There’s a half day shop sale going on today in Ms. Jeannie’s Etsy shop! Come take a look…
Half days are always fun – especially on a Monday! Prices are reduced upon checkout. Sale runs ’til midnight tonight!
Half Day Shop Sale – Today!
The Post-Derby Post: A Minty Affair
The mint julep is always the star of the show at the Kentucky Derby in the drinks department. But when Ms. Jeannie’s own party plans got significantly waylaid this year, she decided instead of going all the traditional routes she was going to mix things up a bit. Instead of the mint julep, she created the Minty Donberry…
Which was a glass of chardonnay with a spring of mint and a slice of strawberry. Like a mini sangria, it was light and refreshing and looked pretty from the side…
Instead of traditional red roses, she went white and peach and purple in the flower department…
with bouquets of lilacs, snowballs, flowering dogwood and clematis.
And instead of a formal sit-down dinner following the race she went with a smattering of appetizers for a more informal cocktail party-like atmosphere. The favorite of the appetizers was a sausage and mint brown rice meatball accompanied by a cucumber mint raita sauce. It was a nice match with the Minty Donberry, easy to prepare ahead of time and made a lot. So even though there was no julep – mint was still a main attraction!
Here’s the recipe…
Sausage and Mint Brown Rice Meatballs with Minty Cucumber Raita Sauce…
For the Meatballs
1 lb. ground grass-fed organic sausage
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten (preferably free range organic!)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Prepare brown rice ahead of time and let cool. Add all ingredients together in a bowl and mix until well-combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour (up to one day – if you want to prepare ahead). All ingredients should look evenly dispersed throughout the mixture, like this…
Roll into 18 golf-ball sized meatballs or smaller if you want to make a miniature version. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Turn each meatball once and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until the meatballs turn golden brown. This may require a little more or a little less cooking time depending on the size of your meatballs. Also, Ms. Jeannie broiled hers for the last couple of minutes to get a nice dark brown crust on each.
For the Minty Cucumber Raita…
1/2 large cucumber – peeled, seeds removed and then grated
1 cup sour cream
1/8 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon honey mustard ( Ms. Jeannie used Inglehoffer’s which is a German mustard)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Place grated cucumbers in a paper towel and squeeze out all the extra liquid. Then combine all ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly mixed. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. Makes 2 cups of raita.
Arrange the meatballs on a platter alongside the raita. Ms. Jeannie served her sauce in her grandmother’s 1930’s teacup – which looked pretty! If you want to garnish the plate you can use (you guessed it) fresh mint or dill. But the meatballs don’t last long once out among the party crowd so you may not want to even bother!
Ms. Jeannie was rooting for longshot Wildcat Red…
and even though he didn’t win – it was still a great race! Now it is on to the Preakness to see if California Chrome will become a Triple Crown winner. Ms. Jeannie’s two best friends couldn’t make last night’s party so they’ve all decided to get together for round two on May 17th to watch the Preakness. It might just be a California themed event!
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Seedlings and Snakes: Let the Season Begin!
It was exactly two weeks ago today that Ms. Jeannie got going on her spring garden with the official planting of the seeds. And now here we are just 14 days later with sprouts that look like dancers…
The cucumbers and the snow peas are winning the race towards bloom day…
And the okra is not far behind…
Even the lone zinnia in the rescued and re-purposed pitcher has come to surface. Not doubt happy to have such an exotic home!
It is always fun to watch how each kind of seed unfurls…
The dill is dainty…
…while wax beans look downright pre-historic…
And then there was the sighting of an actual pre-historic…
“Just a baby,” said Mr. Jeannie Ology. This “baby” indeed, was three feet long, which was plenty long for the likes of Ms. Jeannie. Hopefully this little one will be gracious enough to stay out of the greenhouse!
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Earthbound: Stories From Underground
Last summer when Ms. Jeannie posted about the giant hercules beetle larvae poking their way out of the ground she mentioned that on first glance she mistook them for old doorknobs. Sometimes that actually happens. One of the joys of digging around in the dirt in Georgia is unearthing unexpected treasures.
A few weeks ago, Ms. Jeannie was visiting a fiend and helping with some garden projects. When digging up some dirt for potting soil in a far corner of her friend’s yard, she unearthed the above items, all within just a 20 minute time span.
There was old farm equipment in the form of a hefty tractor gear, and some nuts and bolts and pins…
There were old pottery pieces…
Ms. Jeannie loves to find these most. She has a collection of hundreds of pieces which one day she will do something crafty with. The pottery usually swims to the surface after a heavy rain and you can find it almost everywhere around historic places – usually in the sandy parts of pathways or the bald spots of grassy areas like lawns and gardens.
