Sweeter Muffins

Growing up, my Mom used to make these muffins all the time and they were such a favorite of mine. But somewhere along the way, I stopped making them for my family.  Actually, I stopped making muffins period.

But recently I started making them again and everyone really likes it when I do.  These muffins aren't an explosion of flavor but they are a delicious addition to soups or even salads.  Also, it would be easy to add blueberries or raspberries.  I even think it would be fun to had rosemary or thyme to the mix!

Sweeter Muffins

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup oil

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Break up egg with a fork and add milk and oil.  Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a separate bowl.  Add wet ingredients to dry and mix till just combined.  Bake in a muffin tin for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Only makes about 8 or 9 muffins but I've doubled before to get more muffins.

Ballet... currently

I'm not sure that I ever shared how Grace has approached her dancing this year so I thought I'd give a quick rundown of how it's gone...

At the end of last school year Grace was dancing almost 6 days a week (exclusively ballet).  She was in a program at her ballet school where the focus was on becoming a professional dancer and the intensity was only expected to ramp up in the years to come.  While on our trip, after giving it much thought, Grace decided to take a step back from that intense schedule in order to fully experience high school.  She was worried that she would miss out on activities, dances and friends.

While Grace loves to dance, and is very good, she has never had aspirations to become a professional so I thought that this was a very good decision on her part.  As a parent, it was a bit hard because there was that little nugget of "what if" but, in the end, I think it was the best decision for all of us!

But here's the best part!  The beloved director of the ballet school left after 30 something years and joined a new dance school in our town.  Grace and another former student were offered the opportunity to take class with her two nights a week!  It was the absolute best possible outcome and we couldn't feel more blessed.  Grace has the opportunity to continue pointe with an amazing teacher but it's local and only two nights a week!

The school had a recital this weekend where Grace had an opportunity to perform and it was such a lovely show.  She also performed a modern piece which is totally new for her.  She was beautiful in it!

Mother's Day

Five Mother's in this shot!

Yesterday, Mother's Day, was a lovely, full day for us.  We started with breakfast in the library, attended Grace's dance recital (more on that to come), and ended with dinner at my sister's house.  It was a good day!

I do not understand why Harris is so swiftly moving away from my kiss in this photo?  Is he twelve or something?

First Harvest- Radishes

The garden is coming along, slowly, but surely.  It's been a huge time commitment to get everything in place and ready for planting.  While most of the beds aren't planted yet, our last frost date is around Mother's Day, I have sown some cool weather crops that are coming along just fine.  One of those is radishes!  I didn't eat radishes growing up, but I've come to appreciate their peppery bite and Grace loves them!  This year, I've planted several different types.  Radishes are a quick and satisfying vegetable to grow because some varieties mature in as little as 28 days.  Here we have Easter Egg Radishes.

I wanted to enjoy our first harvest by letting the radishes have their moment so I simply slathered a thick layer of salted butter on delicious bread and layered thin slices (a mandoline works beautifully) of radishes atop the bread.  A sprinkling of salt is the perfect finishing touch.

Two Velvet Sofas

Finally, after what seemed like a very long wait period, my green velvet sofas arrived a few weeks ago.  I love them as much as I thought I would.  Perhaps what I love most is how the green changes throughout the day, or even depending on the angle one looks at it from.  It seems to glow!

Most everyone recommended I rethink the velvet, or at least not get 100% cotton velvet, mainly because it shows everything and supposedly won't wear like synthetic.  I can attest that it does show everything in that whatever touches it can leave a mark on the velvet, but I love that (and it goes away with the swipe of a hand)!  I want it to get spots of patina and use!  Everyone is welcome to lounge on them (except Rosie!) and, in fact, two days after we got them, Harris managed to get some of his Easter chocolate on them.  At least we got that over with and they are no longer precious!

I'll post more pictures as the room keeps coming together... I'm not going for a big reveal here.  It's taking a while to get everything in place and figure out how I want everything.  However, I will say that this room is quickly becoming my favorite place to be.

Barn Roofs and a Shed Roof

When we had our home's roof replaced we had the barns reroofed as well.  They too had been cedar shake and were clearly in need of replacement/repair.  For all of the same reasons that helped us decide to not use cedar on our home's roof, we decided to not use it on the barns as well.

Before

Instead, we used standing seam metal.  In our travels this past summer, we saw hundreds of barns dotting the landscape and my very favorites always had metal; especially raw or galvanized metal.  I also liked the idea that sense we would no longer have the same roof material on all of our buildings, they would at least be the same color(ish).

Remember the chicken coop we moved?  It's slowly but surely getting a transformation and while it might not look like much now, this building is going to be wonderful!

A Sweet Story

Over the weekend I stopped at an estate sale and picked up the above painting for $5 because it reminded me of a romanticized flower farm.  When I got home, I looked up the artist and discovered that it was painted by the homeowner who at 92 died peacefully in his home.  His beloved wife of 62 years died exactly a week later. He was a teacher, an avid gardener and loved to travel.  She was a librarian who loved to entertain and take care of her home.  I am certain that I would have loved them had I met them and I'm so happy to have gotten this painting!

The Longview

Our vegetable and flower garden is tucked behind our field but even though it's set back from the road one does hear and see road traffic.  When we decided to put the garden here, I envisioned a "secret garden" and wanted a hedge in front of the deer fence that was tall.   My wish was to even have a door/garden gate that blended in with the hedge.

I started researching hedges and kept coming up short with options that fit all of my requirements: deer resistant, tidy, green year round, fast growing and pretty.   The obvious choice was boxwood but it is certainly not fast growing, plus, it's rather expensive and I had a long space in which to fill.

I started seriously thinking about other options but none of them sat right with me (plus we have a beautiful boxwood hedge in front of our house and you know I like to carry on a theme :)).  The problem was that I decided to go with boxwood on a day (week? month?) that I was very tired of the money we were spending on the renovations of Frog's Hollow.  This lead to one of the sillier choices that I have made here.

I went small, very, very small.  I ordered 10 American Boxwood plants on Amazon for $49.99!  Can you even?  They are cute, very healthy and in 15 years they will look amazing!  You know, when Grace is 30 and Harris 27 years old.  Obviously, we are taking the longview.