A day of thanks.....

That is how I am feeling today! In a moment, I will show you why I am thankful about some garden successes but first I want to comment to you all about my last post. I had such fun putting that entry together and then it was compounded by the great response I received by you. I enjoyed seeing a new friend stop in to say hello. So nice to 'meet' you Annie from San Diego and I hope you will stop in more often. Do you not have a blog yourself?

It was great to see a few old friends visit who I have not heard from in a while. It is good to see you back again Rhondi as well as Andylynne. I always enjoy hearing from you. A new blogger for me to visit now is Crazee4books and I will doing so as I see she is a stitcher as well as loving to read. I will enjoy seeing her work and she can see mine over at my NeedleNecessitites blog.

I felt so thrilled and amazed last evening when I turned on my computer to check my blog and talk to my mother when I found a comment from Susan Branch herself on the blog. I kept going back to see that it was really real. She was already easily included on my list of special ladies but in reading her comment, this heroine became even more of someone special to me. She is just so nice to have taken a moment to say something and then tell her wonderful thoughts about Helen Keller:

"Dear Heidi, what a doll you are -- I can tell because of all the amazing heroes you have chosen. I can hardly believe you included me in this group!!! You are too much.
I've also thought about this subject as I am so inspired every day. One of my favorites is Helen Keller. In case you don't know her story, this is it in a nutshell: Because of an illness when she was just a baby, she lost the ability to hear or see. It wasn't until she was around 7 and had a wonderful teacher, that she was able to understand what was going on around her, but always in the dark and quiet. She ended up graduating from Radcliffe, wrote beautiful books, used beautiful words and said (among many wonderful things), "I seldom think of my limitations and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times, but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers." From her my inspiration is to count my blessings every day! She dedicated the autobiography of her life to Alexander Graham Bell. That's my heroine story. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for including me in yours!!! Have a wonderful day, with love, Susan"

Thank you so much Susan!

And thank you so much to another Susan who is an online friend of mine and also left a comment that has really made my day. You are a very sweet person to say those things. I am just trying to make the best of what I have each day in life regardless of what hand I have been dealt. There is always a silver lining in each cloud if we only look for it. You yourself are an amazing lady who has given the gift of yourself to your two little boys as well as your teaching and forming children in your community and being a friend to people like me. Thank you once again for your words!


Meet Edith Holden as a rose. I had her on my list of heroines if you remember. This Floribunda or cluster rose is a very pretty pink~brown color. It will darken slightly as the rose progresses. I found this rose while surfing the net last year and found out that only one place in Holland sells them. I have a friend whom I mentioned it too and she said her mother lives in the same street as this grower. She offered to have her mother go get it for me. I planted it up in my large terracotta pot and it is flowering very prettily for me now. I left on Friday for Cranberry Cottage with the second flower in bloom but...


...when I returned on Sunday that bloom was replace by four new ones clustered together. i am so pleased I was able to find this unusual flower dedicated to Edith.


This is a real success story for me. I have always loved old~fashioned flowers like the dahlias. They are very much part of the farm gardens you see throughout Holland. Try as I may, I have never had any success with growing them myself. I put them in the ground only to find no plant come up at all. When I dig up the bulbs, I find they are gone. Just disappeared. I tried this for three years and decided I should simply give up.


This year, I decided to try them in a terracotta pot when Jos showed up at home with six bulbs as a gift for me one day. I was already excited to see that I got a plant as five of the six bulbs came up. Now I also have been able to enjoy the actual first flower blossom this week! It is like a child going into a candy store watching my first dahlia really come into being. Doesn't it look like fireworks?


Ah! Simple pleasures! It is a Zip~A~Dee~Doo~Dah kind of day!

What does it take to be a heroine?

