Small Changes

The other day I was wandering around the house, trying to make a few 'seasonal' changes in decor, and wanted to do something with a hint of Valentines sweetness in my huge cloche on the dining room table.

I wandered and looked and eventually grabbed a favorite teacup and saucer. It's American Beauty by Royal Albert, and it's gorgeous! I bought it at an antique store in a small town on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, and just love it. Honestly I would love to have a set!

Anyway, the teacup needed something, and out of the blue I thought of moss! I ran outside, up against one of the oak trees, and dug up a few small pieces of moss, filled the teacup almost full with potting soil and put the moss on top. I watered it, pressed it down pretty firmly, and covered it with the cloche.

The cloche still needed something, so I grabbed some of my pink scrunched seam binding and laced it through 3 old rusty skeleton keys, and tied it around the knob on top. I think it's precious!

So, tell me, how do YOU change up your decor in small, free ways??? Come on, tell us!!!

Decorating for FALL . . .

~Front Door Welcome~

We don't do halloween here. I do decorate for the autumn/harvest/fall/Thanksgiving season, but you won't find any ghosts, goblins, jack-o-lanterns, evil spirits or that kind of thing here at our home.

~Sweet, spicy candle that smells like fall~

So many people put more emphasis on 'celebrating' a day that was originally about the dead and spirits, but don't even acknowledge or are insulted by my favorites Christmas, Easter, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving. and since when did halloween become a holiday??? I won't be capitalizing it any time soon.

~End table in living room - can you tell I love birds?~

When I was a child in the 50's and 60's we dressed up in scarecrow, cowboy/girl, gypsy type costumes made of things in our closets and then visited a select few friends in the surrounding area. We lived in the 'country', with a few neighbors, but not many very close. So we went 1/4 mile down the road to my grandparents, then out the road about 1/4 mile in the other direction to Claude and Lively's place. If they had them, they usually gave us colorful Araucana chicken eggs (and yes, for halloween), as well as some candy. Next was the Manns, and maybe one or two other folks within a couple of miles of our house. And that was it, and it was fun and 'enough' for my brother and myself.

~Coffee table with fall magazines and stacked fabric pumpkins~

Now my hubby and I live in a small subdivision of about 65 houses and lots of kids who wouldn't even speak to us on the street if they were made to. But come October 31st they are here with their hands out and get upset if you don't give them what they want or as much as they want. And let's not even mention the area below our subdivision where someone hooks up a wagon to their tractor and brings a couple of dozen kids from another neighborhood to visit us - just this one night a year.

~Fall flag outside front door~

So a few years ago we just turned out the lights and pretended we weren't home. A few made their way down the dark driveway and found the doorbell button, but not many, and there have been less every year. This year we have plans, and will not be here at all, and for that I am very thankful!

~Wood Scarecrow~

And yes, it is partly a religious thing, and I know there are some wonderful alternatives out there! Before we moved to our current home we helped at our church's 'Trunk or Treat' for several years, decorating our car in a theme like harvest, camping, etc. and giving out candy to children as they walked around. There were rock climbing walls, moonwalks, games, hayrides, and all kinds of fun things for kids to do in a positive, loving atmosphere. And we had literally hundreds of kids from all around the area. And we had a BLAST!!!

~Mr. Crowe sitting in the front porch rocker. He's 54" tall, but without a spine or bones, he prefers to sit!~

Thankful, grateful, joyful, that's how I like to spend my fall/harvest season. Preparing for a Thanksgiving with family and being grateful for all our many blessings. That is so much better than dressing up like something or someone 'wicked' or bad, and going out and acting like your values and beliefs don't matter for just that night.

~Old Tom Turkey in the other rocking chair; he is also 54" tall~

Please don't be offended by my words here today. I am simply stating my position on halloween. And I hope you have a wonderful one, however you celebrate it. We live in America, and we can celebrate any day we want, and isn't that a wonderful thing!

