Garden Obsessions of Tuteurs and Peacock Chairs

 This may be the longest break I have taken in blogging since I had my shops.

Just hard to get motivated to put a post together during this Coronavirus thing.

Hope you and yours are safe and well, but the numbers are so alarming its impossible

to feel very safe these days. And it kind of seems silly to blog about decorating...

I haven't been in the decorating mood since this virus hit. 

Its not important.

But one thing I did feel like doing was to get a garden started to have fresh produce,

and so I tried building a greenhouse from a kit, which

failed miserably. Thankfully they refunded my money after the thing blew to bits

in a windstorm. Never the less, I had started seeds for a vegetable garden.

  I am  excited to get my garden going as the weather has 

just started turning for the better here in the Boston area.  

 Mothers day is this Sunday and with that, I took my first  trip for "frivolous" matters to a

garden nursery and picked up some outdoor flowering plants, including a pink geranium for

my 90 yr old mother in law, who lives next door to us.  I also sold my Peacock wire set and it 

was picked up yesterday by some movers to bring to a woman in Virginia who is obsessed with Peacock furniture!  She is lining a path to a reservoir bordering her woodland property with these chairs and has collected about a dozen so far!! I loved hearing that story, as I love imagining her fulfilling her vision as she walks to the water past these fanciful chairs set up in little seating groups. 

 Tutuers are what I have been obsessed by for years....I love them!

And I always figured I would make one or two or three for my own garden.  

These obelisk garden structures can be anything from traditional to fanciful. 

At the nursery getting flowers with my son Colin, I spotted a nice tuteur.  

I realized this thing wasn't going to get made by me this year, so onto the cart it went.

At home, I lugged it up near the garden shed, next to one of the garden boxes that 

has yet to be filled with material.   I can imagine it all painted up and standing over the herbs and vegetables this summer! White paint to go with the fencing and the shed.

 Everything outside needs to be spruced up and sorted out. 

 That is the fun of surviving our long winters as is buying some flowers and a new garden ornament. 

 With the stay at home advisory in play, having an outdoor space or garden to focus on has been good for me. I know lots of people who have started vegetable gardens this year.

My lettuce and tomatoes and other things are doing well and many will be getting into the 

garden bed in a week or two.

 The dogs love accompanying me outdoor for garden chores. 

This winter was kind to the roses on our property, 

with no winter kill and lots of new growth.

 My parents usually come back to the Boston area after wintering over in Florida.

However this year they are staying put until later on, due to the virus.

So I sent my mom a linen cocktail napkin that will be a souvenir of this strange and scary time,

making the most of what we can do during quarantine and not being together.

 My son Brandon and wife Mimi dropped off three dozen pink roses on my doorstep today

to wish me a happy mothers day. I was thrilled, as  I haven't had any cut flowers for three months!

I have been busy working on the lake house floor plan and have a scale version set up on the table so I can add cutouts of furniture to try to visualize how we will use the space.  Its been really helpful to do this, and I can see what will come and what needs to be sold or donated.

Last but not least, is my little farmer girl Reeve. 

I miss her terribly and wish I could spend overnights at the farm in Maine.

But we will have to wait until the threat of the virus passes.

In the meantime Justin sends me lots of snapchats to see her, 

and she is a pro at carrying the chickens around!

She's almost three, and we have our visits via FaceTime these days,

where I can see her personality and sense of humor developing. 

All of this time of separation will pass, and brighter times are ahead.

For now I am planning my garden and lake house.

Hope you are doing some future dreaming and planning too....

even if it means just going out to eat! 

Wouldn't that be nice?