e2java

I am very sad to announce that my dog Chase passed away yesterday morning (5/5/21) and I am devastated. He was with me from 5 weeks of age and was the inspiration for my blog. He was an amazing English Setter who lived to be 18 years, 3 months and 1 week and I have cherished every moment with him.

✈ I'm married to an Englishman and I have relatives and friends in England, Switzerland, Belgium and France. I love traveling but don't love the long flights. I have two stepsons and two grandchildren.

I'm figuring out how I want to layout a garden and greenhouse on my new property. We have about 10 acres to play with. I'm almost finished building my chicken palace for my four black Orphington chickens. I have dug up herbs and flowers at my old house to bring here.

I love transplanted plants. I have candy-striped amaryllis from an old plantation in Montmorenci, SC. I have Ginger Lilies from a coastal hideaway in McClellanville, SC. I have white irises that were growing in a ditch along the road in Washington, GA. Daffodils and snow drops from a forgotten country farm. My plants tell stories and remind me of family and friendships.

We have two dogs Charlie and Abby. We took over Abby when a friend's father was diagnosed with dementia and had to move into a nursing home. Charlie is 15 (with dementia) and Abby is now 10.

I love essential oils and use DoTerra. I've been making small roller bottles for my coworkers with Frankincense, lemon, oregano, OnGuard and Tea Tree Oil to stop passing around all the bugs and virus and yucky stuff at work. Lavender helps calm my dogs, too.

🎶 I listen to anything pop, 70s, 80s, Motown and British Invasion. I also like Vitas, Duffy, Billie Eilish, The Beautiful South, Prince, George Michael, Alison Moyet and Amy Winehouse. On Vinyl, anything 80s, Billy Joel, T-Rex, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Carly Simon and ABBA.

I'm a huge fan of vinyl records and search flea markets and old record stores to find them. I listen to vinyl more than anything else! We've collected so many albums over the years. I need to start cataloging our albums because we really have quite a collection.

I play the piano, flute and have just started learning the Mountain Dulcimer. Thank you YouTube for great lessons.

We use Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu Plus. I'm currently watching "Nashville" with my mom and "The Stand" with my stepson.

📻 So this isn't really TV but I've been enjoying several Podcasts on my phone. I started with "Serial" and then discovered "Lore". I LOVE Crime Junkie. I listen to Business Wars and it's so thoroughly researched and well-produced. I also listen to Coffee Break French - quick little episodes talking about.....French of course!

My high school friend started a podcast with her husband called The Arcanum Project so I've been enjoying that one. They've also mentioned me in a couple of episodes - even dedicated their Halloween episode to me which was sweet.

🌠 I quilt. I am a machine quilter and I use a rotary cutter to cut my material. I typically make lap quilts or baby quilts. I have MANY unfinished projects. I haven't had a lot of time to quilt but find time to sew some small projects. I adore my serger machine I need to find more time to quilt.

I've put my quilting stash to manic mask making use in 2020. Mostly I've been giving them to my employees at work and mailing some off to friends and family. I've probably made 200+ so far but have truly lost count. My stepson set up an Etsy store for me called JavaCatCrafts and listed all of my masks.

🎨 I like to doodle. I like creating envelope art and just starting using watercolor pencils. I think it is a fabulous way to de-stress. I send pen pal letters to my toddler grandson who enjoys going to the mailbox with his dad.

✏️ I love to write and try to keep up with my blog.

📚 I'm on GoodReads.

Because I commute an hour each way to work, I listen to a lot of audio books. I listen to them on Audible, YouTube and find second hand audiobooks at thrift stores and used book stores. I'm currently enjoying "The Queen's Gambit". My sister started a travel book club on Facebook and I just finished "Anxious People" for February.

I've also started collecting Nancy Drew books - the kind that I had in the 70s and early 80s. My husband and I look through antique stores and thrift shops trying to find the ones I am missing. I would like to read them all from the first book on.

I read a few magazines when I'm looking for something different and shorter than a book. My favorites are Mary Jane's Farm, Garden & Gun and Daphne's Diary.

📌Recipes (I love to bake, cook and use the crock pot and my InstaPot). I'd be very interested in any dog food or dog treat recipes you may have found to be wonderful. I enjoy old family recipes, too and the ones from Church fundraising cookbooks. I'm currently translating my great-grandmother's handwritten French recipes.

📌Interesting articles from magazines or newspapers that you would like to share

📌Local lore articles from your area.

📌Interesting Stickers or Washi tape. I love Lisa Frank stickers

📌Fun pens - especially for work

📌Jelly Babies or Walker's Eclairs from UK...so hard to find here :)

📌Real Cadbury candy from the UK

📌Herbal Teas / Green Teas or other teas (No loose, please and no Matcha)

📌Post cards- not a fan of touristy ones but like art, unusual, vintage, creepy, funny, animals, and recipe post cards.

📌Unusual stamps, vintage or foreign (used is fine)

📌Sample Essential Oils (prefer YL or DoTerra) and would love to reciprocate.

📌All things Edward Gorey

📌Book or Podcast recommendations

📌Website recommendations

📌A dog toy - I have three but one ends up with all the toys in the end

Because I live in the South, be careful of sending things that could melt in the mail...hot months are end of April through end of September.