November ramblings...

There is something in the shape and color of a bottle that really attract me...

I love bottles and have collected a few of them in the last couple of years; mainly old whiskey bottles and flasks with shapes I find interesting... but I had never owned a vintage bottle in aqua before, and I'm thrilled by it! Yes, I'm a simple girl! I enjoy happy little things and love the thrill of sifting through garage and estate sales too! ;)
 

Bottles speak to me of the old west; saloons, brothels, traveling medicine shows, the days of Buffalo Bill and Mark Twain and the bottles that come with witches and Halloween stories... this one in particular speaks to my heart... it is the perfect recipient for a perfect rose!

Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers ever! And don’t you think they just look especially dreamy in this simple, yet lovely container? Oh I think they do!
 

As you can see I’ve been in the mood for making desserts lately... I guess is the weather. The enchantment of fall moves me to cook, to dance, to sing under this deliciously magical serene sky... Arroz con leche, the Spanish version of rice pudding, is one of my favorite desserts ever, and it’s very easy to make too! I think I have already shared my recipe before, but you can find a lot of different versions of this recipe on the internet. My own personal trick is to add just a pinch of salt to your milks! It’s pure heaven!

Another delightful thing about November is finding reading material for those long winter days ahead... Our home, particularly our bedroom, is embellished with oodles of home and garden decorating books. I can never seem to pass a good book deal, especially if they're from the “Country Living” book collection. My latest find—“Linens and Lace”, by Tricia Foley is just totally gorgeous, and it only cost me $3.99!   There is something in the November sky that moves me; something perfectly tender and evocative of home. At dusk, the house seems to glow under the spell of candlelight and if I look outside...

Ah, outside nature speaks softly... it speaks in a magical language understood only by the soul attuned to the eternal. A sense of eternity lingers in the crisp air of November, and I always find something of myself in this haunting season.

 

Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Pumpkins certainly have a place when it comes to Fall decorating, but you can achieve a beautiful look spending no money at all by just gathering up a few treasures from around your home. Bits of nature from your own yard complete the look. Here is what I have right now decorating our dinner table... the little pumpkins and green apples you see here are faux, but everything else come from the garden--bits of autumn memoirs forever to be treasured!

And then there was pumpkin bread too! Real yummy pumpkin bread!

Enjoy each moment of your life, pause to fill your heart with thanksgivings and beauty wherever you look, and may you be blessed as you walk this wonderful journey called Life!

 

Enchanting mixture - the mingling of seasons

Ah November, you arrived at the house in the roses before we could realize is that time of the year again!
 

It has something to do with the weather I’m sure. Typically, November comes to our valley wrapped in frigid rain and gusty winds, but not this year... no! Walking in the November garden today was almost as if I was walking in another garden... in another land maybe!
 

You could feel a faint chill in the morning air, but it was already sunny and the skies possessed this rare blueness to it that was almost mesmerizing...

 

It seemed as if the garden was tempered by this magical haze which, in a way, diffused the brightness but never dulling it... It was perfect, and enchantingly beautiful.
 

Particularly beautiful is this crazy combination of autumn colors and roses...
 

I love this 'mingling' of seasons, when both, late summer and early autumn come across each other and, for just a handful of days embrace in a formation of colors and forms that in a way is both, lovely and peculiar...

 

Seeing my bright Charismas roses by a birdbath swathed in fallen leaves and shrubs in autumnal colors is almost unbelievable...

This is the view from my bedroom window these days.... a garden plumed with asters and fallen leaves alongside big bright roses... summer and autumn mingle, they hug and touch one last time in a sublime and inexplicable way.

 

What I truly love most about fall, and probably winter too, is that deeper stillness that the air carries. I always find something of myself in this calmness, in its wideness and freedom.

 

I only wish I could catch this magic in my bell jar and share it with you!

 

Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Welcome to "SHOW OFF YOUR COTTAGE MONDAY", a blog party I host at the beginning of each week to celebrate the things we love about our homes and how we live.

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Today I'm celebrating the last roses of the season... I’m always amazed by the way these roses seem to defy nature. As if refusing to comply with death they thrive and bloom, yet they chose to surrender, humbly, to the new season's approach; mingling in meek harmony with their surrounding. I love the way these last roses of October join autumn in a mélange of colors and shapes that to me can only speak of a rare beauty that could never be alienated from melancholy.

Here are some photographs of my last bouquets… a cold rain have permeated our valley swooshing naughty winds around, and the garden has now turned crimsoned orange and tangerine reds. These are probably the last roses you will see here, until the return of another spring…

Tis the last rose of summer

(By Thomas Moore) Left blooming alone; All her lovely companions Are faded and gone; No flower of her kindred, No rosebud is nigh, To reflect back her blushes, To give sigh for sigh. I'll not leave thee, thou lone one! To pine on the stem; Since the lovely are sleeping, Go, sleep thou with them. Thus kindly I scatter, Thy leaves o'er the bed, Where thy mates of the garden Lie scentless and dead. So soon may I follow, When friendships decay, From Love's shining circle The gems drop away. When true hearts lie withered And fond ones are flown, Oh! who would inhabit, This bleak world alone? What are you celebrating? Take me to your cottage, show me how you live, tell me what's making you happy, or what's got you smiling, what new treasure have you find, your new creation!! Link, and take us there!