Down the Rabbit Hole

"The sweet calm sunshine of October..."

 What a glorious October this is turning out to be! The cool air is very much welcomed here.  The fall garden is coming along splendidly and is such a joy to work in with the autumn breeze.  Above is a little project I worked on yesterday, a wreath made of unbleached coffee filters.  So easy and I just love the look!  I tucked in a bird's nest filled with moss, a doily and a skeleton key with a ribbon.  No one has been able to tell at first look that it is made of coffee filters! 

 This was simple to make!

My cooking area is finally finished!  The little shelves in the corner are the old shelves that were by the sink. I painted them and my DH put them up, which I think just finished this area.  He also made the mantle, I think he did a great job!  My mother cross-stitched the two cotton boll's on either side of the rabbit picture.

I bought a top in Santa Fe this past summer that has gotten so many compliments.  I am posting the photo's below for my aunt Lois, who is the most wonderful seamstress, to see.  Yes, she can look at this photo below and make this top, no problem!   The cut looks very similar to what the ladies in France are wearing now.   It is also a very sheer cotton.

 

I just love it, it is very comfortable.   It is really a simple top that ties in the middle, with one huge ruffle across the bottom. 

 

There was a muted red top that was the same style but I chose the blue.  Now I think about the red one quite a lot!  That is always the case!  I am going to try to make this...I have already bought the material. Wish me luck!

"The sweet calm sunshine of October, now
    Warms the low spot; upon its grassy mold
The purple oak-leaf falls; the birchen bough
    drops its bright spoil like arrow-heads of gold."
-   William Cullen Bryant

Waiting patiently for Autumn...

"She had only to stand in the orchard, to put her hand on a little crab tree and look up at the apples, to make you feel the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last."~  Willa Cather

Hello, dear friends!  Did I already say, I do so love this time of year? ;O)For me it is a little bit of a rest, as the garden's do not need too much attention.  I concentrate more on the inside with cleaning, decorating, cooking and knitting.  I am also learning to crochet!  I already love it. 

  Harvest Time for Cotton (this cotton field is very near to our home)

"All still when summer is over
stand shocks in the field,
nothing left to whisper,
not even good-bye, to the wind.

After summer was over
we knew winter would come:
we knew silence would wait,
tall, patient calm."  
-   William Stafford, Tragic Song 

 Fall Tassels (the tutorial is on the left side bar) Knitting in bed with Miss Flora...

This is the result~dish cloths for my mother. These do not take much time and are a good project for beginning knitter's!

How to make a simple dishcloth/facecloth:

Use 100% cotton - worsted weight yarn

Size 7 needles 

Cast on 4 stitches

Knit 3 rows of 4 stitches

knit 2 YO knit to the end

continue until you have 43 stitches

Next row knit 1, knit 2 together YO knit 2 together, knit to the end

When you are left with 4 stitches bind off

 

Roast Pork with Baked Apples and Cider Gravy Recipe Comfort food for Fall ~ This was absolutely delicious and will definitely be a fall tradition. 
 

Pork:

2 (5 pound) pork loin roasts, rib bones attached, back bone (chine) removed

Small bunch sage leaves chopped

Small bunch thyme leaves chopped

1 1/2 cups extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 (12-ounce) bottle hard cider

1 cup chicken broth

1 lemon, juiced optional

Apples:

8 Gala or Golden Delicious apples

1 lemon, juiced

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 or 2 large corn muffins crumbled (1/2 cup), reserve some for sprinkling on apples

1/2 cup golden raisins

6 sage leaves, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup hard cider

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the pork roast in a roasting pan with the ribs facing up, braced against each other. Add sage and thyme to olive oil. Brush the pork roasts with oil mixture and season with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Roast the pork loin for 2 1/2 hours, until the skin is crackled. (Put the apples in the oven along with the pork roast in the last half hour of cooking.)

Remove the pork roast to a cutting board and let it rest for 15 minutes before carving. Pour out some of the excess fat from the roasting pan and put it on the stove over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the flour into the hot pan juices, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or whisk to prevent lumps. Cook and stir the roux until its light brown. Add the cider and continue to stir to incorporate. Pour in the chicken broth; boil and stir for 5 minutes until the sauce is thick. Check for seasoning - add lemon juice if necessary. Serve the cider gravy with the pork roast and baked apples.

