Tag Archives | 2013

Welcome Autumn . . .{with Ree Drummond & Brad Paisley}

September 21, 2013

Autumn!

When a season ends another begins and as always I want it to last a little longer. But it wasn’t until I began compiling pictures for this post that I realized how ready I have been for the change in season. I’ve thought about soups, FOOTBALL, pumpkins, squash recipes, blankets, candles, and often times gravitated to orange things without much thought as to why {i.e pics above and below}. The night before the above picture was taken, a big rain storm came through overnight and took down my beautiful large marigold plant. Not wanting to leave the broken stems scattered on the ground, I gathered them up and arranged the cut flowers into a large white bowl to be enjoyed for awhile longer. {thinking of autumn?!!}

{pumpkins: Cinderella-bottom, Musquee de Provence-center, jack o lantern-top}

Wanting to welcome autumn, but keeping it simple and a little rustic by stacking a variety of pumpkins in a pot to greet visitors at the front door. The green leaves on this freshly made wreath will slowly change to brown through the season.

The weather was gray and cloudy with rain on and off while vacationing with Bill and the kids. Each vacation day was full of busy activities outside. But when it was quiet time in the house, the kids got out their phones, iPad, watched a movie or played on the Xbox and checked out for awhile. My quiet time was spent next to the gas fireplace on an ex-large and ex-comfortable sofa where I read, had coffee, listened to music and moistened my extremely dry lips. Complete contentment …..until one of the kids yelled from upstairs for me to turn off the gas fire because they were roasting. .

Autumn Cottage Magazine

Anyway, here are some favorite pictures from the Autumn Cottage magazine to awaken the autumn spirit in you.

Autumn picnic.

Decorating the house/table in the colors orange, yellow, brown and red.

Simple packaging ideas using twine, jars and brown paper bags.

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, A Love Story

The thought of bringing a book and having time to sit and read it on vacation NEVER occurred to me because my time was often filled with entertaining the kids, feeding them and doing laundry {kinda like being back at home}. This vacation was a turning point, they are older and didn’t need my help as much, “What am I to do with my time… me time?”. The house we stayed at had a small selection of books to read and the one that got my attention was {the orange book}, “The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels-A Love Story”. I know who Ree Drummond is from having enjoyed making regular visites to her website, The Pioneer Woman. I wanted something light-hearted and maybe funny too and this was perfect. In the story, Ree took us into her first encounter then the “juicy” details of dating Marlboro Man as she often referred to Ladd Drummond and finished off the second half of the book chronicling their first year experiences of marriage and living out in the country. A beautiful love story with twists and turns, unexpected events and sometimes funny would grab my attention and take my mind off to a different place and time. Other times her emotions would spark memories of young love and how it felt when Bill and I were dating {20+ years ago}. It was a joy to read this book.

For more information and excerpts from the book, click on the links below:

The first time Ree cooked for Marboro Man. He later revealed to her and said,
“I really hated it. But I really liked you.” {continue Here…}
Why Ree Drummond wrote “Black Heels to Tractor Wheels” {continue Here…}
Ree mentioned Marbora Man’s house often in the book, see pictures
{Then: continue Here…} {Now:continue Here…}
Read a few chapters from the book or purchase it {continue Here… }

This Is Country Music, by Brad Paisley

To make my ‘quiet time’ a little sweeter, Brad Paisley’s songs were playing in the background. Here are two songs from the CD I was listening to {music videos: This Is Country Music & Remind Me}.

Samples of other songs from Brad Paisley’s CD, “This is Country Music” {Here}.

Have a wonderful start to your autumn season!

images/sources: The Pioneer Woman, HarperCollins Publishers ⎜ Brad Paisley

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posted by: Kay

6 comments

The End of Summer Harvest

September 14, 2013

Every summer I look forward to the bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables locally grown or shipped from nearby cities. The kids love them and it becomes a regular item on the dinner table to enjoy.

I wanted to capture the beauty of the last bit of summer harvest before they disappear and a new season begins.

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Pears picked from our neighbor’s pear tree to be made into poached pears, simply delicious. We’ll be sharing the recipe in a future post.

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Simply Beautiful!
This large bowl of fresh picked plums from Lynn Morris’s garden was the inspiration for this post.

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An abundance of tomatoes from my vegetable garden.

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Sweet yellow plums to be made into jam soon!

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The last bit of blueberries left from making Blueberry Buckle. {recipe Here… }

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Apples for Homemade Applesauce {recipe Here …}

loving the last of the Summer Harvest … can’t wait till Fall Harvest too!

