Photos of her cottage and dog, Webster, courtesy of Rosemary Beck
That's the first thing I asked Rosemary Beck, of course.
Are you content in your cottage?
Rosemary Beck is a New Jersey antique dealer, real estate agent, photographer and the blogger behind Content in a Cottage.
It is one of my favorite blogs because of the wonderful eclectic eye of its author.
On any given day -- actually three or four times during any given day -- Rosemary will put up photos she finds of wonderful sunrises, antique greeting cards, terrific kitchen designs, flowers in vases. Just about anything that strikes her fancy.
"I just post what interests me and I just happen to be interested in a lot of things," she said. "Things catch my eye and I save them."
She has a flat file in her studio with lots of prints. And she surfs the Web thoroughly. "I cover a lot of ground." Her favorite spot for pictures is Pixdaus, a photo-sharing Web site. And she takes many of her own photos.
About the cottage.
It is in Morris County, New Jersey, and she shares it with her 89-year-old mother. "This is my favorite house that I have ever lived in," she said.
It is just four miles away from the house she lived in previously. When she knew she would be downsizing and combining living arrangements with her mother, she stumbled on this cottage. But there was no "For Sale" sign.
"I would drive by again and again. And I actually got out of my car and knocked on the door, but no one ever answered. I didn't realize then that it was tied up in an estate."
Despite the fact that she sells real estate in the area, she almost missed it when the cottage came on the market. Fortunately, the first deal fell through and she snapped it up.
She still sells real estate and dabbles in antigues, but her blog, two years old in July, seems to please her the most.
Except, of course, for the cottage.
"I feel like I am the luckiest person on the earth."