What’s on your nightstand these days? I’ll tell if you will! Reading is one of my favorite pastimes but 2 to 3 pages is the most that I can handle after 10 pm; hence, it takes me forever to finish a book. Nevertheless these are the ones that I am working on or have recently finished.

Currently I am reading The Other Queen by the author of The Other Boylen Girl, Philippa Gregory. A fascinating book about Mary Queen of Scots and her time being shuffled around England by Queen Elizabeth. I think my favorite genre of books are historical fiction. I love learning about history!

I just recently finished two fun books that I purchased used on Amazon. Run Like a Mother and French Women Don’t Get Fat. After being asked to join a local group of women to run/train for a 5k at the beginning of summer, I have a new found like in my hate/hate relationship with running. I usually get winded jogging down to the mailbox (we have a long driveway… seriously). I have never run a mile in my life and I honestly didn’t know what I was getting myself into but I knew I needed to do something for my own health these days.

Whoa. Farmboy has been shocked to see me roll out of bed to be at the park to run at 7:30 am this summer. Really… it is shocking. I have been the one who drives by those people on the road running, listening to their iPods and I’m thinking… who in their right mind does that to themselves???!!! Little by little I have gone longer and longer and I see what a difference training for something can make. Ooops. Doing a little Happy Dance at the moment… If I can do it ANYONE can. I kid you not.

So my friend who has been running awhile has linked to these authors on Facebook. I finally bought the book. It was a quick read. Good info- some of it was way past me on the running journey ie. marathons and half marathons… WHHHHAAATTTT??? Dude, I just finished running 3 miles and feel like I could conquer the world. You mean people actually run 26 miles at one time. Ouch. Pffftttttpppppt. (My bubble bursting).

French Women Don’t Get Fat. Loved this book. Very practical, doable information. I personally love food, gardening, wine and eating food fresh from the garden with wine! What a lovely coincidence! I’m looking forward to trying some of the recipes in the book- will let you know about those. Healthy eating, excercise with the absence of “dieting” is the way to go and with my new-found love/loathe relationship with running I’m feeling like that second glass of chardonnay is not going to show anywhere.

Recently Farmboy and I traveled up to Toronto for a mini-vacation and concert. Our hotel was… dreamy. To die for. The bomb. It basically ruined me for future travel. Sigh… Where was I? Toronto. Hotel. Ahhh yes. They had a library downstairs wherein I found this book. Brought it upstairs and thumbed through it while relaxing in the beautiful spa-like room with contemporary jazz pumping through the Bose stereo. Did I mention the shower? There was more glass than wall. You have to go there to find out. Hotel Le Germain. The book Labryinths and Mazes is beautiful. So artful and HEDGEY!  Love that. A great addition to my library!

Also picked up this cookbook by French chef Stephane Reynaud while in Toronto at the cutest little shop in Kensington Market. When I lack inspiration on what to cook I can just flip to the date in the cookbook and find a lovely seasonal meal!

So what have you been reading lately? What are some of your favorites? We can have our own little, mini mix-it-up bookclub!

Bookmark & Share

Have you planned a birthday with/for a 6 soon to be 7 year old lately? If you haven’t you don’t know what you are missing!  At our house it is customary to celebrate the kids birthday’s with a family cookout including: grandparents, great aunts, regular aunts, uncles, cousins and all of their dogs followed by a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday in the overly decorated dining room with presents, cake and ice cream.

My chandelier will never be the same. It’s had streamers, ribbons, little swirly plastic-y things, lego guys, Indiana Jones figures, spiders, bats… you name it… hanging from the crystals.  I have been known to go a bit overboard for the kids birthdays. There was the one year when we all met under the festival tent with tiki torches at the entrance wherein the kids were given passports, a compass and a list and then sent on a scavenger hunt. The evening culminated in the hay barn where they had to pass through an obstacle course complete with a pit with rubber snakes. It would have been a challenge even for the real Indiana Jones.

