A Fanciful Twist

Happy Thanksgiving ♥

Thanksgiving eve...

A perfect time to get out all those collected old things...

Whilst feeling deeply thankful in those quiet baking and cooking moments.

When extra good warm thoughts swirl about.

I gave away several of my big beloved fairy tale pumpkins, with a card on how to roast them tied on.

I decided not to be pumpkin greedy.

You see, I can be really pumpkin greedy.

But I knew there were others out there.

Others I had waited to collect for Thanksgiving.

A sort of thankfulness ritual in it all.

My thankfulness cup runneth over in so many ways.

Endlessly.

Too many to take today at once.

Even though I took many.

Before the first freeze they have to come in.

But for now, for now we roast.

Fairy tale pumpkins are amongst the best best best for eating.

(Yes, there are fresh green babies still popping up, it's unreal, I don't think they will make it in time though, before winter.)

Fairy tale pumpkins are not very fibrous or stringy.

And, oh so orange, you gasp at first sight of the flesh.

Your hands get stained orange as you cut it up, it's wonderful.

Did I mention they are candy sweet?

To roast just cut in big wedges.

Put foil on a cookie sheet with rim edges, or a shallow roasting pan.

Place pumpkin on foil lined sheet face down.

Pour a cup of water into the baking pan around the pumpkins.

Then bake for 1 hour at 375' F, or until tender.

Cool for an hour, then scoop off the flesh from the skin, and puree for baking or soup.

You can also cut up the raw pumpkin in pieces and cook into your own dishes.

(like I did with the rice and kale)

I roasted mine for pies and breads.

Meanwhile our big guy was roasting, I went to check out today's loot.

It's almost over.

Pumpkin season was good wasn't it?

Funny enough, it was the first year I just turned on irrigation and sprinklers and let the garden mostly do its own thing.

I didn't really have a choice.

Thankfully, the garden was okay without me 24/7.

A good lesson.

Boy, I had sooo many lessons this year.

And I learned.

So much.

By the by, as I was looking at the pumpkins the sky began to turn pink.

That beautiful pink over snow dusted mountains.

I collected some rosemary to place around the chandelier.

I loooove that scent.

I dug into old trunks for family heirlooms.

I love using old loved items for Thanksgiving.

I found a table cloth that fit swell, made by my very beloved grandmother ages ago.

When she was just a girl.

I adore the little edging.

I ran out and tried to get some pics of the boys with the pumpkins before I brought them in.

That was not a hit :)

No one was game, so I have about 40 weird pics.

Haha!

Autumn sun.

Autumn eyes.

His eyes are so dark in the shade, and so caramel in the sun.

It got dark so fast.

So, I decided to get ahead of myself for once.

Maybe do all my baking and chopping.

Maybe have less to do on Thanksgiving day, what a concept?

:)

Roast, puree, strain.

Bake.

I love Thanksgiving day.

The warmth in the heart.

The scent of the season.

Pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake.

I asked Mister Lovee which one he wanted.

His reply?

Can I have one of each?

My reply, of course.

So, the dessert is done.

The potatoes are cooked and just need butter, milk and mashing tomorrow.

2 pumpkin breads are in the oven.

In the a.m. I will work on stuffing/dressing, veggies and turkey.

I look forward to it so.

(late night pics)

I see every single day as a gift.

I am thankful for every breath.

Every laugh.

Every moment.

Life is fleeting, and there is no time to waste.

Every moment is a chance to love, laugh, be.

 

I read something a woman wrote, I am not sure where?

Can't recall.

But she said, "I would decorate for the holidays even if I was the last living person on earth."

And I thought, YES!

Agreed!

Doing nice things, like decorating for holidays, or even for no reason at all is grand.

It can be applied to every single day.

It's the point of doing things for yourself.

For the joy it brings.

Even just setting a nice table.

There doesn't have to be a reason, except that it makes us happy.

Sharing it with others is just a bonus.

That's the type of thinking that motivates me to try to live my life to the fullest every day.

 

To do things, just because they make us happy.

