~REAR WINDOW~

Recently some of our friends have been posting the view
from their bedroom windows. Here is what we see from our
bedroom window at the rear of our home.

No, we haven't even moved our outdoor furniture in for the winter.
...and we don't bother to rake the leaves either! Aren't they beautiful?


Quite unlike Hitchcock's thriller "Rear Window", all we see are woods and animals.
This time of year we often see deer.
We've seen fox, peacocks and peahen and plenty of snakes.


We can see our gazebo and fishpond just beside it.



...the back of the birdbath water fountain next to a patio and walkway.
Believe me, there is a walkway under all those leaves!


...looking toward one of our livingroom windows.


The only part of our back that stays green is all the ivy
...or where the snakes are in the summer!

What do you see from your bedroom window?

~Where is it?!!!~

Where o' where has my banner gone?
Where o' where could it be?

With a lady holding a little bird
Please tell me if you can see!


I was shocked to come to my blog and find that my banner picture is gone!
Is it just my computer? Can any of you see it?

What could have happened?

~Tell her DEBORAH sent you!~

DEBRA at THE BUNNIES' BUNGALOW is hosting a giveaway!

When you leave your comment to enter the giveaway, please be sure to tell her DEBORAH from PPP sent you.

DON'T FORGET!

~Missed you all...~

I've missed being with you all for several days. Hope to be back soon. I've been having terribly bad headaches. I have a neurologist appointment Friday and hope to get this taken care of. Just don't feel much like reading or writing for now.

~Paris Chic in Savannah~

~Welcome a New Blogger~

JENNIFER at Style Your Home has published her first post. It's her entry in the Brocante Home Puttery Treats contest.

I hope you all will visit her blog and read her entry and give her a big WELCOME!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am back from our trip. I have no internet connection just now at my home so I haven't been able to post photos. We did have a great time and we ate way too much! I hope to have things working soon. Stay tuned!

~So long for a few days...~

I'm traveling a little further down south today. My husband and I are leaving for Savannah for two days, then to Charleston, SC, for two days...two of my favorite towns!

I hope to come back with some photos - both Savannah and Charleston are beautiful places.

As always, I'll leave the door open and the light on for those of you who visit while I'm gone.

~APRON GIVEAWAY!~

DEANNA and EREN at APRONISTA are giving away another apron!

Have you all seen these darling aprons? Go check them out and enter!

Go! Go! Go!

~Chestnut Autumn~

Several weeks ago I ordered chestnuts from Delmarvelous Farms.

They arrived here today! I bought a couple pounds of regular chestnuts and a couple pounds of their popcorn chestnuts that come from their American hybrid trees. The popcorn chestnuts are supposedly extra sweet.



I've read that the chestnut dates back to prehistoric times.

The Chestnut tree resembles an oak and can live up to five hundred years and usually do not begin to produce fruit until they are forty years old.

This is a recipe for turkey stuffing taken from their site.

HERBED CHESTNUT STUFFING

Delmarvelous Chestnuts combine beautifully with all the seasonal flavors of autumn. In this recipe we take advantage of the fresh garden herbs of sage and parsley.

1-1/2 lbs. Delmarvelous Chestnuts, peeled and chopped
(Chestnuts can be roasted and peeled or boiled and peeled.)
1 lb. homestyle bread with crust removed, lightly toasted
1 lb. sausage cooked & crumbled
1/2-3/4 cup chicken or turkey stock
2 large onions-minced
2 Tbs. oil
1/4 stick unsalted butter
1 cup minced celery
3 Tbs. fresh sage
2 Tbs. fresh parsley

Put toasted bread crumbs in a large bowl.

Saute onion and celery in oil and butter until soft; add sausage and fresh sage. Stir thoroughly and cook a few minutes to combine flavors. Add the cooked mixture to the bread crumbs.

Stir in the Delmarvelous Chestnuts, parsley and enough stock to moisten.

Place the stuffing in the turkey and cook according to the directions for the turkey.

Stuffing can also be placed in a buttered baking dish and baked, covered in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. Remove the cover during the last 20 minutes of baking.

Stuffing will fill a 12-15 lb. bird.

Sounds good to me!



Another delicious recipe from Delmarvelous Farms:

CHOCOLATE CHESTNUT MOUSSE

Delmarvelous Chestnuts combined with cocoa and amaretto make a perfect ending for a festive dinner.

2 pounds of Delmarvelous Chestnuts, peeled
12 Tbs. of sugar, or to taste
4 Tbs. of cocoa
4 Tbs. of amaretto
16 ounces heavy whipping cream

Put chestnuts in water to cover, simmer until tender. Drain, add sugar, cocoa and Amaretto. Process in a food processor until smooth and well combined.

Beat heavy cream until stiff. Fold into chestnut puree. Divide among desert glasses. Chill until set-up.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Serves 10.

