A Fanciful Twist

Autumn Air & Magazine Winners

It's happening isn't it?

It's in the air, that wonderful crispness.

Cold at night, hot at noon.

Blanket chilly at midnight, sleeping with windows open.

Pumpkins hanging around, all 4 somehow making it.

I've never had so many pumpkins on a vine.

I'm not sure what's going on but there are about 15 out there.

I've never seen 4 in a row.

And all I did was take seeds out of a rotting white jack-be-little from last year and plunked them in a huge pot.

Granted it had fresh amazing compost soil, so that could have been it.

But I think it's magic seeds for sure.

We are all loving the weather.

The boys are in heaven.

Not roasting to death in their little furry costumes anymore.

I've been all over the place.

Visiting with visitors from Ireland, adding new cards to the shop.

Bathing dogs.

Trying to organize my life.

The last year I've taken a ton of time for myself.

Everyday hikes, lots of play time and shopping and refueling.

Enjoying the heck out of life.

I love watching the butterflies.

I find I have this pattern where I go non stop doing things for 8 years and then all of a sudden one day I take a year off.

I did it 8 years ago and now again in 2016.

I really really needed some back to the real world time.

I didn't even know I needed it until I had a chance encounter with someone special in May of 2015.

That kind of jolted me out of the rabbit hole and into the world.

It's been so much fun.

But now I feel the shift again, where I am so refueled I can get back to my art and blogging more often again.

Although I have been painting a bit throughout the year.

I have a place in the city where I can go to and paint so I'm not always a country house hermit.

Thanks to Mister Lovee who tends my gardens and watches the boys.

I can go out and live a bunch.

Have some freedom.

It's been amazing.

Lots of changes and lots of the sames.

But all good stuff.

And somehow it's autumn again.

Just a few days away.

I don't live in time anymore I've noticed.

I don't care about my age or time.

I just live and try to enjoy the moment.

Not always easy, but we have to try.

Pumpkin blossoms and garden spells are swirling up.

A fresh new season, how exciting is that?

The madness of the next 3 months is overwhelming, but I love it.

I just takes lots of deep breaths and plunge.

I love the ups and downs of life.

The twists and turns and the beauty of it all.

Thanks for being here.

There.

Kindred friends.

It's always delightful meeting up with you.

See ya sooner than the last time.

 

Love, V

 

 

 

 

ps:  The winners of the magazine (I picked up 4 to gift away) are...

(chosen by random number generator)

#3 Laura's Favorite things!

#19 Dawn the Bohemian!

#17 Laura, Dogsmom!

#12 Cyndie Crow Brown!!

 

Okay friends, just email me your snail mail addresses and I will pop your magazines in the mail.

(VanessaValencia@aol.com)

Thank you everyone who joined in the fun!!  <3 <3 <3

 

 

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Peach Picking Season

Hi there friends!

The seasons are shifting it seems.

I can feel it in the air.

Spring brought us these beautiful blooms.

And in an amazing act of nature...

They turn into fruit.

Peach heaven.

Time to pick my peaches!

Never ever ever ceases to amaze me.

The way that works.

Bloom to fruit magic.

Garden magic for certain.

Incredible things happen everyday.

I had a handful of pics to share of june bugs covering our peaches.

Leaving them hanging bare with slimey pits and dripping guts.

But then I thought, why Vanessa why?

Just forget those.

Spare your friends the nashtieness.

And so I bring you the bunch that survived.

Not an easy task, covering them and checking them one by one for weeks.

Giant agave can't even protect them.

So with our peach treasures we had trays of...

Buttery brown sugar turned to toffee crunch topping peach crisp.

The best peach crisp to date.

Which is hard to believe since it's pretty darned good every year.

I never measure.

I just go, one handful brown sugar, two handfuls oats, one stick butter, etc. etc.

The alchemy was just perfect this peach season for some reason.

Gorgeous things, aren't they?