Whatever it may be.

I think that type of outlook shows our thankfulness to be alive.

 

I am thankful for sooo many things.

Big, small, tiny, microscopic, enormous, huge, furry too.

 

I am thankful for here.

For you being out there.

For being like minded, and taking the time to stop in from time to time.

 

Happy Thanksgiving, it's a beautiful day.

 

Much love to all my friends out there, even the quiet ones.

Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not...

Happiest Thanksgiving wishes!!

 

Much Love, Vanessa

 

 

ps:  Since the boys refused to pose for a Thanksgiving portrait...

What better than them in their very best, in a piece of art?

Isn't it fantastic?

Matty and Miles in art, hooray!

This is a piece by Kimberly Wlassak of Gerushia's New World.

She makes wonderful art, and by the by, she is having a fab black friday sale.

You can visit her shop here.

(can you believe it, her work is not digital at all, all hand done)

♥

 

Fall Days...

Fall days are really happening aren't they?

It gets cooler, darker, winds start to blow the yellow leaves off the trees and vines.

Blankets get thicker.

Sock drawers get opened (yay, I love socks).

And doodling in bed at night becomes a priority.

(the silver pen I used disappeared in photos)

But not before stealing a treat or two from the garden.

Candy sweet oranges and doodling by golden night light.

So good.

Magazines and doodle pages stack up in bed.

Oh oh, if you happen to take a peek at the November 2013 issue of Romantic Homes...

You'll see my tomato cage tree which gets dolled up for the holidays.

I had forgotten about it, and was just fa-la-la-ing my way through the issue, when I let out an oooooh! 

And scared everyone around me.

Haha!

It's such a great issue, choc full of wonderful holiday decor ideas.

Yumm.

If you happen to spy some of my goodies for sale in Plaid Parasol.Com ads in some of the Beckett Media magazines, it is because I paired up with them in late summer to carry some of my goodies in their new online store front.

I have had great fun with that, and working with everyone behind the scenes has been so awesome.

Such fun, I tell ya.

But where was I?

Ah yes, doodling.

Are you still doodling???

I sleep so well after doodling, I should do it more often.

You?

My blog posts have been such a menagerie of stuff lately haven't they?

It's like, no focus, just a bunch of mumble jumble :)

But it's a confusing time you see, when fall thinks it's spring, and winter wants to warn it is on the way.

The desert is all kookoo.

With fresh roses enough to cut and enjoy.

And ever so fragrant, dizzyingly fragrant.

I love all the colors of autumn.

The pumpkins and pomegranates, quince and oranges.

By the by, the quince hit the boiling sugar water.

What a scent.

And now...

Now there is jam.

I took a hot jar down the road in the dark, with only the moon to guide me, to one of my neighbors.  Such a nice man, with a spunky dog.

Thick lush leaves are saying adios.

And yes, throughout the garden there are still pumpkins.

I must bring them all in once and for all.

Over the domed garden below there was this massive fairy tale pumpkin that we removed a month ago.  But now, I see there are two more.

I am not sure our dome will ever recover, haha.

It is sinking in the center with the heaviness of the growers snuggling up there.

But hey, we got pumpkin love.

There is much muchness of cuddling going on in this fall season we are in.

(okay, yes, there is always cuddling going on)

Sleepy glazed over eyes.

3 cute boys.

I am craving puppies.

Bundles and baskets of puppies.

Sigh.

Or a big Maine Coon cat.

(Why do I have to be allergic to cats and bunnies?  It's so wrong, hives and wheezing.  Too sad)

Alas, we are so well adjusted and happy as is.

No sense in rocking the fur boat, right?

Right?

;)

Here is a common question.

Why do I cut my head off in photos?

Because I am squishy squinched faced behind the lens all the time.

Sooo unbecoming I say :)

Here's one of a recent pic that got the head chop, ha!

Oh oh oh.

Something gooood.

I made chicken milanese for the first time.

It was UNREAL.

I used this as a basic recipe.

The chicken was sooo moist and amazing.

