The older I get, the less I want to decorate for the seasons. It’s not that I don’t want to celebrate the changing seasons, it’s just that I no longer feel the need to have seasonal decor in every corner of my home. To this end, I’ve been trying to purge the seasonal bins in the attic and get down to only what I love. … Continue reading fall mantel
I have so many beautiful dishes that I rarely get out to use. I used to have even more from my early days of blogging, when I couldn’t go down the aisle of a store without my cart making a detour towards the dish section. I have sold off a great deal of them over time, and I’m now down to the ones I just … Continue reading purging my dish collection
I’ve been on a roll when it comes to trying new recipes. My whole meal plan for the last couple weeks consisted of new recipes to try. With Pinterest and a couple good food blogs at your fingertips, why eat the same things over and over again? Originally when I found this recipe on Pinterest and clicked through, it did not produce the actual recipe. … Continue reading chicken and bacon pasta with spinach and tomatoes in garlic cream sauce
Expecting a wintry mix overnight, but hearing the sound of rain on the windows, I was surprised to wake up to a world covered in ice. Knowing that the temperatures were headed upwards to 40 degrees today, I wanted to capture this beautiful stage of weather that halted overnight between snow and rain. Winters in Ohio can be very brown, grey, and just plain drab … Continue reading fleeting beauty
I had been toying with the idea of filling all the containers I use in the summer on the deck with greens. I have a growing collection of black wrought iron baskets, plant stands, and window boxes that look so forlorn and empty now that the summer flowers are long gone. I have a variety of pines in my yard that I usually use for … Continue reading pines on the deck
On a sunny afternoon over Christmas break, I spent a few hours with my daughter, Kate, using her home as a backdrop for a photo shoot for my maps. She lives in an area near downtown Columbus, called Victorian Village. It is a neighborhood with mammoth, ornate Victorian homes on lovely tree-lined streets with brick sidewalks. Her apartment occupies one half of the downstairs, and … Continue reading an afternoon photo shoot at kate’s place
I’m sure, like many of you, the end of a year, and start of a new one, leads to rearranging life. For me, this usually means obsessive cleaning and purging. It is an attempt at order, but also, as I grow older, a need to simplify and lighten the load. While purging the other day, I was sorting through things and putting them in piles, … Continue reading breath of spring
Originally a Nordic tradition, Yule is the name of the old Winter Solstice festivals of Scandinavia, and other parts of Northern Europe, such as Germany. The Yule log is a specially selected log burnt on a hearth as a Christmas tradition. My Yule log was gifted to me on Christmas Eve by my brother-in-law. He had made one for their dining room table out of … Continue reading yule log
Last year I decorated a few paper mâché boxes for Christmas. Not only do they make great decorations to use around the house, but they’re perfect for packaging that special little gift. Here are a few that I made last year. Every year I buy a roll or two of wrapping paper with a brown background. I keep them in an old crock next to … Continue reading little Christmas boxes
I haven’t been doing any baking for the office lately, and with a broken bone in my right hand, I haven’t attempted making any Christmas cookies either. Most of our office works from home, but there is about a dozen of us who come into the office on a daily basis, and I wanted to do something to surprise them for Christmas. Since its getting … Continue reading a Christmas treat
in my spare time 