Isn’t this a gorgeous bouquet? My husband got it for me on our anniversary. I love that they’re different from the usual roses and baby’s breath, and the colors are so vibrant.
The blue-violet ring at the bottom is the purple vase they came in. Love you, honey!
{carole}
I don’t drink tea with lemon–I prefer milk and sugar. I do, however, like the way a lemon slice looks floating in it, especially if the teacup is old and beautiful. I bought this cup and saucer at an antiques emporium for a few bucks, and love it because it reminds me of my grandmother.
Here’s another view….
It’s kind of amazing how different-colored backgrounds can change the look of an object, isn’t it? I think Monet said it best:
“Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.”
OK everyone, I’m going out of town for a few days, but will post a photo on Friday and Monday. Probably won’t be able to comment until I get back.
Hope you’re all having a great week so far….
{carole}
There’s a pretty amazing bed & breakfast in Cape May, N.J. Angel of the Sea is in several top ten B&B lists and it’s easy to see why….
According to the web site, “Angel of the Sea was built around 1850 as a ‘summer cottage’ for William Weightman, Sr., a Philadelphia chemist who, as managing partner of Powers & Weightman, introduced quinine to the United States as an anti-malarial drug.”
In 1881, Weightman decided he wanted an ocean view, so he hired some local farmers to move the “cottage.” It was too big, so the farmers cut the building in half and spent all winter “pulling the sections on rolling tree trunks with mule and horse power.” Can you imagine?
This is the second half of Angel of the Sea. From 1962 to 1981, the houses were used as a dormitory for students from Shelton College, but weren’t properly maintained. These beauties were abandoned until December 1988, when John Girton, a builder and developer, and his wife Barbara bought it. Eighteen months and 3.5 million dollars later, “the most complete Victorian restoration in New Jersey” was completed.
The ocean view that Weightman wanted, from the verandah. I think I could get used to eating breakfast here every morning. How about you?
{carole}
Does anyone else remember when peaches were soft and fuzzy and sweet as candy? When the juice dribbled down your chin with every bite? The grocery stores here sell peaches that are perfect-looking, but feel as hard as rock and taste like water. I’d pretty much given up on eating this particular fruit, until I bought some at a roadside stand recently….
They had fuzz on the outside and some leaves were still attached! And they were delicious. I’ll be haunting that stand the rest of the summer.
Great weekend, everyone! And thanks to the new subscribers and all those who “Liked” my Facebook page. I do appreciate it! Oh, I’ve moved the Twitter and Facebook buttons to the bottom of the page so I can do full-screen images.
{carole}
I first discovered Scaevola or Fan flower in California. It’s the most beautiful blue-violet color and has an unusual fan shape. In Hawaii it’s called “naupaka,” and according to legend, (and Wikipedia) a woman tore the flower in half after a quarrel with her lover. This angered the gods, so they turned all naupaka flowers into half flowers and the two lovers remained separated while the man searched in vain for another whole flower.
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After lots of theme surfing, I decided to stick with this one for now. Hope you didn’t see all the color changes going on last night! 🙂 The layout I really like is on tumblr, but until I find a web designer who can adapt it for me, I’ll stay here for a while. I’m finding WordPress a bit less “artistic” than platforms like Blogger and tumblr, but don’t want to switch right now. Stay tuned….
Here’s something to soothe that Monday morning madness….
Boardwalk at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, June 2011
I’ve made a few small changes to the blog, and will be doing more in the future. When I started out, I thought the moniker “Ms. Pearl” was a good match for “Pearls and Prose.” Now I’m growing weary of it and will be switching to my first name today.
Hope you’re all having a good one!
{carole}
In addition to beautiful Victorians, Cape May has some pretty charming restaurants and shops. I didn’t photograph the former, because it was lunchtime and I didn’t feel like photographing people eating. Too invasive. Here are two colorful shopping spots, though….
I had to de-saturate the color in this, it was so bright. Here’s another in yellow and green….
Speaking of intense colors, check out this place for sale:
Somehow it just doesn’t go with the pastel theme of the other Victorians….
Sorry, I don’t remember what this monument commemorates. Can you believe the height on that widow’s walk next door? The ocean view must be incredible.
Just can’t get over the attention to detail in Cape May. I love the way the wrought-iron gate echoes the design in the gingerbread on this place.
And how about this bathtub filled with coleus and flowers?
The last two places face the beach.
Not Victorian, but still beautiful. Greek Revival, I believe. It looked like a reception was going on here. I would have loved to sit on that wide verandah gazing at the ocean with a cool drink in hand.
I have more shots of Cape May, but I can almost feel your eyes glazing over, so I’ll intersperse them with other stuff in the coming weeks. 🙂 I need to cut back to one photo per day for a while–it’s summer and I need to be doing other things. I want to overhaul this site and maybe use a new design. Bear with me if you see a total mess some days! How I wish I knew HTML and CSS….
Great weekend, everyone!
{ms. pearl}
Back to Cape May, N.J….
As I mentioned, many of the old Victorians were harder to see because of all the overhanging branches. This is one of the few with unobstructed views. It’s in such great shape too.
I can’t get over the colors of Cape May….
Painted ladies,
a coral wall and bright hydrangeas
with a fence to match.
Bright green sweet potato vine with hot pink petunias,
flowerboxes and ornate wooden railings.
How nice would it be to hit this hammock after a long day of sightseeing?
A pink shoe boutique
and a white-gingerbread porch made for reading.
We saw a lot of signs like this when we were in Cape May….
Who wouldn’t want to stay here?
Part III on Friday. 🙂
{ms. pearl}
Forgive me, I wasn’t thinking about the Fourth of July on Friday. It’s a holiday here in the U.S., so I’ll post part two of the Cape May series on Wednesday. Thanks for your patience!
{ms. pearl}
I took a lot of photos in Cape May, New Jersey. So many that I’ll have to break this into three parts. Warning: if you hate Victorian-era architecture, you may want to sign off now. 🙂
According to Wikipedia, in 1876 a five-day-long fire destroyed thirty acres of the Cape May town center. Replacement homes were almost uniformly of Victorian style. As a result of this and of more recent preservation efforts, Cape May is noted for its large number of well-maintained Victorian houses, the second largest collection of such homes in the nation after San Francisco. In 1976, the entire city of Cape May was officially designated a National Historic Landmark. It is the only city in the United States wholly designated as such.
Many of these beautiful old Victorians have been converted into bed and breakfasts, but some are still private homes.
The details are incredible, aren’t they? I love the color combinations too.
Gingerbread (the kind we eat) became available in the 1700’s. Supposedly, the most popular form was a Christmas cookie decorated and hung in windows during the Christmas season.
The style of architectural decoration known as “gingerbread” wasn’t established until the steam-powered scroll saw and lathe became available in the middle 1800’s.
It’s been over 20 years since I was last in Cape May, so I don’t remember the trees being so overgrown. That presented a bit of a challenge for photography, so I had to settle for details in some cases….
The flowers in Cape May are amazing. If only I could get my oakleaf hydrangeas to look like this!
Can you imagine walking up to this every day? Not sure if I could take this color on a regular basis, but it’s pretty striking.
Part II on Monday….
{ms. pearl}
Pearls & Prose 