the haunted small house.

I like my halloween decor as imagined through an Edward Gorey illustration. The porch of the small house was decorated in an attempt to lure...ahem, I mean, welcome...prospective trick-or-treaters. I wasn't overly hopeful considering the dearth of children in the population of our "town", but you never know...


First, you must pet our outside cat, Billy. She may look spooky, but she's really a sweety. And she comes in handy as a free source of haunted ambience.


Next, up the stairs past the pumpkins where you may enjoy our window memorial to Poe. Nothing says Halloween like Poe to me.

Happy skull votives (dollar store) sit on piles of books (collections of Poe, an early 20thc biography of Poe, The Poe Shadow, and a collection of Mrs Riddell Ghost stories because I couldn't find any more Poe books...). They also provide precarious perches for a small flock of (okay, two) black feathered ravens.


Then come up to the front door to be welcome by these little ghosties on the wreath by the knocker...if you still dare, knock on the door for your candy (butterfingers this year) or choose from the various glow-in-the dark beasties. (FYI my husband chose both.)




As you leave, you may see a haunted ghost in the side yard...I was inspired by "The Long Black Veil" and by the irresistable fact our side yard is enclosed by a white picket fence and features a willow tree.
The lady is dressed in my elizabethan collared linen smock cinched with a black ribbon and a long black (okay, grey...the dye didn't take properly)silk gauze veil that flutters in even the slightest breeze. The stones and sign are dollar tree. As someone who actually spent a semester in a cemetery doing research for a paper on gravestone iconography, I'm not exactly over-impressed by the dollar stones. Next year I might flip them over and repaint the backs...

Did we get trick-or-treaters? Well, after dark I gave up and just left the plastic pumpkin filled with treats on the porch whilst hubby and I went to the amusement park to scare ourselves silly and ride roller coasters. When we came back, most of the treats were gone. Trick-or-treaters....or something else?

the great basil harvest

End of last week, I saw that the temperature was predicted to swoop near the 30s...and that meant it was time to gather ye basil while ye may. We have a large potful on the back porch which yielded a large colander full. The stems and a few leaves were left to hopefully re-seed the pot once again (maintenance free herbs).

What to do with a couple hundred basil leaves? Make pesto! I grind it up with pignolis, salt, olive oil, parmesan, and garlic. Thats it! Then scoop it into a oil sprayed ice cube tray and save for a zippy punch of summer flavor in the middle of the winter. Pop out the cubes when frozen and store in a freezer bag. The size is perfect for pasta for two or a dollop for ratatouille or soup. It even retains its color.

And what do you have for dinner when you're too busy making pesto?

a fried egg with rooster hot sauce, pesto on toast, and the last tomato fried.
Mmmmmmmm.....

I love fall.

Fall is by far my favorite season. Crisp air, rustling leaves, and (down here) wisps of smoke on the air. I still remember the first time I saw someone burning their leaves...I thought it was an emergency situation. Where I grew up you weren't allowed to have big bonfires in your backyard. Thankfully these days I live in the country and this is acceptable behavior to get rid of unwanted brush and branches. Sitting around a fire, chatting and sharing a cider is the best after work activity ever. I think I have a plan for tonight.
This is my artwork inspiration for this week, one of my favorites by Millais.

The farmers market is also wonderful this time of year; I filled up on squash, red poblano peppers, napa cabbage, crispin apples, and radishes yesterday from my favorite vendor Victory Farm. New culinary adventures of trying apple sauce, pickled peppers (no, not a peck), and kimchi from scratch forthcoming. Maybe even cider, since I saw a fun instructables (do you know this website?...you should) on how to make a press with scrap lumber and a car jack.

I'm also pondering an idea for halloween decor, now that we cleaned the front beds...

nook of despair update

We have a breakfast nook in the small house. This 20s feature should be adorable. It is NOT, at the moment, a source of pride and contentment. No quiet bowls of maple scented oatmeal or gently steaming cups of herbal tea are enjoyed there.

Why? Because like most of the small house, it desperately needed renovation. The cabinets where crookedly hung home depot specials with bright gold knobs. The countertop was an unattached piece of emerald green faux marble formica. The chair rails were strangely attached and also crooked. The eating area was a raised platform of questionable construction and blanketed in an even more questionable damp carpet remnant. The dark wood and brass chandelier presiding over the platform was festooned with dusty plastic grapes and was wired so questionably that we had to remove it before the house inspection. There were peeling blue vinyl self-stick tiles over the rest of the floor with a strange overlap tongue of sheet vinyl sticking out from the threshold of the kitchen.
And it was swathed in recalcitrant wallpaper that was patterned with a pastel palette Monet nightmare...

...which was pasted onto the plaster walls with the Glue That Would Not Die.
We tried vinegar water, hot water, and fabric softener...nothing. Broke down and bought a paper tiger and the icky chemical gel...nothing. Anger had me tearing off the floral part, leaving wide tracts of paper backing clinging to the wall.

I decided to refocus attention to other, less maddening, areas to rehab. The nook sat silent and dark; grumpily collecting recent acquisitions, various stacks of papers and flyers, tools and home improvement materials. It sulked, became embarrassing when we had company, and despaired. Here is a glimpse of it during a bridal shower...I had actually hung a curtain over the doorway to conceal the shame.


Finally goaded into action by the stalwart can-do optimism of my mom, I returned to the battle. I brought out the "big Guns", renting an industrial wall steamer from home depot. My mom and I fought the good fight in 90 degree weather, hair curling from clouds of hot moisture, armed with scrapers of all sizes.




And prevailed victorious.



Riding the wave of energy we also tore out the upper cabinets, the platform, and the vinyl tiles.

ROAR.

at last, the beautiful...and the ugly

Here at last, is some visual entertainment for the little bloglet. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

Here is the garden in june:





for a month, crookneck summer squash was our friend. I'll do a post later on my favorite way of preparing it. here's our first harvest with some fresh thyme and a few nasturium leaves headed for a salad:



tommorrow, i'll post what the garden looks like now (brace yourself), and the plan for the fabulous fall garden. I got some ideas at the heritage harvest festival at Monticello this last saturday...

One Year

A small note, we have offically owned the small house for one year today.

I remember after signing all those papers walking out of the lawyer's office into the sunlight and thinking "what have we done?".
I am told this is normal.
We have had setbacks, improvements, ennui, cozy contentments, tantrums, and triumphs. We will have to spend some time this evening reviewing the video made of moving in weekend to review how far we've come.
Don't worry, we also have far to go (eg the breakfast nook of despair). And it will be documented here.

the first non-garden post.

Last week I learned new interesting things and practiced old ones. I am reenergized about some non-gardening activities that I will be posting on. Things learned included naalbinding and lampworking beads. And look forward to the installation of a shooting range near the large garden, since my target archery rounds last week went buckets better than anticipated. And a mural has been tentatively planned for the bath.

Also regarding visual stimulation: still no pictures, but they have been downloaded which is progress. So soon we will be able, together, to cry over how beautiful the garden was in july and be scandalized by what it looks like now.