My Creative Blog:
Country Living

I'm thinking spring. It's hard not to (despite the snow) when you see bouquets of tulips and daffodils in the grocery store. So I've gathered some photos I took of the flowers we enjoyed last year to tide me through the next couple of months of winter.

The first spring flowers that grace our land are the blossoming fruit trees — they are absolutely breathtaking.

These were the first peonies I clipped at the flower farm. They were so gorgeous and delicate and their pink blossoms enormous!

We have some very old lilac bushes that probably need some serious pruning. They are a bit tattered and worse for wear, but still produce the most fragrant smelling flowers. I take this as my cue to gather them up in bunches and spread them throughout the house.

This was the bouquet I was most proud of last summer as it was the very first clipping from our newly planted rose and peony bushes.

These are the first clippings from the Little Lamb Hydrangea bushes I planted.

These are also Little Lamb Hydrangea but were clipped towards the end of summer, after they turned from milky white to a blushing pink.

And these were the last of the rose clippings before the frost came and lulled everything to sleep.
I've missed my petaled friends and can't wait to see them again this spring.

Well, this morning they were here! We were treated with an unannounced visit from the infamous Gilhouley Elk Herd. It was such a wonderful, wonderful surprise as their migration path runs through our property, and for years we've been keeping an eye out for them.
I quietly stepped out on the porch to try and capture their blessed visit before they slipped away.

But they kept coming....

and coming....

and coming....

until finally, the line ended.
Dressed in my pajamas, I stood there on the porch and just watched them peacefully make their way through.
The sound of sixty or so elk crunching through the frosty grass was exhilarating to hear.
We've only seen this herd once before — in a field up the road where there are no houses for miles. We've seen lots of tracks, some right in front of the fence, but until now the herd had always alluded us.
It was a beautiful way to start the morning. It makes me so very happy to have these friends nearby. They are such beautiful majestic creatures and it was a pure honor to set our eyes on them.

I'm not sure if it's the egg nog, the hot apple cider or the warm fire but I've been on vacation mode and it feels quite good.
Here's what we've been up to....first, this is Hubby reading, "The Joy of Cooking" in hopes to discover a fabulous new Christmas Eve recipe. See those 'crumbs' on his pocket? Well, they're not from Christmas cookies, those are tree crumbs from splitting and hauling in so much wood for our fires.

We also went cross country skiing up around Mt. Hood. It was a beautiful blue bird day. Note: Lucy is still smiling!

And there's been lots and lots of cozy time in the house....with lots of accompanying warm beverages....like hot cocoa.

Green tea.

And hot apple cider — something I've consumed a lot of this past week.

There's also been a lot of Backgammon ( shhhh, I'm on a winning streak).

And a lot of sitting in front of the fire enjoying the Christmas tree lights.

And the warm glow of the fire.

The new furniture is proving to be very comfortable and conducive to lazy day snuggling.

I love how the cabinet glass reflects all the light in the room.
Nate over at Laurel Street nominated me for the Homies 2009 Award! Wow, huh? I'm absolutely honored but also, feel a little shy!

Happy New Year!

D espite the evening frosts, two little brave roses continued to blossom in the garden. All of their friends had gone to sleep days ago. There they stood, together, through the dark cold nights, awaiting the warmth of the next sunrise.
I took them in hopes of extending their last few days of soft beauty and heavenly fragrance.
This variety is called New Dawn, which are wonderful climbers. I planted two along our picket fence and a third grows on a trellis near the dining patio.
xo

I waddled out to the grape vines with Hubby early this morning. I had to lean over quite a bit to find my boots in the beautiful autumn confetti.

The grapes are finally ripe after several months of hot summer sunshine and crisp fall air.

While Hubby searched through the curly vines for bright purple clusters, I documented our fall harvest tradition with photographs (which is another way of saying, I watched).

We only picked a colander's worth because we plan on making smoothies with them in the blender. Our plan to make wine and jam....well, it will have to wait until next year. We're using all of our extra time to prepare for the babies.
But the grapes freeze really well. I pluck them from their stems, wash and lay them out to dry. When dry, I put them in zip lock freezer bags and freeze them. They're easy to dip into for smoothies throughout the year.

Things feel very quiet in the orchard after the hustle and bustle of the harvest. The trees now stand still, resting perhaps as they shed the last of their summer leaves and begin to settle in for their long winter's nap.
I love walking through the orchards. Each season offers a different experience. Right now, there's a sense of calm and rest and a little bit of sadness as the trees stand bare. This time of year is so different than the twinkling buds of spring or the sheltering green canopy of summer.
If you were to follow this orchard row, trudge up the hill and through the woods (where our property begins), you would eventually come to our back door!

And here's a couple of monkeys (Hubby and Lucy), climbing on a John Deere tractor. This isn't our tractor, although Hubby wishes that it was. And if Lucy could ride shot gun, it would be her wish too.

This was our first snow fall. It happened a couple of weeks ago and I'm happy to say that it hasn't been back — it will be a long enough winter as it is!
If this photo looks familiar, you may have seen it over at Tara Dillard's blog — she's doing our landscape design!! She sent me the beautiful landscape plans a few days ago and it'svery exciting....I'll post on that soon!