This year was the first time that we had a “party” off of the farm for one of the kids. Ryder (10 yr old no longer wanting to be referred to as “the Bean”) wanted a laser tag party for himself and 3 of his buddies. At our family party he didn’t want the chandelier decorated with anything. WHAAATT?!!! It was a bit shocking for me. I went along with it… the “no theme” party. Uggh. The humanity of it. A mother with the gift of hospitality… and no coordinating colors or plates. I know. The child has to grow up. It’s okay. I’ve really gotten over it. Truely. I CAN let go.

So today Lala and I went on her birthday party decorating spree.  A tiny bit of the licensed stuff and a whole lot of colors and bling. She is such a delight. Our party favors for the cousins include: bouncy balls, tiny rubics cubes, friendship bracelets and sticky hands… which I had to give the proper warning against. “No sticky hands stuck on the ceiling! They stain when they are stuck there too long!”. Not that I have ever had a sticky hand stuck to the ceiling for beyond its proper time. Its just that those ones from the dentist office are especially sticky, stainy or something.

We have pretty pink paper lanterns hanging from the chandelier this year. Yay! As an artist it’s not easy when your design background wants to overrule a Birthday Girl’s sensibilites. I mean we want to stay away from tacky, right. Self expression vs. tacky… a fine, adorable line for a 6 year old but visual chaos as they get older.

This leads me to the conclusion that my days decorating the chandelier for birthday parties are cherished and limited. However, if you are in the same boat or even if your children are grown… celebrate. Celebrate life’s simple moments and rites of passages however it makes your heart sing. Wear the red dress. Wear the tacky purple hat. I promise that I will continue to hang wacky things from my chandelier if you will.

The Cookout Menu

Southern Baked Beans

Steamed green beans

Herb Roasted Baby Potatoes

Cucumber Salad

Hamburgers

Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs

Sauteed Snow Peas

And… Birthday Cake and Ice Cream  : )

Bookmark & Share

Family healthy. Orders shipped.  I’m ready to get going again.

Over the past week I’ve been playing with ideas regarding horse racing and foxhunting. Two dog breeds will be forthcoming…. the American Foxhound and the Jack Russell Terrier.

Daddy & Jumbo, Kelly & Top, Kim & Signal, Me & Rookie and Junebug with Alfie

This brings back fond memories for me- I’ve been strolling down memory lane all week.  My father was the Huntsman of Whitworth Hunt in MS when I was growing up. It was a family affair. My mother was a Whipper-In and both of my sisters rode in the field as well as Whips. Saturday mornings meant getting up very early, loading the horses onto the trailer and often stopping at the kennel to put the hounds in the truck and then heading to the clubhouse in Pickens, MS.

Family photo, Daddy’s horn, Foxhunting Book, Daddy in his Pinks and Rascally Reynard.

At the little red clubhouse we would arrive to find trucks and trailers parked and people preparing their horses for the day’s ride. I was young. Often I had to stay behind with a babysitter at the clubhouse feeling very dejected. There was one time during Cubbing season (before the official Opening of the hunt season) when there was no sitter for me and I got to ride behind my father holding on tightly to the saddle all day. It was scary and thrilling. We rode Rookie, a legend of a good horse- I’m sure the only one trustworthy enough that day to carry a man and his 7 yr. old child through the fields, streams and ravines as the older hounds taught the newer hounds how to behave.

Daddy, Missy and the hounds, Momma on Beau and Jean Bunge on Assignment.

Opening Hunt was always SO exciting. I remember the night before staying up with my family, cleaning tack, polishing boots and checking the weather. If the stars were out it was a good thing. The newspaper, often the brass section of the Jackson Symphony, land owners, the public and even a priest turned out for Opening Hunt. It was very well to do. Being the industrious girl that I was, I got many last minute jobs putting the finishing touch on the horses’ turnout by braiding tails. A great way to make a few extra dollars.

Fortunately for the adults… not so much for the kids, one of the members of the hunt’s husband was a French chef in New Orleans. Longe’ usually created the menu and cooked the brunch for the Opening Hunt. I believed the first time I experienced poached eggs was at the Opening Hunt breakfast… I think I was hoping for something fried or scrambled. Needless to say in my culinary adventure, it was one of my first challenges. My, how things have changed.

The first time I jumped a horse bareback was over the clubhouse coop. I fell off, got back on, tried it again and continued to jump bareback for years on my trusty Rookie. Riding in the huntfield gives a youngster such a good seat.

