and while we were gone...

The leaves that were green...

turned to brown.

And many of them are 'gone with the wind'...

like the red sunset maples that line the driveway.

The window boxes were still looking good when we left home.

Now they are in desperate need of attention.

As is everything else...

from the office to the yard.

But first things first.

Family!

We missed four birthdays while we were away...

Micah, Emme and Spencer...

and Heidi.

And we missed everyone!

And so they all came for dinner this week.

I donned my new apron...

and spent some time in the kitchen for a change.

I quite like my made-in-Maine apron!

In Maine they really pay attention to detail.

They use fancy stitching on all edges..

and corners are all perfectly mitered.

And the apron comes in the cutest jar...

with a blackboard/chalk label.

I've waited a long while to thank Vee for the apron...

since I wanted to show you the jar it came in.

The apron flew home with me from the east coast at the end of August.

But the jar had to finish the entire road trip before it arrived here.

I love my new apron...

and the jar it came in!

Thank-you!

What else has all happened while we were away?

I have really no idea...

since we basically heard no Canadian news while on the road.

With one exception.

The mayor of Toronto seemed to be making the news on a regular basis...

no matter where the road led us.

Oye...

as my friend Ellen would say!

On our grape arbour...

the last of the season grapes are still waiting to be picked.

I'm leaving them for the birds though.

They may find them more tasty than we do!

Do grapes go wild?

It seems they are not the variety we started out with.

The lawn grew in our absence as well.

And so it got a trim yesterday.

The last one of 2013.

Did I mention that it is good to be home?

Thanks for stopping by...

and have a great weekend!

down the garden path...

 At long last.

Our upstairs bedrooms (guest rooms) both have something on the wall.

It seems I prefer bare walls to making the wrong decision...

and so it has taken this long to hang a few pictures.

I first ordered a canvas of a photo I took at Butchart Gardens...
with intentions of hanging it in the bigger room.
It looked too small for the large wall...

...and so it landed up in the smaller bedroom.

I kept my eye out for artwork that would be suitable for the bigger bedroom...
to no avail.

I finally went back to my Butchart Gardens album...

 ...and ordered prints
...three with the same theme.

Down the Garden Path.

Done...at long last.

Though our gracious guests have never mentioned the naked walls...

they will now have Butchart Garden art to enjoy when they awake.

Butchart Gardens is one of the world's premier show gardens...

and is situated in Victoria, B.C.

 If you are ever on the Canadian west coast...

be sure to to talk a walk down their garden path!

hat trick...a napkin folding tutorial

 Any table can be transformed into a festive one with the delightful touch of folded napkins.  This can be one of the simplest and least expensive ways of decorating your table...and most folded napkins work equally well with paper or cloth.

There are many ways to fold a napkin...most of which I have never learned.  There is one way, however...that I can pretty much do in my sleep. Weddings, banquets and dinners...I have folded hundreds of napkins this way. The finished napkin looks rather like a crown...

...like the ones you see on this table.  Since I have people asking me from time to time how this is actually done...I will attempt to show you.

1. Fold napkin in half to form a rectangle.
2. Fold top right corner down to bottom edge.
3. Fold bottom left corner up to top edge.
4. Turn napkin over.
5. Fold bottom edge up to top edge...one triangle will extend below bottom edge.
6. Fold napkin along the top edge as you turn it over...a second triangle will fall free.
7. Fold right quarter toward the centre, tucking the point under the long fold.  
8. The napkin will look like illustrated in #8.
9. Turn napkin over.  Fold right quarter toward the centre and tuck in the point.

At this point, you have a flat hat with twin peaks...which can be stored like this until ready to use. To place on table, open up from the bottom to complete your 'bishop's hat'.  If it all looks Greek to you...check out this tutorial that I found on-line...which explains it much better than I could.  Pull out a few napkins and follow along...you'll soon be a pro.
 
And while I am at it...let me share with you another intricate way of folding a napkin...

...one which I just learned from my friend Julie a few weeks ago. I came home and practiced a few times. I won't be doing this one in my sleep, let me assure you...but I think I have it figured out.

1. Lay the napkin flat on the table, and bring each of the four corners down to meet at the centre spot.
2. Without turning the napkin, fold the corners down again in the same way.
3. Now turn the napkin over so the underside is up...and again bring each corner down to meet at the centre spot.
4. Now, hold a small glass firmly on the centre of the napkin to hold the last four folds securely in place. Next...reach underneath and pull each of the four corner points to the outside. Then pull out the remaining four points...one on each side.   

You should end up with a napkin that resembles a flower.  It looks rather like a nest...the perfect spot to add a little dinner favour.  My daughter was over yesterday...and we played with napkins...just for fun.  It seems to work better with paper napkins...but I rather like the look of the cloth ones as well.

Why not include one other simple way of folding a napkin? 

 

It's great for a buffet service...with the cutlery already tucked into a napkin.

1. Fold the napkin in half to form a rectangle.
2. Place folded edge at the bottom.
3. Bring top edge of the first layer to the bottom.
4. Turn the napkin over...and bring left edge to centre. 
5. Fold this section over on itself two more times in the same direction.

Tuck the cutlery (or silverware...as I would say if I were American) into the pocket...and place on the buffet table.  This method works best with a large napkin...and one that is printed on both sides.

And that, my friends, is your napkin folding lesson for today.  Have a fun weekend!

flavours and scents...

It's a long weekend in our part of the world.

 

What that means for many...is that the car hits the road...

sometimes long before the weekend arrives.

 

It's a good time to visit new places...or check in on old friends. 

As for us...we always stay home on the holiday weekend in May.  

If the weather is nice...there is farm work to be done.

