Country Living Christmas

Image from Worldmags.net

Country Living's December/January 2012 issue is out! We'd been waiting for our copy to arrive when Mike found the issue online, with our living room on the cover. When he showed me, I said, "How did you do that? Did you make that on your computer?" It turns out Country Living did two different covers that are in circulation for this issue, with the other version being a 

decorated Christmas tree. 

Here are a couple of photos I took during the shoot. I had a baby in my arms most of the time, so I don't actually have very many photos to share. 

Lili sent these gorgeous white amaryllis from New York.  I really loved the gracefulness of the amaryllis and will soon start forcing some bulbs for the holidays. 

Here are Lili and Mike setting up the tree before she and I trimmed it.   

We had our first snowfall this week so things are already beginning to feel very Christmas-like here. I'm looking forward to decorating early this year as I cannot wait to share twinkling lights, the fragrance of the tree, our favorite holiday music and general festive holiday giddiness 

with Graham and Margaret. 

We are very excited. 

Autumn Fires

The cozy feelings that Autumn evokes are what I love so much about the season, with the warm hues of yellow, orange and red leaves on the trees and the glow of a toasty fire offering respite from the crispness of the air and the darker nights. And, it's hard to not get excited about all that is ahead...favorite fall recipes, the holidays, and wool sweaters to keep us warm. 

We've been storing our pumpkins on the mantle. We'll use them one by one in the coziest of recipes. 

Here's our favorite pumpkin. After carving Graham's and Margaret's names on it we've watched it grow through summer into fall. We'll bake a pumpkin birthday cake for their one-year birthdays next month. 

Our other favorite pumpkin recipes are pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie.

Even a wooden giraffe enjoys a nice fall fire. 

 xo

Our Annual Grape Harvest

Last year I remember waddling out to the vines to harvest a few bunches of grapes, pregnant with our son and daughter. Today they watched, eleven months old. It was very emotional for me. 

It was a good crop this year. We picked about 20 pounds of grapes, but there are at least five times that amount left unharvested. We hope to make our first batch of concord grape jam with them.

I ordered several preserve books last month and we've been pouring over various recipes to choose from. I really am quite excited to try the jam. Homemade grape jam is described as quite delicious - not at all like the grape jelly one remembers from childhood.  

xo

You can read the story of our grapes here. 

November Roses

There's something breathtaking about roses in late autumn. 

Perhaps it's a last exhalation of summer or perhaps it's the beautiful contrast of pink against the fading green landscape. I breathe them in deeply as I want to remember them after the cool dark skies settle in for the season. 

October Pears

Last spring I decided to go all white with the items on our kitchen shelves. Over the years, I've seen many images of open shelves similarly adorned and have always thought it looked so crisp and clean. 

So we've enjoyed the all-white look through the summer and into autumn. As we are nearly into November, I just pulled out my brown transfer ware to freshen up the shelves for the Thanksgiving season. But before I do, I thought I'd do a quick post on the shelves as they've been for

 the last few months. 

The pear harvest is well underway in our valley, with thousands of trees heavy with sweet fruit dangling from their limbs. 

On the first day of Christmas,

 my true love sent to me

A partridge in a pear tree...

What? I guess a vision of sugarplums dancing snuck in there...

Sweet pears. 

Mike walked into the kitchen this afternoon and knew that a post was in development - our toaster, baby bottles, and other miscellaneous counter fixtures had found their way to the other 

side of the room. 

xo

From the Earth

We pulled a few bunches of carrots this evening. Enough to make some nice meals... in a soup, sliced in salad, sauteed, roasted, or boiled and pureed into baby food. Besides the pumpkins and herbs, the carrots are the last of the garden. 

Until next year...

Lavender Dreams

I love lavender. I put sachets of it in our dresser drawers and in the nursery armoire to keep clothes smelling clean and freshly laundered. I've also enjoyed its aromatherapy benefits as a nighttime sleep aid - lavender is known for its ability to help with a deep, calming sleep.

As I watched our lavender grow this summer, I dreamed of how wonderful it would be to make a special pillow case to hold lavender every night. The drawer sachets I was using often migrate to spots that can be uncomfortable to sleep on. 

To obtain this special pillow case, I knew just the person to call. I had read about her on Heather Bullard's blog, who had some custom sewing done for her laundry room. 

After several e-mails back and forth, Trish Banner of Cottage by Design sent me this wonderful package. The pillowcase is made with beautiful white linen, trimmed with gorgeous antique lace. I can't say enough good things about Trish. I was so pleased that I immediately requested another custom order! I'll post on that soon. 

Here's a picture of the sachet Trish made to button inside the pillowcase. As someone who cannot sew, I have great respect and admiration for people who can - her work is impeccable! 

Sweet Dreams...

Tomatoes and Pumpkins

We've been eating a lot of caprese salad lately. The tomatoes have been coming in strong for weeks now, after being delayed due to our cool June and July temperatures. 

Thankfully, the tomatoes are nice and sweet despite their slow start. 

It's funny because we dream about tomatoes from the beginning of summer until that first wonderful tomato you pull from the vine. But now that the days are shorter, the leaves are turning and the sunlight shines a little crisper, I can't help but eye the pumpkins out of the corner of my eye and dream everything pumpkin...pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread...

We've even begun thinking of the pumpkin birthday cake we plan to make for the babies' first birthday in December. In the image above, you can see me carve their names in our favorite pumpkin using a carving tool. This is something we look forward to doing with Graham and Margaret when they're older. 

 Their names are barely visible right after my not-so-artistic marking. 

But as the pumpkin grows (this picture was taken several weeks after), their names are becoming more visible. 

We thought this would be a fun way to watch their birthday cake grow through the summer. 

