the Mad Duchess
British Millinery in Austin, Texas
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A milliner, hat designer and maker's blog based in Austin, Texas. Stories about all things hat making, blocking, materials, my slow-living whether it be in the studio, garden, kitchen or just answering random questions.

Posts in Tend
TEND: The Things I Saved For Them - Practicing the Swedish Death Cleaning
TEND: The Things I Saved For Them - Practicing the Swedish Death Cleaning

When the heirloom jewelry I saved for my son’s wedding was stolen, I grieved what was lost—then slowly began to release what I had clung to. Through the quiet practice of Swedish death cleaning, I discovered a gentler legacy: one that doesn’t live in things, but in love.

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TendMJRswedish death cleaning, love and loss, chinese banquet, chinese wedding, inheritance, family traditions, legacies, legacy, emotional decluttering, mother and son, healing through lossComment
Tend: How I Accidentally Designed a Garden for Sitting and Growing
Tend: How I Accidentally Designed a Garden for Sitting and Growing

It started with two patio chairs and a beat-up orange stool. I wasn’t trying to redesign my life—I just needed a place to sit. But in moving those chairs to the east-facing porch, I unknowingly stepped away from five years of garden frustration and into something quieter, more sacred.

The garden I thought I was building was about growth. The one I actually built? It taught me how to rest.

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TendMJRlive oaks, texas gardening, austin gardening, learning to enjoy gardening, stop fighting the elements, insects and texas gardens, garden to table