tasha tudor

It’s True. I Feel Like the Luckiest Girl in the World.

Posted by Barbara Techel
It's True. I Feel like the Luckiest Girl in the World.
Existing perennial garden spruced up with a few new plants and chocolate mulch

As I write you today, I’m listening to Pandora radio, station of Doris Day.

Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong century or perhaps I lived another life. I love this type of music, nostalgia, vintage and old things. I think it’s perhaps why reading Susan Branch’s trilogy memoir recently resonated with me. So much so, I can’t get the books, her house on Martha’s Vineyard, and her way of life out of my head!

It’s a good thing though. There is something so comforting in her writing and how she lives a simple life.

And her gardens, well, I was so jealous (a good jealous!) when I saw photos on her blog.

And then I realized (terrible me!) that I posted photos on Facebook earlier this week of our new landscaping, but didn’t share here on my blog for you, my dear readers, as I had promised. I’m going to blame it on all the excitement and menopausal brain. Grin.

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But since our landscaping has been complete I’m feeling like Susan Branch with a bit of Tasha Tudor and Beatrix Potter rolled in. In fact, John has been calling me Tasha Jr. as I work on keeping up with the watering (tee hee!).

But every morning, I can hardly wait to open the blinds and look outside. And sometimes I just want to cry – happy tears, of course.

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I’ve always been a homebody and I can’t help but think back to when times were tough with the economy crash in 2008. We were scared of losing John’s construction business and our home. But we hunkered down and knew we could ride the storm out and live frugally. And we did.

And in many ways we still do. But having landscaping done has been all the more sweeter when we think about the tough times. We are appreciating it and enjoying it even more now.

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I keep pinching myself when I walk around my writing cottage each day as I take in all the beauty of the sweet little shrubs and the perennials that will bloom in the near future. When we built my little space in 2007 we had planned to add plants, but then had to buckle down with the bad economy.

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I’m especially tickled pink at the rock hill that leads down to the egress window of our lower level (well, okay, also known as a basement – but it does not feel that way because it is all fixed up).

Downstairs is where I hold my SoulCollage(r) workshops and the view out the window now is stunning!  Here is the view below looking out from lower level.

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It feels like the outside is part of the inside, and I couldn’t be happier!

When my friend, Shannon stopped over the other night, I gave her a tour around the house. She said, “I remember when we got new landscaping at our house up north. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world!”

And you know what? That is exactly it! I, too, feel like the luckiest girl in the world!

Thank you again to Willow Wood Acres and Land Steward for a beautiful design and job well done!

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My Zen Writing Cottage. Phase Two Begins – Nine Years Later.

Posted by Barbara Techel

My Zen Writing Cottage. Phase Two Begins - Nine Years Later.

You know the saying, “Good things come to those who wait?”

It was late summer 2007 when my dear John built me my writing cottage. A place of my own, off the corner of our deck. My private sanctuary to listen to the birds, write, feel connected to the world, or just a quiet place where I can think or just be.

The world turned upside down in 2008 when the economy sunk to an all time low. We were so scared, like many, that we may lose so many of the things we worked so hard for – John’s construction business or our home, or both.

We had to make some difficult decisions regarding our retirement savings, but we couldn’t risk losing the home we had come to love so dearly- our safe haven.

This also meant any landscaping we wanted to do, plus a white picket fence I wanted around my writing cottage, had to be put on hold.

It didn’t matter. We had a roof over our heads. We learned to cut even more from our personal overhead expense and from the construction business overhead. And we knew we were so much better off than many. We had nothing to complain about. We would do what we needed to survive.

Though there was much uncertainty and at times scary, we grew by leaps and bounds. Our determination and love grew stronger. We were a team and planned to stay one, no matter what.

And today as I sit in my writing cottage, the Pandora radio station playing Tuscany instrumental music, the wind blowing a brisk breeze for May, the sun shining, and the birds a flutter outside my window, Gidget curled up on the wicker chair next to me, I give thanks for the life I have.

Just outside the long five foot windows of my writing cottage, my heart smiles as John puts skirting around the bottom of my cottage. And this week if all goes as scheduled, the landscaping with an English garden theme will begin.

The long wait, though frustrating at times, has made it all the sweeter. And oh, how I look forward to the warm days ahead to see the flowers blooming all around me as a warm breeze will soon blow through the open windows too– and I shall be sitting here in complete bliss inside this sacred space that means the world to me.

And I picture myself a bit like Tasha Tudor, who loved to walk around her flowers for a little break in her day, a corgi or two in the lead.

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I do believe I just might think I’ve died and gone to heaven!

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Transforming My Cottage One Chalk Paint Color at a Time

Posted by Barbara Techel

Transforming My Cottage One Chalk Paint Color at a Time

This chalk painting has become one of my joyful creative outlets. I’m obsessed. But don’t worry, I won’t foam at the mouth or become vicious (at least I don’t think so!). This is a good obsession.

My weekend plans of chalk painting two pieces didn’t quite happen. Besides this side table pictured above, I wanted to paint my outside park bench. But the damp, cold, windy weather put a damper on that.

The upside though is I did visit Dear Old Books bookstore and found some real treasures with Tasha Tudor illustrations (another obsession of mine) — plus a sweet, little bird guide book.

But I digress… well, sort of. There are things that make my house, well, what I describe as cottage-y. I find so much joy in my home and having items around me that I love.

The living room end table I painted is subtle, but I do like it better now. I’ve had that table for a long time which I found at a second hand store. I never liked the color, but loved the design.

I painted the main part in the color Oatmeal and the trim in Glacier – both from the Home Decor FolkArt chalk paint line which I get online or at Joann Crafts.

It’s interesting as the oatmeal color, depending on the lighting of the day, can take on a greenish tint. And the trim, as you can see in the photo, looks a light blue on the front side, but the side with the light from the outside shining on it takes on the hue of a light green.

Another fun chalk paint project was making mushrooms out of clay pots. I’ll be putting these in our new landscaping, which should be beginning soon. I can hardly wait!

But just so you know, they are mushrooms in disguise as fairy houses.  But if you believe in faeries like I do, well, you already new that now didn’t you?  <WINK>

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Today the sun is shining and temps warming to about 60 degrees. The urge to begin painting my park bench is pulling at me big time. So I must get my work done before I can “play” with the colors of Lilac and Sheepskin. ooooo la la!

P.S:  Speaking of cottage-y, painting, loving home, and creativity (and add to the mix memoir, kitties, and takes place in New England) … I’m giving away a really awesome book this Friday. It’s a new release that I didn’t want to end. It was so enjoyable!  One lucky subscriber to my  Joyful Paws newsletter will win. If you’d like a chance at winning, you must be a newsletter subscriber. You can sign up on the top, right hand side of this page. Note: this is different from my blog posts which go out almost daily. My newsletter comes out twice a month and I’m giving away a different book each month until April 2017!

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