The pictures above are most of my fall/harvest decorations. The are scattered around the front porch, living room and dining room. But before I go, I want to share one last decoration with you. It's a paper mache' pumpkin on a bit of moss under a cloche. BUT, it's not really the pumpkin I want to share - it's the cloche! I bought that cloche (bell jar) not including the footed cake plate at a yard sale this summer. It's about 15 1/2 inches tall, and a tad over 11 inches across at the base. It's made from hand blown glass, and has a few little air bubbles in the glass. The lady who was selling it showed me the catalog she bought it from, and she paid $80 plus shipping. It was still in the original box, which had never been OPENED!!! I opened it, made sure everything was intact, threw it in my car and skedaddled out of there! Why? Well, because I was afraid she would realize what she had done. I mean, surely selling an $80 cloche for $10 wasn't one of her brightest moments! :o) But I sure was pleased to take her up on it!

~Cloche on cake pedestal with paper mache' pumpkin and moss~

It's going to be a pretty week here for a change, so I think I'll be starting my pre-holidays cleaning. The coat closet and linen closet need straightening something awful, and my kitchen needs a good scrubbing from top to bottom. That's what I'll be doing this week, what about you???

Have a great week everyone! Becky

Sunday Morning and Porch Progress

Hello Friends! I just wanted to update you on what I got done yesterday - which wasn't much - and share a few pictures with you. First, a couple of my favorite bloomers that are so pretty right now - bearded iris! The first one is peach, and so pretty! It was laying on the ground, so the stem grew crooked, and although I staked it up, it still looks kind of weird, but the bloom is still gorgeous!

See those water droplets all over it - we had some serious rain yesterday afternoon and last night. And in the next picture, take a look at the little tiny pool of water in it's throat - a perfect teardrop shape!

And this iris is probably one of my favorites - I don't know it's name, but I call it 'The Royal One' because of the burgundy bottom and golden top. The colors didn't come out that great here, but it's still just beautiful!

Here's a peek at my favorite spot in our house right now! I moved the white wicker rockers from the back porch to the front, washed the cushion covers (they are real feather pillows, covered with quilted covers that I got a couple of years ago at Homegoods), and decorated the little table.

I didn't get a bit of housework done yesterday when it was raining, because that wicker chair just kept calling my name! I spent quite a bit of time there reading and watching the birds and squirrels going about their business throughout the afternoon.

The table is just an old wooden TV tray, covered with a much older chicken feed sack that I've used for years as a picnic tablecloth. As you can see I have several of my favorite things! My binoculars and 'Birds of Georgia' book, and a pottery pitcher and small sugar bowl. The pitcher will hold cut flowers periodically, but right now it holds matches for the conveniently placed citronella candle, and the sugar bowl catches the burned matches. There's also a cute birdhouse and one of my latest treasures . . . . . . . . don't you just love the old post box??? I bought it at an antique store's yard sale for $10 a few weeks ago. I've put balled up papers in the bottom, and rolled up a few magazines for front porch reading material. The original label is still on the post box, and it was originally from Sweden. Someone apparently added the french horn decal later. It makes a great magazine holder!

I got several pots filled with flowers for the front porch yesterday before the rains started, but if you'll notice the blue pot inside the white basket, I was filling the basket with moss when the downpour started! I'm going to finish that today, and hopefully get a few more things potted before the rains start again tonight.

We've had the pineapple fountain for a few years now, but it was always on the back porch, and I didn't even start it last year. When I cleaned it before placing it on the front porch yesterday I had to get the dirt dauber's nest out of the center of the pineapple! It was kind of noisy at first, but once I got that cleaned out and fresh water inside, it is running like new, and the only sound is the trickling water - blissful!

I've got a few more pots to fill, and it seems I'll have to go get some more annuals to fill them with as I only have a few more left. The plants in those pots you see are pink and white geraniums, pale apple blossom pink and deeper pink double impatiens, asparagus fern, bacopa and caladiums. Can you see a theme there? I really lean to pinks, blues, purples and whites, but there are splashes of yellow, orange and red throughout the garden.