She likes these pieces best because they are delicate and pretty and they tell fascinating little stories about the area they were found in. The pieces with the red flowers are from a turn of the 20th century shaving mug. There is also a china plate (the blue pieces), ironstone pottery (the cream colored pieces) and earthenware pottery – double-glazed on each side which means it was used for some sort of food or water storage.
On that same dig Ms. Jeannie also found an old medicine bottle (perfectly intact!), the top spout of another bottle and the top of an old canning crock from the early 1900’s… (notice the date of 1892!)
This is what the entire crock would have originally looked like…
Swan Creek Cottage (click for more info)
These crocks were used for pickle storage, and then became reuseable for other things like, honey, jam, butter, etc. Because Ms. Jeannie found these in the dirt next to the medicine bottle she most likely uncovered a bit of an old garbage pile. Back in the day before trash pick-up and garbage trucks, people would designate one area of their property as the trash heap and they would either collect in a mound and burn it, or dig a big hole in the ground, toss in their unwanteds (empty bottles used jars, clothing, shoes, broken dishes, equipment, etc.) and let nature takes it course of breaking it down. Obviously the heavy duty items never break down but once dirt and leaves and other natural debris cover up the pile it was an out of sight/out of mind situation.
The final thing Ms. Jeannie found was this aluminum pitcher dating to about the 1960’s…
It was fully intact but a little squashed,…
But because it has this fun aqua-teal ish color to it…
Ms. Jeannie thought it would make a very fun, very rustic flower container! Mr. Jeannie Ology hammered it back out into shape, scrubbed it down and voila…
Taking center stage in the greenhouse, it’s a new home for soon to be zinnias! Ms. Jeannie planted red zinnia seeds in the pitcher so when they bloom it will be a pretty contrast against the aqua and rust. If all goes according to plan it will be an interesting conversation piece. From trash to treasure, a love story. You just never know, dear readers, what gifts the earth will give back to you:)
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The Surprise of the Season!
The last time Ms. Jeannie posted on the blog it was snowing. And now it’s Spring!
Goodness gracious where do the days go?! All throughout February and March Ms. Jeannie has been navigating the book club and her organizational systems for it.
It has taken her away from blogging and all you lovely readers which she hates, but it has also introduced her to an assortment of wonderful authors and stories from new subscribers which she loves, so it’s been an exciting journey from concept to creation.
With a total of 88 subscribers as of this post, the book club is a constant bustle of activity. To date, which is now at the 7th month mark, Ms. Jeannie has wrapped 307 books, written 307 author’s bios and 307 book bios, been kicked out of the post office once (too many packages please come back tomorrow), gone through 15 packages of tape, finished 8 rolls of twine, folded 356 pieces of tissue paper, cut 560 lengths of ribbon and been reprimanded by the post master twice (only 10 packages at a time in line please!). Needless to say it’s been a spectacular adventure!
And while Ms. Jeannie’s days are now full of books, and research, and writing, and schedules , she managed to carve in a little gardening time over the weekend thanks to one of the most wonderful surprises ever…
Ms. Jeannie’s neighbor has lent her the use of her greenhouse for the rest of the year! How exciting – a whole greenhouse all her own! It’s located just down at the end of the drive, so it’s a quick walk from the house, and ideally set with plenty of sun water spigots, and old rickety potting tables. After a quick yet thorough snake check by Mr. Jeannie (none thank goodness!) Ms. Jeannie got to work right away planting seeds…
So far, in just a day she managed to prepare and pot almost her entire vegetable garden…
It was the first sunny, dry and 70 degree weather in days and Ms. Jeannie was so glad to be enjoying it in her new horticulture house. She even collected sand from the creek bed for her spinach seedlings – these are going to be some pampered plants this year.
Next week Ms. Jeannie will get to work on the flower seed aspect of the garden so stay tuned for some regular garden updates all season.
With each passing month, the book club gets better and better situated, so Ms. Jeannie looks forward to sharing a bevy of spring and summer blog posts.
Until next time, happy April and happy Spring!
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Winter Wonderland: Part Two and a Mystery Solved!
Two snowfalls within two weeks! Could Ms. Jeannie be any luckier?
These past few days brought four inches of snow and about an inch of ice which was much more than last time. Again, Ms. Jeannie marveled at the icy landscape surrounding her house.
And again the birds proved to be one of the most enchanting elements of the whole production.
Recently, Ms. Jeannie watched a documentary called Birders, which followed a batch of bird watchers for one year in Central Park.
It was beautifully filmed and full of interesting information regarding birds and migration but the one thing that Ms. Jeannie really took away from it was to look and really observe the types of birds that are flying in and out of her own surroundings everyday. There all types of interesting characters who are there for all different reasons.