I wasn't a huge peach lover until I had my own, from this very old rickety tree that was waiting for me, on this curious plot of earth.

A few roses are turning up more and more as the nights really cool down up here.

Oh summer.

You torturous wonderful thing in the land of heat and sun.

Sluuurrrpppping peaches in the garden.

Swinging from the garden swing.

Under a peach sunset.

Simple living.

Simply wonderful.

How are you out there in the world?

I know I always say I'm busy, but darn, I really am.

My days just pass like nothing.

Blink, it's another day.

I wake up early, go hiking, tend garden and then my day starts to spiral away.

It was a very eventful week with car issues and internet issues that all ended great.

There was some stellar shopping and good decaf latte's.

I've also been designing new treasures for the shop.

Can you tell the weather is starting to change a little?

I know I know, I'm obsessed with the weather.

You tend to act like that when you live inside of a burning coal :-)

I sure can tell though, I know I said that already, but it's so exciting!

It's all just PEACHY!!

;-)

 

xoxo

 

 

 

ps:

Miley's buzzed forehead is growing back.

So, he decided to model with his kitschy crazy cat painting.

Which is bigger in person than it appears, since he is closer to the camera and looks bigger.

Thanks for all the painting laughs!

I knew we were all still kindred.

And for those who wondered...

Yes the painting is signed, Hemmings.

Interesting that someone threw it out onto the street.

And then went through all these channels to finally arrive in my hands.

Poor thing, it cleaned up well and is currently roaming from place to place in my house, haha!

Where in the heck am I gonna put this thing??!!

Haaaa!

Beware of what you wish for.

 Will any of my crazy finds ever turn out to be some rare thing worth billions?!

:-)

Have you ever seen that movie/docu, Who the Bleep is Jackson Pollock?

Here's a link about it....

And here's an amazon link...

I saw it a long time ago and loved it.

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Summery Refreshments {Watermelon Martini}

Happy Summer!

It's hot hot hot, and watermelon is so hitting the spot.

I was recently at a Greek place sipping a watermelon cocktail and thought...

I must concoct a watermelon refreshment of my own.

And so, I set out to do just that.

There are two things I'd like to say before I tell you how I made this summery treat.

First of all, you can omit the booze altogether and it's still great.

Secondly, I'm more of a baker than a cocktail maker.

So, I opted not to go hunt out all my city house cocktail making gear in a box somewhere.

(yep, it's all still in a box somewhere in a country shed all these years later)

Instead, we will be measuring in teaspoons and tablespoons and half cups.

Rather than ounces and such, haha!

Baker, cocktail maker, ok here we go...

So basically, this is a very low alcohol content watermelon martini.

I'll share a full ingredient/recipe list at the end.

What you'll find are the measurements for one martini.

You can increase the mixture accordingly.

I started by taking about 3-4 cups of fresh watermelon and mashing it up a little with a whisk.

Once it was a watery mash up...

I pushed it gently through a wire mesh sieve, to extract all the juice that I could.

Voila!

Fresh watermelon juice.

This gave me about 1.5 cups of watermelon juice, but of course it depends on how juicy your watermelon is.

Have a nice big glass of fresh ice ready, as you will pour all the ingredients over ice.

This will chill your cocktail perfectly before you serve.

To my glass of ice I added, half a cup of fresh watermelon juice.

One teaspoon of Midori, which is a melon liqueur.

I got it at my regular ole grocery store.

Then add one teaspoon of vodka (your choice brand).

And finally, one tablespoon of cranberry juice for color and tang.

Stir it all together and then...

Pour it right into your martini glass.

(strain it in with no ice)

Filled my glass just perfectly.

If you'd like you can add a few drops of lime, but taste first because the lime does change it a little.

It's so fresh and yummy.

Then you can slice some watermelon wedges to garnish your glass.

I am telling you, you might get hooked.

They are so fresh and light as air.

