How Y’all doing out there

Dear Georgia – Shout out to the brave ones as your Governor has opened your doors again, with the high praise of Tr*mp and P*nce. Let us know how y’all make out, we’ll be paying attention. Of course.. you won’t be seeing Tr*mp & P*nce out there among you, because they do still care about their own asses, just not yours so much as the all mighty dollar as it pertains to their re election prospects. Of course, with all the MAGA stupidity going on, those rallies to be set free again with our own POTUS calling for civil unrest – set yourself free!!…. and don’t leave out the can’t-make-me-wear-a-mask bullshit… sad but true – there might be fewer MAGA voters come November.

Mask wearing no longer feels weird in a grocery store, hell, everyone’s doing it. If I could only master the damned arrows in the aisles!… sheesh, such a simple thing and yet so many of us are getting it wrong. (hand raised high here). I don’t wear gloves except at the gas pump, where they are thrown out as soon as the handle is back in it’s holder. Hand washing is so frequent my hands are sandpaper, but MOM to the rescue – have you tried Cetaphil ultra healing with ceramides? It’s not cheap but it’s magic on rough try hands. Thanks, Mom – it works!

I’m eating more than I should because I’m cooking and baking more than usual because I’m home and there’s the damned refrigerator every time I turn around and you know I have to open it and take something out and shove it in my mouth. Right now I’ve got a blueberry buckle baking in the oven, and Maple BBQ Ribs and green beans are on tonight’s dinner menu. Tomorrow night I’ll make the New York Times recipe Caramelized Shallot Pasta. All are delish recipes, easy to put together if you have the ingredients.

Farm news! – the baby goats, Star and Bella will be moving in this weekend. YAY!!… It’s been 40 years since I’ve had a goat – that’s an actual fact.. and I am so excited to welcome them home. My first goat was one I had adopted at the Staten Island Zoo while I worked there at the pony ride track. The baby goat had eye ulcers and they were going to put her down. I begged them to let me take her, and got her to the vet immediately. We healed her ulcers and she lived on our little plot on Staten Island until she became much bigger and a neighbor’s daughter who had a farm took her to live a bigger farm life. Her name was Casey – She was a black goat with a white star on her forehead just like our Star. We’ve got the goat house ready and their goat yard properly fenced in for their safety, now to create a little bit of a playscape for them. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, Stella is open and ready for the season… we just need some warm weather…. Some scenes from “down island” after yesterday’s rainstorm…

I hope you’re well and staying sane. We’re all good here, working from home and out on job sites with caution of course. Our business has definitely been affected, as several tenants have notified us they will be abandoning their lease (hair dresses among them). Time will tell how it all pans out.

Closing out this post with a little quarantine humor…

A New Season

Who in their right mind would have ever guessed we’d be in the middle of a pandemic come Spring? How are you all coping, I hope this post finds you well and sane, if nothing else. We are all (crossed fingers) healthy here and practicing as much safe social distancing as is possible. My hands are sand paper from all the washing. I have now begun wearing a face mask in the grocery store, as are most other people. I also see others wearing them when walking outdoors – I think that’s a bit of an overkill in areas like ours, perhaps not in the big cities and in stores, etc. When will it all end? Well, when will we feel comfortable sauntering around a store or sitting in a crowded restaurant when someone coughs? *sigh. When there’s a vaccine, I suppose? …. we can only wait and see.

We opened the cottage for the season last week – water turned back on, lawn is mowed, garden beds raked out, the beds newly made with fresh-washed linen, floors and furniture wiped down, outdoor furniture back in it’s place. There is fresh dirt in all the pots and I’ll plant annuals once the threat of frost is gone – Mother’s Day is a good rule of thumb but this year I’m a little impatient.

I bought two new candy and dog bone glass jars for the counter – they look like Fire King jadeite type glass but I’m not sure they actually are. The Pioneer Woman’s line in walmart.