But for spices added to the panko I used garlic powder, salt and lemon pepper.

Changed it up a little.

Then I went out in the garden with my flash light and took some cherry tomatoes, red pepper and arugula.  The goodies are still producing.  I need to bring in some basil before it all goes to seed.  I stop pruning it and let it begin going to seed in October.

Arugula is the gift that keeps on giving.

Plus, it self seeds like mad, and gives you spicy buttery leaves all the time, winter, spring or summer.

For now we are savoring the finish line of last minute flowers...

And pumpkins for 2013.

This one has quite the long stem, isn't it grand?

How did it get to be the end of November?

I just don't know.

It's all too weird for me to comprehend.

This thing of fleeting time.

So, instead I just live in the moment.

Day by curious day.

You?

 

OH!!  I almost forgot.

I just used a random number generator to find the princess pincushion winner.

It gave me #15.

I take my own comments out of the equation, which makes Kim of Gerushia'as New World #15!!!

Kim, you won you won!  ♥

 

Well, off I go for now.

I have to run around the yard making sure everything is put away, as a storm is brewing.

Coming in to knock the leaves off the trees and bushes that sleep in winter.

Eeeeeks!

 

See you soooon!

 

Love, V

 

 

ps:

I know I have posted this before.

But, I am listening to it now, and it's such a good feeling.

Autumn and leaves and dreams...

Strings, puppets, believing, dancing, harmonica goodness...

 

Halloween Beckons...

I can't believe it, I just can't.

Halloween looms, it's here, it's so near.

Thank you for the extra fun last minute annual Halloween party.

I looooved visiting everyone!

Although, somehow when leaving a comment on a newspaper website, I got signed up for google+ and now everything I do is under google plus.  So if I visited you under google+ I have no clue how that happened or how to sign out :)

It was such good fun.

Wasn't the masked man freaky?

He turned up with the masks without me knowing, we all got a fright.

Pups included, haha.

But now, here we are, the eve of Halloween.

It came too soon, too soon.

I panic with the time fluttering by so quickly.

Wowie.

I have been doing soooo many things around here.

Truth be told, for about 8 days I have been doing major refreshers around here.

Painting (of the wall and ceiling variety), fluffing, rearranging this and that.

Washing curtains, having cable guys move cables.

You know, all that sort of house stuff.

You know how you move a painting, and realize you need to paint the wall behind it?

And then all of a sudden you realize you need to paint another wall, and then another, and then another, and then another?  And all of a sudden you snowball into major home stuff?

That's what happened to me.

Also, the garden calls us.

It's bitter sweet you know, seeing the change.

It has been cool in the evenings, low 80's during the day.

Some plants think it's spring, others know, it's time to say good-bye.

The pups and I head out to check on things.

I am still bringing in pumpkins.

There are so many more than I realized.

I have not even started taking pumpkins off of the domed garden area.

There are dozens and dozens there.

And, I won't take this guy below until Thanksgiving maybe?

Unless we get some really random cold that is.

I am only taking the guys on really dry vines these days.

It's such an autumnal ritual for me now.

I am one of those people who needs full holiday immersion.

As I get older, it gets harder to feel engulfed in seasons in the way I neeeeeeed.

But the garden helps me with that in a major way.

Thank goodness, for my sanities sake, for pumpkins.

We pass some huge flowering morning glories...

On our way to the back, where the veggie garden is located.

I can't believe there are still pumpkins growing new and fresh.

Crazy Arizona warmth makes it possible.

There are over 40 of the little guys below.

And boy, they are hard as rocks.

I think they will last for a very long time without going soft.

Last year I bought one tiny pumpkin for 70 cents that had a HUGE long stem.

I couldn't pass it up because of the stem.

I used the seeds this year outside the domed garden area, and they took off like crazy, and made ever so many babies.  It's unreal.  I love that sort of nature magic.

There are some below.

The dance of dry and green is happening in every way.

The basil is hanging on.

And there are hundreds of tomatillos happening.

When you walk through the garden you get that wonderful buzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Bees everywhere during this fall spring in the desert.