And so we have not strayed far from home...

and yet we have experienced the culinary delights of many countries.

On Friday night we joined friends for a taste of Thailand...

at our local Thai restaurant.

Saturday the grands came for a sleepover...

and we had Mexican cuisine.

Sunday it was German pancakes for breakfast...

and California clubs for lunch...

and back to Mexico for supper.

There is corn to planted today...if the rain holds off.

It's a Canadian holiday...Victoria Day...

and so I think we'll celebrate that by eating Canadian food for a change. 

I wonder what that will be?

Oh...and the lovely aroma is from Korea.

Miss Kim lilacs...a treat on a holiday or any day!

Enjoy your holiday Monday...

christmas in spring...

I like to make a good thing last for a very long time...and so it is that I have just finally finished unwrapping my Christmas present.

At Christmas I opened a card...where I read that I was to go shopping...for a new dining room table and chairs. That took a while...since it's not something one does every day...and there aren't many BIG tables out there. A few shopping trips later...and with input from my daughter...and a good friend...I was ready to place my order for a custom made table.

Now it is here...all eight feet of it...along with extensions for either end. It seats a crowd...or the entire gang when they are here for dinner. We checked it out on Sunday...and had plenty of elbow space. We've even got room for a few more. I quite like it!

This was the first time that we have ever shopped for a real table. Through all these years we have used an assortment of hand-me-downs...which always served the purpose. Jeremy and Broni are now enjoying our original dining room suite...which belonged to my great uncle and aunt at one time. Heidi has laid claim to the one that we just replaced...which was my mom's dining room suite. Who knows where this one will land up one day...but for now I will enjoy it!

I love having friends and family (sometimes strangers) over...and somehow it's always easier to visit around the table. No matter which way you look at it, wonderful things happen when given the opportunity to gather around the table. I found that quote at the bottom of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook recipe blog...and I agree.

I have friends coming tonight...and we'll try the table on for size.

Have a great day...

The Kitchen...then and now

Kitchen's may come and go...but the memories last forever! How could one ever forget a kitchen that was green on green?

When we were first married we moved into an old farmhouse...I had a lot of fun painting. The cabinets were white...but I wanted a splash of colour in my kitchen...and what would go better with my avacado green appliances than lime and avacado cabinetry? I actually rather liked my kitchen at the time...and I had a little helper who kept all the cupboards organized for me in those days!

Since that early green kitchen, I have had dark oak cabinetry, mahogany cabinets, cinnamon coloured maple cabinets...

...and now my kitchen is antique cream in colour.

Vee is on a mission to re-model her kitchen...and is looking for suggestions. Here's my theory...colour it any way that suits you...make it look warm and homey...and as long there's good food and good company in the kitchen, it's all good!

Have a great day...

...there's no place like home!

We're back...and how nice to be sleeping in my favorite bed once again! After enjoying a few weeks weeks of California sunshine...we drove the last stretch home to the rhythm of the windshield wipers. That made it feel all the more like we had arrived home!

We walked into the house to find a lovely poinsettia on the kitchen counter, along with a note from my the grandkids next door...a 'welcome home' surprise. It does seem like we were gone a long time...and I was looking forward to seeing everyone.

Baby Maelyn has all but grown up while we were away...


...but she still seemed to remember me, and had some ready smiles for Grammy!


The rain fell throughout the afternoon...but I quite enjoyed the sunset. We left with the geese flying south...but now we're back and I noticed a flock of geese travelling north through the setting sun. I guess two weeks was long enough for them as well!

We had a wonderful vacation...but I don't think I'm ready to spend my winters down south anytime soon. Much as I love to travel...there's no place like home!

Enjoy the weekend...

now I lay me down to sleep!

I'm finished my bedroom projects for the time being...so I'll take you to their final resting place.

When we moved here three years ago, I co-ordinated the bedding and the paint colour and that it was it for bedroom decor. Some time later I found the two bedside lamps. We had no headboard...but I had a headboard in my mind, and knew it would eventually come to be! It finally happened last spring...and it sure is wonderful to have a padded headboard to lean up against. I had a plywood base cut from 5/8" plywood...4" wider than the bed and about 28" high. I covered the entire thing with 2" foam, cotton quilt batting, and used a soft suede fabric as the 'top coat' (stapled on the back). The head board is attached to the wall with a cleat made of 1x6 (cut diagonally)..it can be removed anytime. I made one in chocolate brown for my daughter-in-law last year as well...it works great!

We have a soaker tub in the bedroom, and the alcove around it was looking pretty bare.

I found this print done by a local artist that fit the bill perfectly...and came in the right colours. Since everything in the room was in creams & golds, I thought I would pick up a little of the seafoam blue/green in the picture and add a few accents.

I found this chair at the thrift store awhile back...it was the perfect size for this corner. I was looking for a low chair, since it would sit in front of a low window. The colour was actually OK in our room, so I haven't been in any hurry to re-cover it. However, it's soon time to garden, so I decided to complete my bedroom projects.


I bought a curtain panel on sale at Fabricland...along with a pattern for making a slipcover. The pattern was of no value, since the slipcover would have fit someone elses chair...but not this one! So I spent a lot of time trying to create a pattern...and then the actual sewing was easy. It turned out fine...pulls off for laundering...and I now have a pattern, so I can make more dresses for this chair if I so desire!

I was hoping to have enough fabric left to cover a stool which sits in our ensuite (also from the thrift store), but my remaining scraps wouldn't stretch to fit...

...so, after another trip to Fabricland, I got the stool covered last night and my projects are done for now. I quite like the new look!

There are no projects on the menu for today...since we are heading out of town for a funeral.

Have a great day!