Flowers and Gardens I Just Love

Parisienne Farmgirl Magazine makes it’s debut today!

I am so proud to be part of this lovely magazine, and a big thank you to Angela for letting me be part of it!

I will be writing regularly as, Le Jardinier de Mer (The Sea Gardener), and can not wait to share and discuss all the wonderful things about french gardening by the sea!

So in honor of Parisienne Farmgirl Magazine‘s debut, I am going to share some of my favorite flowers and gardens that I love!

Here’s a photograph I took in Key West of Earnest Hemingway‘s home and garden … still loving it! I can still remember having to read Old Man and the Sea in 7th grade, and Mr. Hemingway’s home definitely captured the flavor of the story!

When The Man had a work conference in Hawaii, I just had to tag along! Each day he would get up early and go to the conference and I would lather up sunblock, run out the door with my camera and explore … just look at one of the most exquisite (and tiny) flowers I found!

Tulips … Need I say more?

And if you live in the Northeast, or vacation in Maine, definitely make some time to traipse around Boothbay Botanical Gardens – you will not be disappointed! They have  classes, a delicious cafe, artwork and such wonderful gardens featuring some of the most beautiful native plants in formal and informal gardens.

And with the early arrival of spring, I just can’t get enough of these blooming branches … I’ve been forcing my cherry blossoms and now I have  them all over my house!

I hope you have enjoyed some of my favorite gardens and flowers, and that you make sure to purchase your subscription of Parisienne Farmgirl Magazine – it is sure to delight!

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Back in the Swing of Things

My cat is illustrating how I felt by the end of the weekend …

While I am getting back in the swing of things here at home in my studio, a big Thank You goes out to everyone who stopped by in Portsmouth Saturday and made the Seacoast Artisans Holiday Show a success!  I am overwhelmed by all your kind words about my work!

And a big Congratulations to Cynthia of Maine for winning the FREE Print!

The past  month was certainly crazy for me … between prepping for the show, multiple weddings, planned dinners with friends and birthdays I am wiped! Now that I am caught up on all the insane paperwork and orders sent out I have some serious planned R & R starting with … decorating for Christmas! Yes, I am one of those people. I usually decorate on November 1st, but as I was otherwise occupied I had to wait until this week.

Wait till you see my little Christmas extravaganza!

Seacoast Artisans in Portsmouth … and Mr. Bert

My now-one-year-old puppy, Mr. Bert, has been giving me his sad eyes all week.

I think it may have to do with the fact that I’ve been busy preparing for my first New Hampshire Holiday Show in Portsmouth.

Mr. Bert has been trying to tell me telepathically (with his eyes) that I haven’t been paying enough attention to him this week.

I’ve been so focused on getting all my new prints made, framing and packaging recipe cards & bookmarks that Mr. Bert (who also likes to be called the cutest puppy in the world) has had to make-do playing with our other dog (who can be a bit of a crabby old lady) and cat.  Needless to say, I think he misses our little play-dates in the living room.

So it is in his honor, that if you print off this photo of Mr. Bert and bring it along with you tomorrow, Saturday, November 5th, that you will get 10% off any item of your choice! Mr. Bert is now a 10% off Coupon!

Also, I will be having a Giveaway at the show:

If you are in the Portsmouth, NH area tomorrow, stop on by the Seacoast Artisans Show at Portsmouth High School, starting at 10 AM,  I’d love to see you!  And be sure to bring Mr. Bert’s Coupon!

Impromptu Newborn Photography: Baby Avery

I just love this shot of mommy and daddy’s hands holding Avery.

Babies always look so soft and dreamy when they sleep

I cannot get over how sweet he is … totally at peace!

Avery’s adorable outfits are from Spain, his Aunt Candy brought them home for him … She has such great taste!

Mommy and Daddy kissing their baby, I just love this one!

Fast asleep ….

Newborns are so tiny and Avery is such a beautiful baby, I just want to gobble him up! And that’s not just because he is my nephew!

I just loved getting an opportunity to shoot Baby Avery, especially since I usually focus on botanical plants and flowers. I wish I had all of my gear, lighting and props so I could get more shots, but I am so glad I got these!

Hope you all enjoy the photographs as much as I enjoyed taking them!

