THE MYSTERIOUS GREEN HOUSE AND THE VANISHING GARDENER.

Each time we go back to DC, we marvel,  how did we ever move away.  WE LOVE DC!  

Lucky us, we now have an incentive to return: our daughter and hubby, dogs Lemon and Dulcita, the cat Mew Mew, and 3 chickens, live in a quiet town just south of Washington, DC. 

They rented a cottage-like home, which included acres and acres of property, ponds and pools of water. Beaver, frogs and who knows what else call this home. Gigantic trees, wild vines, bushes and dancing weeds rim the property. All quite charming, idyllic, old fashioned, nostalgic and a bit worn around the edges. 

Surprises at every turn. Including the mystery of the missing gardener. 

We decided to travel from NC to DC by train. 

Daniel picked us up at the stately Union train station. After 9 + hours on the train, we were eager to see the whole family. 

We pulled into the driveway, dogs barking "welcome," licking, racing all over wanting to show off their new "fields of freedom." 

We weren't there long before something felt like it was watching us. Sheep/goat bleating caught our attention. Over the perimeter of their property was a really run down, derelict set of buildings and 20 or so goats.

They were our second welcoming committee.  Cute and Curious.

Leaving the goats to entertain themselves, we headed for the white clapboard buildings scattered about the property. The dogs led the way, one building to the next.  

Cute was a child's playhouse, roomy a wood storage, big garage for tractors and such, but the piece de resistance was the attached "green house." Oh, my, love the green house...yes I know, it does need a bit of tender care, but it is charming anyway.  

This is where the mystery comes in. 

Years ago, in early spring, a gardener was in the middle of potting her packets of seeds, and most likely dreaming of how beautiful and tall they would become, and obviously where they should be planted. She appeared to be quite content on a warmish spring day. 

Suddenly she dropped her trowel, the tip of it knocking over seeds and egg shells, tripped on a rake carelessly left on the ground, over turned water buckets. She fled.  Never to return.  

A mystery for sure.  

We don't know the ending. 

Inside the building were long ago vacated hornet's nest. 

Did the hornets flee at the same time as the gardener?

Will the mystery ever be solved. It is indeed a strange tale.

And so I leave you at this point in the story.

 I will return to tell you about the chickens: Lucy, Mary Reed and Anne Bonny.  Oh and maybe add a bit about Mew Mew who showed up on the doorstep at night, shivering, wet and cold. 

One last thought.  Just outside the green house is a deepish, slippery, frog filled pond.

Smiles: Sharon

The Slowing of Summer

               (sold)

The summer Fruit and Vegetable Stands have been without equal.  We have several right by our home, each a bit different.

We have never indulged in so many watermelons as we have this past summer.  On Sunday we ate, perhaps our last for the season, a sweet sun-ripened miniature watermelon.

Cantaloupes weren't as plentiful, but what we had were yummy.  
A nice change from the watermelon we consumed...and easier to cut!

Of course, mounds of strawberries, red grapes and raspberries are always tempting us.

                                                    Pink Pear  30x30  Available

This week the air feels different. Last night we had a storm of all storms...zinging lightening that never stopped, thunder that shook up the pups and adults, pelting rain that I thought would come straight THROUGH the roof. 

We stood under the shelter of the porch and marveled at the display of nature's wrath: after we turned off all electronics and lit candles!!! 

Stealthily sneaking in are the autumn colors edging their way into the thickly leafed branches, an abundance of peaches and ripe tomatoes are sitting center-stage.

Next will come the hearty squash, pumpkins, beets and carrots. 

Down the road from our home...love the women who work here..they place everything with an artistic eye.

Fruit and Vegetable Stands are 
EYE CANDY
for the Soul
Bon Appétit

Would you LOVE to spend a few weeks in the South of France, in particular, Cassis?

My son and family have been there, so nothing but the south of France

has been in my thoughts the past few weeks.

We went with them a few years ago, and I remember most the ocean backdrop and the kids, four at the time, pulling spun filaments of pink cotton candy!  

The photo I took on that occasion was so special to me, that I painted them a little canvas of that particular moment in time.

Pink Cotton Candy, Smiling Faces, Sticky Fingers, Turquoise Ocean

that is a "rainbow" memory for sure.

Idea: I would do some French sketches and one larger painting while they were actually in Cassis.

Well, let's say, I managed to rush through a rather large painting, choosing to use acrylics.

This is what I got....but not what I have now:

Painting in Haste is Waste:  I took an acrylic solvent to it and now it is mushy gray stained canvas!  When I return to the canvas it will be with deliberation and oil paints!

A series of boat paintings were completed after that first trip to Cassis.... I rather wish I had kept one for memory sake

France=Food

 We would eat ourselves silly on the most delicious, scrumptious delights...sweets to cheese and back again. So a few sketches landed in my sketchbook reserved for travel.  (I will share a photograph of the cover in my next post.)

Recalling what I did to the first boat painting...well I couldn't leave well enough alone and ......

One can barely tell they are the same sketch...obviously on the second one I painted over with very saturated color!  Just love that color.

Before I close I have one more sketch????  well this time it was done on a tablet.  It is a whole other art form working with an App on a tablet with only your finger or a stylus!!!! This is pure simplicity, but fun and relaxing.  I used Sketches.

Bon Jour dear friends!

I think the next few posts you will find "France on my Mind"....come along with me.

See you then !