Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge

Gladys Taber has been one of my favorite authors for a few years now. Soon after finding her books, I discovered Barbara Webster's Creatures and Contentments-Ruminations of Living in the Country, and fell in love with her, too. These were both authors who I felt kindred to, and who I wished were still alive so I could meet them and have the chance to know them personally. They both wrote about their lives in the countryside; the four seasons; beloved pets and friendship; family, nature, marriage, books. All the things I blog about and know that, if they were alive today, they would be blogging about, too.

I was overjoyed when I discovered that these two favorite authors actually knew each other, were friends, and had compiled a year's worth of letters written to one another in a book! Gladys Taber wrote from her home in Connecticut, 'Stillmeadow,' and Barbara from her home in Pennsylvania, 'Sugarbridge.' Barbara's husband Ed made the illustrations. All three signed the copy that I now treasure, and am reading daily. 

If you click on that last picture, you will get a taste of how these women correspond. Doesn't it sound like a blog entry one of us may have written? 

Here are some beautiful lines from the January letters of 'Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge,' which I hope you will add to your collection and love the way I do:

Barbara:

"Coming back from a ride, and looking down over the brow of the hill, at the small white Pennsylvania farmhouse, which has stood there almost two hundred years, wrapped in its blanket of pines, I am content, and know I could live nowhere else."

Gladys: 

"Do you ever have a moment that is absolutely exquisite? Such moments are rare, they are like holding a pink pearl in your palm. Happiness, I think, is being able to live those moments when they come. I had one going out in the moonlight at bedtime, with three cockers and the Irish taking a last look-around. There was a pale winter mist over the meadows, and the sky was a clear dark wider meadow blossoming with stars. The air was quiet and cold and smelled of woodsmoke. The front lantern shone on the sugar maples, the boughs were very dark, and montionless. I held the moment in my hand."

A few times people have asked me what kinds of books I like to read. I never really know simple way to answer that, since they don't fall into a particular category. I find myself explaining, "I like books by people living in the country, telling about their everyday lives, who revel in the changing seasons, and are honest in their reflections and dreams." 

Other favorite authors of mine whose thoughts and memories I would love to share with you are Hal Borland and Rachel Peden. But more about them some other snowy day....

...wishing you all a rejuvinating weekend with many simple delights, 

xo country girl

p.s. thank you for all of your kind words....i appreciate them, and you, very very much.

the planet is sprinkled with lights

My dear ones...

First, I want to show you these two photos which I took on completely different days, but which, when I looked at them this morning, I realized are so similar. They both could be titled 'One.' They are both very simple. And they both give me a certain feeling....melancholy? Peace? Tranquility? I remember that, in both cases, I saw this one small thing flying through the enormous sky, and felt the need to capture it with my lense. I hope you like them.

Now, I want to introduce you to an artist I've discovered...whose work I absolutely LOVE: Kristiana Pärn. 

winter garden 

solitude

going together

free range chicken

feeding birds

These are just a few of the beautiful paintings/prints she has available at her etsy store. Someday, I hope to have one of her originals, painted on maple wood, hanging in our home. 

Isn't it encouraging to find someone, or something, which speaks directly to your heart? Doesn't it pick you back up off the ground when you find something precious, something beautiful, or receive kind words from someone you love, or sometimes even a perfect stranger? And then, you don't feel so alone anymore in this great big world...you feel you are a part of some unspoken community...a community of like-minded people, who dream of the same things you do, who have so much love to give just like you do, and who are hungry to share that love, and to experience love and beauty.

While talking with a friend the other day on twitter, we agreed that when being in contact with all of these great women from all different countries and continents, we had the vision of the planet being sprinkled with tiny glowing lights......those lights are you...and her...and me.....

....let's keep the planet glowing with our lights....

xo

emersonmade=gorgeous

all pictures by emersonmade

Visit emersonmade to see (and order) these, and many, many other beautiful handmade linen flowers. And to meet this amazing lady's flocks of chickens and ducks, and get a look at her gorgeous home and property. She's living the dream.

How much do I love that photo of her in the rain.

i love you guys.

xo country girl

The Charming Art of Johanna Wright

I want to share these wonderful paintings with you by an artist named Johanna Wright. A fellow blogger, Molly Chester, told me about her, and I am fascinated! Her use of color, her fanciful themes...simply lovely. Christmas wish-list material for sure. So fortunately her work is available at her etsy shop.

'stocking up for winter'

'lazy sunday'

'cozy den'

'among the weeds'

xo country girl

I Miss Loving Country Living

I've been a huge, and I mean HUGE, fan of the monthly American magazine Country Living for years now. I saved each issue and read over them dozen of times, savoring the amazing photography and inspirational ideas. Whenever I opened my mailbox to see the latest issue waiting for me, I knew there was a relaxed two hours ahead, with a comforting cup of tea and my doggy curled up beside me. I would drink in each page and feel that sensation of 'WOW' wash over me. I even loved the letters from the Editor-In-Chief, especially when Nancy Soriano held the position; she seemed to share my enthusiasm for the changing seasons, and for turning simple things like the first snow or a small farmhouse into a celebration of the senses. She and her staff also managed to make a dream of mine come true: I wrote to them about one of my favorite authors, Susan Branch, and told them that she lives in a gorgeous old house on Martha's Vineyard. I expressed how much I would appreciate seeing her and her home featured in their magazine, and sure enough, some time down the line, I received word that both would be gracing their pages for a lovely fall edition. This reaffirmed my conviction that Country Living was run by people who listened to and appreciated their reader's input.

Lately though, Country Living has begun to feel like any other magazine, something I read once and then forget about. There is nothing which grabs me, consumes me, makes me want to live within it's pages. Especially this latest September issue, which, to my disappointment, had not a single pumpkin, yellow leaf, or mention of autumn that I can remember. There was lots of furniture, lots of pillows, lots of stale decorating tips and renovations. But nothing that gave me that giddy feeling, nothing that had me caught between savouring each inch of every page and at the same time desperate to turn it to the next where there was bound to be something beautiful and heart-warming.

I understand that publishing a magazine full of magic twelve months a year must be very, very hard work, and yet I never thought to expect less from Country Living because of it's unsurpassed record of making me swoon each and every time. I am hopeful that my beloved magazine will soon return to it's old glory, though I can't shake the nagging feeling that the October issue, which used to be my absolute favorite and most anticipated of the year, will end up being a large disappointment. Let's hope that's not the case.