BOOK~ ish Delights and a GIVEAWAY!

“The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books.”

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

Winter is the perfect time to settle in with your best of " book friends" old and new!
Did Santa bring you any new books for Christmas this year? Are you yearning for a new book or two to drink in over the coming winter months?
 I want to tell you about a couple of intriguing  (and well propped ) books that caught my eye in my friend Sharon Lovejoy's  Christmas post.

This book titled Writers' Houses

  had me right from the start and inspired my blog header photo for this month too! 

It features a brief biography on some of the most famous writers of the last 100 years with beautiful photos of their writing spaces and stories of how they chose and became so emotionally connected to their homes. Hemingway, Twain, and Faulkner to name a few. This is a book to savour and I'm taking my time with it!

The Writer's Brush was another book that caught my eye in Sharon's post. I'm awaiting it's arrival as I write! 

 I emailed Sharon around the first of December to ask her about each of these books. We ended up going back and forth on how fun it is to decorate with books whether they be stacked, piled, shelved or propped  here and there about the house. Then Sharon emailed and said, " Lets's do a co-op BOOK Post in January like we did for An Honest COTTAGE Kitchen back in August. Here's Sharon's honest kitchen post too.

 Naturally, I said YES!'

 So, let's ring in a New Year of  DISCOVERY, learning, and READING together!

  Grab some tea and put your feet up!  

You're in for some  BOOKISH DELIGHTS! 

A house without books is like a room without windows.  ~ Heinrich Mann

( sunrise photo taken by my dearly beloved) 

Talk about sequestered nooks! As I went around our house I noticed we have quite a few of them in nearly every room of the house. Oh sure, I fantasize about one room being set aside some day as our own personal library with a roaring fire, large over stuffed chairs with soft aged velvet covers, a hand painted ceiling with aged celestial maps and angels hovering over head from each corner playing violins. Large crown moldings, brightly colored Turkish area rugs, hand painted occasional tables, English china tea cups at the ready, and music playing softly in the back ground with a view out to the garden.

 my birds and butterflies garden  

sweet white peonies

 What's that you say?  You think I've been reading too many books on English Country Manor's? Perhaps you're right, but one can dream and winter day dreams are just as sweet as summer day dreams in my book!

The books we keep on our personal book shelves speak volumes about who we are and about who we'd like to be too. 

( birds nest found in a horse barn stuffed with chicken feathers)

As I went around taking these photos I realized it's just not possible to cover all of them in one little ole blog post, so I am highlighting our favorites old and new. 

My Mary Jane's Farm Kitchen recipe book is my latest favorite because it's  filled with easy Organic comfort food recipes on a farmgirl budget. 

 I return to Susan Branch's Vineyard Seasons year after year for her yummy Lobster Bisque recipe ( a long time Christmas Eve tradition) and a few treasured others too! 

Another gem !

 Our interests vary widely and with two home-schooled children in the house we have our fair share of BOOKS on Art, nature, classic literature, music, poetry, photography, gardening, farming, horse keeping and hen keeping, picture books, home building, homeschooling, home making, home cooking and homesteading.  

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.  

 ~Anna Quindlen, 

 We keep some of our Drawing books with in reach on top this hand painted dresser. Some books we grow out of and give away to friends or donate to the Library. Others will be with us until we grow old and dusty together or passed onto the next generation of book lovers!

 Books that have been given to us or our children from loved ones remain a fixture on our shelves, taken out and re read cementing the memories of the time when they were given and by whom. 

  I painted these book shelves bright colors because I love the way the covers look against them. Many books have brightly colored covers and they just sing against a colorfully painted back ground. 

 A few classics tucked in behind a hand painted sign on drift wood.

 My treasured  signed copies of Sunflower Houses, Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars and Roots Shoots, Buckets and Boots by Sharon Lovejoy are right at home on this shelf with the rest of our nature/gardening books.  I was so happy to attend her last workshop on her most recent book tour in Falmouth, MA. last June so we could meet in person!

