Wishing you a Happy and Blessed
Thanksgiving Day!
Vintage Romantic Mom |
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Now that we're almost to Thanksgiving, I thought it was about time to show you our Thanksgiving turkeys.... We ended up with 3 toms and 2 females. Our biggest tom weighed in today at 45 lbs. He's a BIG dude! It's hard to imagine that they were once such tiny little chicks...or poults! We've really enjoyed raising these turkeys...they're very docile and friendly. The turkeys also herd very easily like geese or ducks when left to free-range. If you've seen the movie Food Inc. or read Joel Salatin's book, You Can Farm, you'll better understand the reasons and practicality of raising our own food this way. It's been a great learning experience...and lots of fun...for us. Our turkeys have been given a good healthy, humane life and our children have gotten to help raise them. We'll be 'processing' them starting tomorrow...and as sad as it will be....we look forward to the blessing of feasting on food that we raised in our own backyard. We can appreciate giving thanks for this Thanksgiving so much more! : D My girls are forever doing tea parties...whenever the mood presents itself...which happens to be often.... And all their tea partying...among other things...has put me in the mood for scones....among other things. Fall weather always puts us in the mood to find the kitchen once again with all its warmth and winter-wafting pleasures. Although I hate to admit it, I'm not one to spend inordinate amounts of time in the kitchen. In fact, I rather avoid it. I don't want to be this way...but...what can I say??? Food to me is more of an inconvenience...followed up with a gimongous mess in my nice clean kitchen...rather than anything I revel and wallow in. However, I will say that's all changing, since I stumbled upon that Domestic Delight of the kitchen, Nigella Lawson and a curious cookbook I found of hers in the library called How to be a Domestic Goddess. This just so happened to be the book for me! I LOVE how she writes...I LOVE how she cooks...I LOVE her impertinent style. She begins in her Preface: This is a book about baking, but not a baking book--not in the sense of being a manual or a comprehensive guide or a map of a land you do not inhabit. I neither want to confine you to the kitchen nor even suggest that it might be desirable. Huh??? It's a bit awkward to have someone totally read one's mind. At this I was somewhat off-guard then she says: But I do think that many of us have become alienated from the domestic sphere, and that it can actually make us feel better to claim back some of that space, make it comforting rather than frightening. In a way, baking stands both as a useful metaphor for the familial warmth of the kitchen we fondly imagine used to exist, and as a way of reclaiming our lost Eden. This is hardly a culinary matter, of course, but cooking, we know, has a way of cutting through things, and to things, which have nothing to do with the kitchen. This is why it matters. Ahem. This woman is now completely speaking my language...reading my every thought and whim about my every romantic notion of kitchen-life ever conjured or conceived in my latent imaginings...yet have been so bumbling and hopelessly futile in my attempts to capture and make the reality in my life. Is there hope for me after all? Now that I'm in a mesmerized trance, she says: The trouble with much modern cooking is not that the food it produces isn't good, but that the mood it induces in the cook is one of skin-of-the-teeth efficiency, all briskness and little pleasure. Sometimes that's the best we can manage, but at other times we don't want to feel like a postmodern, postfeminist, overstretched woman but, rather, a domestic goddess, trailing nutmeggy fumes of baking pie in our languorous wake. So, whew, in my heady giddy-ness I tried her recipe for scones...Lily's recipe, to be exact. She begins by informing us thus: These are the best scones I've ever eaten, which is quite how it should be since they emanate from one of those old-fashioned cooks who starts a batch the minute the doorbell rings at teatime. Yes, I know they look as if they've got cellulite--it's the cream of tartar, which is also why, despite their apparent solidity, they have that dreamy lightness. And ya know what? She was sooooo right! And I am soooo such a sucker for scones...especially Lily's scones. And I am now soooo hooked...line and sinker! : D Favorable Fall weather is back upon us again...sunshine and cool breezes...and no more snow...for now! So here we are with Blossom, our layer at the moment, and Heather on our Fall-ish front stoop... And Caitlyn from the pumpkin patch... And a lovely Fall medley out my kitchen window. Is it any wonder why Autumn still steals my heart? It's snow time...in our neck of the woods anyway. Of course the kiddos couldn't wait to start romping so here's some of the scoop on our two days of snowy fun. It's not entirely melted yet...but yesterday morning was the best part... Andrew busily shoveling his roads...and exit ramps... Andrew's road systems... Caitlyn's first snowman of the season? Not exactly... Her first snow horse! Our children are now telling us that summer's not their favorite time of the year. Winter takes the cake! Good thing! : D My morning this morning dawned a snowy wonderland surprise. I took these photos a little before 6...just look at it! All crisp, lavender and white! Just as I was wondering in my post yesterday if the end of November would look like this. I didn't even have to wait till the end of November...try the first week in November instead! As for my window box flowers...here's how they looked yesterday...just as the snow was beginning to fall... And here they are now...if you can find them! It's now mid-morning and the sun has brilliantly broken through. I do believe all our white wonderland will be soon melting away...but not before I captured lots of beautiful images. I do believe my pansies will muster through the melt and bloom for us a little longer. I'm definitely going to savor this season! : D As I turned the new page of my calendar this week, I thought...no way...no way! can it be November! And I also wondered...could it possibly look like that outside by the end of this month?? Could it possibly be all crisp, lavender, and white outdoors?? Well, guess what...it's snowing outside as we speak...or as I type! And I love it. I'm totally ready for it... well not 'prepared' exactly...but emotionally...I'm so ready for it! I'm nursing my pansies and geraniums along...wondering how long they can last in my window boxes. So far so good. I just poured warm water on the roots and covered them with the dried brown hosta leaves as a mulch blanket. I cover them with light sheets or pillowcases at night. Seems to be working fairly well. This is the longest I've managed to keep some flowers going into Fall...and they look so lovely with those small orangey-green gourds, squash, and pumpkins! Well, the festive time of year...my favorite...is fast approaching. Let's savor the season! : D I thought I'd share with you a few photos from our road trip down to Portland this past week...quite Fall-ish, Autumn-ish, misty and overcast. But we're snug in the minivan...cruising...magazine in my lap...hot pumpkin spice Starbucks misto in my hand....life ain't too shab... Once in Portland, we made our requisite stops...then headed down by the water front. The kids were ecstatic to find that a Norwegian cruise ship was parked in the harbor... This is especially cool for us because the small power hearth units that we just got...and will be selling are about to be implemented on the Norwegian cruise ships. Yay Norway!! They'll be using the waste on the ships as fuel to supplement the ship's electricity. You Norwegians are such trend-setters! Now we're off to Fort Allen Park to let the children run off some steam...eat some sliced turkey wraps...and let Mommy soak in the scenes overlooking the harbor. I do love these old homes that look out across the bay... Sorry these shots are a bit blurry...rapidly losing my light of day. I just picked up a 'new' skirt at the thrift store...and finally found my long lost mary janes...that I haven't seen since we left Texas. Hi mary janes! I've missed you! : D |
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