyone?

La Guerre des Films

2011-11-11T01:10:00.000-08:00

On our recent trip to France... we saw reproduction vintage posters for La Guerre des Boutons scattered throughout the Metro stations. With our limited language skills we determined that showings of the film being advertised were in conjunction with the release of a new version of the movie based on an even older book of the same name.

Back at home, while researching the entire topic of La Guerre des Boutons (because of course we are all over anything button-related) we were, as often the case, confused. This time however, it was with good reason. 2011 sees the release of not one, but two versions of the same story. Here we try to sort it out for you (because we know you will not sleep well until we do) even though it is unlikely that we will have access to any of the film versions of this French story.

La Guerre des Boutons or War of the Buttons is a 1962 French film directed by Yves Robert, about two rival kid gangs whose playful combats escalate into violence. The title derives from the buttons that are cut-off from the rival team's clothes as combat trophies. The film is based on "La Guerre des Boutons" a novel by Louis Pergaud (1882-1915), who was killed in action in the First World War and whose works portray a fervent anti-militarism.
The young and largely untrained actors included André Treton ("Lebrac"), Michel Isella ("l'Aztec") and Martin Lartigue ("Petit Gibus"). The character Petit Gibus's line of dialogue - uttered in frustration - "si j'aurais su, j'aurais pas v'nu" ("if I woulda known, I wouldn'ta come"), with its incorrect grammar (the correct form should be: "si j'avais su, je ne serais pas venu") has become a familiar tagline in France (the line was not in the original novel). - Wikipedia

1962 original La Guerre des Boutons by Yves Robert.

2011 remake number one by Yann Samuel.

2011 remake number 2 (la nouvelle) by Christophe Barratier.

Whew. That was alot of work. Didn't know what we were getting into. Si j'aurais su, j'aurais pas v'nu.

Living in the Past

2011-11-09T01:59:00.000-08:00

Already missing this.

And this.

Best Buds

2011-11-07T01:19:00.000-08:00

Just a couple of delicate, fragrant, humidity and light sensitive hothouse flowers.

Laura

Charlotte

Streptocarpus

Miracle Worker

2011-11-04T01:03:00.000-07:00

Visiting the old alma mater and hometown we were pleased to see that at least one thing was not smaller than we remembered it. This legendary giant of the Indiana educational system tried to teach us driving and U.S. History, but even a veteran teacher such as Henry "Hank" Clason could only do so much with what he had to work with. We stayed awake in one class better than the other. And we suppose that if polled, most people would say that the more important subject to be alert for is the one that affects public safety. If we ever make it to Who Wants to be a Millionaire we'll be phoning a friend from a little higher up on the honor roll for names, dates, and places.

Since that barely-worth-mentioning incident in 1974 of over-correction into a tulip bed, and except for a few warnings for small matters like running lights that were (we swear) 3/4 yellow or driving a couple miles over the posted limit, our record is pretty clean. Ticket-wise that is.

There was that time we pulled away from the filling station before returning the gas nozzle to the pump.....

Astrantia - Great Masterwort

2011-11-02T01:05:00.000-07:00

It took awhile, but we have finally made a positive ID on this enchanting plant that we encountered on our tour of England and its Gardens. Astrantia, AKA - Great Masterwort is hardy in zones 4 - 9, but if we can find it we will plant it and give it a try. Let us know if you spot plants or seeds of this lovely specimen and we will do the same for you.

Astrantia is a genus of herbaceous plants in the family Apiaceae, endemic to Central, Eastern and Southern Europe and the Caucasus. The Genus name comes from the Greek word for star in reference to the star-like quality of the flower heads. There are 8 or 9 species, which have aromatic roots, palmate leaves, and decorative flowers. They are commonly known as great masterwort, which may be confused with masterwort, Peucedanum ostruthium.- Wikipedia

Scary

2011-10-31T01:30:00.000-07:00

Ask anybody. Which is more frightening, vampires or clowns? Most people would rather spend Halloween night with Dracula in a cemetery on Elm Street next to the Bates Motel than a half hour on a bright sunny afternoon with a clown.

You can help stop the madness. Send the kids out as ghosts, ghouls or goblins but please, don't send out the clowns.

From Marsh to Market

2011-10-28T01:12:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful Autumn day. We'd driven by these marshes many times without stopping, but could resist no longer. The car pulled easily onto the wide shoulder of the road. A short walk brought us to the edge of the brilliant red sea of plump ripe cranberries ready for harvest.

It's truly a spectacular sight of something special from Wisconsin.

Super Savon

2011-10-26T01:30:00.000-07:00

Is there anything that Marius Fabre Savon de Marseille cannot do?

Everyday soap in the kitchen, bath and shower. These soaps are incredibly gentle and will leave even dry and sensitive skin feeling wonderfully smooth and soft.

As an anti-bacterial cleanser, it is an excellent disinfectant and can be used to clean wounds.

Grate the soap and boil in water to make your own laundry detergent.

As a stain-remover before washing.

As shampoo and even toothpaste.

Because it is hypoallergenic, dermatologists often recommend it for skin problems and midwives suggest it for newly-born babies.

This gentle soap is recommended for the care of babies and their clothes.

As shampoo for pet grooming.

Put a cube at the bottom of your bed to avoid cramps.

- From Olive Oil Source Boutique

Well we don't see baking a cake, wallpapering the bathroom, doing your Christmas shopping, curing the common cold or driving the kids to school on the list of things this soap can do, but it probably could do all of that if it tried.

