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This past Sunday I had an unexpected and wonderful surprise from a friend. Hannah helped my good friend Ruthie put together an event and afterward she came home with a large tray of wheat grass and daffodils. Ruthie knew I would enjoy decorating with it.
Wheatgrass is available at most grocery stores in the produce department and some home and garden retailers. While I will be decorating with it, most people will buy and use wheatgrass as nourishment for their bodies by juicing it. In terms of nutrition, it is rich in chlorophyll, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. A multipurpose plant to enjoy as a drink and for decorating.
Here’s how I used wheatgrass and daffodils to decorate my house…
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The containers wheatgrass came in were not the best for displaying. A simple solution was to wrap a long strip of white paper around the sides to cover it up. A white tray was used to hold two containers together.
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Simple arrangements of wheatgrass and daffodils lined the center of the table.
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The plastic containers were removed and replaced with bowls and cups from my kitchen for this display.
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Fill a large bucket with wheatgrass and scatter a few eggs on top to greet visitors at the front door on Easter Sunday.
Bill and I {mostly Bill} have been pruning and trimming the trees surrounding the area around our house to get them ready for the Spring season. These beautiful white flowers in the pitcher was taken from the discarded pile of cut branches of our plum tree. They weren’t blooming yet, but I “force bloom” them to get the result that you see above. The process took 3-4 days and here are the steps on how to do it.
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?!!}
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{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.
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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.
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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…}
Read a few chapters from the book or purchase it {continue Here… }
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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}.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Gathered a few favorites things for entertaining and gardening this summer. It’s nice to add a twist to the basics that’s unexpected like the “Cape Cod birdhouse” painted in a pale mint color and soft blue hose that should be on display. I am eyeing the citronella candle in the square container. What about you?
A wonderful time to enjoy the garden and the beauty that can only can be observed early in the morning. It was about 6:30am when I decided to take a stroll through the garden as the sun started to peak through the cool, misty air. I came back around the second time with my camera and took these pictures with the dew still clinging to the leaves and flowers.
Samples of other songs from Brad Paisley’s CD, “This is Country Music” {
