surprises

some of the best things about moving into a new house are the surprises in the garden.  the things that were sleeping under a blanket of snow that you didn't even know about.

these forsythia are positively day-glo.  youngest son said it's like living in a disney movie.  there is a yellow light streaming into our kitchen.  it's a bit comical and very welcome!

and then there are surprises like this

which led to an ambitious bunch of miniature ants coming in my back door, uninvited mind you, and heading straight for the dishwasher on a mission known only to them.

these are some prints taken from the humble hand drawn fortune cookie wisdom calendar (that's a mouthful, isn't it?) that i've hand colored and then added a border to.  i thought they might be cute enough to stand on their own.  i plan on adding a few more but these are in the shop now.

i have been obsessed with jane eyre ever since seeing the newest version with mia wasikowska and michael fassbender.  mia portrays jane in such a quiet and strong way.  her face is amazing.  the movie itself is gorgeous.   ok, so now, i am completely embarrassed to admit that i have not read the book yet!  but as i'm writing this post i have the 1944 version on tv with joan fontaine, orson welles and elizabeth taylor as helen.  it is so different and i am loving it.  anyone else out there obsessed?  the book must be fantastic.  anyone read it?  or should i say, has everyone read it but me? 

i need that book on my night stand now!  to the library tomorrow.

sweet dreams...

there is a kitchen under there...

i promise

it took us 2 hours to make breakfast the first morning in our new house.  we were determined to have pancakes - we needed our strength after all.  took us awhile to find the spatula.

just some pictures of the joy of moving, settling in and making a new nest.

a little celebrating

our first snow.  the orange and yellow lights are our neighbors halloween decorations.

the morning after.  1 tree down.  poor tree.









feeling a bit like eeyore lately

...even though snow patrol is coming out with a new ep sept. 4th. :)

truth be told i don't really want to move and i'm deep in the middle of moving. i miss middle son who's off to college and i'm sooooo effing proud of him.  i don't want to go through all the tangible evidence of our lives and decide what to keep and what to throw out.  i hate change even though i love change.  maybe it's just too much change at once?

what would pooh bear do, i wonder?

tonight's dinner

 

gluten free pancakes, homemade whipped cream, strawberries.  after a long day of painting, scraping, nailing, fixing, we thought we'd do dinner and dessert in one. yum.

books - our friends

stopped in the salvation army the other day to donate some things and of course had to look around.  "isn't that a bit like taking one step forward and two steps back?" i thought to myself.  "we are trying to move, you know,"  i muttered, silently, irritably.

but i ask you, can you resist shelves upon shelves of books?

i only brought home a small stack.  ok, maybe it was a little bit bigger than small.  but here's how i'm rationalizing this, once i finish them i will pass them on.  i think that makes it all better.

here's one particular score i'm thrilled about.

 

isn't this just a beautiful cookbook?  look at the size of it!  can not wait till cucumbers are in to try this recipe.

and here's a happy father's day to all the dads out there, including mine.
miss you.

changes

So much has been happening - a graduation for middle son, a party and house guests for his graduation and a  firm decision to sell our house and a list of everything that needs to be done to sell it.  

First the graduation... so happy and proud am I and we got to share it with good friends, you know, the kind that are family.

So the decision to sell our house is a bittersweet one.  We love it but it's just too big now. So on the market she goes.  The list of things to do is long and we've set a date to put it on the market, which isn't far away.  To both challenge and treat ourselves for all the work, middle son, a very good cook and baker has promised a new dessert for every few things we check off the list.  Strawberry shortcake was our first treat.  We plan to get sick on strawberries while they are in season.  

Middle son and I plan on starting a blog within a blog thing where we will cook gluten free and post recipes and pictures to share.  Our dessert treats will be a part of this.   Here's what we have been snacking on from our first quart, strawberries and nutella.  Yum!

I'm not hungry, I'll just pick...

While middle son was replacing outdoor light fixtures, he found this nest tucked on top of one.  We will have to wait till the babies fly away to cross that chore off our list.  But how sweet is that?

The work that went into this beautiful little nest is just amazing to me.  Look how soft it is.  A perfect home for these eggs.  A little gift for us.

seriously adorable treasure (at least to me)

i have a thing about old childrens chairs.  their miniature size just gets me.  the more age the better.  worn finishes, paint spatters, some rust - that's all just glorious patina, right?  so i convince middle son to stop at a yard sale because they have lots of big people chairs lined up and so maybe there's some little people chairs too.   there is lots of old junk, stuff my father would have had stashed in his work room - i love it.  the problem is, is that we are trying to declutter to move into a smaller house.  but then i saw this little blue chair.  and a neat old book for inspiration.  i just had to have them.  so middle son suggests to me that i should give up one of the other little chairs at home that i've collected.  i am outraged.  i tell him that if the house was on fire, he and his brother and sister would be the first things i would get out and then i would go back for those chairs. 

i'm kind of joking but i'm also kind of not.  

middle son probably thinks i'm crazy.

seriously adorable little blue chair and 1912 tennyson book