The Humble with the Splendid

When interviewed for a thirteen page spread in Utah Homes & Garden Magazine, I was asked what my design philosophy was in building our new Country Home

That's easy,  The Humble with the Splendid

Utah Homes and  Garden

Utah Homes and Garden

Utah Homes and  Garden

Utah Homes and Garden

Some People like Silver, I LOVE Gold

I also Love my French and Italian Chandeliers

This is the other gold mirror, this time without the base.  I can't believe that we transported both mirrors in our old truck.  They arrived without a scratch.

Have a great weekend, my dear Blogging Friends

Gina

All Utah Homes and Garden photography by Mikel Covey
Montage photographs by Gina

This Morning, the first Day of Spring

This morning in my Greenhouse

No Bees in sight

This morning, this scene in town

Primroses to plant, just not today

Back to my greenhouse, on the first day of Spring

To seed my Sauerkraut Cabbages and give them an early start

Happy first day of Spring, my dear blogging Friends

Gina

Today I'm lin king to:  http://maleviksrosentradgard.blogspot.com/

Our Guest cottage

What was not allowed into the house went across the courtyard...to our Guest Cottage

Old and new, repaired or left as is

From the Thrift Store,  a King Louis the XVI bed or is it King Louis the XIV?

Guests must have a full length mirror, we dress for cocktails

Flowers, Stripes, Plaids, just the way I like them

Gene built and carved this fine bench

And Gene carved this fine  table

There should be lots of books

It's nice if there is a small kitchen so guests can fix their morning coffee (and the host can sleep in)

You can hide things from your guests, such as the refridgerator behind curtains

A bathroom is a swell idea

It's all right to practice new color combinations on walls

Guest may not want to stay too long

And always Do remember the flowers

Gina

Painting Lessons

Cindy, my favorite Student, visited with me for a few days.  Lucinda is no ordinary student.  Cindy is a very accomplished Ceramist as you will clearly see. 

 Cindy threw these incredibly beautiful vessels for me.

 These are not small, in fact they are surprisingly large and not easy to throw on a potters wheel.

Last September, we visited the Museum of Marrakesh

The Museum is housed in the fabulous Dar M'Nebhi Palace, Place Ben Youssef, Marrakesh, Morocco. The building dates back to the 19th century and is a fine example of classical Andalusian Architecture.  It is often referred to as the "Jewel of Marrakesh".

I was immediately drawn to this vessel.  It is the unusual shape which caught my eye.

I sent Cindy a picture and look what a fine job she did recreating the same shapes.

It would be interesting to paint my new bowls in colors akin to colors which make Morocco the special and fascinating place that it is.

I'm tempted to paint the inside of the bowl in strong ochre colors, the color of the Moroccan desert, or I might want to refrain from using too much color and let the beautiful shapes speak for themselves.

Please, help me out my dear Blogging Friends.  What do you think? 

Gina 

 

Guests like to be pampered

My Guests appreciate the little extras

My painting buddy is coming for a visit.

We can paint and paint

Gina

Missing Thumbnail, step by step instructions

Following HTML can be daunting

Here are a few tips

You only have to change the HTML in the code for the first picture

After you have written your new post  look to the top right and click on Edit HTML

Follow lines down until you get to the first main paragraph and look for the words "imageanchor"  then for "height".  Right after that you will see the code you need to change.  1st remove the s from https and then remove "googleusercontent"  and replace with ggpht

Be careful, do not remove or change anything else

Now click on Compose and you will see your picture.  If you have lost your first picture, you need to repeat the instructions. Then PUBLISH POST

Good Luck and Happy Sunday my dear blogging friends

Gina

 

Have you noticed? Blogroll thumbnail picture has disappeared.

On March 1st, you lost your thumbnail image on blogroll!

Phalaeonopsis blooming in my house

We lost a feature I liked but there is a solution.

 

Sharon of myfrenchcountryhome and

Mark of allthingsruffnerian  and I (Art and Alfalfa) put on our thinking caps and voila, it's fixed.

What it boils down to is that a small portion of your html needs to be changed.

From this: https://...googleusercontent.com/

To this:  http://...ggpht.com/

Sharon gives more precise instructions in her blogpost of today. 

Thank you Sharon and Thank you Mark 

Wouldn't you know that it actually took Sharon's 13 year old son, Jim, who pointed out that the "s" also had to be removed.  All of us overlooked this little, but very important detail.

Let me know if you need a little help.

You will have to repeat the above maneuver each and every time time you publish a new post.

All fixed and tied up in a tidy little bundle

 Gina

It's a Small World After All

And full of Surprises

This is Mathilde (Tilly for short) our resident Goose

This is Mathilde's look.  Always on the alert.   

 Mathilde has ruled our pond for more than sixteen years

You might recall the story I told you when Tilly lost her friend Leopold.  She would not eat or drink for days, standing by the greenhouse and hoping that her own reflection in the glass was Leopold and that sooner or later he would come out.

Mathilde could not be consoled, which is strange because when Leopold was still alive Mathilde took every opportunity flirting with every goose that showed up on our pond.  Wild geese, who visited, where told where they could swim and where they could rest under the big elm tree.

source: Snow College

Not long ago I was teaching a "Historic Tiles Painting Workshop" in a remote Forest Service Camp.  The camp had been purchased by our local College and all forest cabins had been beautifully restored.  Among my group of students was a grandmother (not just any grandmother, but the Professor of Music, graduate of the Julliard School of Music, New York),  her two grown daughters and an eleven year old, charming little girl, her granddaughter. 

Because Tilly was grieving so for her Leopold we decided to find her a few pals.  She loved them all but decided that one beautiful, all white little goose, was her favorite and soon they became an item.  This little goose is very special.  Whenever we sat outside she would join us, turning her head this way and that, listening to our conversation.

What makes this little goose so special is that she was hand raised by an eleven year old girl. 

Yes, the same charming and talented little  girl who took my painting workshop.  She had named her little goose Violet. 

When we looked for Tillie's companions we found them at a distant farm.  At the time we only met one family member.   The little girl was too sad to come out of the house because she had hand raised Violet from the day she hatched out of her egg... 

"because she was sickly". 

What a small world after all!  

Violet has found a good home and a good partner.  They have raised many a group of sweet goslings.  

It is Mathilde who is the Father of our little goslings.  

He is the most considerate mate and the most loving Caretaker you will ever meet.

TILLY IS A BOY GOOSE 

This we didn't know for almost sixteen years. 

Gina