This is the extent of my Halloween costume. I'll wear it when we carve our pumpkins tonight — and when I toast the fresh yummy pumpkins seeds!
Have a Happy Halloween!

M y nesting instincts have always been quite strong. Even as far back as my teenage years, I can remember devouring the pages of Colonial Home and Victoria magazines.
Many years later and seven months pregnant, my nesting instincts are as strong as ever. Not only do they motivate me to create a lovely nursery for our little ones, but they propel me to organize the house from top to bottom!
In fact, my Mom's visit this past week was centered around feathering our nest (with tasks organized on paper in my favorite form — a 'to do' list).

The list included tasks such as organizing our coat closet...

....Trading summer coats for fall and winter, and filling baskets with scarves and mittens.
We also mopped the kitchen floor, ran a few errands, and of course, worked on finishing up the last details of the nursery.

View from our upstairs window.
October gave a party; The leaves by hundreds came The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples, And leaves of every name. The Sunshine spread a carpet, And everything was grand. Miss Weather led the dancing, Professor Wind the band.
George Cooper
Have a wonderful fall weekend! And I've made another fabulous friend — go see Jennifer at The Newlywed Diaries!

First, the lovely Camilla from Camilla at Home has posted on A Country Farmhouse! Isn't that so kind of her! She has a beautiful blog that I love visiting and I know you will too!
The above photo was taken up the road from our house. You can see that big open field from our bathroom window, which I always pause to look out from in case there are any elk or deer passing through.
It's a favorite field of ours as it's down a long dirt road where only horses and a few neighbors like us, travel on. The mountain you see in the background is Mt. Adams, the same mountain we see from our house.
This photo was taken last fall. We went up to the field this past weekend but unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me. We were happy to see that the bees were back, now that their work in the orchards is done. They were buzzing wildly....it's sort of exciting and terrifying all at the same time! But unlike the wasp, the honey bees are more interested in their honey than in you.
And just so you know, those wires around the bee boxes — are live! I know this because I got too close and got zapped!
Fall is such a beautiful time of the year, I only wish it didn't pass by so quickly.

W e decided to stop in at a local farm this afternoon to pick up a few pumpkins. This is a farm we drive by quite often but unfortunately never make the time to stop in. Today, we did!

They had a corn maze (mostly for children) that we couldn't resist walking through.

There were some sunflowers sprouting up from the corn stalks. For once, Hubby isn't the tallest one in the bunch.

We also stopped in at their farm stand where they had everything from jams and preserves to fresh produce and apple cider.

....and oh, the pumpkins were great too!

T hanks to our recent warm Indian summer days, we're finally able to pick some of our heirloom tomatoes. The tomatoes have been drastically behind this year due to the cool early summer. But the autumn sun has helped nudge these voluptuous fruits to ripeness.

The basil is done growing for the season. I made lots of pesto through the summer which we happily enjoyed with pasta, pizza (in place of tomato sauce), and sandwiches much like the one shown above. So in place of pesto, I've been using sliced avocado instead.
The recipe includes: a crusty loaf of organic whole wheat bread, a sweet tomato, organic avocado and organic provolone cheese. I toast the bread first, then add avocado, tomato and cheese and bake it in the oven for a few minutes until cheese has melted.
It's the perfect way to eat a fresh picked tomato on a beautiful fall day.

I clipped the last of the roses this evening. The nights are getting really cool. I hadn't realized how cool until I drove down to the flower farm this afternoon. On my drive down, I was thinking of what varieties and colors I'd choose this time, where I'd put the biggest bouquet....how much cash I had on me, etc. But when I got to the farm, I was greeted with a field of completely brown, frost bitten Dahlias. Not one flower left. Big sigh.
I've been really busy this past week! I've felt like one of the gray squirrels I've seen frantically running around here lately. I don't know if it's an instinct to want to fluff the nest before the long winter, or if the cooler weather has given me a burst of energy, but either way, I've been fluffing like crazy!
The biggest whole room redo lately, has been our den. This room is being used for the first time since we bought the house. It has served many purposes throughout the remodel....but mostly, it's been primarily for storage. Boring. Now that we've designated it to be our den (where the TV is), it's like we've added a whole new room to the house. Now we're in there all the time!
I'm nearly done with this new room of ours and will post the 'before' and 'after' pictures soon. The light fixture I asked Hubby to install over the weekend, ended up not working out. So I'm looking for another one, something under $100, and something that offers a bit of sparkle. Any suggestions?
We've also put down a 9 x 12 jute rug in the bedroom. It's a much better fit than the 8x10 wool rug that was in there before. So I'll post on that too!
Also, we've replaced our cheap chandelier (finally) with an antique crystal chandelier that I absolutely love. It's almost identical to the one in a picture I tore out as my ideal dining room several years ago. I'll scan the picture and show you. I'm so excited about this new beautiful addition to our home and I can't believe the transformation. I danced around the room when I saw the first rainbow on the wall. Photos to follow! (Not of me dancing around the room mind you ; )
And, if you can believe it, I've also been working on securing a purchase of a new living room couch and two chairs. This search has been a long one. But we've picked out the couch and the chairs and are now making the last final decisions on the fabric.
This room is finally going to be furnished the way it should be. So far, it's been filled with quirky hand-me-downs and mis -matched styles and colors....I can't wait for it to all come together. Again, it's going to feel like a brand new room!
I was telling Hubby that this new stage we're in of remodeling our remodel is so much fun! Most of the work we've done over the past several years has been foundation work — electrical, plumbing, drywall, molding....it's not nearly as much fun as buying furniture and throw pillows! I will tell you however, that I'm much more enthusiastic about this new stage than Hubby....much more.
So lots to post about! Can't wait to hear what you think. ; )