This life-changing product brought back from our recent trip to France just might need to be replenished every few years. Anybody up for a little shopping trip? Peut-être, si nous sommes chanceux while we're there we can observe the "saponification in cauldrons technique" and then give it a try at home in the old Calphalon kettle.

Ne pas oublier de laver derrière les oreilles!

Revoir à la France

2011-10-24T01:52:00.000-07:00

Goodbye to town and country.

Cuisine Provençale

2011-10-21T01:59:00.000-07:00

Chez Madelaine on the road chez Provence Paradise .

Hotel La Mirande cooking class.

Sur les Marchés

2011-10-20T01:32:00.000-07:00

Magnifiques!

A la Campagne

2011-10-19T01:20:00.000-07:00

Provence

Cafe Society

2011-10-18T01:21:00.000-07:00

Living the good life in Lyon.

En Ville

2011-10-17T01:05:00.000-07:00

Lyon

Trompe-l'œil

La Fontaine Bartholdi

Traboules

Boules

Hotel de Ville

Carhartt Chic

Musee des Beaux Arts

Guignol

Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Funicular

Roman Theater

Sweater Weather

2011-10-14T01:57:00.000-07:00

It's coming.

Time to whip up that fashionable extra layer.

Picture the Fun in a Pile of Leaves

2011-10-12T01:10:00.000-07:00

It's not the destination, it's the get-away. Run baby, run and take your pals with you.

But check the color report before you choose your direction.

Make Your Wish

2011-10-10T01:25:00.000-07:00

And get ready for goosebumps.

Especially if you go fullscreen.

What would you wish for?

When You See a Giant Hot Dog in a Window...

2011-10-07T01:23:00.000-07:00

...it calls for further investigation.

Just walking down the big city sidewalk with no particular agenda, open for whatever came our way, and then we saw this.

A few steps more then this.

Through a door, up some stairs and then down a few steps, and we were in a hall of retro repro, and true vintage wonders otherwise known as Kilroy's Classic Malt Shop Supply Company.

Not only were we encouraged to look around and take photos, we were given permission to try any machines we wanted to with coins provided. Whoo doggie. My lovely assistant (aka Banana Crusher, or was that Flower Child?) tried several.

Best free fun we have had in a long time.

If you need to supply your malt shop, or even if you don't, we highly recommend a visit to Kilroy's.

Forest Lodge

2011-10-05T01:26:00.000-07:00

Many of us began our love of reading at one of the 1,689 Carnegie Libraries in the United States or the 125 in Canada built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Here is the one we lived at for our first formative years of being a bookworm. It holds the distinction of being the first Carnegie Library built in the state of Indiana.

We actually got there in a car of a slightly later model than the one pictured here in this 1912 photo. Probably a Lark station wagon, or more likely we walked there dragging along down the sidewalk after a longer-legged, teen-aged sibling. The image of the basement children's reading room that stays with us still is of the storybook characters in silhouette inlay on the cool smooth floor. We can still feel the lovely cool respite from the Indiana humidity we enjoyed while choosing books for the summer reading program that we faithfully participated in each year.

When we are looking for a good lake read or perhaps some DVD entertainment Up North, we have the good fortune to have a very well appointed library to go to. This library, in high contrast appearance-wise to the Carnegie model, was also made possible through the generosity of an individual, local philanthropist Mary Livingston Griggs.

Can you picture storytime being held in the lap of a friendly big brown bear?

Forest Lodge Library. "Free people read freely"

The Sultan Welcomes You

2011-10-03T01:22:00.000-07:00

For 15 years we have driven by the Turk's Inn sign on our way to and from the lake area, but never had time to stop.

For many of those years there was a dog along whose sniffing became faster as the air became full of the scent of algae, or pines, or whitetail deer or whatever it was that triggered her Pavlovian response to a near hyperventilating head-out-the-window-state. She certainly could not be left alone in the car tortured by the anticipation of a good swim and some magnificent squirrel chasing, while we enjoyed a leisurely dining stop.

Little boys also did not have time for this kind of silly adult activity. The lake, the boat, the woods, the fish all called and said, "do not stop now", as they too saw and smelled that we were almost at the lake. Why would we ever stop when we were so close to little boy paradise.

Nowadays the pace of the lake trips has slowed, so when we heard a rumor that the Turk's Inn wasn't going to be around forever, and knowing that we would have regrets if we never saw the inside of this Northwoods legend while we had the chance, we decided that we needed to get there, and soon.

Our expectations were met and far surpassed. There was amazing decor, decadently deliciously steak and lamb chops, classic cocktails, friendly staff, and vintage swag. Here is a glimpse of the wonder that is the Turk's Inn.

You can read much more of the fascinating story of the Turk's Inn (including tales of gangster and celebrity guests) as told by owner Marge Gogan at Gypsynester.

Probably Not What Daisy Had in Mind

2011-09-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

This makes us think the same thought we have when we see chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs or sausages shaped like bottles of beer. And that thought is...

Really? Some poor animal, or some part of it sacrificed for this?

Scrub that Idea

2011-09-28T01:51:00.000-07:00

It was a great plan for fun homegrown Christmas presents. Everyone on our list would be thrilled to get their very own locally harvested luffa. See that thing that looks like a nice size cucumber? That is our entire luffa crop.

Yet another Wisconsin cheese box will be coming your way this December.