To make the buttered apples: Core the apples with an apple corer, making a good size cavity to hold the stuffing. Douse the cut sides of the apples with some of the lemon juice to prevent them from browning while you make the stuffing. In a mixing bowl, combine the softened butter, muffin crumbs, raisins, sage, garlic, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Spoon the stuffing into the cavities of the cored apples; stand them up, side by side, in a baking dish and sprinkle the tops with the reserved muffin crumbs. Pour the cider around the apples and bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 375 degrees F, until soft when pierced with a knife. Place the warm apples in the center of a round serving dish. Spoon the cider sauce around the apples and serve with the pork loin.

I believe this is a Tyler Florence recipe.

I hope you all have a very lovely weekend with friends and family! Eating the comforts of this season, gathering around in candle lit back porches, telling stories and enjoying the cool breezes of September nights as we sail right on to Autumn.

"Withered vines, gnarled trees, twilight crows,
river flowing beneath the little bridge,
past someone's home.
The wind blows from the west
where the sun sets, it blows
across the ancient road,
across the bony horse,
across the despairing man
who stands at heaven's edge."

Ma Chih-Yuan, Meditation in Autumn

Translated by David Lunde  

"This year's last smile..."

Can you feel the crisp difference in the air?  Smell the wood smoke from far away fires, see the golden light draping through the trees?  I do believe autumn is about to step forward and gently guide us to cooler weather.  I so love this time of year.  It has been a long hot summer here in the South and I am looking forward to getting the house ready for fall activities.  I have already brought out my knitting and I am also learning to crochet.  I have been busy in the kitchen already cooking up comforts for the up-coming season; breads, stews, cakes and such.  I haven't been posting so much as of late.  As most of you know, I have been traveling most of the summer.  Here are just a few photograph's of the garden:

Fall garden: Some of my new raised beds being watered after a long hot day. 

I potted up several hanging baskets this year. 

My favorite white double Begonia, sitting on the table under the pergola.  I try to save most of my flowers and plants from year to year.  These come in for the winter: Bay Laurel, Geraniums, Ferns, Begonia's, and Oleander's.  Do any of you bring your flowers in to save?  

I put rocks around all the gardens this year and I made this new little garden.  It is full of Dahlia's, Gladiolus, Mums, Zinnia's, Hollyhock's and a pink rose.  

I have hanging baskets and window baskets around the back of the sun porch.  All overflowing with pink, lavender and white flowers.  I love to paint out here in the early mornings or late afternoons.  Even with two ceiling fans it gets very hot by mid-day.  

I painted this for my mother for her birthday.  She thinks it is me but...not quite. ;O)  

I do hope to post more now that I have my computer back in order and I am home again!  I miss blog land so much.  I will post a recipe next week that will definitely put you all in the fall frame of mind! I hope you all have a most wonderful weekend and have fun getting ready for your fall activities!  

All those golden autumn days the sky was full of wings. Wings beating low over the blue water of Silver Lake, wings beating high in the blue air far above it . . . bearing them all away to the green fields in the South.
-- Laura Ingalls Wilder

Enjoying the Lovely Month of May

Hello, dear friends!  I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this lovely May weather.  Above, is a  little peek of the kitchen restoration.  I made the skirt for the sink with a burlap-like material. Sorry this is so dark but I have problems getting a good photo of the sink area.  We still need to paint and we are waiting for the vent but other than that it is mostly finished...for now.  ;O)  I will post more later.

I have been very busy in the garden.  I have a new shade garden on the north side of the house.  I have placed several pots of different combination's here and there and I have planted  hosta, pink caladium, lenten rose, and a few ferns in the shady cool earth.  This is the side of the sun porch, where I have an easel set up to paint in the early mornings and afternoons.  

 
In the pot to the far right , I have planted coleus, spotted dead nettle and a fern.  I just simply love this combination.  To the far left I have potted a beautiful Dew Drop Rex Begonia, golden sage, and a wire vine.  I painted the pots with yogurt, which I have heard gives a new pot a beautifully aged and weathered patina.  I have also used, in the past, a thin wash of white acrylic paint to give pots and aged look.  These have only been sitting out for a few days and already are turning a faint white in places where the minerals and plant food is leaching through.  Below, is the other side of the house with the same combination of coleus, spotted dead nettle and fern.  