Definition heroine:
1 a: a mythological or legendary woman having the qualities of a hero b: a woman admired and emulated for her achievements and qualities
2 a: the principal female character in a literary or dramatic work b: the central female figure in an event or period

I have thought about the idea of who I consider to be heroines to me following the sad news of the death of Tasha Tudor on June 18 of this year at the age of 92. What a special woman she was! I went to the family's online register as I wanted to add my condolenses. It was time to put into words what she meant to me in my heart. I wanted to express how her lifestyle gave me a peace that will always stay with me.


She was a soul who walked life to her own pace. She followed her heart in making the old ways all new again.


Her stories and illustrations are now an everlasting testimony of her life left here with generations to come.


The loss of this gentle soul is a loss for all of us!


I then started thinking about other woman who I think of as heroines and why...


There is the amazing Edith Holden who wrote The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. I admire her keen observation of the natural countryside around her. She not only recorded things in words but also in her beautiful drawings.


Who are some of my literary heroines? Well, first would be the Bronte Sisters. I find them so definition intriging. Their life on the Yorkshire Moors seeped into their very beings to influence them in their writing.


I not only love the intense novels they left for us but also learning about their lives in Haworth. There is something so magical about Haworth which draws me back there over and over. I never tire of visiting the steep street of this little Yorkshire village or going through the rooms of the Parsonage which seem filled with the sisters' spirits.


Then there is Jane Austen who comical whit and romance cannot help but inspire. We can all identify with Elizabeth Bennett, Emma, Anne Elliot or Eleanor. There is perhaps a little of them in each woman...


Beatrix Potter is someone who you seem to admire the more you learn about her. She was a complex woman far beyond her time and yet very much of her time.


As a child, you cannot help but be amused by her stories and illustrations but viewing her as an adult you discover a woman who strived to conserve the beauty of the countryside of her beloved Lake District.


She passed away, like most of these women, doing what she was destined to do in life and leaving a legacy behind.


Now when I started thinking about this post, I decided that I had to include one fictional heroine who I think is very real to many of us. Who else but Mary Poppins...practically perfect in every way!


What little girl did not want to be that wonderful nanny who flies through the sky with her talking umbrella, can sit on a cloud, jumps into an animated picture or goes up the chimney to 'step in time' with the chimney sweeps.


She taught us that a spoonful of sugar is good for anything!


And finally, a modern heroine for me is Susan Branch.


I discovered her when she brought out her first cookbook and will never forget sitting on my sister's couch reading each and every word out loud to her.


Since then she has branched out to have shops and design quilt fabrics. I love her sense of vintage style mixed with homespun charms. If you are not familiar with her, you can check out her website here.


I can think of more woman that are heroines but this is already a very long post. If you hang around a while, you can hear many of the Mary Poppins tunes. Do you have any woman who you admire who have influenced you in your thinking and lifestyle?

Petal power

In Holland, flowers are pretty affordable. Unfortunately, I cannot have too many bouquets in my home any longer since Jos developed very bad hay fever. This past weekend, we stopped to buy a new butterfly bush to replace the one we lost this winter. He put it in the car as he did not want any of the branches to damage by putting it in the trunk. He was miserable on the drive home. Flowers really do have the power to be beautiful but also to make some feel sick. What a shame!

I did purchase a bouquet of peonies and he seems to be okay with them. I was disappointed as it turns out the bouquet I picked up was old and the flowers did not last long at all. Here I discovered they have date stickers on their bouquets so you can bet I will check that better the next time. I have been trying to keep each bloom that is still okay so now they ended up in this adorable pink depression glass shaker that I purchased from Robin over at BittersweetPunkin. They really looked cute in here since only three blooms were left. I placed them, together with a vintage knob and glass plant spritzer, on a plate to give my coffee table a little summer lift.


We had a wonderful surprise when we got home on Sunday afternoon as our wisteria is already having its second round of blossoms. Normally this doesn't happen until July and then very sparsely. This year, the blossoms are much fuller the second time around. What a treat as this is our favorite thing in the garden and its flowering span is far too short.


