Autumn post

As usual, fall had come way too fast, but now, that I am surrounded by pumpkins, scarecrows and Halloween decorations I have made peace and feel again quite at home with autumn. It helps, that the golden light filters through freshly cleaned windows, all in preparation of the next, highly awaited day: Thanksgiving.
It's the holiday I love the most, for it lets me us experience one of the loveliest traditions the American culture has to offer: To be grateful, share the good fortunes and come together with friends and family, no matter what the distance! 

Such abundance

The visits to the farmer's markets are the highlights of my weekly shopping tours and the vegetables are at their best at this time. What abundance everywhere.
It helps too that the days are bright and the leaves have turned into the brilliant colors, so telling of the season.

In this time of year I feel being a homebody, I do not have to go far to enjoy these days, unlike summer, when the travel bug always bites me and I want to explore the world, or winter, when I try to escape the cold...

Sourdough spelt bread, I baked last week in a Dutch oven.

And this week....

Now I enjoy staying close to home. I cannot wait to get to our wood stash behind the house to pull out logs for a good fire and I have begun to bake bread, and ferment a few vegetables for the winter. 

I cleaned out the closets and managed to reduce all my summer clothes to what I really will wear next year and gave the rest away. The same with all the winter things, neatly sorted and a joy to go to very morning and night. Instead of fighting the tiny closet space I had decided, a while back, to reduce my belongings, realizing that I do not need that much to feel up to date and happy.
I will give you a rare look into my two closets, one of which I actually share with my husband....I do have a dresser for the more personal stuff, but that is all. 
Do not feel sorry for me, I am so delighted to have shed all this weight. Literally and figuratively speaking!

The mess during the clean up....

After; the painting is reflected in the door mirror, just in case you think I have twice the space....
my younger self helps me keep an critical eye on everything!

After, this is still shared with hubby's sweaters and the table clothes....

That's all, folks!

On the other hand the reading stack grows taller every week and my writing hours stretch into the evenings, I am in no hurry to stop. It's the time to nest.

Fun with witches!

Do I need to say more?

Not sure anymore, but it sounded promising...LOL!

Supporting inner peace

Food for thought

This must be good to be sure, it's the imagined story of the Bennet household's kitchen maid....

These are the books on my fall reading list and perhaps you will find some inspirations. As you can see, it will last me through winter....

Dining room window

The window ledge has gotten changed too and this year owls reside there, watching with solemn eyes the daily show at the dining table. 

Fresh Eucalyptus, fragrant from the market at the music room window

These days I feel inwards, I remember things from the past, times long gone, I remember my grandmother, who passed 12 years ago  and I feel a connection to the times gone by more then at any other time of the year. It's a sweet melancholy, but one which carries no pain. 
I am in a pensive mood...

I wish you all peaceful days, filled with abundance, from heart to table.





All images my own.

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In and out

Arrived have the weeks, when I almost forget, that interiors are my foremost passion. 

I am occupied with all the others: my family
(as always), the garden in spring, cooking, reading and writing. I feel like these busy birds in my backyard: RUSH to make it all happen, before the season ends....
I have planted roses and enjoy the lilacs, which are at the height of their splendor, as are the azaleas. 

The young oak tree has grown another foot or two and stretches way above the fence. 

Blackbird singing in the bush under my window at 5 AM

I wake up at 5 in the morning and watch the cardinals flit between the branches of the Japanese maple, the robins with their youngster hoping on the lawn, test flying....

And the neighbor's cat needs to be kept in check, I watch out for him all the time, last year he ate the nest full of chicks when I wasn't looking. : (

But still, I have been also silently watching the interior design books at my local store and online and, as always, I find some, which have drawn me in....

I have had again a late night affair with  Susanna Salk's 'Be Your Own Decorator', a book which I have had for a while and always go back to. It so encircles my own design philosophy and style. A wonderful mix of old and new, precious and mundane, flee market and heritage pieces. Fabrics and wallpapers. It's like finding a soul sister, again.
Could that be my house? Yes.... but a little enhanced, I have to admit : )))

Well, I've got the tulips....

And another enticing one, which I am waiting for, being on route... Nicky Haslam's 'Folly De Grandeur'! I feel like flying to England and spending the summer in this house.

What else have I been reading?
Gwyneth Paltrow's latest cook book, which has gotten already much use:

Her recipes are largely vegan or vegetarian based, often gluten and dairy free. There are a couple of great meat dishes and splendid deserts. But all are so appetizing and the book is also wonderfully written.   

I just met Alexandra Aldrich at a book reading in my neighborhood and have been devouring her unusual story of her childhood, filled with memories of the faded glory of the once grand Astor family. At least her family branch is the faded one....  It is very interesting. 

Another find is this one, 'The Camomile Lawn' by the British authoress Mary Wesley. I am fascinated by her writing. She began in earnest to publish when she was over 70! Yes, you read that right. She died at 90 in 2002 and had more then 9 novels out in the years between.

And the latest RH catalog arrived at my doorstep, weighting a ton, but having a few treasures of it's own, worth a post by itself. But since I am so very busy, I will send you here, and show you a few images to wet your appetite.

There are different sections, for which I am grateful, like Small Spaces (which still seem rather large...) and Objects of Curiosity. Which I love! Check it out...

So long, I am off to shop for our cooking session this afternoon: My daughter  and her friend will make Gnocchi
from scratch.... Hmm. I'll give them a hand...or two!


xoxo





Images by V.Zlotkowski and the RH website (last four).

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Friday post

Winter's night from our front door

I haven't done a casual Friday post in a while and today I feel like sharing a few pics of the week...

Through one of our bay windows...

It has been a little crazy around here, still recovering from Sandy and welcoming the first snow (storm) to our shores...Which has left by now, almost as fast as it came!

Lovely white blanket of snow!

Such times always provoke in me domesticity and the need for cooking, stocking up on pantry items and nesting.

Slow cooked baked beans, recipe here
REALLY GOOD!

Baked acorn squash too...

Reading by the fire and looking for good movies to watch.

Oscar hates having his picture taken, so I sneaked one in with my iPhone, he hasn't figured that out yet...

I am a wildly eclectic reader, I love some entertaining reading, something that makes me laugh out loud, or when I feel on top of my game, a challenge to my thinking, a nudge into the right direction to motivate my creativity... there are so many fantastic books and I am not going to be stuck in one direction or other. I sample freely, always...

I found this yesterday and one of the first sentences in one of her essays, I happen to open up in the bookstore, begun so promising, I could not leave it behind...

Wonderful to motivate the dormant artist within...

Incredible fun....

And more added fun! ....
 

Something different altogether, but more then captivating, I loved the 'Glass Castle' as well.

What's in the movies, I contemplate to see?

A must!

Equally enticing.

I read the book, so ...YES!

Another one I have read.... maybe!

Family fun....

Love many of the actors, so yes?

By now I've heard and seen so much of it, I feel like skipping it, if it wouldn't be for  Helen Hunt....

Sounds like I wouldn't mind either...

 

Perhaps a little melancholic, but I am interested.

What do you think? Is going to the movies in your near future?

Alright, this has been a mixed bag, but sometimes this is all what I can come up with...hope there is something for everyone, dear readers!

Last night view back over our yard towards the Hudson valley

Happy weekend and be good, where ever you are!


xoxo



Images: Landscapes,still life and food by V. Zlotkowski, books via B&N, movie posters via moviefone.com (Sorry for the bad quality)

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