A Near Missoni

2011-09-26T01:32:00.000-07:00

We try to keep you up to date on the happenings at our favorite retail hangout, but this trend came and went in a flurry of frantic power shopping that we are quite frankly glad to have missed.

This is all we could find on the shelves after the dust settled from the stampede of Missoni fashion hunters a few weeks ago. Within hours almost all merchandise had vanished from stores and the website crashed from the traffic of would-be online orderers. Yikes! Really alot of fuss just for some stuff decorated in a somewhat jazzed-up version of Charlie Brown's signature look which, by the way, nobody outside a Sunday comic strip should really be wearing anyway.

Little Sue

2011-09-23T01:04:00.000-07:00

Our summer romance with Nymphaea "Little Sue" was fun while it lasted.

Don't worry, our relationship will go on, but as with many seasonal flings, the magic has changed to a comfortable, lovely, more mature kind of infatuation. As we write Sue is becoming rich compost for next year's garden, and her pretty face will be with us through the winter until next summer since she was chosen to be cover girl for the new edition of the garden club yearbook. Congratulations Little Sue!

Royal Garden Fare Thee Well

2011-09-19T01:33:00.000-07:00

This is the last stop on our tour of England and its Gardens. The Royal Horticultural Society gardens at Wisley are the perfect grand finale for our cavalcade of 13 of England's finest garden sites.

First a word about the RHS.

It was a rainy day just like many of our days in England.

The trade off for the inconvenience of juggling jackets and umbrellas, and and walking for miles and miles in squishy shoes is the brilliant color of the plants and flowers that are far more intense on a wet and overcast day than in the harsh light of the bright sun.

The mixed borders were beautiful and seemed to go on forever.

Alstromeria outside the captivity of a florist shop. It actually grows in gardens!

The Alpine Display House.

Bowes-Lyon Rose Garden.

The Bonsai Garden.

The Vegetable Garden.

The Glass House and surrounding landscape designed by Tom Stuart-Smith.

Inside the Glass House.

The Fruit Nursery and one of the works on the Surrey Sculpture Society Trail.

The Trials Field.

The last, long, lovely stroll to the coach for our return to London and farewell dinner before an early morning departure from the land of glorious gardens.

If you haven't had enough images of England and its Gardens here are 13 gardens in 13 days in six and half minutes with music. Enjoy.

Meritorious Criteria

2011-09-16T01:42:00.000-07:00

The trial gardens at the RHS Wisley are a great place to see plants that have been given the Award of Garden Merit in action, so to speak. By coincidence that is our next, and last stop, on the cavalcade of gardens tour - coming soon.

Award of Garden Merit

The AGM is intended to be of practical value to the home gardener. It is awarded therefore only to a plant that meets the following criteria:

It must be of outstanding excellence for ordinary garden decoration or use
It must be available
It must be of good constitution
It must not require highly specialist growing conditions or care
It must not be particularly susceptible to any pest or disease
It must not be subject to an unreasonable degree of reversion in its vegetative or floral characteristics

Is it possible that this list might be modified to form criteria for lots of other categories of acquisition in our lives? Thrift sale finds, home decor, fabric, ~~spouses~~ for example.

Look at these great lists of 10 AGM plants for each month of the year.

UKnique

2011-09-14T01:52:00.000-07:00

It seems like something Yogi Berra would say, but isn't it nice to know that when you're in England you're not anywhere else? Yes, when you're back in Blighty you know it. Here's what we mean.

Monkey Puzzle

2011-09-12T01:30:00.000-07:00

Guess where we first learned about the Monkey Puzzle tree? Give up. You never will guess that it was at Button Club. That's right. Button Club.

Black buttons worn by Queen Victoria while in mourning for her beloved Prince Albert were made from jet. Jet is said to be the petrified fossil remains of the Monkey Puzzle tree. True jet buttons are rare and expensive.

Other buttons are sometimes referred to as jet when in fact they are black glass, the less costly material used for the many buttons that were needed as the entire country joined Queen Victoria in her sadness by wearing black mourning clothes.

Legend has it that the monkey puzzle was given its common name when a Victorian gardener told visitors admiring his specimen that “it would puzzle a monkey to climb it” -- a reference to the very prickly thick leaves. The French call the tree ‘le désespoir des singes’ or ‘monkey’s despair.’ Some visitors note that the branches look like a monkey’s tail. However, there are no monkeys in its native habitat. - VanDusen Botanical Garden

Well anyway, Monkey Puzzle trees are a fairly ubiquitous in English gardens, but as they are not common, if found at all in the U.S., our group was delighted at each sighting of the rather Seussical tree with a quizzical name and would all have one in our gardens if we could. Instead, while we had the chance, we pointed them out every time they appeared and photographed them like paparazzi chasing a rock star.

Not Just a Thumb! All Ten Fingers!

2011-09-10T01:44:00.000-07:00

Greenfingers is a 2000 British comedy film directed and written by Joel Hershman. It is loosely based on a true story about the award-winning prisoners of HMP Leyhill, a minimum-security prison in the Cotswolds, England. It is on our list of movies that get an annual viewing, usually as we're waiting for the snowdrifts to melt away about the end of April. Clive Owen first came across our radar with this film. Helen Mirren's character is perfect and shows a side to her that we had not seen before this role. The floral prints! The hats!

