My Favorite Things

Last week I was tagged by wonderful Suzie over at Itch to Stitch http://itch2stitchdotcom.blogspot.com/ to make a list of 10 of my favorite things. Here are the things I've chosen:


My daughter Amy is without a doubt one of my favorites, and something that represents how much I love being with her is that I still read to her almost every day. Currently we are enjoying “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott.

I love Hawaii, and I’ve loved every single visit I’ve been blessed to take there. For me it truly is a special place, and each time I come home I feel like I leave another piece of my heart behind. One of the things that captivates me most are the palm trees-I could watch them sway all day long. There are also some really nice people in Hawaii too and I am touched by the spirit of Aloha they have shown.

No list of mine could be complete without chocolate. As far as I’m concerned it should be one of the basic food groups, and to paraphrase Will Rogers, “I never met a piece of chocolate I didn’t like.”

Be it ever so humble, there is no place like my sewing room, and it is one of my favorite things as well as one of my favorite places to be. It is still a work in progress, and I still hate the wall paper, but it is my little haven.

Another favorite of mine is my garden. I love working in it and I’m very proud of how it is coming along. When we bought this house, the back yard was a mess—it had been used as a parking lot by the former inhabitants, and all that survived was an old apple tree and a few blades of grass. Putting the garden in has been a labor of love and I fuss over my plants as though they were my babies.

I love a good second hand store. I always have, and I probably always will. When I’m asked what I’m looking for I reply “I don’t know yet, but I will when I see it!”
I get some of my best barkcloth at second hand stores, which leads me to the next favorite thing on my list…

Barkcloth! I could paraphrase Will Rogers once again, and substitute the word barkcloth instead. I pretty much do love it all and I’m especially in awe the of the barkcloth designers of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s—they were masters in their combinations of colors and they came up with some pretty amazing designs too. I only hope I can keep finding this wonderful fabric while I can still afford it!

Since I do a lot of sewing, I love a good sewing machine, and my favorites are vintage models. I currently own three beauties-Singers from the years 1946, 1950, and 1961. They sew wonderfully, they are a pleasure to use, and they are practically indestructible. Still on my wish list to add to my favorites is a machine from before WWII.


I love our dog Willow and I love to pet her ears. They are so soft! The longer we have her the more precious she becomes. She wasn’t an easy dog to have when we first got her and I must admit I often regretted taking her in. But 13 or so years later she is the best dog I know and wouldn’t trade her for any other.

And my 10th favorite thing? So many choices could go here… a good cup of coffee, watching old movies, snowflakes…but for now I think I will leave it blank, and just be thankful for the favorite things I have. I also dedicate this spot to the people of Haiti, in hopes that they too can have their own list of favorite things again someday… things I have and try not to take for granted, like knowing where my loved ones are, and a roof over my head…everything else is just icing on the cake (#11, perhaps?)

Amy's Penguins

As a very proud mom I have to do a little bragging, but even if I didn’t crow it wouldn’t change the fact that my daughter Amy is a very talented little artist in her own right. For Christmas my Mother-in Law gave her a needle felting kit and right away she crafted this adorable pair of penguins.
I am constantly amazed at what Amy creates. If she can envision something she can usually make it a reality. She has a wonderful imagination and also a keen sense of design. I can’t wait to see what she will come up with next!

The Christmas Present

I love a good story, and a good Christmas story is the best, especially when it is true. I present to you, my wonderful readers, a fun story that happened several years ago when my husband and I were newly married.
It all started with a pair of boots. I saw them in the window of the local downtown shoe store—and it was love at first sight for me. They were black. They were tall, and they looked similar to combat boots. What they were not was cheap. I wanted them so desperately-- but on the salary of a grad student and a part time preschool teacher—they were not going to happen.
With a little money I’d saved, I visited the shoe store a few days before Christmas and bought my husband a pair of slippers. He needed new slippers. I tried not to look at the boots. It was hard. The sales clerk asked if I’d like the slippers gift wrapped. Sure, I said. If there’s one thing I’ll beg off on-it’s gift wrapping. While I can do some things really well, gift wrapping is not one of them, and I wasn’t sure if we even had any Christmas wrapping paper at home.
I walked home with heavy heart—but I felt good that I’d bought something nice for my husband and not something frivolous for myself. As I started to place the slippers under the tree I noticed another box-wrapped in the same paper as the slippers. I couldn’t believe it—my husband had gotten me the boots! What a sweetheart! And then I did the only thing that I could possibly do. I rewrapped his slippers. Even though I knew what I was getting, he didn’t have to know that I knew.
Of course Christmas morning I put on one heck of a show of surprise and excitement-but then I had to come clean.
For the very best stories are meant to be shared!

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a BLESSED NEW YEAR!

Winter Workout

Last night we had our first major snowstorm of the season. I know many places have already been dealing with snow, and a lot of snow at that, for a while now, but for us, this was the first snowfall that left more than a slight dusting. So this morning I began doing what I call my winter workout-a set of “exercises” unique to this time of year.
First, I put on my heavy black vintage U.S. Navy pea coat (it weighs a ton and belonged to a hardy sailor by the name of Hayward.) Next I put on my bulky LL Bean hunting boots that aren’t exactly light as a feather. Then, sweating profusely by this time under all the bulk, and already tired, I head outside to trudge through the blanket of freshly fallen snow to walk the dog, or keep my daughter company on her way to school, OR, for even more fun and exertion, shovel the sidewalks. If these activities become too dull and I crave more excitement in my routine, I wrap a vision obscuring scarf around my neck and face (my scarf of choice is a vintage wool plaid) and try to dash across a busy road, praying that approaching sliding cars will come to a stop before connecting with my pea coat and me.
By the end of the day, I'll feel pretty well qualified to compete in the next winter Olympics-and with freezing rain in the forecast for tonight-tomorrow’s event may well be figure skating!

