Oh what a flurry of activity! Happy post-Thanksgiving Day dear readers! Ms. Jeannie hopes that your holiday was marvelous and delicious!
Thanksgiving Dinner 2013
One of the things, Ms. Jeannie was most excited about this Thanksgiving was serving dinner on her grandmother’s 1930’s wedding china, which recently arrived via mail a few weeks ago from Ms. Jeannie’s mom. The dishes contain the prettiest color combination: gold, cream, yellow, spring green, pale pink magenta, grey and coral. And to Ms. Jeannie’s surprise, naturally picked up all the colors in her Thanksgiving dinner!
Cornbread Casserole (which was a lovely gift from a friend)
Breadcrumb Stuffing (a traditional family recipe)
Homemade Sweet Rolls (thank you Betty Crocker 1953 cookbook!)
Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Pie
Because it was such a busy month, Ms. Jeannie declined some holiday invitations and swept away notions of holiday house guests, instead just opting for a romantic holiday week for two. It was delightful! One low-key day fed in another. The feeling of “holiday” was present around every corner.
The festivities began on Monday with a trip to the market for all the necessary Thanksgiving ingredients. On Tuesday, it was cold and rainy – luckily that was the day Ms. Jeannie was slated to be a guest blogger on the Vintage Etsy Society blog where she was tasked with writing about a vintage recipe. She chose Cheese Souffle from her 1961 YWCA Cookbook which was compiled and printed in Bangkok and is written half in English and half in Thai.
On Wednesday, the Jeannie’s braved the 32 degree weather and 30 mph winds to hang Christmas lights outside. It reminded Ms. Jeannie a lot of wintertimes spent in New York when the winds pass through you and make your skin all prickly like ice underneath your clothes. Brrr…
Decorations for Christmas went up on the coldest day of the year – very festive!
Wreaths went up on all the windows, white lights went on five bushes in front of the house and a giant 6’x 6′ wreath decorated the pump house. That part turned out to be Ms. Jeannie’s favorite!
Then they headed indoors to warm up and cook some holiday hors d’oeuvres before settling in to begin a new marathon, which is a Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving tradition. Last year, it was Gilmore Girls – which took them all the way through Thanksgiving into January. This year it is Parenthood – starting with season one.
Antipasto plate with Hard Salami, Olives, Gruyere Cheese, Brie and Pistachios
Fun and delicious! The hors d’ouvres take the place of both lunch and dinner which makes for light snacking throughout the afternoon and evening without having to eat anything too heavy before the big turkey day.
On Thursday, Mr. Jeannie was up early tending to the turkey which was in the smoker for a total of 8 hours. And Ms. Jeannie was in the kitchen cooking by 9:00am to finish by 5:00pm. What a spectacle! It was a full day of cooking that topped off a full week of cooking, that was packed full of experiments, flavors and old favorites. And now there is a weekend full of leftovers. Life really is delicious isn’t it?!
If you are looking for culinary themed gifts for the holidays, Ms. Jeannie has a bunch of newly listed lovelies in her shop. Here’s a peek – click on any and all that interest you to find out more information…
Vintage 1950’s Cookbook – The Joy of CookingVintage Miniature Metal Christmas Cookie Cutters (set of six!)Vintage recipe holderVintage 1940’s Mixing BowlVintage 1950’s Embroidered Kitchen TowelVintage White and Yellow Floral Serving BowlVintage 1950’s Duck Salt & Pepper ShakersVintage 1970’s Cookbook and Entertaining Guide
On Wednesday, Ms. Jeannie walked out her door right into a storm cloud. Not the fluffy white ones you see in the sky but an air combat show performed by hundreds of lady bugs. Goodness gracious – what could all this be about?
The screened porch was a bed of activity…
As were the doors and windows on this one particular side of the house…
Good thing the door knob on this screen door broke off last summer – otherwise I think they might have used it to come on in!