We moved our Miss Leah home because I do believe the show season is official deceased. I could be wrong about that but I don’t feel comfortable putting myself and my daughter out there while they find out. She has adjusted very well to home life and we continue to give her exercise as she would normally get at the show barn. My daughter and I have actually ridden together again for the first time in a long time! In the photo below I’m riding her old boy, Max. He has glaucoma in one eye now but we are managing it with meds.

The farm has been such a blessing as we wade through this time of quarantine, social distancing, etc. The fruit trees in the orchard are blooming, the berry bushes we planted last year are greening up, and most of the christmas trees we planted for the third time the wrong way are actually alive. They might just live to see Christmas in a tree stand some day.

My kitchen junk drawer got cleaned out and organized – holy crap, I found christmas ornament hooks I didn’t know I had, baby aspirin that expired five years ago, four pairs of dog nail clippers, at least five collars, 5,000 hair elastics, and I could build a bathroom with the tools in there, I’m almost not exaggerating. Below is the “after”.

I’ve been exercising more, which is a good thing, and I finished the painting of Opie, which I started last year after he passed on. It was just too sad to sit there reminded of him, so I left it unfinished for a long time. I’m no professional, my work is primitive for sure.. but I’m happy with the result and finishing it was therapeutic. And maybe that was because I was watching episodes of Outlander ( watching Jamie Fraser if I’m being totally honest) as I went along. The painting is of Opie standing under our ancient pear tree on a misty fall morning.

A few funnies for you below and an old recipe a friend shared – wishing us all good health and peace of mind as we carry on through and past these weird days –

Till soon, friends…

Strange Times Indeed

So how are you all faring in these strange and scary times? I go back and forth between OMGOMGOMG ventilators, deaths, hospitals without supplies, WTF! … and figuring out how to go to the grocery store without hyperventilating. The husband and I have had our typical Spring allergy symptoms and of course that leads to thoughts of… is this really allergies or the other dreaded “C” word? Do I have a fever? (no) Dry cough, trouble breathing? (no) So I’ve stopped watching so much of the updates on the news and I’m certainly not watching the blithering idiot in Chief as he blunders and blusters his way through his press conferences.

I’ve been walking the dogs, exercising some, disinfecting the house, fretting over whether I will have a job when this is all done. As editor of our small town publication, some ads have been pulling due to businesses already shuttering for good (that’s really sad) and events having been cancelled. If this goes on for a while, and I suspect it might, there will be no publication with not enough ads to sustain it. There are so many people who are suffering economically because of the damned virus. And there are so many people on the front lines taking care of us all – Doctors, nurses, grocery store clerks, truckers, postal workers, feed store owners, liquor store owners and dog groomers (because in the state of CT, apparently they are absolutely essential).

In our construction business, we’ve closed down the office where tenants come to pay rent or rent facilities, apartments, storage units. All work is being done online, e-mail, phone. If this drags on, our business will be hurt as well, as tenants who have not been able to work or draw a paycheck will not be able to pay rent, etc. I think this is going to have an effect on all people in ways we haven’t even thought of yet in the long run.

Strange times.

The good news? People are being forced to get back in touch with and tend their relationships, their home life, their cooking skills, fitness, reading, the great outdoors, crafts, art, quality time with children, the list does go on, and it’s a good list, at least.

Thank GOD for Netflix, AmIRight? I’m watching Outlander for the second time because I just can’t get enough of it. Even being deaf, I’ve started walking around the house practicing a wee bit uv a Scottish Brogue, do ye ken, because closed caption reflects the brogue and before I was deaf I had a keen ear for these things. It’s just fun. 😂

These two people have such crazy good chemistry I am very surprised they did not become a couple in real life, but alas, they did not.

I’ve been doing some cooking with simple ingredients I keep in the pantry… two recipes from the New York Times I’ll share with you here – They are super easy, delicious and you might have the stuff you need without venturing out to get them. They were both a hit with my family.

