July On Our Front Porch

Hi there!!  Have you had a good summer so far?  Since I haven't been posting much, I thought I would take some time to do a re-cap of July.  First of all, it's unbelievably hot here (for us).  These temps. would be no big deal for people in Texas and Arizona, but whew!  I even saw that North Carolina was mentioned in the The New York Times yesterday in reference to the heat wave we're having.  I'm not a fan of The New York Times, but I get e-mails from them because I play Wordle on their website.  Anyhoo, the temperatures have been in the 90's consistently, with the heat index in the triple digits.       Aside from this heat wave, July has been a nice month for us.  We made homemade ice cream to take to my mom's house for July 4th.  We had a cookout, and I got to see my niece's little foster child; I tell you I'm smitten with that child. 😊 I've gotten some really nice fresh vegetables and fruit so far; this has been a good summer for the produce.  We're engaging in our annual tradition of watching the Tour de France here.  It actually ended Sunday, but we're a few days behind.    

Fresh Flowers for the House

It seems I've taken a four-month sabbatical, and I certainly didn't intend to.  I've discovered the longer I stay away, the harder it is to think what to write on my blog.  I hope that all of you had a lovely Mother's Day yesterday; I most certainly did.  Went to lunch on Saturday with my mom, my sister, my niece and her adorable foster child.  I so wish I could share pictures of the little girl, but I completely understand why that is not allowed.  Yesterday, our son came over and the three of us went to dinner at a nice restaurant.  Afterwards, we visited my mother-in-law, so I think we all had a good family weekend.   

            

The Middle of May

Hi all!  I hope you had a good Mother's Day.  I did, and I'm so very thankful for my wonderful son and husband.  I'm continuing to document (loosely) our lives here at Forest Manor.  I have spent a large part of the spring working in our yard.  Yesterday, I worked on removing weeds from our large natural area in the front yard, where I'm in the process of creating a flower garden.  I cut a few stems yesterday evening to enjoy in the house -- they're a sampling of what we have added to this area over the past three years.      

Hello August!

Hello Dear Friends and Happy August!  Perhaps in colder climates, by the first of August, summer is starting to wane?  Here in North Carolina, it is still quite hot.  My mom's air conditioner has been out for over two weeks, but thankfully, she has a separate air-conditioned room where she can sit during the day and a place to sleep at night.  I've heard about other folks who are not so lucky.  I hope you are comfortable wherever you are during this current heat wave. 

   
  

The Summer Porch

Hi everyone!  It's been a minute, hasn't it?  I can't believe I went almost two months without writing a post.  I have truly been getting some things accomplished around here, so I finally feel like I can take a little break.  In addition, we went to the beach again in the third week of May and spent some time there with our son.  The weather wasn't good, but we still had fun.      This summer, I've been planting flowers in much of my free time.  I'm slowly adding perennials in our natural area, and I'm starting to see such a difference in that section of our yard.  We have a mature maple tree there, and we planted two limelight hydrangeas about three years ago.  They bloomed nicely last summer, and they're full of blooms starting to open this year.  We also have azaleas and Lenten roses there.  This year I've planted several more things, and I'll tell you all about them in another post.  Right now, I'm going to share the flowers on our front porch and in front of our house.     

The Shortest Month

Hello Friends!!  Happy Valentine's Day to you all; I hope you've had a good day.  I like what my friend Lorrie, at Fabric Paper Thread, says in her post today -- that she is of the firm belief love should be celebrated every day.  What a great sentiment.   I try to say, "I love you" to the people I love as often as possible.  Our family is pretty good about that, on the whole.  I don't treat Valentine's Day as a day exclusively about romantic love, but it's still nice to celebrate romance now and then.   

Valentine's Tablescape 2020   

Reynolda Gardens 2021

Would you like to take a (virtual) walk through Reynolda Gardens with me today?  These pictures are actually from last year, but we can look at them in the cool and comfort of our own homes.  Reynolda Gardens are part of the original R. J. and Katharine Reynolds estate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  R. J. and Katharine's daughter, Mary Reynolds Babcock, loved the formal gardens at Reynolda, and after her death in 1953, her husband donated the formal gardens and greenhouses to Wake Forest University, with specific instructions to preserve the space as a community resource.  There is no charge for admission at Reynolda Gardens, and that's a real plus in my book.  😉   

      

Bringing Up The Babies

Today was actually a really nice day for me.  The weather was beautiful, albeit a little warm for April.  I got a lot done, including photos for this post, and I got Wordle in three guesses today.  Woohoo!!  😀    

   

November -- Dried Flowers, Photography, and Calligraphy

Hello dear readers.  Are you having a good week and a good November?  It has been a beautiful month so far, and I just cannot believe how gorgeous the foliage has been this fall.  I shared with you last week some photos from our drive in the mountains, but really, that didn't begin to touch on all the beauty we've seen the past few weeks.  The colors this year are so vibrant, and they're everywhere.  When we go somewhere (and if Hal is doing the driving) I find myself looking along both sides of the road constantly because that colorful foliage is a sight to behold.           

