Friday's Quote - Picasso

If I don't have red, I use blue.

-Pablo Picasso

Happy Birthday Shel Silverstein

Weird-Bird

Birds are flyin' south for winter.
Here's the Weird-Bird headin' north,
Wings a-flappin', beak a-chatterin',
Cold head bobbin' back 'n' forth.
He says, "It's not that I like ice
Or freezin' winds and snowy ground.
It's just sometimes it's kind of nice
To be the only bird in town."

-Shel Silverstein

Tis the Season to Air Out

I awoke to a slightly overcast morning with a crisp, dry wind blowing from the lake and decided it was the perfect day for airing out everything I could drag out the door. Couch cushions, pillows, table cloths, throw rugs, winter coats etc. etc. are draped all over outside to catch some fresh air for the day.

No Febreeze for me! :) I'll take the real thing.

Cranberry-Cider Spiced Tea

California may have passed Wisconsin in dairy production, but we're still the lead grower of cranberries! Cranberry recipes abound around here, and this is one of my favorites.


Cranberry-Cider Spiced Tea

8 orange spice teabags
4 c. boiling water
2 c. unsweetened cranberry juice
2 c. apple cider
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
4-inch cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
1/2 t. ground ginger (sometimes I leave this out, depending on my mood!)
Garnish: orange slices

In a large saucepan, place teabags in boiling water; steep for 3 to 5 minutes. Disgard teabags; add cranberry juice, cider, brown sugar and spices. Heat almost to boiling, stir until sugar dissolves. Take a moment to smell "the cozy". Strain tea to remove whole spices. Pour into teacups (I'm more of a "mug" girl, myself!) ; garnish with orange slices. This recipe makes 8 comforting servings.

Happy Autumn!

I was a child not much given to philosophical speculation, but the fact that my family, which doesn't do much traveling, would drive a hundred miles to see trees in autumn foliage made a big impression. I got the message even then that these trees, these colors, these smells and sounds, these ceremonies of passage, were important."
-Ann Zwinger

Summer's loss seems little, dear, on days like these.

- Ernest Dowson

The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.
- Henry Beston

Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable...the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown along the street by a gusty wind, and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese.

- Hal Borland

Gladys Taber Ushers in Autumn

I've really been neglecting my blog lately! This is certainly because of the start of the school year for my children and all that goes with it. We're also just getting over bad colds which always seem to come home with the kids the second week of school.

I've had a little trouble letting go of summer this year, mainly because of the family having to return to our regimented days. As usual, I turn to my dear Gladys for encouragment of the transition to autumn...


- At the end of the swamp, a narrow road turns right to the house. The giant sugar maples that surround it are spreading a deep green canopy above the slant roof and I look up at them and tell them that the first swamp maple is turning. Whether they believe me or not, I do not know. They are inscrutable. They are also very independent. Sometimes the biggest one at the corner of the yard will be summer green while the one back where the barn burned is flaming with glory. Why?
Weather conditions are the same for all of them, one is no more sheltered that another, and they are the same age, judging by their size. I like to think one tree decides to keep summer a bit longer and one impetuously responds to the tide of oncoming autumn. Trees are not remotely like people, but I reflect that I know some people who have never let summer go and others who begin to think winter thoughts in July. Perhaps it is all temperament.
After summer's work is over, there is an interval before autumn chores begin. What better time to follow some winding country road?
-Gladys Taber, Stillmeadow Calendar

This week's quote - Little Women

I felt this with my mother, and I can only hope that my children feel the same way as they go off to school.

They always looked back before turning the corner, for their mother was always at the window to nod and smile, and wave her hand at them. Somehow it seemed as if they couldn't have got through the day without that, for whatever their mood might be, the last glimpse of that motherly face was sure to affect them like sunshine.

Louisa May Alcott, from Little Women