Hammock Time!

Ah, all I need is a day here in my hammock...which to choose, which to choose! Enjoy your Hammock Day with your loved ones! :0)

"A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece"--Ludwig Erhard

Want to Make a Book of Your Blog?

My creation
Originally uploaded by lidevry337

Happy Mosaic Monday to all of the participant's in Mary's Little Red House Mosaic Monday!

I often think about the time and effort I put into my blog. This mosaic of a recent trip to Manhattan to see my college son is just one example.

I think about how I'd love my children to have a nice copy of what I was thinking and feeling about in this snapshot in time. Will  my thoughts one day be lost to cyberspace? Wouldn't it be great if I could publish my writings?

To the rescue The Cutest Blog on the Block! This website offers a way to publish your blog to your very specifications! You can design a book of your blog with your own cover design, chose just the posts you want for posterity, and it will even allow you to publish comments that were so dear to you from your fellow bloggers. In other words, you customize every detail!

I will definetely be working on this, as a gift to myself and my family. I wanted to pass the word along to you, dear bloggers! Enjoy designing! :0)

Hammock time! Enjoy your Sunday with a good swing in the hammock! :0)

Have a wonderful Halloween...we'll be busy trick-or-treating with our little one...:0)

Is That a Sandwich?

Ah, school lunches...

The past two weeks my eldest daughter has been very busy competing in Varsity Tennis competitions...and we have been there at the sidelines cheering her on. As a result, our afternoons have been busy! Hastily we put dinner together and do a few chores before we all crawl into bed exhausted from playing (and watching!!)

As a result, I haven't been on Clean Patrol! This week I've detected a smell emenating from dear eldest daughter's bedroom. She is at the end of the hall and I don't often get that way unless I am delivering laundry. So imagine my sensory assault when I opened her door yesterday and was smacked with a pungent smell bad enough to kill anyone in its path!

"Honey, what do you think that is?" I asked her as she was sitting in the room viewing her computer.

"What?"

"That smell..."

"Huh? There's a smell?" Stunned, I was wondering if it had become so engrained in her nostrils she didn't even realize what she was sitting in.

"We are cleaning this room after dinner!" I closed the door to save my stomach from another whiff and also to save myself from the waves of protest.

We started with the closet. Nothing there. The drawers. Nothing. Went through the desk. Zip. Then we ventured under the bed. Silver foil flashed the lightbulb's reflection.

"What's that?" I asked. She shrugged. I pulled it out from under the bed. The smell grew closer and I knew we had the culprit. At this point she was gagging and laughing--the smell was beyond reason!

I opened the foil. The mold was past green, into a severe stage of deep brown gunk.

"I think this is a tuna sandwich gone bad. It appears to have been here since the beginning of school!" I said with disgust.

"Uh, Mom", she replied smiling, "I haven't brought tuna to school since last June. Guess it was there awhile!" Yikes! Straight to the garage garbage can!

Later, I actually had to drive the sandwich--double wrapped--to a local dumpster because the garage was starting to smell so badly!

PS--It did not look as good as the pic! Haha!

Hammock Time!

Have a wonderful Sunday with your loved ones on Hammock Day! :0)

Quote of the Day

(Madison Square Park, Manhattan)

"Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save"- Will Rogers

I Was in Ina Garten's Kitchen! Part II

When Mom called one summer morning to suggest we just hop into the car and drive into Manhattan to see a reconstruction of Ina Garten's Easthampton kitchen, who could resist? We parked on 53rd Street very close to Rockerfeller Center, passed the elephant...


("Hey elephant, did you happen to see Ina's kitchen nearby?")

And spied the rooftop of the solarium. The kitchen was built right near the Rockerfeller Center skating rink in New York City. The rink is used in summer as outdoor seating for the Rockerfeller restaurant...

Walking right around the rink, heart pounding, here it was! C'mon, we're going in!

Inside we were able to walk around all over the place! Ina will be the first to say her kitchen is a work kitchen. The view is all stainless steel and white.

Ina really does not use fancy equipment. She loves her Viking stove and always has three timers above it for various dishes that may be brewing. Guests were able to open all the drawers. The drawer set up was supposed to be an exact replica of Ina's Easthampton kitchen set up. See the white crock above the stove (left) filled with stainless steel spoons? She's an advocate of either stainless steel or wooden spoons and strongly believes they should be in a white crock within easy reach. Even her pots are hard workers...white Le Creuset iron Dutch ovens flank both ends of the stove.

Here, a view of the diningroom set off to the side of her working island. The ambience is relaxed and comfy; slipcovered chairs can be easily washed in case of guest spillage and plates are simple white. She believes white plates make the best food presentation. (I believe they were Crate and Barrel). Flowers and fruit, bounty from nature, complete the table. Don't you just want to pull out a chair and sit down?

