A Blog/Garden Hiatus

Just a note to say briefly that, due to some medical issues that arose at the end of last year and remain unresolved, as well as two upcoming surgeries in March and April, I will be taking a break from posting for the next few months. A large part of the problems are visual, and…

A Tale of Two Bridges

Once upon a time (okay, it was in 2014 which was when I bought the Money Pit) there was a garden bridge. The former owners had left it behind, along with a rotting and too-big-to-be-legal garden shed, a somewhat shaky red-painted pine arbor, and a small bench made from a granite rectangle atop two legs.…

The Amazing Takahashi Bird Jewelry

A unique genre among vintage jewelry collectors is what’s known as the Takahashi bird items. I hesitate to classify these as ‘costume jewelry’ because they truly are an art form. The backstory of the Takahashi birds is just as fascinating as the brooches themselves. The following is a brief summary. Yoneguma and Kiyoka Takahashi were…

Identifying Original-Studio Connoisseur of Malvern Porcelain

The original Connoisseur of Malvern studio existed for 15 years, starting in 1979 and operating under the ownership and direction of Diane Lewis and her husband Terry. Because the studio changed ownership and staff after it was sold, collectors of Connoisseur of Malvern may (and should) want to differentiate between the original-studio and post-studio-sale products.…

A Gardener’s Thanksgiving

I know that I do a lot of grousing about my garden; people are undoubtedly tired of hearing me constantly complain about the poison ivy (entirely justified, though!), the stony/rocky clay soil, the rabbits, and the rodents. [Oh, wait, the rodents are part of the House Whine…sorry…] Given my growing reputation as a GOG (Grumpy…