My 100th post…The Magazine Shoot and Everafter Farm for sale!

I'm really anxious to start writing about our new life in France, but before I do that, I want to show you the pix that Mark Lohman took of our house for FiFi O'Neill's new publication, Prairie Style. 

I showed you this cover in my last post, but I had not seen the magazine yet.  Now I have it, and from what I hear, so do a lot of you.  Isn't it a gorgeous mag?  I am thrilled to be a part of it, and to have had such a fun experience working with Fifi and Mark.  They are true professionals, but so laid back and FUNNY!  They had us laughing all day!  But we were also working…hard.  Running back and forth from the barn for props, moving furniture, cleaning behind things that I didn't even know could be moved, trying to avoid cables and tripods, and finding a lost dust bunny covered slipper!! Hey, I was just back from 3 weeks in France the day before!  Who had time to clean?

Fifi arrived with buckets filled with the most beautiful flowers.  I had my own flowers here, but they were sad by comparison.

Watching Fifi work with the flowers was an education in itself.  She can make a beautiful arrangement quicker than I can trip over the cat.

After Fifi arranges the still life on the tea table, Mark photographs it

Mark Lohman

and this is what it looks like

Mark Lohman

And from a distance

Mark Lohman

Behind the sofa

Mark Lohman

If you notice, the mantle is styled differently in this photo.  Fifi gathered all my little farm animals from the staircase in the hallway and "pastured" them on either side of a painting I had done years ago.

Mark Lohman

I just love the way this looks, and have left them right there. Thanks, Fifi!

Mark Lohman

This is the Dining Room that appears on the cover.  They photoshopped the word "Alleluia" off the front of the fireplace...

Mark Lohman

and Fifi swapped the two chairs.  Again, I liked her styling better, and have kept the checked chair in that spot.

Mark Lohman

it's kind of fun to see my stuff through Fifi's eyes. [ But where did I have that tarnished silver hidden?]

Mark Lohman

The guest room...

Mark Lohman

…used to be Mutti's room.  She would have loved the pink roses.

Mark Lohman

and I loved the red and purple hydrangeas

Mark Lohman

Fifi found my vintage Jadite canisters hiding in an old jelly cupboard.  They are still out, as I realized just how cool they are with the Farrow and Ball Dorset Cream paint.

Mark Lohman

And after all, it's the same color as our breakfast table.

Mark Lohman

I love the way she placed my polka dot rain boots on the checkerboard floor of the mudroom

Mark Lohman

With her stylist's eye, Fifi knew she needed another pop of red in this porch scene.  She sent me to find something in my closet.  And that's how my dad's 40 year old red flannel shirt ended up in this shot. He would love to see that.
It makes me smile.  

Mark Lohman

Gazing out over the beautiful peaceful view from this porch, I wonder how we'll ever be able to say goodby to this place.  But it is time to move on to France and let someone else live this wonderful life.

Everafter Farm is for sale.

If you want to know more about this farm in upstate New York please click here, or contact me at
iluvfrance@wildblue.net

I am so thankful to Fifi, and Mark, for their immense talent, and  for doing such a beautiful job on this visual record of our beloved farmhouse for Prairie Style.  And a special thanks to Barbara Jackseir, who wrote such a warm and personal story. 

And thus ends my 100th post. Time to start a new chapter...

A bientôt, mes belles,

dawne

Thank you, Francophiles!

I just want to say

thank you to all who visited me during Anita's Paris party!

I was delighted to visit you, as well.

 Blessings to Anita for hosting!

and welcome to Everafter farm

to my new friends!

Now back to the garden...

The boys got into the Peonies!!!

Au revoir,

Dawne

The Thrill is Gone...

...b u t  t h e  a p p l e s  r e m a i n.  


This is my friend Val's front yard. I go there for a women's Bible study every Monday, and it's like getting a little taste of Heaven...Her husband built the sweetest house for them right in the middle of an antique apple orchard...

The great crescendo of fall foliage is over.  Many of the brilliant leaves have fallen, and a lot of the trees are bare.  


But the late October season has its own kind of beauty.

A l' s  c o r n f i e l d

t h e  r o a d  t o  e v e r a f t e r

 I love walking in this type of weather, with the fallen leaves swirling around my ankles, and the smell of woodsmoke in the air.  Yesterday I took my iPhone with me and took some shots...

 Up at the end of our meadow, processed with the app Picture Show.  
I am still in awe of all the photo apps available, and how I can take a snapshot, and process it like I would in Photoshop, but right in the palm of my hand as I'm walking!

a bare tree in the pasture...

...processed with Picture Show

sun setting over on the ridge

and this one is processed with lemeLeme

[Anita and Violet, this is how I email them to you!]

But after a long brisk walk at sunset, nothing feels quite as good as coming home to our own cozy farmhouse, where I know that, inside, the fire is crackling and the wine is being poured!

Bisous, mes amies,

dawne

It's Officially Autumn...

Today is the first day of Autumn on 

Everafter Farm

f a r m  f e n c e  a c r o s s  t h e  r o a d

o l d  b a s k e t, o l d  t r o w e l, o l d  s q u a s h

m u s h r o o m  i n  t h e  w o o d s

s u n f l o w e r s  a t  t h e i r  p e a k

t h e  s e p t e m b e r  g a r d e n

a s t e r s, m u m s, a n d  o r n a m e n t a l  c a b b a g e

Do you all love autumn as much as I do? 

Especially the month of September.  Oh, October is more dramatic, with all of the flaming Reds and Oranges, but September has my heart.  Sweet memories of Back-to-School Days,red plaid dresses, new red shoes; fond memories of being a young bride [ our wedding day was on an August 30], wonderful memories of my own teaching days,of new students whom I would come to love; of Harvests and Heartbreaks [9/11], of a September 19 so many years ago when our daughter came to live with us and made our family complete.

September. The end of the summer. A bittersweet month.  And this song always makes me cry.

September blessings to you all,

dawne

It's a Slippery Slope...

It's a slippery slope when you first discover Pinterest, like I did this week...






AND...

Get your first iPhone, ever...




On the same day!!!!!!




Oh!  The Apps!  

I've just begun to explore them...

around the house...


But the real time-bandit has been Pinterest...


        Oh!  the imagery!
  
And now I can store all my favorite images and not have to fill up my hard drive. And I get to find out that this chateau, my favorite, and everybody else's, I guess...

From swedishantiques.blogspot.com

 is owned by the Deleuze family in Southern France...




And, found a sweet gite to rent for next year...

mysweetgite.com




...also found a lot of Fairytale things...

thefrenchmouse.blogspot.com

elementsofstyleblog.com


...and began to define my style [haha!]

But I'm probably preaching to the choir, as I'm sure you all know about Pinterest and find lots of your gorgeous photos there. Well, as the head of our family, our dear Father's Day hero says, "Honey, you've always been a late bloomer."


Have to go water the potager now...

Mine???...Nope...PINTEREST!


à plus tard, mes amies!