Come With Me on a Drive Through the Mountains

I spent most of Thursday driving to and from a funeral in the beautiful mountains of western Virginia.  When I left the house that morning, the weather was grey and rainy.

I took the Interstate, because the weather made for less than ideal driving conditions on the country roads that I prefer.  The farther I drove, the better the weather got ... until the rain stopped, and the sun emerged, and we had a beautiful day!

The funeral was for the father of one of my dear rose friends.  His family has been in the Shenandoah Valley since the mid-18th Century.  His father was being laid to rest in a family cemetery, beside his father.  The drive to the cemetery wound us past some beautiful countryside.

As we reached the top of the hill, and I parked my car, this is the view I saw.

I cannot imagine that it is possible to spend eternity in a more beautiful place.  (Regular readers here already know how much I love cemeteries.)

The service was incredibly uplifting.  We were reminded that my friend's father has gone to live with the Lord, and there he will wait until it is time for the rest of his family to join him. 

As I left the cemetery, with a two-plus hour drive ahead of me to get home, I was marveling at the beauty in the countryside along the road.  The scenery was framed by the spectacular vistas created by the mountains with the leaves on the trees just beginning to don their autumn colors.

The drive along the narrow country road that led to and from the cemetery provided some beautiful country vignettes.  I would have loved to stop and get a better look. 

The row of weathered mailboxes to the right of this grey barn would have been a wonderful subject for a photo shoot.  The light was perfect, and they had such character.

(In case you're wondering, the photos in this post were taken with my point-and-shoot camera, most of them from my car while I was driving.  I had to crop them to fix the composition to make them look right, because I was shooting blind ... keeping my eyes on the road, you understand.)

This huge formation on the side of the mountain is called Chimney Rock, according to a sign.

With the clear weather, blue sky, and lovely scenery, I headed back home through the Shenandoah National Forest, up and over the mountain, instead of taking the Interstate like I did earlier in the day.  The views along the way were just as uplifting as the minister's message at the funeral.

The mountains in the distance had me humming "America The Beautiful".  I can see where the words "purple mountain's magesty" came from.

It's awfully hard to photograph the lovely farms and towns I passed while zipping by at 55 mph.

Here's the Shenandoah River ... sort of.

The bright sun and crisp sky made for a beautiful drive, as the road wound up and down the mountain itself.

There were peeks of a lovely valley view off to my right ... most of them along deadly curves in the road, where photography is definitely an ill-advised distraction.

The drive home, alone in my car, with the beautiful scenery outside, provided a perfect sense of peace.  It was exactly what I needed.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)

I'll Be Back in a Day or Two

I have tons of ideas for blog posts, but too much other stuff is going on right now.  Nothing earth shattering, just work, and family, and friends, and preparing for our annual Greyhounds Rock fundraiser ... Whew!!

I'll leave you with this photo I took on Sunday evening.  This pecan tree is my favorite feature of our property.  An arborist told me last year that he estimated it to be well over 300 years old.  Isn't it beautiful?  Dinner in our pavillion, under the branches of this magnificent tree, is a wonderful way to spend the evening.

I'll be back in a few days.

Basement Bathroom Renovation ... The Big Reveal!!!

It's time to reveal the new, and much improved, bathroom in our basement.  This project took SOOO much longer than it was supposed to, but the results are spectacular, I almost don't mind all the delays.  Without further ado, I give you .... the REVEAL!!!

Before I go any further, let me bring those of you who may be unfamiliar with this project up to date.  When we bought this house in 2002, it had 5 full bathrooms ... three upstairs with bedrooms, one on the main floor adjacent to the office, and one in the basement.  The plumbing in the basement bathroom leaked, so we disconnected the fixtures, closed the door, and vowed to renovate it after we did most of the rest of the house.  Early this year, we decided that it was a problem not having a bathroom we could access without going through the finished living space of the house.  We've been stomping through the upper floors whenever we had to use the 'facilities', removing dirty boots or tracking stuff through the house.  I also wanted to have a bathroom that was more easily accessible for guests when I have garden gatherings here.  The basement bathroom was our answer, and I wanted to make it pretty, while acknowledging its original construction in the 1940's.