In all the years that my father was Huntsman I never heard of a fox being hurt, caught or killed. It wasn’t until I was much older that I heard of how different it can be.

Limestone Creek Hunt in New York.

When I lost my horse, Rookie, in an accident my freshman year in college, I was completely devestated.  I stopped riding, hunting, showing… everything. It was 14 years before I got on the back of another horse. Farmboy and I converted and old dairy barn into stalls and we bought my mare Paley a couple of years after we were married. She was green, off the track and a bit of a brat. Today, she is an old friend but there was a day that I took to her hunt with Limestone Creek here in New York. I was a nervous wreak. It was the first time that she had ever left the farm and she was out of her mind… it had been years since I had hunted.  Farmboy and Junebug were very excited and supportive. We stayed at the back of the field and survived the experience. There is nothing like riding an experienced hunter. So lovely. An inexperienced one… so scary!

My favorite picture of Paley.

Coming in. I was so relieved to be back but she did great.

Before my father passed away he had the opportunity to hunt in Ireland. I was so happy for him. I loved hearing about him jumping stone walls on an experienced Irish hunter and riding through towns with the huntsman and hounds leading the way. I hope to one day do the same.

Most of my memories of foxhunting were as a child centered around my family and our circle of horses/friends. It’s been fun visiting there this week. I’m jealous of my older sisters getting to experience so much more of it than me even now. Maybe one day I’ll go again. But it won’t be the same. I suppose it never is. Maybe it would be better… but I doubt it. How can you top sharing that experience with your whole family.

Bookmark & Share

Whaaaaattt!!?? Yes, you read that right. This southern girl living up here in the frozen tundra of New York State has her fingers crossed for a great big snowstorm this weekend.

Farmboy broke it to me gently the other day. A possible snowstorm on the way for the weekend. He knew I would want to fly the coop so he offered to send me to Mirbeau Inn and Spa for the day if the snow starts to pile up. Clever man, don’t you think…. reverse psychology. I can see right through his offer. Change those negative “winter will never end” vibes to serenity “feel-good” vibes. I’m all over it. Push out the jive… pull in the love, baby.

I bet she’s not thinking about snow.

Mirbeau is located in our quaint little village. A French Chateau themed inn and spa within walking distance to the lake. Junebug and I have spent a couple of spa days there and it is such a treat. The lovely gardens, pond and arched Monet bridge can make you feel half a world away!

So, join me will you in hoping for a snowstorm. I know its a tall order but if you knew what a crazy person I’ve been this winter you would want me to go too.

If you live in a northern climate be sure to have your Vitamin D level checked at some point. I had mine tested last week and it showed a significant deficiency. Normal levels are 35 to 100 and mine was 22. Lack of sunshine and being cooped up in the winter can do a number on your well-being as well as your immune system.

For more information about the scenic village of Skaneateles click here and to learn more about Mirbeau check out the website. Au revoir. : )

Bookmark & Share

I am writing today from the doghouse… because I am SO late in sending out orders taken during the Flower Show. I am SO sorry! I hate being behind. Little did I know that I would be staying home with sick children the week I got home… and then come down with the flu the next week. I promise that I didn’t fall off the edge of the earth nor have I forgotten about any orders!

Remaining orders will be shipping this week! Yay. The kids are back in school and I am finally out of bed and rearing to go. : )

While contemplating the benefits of lying perfectly still as to not feel any muscle/joint aches last week I came up with the sweetest little rabbit “get well soon” design. I can’t wait to paint it and it truly did make me feel better as I began to work out the little details in my head. Look for her in a couple of weeks!

As for this winter…. I have officially had it. I’m ready for warmer temps, daffodils, tulips, kids in shorts, tired dogs, horses with no blankets and open windows with Spring’s healing breezes trickling through.

Bookmark & Share

Thank you Farmboy, you know me oh so well. Ain’t love grand? Jewelry (tile), glass and flowers… simple & sweet. What a treat. You will always be the one whom my soul loves. xoxo

The lovely hand blown vase is from Henrietta Glass in Rhode Island.