On the other side of her working/cooking island is a sitting alcove. Where else would you want to be as you wait for a cake to finish baking or eggs to boil?

You can just put your feet up by the fire until one of the three timers go off (hee-hee!)

Or maybe catch one of her recipes on Food Network. She says she likes to have a computer area in the kitchen. It is great to be able to Google what to use as a substitute when you don't have buttermilk for a recipe but thought you did!

Cooking demonstrations took place all week long. Mom and I cozied up to the island, took a stool, and watched a chef from Bertolli make a bruschetta appetizer, Chicken Alfredo main dish, and a dessert. Ina had been in earlier in the week so we didn't spy her. But that was just fine, the food was delicious! You'll see the chef is using the front stove on the cooking island. This stove is smaller than the one against the back wall and is the one Ina uses in her TV show to demonstrate her dishes.

When the demonstration was done, guests were welcome to sample all the food. Having a close seat, we tried it all...

I loved the bruschetta best of all!

After eating, guests were welcome to sit outside on the veranda by the Rockerfeller Center flags and have a coffee specifically made for you by Ina's helpers from House Beautiful.

"I'll take a Hazelnut coffee, please! Lots of cream!"

What a great day, thanks to Ina, House Beautiful and one eager Mom who came up with the idea to just do it! I hope you enjoyed the journey with me!
And what did we do for the rest of the afternoon? Well, went shoe shopping on Fifth Avenue, of course! :0)

I've been in Ina Garten's Kitchen!

This month's House Beautiful displays the Ina Garten exhibit in Rockerfeller Center in New York. One early Friday August morning, Mom gave me a buzz. Did I want to hop into the car and take a jaunt into Manhattan to see the reconstruction of Ina's Easthampton kitchen? I jumped out of bed and we were off! I made this Ina mosaic just for all of you!


Tune into tomorrow's post... I'll take you through her amazing and gorgeous kitchen and show you all the cooking and tasting Mom and I did while we were there! :0)

Hammock time!

Hope you are enjoying your hammock time this weekend! :0)

Quote of the Day

"Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth"- Walt Whitman

A meal at my Mom's...

A meal at my Mom's house is a treat in perfect etiquette. Always a floral centerpiece, tablecloths with texture, fine bone china...Royal Albert Old Country Roses from England, Villeroy and Boch glasses.
Each grandchild has a tablesetting of eight set away for him/her from their grandmother as a reminder of Sunday afternoons lounging through football games, cheese and fruit, and a game of Scrabble before a roast dinner.

Dinner reminders are bread plate to the left, drink to the right. I make a "b" with my left hand for bread joining my forefinger and thumb and a "d" with the right hand joining my forefinger and thumb for drink so the kids can always remember the rules! :0)

Having dinner in an orderly, old-fashioned way is such a warm and fuzzy way to spend a late in the day Sunday after a breakneck week of picking up pizza and licking buffalo wing sauce off our fingers. Here, food is a celebration, a right, a way of winding down a week and enjoying the harvest...

I often wonder if something isn't lost in the crazy pace of our lives. But then I think, on Sunday afternoons in the future, my children will be bringing our their own Royal Albert china from Mommom and teaching their own children the joy of a leisurley meal, all the while making a "d" and a "b" with their hands.

Here After a Respite...

"But all endings are also all beginnnings. We just don't know it at the time"~Mitch Albom

After a nice long summer respite, feeling refreshed, here I am! Sometimes a little break gives you renewed perspective! Hope all is well with all visitors here! :0)

Quote of the Day

"Time is just something we assign. You know-past, present, it's all arbitrary. Most Native Americans, they don't think of time as linear; in time, out of time, I never have enough time, circular time...all moments are happening ALL the time"~Mitchell Burgess

Exquisite Thrift Find!

This past weekend my Mom and I went on a thrifting jaunt (early!!) at our local Episcopal Church's annual thrift fair...

The church was built around 1880 by William Vanderbilt. Mr. Vanderbilt commissioned Richard Morris Hunt, famous New York architect of the time, to design the church building and rectory. The style of the church is known as Norwegian Gothic and artisans were brought from Norway for the construction of the building.

The church was completed in 1880 for about $15,000!

Rummaging through a box, I found this blue and white serving platter. Blue and white will always make me weak at the knees. The flowers were so delicate and I knew I could use it with my dining dishes. I asked the woman how much, was told $5.00, and considered myself a happy camper!

That is until...

I turned over the dish to read the back and saw:

Now I was an ecstatic camper! A little fuzzy, but it says "Bernardaud Limoges, France" WOW! The only other piece of Limoges I have is a bowl given as an engagement gift from my parents.