I just have to share this recipe!  I found this in Country Living Magazine and it is so delicious that I have made it twice in the past week.  :O) 

 

Potato Cake with Tart Apples and Jarlsberg

Ingredients

·   1/4 cup(s) olive oil

·   8 medium (about 3 pounds) potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

·   2 medium Granny Smith apples, cored, quartered, and thinly sliced

·   1 medium onion, thinly sliced

·   1/2 cup(s) chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish

·   1 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt

·   1/2 teaspoon(s) freshly ground pepper

·   1/2 cup(s) finely grated Jarlsberg

·   Butter, for greasing foil 

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Coat inside of a 12-inch cast-iron skillet with olive oil; set aside.

2.  In a large bowl, toss together potatoes, apples, onion, parsley, salt, and pepper. Spread half the potato mixture in skillet, scatter with cheese, then top with remaining potato mixture. Cover with a piece of lightly buttered foil and bake for 40 minutes.

3.  Remove foil and continue to bake until potatoes are tender and top is lightly browned, about 20 more minutes. Increase oven to broil and cook until top begins to crisp, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley. Cool slightly before serving.

I hope you all have a safe and and most blessed Memorial Day Weekend!

I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God it would be in a garden at the cool of the day.  ~ F.Frankfort Moore, A Garden of Peace

Welcoming Spring!

Hello, dear friends!  I just have to write and let you all know we have made the decision to not sell our house.  We have been so busy making renovations, de-cluttering, painting... and well, pretty much gutting the whole house!  We have liked the changes so much that we want to stay. So now I can get back to having a "normal" life.   I will show you all pictures of the kitchen when it is finished, hopefully this week!  I have also painted and changed most of the upstairs rooms.  I have been so busy and I have so missed blogging!  My computer crashed and then had a virus.   I lost so many photo's, recipes, and writing.  The whole ordeal was very disheartening to say the least so I left my computer alone for a while.  I hope you all have been doing well!  Here are some photo's of the garden this fine and lovely spring!

 

My side garden has larkspur, cat mint, roses, beautiful fairytale lilies, white and purple irises rosemary, hollyhock seedlings (thank you, sweet Paula for the seeds in the pretty packets! ) peonies, gladiolus, purple cone flower...and yarrow.  I know it will be beautiful when it is fully in bloom!  

I snapped this photo yesterday.  The blush pink peonies are about to bloom and the clematis was just striking last week in full bloom!

Above is my first peony who made a show this morning!

The Koi pond.  We now have seven Koi!  They are getting rather large~  I should have snapped a photo of them when I first brought them home because now they lurk around the bottom and it is just impossible to get a photo of them.  (the water is deep, 5 ft.) 

This is the little shade garden by the pond with irises, foxgloves, hosta, astilbe, hydrangea, cranes bill and pinks.

My favorite iris after the rain.  I don't recall the name...if anyone knows, please leave a comment!

I am planting a rose in the midst of the lambs ear. (In the white package)  I have seen a stately heron flying overhead, watching...so, I have put out a protector of the fish and seedlings...

Miss Millie!  She has been doing a splendid job I must say and even gives me a fright at times!

I hope you have enjoyed this little peek of the awakening garden.  I work in it as much as I can, usually from dawn till dusk.   Nothing is more enjoyable or peaceful for me as working in a garden, listening to the birds chatter, the rustle of new leaves in the spring wind and the faint sound of classical music playing from the back porch. 

The Lord God planted a garden
In the first white days of the world,
And He set there an angel warden
In a garment of light enfurled.

So near to the peace of Heaven,
That the hawk might nest with the wren,
For there in the cool of the even
God walked with the first of men.

And I dream that these garden-closes
With their shade and their sun-flecked sod
And their lilies and bowers of roses,
Were laid by the hand of God.

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

For He broke it for us in a garden
Under the olive-trees
Where the angel of strength was the warden
And the soul of the world found ease.

~by Dorothy Frances Gurney 

Winter Desert

 
(Loretto Chapel, Santa Fe, New Mexico)

Hello Dear Friends! 

For my birthday, my husband and I went to Santa Fe. We had such a wonderful time!  Great food for every meal and the galleries were amazing.  The top photo of Loretto Chapel, is the chapel with the mysterious miraculous spiral staircase.  It is believed that St. Joseph built it himself.  Here is  a link to the story if you would like to read more about it:  Loretto Chapel   

 Above is a photo of the entrance to La Posada.  We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would recommend it to anyone. 

I have only been to Santa Fe and the surrounding area in the summer, so I was not expecting so much snow!  It was absolutely beautiful.  The call of the desert, a vast expanse where quite a few come to hear the voice of God.  A quiet place of solitude, to renew your spirit.  At such an altitude, over 7,000 feet, the heavens seem all the more  near.

