New Year's Eve 2019 -

 We're off downtown for the First Night celebration.  

My kitchen is closed!  

No more baking to be done any day soon.

Scoffing rich-tasting leftovers still, especially the mince pies - they go quite 

well with a chilled bottle of bubbly awaiting a popping cork and the

 clink of crystal at midnight. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . and we'll raise our glasses with a sincere toast to you all. . . . family,

 friends and readers.

Who knows what the New Year and new decade will bring, but hopefully

good health and great things for each of us.

~ Love, peace and joy ~

A cloud of southern humidity. . . . . . . . .

Southern hospitality is great - but they can keep

 southern humidity!

The past several August days have seen us enveloped in a cloak of humidity

 almost unworthy of discussion!

Just let me say, walking out the door in a pair of 'sunnies' at 5 o'clock Saturday to

 attend a lovely 60th birthday party for a friend, I was immediately sightless as the

 sunglasses clouded over. Trying to take outdoor photos in this humidity is hopeless!

I'm always rooting basil cuttings on the kitchen windowsill - then replanting them

 in my pots outside. Basil has been amazing this year. Pesto-making has become

 almost a daily habit. I've spent small fortune in pine nuts, good olive oil and
 Parmigiano Reggiano - thank goodness garlic is cheap! 
 I'll miss being able to clip big bunches of fresh basil come Winter - I do have
 lots of little pesto packets tucked into the freezer though.

This is pretty, airy dill - another herb I'm growing in pots outside and which also 

makes a lovely fragrant addition to cut flowers in the house. 

~ Some of my many garden herbs ~

Note: I'm allowing the morning glories to clamber over the hydrangeas as

they have few blooms this year due to the Spring freeze. I really miss 

those lovely flowers.

~ Dill and parsley ~

 Think yourself fortunate not to be living in the south right now . . . . . . . unless of

 course you do enjoy heat, and weren't raised in a cool (usually) Summer climate
 as I was. I will never enjoy the heat and humidity even though I've lived here longer
 than any other place. . . . . . . forty very hot and humid Summers.

Today I'm not doing much, just being lazy in the heat with threatening rain
 and thunderstorms which usually arrive late afternoon.
The sun has decided to hide in the cloud cover - it's the kind of day to stay 
home. . . . . . . . I think I'll bake scones, or a cake with some fresh peaches 
eyeing me from a bowl on the kitchen island.

Just realized, this is definitely a very 'green post'.

Scribble Picnic. . . . . . . . . . . . . Dot and line

. . . . . . . .be creative with a black dot and a straight line!

Oh gosh, for a non-artist like me today's challenge 'thrown out' by our

 creative host Michael was really difficult. I searched through many, and

 I mean MANY, of my own photos and couldn't come up with anything to turn

 into a meaningful sketch. I was about give up and then thought

 'stick figure' - anyone can turn one into something made up of a black dot

 and a straight line.

My husband loves baseball. Each Summer he returns to his home town

to meet up with his brother for baseball and beers for a few days.

He'll be off to lovely cooler, greener, New Hampshire next week, enjoying

brotherly pursuits . . . . .and I'll be happy knowing he's happy. . . . . and I 

don't have to cook dinner for a few unbearable hot nights. 

Wine and cheese anyone!

SCRIBBLE PICNIC continues to bring out the best in our 

wonderful artists - do go visit Michael's blog today and see what

they've come up with.

Pesto for Summer dishes..............................

I'm literally wilting as our upstairs air conditioning is on the blink and we are

 expecting another 95F day - pray the fix-it guys show up as promised or the

very hot weekend will be miserable.

However the basil is growing like wildfire!

 With the heat of the sun, and the addition of a few good heavy rain

 showers thrown in late in the day, I could almost make pesto daily now -

and those cucumbers from my neighbor's patch are non-stop - looks like

 more chilled gazpacho is on the menu tonight!

My first pesto of the season was so good!

Served over a short pasta shape which soaked up the sauce perfectly, 

it only required an additional grating of Parmigiano-Reggiano plus a

 twist of the pepper mill. . . . . . . .and Italy was in my bowl!

Dessert that evening was the simple French fresh plum cake. . . . . . 

. . . . . . . .beautiful colors, easy foods to prepare, delicious to eat.

Nothing is really more enjoyable than eating at home for me.

Stay calm and don't breathe in . . . . . . . . . .

Kitchen windowsill blooms from the garden.

Not much is looking fresh and sparkly around the cottage this morning. . . . . . . .

and it's about to get worse as the sanding of the bathroom walls and ceiling, which

 had to be refinished after stripping wallpaper and removing the popcorn, 

takes place this morning prior to painting.

George and his wife are good workers - staying until 5:30 pm yesterday, 

and arriving on time this morning at 8:30 am - that's always a plus

in my book!

I'm expecting a good result and it will be wonderful getting rid of the dark

 wood trim and having fresh paint everywhere. When they are finished, 

we'll be getting prepared for the installation of the new vanity/basin top on

 Thursday, lovely new faucets, and the new glass shower doors will be made

 and installed later. 

Thanks for the good wishes yesterday. I wonder why we put ourselves

 through these often stressful scenarios around our homes, don't you?  

