Jenny Wren's

It's Possible!

2012-02-16T16:14:00.002Z

"It's possible for a plain yellow pumpkin to become a golden carriage!"

If you know the lines to that song, than you know one of the sweetest Rodgers & Hammerstein shows that ever was. We are on our Winter break this week and while I was busy in the house cleaning, I flipped on the TV and saw that "Cinderella" was on and I just had to sit down and watch it.

I can still remember the first time I saw this on TV when I was little sitting in front of the set with my footed pj's on, I was mesmerized. Just as my parent's were when they would tell me about the first time they saw it and what a really big deal it was, for something like that to come on TV. It still holds as much magic for me now as it did then. There is such an air of nostalgia around it; the colors of the costumes and the set design, it is beautiful.

I adore when they put something so sweet and wholesome on television during the school breaks, something you could sit down and watch with your children while you work on an art project, something that will make them think and not just "talk" to them, that uses intelligent language and no slang. In my own little corner in my own little room, this was the perfect thing on TV to take a break to today. Well, back to work...

A Bonsai Tree House

2012-02-15T20:16:00.001Z

Maybe it is because I am a child of the 80's, I grew up watching the Karate Kid and seeing Mr. Miyagi carefully tend to his bonsai trees, or maybe it is because I love all things miniature, or maybe the answer is simply because gardening is in my blood and I have a thing for trees, but the art of bonsai has always fascinated me.

I spotted these today while reading one of my favorite artsy blogs, Colossal. I think they are unbelievably beautiful, artful, imaginative and if I was the size of Goose Girl & Foxy they would be the perfect little hideaway.

Created through a variety of materials they come out of the imagination of Japanese artist Takanori Aiba. Who has combined his talent and knowledge of labyrinth design and architecture to manipulate the trees and bring these scenes to life.

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T07:30:00.000Z

Wishing you all a very Happy Valentine's Day! Jennifer ♥

The Giant Valentine's Day Round-Up!

2012-02-13T09:23:00.000Z

I truly love all Holidays. Christmas more than any other holiday holds a truly special place in my heart. But, the magic of Valentine's is something special and I don't think you particularly need a Valentine to spend it with, it can be a bunch of friends, a close family member, even just little old Y-O-U. It is about celebrating love and that can be love in whatever form it comes in.

I also love Valentine's day, because it is a chance to decorate again, I decorate my house for every holiday you see. After taking down my Christmas decorations (Shh! Mine aren't all down yet, don't tell anyone, but I still need my twinkle lights up) and the emptiness that your house feels, it is nice to have a chance to fill it up again with the air of festivities, bustling about in the form of pink and white and red.

Below are some Valentine ideas for you, some from things I have come across on Pinterest, others from some of my favorite blogs. Enjoy! (click on the images to be taken to the relevant site, all images copyright, their respective owners)

Cooking:

Serena of the Farm Chicks has created the most adorable cookie flags to decorate your valentine treats. Adorable for classroom party cupcakes!

Jenny has made a lobster mac-n-cheese for a more grown-up Valentine dinner! YUM!

Delicious with a cup of tea, the lovely Susan Branch has made heart shaped orange and chocolate tea biscuits, a lovely way to start the day with your sweetheart over your favorite cuppa.

Sweetopia, shows you how to decorate these adorable Paris inspired cookies! Amour!

Making:

The Purl Bee does it again with these rose clips. Very sweet for a little Valentine's hair all dressed up for a party.

Create Valentine Day Crackers with Not Martha! A fun idea to decorate your table with.

Eat Drink Chic created invitations for a Valentine Couch Picnic, an inventive way to spend the evening in, a stack of movies and plenty of delicious snacks to share with your sweetie!

Decorating:

Hand dye your own ribbon to decorate your Valentine's gifts with. A romantic touch for the boy or girl in your life.

While looking into each other's eyes you can sip your Valentine's Day punch through decorated straws. What is it about pink and red and white that just shouts happiness?

Writing on the Wall #39

2012-02-12T08:18:00.002Z

(Image Found)

Snow

2012-02-10T19:03:00.000Z

There is snow on the ground tonight, a full moon in the heavens and the air is bitterly cold. So, this evening I think I shall curl up with a cup of hot chocolate, look at my twinkle lights glisten, listen to some music and just be. Have a lovely weekend...

(Image from The Sweetest Occasion)

Making My Day A Little Better

2012-02-08T19:59:00.002Z

This has been a long week! This has been a long Winter term at school! It feels as if we haven't yet had a chance to just stop and catch our breaths. And I know it just isn't me, everyone I speak to feels like this.

I had dinner with a friend last week and she said she felt as if Christmas was so long ago, but in reality it really wasn't. But so much seems to have happened between now and then. So much seems to be going on constantly in our lives and the world around and that is LIFE, I am fully aware of that, but I am ready to just sit still for a little while and be.

Snow is coming and I am hoping for a few quiet days to just listen to the silence. I was catching up with my Google Reader tonight and I saw this post at Breakfast at Toast, it was called "A little something to get us through the day" and it made me smile.

Yes, somehow seeing this picture just made me smile! I really liked this Superbowl Ad, I made Mr. Michie watch it twice with me, he just smiled as I hit "play" for the second time, he told me he didn't know why I enjoyed it so much, he looks just like that in his boxers and I just smiled back right back at him...

Writing on the Wall #38

2012-02-06T21:56:00.001Z

(Image by Robert Doisneau)

It's Snowing

2012-02-04T17:44:00.002Z

It's just started snowing and I can't wait to go out and play! The flakes are coming down swiftly as the wind blows them around and they are thick and fat. I think it is the perfect hot chocolate, staying warm under a quilt and being cozy kinda weather!

Groundhog Day

2012-02-02T07:27:00.001Z

Can we expect to being moving "in" to Spring today? Or 6 more weeks of Winter? The way it feels outside this morning, I think 6 more weeks of Winter, but we will just have to wait and see what Phil says!

UPDATE: Phil and I agreed! 6 more weeks of Winter! BRRR! I hope I get some snow before this is all over!

Happy Birthday to YOU!

2012-02-01T07:31:00.000Z

YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! I LOVE YOU!

Diving In

2012-01-30T23:40:00.000Z

This week has started out with a bang and so I have dove right in! I am already ready for Friday again!

I went to a friend's house for dinner this evening and Mr. Michie came to pick me up and walk me home on this very frosty night. On our way, we saw a few snow flurries, so I am crossing my fingers, I love snow!

I need just one cozy, drinking hot chocolate, looking at my twinkle lights, staying under my quilt, finally getting to knit or crochet kinda snow days!

The Girl with Seven Horses

2012-01-27T08:19:00.000Z

The Girl with Seven Horses, is a photography series that I have fallen in love with! The imagination to visualize your clothing in such a way that it creates this "believable" object, astounds me. A mitten as a hoof? Adorable!

The horses are all "wearing" her clothes that blew away from her clothesline in a storm and now the girl has gone out searching for them traveling all over to collect her horses. I hope your weekend is as magically adventurous as this story and image series!

To find out more go here.

Writing on the Wall #37

2012-01-25T19:42:00.000Z

(Photograph: Tim Walker Embellishments: J. Michie)

Happy Chinese New Year

2012-01-23T18:17:00.000Z

It is the year of the dragon and we are celebrating by ordering out Chinese food and watching a movie.