Pasta e Ceci – recipe HERE. I didn’t have escarole or Kale on hand so I used spinach and it was fine.

No-Knead Bread – recipe HERE. (this one is not my image) Absolutely delish and SO easy to make. You just need a little patience as it does require rise time.

A simple tip – wash those plastic grocery reusable totes in hot water in the washing machine and then toss in the dryer for a few minutes. They’re germ catchers, and this really works.

Some humor in these trying times…

Welp. That’s all I’ve got for today… wishing us all good health and good riddance to all the coronavirus madness in the near future, praying and begging pretty please to all the powers of the universe. And seriously, praying for all the people on the front lines who are taking care of business so that we all can still function through this test of all we hold dear.

karen

Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Due to business and farm obligations and a husband who is a very capable person who gets a lot accomplished but has an aversion to stepping out of his comfort zone which means going anywhere that he is not familiar with, which means no further than our state lines or the next state over more often than not, we don’t travel much. On occasion, I have managed to talk him into a nice trip somewhere outside “the zone”. Much goes into the actual taking of that trip, ’tis no easy feat, let me tell ya. I make sure all travel plans are laid out well in advance, the destination is mutually agreed upon well in advance, the accommodations are not complicated or iffy in any way, shape or form so that all hopefully runs relatively smoothly and the Mr. can actually relax.

That doesn’t mean the panic doesn’t set in on occasion, regardless. Case in point – Last time we went on a family vacation to St. John, USVI (ten or so years ago now) all was going well, we arrived on St. Thomas after a loong car ride to the insanely congested JFK airport, then an uneventful plane ride, non stop!… then landed on a tiny island airport runway that JEEzus CHRIST really didn’t look possible but hey, we made it, obviously … And the Mr. was still sane. You’d think the scary part was over, right?

We grabbed a van taxi that took us to the ferry dock to board the ferry that would bring us to the island of St. John. The Redhook ferry is not a huge boat – We’re not talking the Staten Island Ferry here – if memory serves me correctly there are two decks, upper and lower – and you could throw a ball in a game of catch from the front to the back if you wanted to. We had a pile of luggage and there were seven of us – we boarded the boat as the luggage was handed to the employees of the ferry – and somehow the Mr. lost sight of us for about 35 seconds. There was only one boat, we were all on it, and you could get a good scope of everyone on board in about 2 minute’s time. You’d have thought we left him on a deserted tropical island with Wilson the volleyball as his only companion for a month.

Then!… after the scorn was laid upon us thick and we reached our destination island, we walked up the street to pick up our rental Jeep. The Mr. suddenly became aware that everyone was driving on the wrong side of the road – and it was determined right in that same moment that I would be the designated driver for the week. Upon arrival at our rented villa, it was also determined that holy-mother’a God the driveway was so steep with no guardrail going down a cliff that said Mr. did not want to trust his wife to navigate, however, the fear of the driving on the wrong side of anything was just too much… and SO… he was indeed stuck with me driving Miss Daisy for the week.

And here we are… preparing to go on another family vacation to the same destination… and I saw the warning signs a few weeks back.

“Ugh, I’ve got so much work piling up, I don’t know. ”

” Jeez, this really isn’t the best time to be going on a vacation, you know? SO MUCH WORK. ”

” This is ridiculous, the stuff just keeps piling up! How can I go away and get anything done?”

Then (when he’s truly already made up his mind and there isn’t going to be any negotiations here at all) … “ I just don’t think I can go with you”.

The corona virus was all he needed to put a big exclamation point on the ordeal, feet dug into the mud of it. “I’M NOT GOING”.

And he’s not. And maybe that’s OK, less stress for me. I’ve done it before without him because the above scenario is not a new one. And.. he can watch the house and look after the animals. But also.. .maybe we shouldn’t go either? I’m on the fence. I’ve asked a few people who travel often, I’ve asked the local Pharmacist, too. They have said – just use the standard precautions – and WASH YOUR HANDS A LOT.