 
I can definitely see why the artist Georgia O'Keefe claimed this beautiful land, north of Santa Fe, her home.  With the view of the slate blue mesa known as Cerro Pedernal, from her adobe home at Ghost Ranch, she felt a certain peace. 

 

 I cannot remember the exact phrasing but in essence she said that God spoke to her and told her if she painted the mountain enough that He would give it her!  What an elegant thought...   The Navajo believe that this beautiful mesa is birthplace of their "Changing Woman"  who represents earth and time.  So fitting for Ms. O'Keefe, a woman who was so in tune with nature.   She had a most beautiful garden.  A little piece of paradise in the middle of the desert.  God was indeed good to her in the midst of her troubles. 

 
Here she is with her dog Jingo.  She loved dogs and said, "It seems to be my mission in life to wait on a dog."  Me too!  :O)

 We took a drive through the desert and did a little house hunting...

    
and this is what we found.   The HGTV Dream Home!  It has gorgeous vistas and is in such a calming and serene part of the desert.    You can go here and enter for a chance to win! 

 

I am ready to move in! The Master Painter has used so many colors from His beautiful palette and created this beautiful land ~the desert.   I have visited in the summer, and the sunset will honestly just take your breath away. 

The above photo was taken by a new friend, Nancy Willaford.  Her photography is amazing!  This is a beautiful Santa Fe sunset.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

 

Solitudinem fecerunt, pacem appelunt - They made a desert and called it peace. (Tacitus)

He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.  Deuteronomy 32:10

“From inaccessible mountain range by way of desert untrod by human foot to the ends of the unknown seas, the breath of the everlasting creative spirit is felt, rejoicing over every speck of dust that hearkens to it and lives” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

 

Autumnal Bliss!

 

Autumn has made her grand entrance and a definite chill is in the air. The frost crept in one night on icy feet and now my dear garden does sleep.  My angel trumpet is still beautiful and is gracefully nodding and perfuming the air with the most heavenly scent. It is usually the first to go in a frost, but somehow she was spared!  Already there are dreams and plans for next spring with more excitement than ever.  So many catalogs and gardening books to look over!  What joy a garden brings, indeed!  Meanwhile, I have been busy in my studio creating.

 
A toile apron for a dear friend.

 

Tassels are being made with these sweet birds! The tutorial is on the side bar if you would like to see how these are made.  The tray and doily are thrift store finds.

 

This sweet Alice was found at an antique store for a song.  The real Alice is in the photo behind her. The crystal shaker was bought to hold glittery fairy dust! 

I could not contain myself when I found these lovely old books, well over one hundred years old.  The little lady sitting on top of them was lovingly made by my dear friend Paula at Southern Rose Cottage .  This is Paula's new blog and such a treat for the eyes!  I am especially fond of the sweet birds she makes. 

He hangs from a lamp on my painting desk and cheers my heart every day!

 

The tole tray above was found at a thrift store, it just sang to me.  The flowery mess you see above is the deconstruction of thrift store flowers! Millinery flowers are impossible to find around here so I thought I would make my own and use antique jewelry, silk ribbon and such.  More of that at a later time! 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with many blessings!  

Calm and deep peace, on this high wold;

And on these dews that drench the furze,

And all the silvery gossamers

That twinkle into green and gold.

Calm and still light on yon great plain

That sweeps with all it's autumn bowers;

And crowded farms and lessening towers,

To mingle with the bounding main.

Tennyson

 

Bonjour!

Hello dear friends!  I have meant to get this post up a lot sooner but again I had computer problems. I have visited a lot of you on my laptop but have been unable to leave a comment due to a very touchy keypad but will follow up today! So many beautiful posts from everyone that I am in awe! You all are great! I will try to keep this post short and then work on my next regular post! 

Paris was absolutely beautiful and I must say my favorite.  Such beauty in this city and the details of the buildings...

just breathtaking.  The people were so nice.  The men were such gentlemen.  I do plan on returning when we have more time!  I did not use my camera too much while there for fear that I might "miss" something!  We were there for only two days so we had to travel at lightening speed with two sick ones.  My husband and my friend Maria came down with an awful flu. 

Of course we visited the Louvre!  The highlight of my trip!!!

To actually see the masterpieces that I have seen only in photographs, in person for the first time was quite emotional. 

This guy is hanging in my laundry room at home! On a much smaller scale that is!  I did not realize that the original is this big! 

Beautiful statues...

So much to take in in one day!

One of the many beautiful ceilings at the Louvre. 