When Colin Briggs (Clive Owen) is placed in an experimental program to finish off his prison sentence, all he wants is peace and quiet. But after his wise, elderly roommate Fergus introduces him to gardening, Colin uncovers a talent and passion for plants. Teaming up with his fellow inmates, Colin gets the attention of celebrated gardener Georgina Woodhouse (Helen Mirren). Soon, the unexpected gardeners are preparing to compete for the Hampton Court Flower Show. And when Colin meets Georgina's beautiful daughter Primrose, he discovers another reason to fight for his freedom: true love. - Wikipedia

Find it. Watch it. We think you'll love it.

And watch for Hampton Court in the last scene. It may be hard to see through the tears in your eyes. Oh wait, that was our problem. You'll be fine.

Fit for a King and Quite a Few Queens

2011-09-08T01:44:00.000-07:00

Hampton Court Palace and Gardens first and most notorious residents were King Henry VIII and his revolving cast of wives.

The palace is amazing and the stories of the royals quite enthralling. The gardens are spectacular with something different around every corner. Visiting Hampton Court makes for a grand day out.

(Hampton Court, drawn by Knyff, engraved by Knyff for Britannia illustrata 1708)

Pop(corn) Art

2011-09-06T01:46:00.000-07:00

It's all about tradition at the great state get together known as the Minnesota State Fair. Some fair enthusiasts look forward to their yearly check-in on the animal barn, machinery hill, the midway. Others are all about getting that favorite delicacy on-a-stick or picking up the freebies, the most classic of which is the yardstick. For many the highlight is watching the royal dairy performance art of butter sculpting Princess Kay of the Milky Way and the also-rans.

Our favorite thing at the fair? We can't wait to see the new entries in the agricultural competition category, crop art.

This winner in the senior division was created by Linda Paulson, daughter of the late, great seed artist Lillian Colton.

Competitors must show the materials used in their art.

Linda was present and working on a new creation while kindly and patiently answering questions.

Many of her mother's prize winning seed portraits were on display.

The often seedy looking Willy Nelson never looked better than he does here represented in actual seed form even though the photo is a little grainy. Oh wait, I guess that's unavoidable.

If you want to read more about the amazing Lillian Colton you can buy Seed Queen for your own edification and enjoyment all winter long and until the fair comes around again next August. The cover, created by David Steinlicht is a work of art in itself.

Then, you might be inspired to enter in the junior category.

Or, if you are more mature in years, but not yet experienced in this artistic genre, there is the amateur option.

And after that you will move up to be an advanced competitor.

Which may give you the confidence to try the dyed and painted subcategory for a more colorful entry.

But, if like us you never really get around to getting out the glue and raiding the pantry for your palette...crop art appreciators, for the small price of a ticket to the fair, are welcome to stand as long as they want to admire the hard work of others.

A Bad Trip Man

2011-09-04T01:46:00.000-07:00

Just a day before this headline (quick warning to the squeamish - cover your eyes when linking) we were coming through the garden gate juggling Juliet tomatoes and a bunch of basil in one hand, a coffee cup, compost bucket, and kitchen shears in the other, and had the thought - tripping now could mean mortal damage to our gizzard. It would not look good in the obituary.

A neighbor, Mrs. B.Z. Body said of the late NDL - She never knew when enough was enough. Making two trips from garden to garage was just not an option. Garden tote? She owned a million of them, but seldom thought to grab one before heading to the tomato plot. She superstitiously believed it was bad luck to presume that the tomatoes would be more abundant than what her hands could hold. She might get there and find that the chipmunks had chewed holes in each and every one of them. Too bad she couldn't stop multitasking long enough to leave her coffee mug in the kitchen while she ran out for Caprese Salad ingredients. She seemed like such a nice lady too. If only she could've kicked that caffeine habit. Sad. So sad. Say, do you know if those gnomes will be part of the estate sale?

Alien Oasthouse

2011-09-02T01:25:00.000-07:00

Do you know what this is? Here's a hint: It dries something that later helps wet your whistle.

It's an oasthouse of course. This one is on the grounds at Sissinghurst Castle.

Oasthouses are a lovely visual reminder of the history and culture of hop growing and harvesting in Kent and other counties in England.

Now that the oast houses of Kent are out of service what are they used for? Holiday cottages and tony housing it seems.

Garden Life of the Day

2011-08-31T01:05:00.000-07:00

After a morning tour of Vita Sackville-West's childhood home, Knole House, we traveled to Sissinghurst Castle home of Vita and husband Harold Nicolson where we spent a lovely afternoon wandering at leisure through the beautiful "rooms" of the Sissinghurst Garden .

A sixteenth century tower, and other buildings, with the most famous twentieth century garden in England. Sissinghurst garden is a prime example of the Arts and Crafts style. The garden was made on the site of a medieval manor and some structures survive. Harold Nicolson, a diplomat and author, laid down the main lines of the Sissinghurst design in the 1930s. Vita Sackville-West, a poet, a garden writer and Harold's wife, took responsibility for the planting at Sissinghurst garden. She worked as an 'artist-gardener'. Her planting design was brilliant. The historical importance of Sissinghurst Castle Garden comes from its role in transmitting Gertrude Jekyll's design philosophy to a host of visitors. The most famous and influential feature of Sissinghurst is the White Garden. It exemplified and popularised Jekyll's idea of using colour themes in planting design. - Gardenvisit.com

Garden features shown here from above and from within: The white garden, the cottage garden and cottage, the orchard, the lime walk, the yew walk, the rose garden and yew rondel.

Best Hide and Seek House Ever

2011-08-29T01:46:00.000-07:00

Knole House, the childhood home of Vita Sackville-West, is a country estate with an intriguing history of ownership that includes the Archbishop of Canterbury, King Henry VIII and the fascinating Vita herself.