It's wonderful.

I love seeing the growing things thinking it's spring.

Now we go into the large enclosed garden, to take a bunch of punkins that grew in there.

All those marigolds self seeded.

I love them so, they smell sweet and lovely.

I used some of these pumpkins on the porch and others for Halloween party fun.

So many shapes and sizes.

Gotta love those pumpkin creatures.

I roast and puree most of them, and freeze the puree for baking and making all winter, and spring and summer, until there are more.

Off we go through the front garden...

It's flower power goodness right now.

I just sit out there in the warm sun and chilly breeze.

Butterflies and bees fluttering around.

Dogs wrestling.

Thinking about things I want to paint and make.

And, I am in my own heaven.

I love my little world so.

Simple, perfectly imperfect.

It fills me up.

I can't explain it.

But now...

Now we must infuse with pumpkin love.

Are you sick of the pumpkins yet??

;)

I love all the varieties that turned up.

Pie Pumpkins, fairy tale, cinderella (rouge vif d'entampes), jack be littles, and a few mid size every day jack-o-lantern styles, to name a few.

We set them up here and there.

I have to confess, I am a bit late for Halloween decorating.

(although I did decorate my front gate a couple weeks ago)

Horse needs a ribbon.

I intend to do it up a little more today.

And plan a creepy meal for dinner tomorrow.

With all my little (and huge) pumpkins lined up for the occasion.

Someone needs a costume.

I don't know why?

I just LOVE autumn and halloween times.

There is a magic in it for me.

You too?

Memories of goodness.

The scent of a candle inside a carved pumpkin makes my knees weak.

I think of being so excited as a kid, dressing up.

All the adults would dress up too.

We would make caramel and candy apples.

And carve pumpkins.

There were festivals, and costume contests.

Everyone dressed up for school.

It was one day of dress up heaven for me.

Sparkles and cackles galore.

The sights and scents with me, tucked into my heart forever.

So wonderful.

Also...

I think the pumpkin king over did himself at my house this year.

Wasn't he extra kind as kind can be?

Truth be told.

Regarding Halloween...

I loooove the old fashionedness of it, and I love the commercialness of it.

(is that a word?)

Commerciality?

It's true, I can't lie.

But, the thing is...

I love seeing all the Halloween junk in the stores.

I looked forward to it.

I love bags of candy with names I have seen my whole life.

I love hearing witch cackles from creepy battery powered dolls in the drug store.

I love scary movies (even though I cover my face) and haunted houses.

 I love over decorated lawns, glittered faces and plastic pumpkins for trick or treating.

I love fog machines, and over crowded Halloween stores.

I love pumpkins and changing leaves and apple picking.

I love twinkling lights and chilly nights.

I love bon fires and hay rides.

And halloween make-up that won't wash off.

I love black and orange mixed together.

And I love how all the candy corn gets gobbled up in my house by a man with the sweetest tooth ever.

I love it all.

What can I say?

That's just me.

What about you??

 

 

Halloween, I love you.

:)

 

 

 

ps:  Does anyone know how to take a dark sap stain out of white carpet?

I am desperate, I have tried a bunch of things, and nothing will work.

Tips?

 

Unquestionably Autumn...

It is undoubtedly, unquestionably, autumn in Southern Arizona.

The autumn light is here, the air has shifted.

The scent, the coolness.

Warm days, chilly nights.

A second spring emerges like clock work...

Hello tallest marigolds.

It gets so hot here during summer, that flowers pull back a little.

Only to reawaken as October sets in.

But that sun, that dusty amber sun says it all, doesn't it?

I took waaaay too many photos.

I was just so amused at the shift, how it's nice to be outside now.

How the heat has lifted and you don't explode into fireworks like a vampire in the Arizona heat anymore.  Until next summer that is ;)

How just like that, the weather became that glorious weather that we are known for in autumn and winter.

Little petals know it.

Zinnias...

And, dinner-plate dahlias below.

So many pumpkins crushing the enclosed garden.

I stopped counting at 40.

Most of them little guys with long stems, love em.