P.S.  I’ve been hard at work on my new Vintage Botanical Collection and since I’m usually so bad at keeping things secret I will be sharing a peek next week!  Stayed tuned!

Cape Cod Maritime Festival… Here I Come!

Well, I think its fair to say I’ve been so quiet in blogland, but I have a really good reason.  Actually, I have a few good reasons:

1.   I am going to be in Hyannis on the Waterfront for the Cape Cod Maritime Festival! This should be such a fun event and I am so happy to be part of it! And this is one of the reasons why I’ve been so busy … I’ve been printing, preparing and packaging all my goodies for the show! If you will be in the Hyannis, Massachusetts area come on and stop by, I  will be in the Tent in booth C3!

2.  I got a new puppy, and I can’t help that I want to spend all of my free time (which has been non-existent lately) with Mr. Bert.  I mean, look how cute!

3.  I moved. I think this says it all, but for anyone who is interested, its been a whirl-wind of packing, painting, moving, getting cable, internet etc. turned on.  The list seems to go on and on. And I haven’t even finished setting up the house!

4.  I have just released my new Botanical Photograph Print Collection.  You may have seen some previews on my blog, but I am just now selling it in my shop.  You can check it out there or get to it from my website.  I gave my wholesale clients a few weeks lead time so they could get the prints in their shops for summer, but this is the first time I am offering them retail! Yay!  

5.  I was wrapping up my custom orders and sending out my wholesale packages

6.  And last, but certainly not least …. I’ve been doing some commercial work for florists and some other companies!    This is so super exciting! I can’t wait to share what has been going on, I will be posting more on this soon!

So I hope anyone who is in town, or even passing by Cape Cod, to stop by the Maritime Festival and see me and my new Botanical Photographic Print Collection this weekend!  I will be there Saturday and Sunday June 11th-12th!

And if I don’t see you, have a wonderful weekend!

Some Sun from Key West

Since the hubby and I live up in the northeast we like to take our vacations in the winter (which we seem to have this pattern of taking them in February), that way we don't have to miss the Maine summer. So this year we went to Key West, Florida.

When we usually go on vacation we get the single room which is very nice, but this time since we were going with my parents and sister (who in the end had to stay home due to work), we stayed together in a 3-bedroom suite.  Awe-some! 

So, the only thing missing was my sister … it just wasn't the same without her.

We visited Ernest Hemingway's house.

All I remember of Hemingway, was the torture of Old Man and the Sea during the summer before 7th grade … It took me all summer to find out (Watch Out SPOILER!) … the fisherman catches the big fish, buy sharks devour it before he gets back. And then he plans to go fishing again.

I'm thinking that now that I am older and I don't have to read it, maybe I'll like it better.

As always, when on vacation I try to visit as many gardens as possible …

So being the good man he is, my husband took me to the Key West Botanical Garden …

… AND to the Butterfly Garden …

which had birds too …

… and to Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden too.

He is a very good man.

The more tropical climates have such different flowers and plants than the northeast, I really enjoyed all the foliage and flowers.

And succulents too!

One thing that I did NOT enjoy was the lizards! I usually am pretty good about reptiles, but check this guy out!

I did not realize he was above us in the tree, until he started to move around and came down. You may not be able to tell since I used a wide-angle lens, but this iguana was between 5 and 6 feet long!

This guy was smaller.

So when we weren't walking around town, eating, checking out galleries, we stopped at the art museum. Which coincidentally had this cool art exhibit …

 Yes, that is me in the art. They have these life-size dioramas and backgrounds for 5 or 6 famous paintings by Gustave Cailleotte and Edouard Manet. All I can say is: Very. Cool.

And check out this pelican and his little buddy!

There's more to our trip, but that's all for now, hope you enjoyed my little tour of Key West.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

“I’ll be your ROW-MEO”

My sister sent me the sweetest Valentine's Day card!

And I thought it was so cute I wanted to share!

I love vintage-inspired cards and this one is awesome! I love how it is somewhat 3-D (the puppies in the boat are raised) and has a little glitter! Isn't everything better with a little glitter?!

I just love getting mail and it's even better when it is something pretty from someone you love!

My sister always gives the best gifts – she always knows just what to get you. Her gifts are always thoughtful and are just my (or a friend's) style! 

