A Rosebud is born

Juliet:"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

William Shakespeare

Yes, it has been a long time since we took walks through our garden. But we were called to meet our latest rosebud, the youngest girl in our daughter Claudia’s family. Her name is Brooklyn Rayne, and she is as sweet as they come.

Here she is, as we first met her, one day after her birth.

And here she is with the proud sisters, Gabrielle, Alexandra and Logan. We took pictures of all three sisters holding Brooklyn outside, on Claudia's verandah, but this is the only picture in which Brooklys was facing the camera, and therefore our choice of picture.

Our absence from the Blog scene was, as you can see, very necessary. As well as the new baby, Claudia also moved from Shreveport, LA to her old house in Wexford, PA, and as it turned out, all the boxes arrived at the same time as the baby.

Nothing daunts neither Claudia nor Chloe, and of course the two got right to work. Soon they created a new home. And then Chloe collected paints and brushes and started gardening on the walls of the girl’s rooms. Here is Alexandra's room, which also, by the way, has one of Chloe's paintings showing a rose. The two falling petals say: "He loves me... he loves me not."



And since Logan wanted a tree to be painted on the walls of her room, Chloe gave her as well as a funky tree, the added bonus of a bluebird.

Here is another picture of Logan's room, after Chloe and Claudia finished decorating it. The tree is next to her bed, which Logan, being an artist herself, collaborated with her Maman in painting some of the branches and leaves.

Gabrielle, on the other hand got her full suite painted with more modern colours. More suited for a teenager.

Finally she was ready for the nursery. She left it for last because being no Michelangelo , she was not looking forward to painting that huge ceiling with fluffy clouds. It took her two full days so the strain on her neck was considerable, but it was well worth it since we were all very pleased with the result.

And here is a close up of the very atmospheric ceiling.

Grasshoppers were kind of a novelty for her to paint, but she did it on the walls surrounding the crib to echo the baby’s bedding.

In the past, when the other grandchildren had been born, Chloe had painted three nursery panels depicting fairy tales and nursery rhyme characters frolicking among wild flowers. Brooklyn will grow to appreciate them, as they now also hang in her nursery.

All the girls have also been lucky enough to receive one of Chloe’s original hand painted desks for their rooms. They always show scenes of our garden here in Campobello, SC. And Logan was kind enough to give Brooklyn her desk so that is now also in Brooklyn’s nursery.

Here are details of seat and back of chair, showing scenes from her garden here in Campobello. This is the seat.

And this is the backrest:

The back of the chair is graced by this poem, as depicted here:

The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth
One is nearer to God's heart in the garden
Than anywhere else on earth.

Dorothy Gurney
1858 - 1932

It has been awfully hot all over the country, particularly here in the almost deep south. So we did not miss that much our walks through the garden. But now we are looking forward to cooler mornings and evenings which should be around the corner. Our walks should resume then, and therefore soon we will give you more glimpses of our garden as it changes through the seasons.

Even in the blistering South Carolina heat, still Chloe’s rosebuds keep coming. Here is a picture of one.