At first Ms. Jeannie thought that all these lady bugs might have something to with the 14ft. holly bush on the side of the house. But then she looked up to at the hornet’s nest and saw that so many were gathering up in that area…
There were so many lady bugs flying through the air that it was difficult to take pictures. They’d land on the camera lens, on Ms. Jeannie’s hands and in her hair – they really were everywhere!
Even the baldfaced hornet’s were a little wary of these surprise invaders. you can see one hornet peaking out behind the wood trim here just as the little ladies were moving up the gutter…
Were they trying to take over the nest?
After doing a little bit of research, Ms. Jeannie discovered that lady bugs were swarming all over Northeast Georgia on Wednesday. It was nice to know that she wasn’t alone in this matter!
Apparently, the lady bugs chose a balmy 75 degree day to move in. Not to the hornet’s nest though – they wanted to move in with Ms. Jeannie! According to nature folklore, lady bugs are little weather predictors for the coming season. And when they arrive by the hundreds that is your warning to batten down the hatches because it is going to be a cold winter. The lady bugs in ms. Jeannie’s neighborhood were out real estate shopping for a warm and cozy winter home!
All this makes sense, but it is curious as to why they chose Wednesday for their invasion, and even more curious as to why it was only a one day affair, particularly since the weather has been warm all week. On Thursday there was no sign of them anywhere – not even a few stragglers. And since everything is sealed up on that side of the house, (hopefully!) Ms. Jeannie wonders where they all went. Perhaps they did move in with the hornets. Ms. Jeannie will keep her eye out and keep you posted.
In the meantime, she hopes everyone had a great Halloween. She was late wishing you a happy holiday yesterday, but luckily she got her pumpkin carved in time for trick or treaters last night. This year she went with an owl theme. It was also the first time she tried her hand at a relief style carving. Hope you had a spook-tacular day!
Fall colors are just starting to seep into the autumn landscape here in the South. Usually, in Ms. Jeannie’s area, peak fall foliage time hits in early November, a couple of weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday, so we are just at the very start of the season now. But today was a blustery day, with leaves flying all over the yard and Ms. Jeannie couldn’t help but admire all the pretty colors turning from green to gold to rust that had just started occurring these past few days.
Primarily from mid Georgia to south Georgia the state is made up of pine trees, which of course are green all year round, so in order to get a fill of fall foliage, one must look to the decorative trees. Here are a few samplings of some traditional (non-pine!) Southern trees on their colorful journey from summer to fall…
The Fig TreeThe DogwoodThe Scuppernong Grapevine
When the afternoon sun hits the grapevine it is like a giant light has been turned on inside the vines. So bright that it almost hurts your eyes to look at!
The Tulip Tree
And Ms. Jeannie’s most favorite…
The Magnolia Tree
The Magnolia tree is really the grand spectacle of fall foliage in the South. All these leaves come from the same tree and were picked on the same day, so as you can see it is a colorful character in Fall. Ms. Jeannie thinks it is Mother Nature’s equivalent to the argyle sweater, with all of its blocks of repeating solids! The color range is spectacular. In the picture – the center leaf is a metallic silver, but can also count copper, lime, canary yellow, russet, pumpkin, neon green, chocolate brown, amber , hazel, emerald and cinnamon among its many shades. Fascinating that all that could be on tree at the same time. Add some pretty smelling, dinner plate size magnolia flowers to the mix and the tree is absolutely perfect!
Many Southerners use the leaves as garlands for their front porches and mantle pieces. Holiday time in the South really is a beautiful experience.
Magnolia garland for the stairway. Photo via pinterest.Magnolia garland for the mantle. Photo via pinterest.Magnolia garland for the front door. Photo courtesy of RSHcatalog.com
An unexpected surprise occurred when Ms. Jeannie took a first time road trip to the North Georgia mountains, in early November, several years ago. About an hour away, near Blue Ridge, Georgia, the trees offer up a completely different view of the season…
The North Georgia mountains in Autumn. Photo via pinterest
There, the foliage rivals the best of any Vermont town. Red, green, orange, yellow, brown – one tree after another just gets prettier and prettier. And because it is up in the mountains – the air is crispy, the roads windy and the fruit stands plentiful. Whenever Mr. Jeannie and Ms. Jeannie get a little nostalgic for their New England Autumns of past, they make a trek up to the mountains. Close your eyes for a second and then open – and tah-dah you could very seemingly be in Vermont! To give you an idea of the dazzling array of color – here are a few pictures courtesy of pinterest – that were taken in the North Georgia mountains…
Photo via pinterestPhoto via pinterest.Photo via pinterest.Photo via pinterest.
