just your everyday garden romance

My dad got this book the other day, and I've been oogling the romantic photos ever since. It's a great compilation of antique gardening traditions and implements.  Witness these:

This is a fruit loft! What? A special room just for storing fruit for the estate. Doesn't it look like an amazing place to sit and think?

And, this is possibly my favorite thing from the book--this is how they stored grapes! They used these special glass bottles, filled with water and tilted at a certain angle-- each with a small piece of charcoal in the bottom. This way, they could have grapes at Christmas. Genius! I so want to try it.



Ahhhh. I could stare at these pictures for hours, dreaming of living in a different time-- a time when a whole lot of care went into growing and storing food.  I especially love those terra cotta pots. I have a real thing for pots...

something that brightened my Monday

Today I got the exciting news that the portrait I ordered from Ashley G (via her lovely blog) is ready! It's a surprise for R's birthday next month-- a custom portrait of our little family, and I adore it.
I wish I could order 10 more and have a whole wall of family portraits. As it is, I'll be adding this to a group of some of her other work. I really love her style.

good read

I want to add my voice to the internet roar over this fantastic book. I'm a huge fan of Orangette. Come to think of it, Orangette was the first blog I really got into, and I've been a loyal reader ever since I stumbled across it. Thank you, thank you, Molly Wizenberg, for so many great reicpes that have made me popular at potlucks and parties of all sorts. This recipe in particular is much requested by the crowd I run with, and this one and this one too are perennial favorites. As a matter of fact, I made these cookies this weekend. YUM.

I made myself wait a bit before I started this book, because I just knew it was going to be over too soon. I was right. I completely devoured this book in a weekend, and have plans to try most of the recipes. It is just such a lovely book, illustrated by Camilla Engman, and packed full of fantastic anecdotes that made me laugh and cry-- sometimes together. I highly recommend that you check this one out!

Also, check out this adorable child's rolling pin and bread board my mom found for my nephew! I squealed when she showed it to me.

makes my heart beat a little bit faster

Favorite ebay purchase. Ever. (Sorry for the crappy scan, this is so much more charming in person!)

desk inspiration

These two photographs are from my parents' life, pre-kids, in the 1970's. I have them above my desk, and look at them every day. There's just something calming about the colors and the saturation (uuhhhh, is that the right photography term??)...seeing them makes me want to try using a film camera.

putting down roots

The yard is going wild after a good amount of rain late last week. Bean seeds are up and growing inches every day, and my windowbox sweet peas, planted in a pot as a birthday gift for granny, are coming along too. Behold, the first (okay, only) strawberry in our tiny patch by the street:

How is it Monday already? The weekend rushed by and was full with:

- late breakfast at Tupelo's

- transplanting tomatoes

- a 94th birthday party

- pear pie

- cranberry sauce (the last of the frozen cranberries, counting the days (months) until cranberry season)

- a sushi dinner for no special reason

- starting a new savings account for our very own FARM. $100 down....a whole lot to go!

- a barefoot hike, looking for turkey tracks

- spending a little time online, feeling the roots theme, and really loving this shirt and these cards. Also this print. Listening to this guy!

I took this picture last year, when I first got into sewing, but it's one of my favorites. I think I like it so much because when I look at it, I can feel my home, and the comforting smells and sounds that go along with sitting right there in that chair by the front window.

happy.

So happy to be sewing a bit more these days. I finished up these two pillows about a week ago, and I loved how they turned out. I used pieces of vintage linens that I found in granny's attic last year, and I'm pretty sure I could show the details a lot better if I knew how to use a camera properly.

Also of note-- the amazing quilt shown in the pictures above. Love that. On (hopefully permanent) loan from my granny.