I added some sea urchins I picked up from our little vacation last week!

The hubby and I just got back from a week in Key West (ahhh, the sun!) and we decided that the trip would be our Valentines Gift to each other … but of course I still got him a little something!

Later this week I'll have to share with you what I picked up for my little sister in our travels – I am so proud! Since she's this fabulous gift giver, I always want to give her something just as meaningful, and I think she's really going to love it!

We're still unpacking, so later this week I'll be blogging some sunny photos and funny stories from our trip! I feel like I must share as much of the sun and warmth as I can, since I'm always soaking up the sunshine from everyone else's blog who isn't shoveling themselves out of a few feet of snow!

Wishing you a Happy Valentines Day!

Love, 

Peony, Paeonia…. a true classic!

Who doesn't love Peonies?  Really?!  They are just too beautiful – its a very well known fact. 

I went to Whole Food the other day and fell in love with these Gorgeous Girls. And while I only went in for some vitamins… I came home with THREE bunches of flowers!  I just couldn't wait to get those babies home & photograph them!  I planted 8 peony rootstocks in front of my house two weeks ago, but they're just starting to sprout, so there isn't much going on with them.

I was going to do some shots in front of my back window, but the wonderful weather beckoned (yes – it literally beckoned) me outside.  And then I realized I needed a table, so I carted one out.  Then I realized it looked kinda silly just a vase on the table … so I took more stuff out.  

After about 5 trips I had a lovely pile of pretty things I swiped from all over my house and battled the pesky wind (which kept knocking everything over – my poor girls were quite weather-beaten by the end) to get some shots.  Here's a few that I will be making into prints.

I simply love peonies.  Doesn't everyone?!

Wind Gone Awry

Have you ever had a fully planned day, but then something unforeseen happens – and NOTHING gets done or goes according to plan?  Well, that was my day today. 

I had all these plans to get some work done on the computer, clean-up some beds on the sides of my house, make a healthy meal (okay not so healthy, but oh-so-tasty!) and follow up with a bunch of phone calls for work.  Well…none of that happened.  

It was mid-morning here and I was just gearing myself up (have I mentioned that I am NOT a morning person) for my day doing some work when my lights, computer and anything electrical flickers …. and goes OUT!  At first I think everything will come back… I was so disappointed when I realized that this was not what was going to happen.  After sitting around for about an hour and a half (un-showered as yet mind you!) I call the power company and talked to a recording, which informed me very politely that they knew about the outage & that power would come back "soon".  Apparently we had very strong winds all day which took out some power lines in over 5 towns.  So I have this beautiful day but I can't do any work outside since  the wind is blowing so hard (the debris would go everywhere!); I could take some photos but can't upload my files to the computer, can't do my phone calls since I have cordless phones (again the electricity thing), my cell is dying & most of my calls were to be to businesses in the same towns; AND I have an electric stove, so no delicious dinner.  

After speaking with my mom (who so kindly pointed out to me that I could turn on the portable generator if I knew how to operate it … this was not the time for that discussion) I packed some things and went to her house to borrow her shower.  

And once I was clean again (which greatly improved my attitude!) we decided to go out and buy some more seeds (a girl can never have enough!).  So I bought some corriander, dill, garlic chives, more oregano & thyme and some extra basil seeds (I know I'll plant it all before the summer finishes).  I love to grow my own herbs & vegetables and also buy fresh ones at local farm markets throughout the spring, summer and fall!

I particularly love going to Johnny's Selected Seeds in Winslow, Maine – you can even tour their research farm! Even kids love it!

So even though the day didn't turn out as I had hoped, it wound up okay (even good – hey, anytime I get to shop for more seeds is a good day) in the end.  

As for this weekend I'll have to add the side bed clean-up to my already too-long list.  Hopefully we will get our soil delivered for the kitchen garden so we can put up the fence and created some raised beds, plant some more seeds.  Then we will be planting more hostas (a variety) along the front path to our door, some clematis (Jackmanii), Sarah Burnhart peony crowns (oh this is one of my FAVORITE plants!) and some groundcovers, which we are still undecided about which to go with (ivy or pachysandra). 

Do you have any ideas about DURABLE groundcovers that will get partial sun/shade?