In the beginning, this room had a clawfoot tub, a broken pedestal sink, and a toilet that leaked ... and lots of exposed plumbing.  We demolished everything to the studs, tossed the toilet and sink, gave away the tub, and started fresh.  What once looked like this:

Now looks like this:

The other side of the room was this:

And now, it's this:

We decided early on that we didn't NEED to keep 5 full bathrooms in this house.  The clawfoot tub was in good shape, but we wanted storage and display space instead.  The tub went to a friend's house in Maryland one day last spring, I found this cupboard at Luckett's Store, and it's perfect!  (For the story of my trip taking the tub to to its new home, click HERE.  To see the trip to Luckett's, click HERE.)

Here's what the bathroom looked like all stripped down, as you looked at it from the hall ...

The window had a lovely view into our garage, it didn't let in much light, and we removed it.

This is the same view now ...

 (The only thing I have left to do is to install the door casing and rehang the bathroom door.  Let's pretend I've done that already.)

The bathroom has all new plumbing and electric.  The water lines, drain pipes, and radiator lines, which used to be exposed, are now hidden in the walls where they belong ... and no more leaky supply fittings!  There's a new light where the old light was, and we added an electrical outlet (which the bathroom didn't have before).

(The new light, as seen in the store display)

 Isn't it perfect?

You can see the medicine chest, all restored and installed in its new spot.  It was a flea market find from a few years ago, probably dates from the same time period as our bathroom, and I love all its Art Deco rounded edges!  What once looked like this:

(The dirty, gross 'Before' photo)

is now a wonderful addition to this vintage-inspired bath.

I left its original beveled mirror ... streaks and flakes and all.

The vanity is brand new, and its mahogany finish and curvy porcelain top blend perfectly with the Vintage vibe I was going for in this room. 

The style of the chrome faucet adds a bit of a contemporary flair, with porcelain handles that keep the Vintage feel.

The sink wall, stripped to the original brick wall of the house, looked like this as we finished the framing and began to add insulation.  All of those bulkheads were necessary to conceal the new plumbing in the walls.

And now it looks like this.

The star of the room is the step-back cupboard.  The size is perfect (it sits in exactly the same space where the clawfoot tub once did) and I love everything about it!  All I did to it was give it a good cleaning (it needed it!), remove the contact paper and wallpaper from the inside, and paint the inside with one of my current favorite colors (BM 'Paladian Blue').  The shelves of the upper part of the cupboard provide great display space for part of my collection of random country-style stuff ... a perfectly fitting display for a country cupboard, don't you think.

The crate says, "VA DAIRY CO."  I love to collect local stuff!!

The sign says, "A friend is someone who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself."

This shelf is a tribute to my dear friend Kat.  I bought the duck pins while shopping with her one day at The Vintage Source.  When the Husband and I were at Luckett's picking up the cupboard, I spotted a basket of duck pin bowling balls, and I bought one for Kat and one for me.  The rose tray was a gift from Kat ... it had once been her mother's, and she sent it to me knowing it would have a good home here.  (I get teary just thinking about it.)

The flowers in the vase on the cupboard came from my garden yesterday afternoon.  I have never claimed to have much floral arranging ability, and I admire those of you who do, but it's hard for someone with even my limited talent to go wrong with so many beautiful roses to choose from.

1. Wagon Wheel Bright Pink,  2. New Dawn,  3. Comtesse de Segur,  4. Gartendirektor Otto Linne, and some Queen Anne's Lace.

1. Mme. Desire Giraud,  2. Sequoia Ballet,  3. Elina,  4.  Comtesse de Segur.

1. Puerto Rico,  2. Sequoia Ballet,  3. La Marne

1.  Not-September Morn,  2.  Alba Meideland,  3.  Snow White,  4. Souvenir de la Malmaisson.

Mr. Lincoln, and some pretty weeds, in a bud vase on the sink.

Except for the aforementioned bathroom door, this room is completely finished.  Yesterday, as I was channeling Gumby in all sorts of twisted, uncomfortable positions taking these photos in this small room, I marveled at the transformation.  I hope you enjoyed the tour as much as I LOVE our new bathroom.

(If you are itching to see details on the construction, vanity, floor, etc., click the 'Basement Bathroom' label below to get a list of all the blog posts about this bathroom project.)