Happy Chinese New Year to you all, may the year of the Dragon bring you many fortunes!

(Image Found)

Hippity Hop

2012-01-20T20:51:00.000Z

We are hippity hoppity hopping right in to the weekend and I am so ready for it!

How "Dot" Was Made:

2012-01-19T18:30:00.001Z

I just loved the animation I showed you yesterday. Today, I thought I would share, how it was made.

The cellscope was created by Professor Daniel Fletcher, of UC Berkeley, as a way for doctors and medics working in remote and/or impoverished areas to take photos with the microscope attached, of blood samples and other specimens and be able to send the image via their phone to any medical or science lab in the world for analysis. Pretty cool!

Dot. The making of. from doreymccall on Vimeo.

"Dot" The World's Smallest Animation

2012-01-18T22:40:00.005Z

Who doesn't want to fly on the back of a bumblebee and sail across an ocean of azure colored pencil shavings? This is an adorably sweet and imaginative video! Enjoy:

Dot. The World's smallest stop-motion animation character shot on a Nokia N8 from doreymccall on Vimeo.

The Quiet

2012-01-16T01:10:00.000Z

The weekend has come to a close and I am up working on a project for school. The Holiday is on TV and Mr. Michie is softly snoring away upstairs. My Christmas lights are still twinkling at me, casting a warm glow around the cottage and I am surrounded by quiet. I am happy.

I love this time of night, this time when the world seems just yours to hold. My own magic hour, when I seem to think best. I always understood Jo March, from Little Women, when she felt that her head had such clarity at this time of night to write her novels, I have quite often had some of my best stories pour out of me at this time, or my best work flow through me.

This is my calm before the storm of this school week, a chance to get prepared for what this week will bring. So Good Night to you all as I savor my last little bit of my magic hour before I turn off the lights and tiptoe upstairs to bed, for the beginning of the day will come all to soon.

Writing on the Wall #36

2012-01-14T11:39:00.001Z

(image Found)

Wallpaper Backgrounds for the New Year

2012-01-12T14:03:00.000Z

I like looking at something interesting when I stare at my computer's desktop wallpaper, trying to remember what folder I am looking for. I won't say it is strictly a "girl thing" to desire something that is pleasing to the eye, because I have known Mr. Michie to go for a certain overall "look" on his Macbook as well.

Sometimes it is just a picture I like, sometimes I make my own background, other times a wallpaper created by a favorite artist, but more often than not lately, it is a calendar created by Christiane Engel of Desert Friends:

In case you were looking to freshen up your desktop wallpaper for the new year, I thought I would share some of my favorite choices at the moment with you (the first image also happens to be the cover of a Bon Iver album, which makes me like this picture even more):

Click on the images to be taken to a download link, all images copyright to their respective blogs.

The January Clean-up

2012-01-09T22:25:00.000Z

I have no image for today. I have been under-the-weather this weekend and it has carried through into the week.

I did a little blog "cleaning" over the weekend, there is still a few more things to do. I took away my Christmas designs and went back to the usual "Jenny Wren" look. I have done a little of that in the cottage as well. Things were organized and straightened, a few things put back in order, but still things to be done, it will get done in time.

I celebrated Epiphany on Friday night with a Christmas movie and a cheese pizza, surrounded by the glow of my Christmas lights. They are still up, I can hear you gasp, but I can't bear to take them down yet, it is too dark outside still, I need the coziness inside.

We went into Marylebone on Sunday as Mr. Michie wanted to get me out of the house for a bit and one particular street we wandered down was littered with Christmas trees, all lined up against their coal black railings to be taken away by the bin men.

It made me sad to see. Christmas is over! The seasons change and so with it, do we. I will get around to taking my ornaments down, I have a few paper whites to plant that will bring a little sunshine to the cottage, but that along with my Christmas lights, will just have to wait for the weekend...

The Art of Making Bread

2012-01-07T10:25:00.001Z

I adore Kinfolk magazine and when I saw this film it made me smile. This just makes me want to run in the kitchen, get out my loaf tins and start baking! How about you? There is something very calming and therapeutic about creating bread by hand.

the art of making bread from tiger in a jar on Vimeo.

Writing on the Wall #35

2012-01-05T17:46:00.000Z

Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Keeping it Simple

2012-01-03T20:07:00.002Z

We are keeping it simple as we make our way into this New Year. We went back to school today and I just wasn't ready, I needed one more day to finally sit and just be. We were lucky enough to have my beautiful sister and her sweet husband visit us over Christmas and we just never stopped, we had so much fun, but now I am ready to just rest for a day or two.

We officially started our New Year's resolution last night, inaugurating the event with two brand new mugs that I got in the Emma Bridgewater sale (my sweet sister bought me one, I got Mr. Michie the other: he has the running deer pattern and I have the holly one).

I know that the tea just tasted better out of that new mug, we talked and laughed and ate some chocolate and just "were" for an hour or so, it was a nice way to ease into today. It was as dark as night as we headed to work this morning, the sun didn't rise till well after 8am. It was dark when we left tonight and bitterly cold, so the evening called for something homey.

We came home and I made a breakfast casserole dish that my sister makes, it was wonderful. The perfect way to use up leftovers, an easy and simple meal to make after a long day and it was comforting to boot.

I think we are just going to stay on this path of keeping it simple and quiet as we enter this new month in this new year.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T18:06:00.000Z

Mr. Michie and I are ringing in the New Year and we hope you are as well!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. I hope this year brings many blessings to you all.

Jennifer

The Last Post

2011-12-31T10:59:00.001Z

My last post of this year! I don't know where the year has gone, it seems to go quicker and quicker every year. We have had our ups and downs this year, but we are blessed to have each other, a roof over our heads, food on our table and family who loves us.

I pray that 2012 ushers in blessings for you all and a wonderful new start! Speaking of new starts, I know that many people have already or will be setting resolutions for themselves. I don't go crazy and like Lent, instead of taking away, we try and add something positive in to our daily lives.

One thing we found this year, was that between the very busy schedules we keep at work, that once we were home, we didn't always set aside time for each other until we went to bed, we always talk before we go to sleep. Well, that is something that is changing and no matter how many papers there are to grade or jobs left to finish, we are going to set aside some time for each other every evening.

The way that we are going to do this, is by taking an idea I saw on the Inchmark blog. She and her husband come together every evening over a cup of tea, they either talk, or play a game. We love playing games and usually have something in paper form, i.e. suduko on the go, we also love just to chat to each other. This was their gift to their family this year.

Making sure that other things do not take over and we carve out time for each other every evening is going to be my resolution this year. Because, all that other stuff, is just stuff, it really doesn't matter.

"The note read: After the children are tucked in bed and fast asleep, we take turns boiling the water on the stove and getting out the tea bags. We fill our mugs with hot water and let the tea steep, then stir in a little sugar. Tea takes some time to cool, so we sit and talk at the table while we sip our tea and discuss the business of our family. Sometimes we take the time to play a game. After a busy day, it's just nice to sit down together and talk for a minute. We hope you'll think so too."