If we don’t go, we will lose all of the money we paid for this trip. And as I’ve said already, we don’t vacation often, we’re really looking forward to it. Anyone have any opinions or advice you care to share? In the meantime, I’ll be keeping an eye on the travel recommendations on the CDC website. So far, travel to the USVI’s is still green lighted.

Also in the meantime, here’s an awesome dessert being shared online that would be perfect for a St. Patrick’s Day Celebration…

Bailey’s Chocolate Cheesecake Pots

Ingredients

8 (+-140g / 0.59cups) double chocolate Digestive biscuits (in the US Graham crackers are a good equivalent)
360g / 1.5 cups full fat cream cheese, chilled
60ml / 2 fl oz double cream
60ml / 2 fl oz Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur
100g / 0.42 cups caster sugar
30g / 0.12 cups cocoa powder

To serve

125ml / 4.2 fl oz double cream
½ tsp caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate sprinkles

Method

Roughly chop the biscuits with a sharp knife. Tip: We prefer doing this so that you don’t end up with fine crumbs and powder as you get when you crush them.

Spoon the crumbs into 4x 250ml preserve jars. Set aside. Tip: If you don’t have preserve jars, you could also just use small bowls or drinking glasses.

Place the remaining cheesecake ingredients into a medium-sized bowl. Using an electric mixer beat on low speed just until dry ingredients are combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl then beat again on high speed until the color is uniform and mixture is smooth and has thickened slightly for 1-2 minutes.

Spoon the cheesecake mixture into the preserve jars on top of the biscuit crumbs, close the lids onto each jar, then refrigerate until serving time. Tip: The quickest and neatest way of filling your cheesecake pots is to use a piping bag. Fill a large piping bag with the cheesecake mixture, cut the end of the piping bag off, and then squeeze the mixture into your preserve jars.

Spoon generous dollops of the whipped cream on top of each cheesecake pot, then decorate with chocolate sprinkles.

Cheesecake pots can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days, but the biscuit crumb base will lose its crunch after the first day. Still tasty, though!

If Cake could fix it…

… this would be the one, I’m tellin ya – yes it’s from scratch, and there’s more work involved than throwing the mix in the bowl with a few eggs and water and mixing it up, bake, open the tub of fake frosting and pile it on. But…. the extra elbow grease for this one is soooo worth the effort. Delish! and so fresh tasting. This is not my recipe or photo, found it on the web somewhere…. I made it less complicated with just two layers, no one complained and it was almost inhaled, it was that good.

STRAWBERRY MOSCATO CAKE with CREAM CHEESE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients:

- 4 large eggs,
- 1 1/2 C strawberry puree
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tsp strawberry extract
- 1/2 cup Moscato (that’s a sweet white wine in case, like me, you are clueless)
- 2 to 3 drops Pink gel food coloring
- 3 C cake flour
- 1 3/4 C sugar
- 1 tbsp plus 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 C canola oil
- 1/2 C unsalted sweet cream butter
- 10 large strawberries sliced thinly to go in-between the cake layers
- 1/2 cup moscato reserved- saved for after its baked ( I didn’t do this, forgot! )

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting ingredients

3 – 8 oz box, cream cheese, softened
3/4 C unsalted sweet cream butter, softened
6 C powdered sugar
4 tsp vanilla extract
5-7 TBSP heavy whipping cream

Instructions

Strawberry Moscato Cake directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray the cake pans with pam baking spray, set aside
2. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, strawberry puree, moscato, vanilla, strawberry extract, pink food coloring, whisk until combined
3. Using a standing mixer, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until combined
4. Slowly beat in the butter and canola oil until combined
5. Once the mixture looks like coarse sand, gradually beat in the egg mixture until combined. The batter will be very thick and fluffy but so good!
6. Evenly divide the cake batter in the prepared pans
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pans 10 min. then turn out.
8. drizzle the remaining 1/2 cup of moscato over each cake evenly (more if desired or forget this step altogether like I did)