We also love to add our twist on the decorated book shelf idea... This cherished wooden bird house painted by our daughter when she was young is right at home on the shelf next to some of our nature books and field guides. Sticks, birds nests, antlers, sea shells and photos are some of my favorite " foundlings" to place among our books. I think they add a bit of  tangible texture to the books and shelves.

In her room another sequestered nook with a hand painted ( by her ) wooden storage container for keepsakes 

and a sketch book just in case the mood strikes to draw. One thing I've noticed is that we don't have any books about books... I did notice in my recent Pottery Barn catalog every styled room prominently features BOOKS in all shapes and sizes and various forms of display. I found it very inspiring! 

Who says a china cabinet can't move to a bedroom and become the perfect book case? 

Lady Violet does a wonderful job of holding some of my most treasured books and trinkets given to me by my mother, husband our children and those I've given to myself too! 

I / we  love BOOKS plain and simple.  I love knowing that if there is a topic I'm interested in I can search and find a book to help me learn more about it. And we can't forget the Internet and so many wonderful blogs to help us along in our discovery of new books.

I believe books help us build a better life for ourselves and others. They inspire us to reach beyond our dreams when we see that others have already accomplished theirs. 

( photo credit Mary Janes Farm ) 

These three are on my list to add to my home library. I' am a certified Farmgirl and sister #1199 and I can't get enough of Mary Jane's Farm back to basic farmgirl ways. I love any book that takes me back in time and inspires me to act on the very ideas I've just read about.

This winter I've made a promise to myself to visit my local independent book stores more often. There's nothing quite like hanging out in a book store on a cold winters day, except perhaps sitting in the comfort of your own home with your favorite book of the moment in hand in quietude.

Our daughter made a special book/notebook for me for Christmas... She said it was for writing Dandelion House. I often write in the lobby of the conservatory where she takes piano twice a week and I've been known to write on small scraps of paper or on the back of the printed flyer's lying on the table there. I had just gotten myself a red leather bound book for writing and I was really enjoying it, but my heart simply melted when she gave me this one. 

She decorated the cover of a plain notebook with various scrapbook papers we have here at home. I added the sparkley letters for the title. The pages are blank and the year is young. Words and ideas  still sleeping will leap onto these pages... all in good time ~ 

 To celebrate the wonder of books and the simple JOYS of reading, ( and my 100th post ) I'm starting off the New Year with a wonderful give away for you!

I've chosen the book Sunflower Houses written and illustrated by, YOU GUESSED IT,

  As I've gotten to know Sharon through her blog and emails these past months I've come to believe that she is the dear sweet Grandmother we all wish we had and the one we'll always remember if we did. She's the one who touched our hearts and ignited our imagination. The one who always had a little something magical up her sleeve and taught you things with out you even knowing it's happening...She calls her friends ( from far and wide ) dear, and that's just what she is to me...


Spring is ever so slowly on its way. NOW is the perfect time to curl up with a good, inspiring gardening book and make some plans for your garden. This is a book to share with the children in your life and re-kindle that same childhood wonder in yourself. 


 For a chance win Sunflower Houses leave a comment on this post or send me an email.  I'll randomly draw a name and announce the winner in my next post on January 16th. 


GOOD LUCK!

 I wish you a world of  BOOKISH DELIGHTS in 2011 

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.
Henry David Thoreau


Happy Reading 

Deborah Jean ~ who is off to find more sequestered nooks for more books!  


PS. Sharon's writing and illustrating a new book about Birds . I personally can't wait! And if you've ever wondered what it would be like to take a vacation where there was more than the usual  hard  hotel bed and a room service menu, you must check out Sharon and Jeff's little apartment in Maine  Comfort Found Literary Lodging in Damariscotta, Maine.
The name says it all!

Meet Artist Karen Dixon ~ Bear Maker and Poet

My Aunt Nan listens to her inner voice and creates teddy bears that have a history. It wasn’t always so.