The crumbling and cobwebbed mansion of the doomed hermit, Miss Havisham,

 in Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations comes to mind - and I guess I

 prefer not to leave my home, sometime down the road of life, in such a state!

See you here tomorrow for Michael's weekly online art fest, Scribble Picnic -

visit now and join us, we'd love to have you. This week's theme is fun -

Grandfather Clock.

Late to the hanging party?

When there's a hanging to be done I think perhaps I've been stuck in 

the Bulldog picture hook era. I have a ton of them in every size, and the holes in

 the walls to prove it! Now apparently there are other ways to hang, affix, stick and

 display wall paraphernalia, so when I decided to hang a vintage 'blackboard' tray on

 a piece of kitchen furniture I went in search of a new way which would not require

 drills, hammers, or making holes. Plus this option promises that if you want to

 remove the item it peels off leaving the furniture undamaged, hopefully.

So, when granddaughter Jasmin stopped by and left the sweet 'Love you💙' 

message on the blackboard (I love surprises like that) which at that time was

 propped up on the kitchen counter, I realized it needed to be hung where we

 could actually use it more easily for messages, menus and such.

This method of hanging is made by Velcro - yes the original Velcro

fastener company with an interesting history you can read about here. 

I bought the HANGables at Home Depot and just 10 minutes after 

arriving home, with no need to lug the heavy toolbox out of storage,

had the tray hanging. You just affix the easy peel tabs (4 in the package)

to the corners and press to the surface. As this size hangs up to 12 lbs

of weight it will be great for just anything I put on my walls.

The tray seems securely attached and I have no fear it will fall.

Have you used this 'hanging system'? 

If so, what do you think, and have your items remained on your walls?

Roses from the shade garden. . . . . . . . . . . .

I pruned my climbing New Dawn rose on the back fence down

to the ground last year. It was out of control, an overgrown mess, and

 not blooming much at all the past several years. 

The neighbor behind us planted a small southern magnolia tree a

 few years ago. It has already matured into a 30 foot giant, leaf dropping

 monster, and cuts out the sunshine to my sweet, delicate pink rose. 

After so much rain last week the rose is blooming anew and growing taller. 

 I'm now having to tie it up on the fence again and I'm so pleased knowing it still
 has the will to climb and bloom despite being in what is now a shade garden.

I cut a few roses for the kitchen window sill to enjoy these last few days before
leaving on my trip. Outside this window is a large variegated privet - now in
 full bloom also - the white flowers look like snow.

If you grow roses, remember they love full sun.

I sure wish that huge magnolia had never been planted.
Fences make great neighbors - messy trees above them do not!

Leap Day and early Spring mornings. . . . .

I enjoy posting a seasonal something or other on the refrigerator. Usually it's a tear sheet from a magazine, and almost always it will be from UK Country Living. . . . . because I think it's one of the very best magazines out there!

Today I decided to display this page again because it's one of my favorites for Spring.

The mornings are looking brighter since last week's damaging storm front passed through, and over the weekend I cut the first few daffodils for the kitchen window. Healthy looking green leaves are shooting up everywhere since those heavy rains, even in the window box - though I can't recall just which bulbs I planted there . . . . . a senior moment, but a surprise to come! I did run outside before the rains came and sprinkled a lot of bulb fertilizer where I planted in Fall, looks like it's paying off. Hopefully I'll soon be cutting more blooms to enjoy in the cottage.

Don't have many spare/bare walls remaining to display

 art so the refrigerator door comes in handy

 and, as you can see, magnets are at the ready.

Happy Leap Day - happy week.

Edited: Thank you all SO MUCH for the outpouring of wonderful comments 

on my ninth blog anniversary post yesterday. I appreciate every kind word.

The Kitchen 'art gallery' ---------------------

I didn't 'stage' my refrigerator for this post - I was just wiping down the door handles 

when it occurred to me that we haven't talked a lot about what we put on those 

big doors! They are a bit like a blank canvas - whether white, bisque 

(such as mine), black or stainless steel. 

I have seen people who turn their doors into photo galleries - their life comes to the 

forefront sharing memories with pictures of everyone who has crossed their path, 

from childhood friends to the latest cute baby of the family.

My doors may not be engaging to those who love overload. I lean more toward one 

major seasonal photo or illustration, surrounded by a changing collection of 'frig 
magnets, many from my travels. 

My favorite thing to display is a page torn from a magazine, most likely the British 
edition of Country Living as they have the most beautiful nature inspired  

articles. I keep folders of these favorite pages for each of the four seasons, 
changing the page every couple of weeks.

I do love to have something handy to write on - reminders, shopping lists etc.
This current magnetic notepad - a gift from my fabulous friend Penny from the 
blog The Comforts of Home - has thick, smooth paper, easy to tear off, and I found
 a bundle of these 'posh' paper wrapped pencils at Anthropologie.
The useful set of magnets with quotes I've had forever.

The current 'gallery' page shows a rustic table and vintage metal chairs illuminated 
by quite lovely chandeliers. Food, wine, candles, and urns with blooming 
paperwhites cover the table. The overall feeling is one of a warm place to sit and 
enjoy the Winter days in the kitchen or dining room. 
The French-style fleur-de-lis magnets are perfect for securing this page to the door.