Vita Sackville-West's work 'Knole and the Sackvilles' is one of the classics on English country houses, and her good friend, Virginia Woolf, wrote 'Orlando' largely based on the history of the house and family. - The Heritage Trail

The house was built by Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, between 1456 and 1486, on the site of an earlier house belonging to James Fiennes, the Lord Say and Sele who was executed after the victory of Jack Cade's rebels at the Battle of Solefields. On Bourchier's death, the house was bequeathed to the See of Canterbury — Sir Thomas More appeared in revels there at the court of John Morton — and in subsequent years it continued to be enlarged, with the addition of a new large courtyard, now known as Green Court, and a new entrance tower. In 1538 the house was taken from Archbishop Thomas Cranmer by King Henry VIII along with Otford Palace.

In 1566, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, it came into the possession of her cousin Thomas Sackville whose descendants the Earls and Dukes of Dorset and Barons Sackville have lived there since 1603 (the intervening years saw the house let to the Lennard family). Most notably, these include writer Vita Sackville-West (her Knole and the Sackvilles, published 1922, is regarded as a classic in the literature of English country houses); her friend and lover Virginia Woolf wrote the novel Orlando drawing on the history of the house and Sackville-West's ancestors. The then laws of primogeniture prevented Sackville-West herself from inheriting Knole upon the death of her father Lionel (1867–1930), the 3rd Lord Sackville, and the estate and title passed to her uncle Charles (1870–1962). - Wikipedia

After leaving the deer park one passes through the Green Court and then the Stone Court before entering the interior through a truly great great room. Contained within the many other rooms one finds a rare collection of Stuart furniture, tapestries, paintings, and intricately detailed woodwork throughout, especially on the Italianate main stairway and the fireplace in the Great Chamber. Sorry, no photos allowed.

Knole is an English country house in the town of Sevenoaks in west Kent, surrounded by a 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) deer park. One of England's largest houses, it is reputed to be a calendar house, having 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances and 7 courtyards. It is remarkable in England for the degree to which its early 17th-century appearance is preserved, particularly in the case of the state rooms: the exteriors and interiors of many houses of this period, such as Clandon Park in Surrey, were dramatically altered later on. The surrounding deer park is also a remarkable survivor, having changed little over the past 400 years except for the loss of over 70% of its trees in the Great Storm of 1987. - Wikipedia (When asked, our guide admitted that the calendar house idea is perhaps stretched a bit. Only one of those numbers is exactly true. The 7 courtyards perhaps?)

Bloomin' Lovely

2011-08-26T01:53:00.000-07:00

At Bloom's of Bressingham known for their island bed garden style and the introduction of over 200 perennial cultivars.

Perhaps you have a few plants that got their start at Bloom's in your garden.

1920s – Dianthus ‘Oakington’
1930s – Phlox ‘Oakington Blue Eyes’
1950s – Achillea ‘Moonshine’, Heucherella ‘Bridget Bloom’, Heuchera Bressingham hybrids
1960s – Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, Geranium ‘Ballerina’, Kniphofia ‘Bressingham Comet’
1970s - Astilbe ‘Sprite’ (1994 PPA Perennial Plant of the Year), Phlox ‘Eva Cullum’
1980s – Leucanthemum ‘Snowcap’, Bergenia ‘Bressingham Ruby’, Phlox ‘Franz Schubert’, Achillea ‘Anthea’
1990s – Lavandula ‘Blue Cushion’, Polemonium ‘Brise d’Anjou’
2000s – Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (2008 PPA Perennial Plant of the Year), Campanula ‘Blue Waterfall’

Perrenial Portraits

2011-08-24T01:46:00.000-07:00

The Beth Chatto Gardens date back only to 1960 when Beth and Andrew Chatto turned an overgrown rural property into the lush display gardens and thriving nursery found there today.

Walking the grounds one travels through the gravel garden, down to the water garden, through the woodland area and scree garden, and finally to the nursery full of wonderful perennial specimens.

Many of the same plants seemed to pop up at every garden we visited. For reasons of hardiness or personal taste those much seen, popular perennials are not so prevalent in gardens in our area. Perhaps it is time to branch out and give some of the zone appropriate ones a try. Sea holly, or Erygium, for example was in nearly every garden on our tour. It provides a lovely architectural structure for more delicate companion plants in a garden bed.

Bergenia in xeriscaping. Look at this very healthy crop here in the gravel garden. Who knew it would work so well in a dry situation? The gravel garden has never been artificially watered since its creation in 1991 except in the case of establishing new plants.

Persicarias are prevalent all through English gardens. The only one familiar to us is known as an invasive field weed, which likely accounts for its lack of popularity in gardens in the US. Cultivated varieties are truly lovely enmasse as found here pond-side.

Gunnera. Love it. Probably not going to happen here in zone 4, but we would grow it if we could. Like this guy. Impressive, eh?

Hmm.. some one did not get the memo about purple loosestrife. Do not try this at home. Really! If you are ever in doubt when trying to identify this naughty invasive look for the square stems which distinguish purple loosestrife from its benign look alikes such as fireweed. And to be fair...we did not look closely enough to see if this plant was indeed loosestrife, but thought we would sneak in a PSA about it because, as always we want you to be careful out there.

Clever nurserymen or women display plants-for-sale in combinations that would never occur to us, yet look truly stunning. We are very susceptible to the power of suggestion.

