I had seen it online, and thought it was a good idea, but when I saw it in person, I was impressed! I looked it up again today, and saw that there was a giveaway going on until the 30th.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Regency Dress Designer
Yesterday, a friend at church showed me her "Design your own Regency Dress" kit she ordered from here.
I had seen it online, and thought it was a good idea, but when I saw it in person, I was impressed! I looked it up again today, and saw that there was a giveaway going on until the 30th.
Had I more time yesterday, I would have "borrowed" the kit for the afternoon, as my friend kindly offered, and doodled my way to pretty dress happiness!
I had seen it online, and thought it was a good idea, but when I saw it in person, I was impressed! I looked it up again today, and saw that there was a giveaway going on until the 30th.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Bookcase of the Month
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sunday Salad and Home Sweet Home
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The garden is beginning to yield some springtime veggies, and we have been enjoying peas straight off the vine, and loads of lettuce. The heat waves of July and August have made a lot of our lettuce bitter, but it truly does help to put the lettuce in the refrigerator for a day or two to make it taste better. I wanted to harvest as much as I could before it started to bolt, so I have been going out and getting a dish-pan full every few days.
I cut the lettuce off at the base (new lettuce will start to grow, just in time for Autumn), bring it in and rinse it off. I lay a clean dishtowel in my dish drainer, and as I rinse the lettuce I lay it in the drainer. Then when I am all done rinsing, I put the lettuce in gallon zip-top bags, and store them in the fridge. When I want a salad, it is very convenient to pull a bag out to start one.
Today we had a huge delicious salad, with some produce from the garden, some from the store. We actually harvested 3 small red tomatoes! If we have an Indian summer (and if the rabbits stay away for a while), we will have beans, cucumbers and enough tomatoes to make salsa. I am grateful for what we are getting out of our garden; and though the harvest came on very slow this year, at least we don't have to be canning excess produce in the heat!
Every head of lettuce I bring in saves about $1.50-$2.00, since we only planted Butter lettuce this year. That alone makes me feel rich.
Potato Digging in the Kitchen Garden
Giclee Print
Small, William
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RECIPES:
The combination of veggies that we found tasty for a light Sunday lunch:
Buttercrunch Lettuce (several heads), torn into bite-sized pieces
Cauliflower cut into small bite-sized pieces
Peas (you could use frozen thawed peas, but it tastes best to use fresh raw peas from the garden!)
Sliced small tomatoes
Sliced radishes
Chopped avocados
Fresh cooked bacon, cut into bits
Roasted unsalted sunflower seeds
Dried cranberries
The salad dressing is adapted from a recipe given to me, and I used what I had on hand. The person who gave it to me was unable to remember the source, but since I put in all the substitutes I had on hand, it may as well be a different recipe altogether!
Buttermilk Dressing:
1 Cup Buttermilk
1/2 and 1 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 or more Tbsp. fresh chopped chives (or green onions)
Dash onion powder
2 Tablespoons dried cilantro
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar (or lemon juice)
Dash or two of salt
Today I was thinking of the song, "Home, Sweet Home." The few times I have heard it (other than when I have played it on the piano from old sheet music) it has been in the background of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The song is really charming, it is a pity that it has been reduced to loony tunes!
I like old sheet music, because it often has more than one verse to a familiar song. Not many people can sing the other verses to our national anthem, of which there are four, and I suppose not many have ever seen the other four verses to Home Sweet Home. The words were written by John Howard Payne in the 1820's. A introduction in my old sheet music says "Payne's mother died when he was thirteen, and after that the author of the world's home song never knew what it meant to have a home of his own."
'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,
Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home;
There's no place like home! There's no place like home!
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An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain,
Oh! give me my lowly thatche'd cottage again;
The birds singing gaily, that came at my call,
Give me them, with the peace of mind, dearer than all!
Home, home, sweet, sweet home;
There's no place like home! There's no place like home!
I gaze on the moon as I tread the drear wild,
And feel that my mother now thinks of her child,
As she looks on that moon from our own cottage door,
Thro' the wood-bine whose fragrance shall cheer me no more.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home;
There's no place like home! There's no place like home!
How sweet 'tis to sit 'neath a fond father's smile,
And the caress of a mother to soothe and beguile;
Let others delight 'mid new pleasures to roam,
But give me, oh! give me the pleasures of home.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home;
There's no place like home! There's no place like home!
To thee I'll return, overburden'd with care,
The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there;
No more from that cottage again will I roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home;
There's no place like home! There's no place like home!
-John Howard Payne
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Proverbs 3:1-4
Click to enlarge. Then save and print as you like for postcards or to frame. I've done several color backgrounds below as well. I'm told by my dressmaker that my computer has way-off colors, so I offer my apologies if that proves true when you print these out!
Graphic from Karen's Whimsy.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Proverbs 3:5-6
Here is another scripture for you, this time using a graphic of antique wallpaper that I believe came from Graphics Fairy, with text added over it. I am doing a bit of experimenting trying to find a way to save this for the web, and make the text readable at the same time. Click to enlarge and then you can save & print it out for your home. In your printer program, you can also print it out post-card size to mail, or make a fold-over card.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Scripture
Above: The many greens of the forest.
Below: A decorative Scripture card with ferns.
The above scripture card was made using vintage images from Bible story books, the Picasa photo program, and children's markers.
First, I saved the scripture I wanted, and changed it to "sepia" in Picasa.
When you print something out from the Picasa photo program, you can choose to print a border with it, in any color and width. Next, I chose a light green for the border and printed the scripture. Then I used many different green markers from the children's art box to color over the print.
This scripture is hung on a tin board from Victorian Trading Co, using a butterfly magnet. It would be equally nice framed, or even taped to a mirror or wall!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Garden View
I was thrilled when an adventurous tree climber decided to take a picture of my garden, "from the air." It is exciting to see it looking as I had hoped, like the garden plan.