So armed with this new sense of insight Ms. Jeannie was sure to take an extra close look at the birds buzzing about in the snow. With the white landscape it was much easier to see and identify the different types that had come calling to the great fill-up station in the sky (aka the bird feeder).
So over the course of one snow day this is what she saw…
For the past few weeks Ms. Jeannie was a little worried about her dove pair because she just kept seeing one – but alas in the snow both showed up together.
Speaking of pairs – Ms. Jeannie’s yard is full of cardinal couples…
She was a fast flyer and liked to hang upside down from the feeder. Ms. Jeannie usually saw her like this…
And last but not least is the mystery solved of these black birds that have been flocking in the neighborhood for months now. Usually Ms. Jeannie will see hundreds descend on the lawn at once but each time she’d go get her camera they’d fly up to the tree tops. Exactly one month ago today – she took these pictures…
In such large numbers as they were they made these very loud noises – like a huge stadium full of choral singers all singing at different times. Of course once the birds flew up high they were two far away to identify. But every time there was any threat of rain (or snow!) in the forecast here they’d come by the hundreds.
With the help of the snow and their swarm landing at the feeder, Ms. Jeannie was able to get an up close view of the bunch for an accurate indentification…
In different light throughout the day the blackbirds tended to change colors from all black to dark dark brown with blue green heads…
They weren’t shy when it came to sharing seed – that’s for sure. When they took over the feeder – they really took it over – kicking all the other birds out of the area. These birds were named after Massachusetts naturalist and author Thomas Mayo Brewer who was friends with fellow bird lover John James Audubon.
In addition to having a bird named after him Brewer also left behind other creature legacies that carry his name such as the hairy tailed mole (aka Brewer’s mole)…
and the very handsome Brewer’s Duck…
Sounds like one lucky guy! If you could have an animal named after you, which would you choose? Ms. Jeannie would most probably pick a bird as well and if not an animal then a flower. If she were as lucky as Mr. Brewer then perhaps it could be both!
Now that the great thaw is occurring today we are warming up once more here in the South and all the snow is melting away. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. Now we have the spring daffodils to look forward to. These little beauties were not intimidated by this last blast of winter weather in the least. Looks like a season change is on its way!
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Winter Wonderland!
Oh dear readers, it finally came! Snow. Right here in the South.
And nobody was more excited yesterday about this magical event then Ms. Jeannie. Well except for the birds – they seemed positively thrilled with this wintertime treat too:) The bird feeder was aflutter with activity all day long.
As the snow snow started to accumulate and the sky grew darker – the cardinals came for a visit and decorated one of the crepe myrtles just like it was a christmas trees and they were the ornaments.
Nothing brings out of every detail in the yard like a little bit of snow…
The total accumulation was one inch, which is pretty paltry compared to our northern neighbors, but when it only snows once every 3 or 4 years here that seems like a blizzard 🙂
Ms. Jeannie believes that this was BoyO’s first introduction to snow.
Frankly – he didn’t quite seem to care for it so much – preferring, instead, to dream about the snow here…
As you can see he has flawlessly worked his way from being a summer stray (okay stay but outdoor only, please!) to being an indoor kitty that now occasionally visits the great outdoors. How clever of him! At least he has wonderful house manners:)
Ms. Jeannie hopes that everyone is having a wonderful start to the New Year. It’s been quiet on the blog all month as Ms. Jeannie has been especially busy this month working on her vintage book of the month club which now has close to 80 members. Goodness gracious. It’s fun to know so many new readers:)
In the next post – you’ll see that another of Ms. Jeannie’s wishes (in addition to a good snowfall!) came true this past Christmas thanks to the lovely and talented Mr. Jeannie. Stay tuned…
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Hornet House Tour: The Inside Architecture of A Nest Revealed!
Oh dear readers – the nest! If you have been following along on Ms. Jeannie’s blog since the summer, you will remember the bevy of construction activity that occurred from May through November just under the eaves on the second floor of her house.
Here’s what we were all looking at half way through the project in early August…
And here is what we were looking at this morning, taken 5 months after the above picture…
As you can see it just about doubled in size and changed shape quite a bit from the circular ring wrap style to a much more solid outer wall. If you use the pinholes in the eaves and the gutter as guides you’ll see precisely how much bigger the nest actually became.
The occupants…
…bald-faced hornets, left the nest about a month and a half ago. In that interim, a few high wind days started making part of the nest fray at the edges. Those two situations, combined with the fear that the whole thing might start to disintegrate, propelled Ms. Jeannie to take the nest down today. Which means today was the day for a hornet house tour!