Recipe for caprese salad: 

fresh picked tomatoes (we use whatever is ripe - cherry or heirloom)

fresh picked basil

fresh mozzarella

 olive oil and balsamic vinegar 

salt and pepper to taste

As I write this post, Mike is walking back and forth on the porch with the babies in the stroller. It's a beautiful evening, the sky is clear and the sun is casting that special fall hue. Off I go to do a few house chores before they come inside. 

Bathing Hydrangea

When I noticed that our bouquet of hydrangeas were looking a little thirsty, I thought I'd give them a nice relaxing bath. I did this last year with another bouquet (also a mop head variety) and it gave them a nice refreshing pick me up. 

They look relaxed, don't they? 

My passion for hydrangeas has led us to plant more than ten varieties so far. The bathing hydrangea above are the Endless Summer variety. 

The other mop heads I've planted are: 

Nikko Blue

All Summer Beauty

Incrediball

Penny Mac

In conical varieties, we've planted: 

Little Lamb

Mini Limelight

Limelight

Trepadora (climbing, although not climbing yet!)

Pee Gee

Pinky Winky 

Oakleaf

Bombshell 

Oops...  Who's this? 

xoxoxoxoxo

Plum Good

Remember her... She's a plum tree. 

This is her, standing quietly at the edge of our field near the garden. You can see her silhouette in the early evening sun. 

One wouldn't know she was there with the vegetation that has grown up around her. It was her blossoming spring branches that caught my eye. 

When Mike was out in the garden one evening, he noticed a plum. 

Although still small, it tasted warm and sweet. 

We waited several weeks for more to grow...

...and grow they did. 

In the end, there were a total of six plums hanging from her graceful but tired limbs. From what I've heard from local orchardists, plum trees are very particular about bearing fruit. They do not necessarily fruit annually as the conditions have to be just right. In our valley, wind, rain, and cold may affect cross-pollination. 

Our plan is to clear the brush out from around her so that her old branches and trunk get more sunshine. Then she can decide whether or not she'd like to bear fruit. 

She's beautiful just the same. 

Hydrangea and An Old Desk

I think this may be our last clipping of Endless Summer hydrangea blossoms for the summer. 

Last year, the blossoms were more pink as the plants were still adapting to the soil in their new home. 

I put the vase of hydrangea on top of an old desk in the corner of our living room. It's an old family piece that my dad grew up using as a child. It originally belonged to my Great Great Grandparents. 

I recently moved this marble lamp from my office upstairs. I don't use the office much these days as it's not conducive to the activity that occupies most of my days... playing on the floor with Graham and Margaret. 

I love that hydrangeas last so long after cutting. The last bouquet I made lasted several weeks. As long as you keep trimming their ends, they stay happy. 

I also made a small cutting of roses. 

This old clock was the first antique Mike and I bought together. 

Note to self: remember to wind the old clock. 

I love the fluted legs of the desk. 

I also like the shelf underneath. 

xo

First Blackberry Harvest

We enjoyed our first blackberries from the berry garden this past weekend. 

To say that I was ecstatic would be an understatement.

My sweet Graham joined me for this festive occasion, although we only picked a few berries together before he started grabbing fistfuls of vines and leaves (with a readied open mouth).

There were enough ripe berries that morning to serve with our breakfast -

mmm mmm, so sweet.

I also picked the very last of our blueberries. 

A colander of sweet summer berries made my heart sing.

We enjoyed our fresh picked berries over whole wheat pancakes. It has become our weekend tradition for Mike to make us pancakes on both Saturday and Sunday mornings. 

He makes them mostly for me, I'll admit it. Although I do know that he enjoys them, it is mostly I who think it's perfectly acceptable to have them two mornings in a row... 

Although sometimes, I go out on a limb and request french toast...I know, I'm unpredictable. 

Pure organic maple syrup completes our weekend breakfast tradition.

xo 

New Patio Table and Chairs

We have been enjoying our new patio table and chairs this summer, which provide much-needed space and are extra comfortable as well.

Here's the story of our dining patio.

My search began in early spring. Since I couldn't really get out to shop very easily with the babies, I was limited to online resources. 

I wanted the table and chairs to match the style of our house but wasn't able to find a set that was old-fashioned and had character. So I decided to mix and match. 

For the table, I ended up ordering a maple base kit that Mike assembled (the company recommended maple for outdoor use). The table seats six. All that remained was to add some simple cedar planks (cedar is most weather resistant) to complete the surface of the table. We stained the table with a platinum gray solid-body exterior stain from Benjamin Moore. Although the paint itself is different, we used the same platinum gray color on our wraparound porch floor.

It was a challenge to find white outdoor wicker chairs (in our price range). I looked online until my eyes were crossed and then my lovely friend Joan (For the Love of a House) suggested these chairs from Pier 1 Imports. They were exactly what I was looking for - not too bulky, nice lines, weather resistant, and affordable. I bought six. 

For the cushions (another lengthy search), I found these at Home Decorators Club.  I chose the color cilantro. 

We also added some new plantings to the patio. To complement the Limelight hydrangea, we replaced the lavender plants that were next to the stairs with these Little Lime hydrangea. It is a new variety of Limelight that I found at the nursery last spring. 

They offer a nice, compact version of the larger Limelight variety.

The regular Limelight blossoms can get as large as footballs. These larger blossoms are in the sunniest area of the patio.

We have one bowl of blueberries left to be picked in our berry garden, which is next to the picket fence. It has been nice to have fresh berries just a few steps off the patio. I asked our dog Lucy to look after the blackberries we planted at the end of the fence line to prevent any future raids from our local deer. ; ) 

In addition to the last of the blueberries, we have these to enjoy. 

I picked up 20 pounds of organic peaches last week, the latest summer treat in the County.