(All images and the last paragraph of text is copyright to Inchmark)

The Anatomy of a Christmas Card

2011-12-27T12:47:00.000Z

Last year, due to the general craziness of school, the cottage being painted and other things going on, I never mailed out Christmas cards. Instead I made, "Happy New Year" cards in January and mailed those out. Since we were already being non-traditional, we kept it that way and had our design printed up on postcards with envelopes to mail them in.

I had so much fun doing that, that this year, I decided that I would do it again. I created a design to fit on a postcard and this time I had the help of Mr. Michie, Goose Girl & Foxy.

I gathered up a few of my Christmas items, GiGi & Foxy invited over some gnomes and deer to the party and we got to work.

We set up a green screen, laid down "snow" and set up lighting. It was a regular little photography studio we had going on here.

We posed everyone in different positions, until we found one that would work best, after going through all the proofs, we picked a few images to work with and got going.

Through Photoshop, I extracted out the background, placed in an image we found, that seemed to work in harmony with everything else and adjusted the lighting, placed an overlay on the top, to create a frosty feel and added in a "Merry Christmas" banner, drawn by Mr. Michie.

We designed a back for the postcard as well, with a small Christmas message and a vintage picture of Santa. This was a project I truly enjoyed working on and I can't wait till next year, I already have ideas like sugarplums dancing in my head!!

(My work is my own, please do not use it for your own purposes! Thank you.)

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T11:00:00.000Z

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

Peace & Love,

Jennifer

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

2011-12-24T18:49:00.000Z

This is one of my all time favorite movies and songs. It has been sung by hundreds of people, but there is something about seeing Judy Garland singing it, almost as a lullaby to her little sister in Meet Me In St. Louis.

The nostalgia of another time, the colors of the film, the scarlet red dress she wears to what she believes to be her last dance in St. Louis, it all culminates to create one of the greatest Christmas movie scenes ever.

Wishing you all a very Merry Little Christmas Eve. I hope Santa is good to you!

The Lawrence Welk Show

2011-12-23T07:30:00.000Z

Aah, The Lawrence Welk Show, it conjures up many a childhood memory for me. Now, I am not that old of a woman, I am definitely, I would like to think, way too young to know what this show is, but yet I do. Saturday Night Live has a running skit in which they make fun of it and I laugh harder than I am sure others my age, because I truly get the joke. This was a show I grew up watching.

There is something so wholesome and sweet about the show and when you think back to TV way back then, when this was first aired, what a major thing this was to watch with your family, an entire song and dance show, with a full orchestra, colourful costumes, and huge sets. For many people, I am sure this was truly Hollywood magic, the first time they had ever seen anything like this.

This show was a part of my childhood. Growing up, if we were over at my Grandparent's on a Saturday night for dinner, they would have PBS on, broadcasting a previously aired show and we would all watch it. Going to the beach house in the Summer, my mom and her sister would serenade us good night every evening to the closing theme. As we would lie in bed laughing hysterically.

It somehow gets into your bones this show. You know it is bad when on a Saturday night in College, you are the only person left in your dorm as you work away on a term paper and you turn on Lawrence Welk for company, because it makes you feel closer to home.

It is something, I have even indoctrinated my British husband in to as well. You watch the show and you just have to smile. My family has so many little inside jokes regarding this show, when certain cast members came on stage, I can hear what they would say about them and I can't help myself, I just bust out laughing. My Nana, loved Joe Feeney and every time he would come on, she would mention what a beautiful voice he had, to which my Grandpa would roll his eyes. She would continue to say how many children he had, to which with a glimmer in his eye, my Grandpa would reply that is the only way his wife could get him to be quiet, he would wink at us and my sister and I would just bust out laughing.

You can't fault Lawrence Welk though, you would be hard pressed today to find a show that is not only family based on screen, but one that was the same off the air as well. The holidays specials are always the best, the beehives seem to be taller and the dresses more sparkly, you just gotta love it. As we approach Christmas, I thought I would share with you a little childhood memory. Because if I was home on a Saturday night and this was on the TV, we would all have to watch a few minutes of it, just to share a laugh and a memory. Each episode is such a time capsule of that era and you just have to love Bobby & Cissy dancing around. Enjoy!

Mrs. Moss (Part 2)

2011-12-21T16:04:00.000Z

At times, Alice would also go farther back into her memory and share with me stories from her childhood. Growing up in the South, in the time period she did, there were a lot of mill towns. In some places there still are in the South, though sadly many have closed as cheaper production options have been outsourced. Her family worked at one of the cotton mills in town, they lived in a mill house, in a neighborhood filled with other residents who all worked at the same mill. She and her siblings had chores to do when they would come home and in particular certain chores for each of them that pertained only to Christmas.

They were lucky, Alice said in that they had a screened-in porch off the back of the house, through a door that led out of their kitchen. That became their "extra" fridge in the winter. That always made me smile, as my grandmother would do the same thing on her back porch, using the icy air to keep the pies she had boxed up and ready for the holidays.

Alice's Mother would make a variety of cakes and pies and cookies through the Holiday season starting about 2 weeks out from Christmas. She would leave notes for her children to prepare different ingredients for her, so when she came home from a long day at the mill, she could begin baking after dinner. One of Alice's jobs was to chop up all the nuts and fruits that would be needed.

She would come home from school and go straight to the kitchen. There she would find a list that her Mother had left her and her siblings of their directions for the day. Alice would go to the pantry and collect the bags of nuts that she would need and sitting at the table with a bucket between her knees she would begin to shell her pecans and other nuts that her Mother's recipe required. She always said pecans were her favorite to shell, walnuts were always so fiddly, for her mother wanted them out whole. Biting her lower lip with her brows drawn in concentration on her task, she would always seem to break more than she could flick out in their entirety with the aid of a little metal nut pick.

After shelling everything, she would begin to either roughly or finely chop the nuts, depending on what they would be used for and would place the finished items into bowls and place them on a sideboard. She would often have to fight off her brother from stealing handfuls of her hard-work to munch on while he completed his homework.

In the coming days, she would then turn to working on the fruit. Slowly and surely she would chop up candied and dried pieces of fruit for fruit cakes and cake decorations. When her Mother arrived home from the mill she would check on their progress and see if any more nuts or fruits would need to be prepared for her nightly baking.

Over the coming days her Mother would begin to bake cakes and pies for Christmas. Alice's favorite, was a pecan cake that was a delicious vanilla cake filled with spices and chopped pecans, iced in a buttercream frosting with chopped pecans thrown around the sides of the cake for decoration. I think it was her favorite, because she had the job of "throwing" the pecans onto the sides of the cake. Her Mother would decorate the top with a little piece of holly and a circle of pecans wreathed around it.

All the pies and cakes that were made were stored outside on their screened-in porch along with the country ham that they would collect. That was always a special trip and certain years would include one child, instead of the whole family, getting to ride with their Daddy up to the mountains, to get the ham from a huge farmer's market. It would hang outside in its burlap bag on a hook her Father had fastened into the porch ceiling, until their Mother prepared it for Christmas.

Alice, said nothing was better than that first slice off of the ham, you had waited so long to finally taste, sandwiched between the tender golden flaky discs of a biscuit and smothered in butter. The best part was licking the salt and biscuit crumbs off of your lips!

There are many things that have changed in the South and many that have not. And, that goes for any place. As time moves forward, family memories and traditions are things that we carry with us. As hardworking as her childhood was at times, it was still filled with the sweetness of Christmas.