Somehow, a hole formed at the tip of the nest possibly either from damage by the wind or a bird. This is what the tip looked like in Autumn…
And here is what it looked like this morning…
Ms. Jeannie thought at first that perhaps a bird might have made a home inside. In her mind the inside of this nest was roomy and cavernous and since it has been really cold so far this winter – this seemed like a cozy little dwelling for a feathered friend.
Before the official removal process began. Mr. Jeannie tapped on the side of the nest just in case. No birds came out – so he began to carefully separate the nest from the house. As it turns out a flat paint scraper is the perfect tool for such a task…
The nest is like a fibrous newspaper material but so thin it is was like slicing butter.
The whole nest came down in less than a minute.
It left a little bit of a muddy imprint which will easily come off with a brush and some water. It’s amazing how the whole thing clung on there with so little binder.
And now for a look at the inside…
It looks like a honeycomb! The white parts are cobwebby bundles of babies that never made it.
The whole entire nest is made up of these thin ribbons of paper-like material that go every which way. So much for Ms. Jeannie’s idea of a hollow interior!
Between some of the layers there are more cobwebby waffle cone colonies…
and others are hard and waxy and smooth to the touch…
And look, dear readers, some of the lady bugs from November did decide to move in!
They are probably not too happy about the relocation process, but this is a great example of nature helping nature. One creature’s abandoned housing project is another’s apartment building.
So now we know, after all these month’s just exactly what those hornets were working on. Overall, the nest weighs about one pound and measures 16″ inches (length) x 9″ inches (width) x 8″ inches (depth) and smells very faintly like spring dirt.
It is so very fragile that Ms. Jeannie is afraid to handle it much. She is completely amazed by the fact that this hung out of doors, exposed to all the elements for seven long months while hundreds of flyers went in and out and around it. It survived wind, hail, heavy rain, hot Georgia sun, humidity and freezing temperatures, not to mention, birth, death and new tenants.
What a good little nest:) Nature is such a marvel. Ms. Jeannie can hardly wait to see what is in store for this new year!
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Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas dear readers! Ms. Jeannie hopes that you are all having a wonderful holiday. She and Mr. Jeannie are visiting with friends for a few days where the Christmas cactus is in full bloom, the farm table offers a constant bevy of homebaked marvels and laughter fills the air from morning til night. Hope your last few days of 2013 are just as delightful.
Cheers to happy holidays!
Love Ms. Jeannie
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Holiday Affair: A New Vintage Discovery
Always during the holidays, Ms. Jeannie returns again and again to her favorite Christmas movies… Little Women, It’s A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story…all the traditionals! But this year – she has one new favorite to add to her list…
She watched this one for the first time this past summer – one of those errant Sunday mornings when she should have busy working on a project, but 10 minutes into the movie she was hooked, so project aside, she fell into the story! If you haven’t seen it – this is the general gist in short – without giving too much away…
It’s Christmas season in New York City, and single mother Connie Ennis (played by Janet Leigh) works as a secret comparative shopper for a major department store. While secret shopping in the toy department at a competitor’s store she meets employee, Steve Mason (played by Robert Mitchum) and inadvertently winds up getting him fired over the refund of a toy train set. Connie of course feels awful. Steve is a free-spirit, a dreamer and a romantic with big plans to earn enough money to get himself to California where he can build sailboats with his friend. Through a series of chivalrous escapades on Steve’s part, he winds up falling in love with Connie which complicates matters when steady and secure, but somewhat dull Carl, Connie’s friend, proposes to her. Connie has to decide what to do… marry practical Carl, remain single or start a relationship with dreamy Steve who will be moving away soon.
Here’s the trailer…
Holiday Affair came out in 1949, when Robert Mitchum was mostly known for his film noir type movies and Janet Leigh was 11 years away from her most famous role in Psycho. A completely adorable addition to the cast was little Timmy, played by Gordon Gebert who was an actor up until the 1960’s before he leaving the industry altogether to pursue a career in architecture.
Some critics say that Gordon stole the whole show, which is a lovely compliment for someone who had just been in a couple of small productions before this film! But really all the actors were wonderful, the writing is clever, the tone sweet without being sappy and all of the set decorations and costumes were marvelous, especially little Timmy’s wardrobe. Connie Ennis is on a budget so nothing was too glamorous or splashy, which made it fun to see how you could decorate a small 1940s era city apartment for the holidays on a single woman’s salary.
The movie was released on Christmas Eve Day and did really poorly at the box-office – losing $300,000 during its run. This seems surprising to Ms. Jeannie because it is such a great movie – but maybe, like any antique, it just needed time to age for everyone to see its real value:)
If you haven’t seen Holiday Affair – not to worry! Turner Classic Movies is running it several times this month including both the day before Christmas and the day after, so you’ll be able to catch it. Check here for showtimes.
In the Vintage Kitchen: Where History Comes To Eat 