tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post5037336241615569166..comments2024-03-28T06:11:42.599-07:00Comments on The Gardener's Cottage: the viceroy - santa monica california - kelly wearstlerthe gardener's cottagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16447809353998632722noreply@blogger.comBlogger135125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-82570316105689585862013-09-29T19:25:26.632-07:002013-09-29T19:25:26.632-07:00I read many different blogs. Those who decorate, c...I read many different blogs. Those who decorate, create or cooking. What I love about yours is the "less is more" keeping things simple. I am trying my best to remove the clutter. I can go days without reading your blog and when I loose focus on getting rid of stuff I always get back on track after reading your blog again. Thanks for your inspiration and wonderful posts. Praying for you for strength at this difficult time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-83448213200877709022013-09-22T18:31:08.042-07:002013-09-22T18:31:08.042-07:00I just came to check back in on you. Well, I thin...I just came to check back in on you. Well, I think your blog is still going! I sure hope you feel a whole lot of love. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-92105206282962531172013-09-20T22:04:18.321-07:002013-09-20T22:04:18.321-07:00I'm holding the stick with Tab's.
Real pe...I'm holding the stick with Tab's. <br />Real people are so few and far between on this web. Jenniferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04723360304687997220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-836238537933097842013-09-20T18:32:11.274-07:002013-09-20T18:32:11.274-07:00Boy, did you hit the nail on the head, Vicki. I...Boy, did you hit the nail on the head, Vicki. I've started and stopped blogging before I ever hit "publish"... I do really enjoy reading all the others, especially Janet's. Little does she know (or she'll find out when she looks) that her blog has taken on a life of it's own!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-58796457333920471852013-09-19T19:16:02.230-07:002013-09-19T19:16:02.230-07:00I agree!I agree!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-42702375924031608642013-09-19T12:21:28.329-07:002013-09-19T12:21:28.329-07:00There was a time when I thought blogging might be ...There was a time when I thought blogging might be superficial. I know I can wind up sitting on my butt at the computer when I should be doing other things. But I've learned there's a wide community of women, and men, who find a lot of satisfaction/fulfillment in both having a blog and posting, or being able to express comments as a reader. It's a different way of connecting, but at least it's connecting. Everybody's busy, getting home from work, driving into the garage and shutting the door on everything and everybody to handle the busyness of the moment in a day with not-enough hours. Hard to make time to get together with friends or even make regular church on Sundays like our parents did. As women we love our friends, but they drop off, like flowers not getting enough water. When is there time to create or share. In the off hours, when maybe the house is asleep and we should be, too...we take some quiet moments and surf the blog world. If you find the right sites and blogs, it's informative, relaxing and often fun, like having pen pals when you were a kid. I love my changing assortment of blogs to visit. I've learned so much from the blog authors and their readers, about a variety of subjects. It's fun to exchange info on blogs when you have a commonality...like minds on a favorite subject. We've adapted to a strange, new, technical world but, and I've said this before, part of it isn't that much different from my great-grandmothers sitting around a quilting frame, taking an afternoon to gather from their various farmhouses to sit a bit, quilt a bit, chat a bit...exchange recipes and home remedies, share fears and hopes.Vickinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-41772591538354417922013-09-19T11:54:21.620-07:002013-09-19T11:54:21.620-07:00I get the calm that comes from organizing a spice ...I get the calm that comes from organizing a spice cabinet. If you just take a breath from a busy day, it forces you to focus on one task that you can get done to completion, and that provides in turn a lot of satisfaction because generally we have other UNcompleted tasks that nag at us. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with just the sheer amount of laundry I have to fold but if I will just take the time, it goes faster than I think and it's much more calming to see nice, folded laundry...even better yet, folded in drawers and cupboard with an EMPTY laundry basket...than heaps full of jumbled laundry in a sea of baskets. I think my mom used to get some good quiet time by doing ironing. I sort of remember ironing. I think I did it a dozen years ago. I probably still should. <br /><br />I have this "thing" where I refuse to use a ATM. I go to the drive-up window at the bank to talk to "live" people and the young ones think I'm a dinosaur. We had a conversation this week about cursive/penmanship and they agreed they never do handwriting and instead only printing. The one girl said she thought she one time saw a typewriter at somebody's house. I asked the young guy if he'd ever heard of full-serve gas stations and he said "no," except that once when he was recently on a vacation in a very small town in central California, an elderly man still running the station came out and asked if he could pump their gas for them; the kids thought he was trying to scam them. Am I this old, really? I'm not even retirement age according to the government, not yet. Sometimes when I come across similar comments on blogs, I then don't feel so creaky and outdated. Our friends in cyberspace can shore us up and remind us that WE ARE NOT OLD, DO NOT RULE US OUT, WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED...Vickinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-10086905541462977692013-09-19T11:43:34.653-07:002013-09-19T11:43:34.653-07:00I often come back to read comments from all of Jan...I often come back to read comments from all of Janet's great readers just to see one like yours. My sympathies for your loss. I can relate. Rough times are, well, hard. After months of intense family caregiving (and years before that of it, ranging from moderately-intense), I found out I probably had cancer, like the day after my mother died--and, yes, I did have, had surgery and I go forward with a excellent prognosis; but, when I should be taking it easy, I am lifting/pushing/carrying and decluttering her house which is jam-packed with 60 years-worth of belongings and trying to move into it myself if I can pay off her huge reverse mortgage, empty out my own house in time and get mine sold before they foreclose on hers. It's nuts and these are among the most stress-ridden times of my life...but the main thing is that I went to the oncologist again yesterday and I'm still checking out good, post-surgery and therein lies the priority; the rest will be what it will be.