Frosting Directions:

1. Using a standing mixer, cream together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream until combined and creamy and stiff with peaks

Directions to prepare the cake:

Once cake rounds have cooled, remove from cake pans and place onto a cutting board
Using the cake leveler, remove the domes of the cakes
Place one cake round onto the cake board
Scoop 1 C of the frosting onto the middle of the cake
Using the angled spatula, smooth the frosting out
Layer some thinly sliced strawberries onto the frosting
Place the second cake layer onto the first layer
Repeat steps with the frosting and remaining cake layer
Scoop 1 C of frosting into the piping bag and set aside
Once you have built your cake, scoop the remaining frosting onto the top of the cake and use the angled spatula to smooth it out
Frost the entire cake until smooth
Using the piping bag, pipe dollops of frosting around the edge of the top of the cake
Place sliced strawberries onto the dollops
Enjoy!

I’m trying to untangle myself from the anger and disbelief and yes, grief I feel every time I pass by the big screen in the mancave and see the news blaring at my significant other. I’m also trying to avoid glancing, however briefly, at the headlines on CNN and the like when on my computer .. BUT.. what I won’t do is bury my head in the sand all together. So I am still proactive in doing whatever my tiny little self can do, me, this drop in the proverbial ocean – I’m donating where I can, I’m volunteering where I can, I’m looking for the good anywhere and everywhere, and I’m trying to ignore the fact that some of my friends and family are supporting something I feel is absolutely intolerably unsupportable in any decent frame of mind, because I don’t want to hate people I used to care about, I don’t want to be disappointed continuously, it’s no way to live.

Have you ever heard of The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire? No?… me either.. until I saw this picture – and wanted to know more.

I ordered her memoir on Amazon, titled Wait For Me! It looks like just the tonic needed for my weary brain. That’s her up there …. this is me…

Uncanny resemblance, AmIright? … lol..

Sharing one more thing with you before I head up to the barn for dinner feeding and eye med administration to our old boy, Max. Are you a tea drinker? I’m not so much, however I love this tea – Harney & Sons Dragon Pearl Jasmine… the best way I can describe the unusual taste…it’s like a walk through the local nursery greenhouses when everything is in full bloom even though just outside the glass doors exists that thick New England winter-grey curtain, yet to be lifted by the greening tendrils of Spring.

Till soon –

My kingdom for a Cookie

I cannot express without sounding a tad ridiculous how very difficult it is for me to “diet”. With the exception of the trauma and recovery of one of my children from a horrific accident years ago, this is the most difficult thing I have ever tried to do. To sound even more ridiculous… it bothers me so much, that if I could wave a magic wand and lose the 25 lbs I need to lose and that weight would stay off for the rest of my life and be able to eat whatever I want regardless… or.. have my hearing restored, I would chose the weight loss. Not even blink an eye, the decision would be easy. Oh yes I know it, that’s undeniably, certifiably….. nuts. But it would absolutely be my choice, given the option.

I started Noom at the beginning of January, and I can tell you it’s a great program for calorie counters, for those who love setting a goal and get excited about meeting that goal each day. It’s similar to WW if you’ve done that too. Been there, done that ! There’s also a great online presence of fellow users of Noom on facebook. Except there are a lot of whiners on that forum, (yep I know I’m currently whining, shush. )

What ultimately happens and in fairly short order for me is… I become resentful of the restriction and then I cheat just a little. And just a little more. And then I don’t log every single thing I eat because it’s just one hershey kiss and it’s just an apple and it’s just a handful of nuts and it’s just a scoop of chocolate ice cream – blah blah blah blah blah. All that adds up, of course, and then the cheating feels awful, and the app become ineffective because I’m not really following the rules and off we go to the races.