The Story of My Vintage Cookbooks

Each year as the Christmas season rolls around, my thoughts turn to holiday baking and cooking, and I start looking at recipes for cookies and breads and candy. I like to cook and bake now, but this was not always the case.
There was a time when I was proud to say that I didn’t like cooking, or even know how to very well… and I didn’t care to learn either. I even wore this refusal to “learn my way around a kitchen” like a badge of honor and maybe it was my feeble attempt at being “liberated.” Who knows? Ironically, I also bought a lot of vintage cookbooks. There was a wonderful used bookstore, located in an old apartment house, that I would visit quite often, and at 1 or 2 bucks a piece, I would come out with armloads of old cookbooks. I bought them because they were vintage, and cheap, and they were filled with great vintage pictures. I’d line them up on a shelf in my kitchen and look at them from time to time…but never use them. I guess I thought that to be a successful cook one had to be a “gourmet” cook and master the types of techniques taught at the Culinary Institute.
Over time, my ideas about what defines a successful woman began to change, and I started taking my inspiration from women of the past-both women in my own family, and women in society as a whole. It was the ordinary hardworking, resourceful homemaker from the Depression years and wartime years who began to seem extraordinary-- the women who would have used the cookbooks I collected. My Grandmothers and Aunts were such women. So I decided I would not only learn to cook and bake, but do it in such a way as to honor them and make them proud.
Now I’m happy to say that I can bake a beautiful loaf of bread, or roast a chicken on Sunday and come up with three or four ways to use up the leftovers during the week, or make perfect fudge the old fashioned way. (Well ok, I’m still working on that one-soaking the pan overnight really will get the hardened cement-like chocolate to come out.)
I love my old cookbooks even more now-- now that I actually use them, and I can’t help thinking about the unseen hands that touched the pages before me. I only wish these dear women were still around, because I have a question about that biscuit recipe on page 80…

Here is a recipe for my Great Aunt Olga’s Ice Box Cookies. These are very dangerous and can cause a serious case of over indulging…and they are most certainly not healthy, (but my Aunt lived well into her 80’s!)

Preheat oven to 350

1 cup softened butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 to 4 cups of flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream all ingredients together well except flour. Add 3 cups of the flour, and additional flour to form a soft dough. Mold dough into long rolls and wrap in waxed paper and chill in freezer until firm. Cut into 1/8” slices and bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown on ungreased baking sheet.
Makes a lot!

That Old Holiday Feeling

First of all, thank you for visiting my blog-I am truly grateful! And second, I’ll give you a minute or two to try to identify the object in the picture………….
It may not really look like one-but it’s a turkey. I made it in school when I was 5 or 6 or so (hopefully not MUCH older than that!) I vaguely remember thinking at the time that it was the most artfully crafted turkey ever to be created by anyone, and I’m sure I was prouder than punch the day I took it home and showed my mom and dad. These handmade decorations that children make are certainly the most precious kind of decorations, and my dear Mother saved them all-the orange blob of a jack-o-lantern and the Santa’s boot complete with cotton “fur” among others.
I remember that this time of year was so magical back then. There was always much to get done, but it was fun and not something to be endured and gotten through. And I’m sure that the amount of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was a lot longer when I was a kid, or at least it sure seemed that way. The days were a happy blur of baking all kinds of cookies, writing Christmas cards, decorating the house (I still remember gazing at the boxes containing Christmas decorations in the middle of summer-longing for the holidays to come), wrapping presents, getting a tree-and all my memories are framed in red and green and the scent of pine and sugar cookies.
I want this feeling back-I want to feel the anticipation I felt when I was a kid (though not the feeling of eating so much at Thanksgiving that I wanted to die!) I don’t want these fleeting days during “the most wonderful time of the year” to be spent grumbling over getting cards sent, or ornaments hung, or cookies baked. I don’t want to get irritated because I’m running out of shopping days, and finding it a chore to pick out everyone’s presents. It’s hard-I’m an adult and life is not as simple as being 9 and only worrying about whether I’d forget my lines in the Sunday School Christmas program. But I’m going to try really hard to be childlike this year- eat leftover pumpkin pie for breakfast, use too much glitter, put cookies and milk out for Santa, build a snowman, marvel at a tiny baby nestled in a bed of hay, maybe even make a few clay reindeer. I’ve got plenty of time too, if I start right now!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So Long, Summer

Tonight the temperature is supposed to get down to well below freezing. This pretty much will mean the end of my garden for the year. I love autumn, and the color show it brings, but I’ll miss the splendor of summer. Nature creates more beauty with her handiwork than I could ever hope to. (She is the true artist-I simply make the arrangements-flower beds being my “bouquets.”)
After winter ends, and my thoughts turn to spring, my garden is a little like a stranger to me, or an acquaintance I haven’t seen in a long time. I don’t remember clearly how things were, or I have just forgotten. But by the end of summer my garden is like an old and dear friend. I know it intimately. And I know that saying farewell will be hard.

In an attempt to save a little bit of summer for just a little bit longer, my daughter Amy and I have been gathering the last of the flowers-we have picked enough for five vases so far.
It won’t be long before the snow comes, and covers my garden with a white winter blanket. (My garden deserves to have a good long rest.) But spring will come. The snow will melt. And I’ll be outside saying “It’s been a while, but it’s so good to see you again…”