For the flower bucket, I placed a small flower pot upside down in the bottom, surrounded it with pea gravel, then topped it with a 1 gallon pot with the double impatiens. I'm trying to create a cascade of flowers and greenery around the fountain. It's not finished, but I'm definitely making progress!

Well, I guess I'd best get outside and do something, because we're supposed to have more rain and severe storms this evening. Tomorrow we have two doctors appointments for my dad, so it will probably be Tuesday before I get back with you. Have a great week! Becky

A Cake for Traveling!

Hi There! It's another cool, misty day here in northern Georgia, the kind of day we've had way too few of in recent months, so I'm enjoying it.

I'm all about planning and packing today, as we are leaving tomorrow morning to go to a GA state park about 100 miles from here. It's Richard B. Russell State Park, a 2500 plus acre state park on the banks of 26,500 acre Lake Russell near Elberton, Georgia. We love this state park for many reasons, but the main one is that it's a large park, with only 28 campsites. A cozy little campground with it's own boat ramp, docks and fishing dock. We'll be there all week, returning on the 18th, so this will be my last post for a while.

I wanted to leave you with a new recipe! My friend Linda from Brooklyn, who I met on Scrapbook.com, gave me this recipe and it's delicious, and only 3 ingredients, so it's very easy!

Pineapple Coconut Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease
a 9 x 13 inch cake pan.

1 box Angel Food Cake Mix
1 15 ounce can crushed pineapple - with juice
1/2 cup (or more) shredded coconut

Blend cake mix and pineapple well, then add coconut and mix until it's well blended. Pour into cake pan and bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. It took me less than 40 minutes, but my oven runs a little hot.

Linda says this cake is nice with cool whip and toasted coconut as a garnish, but as you can see, we're doing just fine with nothing but the cake!

The cake definitely tasts like angel food, but with the added tang of pineapple and the sweetness of the coconut. And it rises up nicely, too.

I sure hope you enjoy this recipe! And I hope you have a great week next week. I'll check back in with you on the 18th or 19th. Blessings friends! Becky

Welcome to Camellia Cottage

Hello, and welcome to Camellia Cottage, our small cottage home in north Georgia. I share this home with my husband of more than 20 years and our two 'girls', Bailey and Bessie, who, although they are miniature Dachshunds, tend to think they are human.


We moved here just five years ago from our home in Gwinnett County, Georgia. I had been retired for just about a year after working for a large corporation for 30 years, and hubby was (and still is) working at his job of more than 30 years. We fell in love with the area months before we actually found our home, but once we found this house, we knew it was the right one for us. It's not very large - only about 1300 square feet, but it's just right for us.


The house has a steeply pitched roof and surrounded by the hardwoods native to Georgia. Oaks, maples, sweet gum, hickory and poplar, among others. Our fenced back yard we have left natural, and it is filled with pitcher plants, solomon's seal and hearts a bursting. This year we had a couple of mulberry trees come up volunteer, and I hope to leave at least one of them.


The front yard we have changed drastically, adding a stone patio and large rock border around the flower beds. Together we laid almost 8000 pounds of stone! We removed the staid hedges and planted lilacs, buddleias, roses, Chinese snowballs, hydrangeas and many smaller perennials such as lilies, iris, lavender, columbine, dicentra (bleeding heart), peonies, foxgloves, and many more varieties.


One thing that was here when we moved in has remained. A rather large and unruly red blooming camellia bush right in front of the house. The house has been named for that bush, but not just because it's a camellia. You see, in the Victorian language of flowers, one meaning for the camellia is contentment, and we feel so happy and content here that we knew that was the perfect name for our home - Camellia Cottage.

My purpose for this blog is to share my love of home and all the things that are included in that, from cooking and meal planning, decorating, gardening, hobbies, pets, and anything else that should come up. Maybe it's food storage, or cleaning tips. Or how about products I've found that work for me. I don't work for anyone, and none of the products I tell you about have ever paid me a penny. I just like sharing information with people that may make their lives a little easier.

Well, that's all from me for right now, but I'll be back! Until next time, have a great day! Blessings, Becky