A moment of calm

The hustle of those back to school days is long over.

The political chapter for this year has closed.

And we have a few moments of calm before the hustle of the holiday stretch, 
from Thanksgiving to Christmas, begins.

It's gotten chilly.  It's gray. There's the promise of rain.

Now is a wonderful time to settle back

and gaze from the garret and

take in the sights of a place that's full of light, 

where the sun is warm,

and the beach is sugar white.

It's a quiet place;

guarded by a silent sentry,

where you can sit & rest,

pause in the shade,

stroll along a lazy waterway,

walk a wooded path,

or breezy beach.

Do linger just a bit and 'soak it in' ...

the 'busy-ness' of the holidays  will be here 

all too soon.

[Photos taken on location along the Emerald Coast of Florida & Alys Beach.]

Trick or Treat

A gorgeous day ....

Neighbors gather for chili & dogs...

Photos first....

Trick or Treating begins ...

All that's left

Happy Halloween!

Conkers

On a beautiful fall day in 2009, it caught my eye while looking out the window of the Howard Arms.

In the center of the 'Lower Green' of Ilmington, (a village in the English Cotswolds), stood quite an imposing tree.

Upon inquiry, I was told that it was a 'conker' tree.

CONKER tree?

And the nuts from the tree were used to play a favorite childhood game.

 A hole is bored through the conker & a string inserted through it.

Children then swing their conker to collide with that of their opponent.

The conker that survives intact wins the match.

This autumn pastime has been an English tradition for generations.


(I later learned that the "conker" is actually one & the same as a horsechestnut tree.)

Then just last week, as we were traveling down I-65  & I was perusing the October issue of
Country Living (British Edition)

 and there they were again....Conkers.

Upon flipping through the pages I found that this year's World Conker Championship had been held on the 10th of October.

It seems their appeal reaches beyond childhood!

Note:Mark your calendar for the 9th of October, 2011.

Next year's championship will be scheduled as usual on the second Sunday of October on the Village Green at Ashton in Northhamptshire.

Reading suggestion:  1.Trees , byMartin, Zim & Barlowe
           2. Wikipedia: conker

Out of Retirement

This weekend I cleaned out my grandmother's old  treadle sewing machine.

 The garret is getting a face lift. No longer is it a  storage area & a couple of make shift rooms. Now it will be a  light & bright get away.

 And my grandmother's  old Singer is gaining new prominence. Why not put it back in use?

 Started thinking about all the sewing done on that machine .....all the memories.

It was a bit of a 'time capsule', too.

 Old sewing notions & attachments:

 --as well as a few miscellaneous things :

... marbles, a 'lucky' buckeye, an old house key & a broken arm from a ballet trophy --all with a story --all saved for some reason.

My grandmother, "Mom",  was a  quite an  accomplished seamstress. My mother & aunt had beautifully detailed & fashionable clothes all during the Depression, even though they lived in a small rural Kentucky river town.  Mom was a real whizz on that machine.

Though she didn't work at "the  Eleanor Beard Studio", during the Depression, she did sew special projects for them. She sewed from home on her own machine. One was a beautiful white velvet ensemble they wanted to be especially careful of.

Years later she sewed dresses for me on that machine. I remember a purple dress with 10 pockets! I also had a little light blue dress with a white apron. On the apron were three dolls, (with covered button heads and rick-rack hair), and each doll was wearing a dress just like mine with their own aprons!

(Image source: Heavens to Betsy Vintage) 

                                                      

My how things change but still stay the same.  My first project will be pillows made of bold Swedish prints from IKEA. 

Much simpler sewing than Mom's,

... but the sewing goes on! 

Baking Day

Though the mercury will rise again today to almost 90 degrees, this morning it's a cool 57 & there's a nip in the air. A wonderful day for baking!

Bread recipes have come and gone around here. A few have stayed. The overall favorite, however,  remains buttermilk bread.

 It's the recipe that I first made, as a newlywed, by hand & brute strength, -- (With what strength I had, that is.) -- then later with the Kitchen Aid mixer & it's dough hook. What a wonderful & rare luxury that was in the early 70's!

Our mothers mixers were all Sunbeam Mixmasters with that large glass bowl that went round & round as the two silver beaters whirled away. (Lot's of good licking from those beaters!) 

They made great cakes, meringues & mashed potatoes, but could never begin to handle bread dough.)

And then came the Cuisinart food processor. It makes a silky bread dough - complete with kneading in about 3 minutes. What a wonderful invention of convenience!  

But then, -  fresh, 'warm from the oven' yeast bread is worth any amount of work and effort!

QUESTION:

(Do they use as much buttermilk up North, as we do down here? It makes baked goods so very tender.)

But let's talk buttermilk another day.

Butterflies and a season begins its passing

Butterflies are a sure sign of the passing of summer days. 

 No longer are the spritely little 'common blue' butterflies of spring seen flitting in the warm sun.  Neither are the 'fritillaries' nor the 'red admirals,' who danced merrily  through our summer borders, seen in abundance.

These have all been replaced by those beautiful, but languid yellow tiger swallowtails  and monarchs who gather on the butterfly bush.  They float throughout the gardens.

 Our kitten waits ...stalks ....poises ready to pounce in hopes of a capture. 

The pace of the season slows.  The bright sun of summer is often softened by the overcast  skies of early fall days.  The voices & squeals of the young ones in the neighborhood have become silent with their daily jaunt off to school. Only on the weekends will the street buzz with activity mid morning until dusk.

The kitten pauses, poises and waits for her next chance.

Suggested reading: Butterflies and Moths by Robert T. Mitchell and Herbert S. Zim 
(A wonderful little field guide!)

 *September 11, 2001*
A day we should never forget.