Under a Blue Moon

 

I caught the Pinterest bug.  I tried Tumblr a while back but could never get the hang of it.  And I dislike how proper credit was rarely given to the original source. 

So I started my own Pinterest page if anyone wants to see it.  I have all images in one giant board and have smaller, specific boards when I feel like categorizing something. 

 

Go take a look and if anyone wants an invitation (to create your own account) let me know.  I have a few of them I can share. 

 
 

What do you do when the weather turns on you?  You bake. 

I made Sweet Potato Muffins from the Noble Pig blog.  They turned out perfectly even when the power went off 22 minutes into baking them.  I had made a double batch and was thinking they would take about 25 minutes to bake.  I just left them in oven and then checked them when the 25 minutes were up and they were fine. 

 

The only modifications I made to her recipe were to make a buttermilk substitution (1 tbsp. lemon juice in a measuring cup and then add whole milk to the 1 cup line.  Stir well and let it sit for five minutes) and instead of brushing the entire muffin with melted butter and rolling in cinnamon sugar I just did the tops.

Can we talk about buttermilk for a second?  Why is it you can only buy it in quart containers?  Most recipes call for about 1/2 cup and if your household is like mine no one else is going to touch it so the rest of the quart goes to waste.  I'm never buying it again.  I'm going to use my substitution which worked just fine.

Last weekend I made scones.  I always use Pam Anderson's Simple Scones recipe and they turn out perfectly too.  The trick is to freeze your stick of butter and then grate it before working it into the flour mixture.  Makes for flaky scones.  I've had a number of store bought scones that were really biscuits being passed off as scones.  Too fluffy.  I think a scone needs to have a certain flaky denseness to it.

 

What shall I bake next?  We watched "It's Complicated" last night and after watching Meryl Streep and Steve Martin making pain au chocolat I want to try my hand at croissants.  Actually maybe that is the "complicated" in the movie title.

 

Flickr Favorites

 
 

• Scroll down – see that pretty little garden shed?  That will be mine….
• What totally clever and easy to do garden luminaries.  Can't you just see these hanging from a tree during an outdoor dinner party?
• Speaking of outdoor dinners.  I am so ready for warm weather and outdoor entertaining.
• Free, downloadable labels from Poppytalk.  Actually lots of free downloadable stuff on this site.
• Love the moody, quietness of this photo on Etsy.

Happy Friday everyone!  If you need us we'll be out back…building an ark.

Oh – and Happy Birthday Elton John!

 

I stole was inspired by this idea in Flea Market Style.  Take a pretty piece of china and repurpose it as a q-tip holder on your vanity. 

Here's another tip for you – when taking pictures of mirrored objects pay attention to the crap that is being reflected in it.

 

 

I'm finding it hard to believe that yesterday afternoon marked the first day of Spring.  It has been dreary, rainy and cold and we are in for another week of it by all accounts. 

Normally our "pond" is just a dry hole.  It doesn't hold water.  Well normally it doesn't hold water.  Right now we have had so much rain that the ground is totally saturated.  We have little ponds springing up all over the property.

Yesterday Rick and I put on our rain boot, jackets, grabbed our umbrellas and went on a trek around the property. 

 

That is one of the paths to the creek.  It was underwater by about eight inches.  Just beyond the grassy area you can see the water right at level of the bank. 

It was very rainy and windy when we were walking around so you'll see rain drops on my camera lens in these pictures. 

 

This little shed/barn is on the other side of the creek.  To get to it you have to cross two suspension bridges.  The previous owner used to keep a donkey in it.  I am really curious as to how they got the donkey over the bridges.  They bounce and sway like mad when you cross them and I can see a donkey wanting no part of that. 

Here's a picture of the first bridge – just to give you an idea.

The way our property is set up we have three acres on one side of the creek (the side we live on) and the other side is just a little shy of two acres.  It's very pretty over there but getting to it is a challenge.  The previous owner built a series of bridges but it's not like you could build anything on that side.  So we just let it be. 

I keep thinking that donkey must have been pretty lonely. 

We got a bee in our collective bonnet and started clearing the bridge of all the berry vines, leaves and fallen branches.  We spent about two hours out there, in the drizzle, but it looks much better now. 

The rain and wind started to pick up again so we rounded up the chicken and they seemed more than happy to get back into their dry palais.  

 

 

I've been playing around with an iPhone app called Hipstamatic.  Love it.  You can fiddle around with the different settings and get different effects.

 

It gives everything a very vintage feel.  I spy with my little eye….a rotting banana.

Today was a very interesting day.  California is having some weather.  Rain, wind, snow.   Our property has turned into Land O' Lakes.  I have pictures that I'll post later on in the week.  We had ducks swimming in our burn pile.  I'm guessing it will be a while before we can actually burn anything again.

I should probably post this before our power goes out….