Here Comes The Sun!
Spring is a little problematic in my corner of the world. Early spring is known as “Mud Season” in New Hampshire. The snow melts slowly, the frost comes out of the ground, loosening the soil, the dirt back roads, such as the one I live on, become rutted obstacle courses. People who don’t know each other wave to each other on these roads, a silent acknowledgement of the shared ordeal. By about April 10, the snow is out of the woods. As patches of yard melt out, we rake and thatch the brown grass as it is...
Read MoreNew for 2013 – Art Nouveau Flower Stamps
I just posted the following over at shortbreadpans.com. These are our latest Cookie Stamp Designs. Lucy Art Nouveau Flower Stamps Around the turn of the last century, a new style of art was born in reaction to the academic art of the 19th century, Art Nouveau. With beautiful forms and elegant curving lines, this “New Art” celebrated flowers, all of nature and the ideal of man’s harmonious place in Nature. With our series of Art Nouveau Cookie Stamps, we have carved some of these beautiful and stylized...
Read MoreGluten Free Shortbread, yes it is possible.
Dear All, The internet in general and my blog in particular has opened up ways and channels of communication that I never dreamed possible. A woman with whom I have become friends over my blog has worked out some gluten free recipes for shortbread, and here they are! How wonderful that she can share with all of you who are gluten-intolerant, too. NO ONE should have to go without shortbread! Happy baking, Lucy From Cara Aileen: I have really enjoyed creating these recipes! What an adventure, and to know they will...
Read MoreWords of Winter
There’s an old saying that goes “If you have a job that you have to do a lot of, get really good at it and figure out how to enjoy it”. In New Hampshire in the dead of winter, that would be snow shoveling. Admittedly, this is a picture that was taken 5 years ago when we had more snow, but I love it, and I wanted to share it. That year, we had tons of snow, literally. All of the hardware stores, Home Depots, tractor supply stores, etc. were completely sold out of snow blowers, shovels and roof...
Read MoreFall Update
The weather has been beautiful here in New Hampshire, my garden hit full late summer glory at the end of August, and all of the biting bugs seem to have packed it in for the season. As a result, it has been well nigh impossible to make myself stay indoors long enough to update my website for fall. I didn’t even write the August and September installments of A Pie For All Seasons until writing out the October recipe. But the Cortland and McIntosh apples are just now ready to be picked. September’s recipe...
Read MoreSummer Report
My Web Genius has been fussing at me, waiting for a report on summer life in rural New Hampshire. There isn’t much to report. Spring started early and hot, at least for 3 or 4 days, then we settled in for a prolonged stretch of cool, rainy early summer weather. My peonies loved it, and though they bloomed even later than usual, they were magnificent. The rain collected in the extravagant blossoms and bowed them to the ground. Here is a picture of my little cat Phoebe sheltering under the flowers, waiting...
Read MoreShortbread Pans and Cookie Stamps made in China
I wanted to share my response to an inquiry about the quality and safety of our shortbread pans and cookie stamps that were made in China. Hopefully, I can put everyone’s mind at ease. I understand your concerns, but in this case, you can relax. First off, let me say that I am a potter and have been for more decades than I care to discuss. I have never used lead or any toxic chemicals, and have always been super careful with any products that have been produced for me by vendors. We started making the...
Read MoreOn St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish…
There’s an old saying that on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish. I really am. Or at a least my heritage is Scotch-Irish, heavy on the Irish. When I was in Dublin with my sister and mother on a gardening tour, I blended in so well that people would stop me on the street and ask directions. As far as I was concerned, that trip explained a lot. On other trips, I had seen magnificent gardens in England. Some had grand vistas, some wide borders within different floral “rooms”, one leading to the next, some...
Read MoreBoy have I been busy
You’d think I would have learned by now… I seem to have the persistent delusion that once Christmas is over, once the decorations are put away and all of the pine needles have been swept up, I will be in for a nice quiet time. I dreamed I will hunker down in front of the fire and catch up on reading the pile of books I have been stocking up. In my fantasy, the cat will be in my lap, and Sophie Dog will be curled up on her bed at my feet. Maybe I’ll finish knitting that sweater I started a...
Read MoreShare the Love
Mine is a very small town. There’s the “village” part, and then there are all of the houses scattered in the surrounding area. There really aren’t neighborhoods as there are in cities. A few years back, I decided that so spread out, many of the town’s elderly probably needed a little stimulation off and on. They needed a little contact, a little something out of the ordinary to perk their minds, a little love. Valentine’s Day would provide a real opportunity. With the collusion of our...
Read More