I could always envision this small child coming home from school in her little plaid slip dress, covered with a sweater, little knee socks and mary jane shoes, a big bow in her hair, running in to her house to see what Christmas jobs awaited her. This small child who grew into a beautiful woman and continued to keep her kind outlook on life, never forgetting the beauty in the little things.

Deck The Halls...

2011-12-20T15:01:00.002Z

Mrs. Moss (Part 1)

2011-12-19T14:30:00.000Z

When I was in High School, I got my first "real" job working at a Department Store in my hometown for the Holidays. Now, I had had jobs before, I had been a "professional" babysitter since I was 13 and had numerous families I worked for on a regular basis, my uncles had a flower shop and I would work for them after school, preparing flowers, helping with arrangements, making wreaths and bows. I would also, occasionally work weekends at my family's farm, in the "shed" selling, depending on the season, peaches, nectarines, apples and fresh apple cider to costumers.

But, this was the first job I had outside of all of that. In fact, it was the same department store, where my Mom worked when she was in High School and I even had the same boss, that she had! I worked in the Children's and Shoe department and would moonlight in China, Cosmetic's and Men's, when someone would be on a break.

I worked with a variety of people, two other High Schoolers like me and in particular two older women. One of them was a very sweet elderly woman who went to my church. Her name was Alice Moss. She always looked just so and had a certain air about her, you wanted to be around Alice to listen to what she had to say. She had the kindest laugh that just made you gravitate toward her direction.

Quite often, she would share stories with me, as we worked alongside each other, of when she was younger. Two of my favourite stories both dealt with Christmas and at two different points in her life.

She began dating her husband in the late 1940's early 1950's. They dated for a little while, but both knew they were deeply in love with one another and they had found what they wanted. He proposed after a few months and Alice accepted. During all of this, her Father had become quite ill and eventually passed away. Her mother was sad beyond words and afraid to be "left" by Alice with her upcoming marriage. She pressured Alice to call of the engagement and stay with her and after enough pressuring Alice finally caved, as she wanted to please her mother.

She broke off their engagement, knowing she could never ask him to wait till her Mother would be ready, because she, herself, didn't know how long that would be. He protested but Alice remained firm, she had to help her Mother and run the household as she asked. A few months went by and any time they would see each other in town, Alice said her heart would skip a beat when she saw him; but nothing had changed, she still had to take care of her Mother.

The holidays came quickly enough that year and with it, Christmas Eve, in all its glory of anticipation and hope. That evening, her brother and his wife picked Alice up to go to church with them. They drove through the snow filled streets, with lights twinkling at them through the frosted window panes of the car as they went along. They drove to a small white church at the foothills of the mountains. A beautiful wreath hung on each of the doors, the red bows on the top of each one gently blowing in the chill of the night air. The glow of candlelight from inside, bathed the walls and open doors and beckoned everyone in. Standing by the door, bundled up in an camel coloured overcoat, hunter green scarf and a fedora hat, stood her former fiance. He took her hand in his and she was breathless, he led her inside the church and her brother and sister-in-law followed.

All through mass she held his hand, not wanting the magic of the moment to disappear, like Cinderella with her pumpkin. At the end of the service everyone filed out of the church wishing each other a "Merry Christmas", but the four of them remained on the pew. The priest came back inside, shaking the snow off his robes as he walked and stood at the altar, giving them a small nod.

Alice's brother slowly turned to her and stated that it is important to love and honour your parent's, but she had found true love and that should not be taken lightly. He and their sister were living their own lives, so should Alice have the right to live her own life. Since their Father had passed away he was now the head of the household and he would not allow their mother to deny Alice the right to happiness, the right to live a life of her own, she was going to be with the man she loved and the man that loved her.

Her husband to be, beamed at her and her sister-in-law pulled out her own wedding veil for Alice to borrow. Stepping to the back of the church she helped her take off the red hat that matched her wool Christmas suit and place the veil in the soft curls of her hair. The lights were turned down, the organist began to quietly play a Christmas hymn and by the glow of candlelight, with her brother and sister-in-law as witnesses, she wed her husband on Christmas Eve, just before the bells chimed midnight.

He was a professor you know, she would say and he took me back to our new home, his former bachelor pad all decorated for Christmas. He carried me over the threshold and we spent our first night as man and wife in that home. That was always how she brought the story to an end. Suddenly the world would come rushing back, for in those minutes it took her to tell me this tale, the world had vanished around me and I could only see this romance of another time and place through Alice's eyes.

Last Day of School

2011-12-16T19:57:00.000Z

Today was the last day of school before the Christmas break! There was snow, it was a half day, Mr. Michie took me out to lunch and now there is cozy Christmas lights on and cuddling on the couch. Oh, the joy of being on vacation! PURE BLISS!

(Painting by Kelly Reemtsen, adapted by J. Michie)

Writing on the Wall #34

2011-12-14T17:40:00.000Z

(Image by Samantha Hahn)

The Christmas Angel

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000Z

When Mr. Michie and I were first married we searched high and low for the perfect angel for our tree. She couldn't be just any old angel, she had to be special. We searched here and there for quite some time and one day, I came across this angel and she spoke to me.

I met the artist who created her out of vintage French millinery items and had handcrafted and painted her face. Claire was a kindred spirit and I knew this angel was supposed to be ours. I asked if she had a name and I was told it was Genevieve, that sealed the deal!

She was nestled into a pink striped box and tied up with a vintage ribbon. So, home she came with me and we have enjoyed taking her out every Christmas. She looks like she could be on top of a Christmas tree in Little Women.

This year, I have put up a smaller tree in the bedroom and so Genevieve is gracing our mantel instead. She looked so pretty in the white wintery light this morning I just had to take a picture of her. Is there a special item that sits atop your tree every year? I'd love to know if there is!

Christmas Pins

2011-12-09T16:27:00.001Z

I am just lovin' Pinterest, it lets me easily share the images I find, with you!

Here are some Christmas images that I have fallen in love with and pinned recently and I thought I would share them with you.

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Christmas Story

2011-12-08T16:40:00.001Z

I saw this adorable Christmas movie last year on the lovely Whatever Blog and I forgot to post it then. I came across it the other day and decided that I just had to share it.

It is truly sweet and just sums up the best of the season! I love that little twinkly star, she has a lot of personality! Enjoy:

A Gift to the Woods

2011-12-06T23:27:00.001Z

On Sunday, Mr. Michie and I took a walk into the woods. We were beginning to deck the halls in the cottage and still had a few pumpkins left over from the Autumnal season.

So, we loaded them up into a basket and carted them off with us. We photographed the beauty of the woods as we walked and I took one last picture of the pumpkins that were ours this season.

Then, Mr. Michie smashed my large pumpkin up and we tucked the chunks into different recesses near the pond, so that the muntjacs, bunnies, squirrels, birds and other woodland creatures would have something delicious to feast on as the weather has turned truly frosty.

P.S. Happy St. Nicholas Day!

It's Beginning to Look...

2011-12-04T11:09:00.001Z

A lot like Christmas at the Michie house! It's Official! We are slowly turning into a Christmas house. Mr. Michie and I went to the tiny grocery store near our house last night, where we go every year to pick out our wreath.

