Little post in between

Returning from one trip and preparing for another, time to post is spare and yet I long to talk to you.
Some of my dearest bloggers are back from their own travels and adventures,  I apologize for not commenting often enough, but believe me, I read! My thoughts wander to Scotland and England, Hungary, France and Germany, Poland, Australia, around the corner and around the world! They travel around America and I adore your thoughts!
You all inspire me! Thank you all. I can't say it often enough, blogging and reading all your posts lifts me off the ground... 
After coming back from New Orleans - oh, has it been two weeks already ? - we had the younger kids back from their respective camps, loads of laundry piling high, medical check ups before school, a new client - hurrah, and plenty of social engagements, mostly all last minute, before going away again.

Woodpecker, hammering away....

As busy as I...

The beauty over the neighbor's fence...

Our regular visitor... hope the cat never gets him...

Still I found time to marvel at the raindrops and the birds flying around the house....I am a hopeless nature watcher and I can drop everything to follow that woodpecker with my camera....We fed hummingbirds with honey the other day....
We are going away in August, to spend time at a wonderful place in France, the Dordogne area, near Bergerac.... yes, the place of Cyrano De Bergerac fame.

Cyrano!

And the wonderful landscape near the Dordogne river, which has been made known around the world by the prehistoric wall art at Les Eyzies, Lascaux and Font-de-Gaume.

But most of all to reunite with our family, the older boys and their beloved ones, my in-laws - the sweetest people around and my sister and her family.... All to have and to hold for awhile in our arms, to make again memories together and fill up the emotional tanks....


I can't wait, I can't wait!


A house is awaiting us, a wonderful old house, in a tiny town, which we will discover. And more then that, the people, the food, the wine, the landscapes around and the sure treasures to be found!
More about that soon to come!
I promise to post, I can't help it sharing with you all!




Au revoir, mon amies!




Photography by V.Zlotkowski, images via websites

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Simply summer

Summer window with garden flowers

The summer heat invites us to enjoy simple pleasures. 

Party decorations

Sitting by the water and just enjoying the breeze, summer evenings with friends and candle lit dinners with flowers picked from the garden, bike rides under tall shady trees, watching the birds and the bees, busily following their own paths...

Stormy sky over the Greenhouse

A storm rose in the afternoon, just to pass with lots of thunder but little to no rain.

The heat is unbroken. Maybe tomorrow.

And yet...

Playing tennis with Papa

Yesterday we went up to visit our youngest son (12) at camp, he is homesick and we felt a little sad leaving him tearful for another two weeks. There are surely great experiences to be made at camp, we hoped for him to have the best of times. But we felt his deep sorrow and the daily busy routine gets to him. He is a sensitive boy and the loud and permanent presence of so many kids and the strict daily regiment seems to be his undoing. 

Fueling the emotional batteries

We had no idea this would happen. He is a well rounded young man with good friends and an easy nature.

Additionally he was so severely sunburned, that I brought him to the nurse to have him treated. She had seen him before, but did not really follow through. I wondered a little about the boy's care up there. He has blisters on the back of his fingers and earlobes the size of a nickel...His nose was crusted over with burns.

We were shocked to see him like that! He still is not ready to take care of himself and there is clearly a lack of reminders at camp.

This being his first camp exposure, we all learned something new about him.

We decided to bring him home two weeks earlier then planned, making the camp four weeks long, enough for him and enough for us. 

I am secretly counting the days, surely just like him, to have him back.

A tiny hummingbird came to sit near me in the honeysuckle, just resting before the storm passed overhead, reminding me of every silver lining....

Black chinned hummingbird 

And it occurred to me, that these bittersweet experiences will also have their good, we just will have to wait and see.

Learning about oneself is not always easy.

And now it just begun raining, softly and steady! Welcome cool air!

All images by V.Zlotkowski

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Boscobel

Boscobel from the South (garden)

Boscobel (Build 1808), a wonderful old estate and garden, also the summer home of a Shakespeare festival, sits high up above the Hudson, in Garrison, NY, near Cold Springs. The mansion once belonged to a gentleman and his family, who came to money, perhaps not in the most honorable way, which sounds not that unusual. He became one of the first millionaires. He build himself an amazingly large house, but  never lived to see it. After completion, his wife and son moved there and in succession the only granddaughter with fifteen children.
The house was eventually abandoned in the 1890 and stood empty until the Forties, when it was bought by the State of New York. Fortunately the house was saved by a Foundation, which secured the house, moved it to it's current location and restored the 
place in the most detail oriented fashion. 
The mansion today houses the largest collection of Federal style original furniture and brings an era to life from long ago. 

In the foreground the Constitution Marsh, behind the Hudson and West Point Academy

Not only this, the grounds have been build 1961 to complement the setting high above the Hudson with magnificent views, the former owners could have only dreamed of.
At the time of designing the gardens the trees and shrubberies were planted mature, so the impression of an old, settled in estate is absolutely perfect! 

The rose garden holds many beautiful species and this year, so I have been told, it has a record on rose blossoms.
The orangery is a charming addition and the herb garden a delight. 

The grounds are completed by an apple orchard and a lake with a large fountain...

The labor of love... Speaking of:
We are going to see Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost,  a pleasure I can't wait to indulge in!


When you're in the area, it would be a wonderful addition to any tour along the Hudson.




All images by Victoria Zlotkowsi

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The garden in June

Happy weekend to you all! Our garden in June is at it's peak of beauty..... 

All images by V.Zlotkowski

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