A Walk

Would you like to go for a walk with me this morning? I don't have a lovely woods to walk in, but I'm sure we'll find something of interest. This is my usual route; along this sidewalk here beside the elementary school. It doesn't look too exciting, does it? But let's look more carefully....look up there. It's a beehive in the oak tree.




And over there is a cedar waxwing. And look there on that shrub - three spiderwebs.

This bottle brush is blooming. And look at those tracks in the mud along the creek. Racoon maybe? And those pine cones are pretty.

And look at how the sun shines through the turning leaves. Beautiful, isn't it? There's beauty all around us, sometimes we just have to look a little to find it. Ahhhh..... the beauty of nature.

And the beauty

of

a

GARGAGE SALE! And now the beauty of a place to rest after my walk here Amongst The Oaks.

The English Home magazine

Sophie Honeysuckle suggested we compare this magazine and today seemed like a good time to do that. I had to take Teen1 to school by 6am to catch the bus to a Band Review. It's still dark and chilly outside, so let's sit here in the Library by the fire and have tea whilst we peruse it, shall we?

Here's the cover; an old stone hall with a huge Christmas tree.

Then there is an article about Mount Edgecombe Farm. Gorgeous Tudor styling with dark beams and huge fireplaces. So cozy.

I like these Elements of Style pages. Oh look! There's a plaid blanket like I've laid our tea on. And I love those Cologne and Cotton table cloths.

Then there's this article on a Georgian gentleman's residence. I like that arrangement on their mantle. I have a magnolia tree out front. Maybe I'll try that this Christmas.

Oooooo.... I seriously want a pine dresser, but don't know where I would put it. There's just no room in my kitchen for something that large.

Then there's an article on a home in Shaftesbury. It has these chairs in the kitchen. I'd love to have four of those in my kitchen, but I'll never find them here in California.

Then there's this article on creating a comfortable sitting room. My sitting room seems to be a gaming room lately since Teen2 has her Wii set up in there. Perhaps it's time to reclaim it!

Then there's this fun article on vintage luggage.

And a section of seasonal activities; Christmas markets, Victorian parades, skating rinks, Trafalgar Square's huge Christmas tree.

And finally, one of my favorite features, a designer talks about his or her own home. I wasn't so keen on Roger Oates stye, but in October Harriet Scott was featured and I loved her style.

Well, it's light outside now, we've finished our tea, so it's time for a walk. Thanks for joining me and I hope you enjoyed our version of The English Home.

Hints of Fall

The air is hazy here Amongst The Oaks and yesterday it was actually a little foggy in the morning. It's starting to feel like fall now. The squirrels feel it; they are busy gathering nuts and storing them away. When we moved here 10 years ago, we never saw any squirrels but now they seem to be everywhere; scampering and chattering in the oaks, racing across the telephone wires, digging in the garden. Like the squirrels, I'm planning fall meals; chili and cornbread, meatloaf and scalloped potatoes, pot roast, homemade soup, apple and pumpkin pies. Good old comfort food.

The leaves have started to slowly drift down, it will be like that until we have a good storm, then they will really start to pile up. And we'll rake them up every week, only to do it again the next week; and the next week; and the next week. Until sometime in February when the trees finally stop dropping them down. I guess when you reach their age, you do everything slowly and gracefully.

So here we are, hunkering down, watching the squirrels, eating comfort food, and contemplating raking, here Amongst The Oaks.

Kitchen Favorites

I spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen Saturday cleaning and puttering. We remodeled it about a year ago and I'm still thrilled with it. My favorite thing is the mantel over the range. It hides the exhaust fan, a light and two spice cupboards on the sides. And it just looks sooo English. I changed the plates on it to something more Fallish and I kept the wheat from the Oktoberfest party, but removed the blue bows.

My next favorite thing is my sink. Now why would a girl get excited about a sink? Because it's huge! When we brought it home Teen2 said, "That's not a sink, that's a bath tub!" But seriously I had some dinky thing before and well maybe I went a bit overboard, but I still love it. Here it is with my mop bucket in it. And here's that same mop bucket in a standard size kitchen sink. It is rather large, isn't it?

Here's some other stuff I love about my kitchen;

my doggie doorstop, the old red telephone that came with the house, irregular red tiles.

After all that work I felt like I needed a little lunch, so I made a salad to match my kitchen. Bon appetit!

Jacob's Ladder

The smell of ozone hung heavy in the air. It was silent except for the crackling and popping of a Jacobs Ladder, its flames dancing up the wires. Bent over the table in the center of the chamber was a figure like none I'd ever seen before. Tall, thin and wearing a filthy lab coat and bloody gloves he was working feverishly with a saw........

I promised I'd show you our Jacob's Ladder so here it is. (It's those two bits of white flame between the pumpkins.) Let me explain how it is made. In our business we use transformers to excite the neon in outdoor signs. The transformer turns 120 volts into 12,000 volts causing the electricity to jump quite a distance. So by taking an old transformer, attaching some coat hanger wire to the leads and bending them close together, then up and slightly further apart we can cause the current to zig zag its way up the wires just like Frankenstein's lab. THIS IS DANGEROUS! If you make one, NEVER leave it unattended, use in well a ventilated area, unplug it and allow it to cool every half hour, and NEVER let anyone touch it. In fact, don't even get close to it while it's on. It's my idea of a really cool Halloween decoration: spooky, dangerous and a touch of weird science.

