Category: Hearth and Home

What matters

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner here at This Old House and I hope wherever you spent the day and with whom, you did too.  The food was delish, minus the Chocolate Cheesecake flop. King Arthur Flour recipe.. ….shoulda worked… .. but… something went wrong  and it was so heavy you wouldn’t want to have to hang onto it if you fell in the water somewhere unexpectedly.  That doesn’t really make sense, but you know what I mean.  It sucked.   Thankfully there were two  pies and cookies to fill the gap.

Empty plates at the end of a meal are always a good sign, although Frasier was scoping for scraps, hoping for something different.

In these pictures you’ll notice the “theme” is not Thankgiving at all.  Indeed, Christmas swooped in the day before, for no good reason other than a rainy day and a little impatience.  That would be mine.  Mom said… “but… Fall is such a pretty time of year..”    Indeed it is, and Fall has been living in This Old House since September.  It was time. At least the food reflected the proper holiday decorum, right?  🙂

Is this the weekend you begin your Christmas/Holiday Season?  We are officially Decked.  While at the tree farm up the road, we discovered the secret to starting young trees…. plant them very very close together in a big patch where they almost look like a carpet – and then transplant once they’ve grown some.  This gives them protection while they grow a little more hearty.  Ah Ha!  That’s why our first few attempts failed. Those poor babies were out on our windy hill all on their own, too far apart from each other to gather the necessary support.  What were we thinking. 

We got two smaller REAL trees this year instead of the big FAKE one.  I’m so done with fake news, ya know?   We’ve got one at the corner of the family room where we can also see it from the Mancave, and one in the kitchen/dining room area.  I love the heavenly scent of fresh pine.

Yesterday morning as I looked out over the fields from our kitchen window, I saw two bucks up on the hill, one a juvenile – father and son? Brothers?  Donner and Blitzen scouting for Santa, perhaps.   I managed a few blurry shots before they darted off…

… and was reminded again how  very grateful I am  for the opportunity to live here on this little farm, for as long as life will allow it.

Gizmo (my new grand dog) is also very grateful he has landed here with us.  Oh, how I love this little scruff.

  Till soon, friends…

 

 

Let there be Light

 

The Mr.  wasn’t particularly fond of the pendant lights we had over the kitchen island, so we started looking at other options.  There are SO MANY!!.. just browse Pottery Barn (my favorite for lighting)  or Bellacor or Seagull lighting websites and you’ll be amazed and confused.  After a significant search and a little bickering, we did settle on globes we found on Lamps Plus….

Out with the old..

In with the new…

I like them!  I have found the glass globes are a bit of a pain in the ass because  Smudges*smears*streaks*dust, but I do like the overall look.

The blank spot on the wall over the sink used to display three of my small paintings.  I found a fairly local craft person on Etsy who makes rustic old wooden signs for a very reasonable price.  She’s doing a farm sign for me and it will go right there where the paintings used to live.   I’m a big fan of changing things up around the house now and then, and it doesn’t have to be much at all.   A change of throw pillows on the couch to reflect the season,  moving a painting to a different room, adding a plant or two, etc.  And the best decorating tip of all – get rid of clutter noise.  I tend to be a knicknack collector, and sometimes it becomes too knicknacky so I pick through and simplify.  Cleaning up a disastrous closet or counter, folding that mountain of laundry that’s been building in the (fill in the blank)  can  give you a feeling of renewal. All those shoes that accumulate in the bottom of the coat closet.. some that haven’t been worn in three years?  Out.

My guy is very type A – he is not fond of clutter and on the island we go back and forth with his love for -nothing at all – on it, and my love of decorating to create *cozy*.   Sometimes I do a big decluttering around the house and he is in love all over again…. only to come home a few days later with the now familiar words… “Uh-oh.. I see clutter forming again”… tumbling out of his mouth.    I’m just redecorating, that’s all.

The big glass hurricane candle holder thing we had on the island didn’t look right with the new pendants, so I went up the road to a local shop that sells wonderful things, so many wonderful things you can get in trouble quickly if you have to answer to a husband who balances the household budget in the aftermath.

This was yesterday’s score…Simple.. and I can leave it there all winter, change out the greens, etc. for other seasons.

Have I told you lately about our new granddog, Gizmo?  We are all in love with him, hard to imagine someone dumped him on the side of the road, where he was found matted and afraid and wondering what the hell happened.  He’s house trained and so loving, just wants to be up in your lap kissing you.  He’s good to his brother by another mother, although he tries to herd Rex when they’re outside.  I think he’s got border collie in him,  Shih tzu border collie, that’s my guess.

Are you hosting any of the holiday meals on the horizon?  We will have both Thanksgiving and Christmas meals here with the extended family and I’ve begun planning the menus – below are some awesome cheeseboard ideas, I plan to use these photos to create something similar here at This Old House.

 

 

I hope all is well in your world –   Till soon, friends..  OOh.. and if you don’t already follow Susan Branch’s blog.. she just published a lovely Thanksgiving post.. worth the click over to HERE… where you’ll find lots of lovely things, including her uplifting spirit.. and this recipe below, which is also her artwork.