Ms. Chatto's personal succulent collection. Wonderful, but not for sale.

Beth Chatto. A remarkable woman with a very green thumb.

Bonnets and Bustles

2011-08-22T01:13:00.000-07:00

We were in the neighborhood so we stopped for the morning in Lacock. This unique village is owned by the National Trust and is to be preserved as is. In effect the entire town is a museum. No one owns homes or businesses. Buildings are leased only. No signs of modern life such as overhead wires are allowed. It is indeed a very scenic place as evidenced by its selection for use as a setting in many TV and movie productions. The recent BBC series Cranford starring a regular who's who of brit actors prominently featured the streets and buildings of Lacock. Other productions at least partially set in Lacock include: Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Moll Flanders, and many of the Harry Potter movies.

The cauldron in the warming room at Lacock Abbey is of particular interest to Potterites.

This little black hen was our curious companion throughout a relaxed and lovely luncheon in the courtyard of the Angel Inn. Walnut and Stilton pate. Yum!

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch

2011-08-20T01:24:00.000-07:00

The tomatoes are plump and red as true tomatoes should be. Sliced, diced, BLTed, and eaten right off the vine - Wisconsin 55, Juliet, and the lovely Jaune Flamme are the stars of the August community garden plot.

Oh yes, let's not forget the ever tasty Garden of Eden green beans, a favorite of the Duncan Creek deer herd, and the bountiful Black Beauty zucchini.

Ha Ha

2011-08-19T01:29:00.000-07:00

Lancelot "Capability" Brown was responsible for the Brownian landscape style characterized by the use of water, trees, grass, and animals to create a naturalistic scene.

His style of smooth undulating grass, which would run straight to the house, clumps, belts and scattering of trees and his serpentine lakes formed by invisibly damming small rivers, were a new style within the English landscape, a "gardenless" form of landscape gardening, which swept away almost all the remnants of previous formally patterned styles. - Wikipedia

At Corsham Court Brown started the job of creating the pastoral scene seen from this amazing Elizabethan house in 1760, but it was Henry Repton who after 45 years completed the focal point of the picture, the lake.

How did the animals stay nicely in the scene without straying? Why is there no fence to spoil the view? At the edge of the lawn a long, steep ditch forms an invisible barrier called a ha ha.
Clever trick, eh?

Corsham Court houses magnificent art collected by Sir Paul Methuen. The manor and park remain in the care of the Methuen family.

For the trivia file: Lancelot Brown's nickname Capability came from his fondness of speaking about a country estate having great capability for improvement. Richard Owen Cambridge, the English poet and satirical author, declared that he hoped to die before Brown so that he could "see heaven before it was 'improved'".

This week's vocabulary challenge: Use the word serpentine in casual conversation or while making chit chat with your dentist, hairdresser, neighbor, co-worker, spouse, or at the grocery checkout counter. Let us know how that goes.

Getting Back on the White Horse

2011-08-18T01:24:00.000-07:00

Or rather, the white coach back in England.

Before we move on to Suffolk let's take a look at the amazing white horses of Wiltshire.

We passed the Cherhill horse several times as we traveled from our home base in Devizes to gardens around the region.

The Wiltshire Countryside is famous for its white horse chalk hill figures. It is thought that there have been 13 white horses in existence in Wiltshire, but only 8 are still visible today.
Cut in 1780 by Dr. Christopher Alsop (or the mad doctor as he was known locally) the Cherhill, or Oldbury, white horse measures 129ft by 142ft and is best viewed from the main A4 road between Calne and Beckhampton.
Dr Alsop is supposed to have shouted his instructions from the village by megaphone to the workman on the Cherhill Down, who planted white flags to mark the outline.
A unique attraction of the Cherhill horse was its eye. Measuring four feet in diameter, Aslop filled the eye with glass bottles embedded into the turf face down. This gave the effect that the eye was shimmering when the sun hit it and could be seen for miles around. By 1872 all the bottles had been stolen by tourists and souvenir hunters. - visitwiltshire.co.uk

For your trivia file: Leucippotomy is the art of carving white horses in chalk upland areas, particularly as practised in southern England.

Unfortunately our route did not pass by the premier example of gigantotomy in England, the Cerne Abbas giant.

Blink

2011-08-16T01:36:00.000-07:00

We know your eyes are glazed over from our, as one tour participant put it (even though he later tried to deny saying it), "death march through English garden history".

Imagine what it was like to be the ones getting on the coach every morning at a too early hour and schlepping through one or more gardens a day every day for two weeks. Well, actually it was wonderful in an exhausting kind of way.

To cleanse your palate, so to speak, here is a fun line of Fred merchandise seen at Target this summer.

We are not the only ones with a Target "problem". This post from Target Addict popped up in our Fred/Target research.

We can quit anytime we want to.

Jekyll* Speaks

2011-08-15T01:37:00.000-07:00

A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust. - Gertrude Jekyll

In garden arrangement, as in all other kinds of decorative work, one has not only to acquire a knowledge of what to do, but also to gain some wisdom in perceiving what it is well to let alone. - Gertrude Jekyll

It is no use asking me or anyone else how to dig... Better to go and watch a man digging, and then take a spade and try to do it. - Gertrude Jekyll

The lesson I have thoroughly learnt, and wish to pass on to others, is to know the enduring happiness that the love of a garden gives. - Gertrude Jekyll

There is a lovable quality about the actual tools. One feels so kindly to the thing that enables the hand to obey the brain. Moreover, one feels a good deal of respect for it; without it the brain and the hand would be helpless. - Gertrude Jekyll

There is no spot of ground, however arid, bare or ugly, that cannot be tamed into such a state as may give an impression of beauty and delight. - Gertrude Jekyll

What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade. - Gertrude Jekyll

The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies. - Gertrude Jekyll

* Jekyll rhymes with treacle.