Sip standing by your mantle.

Sip sitting on your porch.

Sip in the tub, on the couch, in the rain, in the sun.

Sip in pure bliss.

They are so goooood.

Fresh as can be.

Omit the booze and you just have a dandy fruit drink.

There you go.

Isn't that kind of fun?

I sure had a ball creating my own version of this cocktail.

I must have drank about 5, oops!

It's oh so hot, so it really hit the spot.

 

Watermelon Martini

Makes one drink

1/2 cup fresh watermelon juice

1 tsp Midori

1 tsp vodka

1 tablspn cranberry juice

Few drops of lime (optional)

 

Pour ingredients over ice and stir.

Strain into martini glass.

Garnish with a wedge of watermelon.

♥

 

 

 In other news...

I think I have the mad tea party worked out in my mind.

Now to execute it in a week, oh myyyyy!!

 

How are you out there?

Is it hot, is it cold?

Is it winter is it summer?

The desert is hot as hot can be with a big scoop of hot on top of that.

Oh yahhh ;-)

Can't wait to see how mad tea setup goes.

My motto will be...

I'm meltiiiinggggg!

Wrong story, oh well.

Haha!

 

Happy weekend wishes to you♥

 

I'll be back soon, clink clink!!

 

xoxo,

Vanessa

 

 

 

 

Of Sunny Days & Ruffled Petals

Hello my friends!

The sunniest days of the year are upon us.

The taste of warm breeze and petal air swirls madly.

The first round of roses has gone as a second starts to turn up.

Hollyhocks and cosmos jump in just in time.

We've had the most scrumptious evenings.

It's been downright chilly at night in the desert and very warm in the day.

Perfect chaise lounge weather for tanning legs and reading novels at sunset.

The rabbits tried to obliterate the hollyhocks so I made open top cages and voila.

The hollyhocks are saved.

Precious paper ruffled heirlooms.

Love them so.

Tea party season is on my mind.

I'm coming up with dates and ideas.

The veggie garden was gobbled again this year.

However, the tomatoes are okay so far.

There must be about a hundred out there, yippeeee!

And up go the fairytale pumpkin vines.

I lost them last year to javelinas breaking in.

These are the last of my own seeds from my 6 or 7 times pumpkin grandbabies.

Fingers crossed that they don't get munched!

We watch and wait and let cherry tomatoes burst in our mouths.

There is nothing like the flavor of a fresh organic tomato right out of the garden.

Flavor like no other.

And so, now we enjoy the garden shift from spring to summer.

So much to do, so much to do.

I've been major spring cleaning.

Shipping out the creatures from the last post with lots of love.

Painting, spending a couple days a week in the city.

Just changing my scenery up, antiquing, going to cafes.

It's great, I love it.

I love the reboot by escaping the country here and there.

It's sooooo important to do things you love from time to time.

I love the country solitude, I need that too.

So, I'm feeling lucky I've been doing both, finding that balance.

I need my antiquing & junking, and most shops are dog friendly.

The one thing is though, I have so much stuff, that now I just enjoy looking and only buy something that I might find utterly spectacular.

Miley (golden) comes with me.

Matty (brown dog) is too mean and doesn't like people so I can't take him.

But Miley is a joy to all and loves on every single person he can.

I adore Matty soooo much, I wish that he was easier for his own good.

Breaks my heart really.

But he is who he is, and we let him be his weird little self.

He's happiest in his little world, guarding his kingdom.

The hatter and him go out for burgers, wrestle, play wild dog games a lot, and bonus, have the same personality so all is well with the world, hahaha!

I'm glad they hold down the fort so Miley and I can go play.

Miley had a bath today, what a job!

But he looks crazy handsome, just in time for a nice outing.

Now I'm just babbling nonsense.

 

So, I'll say, have a fabulous weekend!!

 

3 days of fun, wooo hoooo!

Be safe.

See you soon.

 

Love, Vanessa