<br /><br />Life-altering events cause you to zero in on what to focus on and what not to. I've found out I'm not a snob after all. I can live in the smaller house in the not-so-chic neighborhood, get myself and my husband in a better position as retirement years loom, maybe free up a little money so that I can actually take a vacation...and, I'm telling you, I never thought I would say this, but reasonable frugality feels good; it feels right. I've been so boho, liberated and "free" in my past life but I kinda like rein-ing in a little and creating a few borders; it feels safe and comforting, which I need right now when so much has been uncertain (the rug getting pulled out from 'neath your feet!). And you hit the nail on the head. What is real? REAL. I want REAL. Authentic. I still like nice things and I like to look at nice things but I don't have to buy every nice thing. (And REAL people; genuine and honest. Give me the non-game players and instead the good souls.) <br /><br />I am so sick of packing boxes and moving stuff that I'm ready to travel the world with one suitcase just like Janet did for France! I never thought less is more but it definitely IS! We get so much crap we don't need; just more dust-catchers to where your eye scrambles trying to figure out where to settle. The anti-calm. And calm is clean/cleansing. <br /><br />Janet, I hope you read this, but sometimes I am absolutely STUNNED by my ignorance or too-small world...I did not know of Kelly Wearstler. Just since you did this post, I swear I've seen her name like four times! I think it's the current or October issue of ELLE DECOR (don't quote me on that) where I saw a whole spread on the actress Cameron Diaz...I think that's her name...who features her NY place designed/decorated by KW. And I was surfing somebody else's blog and here was a book called HUE written by KW. See? If you didn't do these stylish/informative/interesting posts like this one on The Viceroy, I'd still be ignorant (at least of Kelly Wearstler!). And now I know of a nice place for a staycation, too. <br /><br />My opinion, Janet, is that you are a person of substance, writing about things of substance. I like substance. I am having increasingly less patience with "fluff." I'm not saying a little fluff isn't nice, but you strike the right balance of it with your blog. You really do. You've never written a post I didn't get something from or just downright enjoy. Thank you.Vickinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-22625931329977402832013-09-19T09:48:17.467-07:002013-09-19T09:48:17.467-07:00Flap, flap, can't find your email, you know I ...Flap, flap, can't find your email, you know I am coming to poke you with stick don't you?<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-1614430767044378102013-09-19T09:41:30.225-07:002013-09-19T09:41:30.225-07:00Weird, I am missing lots of folks posts these days...Weird, I am missing lots of folks posts these days.I love that place, I know it like the back of my hand, because I love to drink at Chez Jays across the road, love your basket and the green background.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-816010823111150232013-09-17T18:01:57.135-07:002013-09-17T18:01:57.135-07:00Never mediocre and authenticity is never obsolete!...Never mediocre and authenticity is never obsolete!!gretchenhttp://www.gretchenwoosley.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-71901731209058146132013-09-17T03:44:47.296-07:002013-09-17T03:44:47.296-07:00Janet, I've been feeling much the same way lat...Janet, I've been feeling much the same way lately. I am going through a rough time at work, and naturally it's affecting my personal life to some extent. I do enjoy blogging but sometimes it feels superficial -- and I also wonder if anyone really cares. However, it's my creative outlet so I'm torn as to whether or not to keep it up. I hope that whatever you choose to do, you are happy with your decision. <br />ClaudiaMy Little Bungalowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17661291354573889109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-92145803258431886612013-09-16T17:05:51.953-07:002013-09-16T17:05:51.953-07:00The Gardener's Cottage has always been my favo...The Gardener's Cottage has always been my favorite blog! And I think it is a place to go in cyberland that takes all of us away from the problems and the worries of the world. Your blog helps many people and I hope it can be an outlet for you too, Janet!Priscillahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14069354465347439272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-80683102286729717342013-09-16T15:55:32.611-07:002013-09-16T15:55:32.611-07:00I have never thought your life (or anyone else'...I have never thought your life (or anyone else's is perfect)...I know better. I enjoy visiting your beautiful blog to see the beautiful things in your life and would hate to see that stop....isn't that why we all visit????? <br />AndeM1https://www.blogger.com/profile/04315193407748614962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-69155428262967373582013-09-16T06:44:04.064-07:002013-09-16T06:44:04.064-07:00I'm sorry to hear you are having a difficult t...I'm sorry to hear you are having a difficult time, but I hope you don't stop blogging, I love reading about your travels, food (the recipes I've made from your blog are delicious) I agree about 'perfect life on blog' syndrome but you manage the balance beautifully. Lilacshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15782125673448880397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-2291960918577789692013-09-16T05:56:46.761-07:002013-09-16T05:56:46.761-07:00Dear Janet - I cannot but agree with all the comme...Dear Janet - I cannot but agree with all the comments above, but still wanted to let you know how sorry I am to hear you are having such a tough time and how much I miss your regular posts. With your 'mediocre' blog you have gathered a lovely community of people from around the world that enjoy each others online company and enjoy even more to see you re-caulking your bathroom (how many people have mentioned this here !).<br />Take care, MireilleAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-4844769146783642262013-09-15T18:50:39.539-07:002013-09-15T18:50:39.539-07:00Hi Janet,