We chose this one last night and I sat on the couch listening to Christmas music and making the gingham bow to go on it. The ribbon was a great find, I have had squirreled away for the past month.

So, this morning we cleaned down the door, and Mr. Michie hung my wreath up for me! It makes the cottage feel more Christmassy just knowing it is on the door!

A Nutcracker Surprise

2011-12-03T09:30:00.001Z

The "Calendar of the Month Club" has created a true cracker for December, a Nutcracker that is!

He looks just adorable jumping out of this box and very festively decorated! What a fun project to make with your little ones!

I hope everyone has a happy weekend, we are going to be baking cookies, listening to Christmas tunes, decorating the house and just enjoying each other's company!

(Download template and directions HERE).

Eglantine, Eglantine!

2011-12-01T17:52:00.001Z

"Eglantine, Eglantine, Oh how you shine!" This little ditty was playing in my head as we carefully hung our Christmas pixie up last night. She was named after Angela Lansbury's character in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Mr. Brown sings this song to her after they go back to the house he has moved into in London. It is one of my favorite movies and it somehow fits this little gal.

This year we decided to fill her elfin sized pockets and hands with candy. I am going first this year, so when Mr. Michie gets in tonight I am going to reach in her pocket and see what surprise awaits me!

I can't believe it is December 1st! Where has this year gone? I want to enjoy and savor this month. The time spent together, the time spent with family, it all goes by too quickly and I want to capture it all in my memory.

Winter Moon

2011-11-28T16:51:00.000Z

I have to say, living in England I find it hard at times to not automatically jump straight into Christmas, once Halloween is over, since they of course do not celebrate Thanksgiving. You'll be happy to know, I do restrain myself, but I still let a few Christmas albums slip in under the wire and I listen to them as I do things about the house. We ate Thanksgiving dinner while the Charlie Brown Christmas album softly played in the background.

A new album that I can't seem to get enough of, is one Mr. Michie bought me. It is Mindy Gledhill's Christmas album, entitled "Winter Moon". It is just a delight to listen to. Her voice beautifully floating out some of my favorite Christmas carols, as well as a new song she wrote the same title as the album. That song, "Winter Moon", has become a favorite! I find myself humming it a lot lately as I work in the cupboard. It is just so happy, so upbeat, who doesn't want to have a stolen kiss in their living room, under the winter moon?

It is like getting to listen to wintry music without it being overly Christmassy. But, now that Thanksgiving is over, we will be in full Christmas mode, we will even put a Christmas CD into the alarm clock to wake up to, crazy, I know! But, I wake up so much happier with Dean Martin filling the morning silence with "It's a Marshmallow World".

The final song on the album is "Winter Moon" replayed, but sung this time with the help of some friends. She has just released the video for it and I thought I would share it with you. Enjoy!

Writing on the Wall #33

2011-11-26T08:13:00.001Z

(Image found here/embellished by J. Michie)

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T17:25:00.001Z

A blessed and joyful Thanksgiving to you all!

(image: Rifle Paper Co.)

Falling Apart

2011-11-21T22:06:00.001Z

This evening after we came home and ate dinner and did the dishes and a few things around the house, I finally had a minute to crash on the couch and get caught up with my Google Reader.

I was going along, reading everything I had missed today and the few things I missed from yesterday. I started from the top today, so I was reading the latest posts first as opposed to starting at the bottom, which makes Mr. Michie laugh, I normally work backwards if I have a lot to catch up on. When I reached the bottom, the last post left to read was from the very beautiful Alicia Paulson of Posie gets Cozy.

I have been reading Alicia's blog for as long as I can remember. I recall when she and Andy announced they were planning on adopting a baby and I thought back to the post I read not all that long ago that their dreams were to finally be realized. Yet unborn, they found a baby girl that seemed destined for them.

My heart beat faster as I read that post. My thoughts and prayers have travelled with them on their journey to parenthood. I eagerly devoured her photographs taken from their train ride, the onesies she knitted in the softest colors for this little being. The room they were getting ready, the plans and dreams they had shared with us for her, for them, for their family.

As I read her latest blog entry my heart sunk. For their dreams were not meant to be at this time. I cannot imagine the loss that they must be feeling, the pieces of their heart that must be scattered to the winds. This sweet little girl was only theirs for a short while before they were forced to give her back.

As we move into the week of Thanksgiving, I ask you to send your prayers and good thoughts their way, because this wonderful couple has truly had the rug pulled out from under them and yet she continues to handle and write about this situation with such grace. I pray that they find peace with what has happened and that another opportunity is just out there waiting for them, a bud ready to blossom.

National Geographic 2011

2011-11-19T17:36:00.001Z

The other night, Mr. Michie showed me some of the photographs that have been entered in this year's National Geographic Photography Competition.

I was astounded by what I saw, and I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you.

I love the image of the Geisha. I find these women and the culture surrounding them to be truly mesmerizing. Even today their existence carries on a tradition that supersedes all the technology we have and the fast pace we seem to constantly be moving in; it still holds that they are just as highly respected and still a truly elite group of women who traverse around Kyoto in all their beauty.

To see more of the photos go HERE.

Gobble! Gobble!

2011-11-18T07:30:00.000Z

Its almost Turkey Day and these little felt turkeys by Jennifer Murphy are truly sweet.

As always, her designs are whimsical and look like they have walked through a magic vintage door.

(Image by Jennifer Murphy/embellished by J. Michie)

Writing on the Wall #32

2011-11-16T17:00:00.000Z

(Image found here)

Its Monday!

2011-11-14T20:36:00.001Z

Oh its Monday, and what a crazy day it has been!

Hello? Weekend? Are you there? I am ready to have you back again!

(Image found here)

Silence

2011-11-12T22:30:00.000Z

This evening, we watched a little bit of the Remembrance Celebration from Albert Hall. It brought my mind back to yesterday morning at school. It was announced to the students that at 11am we would be taking part in a National Minute of Silence.

At exactly 11am the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the minute of reflection. I was in the hallway taking down a display, to put up a new one and I could hear the bellows of a church bell, echoing down the hall and the pull of a canon reverberating around the room of a class I was next to as the teacher showed her students the BBC coverage of the event.

As I stood quietly, I looked into a classroom across from me and watched students sitting motionless, most with their heads bowed. Here it was, this one moment frozen in time, no one moved, the clanging of bells, the shot of a canon, and as suddenly as it began, the stillness ended with the ringing of the school bell. The halls filled with the noise of children, of chairs being moved across the floor, the sound of footsteps filling the once quiet hall. Life came thundering back to the building, as it should have done.

That is what men have fought for, isn't it? For life, for freedom. That is what we should all fight for in our own small way everyday, for life and for the freedom to live it. Thank you to all the men and women, past and present, who make that possible for us, everyday.

(Image found here)

The Closing of a Week..

2011-11-11T13:12:00.001Z

What a week this has been! There were many late nights and a big Art Show that was put up in less than 24 hours and will be taken down in less than 24 hours as well.

I am ready for this week to close, I am ready to spend the weekend in Mr. Michie's arms and get back to basics after such a hectic week. So, here is to date night and sleeping in and staying cozy and walking through the woods and eating dinner by candlelight. Here's to the weekend, long may it last and let us eek out every drop it has to offer!

