A Place of Enchantment

I've written before about visiting the Cross Creek, Florida estate of author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. After a third, recent visit, I remain enchanted. Something about this place just speaks to me, from the typewriters on the front porch and in the bedroom...

(The books on the shelf are all by authors who visited Rawlings at her Florida home - including Robert Frost, Zora Neale Hurston, Margaret Mithcell, and Thornton Wilder!)

...to the tiny kitchen showcasing cast iron, fresh eggs, and home-canned produce.

Nature collections in baskets on the porch included treasures ranging from antlers and gourds, to wasp nests and a turtle shell, to pinecones and sea shells. I even spotted a found nest tucked in a berry basket up on a shelf!

Fresh flowers, picked from the property, adorned every room.

And in the back, a gorgeous kitchen garden, chickens, and ducks. All this, tucked into an orange grove that was in full bloom - a scent that takes me back to memories of my childhood home, surrounded by a dozen citrus trees.

“I do not understand how anyone can live without some small place of enchantment to turn to.”

- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

 

I have more to say about this... about creating a "place of enchantment" for oneself... about writing and cooking and nature and flowers and gardening. Things I hold so dear. But for now, I just wanted to share this bit of inspiration via photos taken on a lovely weekend retreat with a dear friend.

 

xoxo - Liz