Teamwork

2011-08-13T01:51:00.000-07:00

An early twentieth century collaboration between Gertrude Jekyll and architect Edward Lutyens lead to the restoration of the formal gardens of Hestercombe. The plantings in of the Great Plat are atributed to Jekyll while Lutyens' detailed stonework provides the hardscaped structure of the garden. Also seen here are the Victorian Terrace and the Orangery.

Hestercombe garden was one of Gertrude's commissions with Lutyens. In 1904-8 he designed new gardens to the south of the house providing the detailed layout and she supplied the planting plans, enhancing, enriching and complementing his 'hard' landscaping and his intended views.

The principal feature is the Great Plat, a large, sunken garden with stone quadrant steps at each corner leading down into the garden. Geometric-shaped panels of lawn enclosed by stone flags extend diagonally across the garden from each corner, meeting at a central sundial. Beds are planted with gladioli and delphiniums. On either side of the lawns are stone-lined rills with three pairs of small circular pools planted around with white calla lilies. The pools are of varied depths to accommodate different water plant species. The rills discharge down small stepped cascades into tanks adorned with erigeron.

A pergola planted with roses and clematis encloses the south side of the Great Plat. It contains a stone-flagged walk and gives views north across the gardens to the house, and over the park to the countryside. - English Heritage website

For your trivia file - Gertrude Jekyll was born at 2 Grafton Street, Mayfair, London, the fifth of the seven children of Captain Edward Joseph Hill Jekyll, an officer in the Grenadier Guards, and his wife Julia Hammersley. Her younger brother, the Reverend Walter Jekyll, was a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, who borrowed the family name for his famous novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

A Very Well Manored Garden

2011-08-11T01:41:00.000-07:00

The wonderful Iford Manor, subject of its own blog, Idyllic Iford, is a delightful garden designed by the imaginative Harold Peto.

A Tudor/Georgian house with a twentieth century garden in the valley of the River Frome. The garden belonged to the Arts and Crafts designer Harold Peto, from 1899 to 1933, and shows his love of Italy. It has a cloister garden of Pompeian scale, terraces, columnar cypresses and Peto's vast collection of statues, urns, sarcophagi and terracotta. - gardenvisit.com

Iford manor as seen by Britannia as she keeps watch over the river Frome.

Note the symmetry that is balanced, but seldom a mirror image. The framed scenes and the long views make one pause to look and then want to move on to see what's ahead.

Our host and current Iford owner John Hignett with one of his favorite statues. This dog-being-a-dog sits across a gateway from another very noble and dignified dog who seems disapproving of his kennelmate's behaviour. Mr. Hignett gave us a wonderful tour of the entire garden.

We prefer this guy.

In hot weather flower gardens have the worst of it, but architectural gardens retain their style. They depend on big evergreen building blocks, strong design, and an elegant use of stone and hard surfacing. The best are often the gardens of architects, whose sense of space and proportion stops a flowerless garden from being dull. (How true.) - Thoughtful Gardening - Chapter 67 The Haunt of Ancient Peace

Would You Like to Come Up to See My Kip?

2011-08-10T01:24:00.000-07:00

Jan Kip, Dutch draughtsman for William of Orange in Amsterdam and then William and Mary in England, along with fellow Dutch draughtsman Leonard Knyff were best know for their bird's-eye view engraved prints compiled in Brittania Illustrata. Or Views of Several of the Queens Palaces, as Also of the Principal seats of the Nobility and Gentry of Great Britain, Curiously Engraven on 80 Copper Plates, London (1707, published in the winter of 1708 – 09). - NDL

The volume is among the most important English topographical publications of the 18th century. Architecture is rendered with great care and detail, and the settings of parterres and radiating avenues driven through woods or planted across fields, garden paths, gates and toolsheds are illustrated with meticulous detail, and amusingly staffed with figures and horses, coaches pulling into forecourts, water craft on rivers, filled with the delight native to the Low Countries' traditions. Some of the plates are maps, in the Siennese "map perspective," a feat of imagination in a world that had not conceived even of a balloon ascension. - Wikipedia

This Kip was used to help the National Trust recreate the formal gardens at Westbury Court after they had fallen into disrepair. - NDL

The topographical images of Kip and Knyff are significant for providing reliable illustrations of the development of the formal English garden in the Dutch-French style. Their documentary information for this period in British architecture and landscape design is particularly valued because, within a generation, the formal gardens seen in these views would be swept away in favor of the pastoral compositions, derived from idealized landscapes of painters such as Claude Lorrain, that characterize the "naturalistic"English landscape gardens. - Wikipedia

Tuck Kip and Knyff away in your mental file. They just might make you look very smart when they resurface on trivia night, during your appearance on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, or when dropped casually into cocktail hour conversation. Let us know how that works out.

