HI THERE! I'M BRIANNE TURCZYNSKI, FREELANCE WRITER, HISTORICAL RESEARCHER, & PERPETUAL SEEKER OF THE HUMAN CONDITION. WELCOME TO MY SPACE WHERE I SHARE THE BOOKS I'M READING, MY SPIRITUAL FINDINGS, FLOWERS IN MY GARDEN, AND LOST STORIES. ALL ARE WELCOME HERE.
Catching up with my old friend today, Mr. W. Somerset Maugham. His short stories are just as entertaining as his novels. This is a collection of some of his earliest work. . . Today I read The Punctiliousness of Don Sebastian. “The duke and his wife, who was not his duchess, lay side by side … Continue reading Seventeen Lost Stories of W. Somerset Maugham
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Finally finished this! Took me two months!! 🙄 Mostly because every time I picked it up I fell asleep. It didn’t help that I had Ennio Morricone film scores circling in my mind, as I’ve been listening to his arrangements with Yo-Yo Ma on repeat for two weeks. So that music perpetually in my … Continue reading The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️On this rainy day I want to remember one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. It is very different from the film as the book is more like a journal of events occurring on the African farm of Karen Blixen. I think her friendship with Denys Finch-Hatton is the most touching, and the … Continue reading Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
"...do plant Abelia Triflora. It flowers in June, grows to the size of what we used to call syringe [lilac], and is smothered in white, funnel-shaped flowers with the strongest scent of Jasmine." -Vita Sackville-West In Your Garden; June 18th, 1950 I waited all summer to buy the Abelia. As you might know, shrubs are best … Continue reading Fragrant Abelia
I went to a Christmas party given by a neighbor of mine...All the things appertaining to a cocktail party were standing about, on tables; but the thing that instantly caught my eye was a pot plant of cyclamen I had not seen for years. Delicate in its quality, subtle in its scent, which resembles the … Continue reading The Modest Christmas Cyclamen
The fashion for growing plants indoors is very understandably on the increase. The lead had been given to us by the Scandinavia countries, where the climate must be more difficult to manage than our own, and where the inhabitants go to the most elaborate lengths to ensure a supply of living vegetation and greenery in … Continue reading Indoor Gardening: A Happy Journey Through Winter.
What about Tropaeolum speciosum, the flame nasturtium, with brilliant red trumpets among the small dark leaves? This is the glory of Scottish gardens... -Vita Sackville-West In Your Garden November 24, 1946 Something rather peculiar happened when I was planning my garden back in April. I knew I wanted to plant seeds, two in particular; the … Continue reading Vita’s Wish For Nasturtium…
The marvel of Peru, Mirabilis jalapa, is familiarly called four o'clock, because it opens only at tea time and shuts itself up again before breakfast. It is an old-fashioned herbaceous plant, seldom seen now, but quite decorative with its mixed coloring of yellow, white, red, or lilac, sometimes striped or flaked like some carnations. -Vita Sackville-West … Continue reading Just In Time For Tea
A dear neighbor brought me a tussie-mussie this week. The dictionary defines tuzzy-muzzy, or tussie-mussie, as a bunch or posy of flowers, a nosegay, and then disobligingly adds that the word is obsolete. I refuse to regard it as obsolete. It is a charming word; I have always used it and shall continue to use it, … Continue reading What Is A Tussie-Mussie?
Spring and summer are well provided with flowering shrubs, but it is a puzzle to know what to grow of a shrubby nature for colour in the late months of July, August, and September. There are the hibiscus (Althea Frutex) which are attractive with their hollyhock-like flowers... -Vita Sackville-West In Your Garden June 25th, 1950 Everyday … Continue reading Hollyhocks That Grow On Trees?
BRIANNE TURCZYNSKI 