So sorry to hear that you have been ha...Hi Janet, <br /><br />So sorry to hear that you have been having a difficult time. I just wanted to add my two penn'orth worth to all the others that say your blog is truly inspiring - even when you are "just" writing about your garden or a new recipe! I love going back through your archives and re-reading your adventures when you remodelled your home, your decorating decisions and your ability to encourage me - and many others - to live a simpler less cluttered life. I can understand that your mojo may be flagging a bit, but we are all here to tell you that your are an inspiration. I hope that you feel you can carry on as I would miss the chance to catch up with your posts, maybe a different posting schedule would shake things up a bit? I agree with those who say information on how you keep your home so clean and organised would be welcome - it's all in the details after all! Your posts where you talk about small things in your home - even recaulking the bath - are encouraging. I think I love the sense of order you inspire. I do hope you decide to carry on; while life is hard and things seem overwhelming I am sure the blog is the least of your worries, but this community will be here for you when you decide what is right for you. Best wishes, KarenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-15948195405063328372013-09-15T16:24:04.029-07:002013-09-15T16:24:04.029-07:00Janet,
I also love your blog, and am inspired by y...Janet,<br />I also love your blog, and am inspired by your recipes, meals, your beautiful home, fashion, and simple living. I would love to see a post giving details about how you keep your house so clean and uncluttered on a regular basis. I know you've done some posts on spring cleaning, but I would love to know what types of cleansers you use and what kind of daily and weekly routines you have to keep it looking so great. Thank you for the time you take to share with us! As you can tell, we do not find you mediocre at all. <br />CindyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-68418674990220738352013-09-15T06:29:46.745-07:002013-09-15T06:29:46.745-07:00Dear Janet, can't agree enough with all the ot...Dear Janet, can't agree enough with all the other comments on what an inspiration you and your blog are to me. Be kind to yourself. love PamPam Willshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16095667334507589160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-36160615252474402572013-09-15T06:27:43.188-07:002013-09-15T06:27:43.188-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Pam Willshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16095667334507589160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-12007578396212900622013-09-14T23:12:32.897-07:002013-09-14T23:12:32.897-07:00Janet, your blog has been an inspiration on so man...Janet, your blog has been an inspiration on so many levels. Because of you I have far fewer but much nicer clothes. I have less junk in my house, I think about each item before I buy it. Your recipes inspire me to eat healthy food, you have taught me about skin care, I could go on and on... I'm just saying, nothing mediocre about your blog!<br /><br />Warmly,<br />Barbara in Northern CAAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-20377687271554612982013-09-14T20:30:54.313-07:002013-09-14T20:30:54.313-07:00...and what happened to Shell?...and what happened to Shell?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-65338950149812083582013-09-14T11:48:27.185-07:002013-09-14T11:48:27.185-07:00I never find our blog boring...even simple posts a...I never find our blog boring...even simple posts about garden flowers in your home inspire me. And I do not think for ONE MINUTE that you try to act like your life is perfect. For me, blogs are a little escape from the daily stresses of life. I feel like it's obvious that everyone has ups and downs...yet I don't really want to read about those from other people...I don't mean to sound harsh but I cannot stand the blogs that do nothing but complain ... I like your mantra of FOCUS ON THE GOOD!<br />I really hope you keep blogging b/c I am inspired by your goal of simple, great living and going more with less...I love your style also.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-85843216052023488642013-09-14T11:45:25.977-07:002013-09-14T11:45:25.977-07:00Wow! What a lovely setting for a relaxing get away...Wow! What a lovely setting for a relaxing get away. I want to be there now! The Kelly green is lovely as is the plate wall. Very nice. Thanks for sharing this with all of us.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191490968189022599.post-61715387337424365452013-09-13T21:02:59.742-07:002013-09-13T21:02:59.742-07:00Janet, this is what I have said to my teenage daug...Janet, this is what I have said to my teenage daughter more than once...."you have no idea how other people envy you, the way your hair has a cowlick that you don't like and they only wish they could get their hair to do what yours is doing". I say the same about the eyebrows she does not like and tell her we women many times don't think we are interesting, or attractive or worthy. I am not saying this what you are going through but you do seem surprised that "we" your readers just love what you are, how you write, how you photograph, and how you choose to live it. You do have ups and downs because you are authentic and that is what makes this a great read...A.U.T.H.E.N.T.C.I.T.Y!! So I will keep coming back and checking for posts and be happy when do, on your terms. XO Karenthe language of designhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15025963445241234063noreply@blogger.com