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posted by: Kay

0 comments

Summer Near Home & At The Ocean

September 7, 2013

The summer season is coming to a close and there will be less sunshine and blue sky in the horizon {predicting lots of rain next 6 …7…9 months}. It has been a fairly laidback summer for us with most of our activities and trips being short distances from home. The above picture is me enjoying the warm sunshine and ocean air and just beyond the trees is a short walk to the beach {click HERE to see more pictures on Facebook of our family trip to the ocean}

The following pictures capture some of what went on close to home this summer.

This cute little deer is one of my four new “friends” that likes to come over for a visit during the summer. They tend to come in pairs, while the other deer went off into the woods, she decided to stay awhile and visit with the neighbor cat and me.

Hannah & Grace having fun paddle boarding at Rattlesnake Lake …nothing but mountains, water and the view. This is also a great place to go on a family hike.

Taking the backroads is a favorite driving excursion. A few miles away from our house are farm lands where cows, horses, water buffalos, chickens, goats and wildlife live. My favorite area to cruise below the 25 mph speed limit is where the farmers have planted fields of flowers {shown: zinnias} and rows of corn stalks. Late in the afternoon and early evenings they will be busy filling buckets and buckets of fresh picked flowers to be sold the next day at Pike Place Market / Public Market Center in Seattle. What can I say about local corn other than … they are the sweetest. These backroads are also a favorite area for Bikers and dog walkers {Glory & me}.

Last June, Bill wrote a blog post about Orvis fly fishing 101 class {read more …}. He took the kids to the class and after that session ended they had the opportunity to go out on a stocked pond {here in the Snoqualmie Valley} and catch trout. Staff from the Orvis store were there to instruct and guide everyone. All the participants caught fish and learned more about fly fishing. Caleb caught his first two fish that day! Look for these {Free} fly fishing 101 classes to be available again at the Orvis stores across the United States in May and June 2014.

Snoqualmie Falls is a big attraction here in the valley. A great day hike along the river to the falls is fun for the kids and adults. The first time my two girls went on the hike was many years ago when Grace was 5 {above pic} and Hannah was 8 years old. They have since walked the trails many times. If hiking is not what you want to do, there is a lookout area near the falls that’s a short walk from the parking lot.

I hope you had a wonderful fun summer!

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posted by: Kay

6 comments

Blueberries & Blueberry Buckle

August 31, 2013

Blueberry Buckle is an old-fashinon single-layer cake with a streusel topping. This is a wonderful and versatile cake that’s also great to serve for breakfast, brunch and anytime {with tea/coffee}. The consistency is like coffee cake but not as sweet.

Before going any further about Blueberry Buckle, I want to share where these plump blueberries came from. Everyone in the family was busy except for my son Caleb and me so we decided to go blueberry picking at a nearby farm. Bybee Blueberry Farm is situated at the base of Mount Si offering incredible views while picking these sweet blueberries.

So ready for picking!

For about an hour of picking {and a little bit of eating}, we got almost 9 pounds of blueberries.

These blueberries have been washed and ready to be eaten in these fun snack cups. Blueberries are one of the best snacks. They are rich in antioxidants, full of vitamin C, manganese and fiber.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter {room temperature}
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
5 cups blueberries {can use frozen blueberries}

STREUSEL TOPPING
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter {room temperature}

Heat oven to 350°. Butter and flour springform baking pan {ten-inch round}.

STEP 1. In a bowl of an electric mixer cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.

STEP 2. Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined.

STEP 3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Reduce mixer speed to low, alternate adding reserved flour mixture and milk to mixer, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

STEP 4. Gently fold in blueberries {all 5 cups}. If using frozen blueberries, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of flour over the berries and mix gently to coat each berries with flour before adding to the batter mixture.

STEP 5. Pour batter into prepared pan {butter and flour springgorm baking pan}.

In a medium bowl, mix together all the streusel topping ingredients with a fork to form large clumps.

STEP 6. Sprinkle streusel topping directly onto the cake batter.

Place the springform baking pan on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. This will help to contain any leakage from spreading all over the oven. Bake 60 to 70 minutes until cake tester comes out batter free. Remove cake from oven and let it rest on the cooling rack for 10 minutes.

STEP 7 & 8. Remove from springform pan.

Good things come in simple packages.

enjoy!

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posted by: Kay

8 comments

The Skinny Belt Statement

August 24, 2013

The skinny belt has always been a part of fashion accessories. For the past few years I’ve noticed a surge in its popularity. From Haute Couture to high fashion and to the everyday ready-to-wear collections. It’s a fun accessory to mix and match, to compliment and/or add a pop of color to an outfit.
{Ann Taylor black patent leather skinny belt}

This beautiful gown came from Elie Saab spring 2013 Haute Couture collection {see the entire collection here}. I like how the skinny belt was used to tie the floral lace top to the silk satin bottom.