Westport Garden Tour

I live in such a beautiful part of the country here in southwest Connecticut. After a long, cold, wet spring, we are now being rewarded with a glorious Memorial Day weekend. I spent the better part of the day on a garden tour in Westport, CT, a very affluent town, home to many rich and famous, such as Paul Newman and Martha Stewart. Martha no longer lives there, but we did visit her former home. No, I don't live there either.

The houses were incredible, as were the gardens. I only took a few pictures of the sweeping gardens, but concentrated more on the unexpected or whimsical images that took my fancy.

Be sure and click on each picture for a larger view.




I loved this color combination in Martha's garden. The new owners kept her gardener and they have tried to maintain the perennial beds as they were when she was here.

More of Martha's garden. It went on and on.


This shelf display and the garden shed below were from Mar Jenning's garden.





I loved this old park bench covered with moss and lichen with a lovely succulent arrangement.


Do you have a lavender bat house in your garden?



This house had a woodland path with these charming birdhouses.

I'll have to try this sometime when I need a quick centerpiece. Artichokes, broccoli, and mums, how cool is that?

Wordless Wednesday

Canadian Cruise

I just returned from a week long cruise to Canada. It was my second big ship cruise, the first one was many years ago with my husband for our 25th wedding anniversary. Widowed now, I took this trip with three gal pals and my sister. We had a nice time, but it wasn't my favorite trip. Unfortunately we had terrible weather, cold, rainy and windy. We were supposed to leave from Montreal, but once we got there, we found out that the river was too high from all the rain, so had to bus three hours to Quebec to board the ship. I don't think I like big ship cruising. This was Holland America, about 1,200 passengers. I know that's not big by some standards, but it was for me, being used to small (40 to 90 passengers) ship cruising. Yes, we had a lot of food (too much), but it seemed like there was too much down time with not enough things to do. Or perhaps I should say that there were not enough things to do that suited me. The shore excursions were pricey and not all that interesting, in my opinion. I'm sure that if the weather had been nicer, we might have had a different opinion.

I didn't take a lot of pictures because of the bad weather, but I did take a few when it wasn't raining.

These lobster ropes and buoys were on a dock in Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. It was a lovely spot with beautiful scenery.


These next few shots are from Bar Harbor, Maine, the only day with some sunshine and fairly warm temps.




This sea gull in the park in the harbor at Bar Harbor was so cooperative about posing for pictures. I was able to get closer and closer and of course, I zoomed in .



I just thought that this was an interesting shot of granite with lichen.

One last thing. It was absolutly gorgeous here in CT all the while we were away. Guess what it's doing now..........RAINING and it is predicted for the whole week. I know that it sounds trivial to complain after all the tragic weather disasters that have been going on all around the country. So I won't!

Wordless Wednesday

NSQG Show

Today was the first day of my guild's, Northern Star Quilter's Guild, annual quilt show. There were many beautiful quilts there as usual, but I'm only showing you three.

This one, Tranquility, by my good friend, Carolyn Cooney, won Best of Show and Best Original Design. I was so happy for her. She had worked on it, on and off, for four years. The lighting was not the best so it's hard to see how magnificent it really is. It is VERY dimensional. She used painted scrim, beads, silk ferns, needle punching, yarns, roving, embroidery, fussy cutting, and much, much more. It had such depth that you felt as though you could walk right into those woods.

Be sure to click on each picture for a larger view.

This detail, which is a little washed out from the flash, shows some of what's going on. Those big trees in the foreground stand out about a half inch from the background. It was truly deserving of winning the award.

This quilt by Diana Sharkey, First Ladies Log Cabin, caught my eye and the judges' since it received a second place ribbon. It looks like a simple log cabin at first, although very well done with tiny logs and precision piecing.

Upon closer look, you can see that each block, made of contemporary fabrics, gives a synopsis of a First Lady's, life.

Here's a quilt I haven't shown before. It is mine and part of my painted cabbage series. This one, Of Cabbages and Kings, is a whole cloth painted quilt that was appliquéd onto the burgundy background. The veining and detail are free-motion satin stitching. It received an Honorable Mention. I had two other quilts in the show, but they didn't win any awards.

Wordless Wednesday

Easter Sunday

For the past few years my sister and I have gone to her daughter, Lauren's house for Easter. I've blogged about her before. She has a tiny house, but is a gracious hostess, with a flair for decorating and a gourmet cook.

Remember to click on each picture for a bigger view.

Here is her table set for dinner. The flowers in the big Easter basket centerpiece were fresh tulips and pansies. The small egg-shaped plates were for our first course of seared sea scallops.

She stayed up until midnight one night making these Easter napkins and then wrapped them in pretty pastel striped ribbon. Note the cute Easter egg place card holders.

Here's the appetizer table before they got devoured. Those little peep shaped deviled eggs were probably the best I ever had. All the other appetizers were made by her, too, and were delicious!

We were blessed with the first nice day in a long time and the kids were able to have their Easter egg hunt outside and play on the lawn. I should have taken pictures of the kids; they looked so cute. I hope you all had as nice a holiday as I did. Happy Spring!

Wordless Wednesday

Sunsets

Driving to our condo from the airport on our first day in Arizona, we were treated to a magnificent sunset. The sunset was mostly behind us and our cameras were packed away. We couldn't wait to see our next one, but it got to be known as the elusive sunset. Either we were in the wrong place at the wrong time or we were inside. But eventually we were rewarded with some beauties. The first three were taken from our patio and the rest are from a hilltop in Sedona.
Be sure to click on each picture for a bigger view. Enjoy!

Desert Plants

I like to garden at home, although I don't do nearly as much as I used to. I love the lush green that we have here in CT, but I was enchanted by the desert landscaping in Arizona. We were so lucky to be there when the cactus were starting to bloom and the trees were greening up. If we had stayed a week longer, I know I would have seen a lot more floweres, but it was just enought to tweak my interest.

These Desert Marigolds grew wild all along the road sides. We picked some and they made a very nice bouquet that lasted several days.

The Saguaro (pronounced Su war oh) became a favorite of mine. They are only native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and grow wild all through the countryside. They don't get an "arm" until they are 40 to 60 years old and then they may or may not grow more. Each plant was very unique and yet you knew it was a Saquaro. They do get a big white flower on the top of each arm, but we were too early for that. They were also used in landscaping around homes, but I suspect that many of them were there when the homes were built.

Such delicate little flowers on such a spiny plant!

These were quite small, only about an inch or so apiece.

One of several varieties of Prickly Pear Cactus. They do get a fruit that is quite delicious to eat and is also used in jams and Margaritas. Yum!

Two of the many varieties of Agave.

These Prickly Pears had a pinkish tinge to the leaves.

I thought that the strange growth on this Saguaro was very interesting. And there's that blue, blue sky that I've been missing since I came home.

This cactus looked like worms to me or maybe a brain.

I don't know what this beautiful tree was,but the bright yellow flowers were reminiscent of Forsythia.

If you know me, you know my penchant for wearing lime green. I thought I blended in very well with this cactus group.

Of course I took a bazillion pictures of different cacti, but I won't bore you with any more.