The Old White Chair Looking like Fall.........

As I was gardening this week I noticed my big tibouchina bush had a lot of leaves that have turned orange and it looked like fall.  I'm not sure if that is a natural thing for this bush or whether I have let mine get too dry or something. At any rate, I liked the look and decided right then to do an Old White Chair post using the bush as the backdrop.  After waiting a few days I found out this   morning that most of the orange leaves are on the ground but, I did the photo shoot there anyhow.........

So, I gathered up some of my favorite things and even without the orange leaves background I love the way the pictures turned out. I had a hard time limiting twenty-two pictures to nine.

Here you see that the old chair is near the wooden bench where the stone-face cat takes it's rest. I have a lot of falling leaves from a nearby tree already. They are not especially colorful so I embellished them a little with some of my indoor leaves.

One of my nieces, Wanda, made this basket for me years ago. I have so enjoyed having it and think it is the nicest grapevine basket I have ever seen.  It is showing a little wear and has lost a few twigs over the years but I am glad I have been able to hold on to it.

Also on the bench is my McCormick teapot.  I have had it a long time too. It was old when I bought it.

You already know how I like mossy flower pots.

My favorite fall tea cup is this Johnson Brothers one. I know some of you see it and the teapot  most every fall on at least one post. The cup will be showing up again when I show my fall indoors.

Literally, on my way out the door, I grabbed two magazines with a good look for this autumn scene.  Don't you just love the curlycues of the basket! 

  

This is enough to make me want to go make a cup of tea and snuggle up in the plaid blanket.

 

I am linked to Fishtail cottage Garden Party - here.

A Pride and Prejudice Wedding - part 2

If you missed part 1 of  "A Pride and Prejudice Wedding" please go here and look at it first.  I think you will be glad you did. 

"A lady's imagination is very rapid, it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment"

- Jane Austen

 

Emma and Peter arrived at Cyprus Grove together and had a little time to enjoy the upstairs Bridal Room.  As with the downstairs cake and champagne room, shown in part 1, this upstairs room was just great for this particular couple.

 

Most of the following pictures are from the wedding photographer, Castaldo Studio.

 

 Relaxing on the period sofa and maybe thinking of this line from the book, "I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation.  It is too long ago.  I was in the middle before I had begun."  Notice the book page heart garland draped over the sofa. It was made by Emma's mother. While you are "noticing" look over Peter's left shoulder and see my hat pin holders, filled with hat pins.

Time to get ready to walk down the aisle. Again, over the shoulder - my glove holder and gloves.

Across the room awaits the rose and babies breath bouquet, another page garland and a few of my accessories.

 The rooms are bare of anything except a few pieces of furniture. Using these items here on one of the chairs made it seem warmer and takes you back to the days of Pride and Prejudice. 

Harpist, Christine MacPhail is always ready with her nice smile and music. She was outside for the short ceremony and moved here to play during the cake and champagne.

Going down the isle!

I don't have any of the actual ceremony pictures but, the following are after.

Mr & Mrs

Congratulations, and may you live happily ever after!

Pride and Prejudice Wedding ........

  Recently, I assisted my daughter Carrie with one of her Destination Occasion weddings http://www.destinationoccasion.com All the weddings are nice but, I was especially excited about this one because of the theme the bride chose - Pride and Prejudice. And so many things seemed just perfect. Starting with the venue location at beautiful.......

 

......Cypress Grove Park in southeast Orlando.

 

 

It truly is a beautiful place and especially for this wedding. The bride had only seen pictures but made a good choice of the venue for her special day. All these pictures are snapshots and not from the professional photographer.

 

 

The wedding was held in early morning which is a fine time when you are here from England and this being a destination wedding with no guests attending - just Emma and Peter. Emma is very much a Pride and Prejudice fan. And, she looks like she could have just stepped out of the story! Beautiful bride! They live only ten minutes away from where the movie was filmed.

 

 

Carrie often goes beyond the expected with her planning and provision. This time she secretly discovered Emma's favorite quote from the book,  printed it and a short announcement on book "pages".

 

 

The bride was surprised and seemed very pleased when she saw the pages on the cake table.

 

 

Another surprise, she found this old book and used it for carrying the rings. Unlike most of the destination brides, Emma did not invite Mickey and Minnie to the wedding but, seemed happy he was included inside the ring book

 

 

 

 

 

The ceremony took place outside on the back lawn area and this small intimate room with appropriate furnishings was good for the cake and champagne and pictures

 

The nice built-in cabinet is usually totally empty.  Carrie asked me to select some things from my décor and collections that might add to the ambiance.

 

 

You will notice another copy of Pride and Prejudice on the shelf.  This one was loaned by the florist.

 

Emma ordered the paper wedding cake. http://thoughtfulimagesink.com Her mother spent hours making heart garlands, etc. from book (yes, Pride and Prejudice) pages. They will be seen in part two. Notice the cake stand which looks like it is from the story era. If I remember correctly Carrie purchased it especially for this cake.

 

The small cake that you had to look close at before knowing it wasn't real satin, lace and beads was from a local baker, Lisa Dorn.  I have never seen prettier fondant work.

 

 

Very well done.

 

 

The bride and groom brought their own Mr. and Mrs. forks. The words are at the base of the tines.

I am going to stop here with part one and will do part two in a few days from now. It will include pictures from an upstairs Brides Room and outside shots.

~~~~

Fresh Cuts......

It has been awhile since we have had a "fresh cuts" post so that is what you get today and remember there is not much need for talk on "fresh cuts"......

This is probably my favorite fresh cuts arrangement so far.......

Pretty simple.  Just plumbago flowers, delicate euforbia and a few sprigs of the dark purple plant that I don't know the name of and other upright sprigs with tiny white flowers that I cannot remember the name of at the moment.....

......all in an old tea pot.

The pot is a Winsor from England.

The pot is rectangular in shape, even the lid.

Just the flowers

The small, square cake stand is more suitable for this arrangement than the woven basket that I have used most for "fresh cuts". 

My Mossy Summer Garden........

This may be one that only I will like. I have always liked to see moss growing on things. I think it is interesting and sometimes very pretty.  This summer has been a good moss growing year. 

My favorite moss covered place is this old bench, sheltered in place near the huge camphor tree stump. The whole semi-private area is a favorite of mine.

The pine cone has been wedged here for many months.  The resurrection fern has been slowly growing here this summer, also.

I decided to dislodge the cone and place it on the seat.  Here is where it will stay until a squirrel or some act of nature moves it. Do any of you get used to some insignificant thing such as this and want it to stay as is?

On the base of the big stump.

The same area showing resurrection fern too.

A moss-covered exposed root situated in the dry creek bed.

For the first time, I have moss growing on the edges of some stepping stones along the path......

.....and, on the base of a big palm tree.  The leaves here are part of a milkweed plant, also a free range wanderer.....

.....on a pile of storm debris, along with air-plants and lichen.....

.....another root.....

.....on another tree.  I am telling you, folks, it is all over the place in the mostly shady areas.....

Full or empty, turned over or upright, I find clay pots to be decorative especially if they turn a nice shade of green.

The big clump of whatever it is, in the little rock garden is covered with moss. It sometimes looks more green than it does right now.

I noticed the big pot beside the clump as a choice for this post too.  I really like the green on it.  It (and the other pot) probably cannot be rightfully called moss but the look is similar.

So, there you have it, my mossy summer garden.  You couldn't know how glad I am to get to that last sentence. I had this whole post finished and when I posted it something went wrong and it was all messed up. Words over pictures, etc. Now, I am holding my breath until I publish this version! With all the time I have spent, I am hoping someone besides me likes it!