Spring promises renewal. Trees and plants begin budding with an agreement for the flowers and food to appear soon. It the season of declutter, cleaning and starting fresh.
It is a time for colors like these…
I’m joining in for Pink Saturday hosted by How Sweet the Sound.
Our community is having a garage/yard sale at the end of April and I am getting a big head start on clearing things out.
Look what I found!
Gorgeous green paper that has been distressed to look very old OR it is very old. I cannot remember where it came from and it is the size of scrapbook paper. Must be new.
Scrapbooking does not take place here, but this might look wonderful on a box. That’s the plan.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day…I’m off to make my Irish Soda Bread to go with the corned beef tomorrow.
Pink Saturday is hosted by How Sweet the Sound.
Since you may not have stopped by last week, here’s some green from the shops (not mine) of your fellow Pink Saturday friends.
At last!
When we first moved here a year ago, we were astonished that it could rain non-stop for six months. This year there has been none…until yesterday.
It is now considered a storm, this drizzle along the coast and inland to the bay. The extended news coverage and Storm Watch is a bit humorous to us after living in Florida where this would be considered just a drizzle. And, certainly in Vermont the snow in the Sierra getting press would be counted as “Spring in the Mountains” where we lived.
However, we are thankful for this rain. I prefer not to turn on the sprinklers and was almost there.
Instead of outdoor spring sprucing this week, I brought inside enough parsley and thyme for a week of recipes.
See the “Storm” out the window?
Linking up to:
I was talking to a friend yesterday and she asked me if I ever played, “If I win the lottery…?
Of course I do! My sister and I play it each time we get together. Of course, our big plan is to spend the month of May at Disney World walking and sweating and just generally cleansing our minds and bodies after 20 some years of kids and husbands. Not that we don’t love them, we just need a little vacay after all this time. One that doesn’t include meals, laundry, clean up…because going on a vacation with your family is NOT really a vacation-for-mom kind of thing.
I didn’t win the lottery, but I did find this old wooden puzzle. A couple of these sold on eBay for enough to fund that vacation. Here’s mine:
It has a copyright date!
Is that 1912?
Do I have a bona fide antique?
The artist is Joseph Warren. The original oil painting called “Woman in red with collie dog” sold for almost $1,400 in 2002. I couldn’t find out when it was painted.
It is 3/8ths inch thick wood.
Is it rare?
For me, is it Disney or dinner?
Will I win the puzzle lottery?
I found this box in Winter Park, Florida at an estate sale many years ago. I’m not sure of the age, but it certainly is vintage. Possibly someone knows when it was popular to add a mirror, trim and lining to such boxes. (A couple are listed on eBay from the turn of the 20th century for about $300!)
The top and three sides have a series of shells attached. I love the large white one.
Inside there is a gold velvet lined bottom and an aged mirror trimmed with tiny French gimp in green.
I often wonder who made it?
Linking with White Wednesday at Faded Charm Cottage.
Another little outdoor area is complete! Our vintage chicken crate we rescued from a barn in Pennsylvania at least twenty years ago has traveled with us from coast to coast. It is part of the family now.
The zinc planters are aged, too. The paint is peeling and the little one on the bottom has too much rust. Still I love them. Since we move so often, it is our furnishings that keep a sense of continuity from home to home.
The earthquakes of yesterday went unnoticed, but the wind off the bay is ferocious today. It seems like as soon as I swept something up, it was back in the picture.
These pots are done. Dead plants from last year have been removed and replaced with double impatiens. The succulents were pruned and some small ones placed around to fill empty spaces. The round pot on the right is a vintage McCoy. The other yellow one is vintage California pottery.
By May, the plants will fill the spaces and be in full bloom.
Linking up to:
Last week I shared my new ironing board cover find with four of my Japanese crochet flowers all pinned on as IF there would be blocking going on in this home all week. Here I am, ready to share a blue and it looks like this:
Flowers to the left of me sitting on the ironing board. Ready for blocking. Then ready for stitching. Honestly, I cannot think of anything else blue to share so these will have to make some progress by next week.
Besides, I’m ready to move on to spring colors.
The iron is on, really…
Linking here:
When I first started blogging, I thought my blog was all about me. Now it is all about the inspiration I get from others.
While gathering content for a post requires me to do something to have something to say, it is actually the ideas, motivation and encouragement that gets me to do that something to have something to write.
We have moved from Dallas to Stowe, VT to the Bay Area of California since I started blogging. We have owned and sold two houses, and now rent. Our son went to college in those years, and just graduated. He is truly a southern guy living in New Orleans and we are in yet another unfamiliar city no longer needing the same type of living space.
The blogging journey has been the same…use what I have to make a home. It continues with a bit more urgency on the downsizing process. Along the way I have made friends and plan to make more. (1) I have moved to a new blogging platform recently and want to enhance that page. (2) The projects have stacked up and I WILL get those slipcovers done. (3)
Really, my blog is all about managing what I have to make a better life and letting go of what is not needed. I want a simple place in the blogging world to share my journey to a simpler life that others will find inspiring. (4) A place to give back the inspiration I receive. (5)
Oh, there is that photography thing, too. It’s too scary to put on the list, but you may hold me to it!
It is cold and rainy here in California and snow and ice stormy for my family in New York. The perfect setting for comfort food on both coasts. My husband said he has been waiting 25 years for me to make this.
Pot pie was my perfect solution for leftover rotisserie chicken. We had one meal for the two of us from that chicken and just enough the next day for this recipe.
On Sunday we go to the local farmers market for beets, leeks, carrots, and any other staple available this time of year. The potatoes in the pantry needed to be used, also. Pie crusts in the freezer from Christmas baking begged for a fix and a little bag of frozen peas that had been part of another meal sat beside them. And, remarkably, I had roasted red peppers that definitely needed to be used up in the refrigerator.
I adapted this recipe to use my fresh ingredients on hand. It was a delightful treat.
Double-Crust Chicken Pot Pie With Refrigerated Piecrust
Makes: 6 to 8 servings
hands-on time: 35 min. total time: 1 hr., 45 min.
1/2 cup butter
2 medium leeks, sliced (I have no idea what a “medium” leek looks like. I guess I used a large one because that was plenty.)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth made from the chicken bones after the meat was removed. (I added a teaspoon of chicken bullion.)
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups cubed potatoes
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 T chopped roasted red peppers
1 cup sliced carrot rounds
1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (This is still available in our garden!)
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2 refrigerated piecrusts (I didn’t need to make my own since I had these. Homemade would be better.)
Vegetable cooking spray (I don’t have vegetable spray in the house. I know. It just bothers me. I brushed on just a little butter.)
1. Preheat oven to 375˚. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add leeks, and sauté 3 minutes. Sprinkle flour over leeks, and cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes. Whisk in chicken broth, and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Stir in chicken and next vegetables, cover and simmer on low until carrots and potatoes are partially cooked.
2. Fit 1 piecrust into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate; spoon chicken mixture into piecrust. Place remaining piecrust over filling; fold edges under, sealing to bottom crust, and crimp. Cut 4 to 5 slits in top of pie for steam to escape. Place pie on a jelly-roll pan.
3. Bake at 375° on lower oven rack 50 minutes. Coat top of pie with cooking spray (this is where I used butter), and bake 5 minutes or until filling is bubbly and crust is golden brown. Remove from oven, and let stand 15 minutes.