Chilly Morning

Fall is definitely in the air!  The temperature the past few mornings has been below 50 degrees (that's 10 for our friends who are accustomed to the Celsius scale).  Yesterday, as the temperature in the house fell to 64, I caved and fired up the boiler.  This old, solid brick house is a huge thermal mass, a lot like a Thermos bottle ... it stays warm when it's warm, and it stays cool when it's cold ... and I'm cold. 

The chilly temps make it hard for me to get motivated in the morning.  It's great for sitting under a down throw with a cup of coffee, working (or playing) on the computer, and cuddling with cats ... and bad for getting dressed, heading outside, and getting outdoor stuff accomplished .  So here I sit, on the couch in the family room, surrounded by sleeping animals.

Daniel is sacked out on the bed in front of the TV, and Emma (who I can't see from here) is sleeping on her bed in the bay to Daniel's right.

Dorothy is curled up beside me.  I can't believe how much she looks like a big kitty now!

And Alice is sleeping next to Maggie on the other end of the couch.

It's time for me to get up from here and try to accomplish some real work today.  Saturday is my last Open Garden day for the year, and I'd like to have my garden look better than it does when visitors arrive.  Sunday, I'm hosting the first meeting for the Old Dominion Heritage Roses Group, with very special guests who have never seen my garden ... I'd better get my butt into gear and stop wasting time on the computer. 

Love you guys, but I gotta go.
Connie

Got Marshmallows?

One of the autumn rituals here on the farm is the annual (or whenever) Burning of the Brush Pile.  This year, there have been trees come down here and next door at the Winery, limbs that fall, and truckloads of brush and weeds, all added to a brush pile in our pasture that can actually be seen from space.

The guy who is preparing my gardens offered to torch the pile and tend it with his tractor today.  It's a good day to do this, since we had so much rain recently and there is almost no chance of the fire spreading beyond the pile.

Smoke has been blowing across the fields as the pile burns.

Periodically, my guy will push the pile with the tractor to turn it so it burns more efficiently.  (didn't get a photo of this ... sorry.)

As quickly as it's been burning, the huge heap of brush should be reduced to a smoldering pile of coals before dinnertime.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)

Designing a Garden of English Roses

I have 37 David Austin roses I have collected over the past couple of years, currently in pots of varying sizes, that I MUST get planted in the ground before winter.  I have a guy coming later this week (weather permitting) to prep the ground for the garden that will contain these roses.  Unlike other gardens I have designed, I don't have an area of a particular size for this garden ... it can be whatever size it needs to be to hold these roses.  It's like working backwards.

Over the weekend, I pulled some books from my garden library, borrowed a couple from my friend Robert, and began studying and making notes like mad to learn the habits of all of these roses ... some of which I have never seen mature and growing in the ground.  It's been a couple of days of making lists and sketching layouts, and hoping I get it as close to 'right' as I can.

Look at this 'teaser' design in one of the books.  It shows a lovely rendering and supposed design, with plant list, but no clue as to which roses were used where, or any idea about the dimensions of the space.  It's pretty, but it's no help at all.

Stuff like this is much more helpful.  The dimensions of this rose are what can be expected if it is grown in England ... Austin roses usually grow larger in the warmer, sunnier US.  The little line drawing tells me that the canes on The Reeve are longer and arching.

'Heritage' is tall and upright, according to this little drawing.  My own 'Heritage' is trapped in a pot that is much too small for it, and I'm sure it longs for the freedom of unrestricted soil in a garden.

The little line drawings in this growth guide from Vintage Gardens web site adds even more info to help me place the roses properly.  Unlike the drawings in the book, which only show a general idea of growth habit, these drawings also show size ... in relation to a drawing of a very stylishly dressed man and his dog.

'Molineux'

I'm doing all of this to try to site each rose to its best advantage, to have a garden full of the beautiful English roses that I love.

'Mary Rose'

It's important to put the roses that want to climb in the back where I plan to install a fence, large shrubs behind smaller shrubs ... there's so much to remember.

'Happy Child'

The garden is going to be in a prominent location, toward the back of the property, by the barn, in a spot that overlooks the neighbor's pond.   I'm so excited to watch the roses develop through their first year in the ground, and beyond.

'Wife of Bath'

Stay tuned.  As soon as they're finished, I'll share my drawings ... and we'll watch as the garden goes from scribbles on paper to reality in the landscape.