NOTE: Mousse can also be used as filling between multiple very thin layers of pound cake and then drizzled with sweetened raspberry puree.

I had a few chestnuts this evening and they were GOOD!
Oh yes! Notice my new Susan Branch Autumn book?! It came in the mail this afternoon also! This is the book I won from Kim at Vintage Pretties.
THANK YOU KIM!!
Now I'm SURE it's AUTUMN!!

~Thanksgiving at Home~

Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home is having a giveaway!
A most BOUNTIFUL giveaway!

Join in the fun - you just might win!

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

~The Vintage Word~

I have a passion for books - admittedly my 'library' consists mainly of cookbooks which I love to browse through on rainy days. You can step into my library to see all my books - a few I have not added yet. Go to my sidebar and look for the little old man carrying the stack of books. Click on "Step Into My Library". Once you get into my library, click on "Cover View" - top left. It's more fun to view them that way.

I do have a few very old books. My personal favorite was one of my school books from third grade. "Friends and Workers" held my favorite story - "Little Ugly Face". Any of you recognize the book or the story? There was also the story of "The Good Cat Jupie", "Brownie and the new Cook", The Elves and the Shoemaker". My most loved part of the book was the section entitled "Indian Stories". There you find "Little Hiawatha", "Little Ugly Face", "The Four Bears", "An Indian Water Jar" and "Big Snapping Turtle". The eleventh printing of this book was in 1951. I can still sit down and read some of these stories and enjoy them.

Other school readers:
"Friends for Every Day" - 1938
"Billy Goes To School" - 1949


Ah, "Gems from Longfellow"...I love poetry. This book has no date in it whatsoever. I did some research on it and it was written sometime between 1900 and 1909. It came in an old box and the book itself was wrapped in onionskin.



"Music and Romance" was my daddy's book. I think I learned to love music through him. This book was copyright in 1930 and covers everything from "Old Folk Melodies of the Old World" to "Ballet-Telling a Story in Music and Dance" to "Music of the American Indian, Tribal and Composed" to the symphony and opera and composers.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", 1944.
"Old Mother West Wind", copyright 1910 - no print date, is a children's tale.

"The Wind In The Clearing & Other Poems" by Robert Cameron Rogers, 1894.
"A Woman's Heart", 1951.


An anthology of O. Henry stories, printed 1943.

"The Romance of Terence O'Rourke, Gentleman Adventurer" by Louis Joseph Vance copyright 1905, tells of the many adventures of an Irish gentleman.




Our Miss Callie being nosy on my most comfortable reading chair ... actually, I suppose in all truth, it is HER chair. "...could you just put the camera away and come sit with me?!"





"The Works of Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son". Again, this volume is not dated. Dickens wrote this 1846-1848.


"Gems from Longfellow"

Another of my daddy's books - "Ballads of a Cheechako", copyright 1909. His favorite book was "Call of the Wild" by Jack London.




"...finally, our last picture and now time to relax."

~PIKES PLACE MARKET~

I visited the famous Pike's Place Market in Seattle a couple weeks ago. Wanted to share some photos from there. The Market overlooks Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington. It opened in 1907, is one of the oldest continually-operated public farmer's markets in the country and it covers nine acres.






This is only a part of the abundance of food at Pike's Place. There was much more than food also ... handicrafts of every sort - handmade clothes, sculptures, paintings, glassware, street performers...too much to see in the time we had there.




This was just as the fishmonger was letting go of a large fish that was to come flying over my head. I was so nervous that I didn't get the photo of it coming my way. A friend was ready to take a photo from the side and just as she snapped a man walked in front of her. You may have seen the flying fish on HGTV. It gave us quite a laugh.

BLOGGER OUTAGE NOTICE

I noticed this message on Blogger for all of you who use Blogger:

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Blogger will be unavailable Tuesday (11/6) at 11:00PM PST for about 10 minutes for maintenance.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


~~~NOW THE GOOD NEWS!~~~

I'm thinking of having a giveaway to celebrate my
100th post.
Anyone interested? I believe this is my 73rd, so it won't be long!

~APRONISTA GIVEAWAY~

DEANNA and EREN are giving away an apron...your choice!

Chose the apron you love, leave a comment and you are entered!

Not much time here lately~

Since our return from Washington State I haven't had much time to spend here; but, my time away from blogging was well spent. Our daughter and grandson Coy were here from Virginia for several days. They just left this afternoon. Coy is just fourteen months old and I miss seeing him grow up. Each time they come to Raleigh, I'm surprised at what he can do.

This time was very special for us all. Daughter told us that little Coy will have a baby brother or sister sometime in June! This will be grandbaby #4!

Our other grandson Nicholas is three years old today - November 5 and our granddaughter Kathryn was five years old October 4. I see them nearly everyday - they live only three minutes from us. I feel so blessed to have these three children in my life ... and another one to come!