We bought a jasmine plant last year which was a real bargain. They had marked down these plants from 13,95 euro to only 5 euro. I thought that even if it only bloomed that summer, it would be worth it. It is doing so well again this year and smells so sweet. We will have to transplant it into a larger pot next summer. I don't want it to become pot bound.


Is your garden sharing any surprises with you this year?

"A flower's appeal is in its contradictions - so delicate in form yet strong in fragrance, so small in size yet big in beauty, so short in life yet long on effect."

~~ Adabella Radici ~~

Life is a flower garden.....

Welcome back to the village of Vollehove. This is a public garden in the middle of the village called Marxveld. It is named from one of the two houses located at the entrance to the gardens ~ Marxveld and Eckelenboom.


This garden is separated into various gardens ~ the Middle Ages, Barok, Renaissance and Landscape gardens. This mulberry tree was planted somewhere between 1750 and 1800. Isn't that incredible!


This church is located in the corner of the gardens. With its views to the various gardens, I thought I would leave you this weekend with a number of fun garden quotes. They might even inspire you in your own gardening.

We are off to work more on the new terrace we are creating up at Cranberry Cottage. Will you be out working in your garden this weekend? Have a wonderful weekend not matter what you do!


"What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it."

~Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer in a Garden, 1871




"Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration."

~Lou Erickson


"I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God it would be in a garden at the cool of the day."

~F. Frankfort Moore, A Garden of Peace


"Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed."

~Walt Whitman



"I never had any other desire so strong, and so like to covetousness, as that one which I have had always, that I might be master at last of a small house and a large Garden."

~Abraham Cowley, The Garden, 1666




"God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done."

~Author Unknown

Windows into village life.....

Welkom in Vollehove!

I had mentioned that we planned on visiting a village when we had our longer stay last weekend at Cranberry Cottage. I thought it would be fun to take you along on a walk through this pretty and historical village. I want to share a window literally into what I find so beautiful in Holland...these wonderful villages...


This is a window to the Sint Nicolaaskerk which has its roots back as far as 1100 when a chapel stood in its place. The church in its current form dates back to the 15th century.


Those who visit my often know I love all things wrought iron. I just love these gates.


The former city hall building is 'attached' to the church and now houses a restaurant.


It was here that I realized that this village had one of the things that I think gives Holland its great charm. The buildings are beautiful and the doors and windows are like eyes to show you its history. Isn't this door amazing?


The old city hall was built in 1621 and this entrance is now used to create a nice atmosphere where it used to welcome those coming to conduct town business. When you enlarge this photo, you can see the incredible old wooden beams.


This window gives us a glimpse into the year 1627.


This is the building which is now called the Latin School. It is unsure why it is called this as the real Latin School was located a street away. It is believed that young gentlemen stayed here while attending the French boarding school in the village.


Doors of these old houses have a certain charm but often are made to look even better with simple accessories.


Sometimes you come across a window with a whole other meaning like this little niche and the Holy Child statue. This is at the Holy Ghost Chapel which was part of the Heilige Geestgasthuis which was a hospital that dates back to 1370. The chapel is all that remains today.



These typical Dutch homes are just so inviting. I love the large windows and the brick work. I would love to own a home like one of these. A girl can dream, right?


Sometimes you come across a window into a past with only shadows to show. This is the 16th century ruins of castle Toutenberg and being the summer residence of the Bishop of Utrecht.


These windows guard over a beautiful park which I will share with you the next time. I hope our walk was not too long or made you too tired but perhaps allowed you to look into this enchanting village...


The Lockless Door by Robert Frost

It went many years,
But at last came a knock,
And I though of the door
With no lock to lock.

I blew out the light,
I tip-toed the floor,
And raised both hands
In prayer to the door.

But the knock came again.
My window was wide;
I climbed on the sill
And descended outside.

Back over the sill
I bade a 'Come in'
To whatever the knock
At the door may have been.

So at a knock
I emptied my cage
To hide in the world
And alter with age.