(Image by: Irene Suchoki)

Writing on the Wall #31

2011-11-09T19:31:00.001Z

How silently they tumble down

And come to rest upon the ground

To lay a carpet, rich and rare,

Beneath the trees without a care,

Content to sleep, their work well done,

Colors gleaming in the sun.

At other times, they wildly fly

Until they nearly reach the sky.

Twisting, turning through the air

Till all the trees stand stark and bare.

Exhausted, drop to earth below

To wait, like children, for the snow.

- Elsie N. Brady, Leaves

(Image by Becca Stadtlander)

Murmuration

2011-11-06T20:30:00.000Z

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

(Found via The Swiss Miss)

The Outlander

2011-11-04T18:26:00.000Z

It was night, and dogs came through the trees, unleashed and howling. They burst from the cover of the woods and their shadows swam across a moonlit field. For a moment, it was as if her scent had torn like a cobweb and blown on the wind, shreds of it here and there, useless. The dogs faltered and broke apart, yearning. Walking now, stiff-legged, they ploughed the grass with their heavy snouts.

...The girl stood in her ditch under a hard, small moon. Pale foam rose from where her shoes sank into mud. No more voices inside her head, no noise but these dogs. She saw her own course along the ground as a trail of bright light, now doused in the ditchwater. She clambered up the bank and onto a road, her stiff funeral skirt made of bedspread and curtain, her hair wild and falling in dark ropes about her face. The widow gathered up her shawl and fled witchlike down the empty road.

The Outlander, A Novel by Gil Adamson

My Mom, Nana, Aunts and I pass books around to each other, even though I live a million miles away. This was read by my Mom, my Nana and then one of my Aunts who put it in a lovely care package for me.

It has been on my reading pile for awhile, I went through other books first, but I read it over the Summer and I was hooked. It is a delicious book! The way in which the first page was written had me falling so deep dow the rabbit hole, I never wanted to put the book down.

(the above excerpt is copyrighted to Gil Adamson)

2011-11-02T22:58:00.002Z

I've been invited to join Pinterest and I spent my first evening on it, drinking a hot cup of tea and filling up a board with cozy fall images.

Come on over and join me, this is going to be FUN!

**I have included a button in my sidebar for you to navigate there easily**

The First of November

2011-11-01T22:30:00.002Z

We turned back our clocks on Saturday night, I don't know if I was ready for that, but it happened, as all things do. Tonight as we headed home in darkness, the air hung with shrouds of mist, my teeth chattering as we waited for the bus, I knew that Fall was slowly slipping in to Winter. It will fight, there will be still be days of warmth to come, but the nights are slowly turning chilly. The light has changed and the air is crisp.

"November comes

And November goes,

With the last red berries

And the first white snows.

With night coming early,

And dawn coming late,

And ice in the bucket

And frost by the gate.

The fires burn

And the kettles sing,

And earth sinks to rest

Until next spring."

- Elizabeth Coatsworth

(Image Andrew Wyeth)

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T16:11:00.000Z

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

These would be our Halloween costumes this year. Mr. Michie has been sick for over a week, so I have been donning my nurse's cap and staying busy making homemade chicken soup and jell-o as well as tending to my little patient!

(Image by the adorable Becky, found on Flickr)

Halloween Cupcake Toppers

2011-10-30T16:41:00.000Z

I have made a set of 6 Halloween Cupcake Toppers for you to download and make to create some bewitchingly cute cupcakes!

Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

To get the templates and full directions click HERE

Halloween Round-Up

2011-10-28T21:37:00.000+01:00

I have been doing a little Halloween reconnaissance today and came across some cute ideas, old and new that I thought I would share with you!

Glittering pumpkins are always beautiful, not just for Halloween, they can carry you through the fall season and adorn your Thanksgiving table, I found these on the beautiful Livy's blog:

This Candy Corn Mousse, is festively colorful and perfect for a grown-up Halloween get-together with its cheesecake base:

Leave it to Martha to come up with a cute idea for orange balloons! This is a nice thing for little people to have something to take home at the end of your Halloween party. You could even tie a little bag of candy to the bottom, so their pumpkin doesn't float away:

I love making bark and this Halloween Candy Bark version looks hauntingly delicious:

Bring something home from the Three Broomsticks to your Halloween festivities and make a batch of Butterbeer for all your little witches and wizards:

Use different colored candy melts and your imagination to create spooky Halloween inspired chocolate dipped strawberries:

Hope you found a few bewitching ideas that take your fancy....

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-27T15:46:00.003+01:00

This morning, Goose Girl showed me the gorgeous fat little pumpkin that Foxy picked out for her from the gnomes' pumpkin patch.

As we enjoyed a mug of warm apple cider together, Foxy was busily working away on a post for tomorrow, all about their trip to the Fair.

Click on the image below to keep checking in with them, because they have been up to a few things this week....

"Bewitching" Houses

2011-10-26T19:10:00.002+01:00

I love Halloween and all that it conjures up. One of my favorite conjurings being: witches. I wouldn't mind being Samantha Stephens, I know I have said it before, but I'll say it again, who wouldn't want to wiggle their nose and have things happen? I want to wiggle my nose and have my house cleaned, dinner on the table and all the laundry done.

But, since I can't do that, I thought I would settle for sharing with you some of my favorite witches' houses. The first being non other than Samantha's from "Bewitched". I loved watching that show as a child and still watch it any time I catch an episode while flipping through the TV.

One of my most beloved episodes was when her daughter Tabitha turns herself into an oatmeal raisin cookie. Samantha, her mother Endora and her in-laws look all over for the "missing" Tabitha. Sam and her mother know that she has turned herself into something to hide, but they are not sure what. Sam only discovers what Tabitha has changed into when she looks at the plate of cookies sitting on her dining room table and one of them smiles back at her.

I loved their house on Morning Glory Circle and that is the first I will share with you. It is adorably 1960's and the couch in their living room would fit in perfectly in an episode of "Mad Men". My Nana had avocado colored appliances in her kitchen when I was growing up and still does. Her stove is adorably retro and something I would love to have, if I had a home of my own to put it in.

The second house is the "Bewitched" movie house. Although, I didn't think the film truly did the show justice, the sets were stunning and I am enamored with the house they had Nicole Kidman live in. The kitchen was magical and I would be more than happy with that painted fireplace. The entire house just felt very open and airy, yet still cozy. It was all very enchanting.

Last, but not least, is a house where Nicole Kidman first played a witch with her "sister" Sandra Bullock, in "Practical Magic". I adore the fact that they have a private staircase that comes down into their kitchen, that is a bit of a dream of mine, to have that one day in a home. This house seems to hold a true essence of magic and would fit right in, along any house in Salem.

What a bunch of bewitching houses for Halloween!

(All images from Hooked on Houses)

The Birds

2011-10-24T17:01:00.002+01:00

I love this "Birds" inspired fascinator from the Etsy shop Topsy Turvy.

It is the photograph that makes it, with its Cindy Sherman-esque style. I love it! It would be the icing on the Halloween cake to wear this, if you went as a the stunning Tippi Hedren, to your Halloween party.

Writing on the Wall #30

2011-10-22T10:05:00.002+01:00

A Morning Walk

2011-10-20T21:09:00.002+01:00

I spotted this on a morning walk around Paris last Friday:

He was very hungry....

I Spy With My Little Eye...