A little research here tells me this stamp mark indicates this serving platter was made between 1900-1929. Bernardaud was established in 1900 by the family of the same name in Limoges, France. On another part of the plate indicates number "48". Mom says that makes it even more valuable to a collector.

Well, that collector is just little old me who is just so very happy to have scored a thrifty find for just five dollars!

Mosaic Monday

Share with me a few stolen quiet moments from late Sunday afternoon in our backyard to help Mary at Little Red House celebrate Mosaic Monday. (Double click on the pic for a larger version).

Schedules are still filled with soccer games, end of year pool parties, and studying for final exams. But soon, here's where you'll find me...poolside, contemplating the flowers in the garden, grabbing a siesta under the cabana and reading the New York Times or The Soloist by Steve Lopez (highly recommended!).

Should I scoot over and offer you an iced Earl Grey tea?

Hammock Time!

Enjoy your Sunday with your loved ones, after a busy weekend of sports and homework for finals, I'll be spending some time right here on my hammock (please let school end soon!) :0)

Quote of the Day

It is perhaps a more fortunate destiny to have a taste for collecting shells than to be born a milionaire~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Summer's Arrival

Summer has arrived to our island's shores...

The cattails wave a warm welcome...

Come on, they beckon, enjoy...

The water splashes and sprays...

Gulls gather for a festive afternoon...

Ah, the blooming joy of summer!

Houses of Charleston

I am joining Mary at Little Red House to celebrate Mosaic Monday, a great photo project your can do here at Big Huge Labs. Recently our family took a trip to Charleston, that glorious southern city, full of good manners, soft drawls, and delicious seafood! Each of these historic homes has a southernly exposed "sleeping porch". According to our wonderful guide, when the doors were open, these porches helped "air condition" the homes by grabbing the ocean breezes.

During very hot weather, families might have slept out here as well, feeling the cool air all night. The enclosed second floor porches were perfect for this.

I hope you can see them all, I realize my mosaic came out very small when uploaded to Blogger---wonder why??

World's Oldest Blogger

This lovely lady's name is Maria Ameilia and she is known as the World's Oldest Blogger. A resident of Galicia in the northwest corner of Spain, she passed away recently at the ripe old blogging age of 97!!

And you are not going to believe this--she had 1,162 followers of her blog from all over the planet! She felt that she had discovered a whole new world from blogging and adored all of her blogging friends. I love how this elderly classy lady found the same comfort, solace, and friendship from blogging that we also find.

Will we be blogging at 97? Hee-hee!

Thrift Sale Finds!

Each year one of my neighbors has a super large multi family yard sale where all the proceeds are donated to Breast Cancer research. For such a worthy cause, I had to stop in and show my support. My money went to a great cause and my thrifting soul was filled! For $1.00 I bought this beautiful bird vase below...

I love the detail on the front! The opening is very narrow which i think will "fan" the flowers.

I also pictured up this walnut frame, below, in which I framed my favorite shot of one of our garden flowers... (again $1.00!)

This funky bathroom leopard print pic looks great in our master bathroom ($1.00!--don't you wish you had come along??)

$2.00 for this set of silver and gold frames hanging on a tulle ribbon. I think I'll put my daughters in one and my son in the other...

We forever have papers all over the counter in the kitchen. For $2.00, I can now put them in here and go through them on the weekend when I have time with a nice mellow cup of coffee!

My favorite piece (and most expensive at $5.00) was this all white serving dish. I love pieces with covers! This way, when someone comes home from a soccer game, piano lessons, surfing, they can grab something out of here and it's still warm...

And to my delight, it's really a double server!

Good finds for a good cause, what could be better?

New Life Right Outside Our Front Door!

During our busy work week we are side door users-it's closer to the kitchen, the second refrigerator for groceries, the laundry/mudroom. So imagine our surprise when we opened the front door this weekend to allow some wonderfully warm spring air to float through the house...we saw straw and grass...could it be? There's something fuzzy in there!

We peeked inside the basket and to our utter delight viewed two newborn birds...

Mom was perched in a tree nearby, whistling loudly that we should get away from her babies! My husband is thinking they are shore birds known locally here as gackles. You'll remember last year we had a similar nest in a pine tree by our front door here.

I am thinking Mom returned but found the basket more convenient and maybe a little less work (I could relate--I am all for less housework myself!)

Look at the gorgeous blue of that little egg, isn't nature an amazing array of color and life?

Hammock Time!

Enjoy your Memorial Hammock time...gosh, if we don't get some hammock time this weekend, when will we? Enjoy a restful afternoon! :0)