Babies First Lilacs

'...and these are lilacs.'

There is nothing more wonderful than Spring's first lilacs. 

Except maybe sharing them with the babies for the first time.

'Aren't they pretty...'

Blossoming Orchards

The orchards are in bloom. 

This pear orchard is adjacent to our property. I took these pictures last spring. It's one of my favorite orchards to visit not only because they are our neighbor, but because the trees are old and offer the most captivating canopy of blossoms, which eventually unfold into leaves, and then to fruit.

I can already smell summer.

This is a favorite barn of mine. It's tucked away behind the pear trees just pleading to be explored.

Have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!

Pickets and Tulips

So far, I've only planted a small handful of bulbs in the yard. Every year I say that I will plant hundreds, yet every year slips by me. This year...

Hopefully, this post will inspire me to follow through. There's nothing lovelier than the elegant welcome of these lovely ladies at our gate. This variety is from Van Bloem Gardens and is called 'Triumph.' 

The Grape Vines

When we bought our house, the old Concord grape vines were a bit overgrown like the rest of the property. 

It took a little of this (Hubby dusting off the weed whacker)... 

And a little of that (Hubby pushing the mower around). 

It took some good pruning... 

And finally, some summer sunshine. 

At the end of a hot summer day, it's a nice spot to sit back and watch the vines grow. 

Some of Hubby's pickings from last fall. 

Peony

I was going through some of my old photographs and came across this picture. It's a picture I took of a small bouquet of peonies last spring. 

The peonies have been pushing their way through the soggy soil this past week and it's made me very excited. 

Peonies, hydrangeas, roses...I xoxo you summer. 

Limelight Dreams

The dining patio is beginning to stir after months of wintry stillness. 

Thanks to the few hours of sunshine we're getting between the spring rains, the Limelight Hydrangea are budding. 

  It's hard to believe that those little buds will grow into such large fluffy blossoms. 

The dining patio becomes a Limelight oasis by mid-summer. 

As the late summer nights begin to cool, the Limelight blossoms fade to a soft pink.

Happy hydrangea dreams to you!

Spring

If there comes a little thaw, 

Still the air is chill and raw, 

Here and there a patch of snow, 

Dirtier than the ground below, 

Dribbles down a marshy flood; 

Ankle-deep you stick in mud 

In the meadows while you sing, 

"This is Spring." 

-Christopher Pearce Cranch 

I just love the imagery of in the meadows while you sing. 

HAPPY SPRING! 

xo

The Green Winter

Winter came early this year. But it seems that Old Man Winter used up his snowflakes all at once because it's looking a lot like spring around here. In fact, things are so green that we've been graced with our first show of flowers.  

I caught sight of them from our bedroom window and still in my nightgown, decided to go outside and give them a proper welcome. 

Here's a small bouquet that I brought inside. For such little flowers, they have an amazingly strong fragrance. It's a fragrance very similar to that of gardenias.    

Here they are smiling after being in the warm house for a few hours. My friend Catherine told us that they are called  Snowdrops and bloom in early spring.  

Welcome sweet little Snowdrops. 

The Last of the Roses

Despite the evening frosts, two little brave roses continued to blossom in the garden. All of their friends had gone to sleep days ago. There they stood, together, through the dark cold nights, awaiting the warmth of the next sunrise.

I took them in hopes of extending their last few days of soft beauty and heavenly fragrance.

This variety is called New Dawn, which are wonderful climbers. I planted two along our picket fence and a third grows on a trellis near the dining patio.

xo

Concord Grapes

I waddled out to the grape vines with Hubby early this morning. I had to lean over quite a bit to find my boots in the beautiful autumn confetti.

The grapes are finally ripe after several months of hot summer sunshine and crisp fall air.

While Hubby searched through the curly vines for bright purple clusters, I documented our fall harvest tradition with photographs (which is another way of saying, I watched).

We only picked a colander's worth because we plan on making smoothies with them in the blender. Our plan to make wine and jam...well, it will have to wait until next year. We're using all of our extra time to prepare for the babies.

But the grapes freeze really well. I pluck them from their stems, wash and lay them out to dry. When dry, I put them in zip lock freezer bags and freeze them. They're easy to dip into for smoothies throughout the year.

Nesting Instincts

My nesting instincts have always been quite strong. Even as far back as my teenage years, I can remember devouring the pages of Colonial Home and Victoria magazines. And let me just say that I had the biggest crush on Steve Thomas from This Old House.

