A Good PEI Fence Revisited…

Around this time last year, Greg, Olive the pug and I took a wonderful drive up to Prince Edward Island and stayed in a beautiful cottage.  Behind the cottage was a field of Queen Anne’s Lace held back by a rustic fence.

After we returned to our hum-drum lives, I believe I threatened to blog about the Queen Anne’s Lace at some length.  Well, knowing how way leads on to way, I never did manage to get back to it.  There were so many less-traveled roads to go down.  (Sorry, Mr. Frost!)

Today, because I haven’t spent a lot of time with my camera since my return from Ohio and consequently don’t have recent fences to post, I have gone back into my archives and am pulling out a few pics from PEI of that fabulous field of Queen Anne’s Lace held back by that rustic fence and here they are.

Believe it or not, I have many more photos on my hard drive of these flowers and that fence.  It was such a beautiful sight.  Well, despite that fact that way leads onto way, I may well be unable to resist taking the road back.

Linking to The Run*A*Round Ranch's Good Fences!

Good PEI Fences...

“When weeds go to heaven, I suppose they will be flowers.”

  ~ L.M. Montgomery, The Story Girl

Finding the cottage we rented on Prince Edward Island was a bit of a challenge.  The cottage was located down a red dirt road.  On one side of the road was a field that was fenced in.  Inside the fence was a profusion of wildflowers, in particular Queen Anne’s Lace.   If you follow this blog, you know that I love Queen Anne’s Lace.  Okay, I know it’s a weed, but it’s a beautiful, graceful weed.  And seeing a field loaded with it is just breathtaking.  It may have been my favorite thing about the house we rented…even with the baby eagle and the gorgeous views.  I took a gazillion and one photos of the Queen and you will probably see a lot more of her on this blog, but for today, here are a few that feature the nice rustic fence that was holding her back.

Happy to be linking up with Theresa's

Run*A*Round Ranch Report's Good Fences.

Wilt, will you meet me among the Queen Anne’s Lace?

We have had a bumper crop of Queen Anne’s Lace this year.  It’s beautiful!  I’m glad it’s a wildflower that people leave alone to let it do its thing.   Around here it has been growing along the berms and in the medians just like it does every summer.  It makes me happy to see it.

I recently came across this poem by Joan Aiken called Midnight Is a Place that has such a wonderful , romantic feel to it  and does justice to the beauty of this ubiquitous wildflower.

Night's winged horses

No one can outpace

But midnight is no moment

Midnight is a place.

Meet me at Midnight,

Among the Queen Anne's Lace

Midnight is not a moment,

Midnight is a place—

When, when shall I meet you

When shall I see your face

For I am living in time at present

But you are living in space.

Time is only a corner

Age is only a fold

A year is merely a penny

Spent from a century's gold.

So meet me, meet me at midnight

(With sixty seconds' grace)

Midnight is not a moment;

Midnight is a place.

Meet me at Midnight,
Among the Queen Anne's Lace
Midnight is not a moment,
Midnight is a place—

But then, maybe the flower is beautiful because it has a beautiful name.  As Jarod Kintz says, “If our destiny stems from our name, then I weep for the flower named Wilt.”

Randomosity…

A few odds and ends from the camera this week...

Which means fall is just around the corner...

FIVE RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT PINTEREST...

1)  I was perusing Pinterest earlier and came upon this link to “23Ways to Make Your Piecrusts More Beautiful.”  You know, these days, I just throw the top crust on the top and crimp them together whichever way is most expedient, but this link is truly inspirational.  I think I might try to go back to trying to make my piecrusts more beautiful.  I used to do that stuff when I was young and nutty.

2)  Speaking of Pinterest, I follow a bunch of cat and kitten pins.  I just love looking at cats, petting cats, talking to cats, being around cats.  I want a cat really badly.  Can you tell?  But right now is not the time.  I keep telling myself that.  Someday I might just believe it.  Actually, it is true.  But, I think spring might really be the right time.

3)  I also repin a lot of crochet patterns.  I have so many of them pinned, that it would take me about 2,000 years to actually complete a third of them.  But, the good thing is that they take up absolutely no space in my house and I won’t ever have to recycle them or feel guilty for investing good money into patterns I will never make.  Yes, it’s a good thing…

4)  I am constantly disappointed by the Photography page on Pinterest.  While I keep hoping for art photos, it’s mostly pregnancy, wedding and baby photos.  Nothing wrong with that, it’s just that I’m not interested in those things with regard to photography.  Hmmmm...  Maybe I should be looking at the art page.

5)  It may seem like I spend a lot of time on Pinterest since I used my whole page today talking about it, but I vowed the first time I looked at the site, that I would only go on there once or twice a week and I’ve stuck to that.  Otherwise, there’s the day right there!  It’s amazing how much stuff is on the internet and how much of it gets pinned.  Wow!  And you know how one thing leads to another…

LINKING TO A RURAL JOURNAL'

RANDOM 5 FRIDAY!

Thanks, Nancy!

It’s actually a different Queen Anne…

I just finished a book that I am going to recommend to anyone out there who likes historical novels.  The book is Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and it is the story of Henry VIII from the viewpoint of Thomas Cromwell.  I liked this book very much and am looking forward to reading the next installment Bringing up the Bodies.  The first book Wolf Hall takes you through the machinations it took to get Henry married off to Anne Boleyn in 1533 but drops you before he drops her…and of course, before her head drops as well.

Well, it’s just a coincidence that I have always thought that Queen Anne’s Lace was named after Anne Boleyn.  I guess that’s because she was always the most famous Queen Anne that I had ever heard of.  But on doing some research, I found that Anne Boleyn is not mentioned at all in relation to Queen Anne’s Lace but some think “it was Anne (1574 - 1619), the first Stuart Queen Anne, who was brought over from Denmark at fourteen years of age to be a Queen to King James of Scotland.  Others argue it was Anne (1665 - 1714), the daughter of William and Mary, and the last monarch in the Stuart line.”  Both apparently were expert tatters and lace makers.

 

Well, regardless of which Anne is involved, it seems to me that we have more Queen Anne’s Lace around these parts this summer than I can ever remember.  It is a beautiful flower and it deserves to be treated like royalty now and then.

Heading out for a long weekend.  See you all next week.