BLUEBIRDS AND AUGUST FLOWERS

 We have had a hot and very dry summer.

As I was watering my backyard today

I suddenly noticed about a dozen 

bluebirds show up taking turns in

the birdbath.

It is about 91 degrees out and we are

told rain is coming our way  later

today, which

would be wonderful.

I am happy to see the 

bittersweet getting

ready for fall.

The bluebirds never go to the

birdfeeders and are very

timid.

With August coming to a close, we

look forward to cooler weather

and fall baking.

 

TIME TO CELEBRATE MY 200th "Tea In The Garden"

 Back in 2010 I started a little garden in

my Colorado Springs backyard.  It took

me quite a while to dig out my lawn and

plant because I worked full time +. 

 I remember I had already been

participating in Sandy's Tea Time

Tuesday blog party for quite a while

 and then I decided to incorporate the

garden I was developing and have my 

own weekly link party called "Tea

In The Garden". 

(Back then, in the winter,

 I changed 

to (Friends Sharing Tea")

So over the years I have done many

of these photos shoots and I have 

recently designed a magazine 

publication with many past photos

of my gardens.

(click for link)

 We had so little rain here in 

Missouri in July, our lawn is very sad

so I hung up these old antique curtain

 pieces to dispel the dreary lawn.  Please

help yourself to hot tea.  It is only

in the 80's this week which is wonderful

weather compared to the high 90's.

So though I started counting these

photo shoots in years back in

Colorado, now they take place

in our Missouri garden. Of course

these places have very different

climates.

Time does fly just like they

say.  I can hardly believe we

have now lived in Missouri 6 years.

I just started collecting a few pieces

of Green transferware which

will be lots of fun to hunt for

and this pattern (tray) is called

Havana by Johnson Brothers.

And of course for this occasion,

baking is important too so I looked

at my fall muffin folder and found this

recipe I had cut out of the Colorado

Springs Gazette back in 2010.

It is for Fall Harvest Muffins and

includes pumpkin, an apple, some

craisins and pecans.  I have the

recipe at the bottom of this post.

Right now I have some lovely white

with green hyrangeas and on one

side of our house, we have those

strawberry type ones.

Many years ago in Old Colorado

City there was a darling and

elegant little shop called

"The Lace Chest".  It was in

the west side historic district

of Colorado Springs where I had

my business and was owned by

Sharon Dougherty.  Back then, she

 went to England and to Paris

 to buy her inventory. Her shop was

 so tiny but gorgeous!  She sold all English and French vintage and antique lace 

 that was cleaned and ironed 

to perfection.

Also, she sold antique jewelry and

china.

I purchased these old antique

curtain panels from her.

RECIPE FOR FALL

HARVEST MUFFINS:

375 degrees makes 16

reg oven: 20-25 min

convection: 18 min

Use a large muffin tin: grease with butter 

and flour well.  Shake out excess and 

will be filling 3/4 full

 

Mix ingredients in a bowl: 

1 cup of reg flour, 1 cup of whole wheat (I used all regular), 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger,

1 tsp ground allspice, 1/4 tsp cardamon, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp salt, 3/4 Cup of melted butter, 1 cup dark brown sugar, 2 eggs (I used 3), 1 tsp vanilla extract

 1 cup of canned pumpkin, 1 chopped, peeled and grated apple, 1/2 cup pecans chopped and 1/2 cup of dried craisins

Mix all above dry ingredients well and then add fruits and pumpkin  Pour into muffin tins and top with 1-2 tsp topping below:

Topping:  4 Tb melted butter, 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup gran. sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup oats

SUNDAY CELEBRATION

 

HYDRANGEAS, DEVONSHIRE TRANSFERWARE AND SWEETS for "Tea In The Garden"

Welcome to "Tea In The Garden":

The one thing that seems to be

 surviving during our incredibly hot 

summer are the  white and the 

green hydrangeas.

I love this old Devonshire pattern

of Johnson Brothers China.

Please pour yourself 

a cup of tea.

One day this week

 I baked cookies 

and brownies so

help yourself!

 

Now everything is back

in the armoire:

What kind of china

do you collect?

Recipes:

Oatmeal Raisin

Sugar Cookies

Brownies

AMISH COUNTRY - CLARK, MISSOURI

 Today we decided to ride up to the Amish

Country and see what produce was

available and also just enjoy a ride.

We conserve driving right now with

the price of gas but it really wasn't

all that far. 

 See the lovely cockcomb

in this ladies garden.  I remember back

in 90's when Martha Stewart got us all

gluing cockscomb onto cones for those

Christmas mantel pieces.

My photos were taken 

from inside my

car so.....so some are a bit dull.

We had trouble remembering where we

had been before and the roads were

very dusty from lack or rain.

I imagine everyone having similar conversations as they ride along. 

 Like, "oh maybe we should move out

 on a farm and grow our own food" or

something like "think how much money

we would save if we did this".  Haha!

All the houses are large and plain

with white siding.

I wanted to find one particular place

where they had a lot of canning items

with preserves and pickles.

There were a lot of greenhouses

with tomatoes inside.

The auction house is where a lot

of local small vegetable stands

go to buy their produce to resell.

I could quickly see that lumber is

a very important part of their lives.

So here was my stash at home 

on the kitchen table. (they reuse

old jars)