I’ve tried the talking to myself approach – Every time I pick up something to east I say to myself… Is this FIGHTING disease or AIDING it? Is this HELPING me lose weight or HELPING ME FAIL ? I’ve looked in the mirror before helping myself to a snack. I’ve gone dairy free for a while, I’ve gone sugar free for a while, I’ve gone processed food free for a while, and reduced meat consumption by a lot. It all helps a little, but ultimately I cave somewhat. Menopause makes it all that much harder.

It’s not about what I’m doing exercise wise – I’m pretty active. As my General practitioner has said to me often, it’s what I’m putting in my mouth. And Jezus H. Christmas, it is soooo hard for me to reduce significantly what I’m putting in my mouth. Such a simple thing, really… and yet.

Food is comfort for me, I love to cook it, bake it, I love to serve it to my family etc., I love growing it, I even love shopping for it. Oh, I am fully aware one can do all those things in moderation and be successful at weight loss…. I just haven’t figured out the combination to that lock yet. I keep spinning the dial hoping to get the numbers to line up just right.

******SIGH…..

Just keeping it real here. And if you are like minded but found what works, please… any tips appreciated.

Here’s a Healthy recipe that looks delish – I’m going to give it a try this weekend.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili

By EATINGWELL TEST KITCHEN

Directions

Step 1

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sweet potato and onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion is beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle and salt and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Add water and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the sweet potato is tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
Step 2

Add beans, tomatoes and lime juice; increase heat to high and return to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

Tips

Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Note: Chipotle peppers are dried, smoked jalapeño peppers. Ground chipotle chile pepper can be found in the spice section of most supermarkets or online at penzeys.com.

Karen

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.

A Palate cleanser

After the last post I feel I need to sprinkle some happy up here in this space. Let us not allow the *crazy* to infect every corner of our world, because truly there’s so much to appreciate and good works we can do and fun and adventure to be had, regardless. I find a lot of solace in the every day, in the routines, the natural beauty outside these old doors, my animals up on the hill, the family that gathers round the table and the dogs curled up under my desk.

Here on the farm the leaves are turning and beginning to blanket the stone walls and pathways. My gardens are depleted, but there is still much color and many blooms and berries…

Zinnia still reaching for the sky…

The Dahlias – easy to grow and just so stunning…. I do need to pull the bulbs out of the ground once the frost hits if I want to use them again next year. And I might not, because sometimes I’m lazy that way.

My New Dawn roses have made a second appearance, just a few on a very lengthy vine along the dog yard fence.

I forget the name of these hydrangea trees, their blooms are prolific this year! My mom has been here several times collecting bunches for friends, they are great for drying.

Beautyberry – a more vivid purple berry you have never seen.

More Dahlia….

And although the daisies were done over a month ago, because of the warm weather, a few have shot up again.

Inside the house I’ve brought in fall – one of my favorite seasons to decorate. Pumpkins everywhere! and.. I bring bittersweet vine in from the fields and drape them along the fireplace mantels. There are pumpkins on the front door steps and over the door itself on the “shelf”, too.

I’ve been holding on to a painting by my late great grandfather in 1949 for some time now. His writing is on the back, so it was easy to discover what this painting was of – The covered bridge in Arlington, Vermont just in front of Normal Rockwell’s beloved home on the green. Above as it appears in our dining room, Below is a picture of the area now, and his painting up close. I recently had it matted, framed and glass covered for protection as it was in rough shape – it’s hard to get a photo of it without glare. The white house in the very background was his home.

Current….

And as my great grandfather saw it in 1949…

I hope to get up there in the near future to stand at this spot myself, with a nod to my deceased ancestor who did the very same. He and I have a similar painting style – not too detailed but the end result is pleasing to the eye, if not very professional or precise. Right now I’m reading Normal Rockwell’s autobiography and I look forward to the inevitable mention of his beloved home in Arlington.

11/28/1939-ORIGINAL CAPTION READS: Norman Rockwell, artist. Photo shows Rockwell painting with smoking pipe in his mouth.