O ur cool rainy weekend prompted me to clip a bouquet of fall hydrangeas. I call them 'fall' hydrangeas because by this time of year their white and cream summer hues have aged into vibrant pink and fuscia.

Their color turns before the leaves of the deciduous trees, so they provide the first glimpse of the landscape bidding farewell to summer and embracing the crisp cool air of autumn.
This is the season in which I feel the least guilty making bouquets of hydrangeas for the house. All summer long I watch them grow and blossom, but can't seem to find the nerve to make bouquets without guilt. This time of year I know that they're winding down and may enjoy the comfort of a warm house.

I often tell Hubby to compose photos so that my face isn't in the picture. This is due to simple shyness (something I don't tolerate with Hubby obviously). As you can see, I'm in my usual country bumpkin attire....warm sweater, jeans and one of my last maternity shirts that still fits!

Chanterelles are out! We had a nice rain over the weekend, prompting Hubby to set off into the woods in search of the beautiful Chanterelle mushroom.

In just two hours of combing the wet fall forest, he collected nearly five pounds of fresh delectable fungi.
The following book is the field guide that Hubby has been using for years. It's a wonderful book with lots of pictures and thorough descriptions that make mushrooming all the more safe and alluring.
The Chanterelles are gorgeous and smell like fresh apricots! Our favorite recipe for the Chanterelles is homemade pizza, which we had for dinner last night (recipe here ). Tonight, we'll saute up the rest and add it to red quinoa with sauteed shallots and kale.
Delicious.

Now that fall is officially here, the days are getting shorter. Due to this seasonal transition, I bought a lantern and a shepherds hook to illuminate the hammock at night.
The lantern not only gives you a soft light while snuggling in the hammock, but it also illuminates the path back to the house, which gets very dark once the sun goes down.
The beautiful Pinecone Hill floral throw pillow (something I had been pining after for months) came from Farmhouse Wares. Isn't it charming? I love it.

T wo fresh pumpkins were plucked from the garden in order to make our pumpkin soup.

They were cut in half and their pulp and seeds scooped out.

I separated the seeds from the pulp, washed them thoroughly and roasted them. To do so, I spread them on a cookie sheet covered in Canola spray and sprinkled them with salt. After 10 minutes at 325 degrees, I stirred them again and baked them for an additional 10 minutes until nicely toasted.

Roasted pumpkin seeds are delicious and some of the most nutritious seeds around. Ours didn't last long.
To make the soup, I took the pumpkin halves and placed them face down in a dish to bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Once they cooled, I scooped out the pumpkin and pureed it until smooth.

Here's the pumpkin soup recipe we used...
3 cups organic pureed pumpkin 3 cups scalded organic milk 1 TB organic butter 1 TB organic flour 2 TB organic brown sugar 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp ginger
Heat the above ingredients in a saucepan and serve.

This was the easiest and healthiest pumpkin soup recipe I found (no heavy cream). It came from the Joy of Cooking, although I made some adjustments. Also, to make it all the more healthy, I used as many organic ingredients as possible.
YUM.

W e enjoyed a few glimpses of blue sky be tween the late summer rains we had over this past weekend. This field is down the road from us and as you can see, the deciduous trees are still green but they're beginning to fade ever so slightly....I do believe that fall is in the air.

A s summer fades with each passing day, I find myself savoring the last of the roses. I will miss them come fall, but they're like an old friend that I know I'll gladly see again.

Today I'm doing a guest post over at Raenovate ! Rachel is away on a Cape Cod camping trip and she asked me to do a 'before' and 'after' post on our dining room. In fact, Rachel invited me to do this a couple of months ago so I have her to thank for helping to motivate us to finish the last details of the room. There's nothing like a fast approaching deadline to keep you on target!

I took the long way into town this morning. I set off by driving down our dirt road and into the valley we look out upon. Winding through hills, past farms and pastures, I came upon this sweet old barn.
I love how the barn sits tucked away behind the orchard. It makes the barn all the more alluring.
After walking under the canopy of green to the end of the orchard row, I reached the barn. Standing there under the bright morning sun, I suddenly felt like I was someplace I shouldn't be — perhaps because, ahem, I was trespassing. So I didn't stay long.

Walking back to my car, my flip flops crunched through the dry summer grass while my head swirled with the magic of the barn. It made me feel like a kid again, having just discovered a secret new hide-out.
P.S. I've updated my blog template (hope you like it!). There have been a few kinks to sort out which have kept me busy but nevertheless, I'm excited about the new layout!