God’s little creatures created this beautiful web in my garden along with the other two in the pictures shown below. It was early in the morning with just enough dampness in the air for the tiny water droplets to still be clinging to every part of the web. The intricate detail of it all glistened and sparkled the moment light hit it.
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A close-up of the water droplets on the spider web….. amazing!
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}.
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.
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.
Spring is here and my herb garden is coming back to life. With this extra sunshine we’ve been having, they’ve perked up and grew a little taller and fuller. Here I have put together a little sampling of herbs displayed on a cake stand and wrapped a few in parchment paper attached with custom tags {found here} using double sided tape. It’s always wonderful to share with others what you grow in the garden.
Fresh herbs in cooking is by far the best choice {see Compound Butter recipe below}. My four favorite herb plants I use again and again from my garden are Italian parsley, basil, lavender and mint {not shown in the picture}. Another reason for growing herbs is for decorating. Instead of fresh flowers, add a pretty green bouquet of parsley next to the kitchen sink, mint in the bathroom or silver sage displayed in simple containers down the center of the table. Herbs are hardy plants and easy to care for. Give it a try if you have never grown them.
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 Tbs. chopped fresh chives
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste. Scoop it all onto the plastic wrap or divide the mixture in half {about 4 Tablespoons each}. Roll the plastic wrap around it to form a cylinder then twist the ends closed. Then wrap it in parchment paper, twist the two ends and tie the ends with twine. Refrigerate until the butter is firm {about 2 hours} or put in the freezer to be used at a later date.
* Butter mixed with other ingredients {herb & spices, vanilla, honey, nuts, garlic, olives, sundried tomatoes, etc…} is known as compound butter. It adds flavor to seafood, meat, bread and vegetables.
Samples of other songs from Brad Paisley’s CD, “This is Country Music” {