Water, Water, Everywhere

2011-08-09T01:52:00.000-07:00

We visited Westbury court on a very wet and grey day. The former great buildings of of the estate are long gone and a retirement village now overlooks the restored garden. The garden itself was narrowly saved from development after having survived the great movement of Brownian landscape type garden renovations. It was nice, but between the mood of the dreary day and the faded glory of the grounds there was an air of melancholy about the place. - NDL

A remarkable restoration by the National Trust has re-created this original Dutch water garden, the only one to survive the era of naturalistic landscaping by the likes of Repton and 'Capability' Brown. Although the exotic varieties of tulips from the famous age of 'tulipomania' are no longer extant, Westbury Court is planted exclusively with species of plants available before 1700.

The long canal was the first feature to be created by Maynard Colchester in 1696.

Near it the parterre in box with its conical and ball shaped topiary contained within yew hedges, some of which also sport cones, provides a formal and graceful surround to the Tall Pavilion.

Many old varieties of apple and plum trees are espaliered here as well as peaches, apricots and cherries and round them are planted daffodils, anemones, muscari and ranunculus. There is a small walled garden growing a collection of perennials of the 17th century.

Two magnificent trees, a Tulip tree and Holm Oak, probably dating from before Maynard Colchester's time, dominate the formal garden, the oak in particular being one of the largest and oldest in the country. Views of the neighbouring countryside are limited to those through two ironwork grilles in the North Wall, contributing to the intimate atmosphere of the garden.

The vegetable plots have been recreated to grow fruit and vegetable varieties from the 17th century.

Laid out between 1696-1715 by Maynard Colchester, and possibly influenced by his Dutch neighbour, Catherine Boevey of Flaxley Abbey, its further development was carried in the hands of his nephew, also named Maynard Colchester.

The garden came to National Trust in 1967 in a very sorry state and it became their first garden restoration, starting in 1971. - gardensguide.com

Looks Like about 8lb. Test

2011-08-07T01:37:00.000-07:00

Angel's Fishing Rod, Fairy Wand, Wand Flower, or dierama pulcherrimum.

Photo from: Seaside Plants

Anyway you call it this is a lovely, ethereal flower that nods in the slightest breeze on the slenderest of stems. England and its Gardens participants from New Jersey to British Columbia, but no farther South than about zone 6a (except for one lucky Texan in the group) were entranced by this zone 8a to 10b beauty found in several of the gardens on our tour.

If you know someone down South you should ask them to plant dierama and then plan your trip to their locale when it is in bloom. Angel's Fishing Rod would be a wonderful addition to the garden. Yet again zone envy rears its ugly head. Sigh.

In a Word...

2011-08-05T01:40:00.000-07:00

...Lovely.

That's all we really need to say about Hidcote.

But, if you want to know more. Read on.

Four Weddings and a Double Decker Bus

2011-08-03T01:02:00.000-07:00

We might not have noticed what was going on if it weren't for the cars...

The hats...

The tails...

The plaid pants...

And the double decker wedding special parked outside the palace.

But fortunately we caught on, and in the end, witnessed parts of at least four weddings at some of the most picturesque sites in England. You can have your event at Stourhead, or another of the dozens of wonderful National Trust wedding venues, or perhaps Hampton Court Palace too!

Pride and Prejudice Goeth Before a Rainfall

2011-08-01T01:28:00.000-07:00

Stourhead is the best example of a garden inspired by the great landscape painters of the seveneeenth century. Ernst Gombrich suggests it should bear the signature of an Italianized French painter: Claude Lorrain (1600-82). The Stourhead garden was made by a wealthy English banker who had been buying works of art in Italy at the time he inherited the Stourhead estate. Henry Hoare II's 'Claudian' garden was made in an unusually well-proportioned valley behind the house. The Temple of Flora at Stourhead was made in 1745 and the grotto in 1748. But the key date was 1754, when the lake and the Pantheon were made. It is based on the Pantheon in Rome and the planned walk through the estate is based on the journey of Rome's legendry founder, Aeneas. The five-arched bridge was made in 1762 and the Temple of Apollo in 1765. Gothic features were added later in the century: Alfred's Tower, a Rustic Cottage and a Hermitage.The Stourhead woods were underplanted with Rhododendron ponticum after 1791 and with more exotic species in the twentieth century. - gardenvisit.com

Stourhead's Temple of Apollo was the setting for a dramatic first proposal of Mr. Darcy to Elizabeth in a scene from the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightly. The cast also featured: Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Tom Hollander, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, and Judi Dench.

Word is that filming took place on a dry, but apparently grey day with hoses pouring huge volumes of water down over the rooftop of the temple.

Manor House with a View

2011-07-30T01:01:00.000-07:00

The jewel in the Stourhead crown has to be the world-famous 18th-century landscape garden. A magnificent lake shimmering with reflections of classical temples, mystical grottoes and rare and exotic trees. Secrets of the Hoare family history are revealed at Stourhead House (orginally the family holiday home!) with the chance to discover the unique Regency library, collections of Chippendale furniture and inspirational paintings, all set amid 'picnic perfect' lawns and parkland. The lake and house are at the heart of a 1,072-hectare (2,650-acre) estate where chalk downs, ancient woods and farmland are managed for people and wildlife to enjoy - National Trust Stourhead site description.

As one meanders around the lake path the view changes at every bend. Not all of the buildings and carefully created scenes are visible at once. Thus it is a journey of sorts to navigate the grounds not knowing what will be around the next turn or grove of trees. On the above sign found at Stourhead Alexander Pope, 18th century poet and garden proponent, lyrically states the aim of the well designed landscape.

As the formal garden with its topiary figures fell out of popularity in lieu of the more natural landscape gardens, Pope published a satirical catalogue of topiary for sale.

Here's something lovely if you have a few minutes to spare.