Just when I thought the big fairy tale pumpkins were done, a whole new wave of them are growing.

Green and young.

The two toned marigolds turn up just as they always do.

And bees come back in droves, enjoying all the new blooms.

Especially the flowering basil.

Wonder what their honey tastes like?

The vegetable garden is embarrassingly overgrown.

Mister Lovee got rid of a bunch of garden brush for me.

We added it to our too big heap.

We have a brush trailer in our yard being filled up.

We have a stellar helper, and are on load 5 or 6.

Eeek!

The colors are exquisite.

The cosmos grew huge all summer and are finally flowering.

Worth the wait for sure, such a fuchsia.

The setting sun, in its golden glow, highlights everything.

Flowers grew in the vegetable garden this year.

Self seeded gobs of them.

The pumpkin vines begin to dry out.

Autumn leads the way.

I stroll about.

Watching the change.

Always amazed, another year, another season...

Just in time for spookiness, Mister Lovee brings home a desert find.

Bones.

Huge bones.

I watch the sun set, colors on flowers in the front garden hovering, swaying.

Flowers turning up in the cool.

Smart, aren't they?

The setting sun dances through leaves like orbs.

I love autumn.

We wait and wait and wait for autumn.

And then we try to capture as much of it as we can.

But always, feeling like sand is pouring through our fingers.

Enchanted by autumnal goodness.

Bewitched by its gifts.

And its light.

Its crispness, the memories it ignites.

Yes, it is autumn.

For sure, and for real.

In Southern Arizona, leaves are very slowly thinking about turning.

But the light tells us, fall is here.

The scent of fragrant wood burning last night.

We made a small fire (two nights in a row), mesquite wood smelled like floral incense to me.

I sat and watched Mister Lovee fill the brush trailer full.

Stomping to make room.

The dogs ran around playing, coming over to me and putting their little chins on my lap.

Me, feeling grateful.

Learning so much about life, how we fear too much.

And believe too little.

The journey more important that the destination they say?

More true everyday.

We put on sweatshirts, and grab dinner.

Dust in car headlights.

Life in deep breaths.

Autumn in all its goodness.

 

What does your autumn feel like?

Smell like?

Fresh breaths of early morning air?

Crackling fire?

 

Love, V

 

 

 

ps:  Putting finishing touches on your Halloween invite, to be posted in a day or so.

The most last minute party ever ever ever.

I just got carried away going on ever so many thriftventures this week.

Sitting in great big chairs in Cost Plus World Market, contemplating a table runner with birds.

Buying more toasted seaweed.

Watching Pier 1 explode with Halloween meets Christmas.

(it was like Disneyland in there, I had not been inside in so many years it's not funny)

Buying a rug.

Seat Cushions.

Tidying things up in the living room.

Catching up with a life that got away from me for almost 2 years.

And yet, I pushed through it all, all that time.

Darn, that's crazy cakes.

So much time to feel less than good with chronic pain.

I feel like I have been freed from some curse.

It's good.

It's so good.

I am going here and there, and everywhere.

Out to wonderful dinners with Mister, and shopping, and seeing friends.

I even went on client appointments with him.

I met the plumpest most gorgeous cavalier king charles spaniel, his name is Cuz.

Then I met the most beautiful faced dog I have ever met, ever.

He was a pomeranian named Mickey Mouth :)

Adopted after being rescued  from the desert by a couple who swore they would never get another dog again after having to say good-bye to the last one.

After such broken hearts, there they were smiling big with their little furry son Mickey, melting hearts all over Petco.  Renewed joy.  Gotta love it.  Amazing how furs can mend you up just like that.

I looked at snakes and mice and turtles.

I spoke to a kitty that turned on its back and looked at me upside down.

I put on lots of mascara whilst humming.

I drove to see a dear friend who always is an angel.

I visited a little church I love so.

And, I watched the vast desert landscape turn to sunset as I sped past the Biosphere.

So you see, I got a tinge carried away having quite a time of it.

But still...

Life is goooood.

Ain't it?