2011-10-18T20:35:00.002+01:00

A pumpkin mosaic near Spitalfieds market!

Oh, Deer!

2011-10-15T17:00:00.000+01:00

Oh Deer! She, just happened to jump into my hands at the Renegade Craft Fair and I took her home with me. Isn't she lovely, she travelled all the way from Germany and she is made by hand.

I haven't picked a name for her yet, but I think it has to be along the lines of Gertie or Heidi or Gretchen....

Renegade Craft Fair Walk Part 2

2011-10-13T20:35:00.000+01:00

There was just too much to post yesterday, picture wise. So, here is the rest of stroll. We did all of this before we were "attacked" by zombies outside of Liberty's, apparently is was worldwide zombie day. Who knew? And then I managed to find some killer heels to wear to an upcoming wedding, I was very excited by them!

The Renegade Craft Fair Walk Part 1

2011-10-12T20:32:00.000+01:00

We had so much fun on Saturday, going up to an area of London we don't usually go to. We wandered through Spitalfields Market on our way to the Truman Brewery and we stumbled upon a great lomography store.

So, now when I get this camera I have had my eye on for awhile, I have a place that I can easily get film from and have them develop it too! Mr. Michie's big excitement of the day was finding a place called S&M. Now, I know what you are thinking but it was a restaurant that served "Sausage & Mash", hence the name.

So we had a homey lunch of lovely sausage and mash after shopping at the Fair. We also spied some fantastic street art and some very pretty houses. It was lovely to just spend a whole Saturday with each other without a care in the world, we had no one to answer to but each other!

Jack 'O Lanterns

2011-10-10T20:03:00.001+01:00

I have a terrible cold at the moment and in doing a little Halloween recognizance tonight I saw these on the Martha Stewart website and they made me smile. Nothing like some cheery Jack 'O Lanterns to cheer you up!

Click here to found out how to make your own

Renegade Craft Fair London

2011-10-08T08:22:00.001+01:00

This is where I am going to be today, what about you?

Writing on the Wall #29

2011-10-06T23:04:00.000+01:00

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you."

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011) Stanford 2005 Commencement Address

Going, Going, Gone!

2011-10-04T21:00:00.000+01:00

French vanilla cupcakes with my Nana's chocolate coffee icing and a chocolate covered coffee bean on the top. A perfect afternoon snack for a fall day!

Going, Going, Gone!

Coverspy

2011-10-03T14:30:00.000+01:00

I found this website a little while ago. It is called Coverspy and is comprised by a "team of publishing nerds who hit the subways, streets, parks & bars to find out what New Yorkers are reading now."

I loved it! Here are just a few sample picks:

Sunday October 2nd

Girl in Translation, Jean Kwok (F, 50s, gray hair in bun, leather jacket, grey sweatpants, F train)

Wednesday September 14th

Hell’s Angels, Hunter S. Thompson (F, 20s, long blond hair, oxford shoes, sitting outside a bike shop, Fort Greene)

Tuesday September 6th

Emma, Jane Austen (F, 30s, jeans, wire framed glasses, curly hair in ponytail, Tretorn rain boots, G train)

Thursday September 1st

The Alienist, Caleb Carr (F, 30s, peach shirt, black pants, brown purse, G train)

P.S. The last book I posted, The Alienist, is one of my all-time favorite books! If you have not read it, you need to run out and find a copy. Beg, borrow, or steal to get it, because it is an absolutely fascinating look into criminology and a thoroughly enjoyable read!

Welcome October

2011-10-01T09:58:00.001+01:00

Knock! Knock!

Welcome October!

Writing on the Wall #28

2011-09-30T10:30:00.000+01:00

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.

+ C.S. Lewis

(Image found on Flickr)

Homespun Pot Pie

2011-09-28T20:23:00.001+01:00

Today we have both been off kilter. We are fighitng off colds and back to school tiredness and so a meal of true comfort was in order. So, tonight I made our first pot pie of the Fall season. It was delicious and Mr. Michie said it was the best I had ever made! We made a turkey pot pie and I decided this time that I would roast the turkey and the celery and carrots instead of my usual sautéing the vegetables and boiling the meat.

I tell you, it had the most wonderful flavours and the turkey was so moist. When I pulled my roasting pan out of the oven, I went to work on making a gravy and when it was almost ready I dumped the cut up meat and vegetables into it, stirring in some beautiful red onions that I had leftover from breakfast the day before and some frozen peas.

The house smelled so delicious. As it baked we worked on making some mashed potatoes which were a wonderful and homey accompaniment to dinner. They were mashed with my favourite French butter, spring onion and cracked black pepper cream cheese, fresh parsley and goat's milk. They were sinfully divine.

To top it all off, we did something we don't normally do, we sat on the couch and watched TV while we ate. This has been a long week and so we vegged out and caught up on NCIS. I can't think of anything better tonight then turkey pot pie and watching the adorable Mark Harmon on TV! Delicious!

This is it!

2011-09-26T15:00:00.000+01:00

This is the last week of my 365 day blog, In the Art Cupboard. I have almost come full circle. I have a few last things to photograph to finish the week up and I have already decided what they will be, just a few things I have had my eye on for awhile.

So be sure to check out the blog this week to see what pops up. I can't believe that a whole year is almost coming to close on this project. Something, I will no doubt reflect on in the near future, as this blog was a part of my life everyday over the last year and something that has brought my joy and at times challenges,but I have it thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cleaning

2011-09-23T19:06:00.001+01:00

I have had to change my cleaning schedule around since school started. We have been very busy since going back to school and I have not been able to keep up with my dusting and vacuuming like I normally would.

So, I hatched a plan: I decided that I will do all my housework on Thursday nights. I was tired when I came home yesterday as it was almost the end of the week and the thought of cleaning was not what i wanted to start doing, but I rolled up my sleeves and got down to it! I am one of those odd people who does enjoy cleaning, it is such a satisfying job!

And the reward, for me was worth it! It was so nice to come home from work today, to a clean house with everything smelling fresh and sparkling. It was like a weight was taken off my shoulders. It is a nice way to start the weekend!

Writing on the Wall #27

2011-09-22T07:22:00.000+01:00

To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone.

Reba McEntire

The Taste of Fall

2011-09-20T20:21:00.000+01:00

Fall has many flavours and one of them is the warming taste of butternut squash soup. We made it this weekend and as I was slicing up some warm crusty bread, Mr. Michie ladled the soup in our bowls.

With this one, he somehow by magic ended up with a heart on the top that had a polka dot in the middle! That made it taste all the sweeter.

Ushering in Fall

2011-09-18T17:25:00.000+01:00

This weekend has been very cool. The leaves are starting to change, the sunlight is moving, evening is drawing in sooner and all of these little things add up to signs that we are welcoming Fall in.

So today we got up early and placed two beautiful fat little butternut squash into a roasting pan and placed them in the oven. As they began to roast to house filled with the smell of squash, its fleshy inside getting softer as its skin began to brown and caramalize in the pan.

As it roasted, we worked together outside. Pruning back a few plants and I had the chance to plant the golden mum Mr. Michie bought me as a surprise as well as the orange ornamental pepper plant by the front door, I just need a pumpkin now, but it is too soon for them to be ready!

Once the squash was finished, we scooped out its orange pulp and began to create a warming soup that is now simmering away on the stove, filling the house with the smells of autumn.