Many years later and seven months pregnant, my nesting instincts are as strong as ever. Not only do they motivate me to create a lovely nursery for our little ones, but they propel me to organize the house from top to bottom!

In fact, my Mom's visit this past week was centered around feathering our nest (with tasks organized on paper in my favorite form - a 'to do' list).

The list included tasks such as organizing our coat closet...

...Trading summer coats for fall and winter, and filling baskets with scarves and mittens.

We also mopped the kitchen floor, ran a few errands, and of course, worked on finishing up the last details of the nursery.

Here's my Mom working on one of our nursery projects. Together, we accomplished so much! Now just waiting for a few little things to arrive in the mail.

Another one of our tasks was to gather the rest of the pumpkins from the garden before the first frost. We put a few on the mantle and stored the rest.

This is where we got our pumpkins last year.

Heirloom Tomatoes

Thanks to our recent warm Indian summer days, we're finally able to pick some of our heirloom tomatoes. The tomatoes have been drastically behind this year due to the cool early summer. But the autumn sun has helped nudge these voluptuous fruits to ripeness.

The basil is done growing for the season. I made lots of pesto through the summer which we happily enjoyed with pasta, pizza (in place of tomato sauce), and sandwiches much like the one shown above. So in place of pesto, I've been using sliced avocado instead.

The recipe includes: a crusty loaf of organic whole wheat bread, a sweet tomato, organic avocado and organic provolone cheese. I toast the bread first, then add avocado, tomato and cheese and bake it in the oven for a few minutes until cheese has melted.

It's the perfect way to eat a fresh picked tomato on a beautiful fall day.

Fall Hydrangea

Our cool rainy weekend prompted me to clip a bouquet of fall hydrangeas. I call them 'fall' hydrangeas because by this time of year their white and cream summer hues have aged into vibrant pink and fuscia.

Their color turns before the leaves of the deciduous trees, so they provide the first glimpse of the landscape bidding farewell to summer and embracing the crisp cool air of autumn.

This is the season in which I feel the least guilty making bouquets of hydrangeas for the house. All summer long I watch them grow and blossom, but can't seem to find the nerve to make bouquets without guilt. This time of year I know that they're winding down and may enjoy the comfort of a warm house.

I often tell Hubby to compose photos so that my face isn't in the picture. This is due to simple shyness (something I don't tolerate with Hubby obviously). As you can see, I'm in my usual country bumpkin attire...warm sweater, jeans and one of my last maternity shirts that still fits!

Pumpkin Goodness

Two fresh pumpkins were plucked from the garden in order to make our pumpkin soup.

They were cut in half and their pulp and seeds scooped out.

I separated the seeds from the pulp, washed them thoroughly and roasted them. To do so, I spread them on a cookie sheet covered in Canola spray and sprinkled them with salt. After 10 minutes at 325 degrees, I stirred them again and baked them for an additional 10 minutes until nicely toasted.

Roasted pumpkin seeds are delicious and some of the most nutritious seeds around. Ours didn't last long.

To make the soup, I took the pumpkin halves and placed them face down in a dish to bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Once they cooled, I scooped out the pumpkin and pureed it until smooth.

Here's the pumpkin soup recipe we used...

3 cups organic pureed pumpkin

3 cups scalded organic milk

1 TB organic butter

1 TB organic flour

2 TB organic brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

Heat the above ingredients in a saucepan and serve.

This was the easiest and healthiest pumpkin soup recipe I found (no heavy cream). It came from the Joy of Cooking, although I made some adjustments. Also, to make it all the more healthy, I used as many organic ingredients as possible.

YUM.

A Country Field

We enjoyed a few glimpses of blue sky between the late summer rains we had over this past weekend. This field is down the road from us and as you can see, the deciduous trees are still green but they're beginning to fade ever so slightly...I do believe that fall is in the air.

Country Roses and Guest Blogging

As summer fades with each passing day, I find myself savoring the last of the roses. I will miss them come fall, but they're like an old friend that I know I'll gladly see again.

Today I'm doing a guest post over at Raenovate! Rachel is away on a Cape Cod camping trip and she asked me to do a 'before' and 'after' post on our dining room. In fact, Rachel invited me to do this a couple of months ago so I have her to thank for helping to motivate us to finish the last details of the room. There's nothing like a fast approaching deadline to keep you on target!