North to South Carolina Road Trip

OK - this week ahead will be a whirlwind - here I am back from a weekend road trip/wedding and now preparing for my trip home to England in one week. Lots to show you, lots to do, please bear with me as I post all these pics now - time will be at a premium.

A side trip to Florence, South Carolina on the way to the wedding, took us to the Pee Dee Farmers' Market..........................and there they were, the elusive white pumpkins, my search was over! I found some beauties and a gorgeous pale green one - the only one remaining.

Mexican chimineas and wrought iron furniture.

Fountains, statues, benches - all lovely. No pick up truck, no take home!!

Great veggies such as organic garlic, white radishes, pale green zucchini (courgettes to you European gals) and patty pan squash.

Driving home along the back roads we noticed how the terrible drought has affected the crops. Tobacco has suffered (not that I'm shedding tears over that one), but the soybeans and cotton looked parched, the corn was already ploughed under, and even the pumpkin crop has been damaged this season.

Below is a cotton field awaiting harvest - this crop is making a come back in North Carolina.

A beautiful plantation style antebellum mansion which now seems to be a farm house as it was surrounded by barns and outbuildings.

The imposing historic market place in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Above you can see my lonely green pumpkin waiting to be taken home - below a real white one front left, and the green one. The white twig 'sculpture', already a bit shabby, I found at SuzAnna'sMore postcards from the road soon.

"Eat your vegetables"

Being vegetarian for almost thirty years I've enjoyed many grown in our small back garden each Summer. The last of the garden harvest was picked Tuesday - a few eggplants hanging on for dear life, some dangling small green peppers, the remaining Roma tomatoes struggling to survive despite roots devastated by hungry voles! Tossed with extra virgin olive oil, roasted along with an onion, yellow and red peppers and a few garlic cloves and a dusting of that French herbed sea salt, they turned out lovely and the entire house smelt so good.

What to do with them while still hot and colorful - make risotto with roasted veggies, quick, easy and healthy.


A little freshly grated Parmigiano~Reggiano, a grind of black pepper, and a few fresh basil leaves ~ supper's ready.

"Buon appetito."

Salt of the Earth

While salting my veggies last evening I thought, why do we say "the salt of the earth" when it comes mostly from the sea? Throughout history salt has been important and was at one time traded for gold.

Why is American packaging somewhat boring.......sometimes just plain ugly.........while in France, something as ordinary as salt is not only vibrant with flavor, it comes in beautiful containers like this.

SEL DU JARDINIER (Gardener's Salt) is beautiful.............gritty crystals with tiny specks of herbs mixed in. This metal trimmed wooden box complete with attached string ties looks lovely sitting on the kitchen counter.

The usual blue box of iodized American salt has only one redeeming factor...........'when it rains it pours'. My French salt will never pour - it's damp and sticky as if it really did come straight from the sea. It needs help from a spoon or one's finger tips - but even that feels right. Sometimes, perhaps all times, the old ways are better.


Well OK, the little girl with the umbrella is pretty and I do like how the company is showing the old illustrations on their packaging lately.

A Taste of Autumn

Have you ever bought fruit and found it wasn't ripe enough to eat immediately? When I opened the nasty plastic clamshell box containing these California plums. I found them to be really rock hard ~ a big disappointment! However a quick run through the cookbooks today turned up this Plum Raspberry Crumble in Ina Garten's great 'Barefoot In Paris' - Easy French Food You Can Make at Home. This was simple and delicious - luckily I had frozen beautiful raspberries this Summer, the plums baked to soft perfection, and all other ingredients are basic items we all keep around the kitchen.

Just the right dessert for an Autumn evening - warm from the oven with a dollop of creme fraiche - even the colors excite one's taste buds!

Beyond the Pale.........Pumpkins

These pale beauties evade me.................I want some, I dream of them, where are they hiding? Lead me to that pumpkin patch, please.

We cottage girls often want something different. After all, shabby chipped paint, rambling pink roses on faded fabric, unpolished silver, creamy china, are sometimes insulted by bright orange pumpkins.

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I didn't find any big pale true beauties yet, but a few smaller ones were joyfully discovered this past weekend! They'll keep these two large ones company on my table. They are big and pale, yes. Beautiful, in a way. Real, by no means. Don't tell - from a distance they fool. My seasonal secret.

October Fire

Then came October, full of merry glee..............Spenser

The eight month of the old Roman year.

By the Slavs this is called 'Yellow month', from the fading of the leaf, to the Anglo Saxons, it was known as Winter fylleth, because at this moon (fylleth) winter was supposed to begin.Childhood remembrance...................picking Hazel Nuts along the lane on a brisk October afternoon in Devon.
Especially for Heidi in Amersfoort - colorful toadstools hidden in the woods.
My glorious beans now at their most brilliant on the front porch.

"That Autumn eve was stilled.
A last remains of sunset dimly burned
o'er the far forests - like a torch-flame turned
by the wind back upon it's bearer's hand
in one long flare of crimson; as a brand.
The wood beneath lay black."
............Robert Browning

Wedding Bells are Ringing

Must be time for Autumn weddings. When time permits I try to make cards for special people in my life. At first I thought it would be a way to save money..............have you seen the ridiculous price of a nice card these days? The materials and time involved in designing and creating an attractive card can become a bit costly too, but what a great feeling knowing you have made something you are proud to give, and to see how much the recipient enjoys it.

This week I made these two wedding cards. The first one was for my hairstylist and building contractor. We introduced these two special friends last December and today is their wedding day on the beach in Costa Rica!!!

In England, a wedding tradition is to give the bride a lucky sixpence.......a silver coin from Britain's 'old money' used before the metric system.

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a lucky sixpence for your shoe."

The card below is for the very nice young man, and his fiancee, who bought the house next door last year. Next Saturday we'll be attending their wedding in South Carolina at the bride's family farm......small country church ~ outdoor reception ~ sounds fun.

CONGRATULATIONS to all.