Bookmark & Share

I did not come up with this idea… I wish I could take credit for it. I learned about it from Trudy in the Winter Sowing forum on GardenWeb a number of years ago and have since grown hundreds of plants using this method. I thought it would be fun to show how LaLa and I do it. This post will be linked to other post that I will be doing regarding gardening with children… so stay tuned for that!

First you get a milk carton and add your drainage holes.

Cut the carton in half leaving one side attached, then pet Gracie who is patiently waiting for a treat…

I find it easier to label them before the soil is added. I’ve tried numerous pens and markers but have found opaque paint pens to work the best to handle the elements outside without wearing off.

I usually fill the utility sink in the laundry room with potting soil if I will be filling numerous containers but today I only had 4 to fill and I thought this would be easier for LaLa.

People use various mixes to start their seeds. I don’t fuss over it too much. I normally use a regular potting soil (miraclegro) and add additional perlite to lighten the mix. It is not necessary to use seed starting mix although I do add it to my potting soil if I have it.

So… add your soil, add your perlite and get those little hands going! Children (and adults) love to get their hands in the dirt when there is 3 ft of snow on the ground! It gives me a little gardening fix to get me through the long winters in Upstate New York.

After your soil is mixed and moistened, then fill your carton.

I keep my seeds in an old wine box. For some reason I cannot find most of my perennial seeds so we’ll go with Delphinium, Oriental Poppies and Lupines.

Now sprinkle those seeds! If they are tiny like poppies, just gently pat them to make contact with the soil. You can plant as little as 1 per carton but I usually sow at least 6 or 8 seeds (even with large plants).  Once they get started they can be separated or planted out later. If your seeds are larger you can poke little holes to put them or just sprinkle more soil on the top once you are done sowing.

Gently water in your seeds. I water them numerous times… until the soil is completely soaked and draining from the bottom. Remember the top half of the carton gets put back on and they will use the water that you put in now as condensation as the mini greenhouses warm in the spring sun.

Watch your children when watering…  they can be very overzealous as we know!  You don’t want the water pooling up on the top and your seeds washing away down the sides of the carton. At this point I put them in the sink and let them drain.

I have found that using a hole punch on the top and bottom and provides a nice little way to thread a twisty tie to hold them shut. The last step is an important one. Tape your cartons around the middle. You want the air inside to warm as the sun shines on them. I use packing tape but duct tape works too. Don’t put the cap back on the carton.

After that… put those little darlings outside and forget about them until the weather starts to warm. When they are ready they will sprout.  Your children will enjoy peaking down into the hole to look for green sprouts! I promise.

My sweet LaLa. I’ve done this every year with the kids since they were old enough to stand on a chair without falling off. I didn’t realize until now that that was my condition. : )

For more information on Winter Sowing click here. The forum is full of information, encouragement and overall gardening joy but be prepared to hear alot of rejoicing about green babies, zone wars and container counts!

Bookmark & Share

Little Helen Chapel is her FULL name… after the character on NBC’s Wings. She was found as a tiny kitten by my kind hearted sister-in-law on a cold, snowy night outside the Dome after an Syracuse University basketball game. Allergic to cats, she put the word out to find a home for this little sweetie. We had just adopted 2 stray kittens and I was concerned about bringing another one into the house- but I have a hard time saying no to furry sweetness and so does Farmboy. When I first saw her my reaction was “Oh my goodness, look at those mitts!” She’s polydactyl and as a kitten she was definitely “all paws”.

We took her to my girlfriend Sue Losito at Fairmont Animal Clinic and she was given a clean bill of health but had to take kitten formula for awhile since she was so tiny.

The other cats soon accepted her but she latched onto Oliver our black lab/golden mix with a strong and precious attachment. They have been pals ever since. Here is a photo essay that I did of those two! How can you NOT photograph that tenderness?

Helen is my little companion. She joins me in the garden.

She helps me with the paperwork.

She and Pongo keep my copier warm

and she loves to help me fold linen guest towels.

She’s a great climber with all of those claws and she practically has opposable thumbs.