Our maple tree last Wednesday   
      

Progress On Our Yard Part 2

Hello Friends.  Are you having a good week?  Ours has been pretty good so far.  Thank you for your comments on my previous post.  We are still sad about Duncan; we do plan to get another dog, but not for a little while.  We have a lot going on right now and more work to get done on the house.  Speaking of that, we have gotten some things accomplished in the yard.  Actually, I should say that the man we hired to clean up the yard for us has gotten some things (a lot) accomplished, and the yard already looks so much better.  We are excited!         

   

   

Reynolda Village

Hi all!  I finally got a good opportunity to take some pictures this past Sunday afternoon.  I don't think I've mentioned here that my husband gave me a new camera for my birthday back in 2018.  It's a Sony ILCE-5100, and I absolutely love it.  It's a compact camera with a lot of capability.  I've used it so much more than I did the Canon Rebel, partly because it's much easier to carry around with me, but also because it takes terrific pictures.  That means for the last three years, I've done my own photography for my tablescapes, my recipe posts, travel pictures, and decor pics around the house.  When I first started writing House at Forest Manor, I made no secret of the fact that my husband did most of the photography for the blog.  I'm still no great shakes as a photographer, but I do feel like I've learned a few things over the years I've been writing this blog.     Sunday presented a good opportunity for me to take some pictures of one of our local historical areas,  Reynolda Historic District.  Today, I'm sharing some images of Reynolda Village, which is a collection of shops, restaurants, a greenhouse and gardens, and a wedding venue, as well.  Come along and see what you think.           Before I go further, I'd best explain that Reynolda Village is part of the original 1,087-acre estate belonging to Richard Joshua "R. J." Reynolds, founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and his wife, Katharine Smith Reynolds.     

source - Our State Magazine            

A Bouquet For You

Hello -- I'm glad to see you!  :)  Come inside and have a cup of tea.  Hasn't this been a beautiful spring so far?  Even though we had a couple of late freezes (not unexpected) the blooms still keep coming.  Don't you love the way everything blooms in sequence, so it's not all gone at once?  First the daffodils, the tulip magnolias, and the Japanese cherry trees, and they were prettier than ever this year.  Then came the crabapple trees, the redbuds, and the dogwoods.  It seems like they've all been spectacular this spring, although the dogwood blooms are still in the process of opening up.      On the ground, it's time for tulips and iris, but we don't have any of those.  However, I picked some flowers that have self-seeded in the wooded area next to our driveway.   

      

Winter Dining Room

Happy Friday all!  This has been some winter storm!  So far, we've gotten pretty lucky here, but it's not over yet.  I feel so bad for the people in Texas who are dealing with terrible conditions.  I hope they get some relief very soon!   

      

The Gertrude Jekyll Roses

These are our David Austin roses, "Gertrude Jekyll."  I share pictures of them about every other year, mostly for posterity I think.  😉  They are really photogenic roses, and Mr. Forest Manor likes to take pictures of them.  Plus, everything's just been extra pretty this spring, hasn't it?  I can't recall when I've seen so many beautiful blooms everywhere, and I don't think our grass has ever looked this good.     

            

Friday Flowers

Happy Friday all!  I'm glad you stopped by!  Let me show you the flowers I got last Saturday at the Farmer's Market.  Here it is Friday, almost a week later, and they're still pretty (I took these pictures late yesterday afternoon).  I sometimes save those packets of flower food you get with supermarket flowers, and I used some in this bunch.  Wow, did it keep them fresh and perky!      

Friday Flowers

Happy Friday everyone!  How nice that the first official day of summer and the summer solstice are on a Friday this year.  I thought I'd kick off the weekend with some flower pics from our Williamsburg trip in April.     

 

Colonial Williamsburg

I finally got to go back.  We last visited Williamsburg when our son was in Cub Scouts, and he'll be 29 this August, sooo -- it's been awhile.  I'm really thankful we were able to use my mom's timeshare points to stay at a nice resort, within walking distance of the historic area of Williamsburg.  Thanks again Mom!!   

Airlie Gardens

Last weekend while at the coast, we visited Airlie Gardens in Wilmington on Easter Sunday afternoon.  My in-laws had been before, but we didn't even know this place existed.  It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.  

Countryside

Hello out there!  How is everyone -- I have missed you so!  I'm sorry I've been absent for awhile, but we're trying to get things fixed and cleaned up (still) from the basement flooding.  The weather has been hot (88°F here yesterday) but pretty with gorgeous summer skies, so I decided I had to get out and take some pictures.  These were all taken with my iPhone, so the quality is definitely not the best.  Hubby and I are signed up for a one-time class on taking pictures with your iPhone, so we're hoping to get some good pointers on taking better pictures.  It's often handier to use the phone camera than having to lug around the bigger camera with extra lenses, etc.

Spring Tour of Biltmore House, Part 4

I took a break from the Biltmore posts because I didn't want to swamp you with the whole house at one time.  If I take too much of a break, I'll have trouble getting back to the subject, so today, we'll tour two more rooms.