House and Home, Within These Walls

 

Good morning happy stitchers! Oh the post holiday blah's are sinking in here. Decorations are down, no goodies hidden in cupboards or baskets, visitors have returned to their own homes and their own lives. Now what? 

Well, you know me by now, if I can walk I am on way way to Phipps Conservatory. I have a passion for Bonsai. I kill them no matter what. I try. I try. So now I just go to study them.

 I have been known to kill a few orchids as well, but now I have one growing beautiful, air roots hanging down over the table edge, no blooms. It is about 6 years old, I have done all those things that supposedly support blooms. Nah. Nada. Blah, no blooms.

 

My recent curiosity is centered on Althorpe House, Princess Diana's ancestral home. Her brother, 

 Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl, and his wife, Lady Karen  (Gordon) Spencer, are in the process of rehabilitating the ancestral home and gardens.  No matter where you stand on the British Aristocracy, especially now with all the kerfluffle going on, I so admire that this man and his wife are spending their lives maintaining the home and grounds, but also teaching the history of this home and the amazing artwork and craftsmanship in the buildings.   

 Wikipedia history, HERE

Lady Karen has taken on the total rehabilitation of the gigantic Walled Garden. Off by itself, up a hill, overgrown and neglected, this garden was the heart of the home in history. All the food came from this space. It is remarkably designed to best provide the perfect growing conditions for fruit and vegetables. Original drawings have been discovered that clearly show the designs and the three greenhouses that lined up in the center of the space. The Walled Gardens of Althorp are about to be reborn. 

A little video about the garden, HERE. So what does this have to do with quilting or cross stitch. Not a darn thing, but, I have always wanted a walled garden on the western side of our home. It is a small space, and it would be perfect. Sadly, no one else shares my vision. But I do have an ally in the quest. My new DIL is a gardener. She has dreams too. Dreams of old brick and stone enclosing a space. Dreams of fruit trees in bloom and then forming fruit, dreams of endless greens, fresh for the picking living in a space where our four-legged critters can only view, not destroy. A fence laden with climbing roses, a little water-fed fountain in the center where our feathered friends can visit and we can sit a spell on a warm Summer day. 

In view of that dream I ordered a book mentioned in Lady Karen's video and written by one of the experts she has employed to assist in the rebuilding of the gardens. An introduction to Susan Campbell and her expertise of the Walled Garden, HERE

On rare occasions, I consider a garden space with perfectly manicured borders, curated evergreen plantings, and maybe a well placed spotlight here and there. Then I look out the window at my wild growing mint on the hillside and I remember the days my MIL and children helped me plant the "plugs" to hold the loose soil. I see the native trees that were here when we built the house. Nothing in rows, none with spotlights, most with some kind of wild vine climbing up the side and I know, beyond a doubt, that I am home. A walled garden would be like a smile in the space and I am not giving up this dream. I will leave this book open, on tables here and there. I will also pull all the P. Allen Smith books with garden dreams galore and pile them up too. Subtle hints are more effective than direct commentary. Wish me luck. 

• Today I will prewash some yardage with juvenile motifs for a project. 
• I will finish transferring the cross-stitch patterns into one drawer or into a three ring binder using clear drop-in envelopes. Then they will all be in one place. This is not a large collection, maybe 30 or so. 
• I have some hanging spider plants that need to move from the dining room. One will go to my bathroom, the other likely to one of the bedrooms. I really only have two decent Winter sunlight windows, the down side of living in the woods. I need to do some rearranging. Have a lovely day, no matter what your history, your life can bloom in the little things you do every day. Till next time, smile, it costs nothing.
  
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