Nine years ago, she walked into the back yard and it was like a voice said, “you’re going to need a place to go when you retire.” Although she wasn’t ready to retire for a number of years, the idea of a “place to go” became a project for her husband, Harlan. “There was an old apple tree in the corner of the yard and, on that spot; he built a studio for her. Their daughter named it

“The Apple House”.


 It has all the comforts of home…lovely to work there even when the snow is falling and the wind is howling. She is as “snug as a bug in a rug”!

In the beginning she had no idea what she was going to do in The Apple House, but she knew she was going to do something. So, she moved her forty year old sewing machine to her new studio, added some shelves and rugs and a comfy chair and foot stool and sat down to think about what to do next. She recalls my grandmother asking her what she was going to do…having absolutely no idea, she told her she was going to make critters! She was unaware that her words would come true, but not for some time. For three days my aunt sat in The Apple House feeling bad because her husband had spent the money to build her a wonderful “retirement home” and still she had no idea what to create. Finally she decided to make a child’s corduroy summer hat, just to be certain she remembered how to read a pattern. Then, she began to make designer pillows and consigned them to three shops and they started to sell.

One day she was watching a television program of a woman making a teddy bear. She thought, “I bet I could do that”!

She stopped making pillows and started making bears. The bears are cut from scratch and come in all sorts of personalities. 


My aunt says, “The bears tell me what their names are going to be and what they’re going to wear… whether they need a hat or a ribbon. They come with their own history and, at first; I would just tell people a story about their background. Then the bears began “telling” me poems. 


Now, when a new bear is ordered, it is with the understanding that a poem is included. Each bear arrives at his/her new home with a poem tucked under his arm for safe keeping. 


Like these two cu-tie- pie's below!

THE LITTLE GOLFER

My palms were hot and sweaty,

As I put on my golf shoes,

You know I felt like running,

But I’d been in all the news.

They really thought I knew my stuff,

An illusion it would seem,

Instead of being happy,

I was stuck in a bad dream.

I had my cap,

I had my clubs,

I had my caddy too,

I knew they all were waiting,

Just to see what I could do.

I marched out of the locker room,

I made it to the green,

My little knees were knocking,

A coward it would seem.

The gallery went crazy

They hooted and they yelled,

I knew inside that I was doomed,

The victim of a spell.

And then I started thinking,

On just how much I’ve learned,

I closed my eyes,

I smacked that ball,

My little heart was sinking.

I guess I really let ‘er rip,

I was aiming for the sun,

I missed the lake,

I missed the sand,

I got a hole-in-one!

Sometimes life smiles upon us,

Turns out better than one thinks,

So when you get your hole-in-one,

Remember…they all get drinks!

5/29/06

Karen J. Dixon

News of the bears spread by word of mouth. Soon, she had orders for 18 bears and was still working full time. Her bears live all over the country now and on Halloween 2004 she retired, knowing full well what she would be doing in her cozy studio.

 THE DAYDREAMER

Have you ever sat and watched the clouds,
As they went floating by.
Just laid down flat upon the grass,
And looked up to the sky.

Have you ever watched a butterfly,
The color of its wings.
Have you ever really listened
To how a Robin sings.

Have you ever wandered in the rain,
The drops fell on your face.
Just took delight in how it felt,
No hurry…slowed your pace.



Have you ever sat down on the beach,
And let your thoughts run free.
And closed your eyes,
And felt the wind,
Happy…just to be!

Karen J. Dixon
April 4, 2010
Easter Sunday


The lights in The Apple House are on most evenings, a yellow glow shines through the window on to the walk way leading to the front door and if you listen, you just might be the first to hear a new verse or two being whispered to my Aunt Nan. Don’t worry, she won’t keep it to herself…she loves to share!

 I re-vamped this yard sale foot stool for her as a studio warming gift. It rests at the foot of  her comfy red and white checked wing back chair in The Apple House! 


Aunt Nan tells me it's just right for propping up her feet and daydreaming! 

What  inspirations,whispers, or LOUD knockings have you LISTENED to lately? It's never too late to follow the tug of your heart!