P.S.

Here is Teen2's costume. She is Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist.

Faux Painting

I'm just so faux sometimes. I like everything to look old, but of course everything in my house is sort of new, so I just faux paint stuff. Like these light fixtures from Home Depot. They were shiny black and so new. By the way, those spider webs are not poor housekeeping, they are Halloween decorations. Anyway, I just sponged on some dark grey, medium grey and blueish grey, and there you go, instant age.


And our address sign was all clean and new before I got to it. Now is has lichen and dirt and looks just perfect. Actually I think some of that is dirt and green stuff that falls off the oak trees.


I faux paint furniture too. This is our chalkboard in the kitchen. Hubby made the frame out of some bland wood and I made it look like ancient pine. First I scratched it with an ice pick and poked some worm holes in it. Then I wiped on different shades of brown, gold, and yellow. Finally I used some Ralph Lauren antiquing glaze, and put a coat of wax over it. I really does look old, doesn't it?

This is a wall in our Library. The photo doesn't do it justice. I actually looks like leather. First we painted the walls a deep red. Then we used the antiquing glaze again and working in small sections, applied Saran wrap to the wet glaze. After patting it into the paint, we peeled it off and it left this gorgeous mottled pattern. I just love the irregularity and depth of this technique.

I also faux painted this little castle/fort in our backyard. The girls played in it a lot when they were younger, but now High School is taking them in different directions.

And when we first bought this house, the kitchen had horrid wallpaper, so I just painted it all off white, drew 9"x 18" stone blocks, and sponged on some grey, beige, tan, and white, painted the cracks with dark grey, and we suddenly had stone walls. It's a little dark in this photo, and the kitchen has since been all redone, but I really enjoyed it for a few years.

So here's my theory: If life hands you tatty wallpaper, faux paint it!

Groceries

We like to eat, really we do, but we just may have to give it up. I just got back from the grocery store and I spent $236.89! And this is all I have to show for it. What could have cost so much? It couldn't have been these vegetables.

Maybe it was all this meat?

This stuff? Ohhhhh, maybe it was this bag, but Wednesday is Halloween and we needed candy, and uh, we needed champagne?

Oh wow, maybe it was this stuff.

Look at that! It looks like an ad for Dreyers.

But the good part is I won't have to go to the store for a whole week. And the root cellar is stocked.

And all this rubbish was cleared out.

And the pantry shelves are full.

And we're ready for Halloween here Amongst The Oaks.

Dishes

I promised I'd show you some of my dishes, so last night I played with table settings. These are my very first dishes ever; Noritake Parkridge. You know, the "wedding gift dishes". I remember going to Pardini's when I was only 18 and selecting these, wondering where and when and with whom these fancy dishes would ever be used. But here they are many meals and 34 years later, still loved and used.





These dishes, Spode's Tower Pink, belonged to Hubby's Nana. The whole family enjoys them, not only for their beauty, but for the stories associated with them. One favorite is when Nana was tired after dinner and asked her husband to wash up. He said, "Fine" and proceeded to throw all the dishes away, breaking several. That old school male chauvinist was never asked to wash up again! Luckily plates were found to replace the broken ones.





Here are the dishes I selected for our sailboat Tilly Whim. It was a beautiful 1947 Laurent Giles designed sloop that we lived aboard for a couple of years BC (before children). We painted it cream colored with green trim and mahogany cabins. These Mikasa Capistrano dishes looked lovely on the little table and proved to be tough enough to take the constant bashing. I still use them in the fall.












These are plain white with a little gold rim. They can be dressed up or down and are very versatile. Here they are dressed up for a fancy fall dinner. You saw them two weeks ago at the Oktoberfest dressed down for outdoor dining.










I got these Johnson Brothers Summer Chintz at an estate sale. My sister has some of these and I had always admired them, so when I saw them I snapped them up a quickly as I could;they were only $30.00. They have a few chips, but I don't mind. I especially like the square salad plates and little square cereal bowls. I think these will go in the guest house when it's finished.







These Noritake Grandeur came from an estate sale too. They are so delicate and beautiful I just couldn't pass them up. Alas, I don't have a full set and they are no longer manufactured, but they are available on Ebay.

I got these especially for my mother's birthday parties. Her birthday was February 14th and I always did pink and white with roses. I can't look at these dishes without thinking of my Mom.

These are my Christmas Eve/Boxing Day soup bowls. We always have a luminary party on Christmas Eve, and soup allows me to join in the festivities outdoors, so I got these at Target one year. I saw the plates there last week and I think I'll get those this year too. Oops, there goes my dishaholism again.









These are my everyday dishes from World Market. They have lots of colors so they look equally good on green, red or yellow tablecloths. We don't have any serving pieces though, so we use different platters. Which we collect. Too many of. Oops, there I go again! I'll have to show you those now, won't I?


If you've slogged all the way through this, I sincerely thank you. Aha! You must be a dishaholic too!