When I am in the kitchen she is on the windowsill or the kitchen towel basket. Even now she is napping on the back of my chair as I type. We’ve had lots of animals and hope to care for lots more. Of our 3 house cats she is the kindest, sweetest and most shy. I adore her. So… that is her story.

A happy ending in a warm home with family, friends and lots of love.

Bookmark & Share

Oh my goodness. Do you hear that? Right now… silence. For the first time in 2 weeks the house is empty and quiet. As you can see I’m not much of a blogger during holidays. I get all worked up and then disappear. I can’t seem to steal the time away from the kids, friends and family. I’m usually not one to sneak away with my laptop… although at times I’d like to.

Santa came. Our kids require proof and apparently he answered their questions appropriately. The Bean told LaLa that now he was SURE there was a Santa because there is NO WAY Momma and Daddy would have gotten you one of those. Ha.

The kids are at their cousins. Farmboy is at the farm giving Ruby the Rabbit some run around time in the barn before the horses come in for the night. We had a brief thaw and this morning I took my time at the barn taking off the horses blankets for the first time in a month and lazily scratching their backs and combing their manes. I smiled when the masses of hair that I pulled from the mane comb made a little balls and were swept away down the aisle by a breeze. Barn cats sprung out of nowhere pouncing on the hairy tumbleweeds. Our little barn family is quiet lovely and I plan to photograph them soon.

Tomorrow starts a new year. Hmmm. I’m not much for resolutions. I have enough trouble keeping up with my normal good intentions much less giving myself new ones. But, I will try to excercise more and be conscientious of my portion sizes. Boooo! Over 40 is the pits. Until then I have made a lovely Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip to take to some friends house tonight to celebrate New Year’s Eve. It uses pureed Cannellini Beans and Light Cream Cheese instead of the normal sour cream and mayo. It’s heading into the oven shortly.

The kids are home. The silence has flitted away. Have a safe and happy New Years’ Eve friends!

Bookmark & Share

You wouldn’t believe our Christmas trees growing up. Seriously. Do you want to go there? Really? You may need to sit down.

Cedar. You know those bushy evergreens that you see growing along the landscape down south that people line their closets with. Usually we would cut down a cedar tree from my grandparents land in McComb, MS and take it back to Brandon (a small town outside of Jackson). I DO remember one year my dad going deep into the woods where we used to foxhunt on private land and cutting one. I have a vague recollection of doing something against the law to get our lovely tree. It was scandalous. Maybe that’s why I remember it. See, I told you. Scandal.

I vividly recall my friends teasing me over the “outdoor” lights on our “indoor” tree. You know the big fat mulit-colored lights. I thought that’s what everyone used, didn’t you?

One day I will write about my father. He was quiet a character. His temper flared when it was time to get that tree in a tree stand. Perhaps it was his ice-blue eyes that made his face seem that much more crimson. My sisters and I stayed out of the way and let the TWF (Tree Wrestling Frustration) begin.

But one year… there appeared a crooked nail in the ceiling- right above where the tree stood. That stubborn, leaning, gigantic-lighted Christmas tree became tethered to a stud in the ceiling. The next year was the year that if you gently pushed the tree it would swing from the nail. Somehow my father managed to liberate that tree from that cumbersome, hell-provoking tree stand. It was free to swing in the wind from that bent nail. I took some ribbing from my friends about that one.

Our lights never got smaller. The nail never went away. It wasn’t until I moved away that I saw people used little blinky lights on their indoor trees and big, fat ones outside. “You mean you PAY for a Christmas tree??? Wow. You have one of those fancy Spruce ones? Impressive. ”

I used to lay in our living room and stare open-eyed at our beautiful tree until I fell asleep. The world was so big and so far away yet all I wanted was enclosed in that house.

When your kids want to stay up late and stare at the Christmas tree let them bask in the magical qualities and reflection that it brings. They will rest in their memories and their hopes of what they don’t even know is to come. Sometimes we all need a chance to just BE in a blessed twinkling light with our imaginations open and our hearts free from the stand on this earth that entangles and frustrates us.

So, think about it… this year are you a tree planted firmly in a stand? Are you alittle crooked and precariously perched? Maybe a little help from above isn’t so bad. Alittle freedom from a visible nail…

Bookmark & Share