We Made It!

2011-09-16T18:27:00.000+01:00

Cha-Cha-Cha-Chaa-Cha!

We made it through the first week of school! I feel like having a party! But, I am too tired, so I shall have a mini one instead in the form of date night. It is mine tonight and I am off to make homemade pizzas for Mr. Michie!

Have a great weekend everyone!

(Image found here)

10 Years

2011-09-14T19:39:00.002+01:00

I couldn't write this on Sunday, or the day before, or the day after. I couldn't write on Sunday, because there was, I felt, nothing to be said, it was a time to reflect.

Sunday was a very emotional day for me, as it was for many. I worried if something was to happen again, how would I get home? I pray for the safety of my friends and family every day. I had family at the Towers that day, as well as in Washington and we were blessed to have not lost any one.

The passing of Sunday has not left me. My heart at times has still felt heavy with emotion for all that has happened. I know I am not alone, as my Mom and I were speaking about it yesterday.

Mr. Michie and I watched the news coverage from the States that day as well as the ceremony held in London. It was just too much, so we decided to go for a walk. The fresh air hit our faces and the gentle falling rain, lightly misted our hair and eyelashes as we headed down our chosen path.

We walked and talked and as we did this, we reflected on what we remembered from that day. I was at College and thought that it was unusual as I was heading to my second morning class of the day that the campus was a bit sparse of population.

As I walked in to my printmaking class everyone was huddled around a radio and that is how we learned of what was happening. Without having the visuals of it, my imagination was running wild as I heard all the noises from the day.

Living in such a media based society, it was odd to not be watching this in front of a TV. I could only hear what was happening. That was at times worse than seeing it on TV, it gave me the slightest taste of what my Grandmother must have felt as she listened to the news during the Second World War, her imagination was all she had to "see" the coverage they were reporting as my Grandpa fought overseas.

My Art teacher asked us not to leave, but, to stay and create a piece through our emotions. I excused myself when I could, to try and call home, the line at the payphone was long. But, as the caller finished and walked back down the line, it was like a meet and greet, everyone asked if they were okay, if their family and friends were okay? There were hugs and tears.

I walked in to work that afternoon and again, the same thing. We were all hugging each other, everyone checking on everyone else. As, I walked home, students on campus, who I had never even seen before were doing the same thing, everyone was reaching out.

That is what will stand out in my mind the most; is the generosity of spirit from that day. In the darkest hour, one of the brightest of human acts came through: KINDNESS. We all reached out to let others know we were there and we carried that with us in the days that were to come.

Writing on the Wall #26

2011-09-13T16:50:00.001+01:00

Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there is so much to smile about.

Marilyn Monroe

Catching Up

2011-09-09T14:00:00.000+01:00

Have you caught up with Goose Girl & Foxy lately? They have been on a few summer adventures before we all went back to school on Monday.

They told me they will have more stories to share soon, but I think this week has just taken it out of them with all the early school mornings!

Head over and see what they are up to:

The Adventures of Goose Girl & Foxy

Say Something NICE!

2011-09-07T20:31:00.000+01:00

I found this on the SwissMiss today and it made me very happy! Wouldn't it be nice if we had something like this at work, in our neighbourhood, on Main Street, just so we can make people smile, laugh, feel good about themselves!

P.S. Besides the Buzz LightYear shout out, I loved the lady who said she like the other lady's umbrella. Kindness is contagious, so spread it around!

Last Day of Summer

2011-09-05T19:41:00.000+01:00

Today was the last day of Summer for us, we went back to school this morning, waiting patiently for the bus, while frost formed from our breath and hung in the air, the morning had a true autumnal feel to it!

Bleary eyed I jumped in the shower after Mr. Michie at 5:30 this morning and proceeded to move about the house very quietly after that, eating my breakfast, listening to Classic FM, and inhaling the scent of Mr. Michie's coffee brewing.

So, today I said goodbye to: sleeping-in in the mornings; to being able to watch "The Gilmore Girls" while I eat my breakfast; to having the day open to any possibility and to having time just for me.

I am now ready for a constant whirring at work like bees dipping and diving around the hive and the search to find a little calm for my boat in the waving ocean.

But in all my goodbyes to Summer, I now get to say hello to: my students (new and old); to frosty mornings, where we run to the coffee shop before work; to leaves crunching underfoot and soon the orangey glow of pumpkins and so I am ready to embrace autumn.

Goodbye Summer...

Writing on the Wall #25

2011-09-04T10:31:00.000+01:00

(Image by Poppy & Pinecone)

Autumn

2011-09-01T22:17:00.000+01:00

I felt it today, that slight shift in the seasons. The sun shone a little brighter and higher in the sky, the shadows were a little longer and cooler, the air had a hint of crispness in it.

It is here! Going back to school season, hot apple cider season, pumpkin season, autumn is on its way, I can feel it!

"Whatever Blows Your Dress Up"

2011-08-31T11:29:00.000+01:00

"Whatever blows your dress up", is something that my grandfather likes to say. It has always made me laugh, and is the first thing I thought of, when my Mom asked me if I had read about Chicago's new statue.

It is non other than a famous Marilyn Monroe poised 26 feet high, with her dress undulating around her in the iconic image from The Seven Year Itch.

I know that there has been controversy surrounding it, namely people keep walking under her to see if she has on undies. Others appear to even question the integrity of the piece itself, seeing it as a tourist ploy, rather than a piece of Art; Pop Art even. But this, to me, is Art.

And as the saying goes, "Whatever blows your dress up!"

(The statue was created by the Artist Seward Johnson)

How to Be a Girl

2011-08-29T17:03:00.001+01:00

I don't remember how I found this link, I might have seen it on Twitter or it was something I saw posted while catching up in GoogleReader, but I have never laughed so hard.

The original post I saw was a link on how to get the perfect shaped eyebrows. I clicked on other links and came across this one. I was just howling even Mr. Michie came over to see what I was watching and he was in hysterics as well. Jane Feltes, is just a very funny woman.

In addition to posting, "How to Be a Girl" videos, she produces and regularly contributes to "This American Life". What a gal!

How to Be a Girl, with Jane Marie: Elizabeth Taylor from The Hairpin on Vimeo.

Writing on the Wall #24

2011-08-27T12:40:00.000+01:00

(Image by Lizzy Stewart)

What's Cluckin'?

2011-08-26T09:13:00.000+01:00

(August Break Day 5)

Going on a Walk

2011-08-25T10:04:00.000+01:00

Getting ready, washing our apples...

passing a cottage garden

the "bunny tree":

(August Break Day 4)

Church Floor

2011-08-24T09:32:00.001+01:00

Peeked into a church on our walk today, one of my favorite things to do, and the sunshine was beautifully streaming in.

(August Break Day 3)

Fresh Eggs

2011-08-23T09:08:00.001+01:00

Fresh eggs and homemade jams were being sold at a house on our walk this morning...

(August Break Day 2)

Gnoming Around

2011-08-22T09:12:00.002+01:00

We went on a walk this morning and came back to find this little fellow hiding behind a candlestick holder in the cottage. I don't know where he will pop up next!

(August Break Day 1)

Here's to the Weekend...

2011-08-19T19:53:00.000+01:00

...Long may it last!