Hopefully Getty Images folks own’t mind that I used their image.

I’ll leave you with a link to some scrumptious fall recipes from a favorite blogger of mine, Jane of Blondie’s Journal. Visit her post HERE. I’ve got the beef stew on my stove as I type this, and the other recipes will get a chance here at this old house as well. The stew is delish! Perfect for a cool fall evening.

Till soon, friends –

The Lights are on and Everyone’s HOME

When we bought this run down old farm, our goal was to restore it and create a family gathering place for many years to come. With our kids now grown and making their way in the world, tonight I see the bonfire up on the hill with the boy and his cousin and long time friends gathered round the fire once again as they have since their high school days, all college graduates and professionals living near and far. Next door, I see the lights on for the first time, my daughter and her boyfriend’s first night in their new home. I have a husband with vision and tenacity who saw this all through, and I’m grateful for every second of it. ♥

A little tour of the new home…

Wishing my daughter and her partner in life many happy years here!

While the new home owners were unpacking, the Mr. and I went down to Stella by the Sea to sit on her now vacant deck once again and enjoy the early fall breezes. (more like… he enjoyed the breezes and took a nap while I did laundry, picked tomatoes, dusted, vacuumed and packed away bedding for the coming winter months.)

I did manage to stick my feet in the water and absorb a little more Vitamin Sea.

The last of the seaside garden tomatoes… those four plants yielding more fruit than my 10 or so here on the farm – go figure.

I’m too exhausted by all the noise coming out of Washington to dive into it much here… – Bonfire of the Vanities – sums it up, new meaning of course.

Apple Slab Pie with Maple Icing – link HERE.

Till soon –

Fresh Salt

My gardens this year have been a bit of a mystery.

For one thing, the combination of some really intense rainstorms and some really humid days throughout the summer have produced an abundance of flowers and growth on all the perennials. I’ve also noticed the wild flowers/blooming weeds all along the roadsides seem to have multiplied tremendously, Queen Ann’s Lace and what I call black eyed susans in particular.

As for the vegetable gardens… well, despite my fortification attempts in the two large raised beds here on the farm…. all my tender care and raising from seedlings the tomato, eggplant, yellow squash, onion and yellow beans….they were a miserable lot. Having produced only a pathetic yield, I cannot tell you why. The only plants that were marginally happy in my farm garden this year were parsley and basil, zinnia and new-to-me Dahlia.

The SEASIDE cottage garden, however…. Stella’s little 1′ x 5 ‘ raised garden bed crammed up against the side of the house? The one we did almost NOTHING to coax? … has triple the yield, go figure. I’m thinking it must be the fresh salt air, the moisture off the water, and the fact that for hundreds of years, before the “island” became a 140 summer cottage retreat, it was a New England seaside cow farm. Lots and lots of old fertilizer makes really rich soil.

Despite that wicked heat and thunder storms, we’ve had some beautiful weather this summer. The family has been enjoying our little Stella by the Sea in between work and volunteer and farm obligations, and that brings me great joy.

As does a really good pound cake -Like this one found on the internet I’ll share below. I hope you’re having a good summer! I’m trying to look away from the ugly and look for more of the good. It is out there, we need to underline it, highlight it… celebrate what is beautiful, choose kindness and spread that shit like fairy dust wherever we can.

Old School Butter Pound Cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c cake flour

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

3 stick butter, unsalted (softened at room temp)

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

3 1/4 c sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp almond extract

1 tsp salt

6 large eggs

Directions

1. Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until mixture comes together.

2. Add sugar and extracts; beat until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, alternating with flours 1/2 cup at a time until all eggs and flours are used.

4. Transfer to a buttered, oiled and floured, 10-cup shaped pan such as bundt pan.

5. Place in cold oven. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake until an inserted tester comes out clean about 1 1/2 hours.

6. Remove cake from pan. Let cool on wire rack.