 

There were so many quaint cafe's in Paris.  We stopped quite a few times a day to rest and sample the food!  Great restaurants for dinner both nights.  Actually, all the meals were exquisite!

Tiny cars!!!

We flew into France but took the "chunnel" out.  Here are what the trains look like for those of you who have never seen them.  I was a little unnerved at first at the thought of traveling under water but it was nothing!  

I do hope you have enjoyed this little peek into my trip!   I want to thank everyone for their kind comments and emails.  I have met so many wonderful friends through blogging that have so touched my life with their beauty, creativity and kind ways.  I am so excited about blogging again and will try get another post up right away!

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.-Ernest Hemingway

Hello!

Hello dear friends!  I am back and ready to start blogging again. I took a little bit of a break and I have had so many emails of encouragement that have so touched me that I just couldn't stay away any longer! I have been very busy getting our house ready to put on the market and I have also been house hunting for our new home amongst other things.  I have so missed blogging and all of my friends in blog land.   I thought I would start  where I left off and show a few photographs of our trip to England.  Such a beautiful country...with so much history!

I took this photograph in the little town of Salisbury.  The swans were so elegant, we caught them eating lunch. They would bob their heads under the water in unison, while swimming against the stream and bring up fish.

Of course we had to visit Stone Henge! There were such sweet sounding birds like I have never heard before flying all around the stones. Little daisies were growing everywhere along the walkway. I picked a few and pressed them!

We went to quite a few museums.  A young man was painting this in pastels outside of The National Gallery. I just could not bear the thought of the rain washing this away! 

Gorgeous flowers everywhere! I love having fresh flowers when at home and these were so tempting but...I was traveling. 

This photograph was taken outside of Buckingham Palace.  I would love this in my backyard!  

 Me, outside of a very old pub.

England was so beautiful and I got to see one of my oldest and dearest friends while there! We ate at a very unique Belgian restaurant and were served by monks! So many great places to eat! Nobu was a favorite. (Robert De Niro's restaurant)

I will post France next and then I will get on with my normal blogging! I am so happy to be back and look forward to hearing from everyone! I found a little something on the Internet not too long ago about The Art of Traveling and think it most fitting.  Here is the link:  The Art of Traveling

I hope everyone has a beautiful and lovely weekend!

"No Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one Autumnal face."
-   John Donne

I'm Back!

 

Hello!  I have been away for quite some time, traveling and then coming home with the flu/strep throat. (the sickest I have been in years)  I am so excited to be posting finally!!!  I cannot wait to visit everyone over the weekend and see what has been happening in each little corner of blogland. 

My trip was wonderful.  I loved each country for very different reasons.  I will start with Ireland and then post in a few days about England and then France.  We stayed on the Irish sea at the most wonderful old hotel, The Royal Marine.  Ireland is so beautiful, and as green as I imagined, we are definitely going back to spend more time traveling up North and West!  

 

This was definitely the nicest place we stayed at while in Europe.

We flew into Dublin in the dark so I was so excited to get up the next morning and see Ireland This is the view looking out to the Irish Sea from our balcony at about 5 AM. 

 

An old church to the right. 

 

St. Patrick's Day parade.  People were there from all over the world.

 

A Leprechaunn...my husband!  The hair color matched his perfect!

 

Outside of a restaurant where we ate...the food was fabulous.

 

The people in Ireland were just lovely and friendly.  All of the street signs are in Irish and English, but it is hard, I am sad to say, to find anyone who speaks Irish.  We traveled to Cork by train and did a little sight seeing.

 

We had to see the Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone...

The view from the top is breathtaking!

 

This is the Blarney stone and yes, it is a long way down.  They hold you upside down and your head goes in under.  No, I did not kiss it...  

There were so many beautiful old churches in Ireland and so many spires dotting the countryside as we traveled by train.

I couldn't leave Ireland without visiting Enya's castle! 

 

And Bono's home...

 

The four of us standing at the gate. (Tim, me, Maria, and Rob)

Well, dear friends, I hope you have enjoyed this little peek of my trip.  I hope to write more within the next few days!  I have missed you all and will be visiting you this weekend! 

 

Ireland is where strange tales begin
and happy endings are possible.

~Charles Haughey

As sure as the shamrocks are growing in the land which the Irish all love, as sure as the lakes of Killarney reflect the blue heavens above - as sure as the warmhearted Irish all pay honor to Saint Patrick too, I’m wishing you “top o’the morning” and happiness, always, for you.