Ms. Jeannie is making a trip up to the mountains in the next couple of weeks, so that she can go apple picking. It’s officially time for apple pie season! So stayed tuned for more fall foliage pictures to come!
In the meantime, are leaves changing in your neck of the woods yet? If so, what color palette is Mother Nature painting with in your yard?
Oh my goodness, dear readers, it has been weeks and weeks since the last blog post. What happened to Ms. Jeannie? Did she cook herself right into that big pot of homemade tomato sauce? Did she dig herself into a hole when she turned over her summer garden? Did she wrap herself up in a vintage book club package? No, no – not too worry. It’s just been a busy past few weeks but Ms. Jeannie is now back in the blogging saddle again. Tally ho, she says! She has so missed you all.
Over this past holiday weekend Ms. Jeannie took a little trip to Los Angeles, where she attended the wedding of some very good friends. It had been a long, long time since Ms. Jeannie had been to California. Until this weekend, the city sat dreamy in her mind…
She remembered the palm trees that lined the Pacific Coast Highway and the beach that stretched far and wide on each side of her Santa Monica hotel. She remembered a pale pink glow that settled over the city at sunset and the noise of traffic and congestion, but other than that – it was such a distant faraway experience that, on this trip, Ms. Jeannie felt like she was seeing the city for the first time.
View from her friends’ apartment.
Ms. Jeannie’s friends live in Culver City, which is about 20 minutes from downtown. Both of her friends are actors who are making a creative go of it in the film capitol of the world. So this trip was a real life look at L.A. from the perspective of two brave hearts chasing a dream. Theirs is not the lifestyle of a flashy Beverly Hills home and shopping sprees on Rodeo Drive. They don’t drive fancy cars or wear expensive clothes – but what they have done is carved out a humble little niche of a lifestyle for themselves, packed full with lovely friends and authentic experiences.
At the beginning of the trip she and Mr. Jeannie spent a few days in their friend’s neighborhood, helping them get ready for their big wedding day. These are some street views of their neighborhood…
Surrounding her friends’ building are blocks and blocks of apartment buildings none taller than two or three stories. But every once in a while a little bungalow of a house pops in to break up the skyline. This one is barely visible – but Ms. Jeannie loved the little painted gate nestled in the flowering hedgerow….
When Ms. Jeannie arrived at her friends’ apartment, this guy was patiently waiting to say hello…
Baxter!
Such a charmer! It only took a second to overcome his shyness – then he was all lolling tongue and wagging tail for the rest of the stay. At night he slept on the bed, sprawled out like a person, between Ms. Jeannie and Mr. Jeannie. So cute! If Ms. Jeannie could have fit him into her suitcase bound for home she certainly would have!
Those last pre-wedding days were a whirlwind of activity, with few extra minutes to spare. A LOT of time was spent in the car driving from point A to point B. Sometimes it took hours to drive a mere 15 miles. Ms. Jeannie took the time to celebrity watch in cars and trucks that crawled by amid all the congestion. Her and her friend actually made a little game of it. I spy Steven Spielberg! I spy Jennifer Aniston! Really they had no idea – but Ms. Jeannie discovered a lot of people look famous when you view them from the freeway:)
Aside from look-a-like celebrities, mostly they saw views they like this…
Film production trucks on the move! Ms. Jeannie saw all types from makeup trailers to semis to catering trucks like this one. So many in fact, that by the time she left, she didn’t really even notice them anymore. Kind of like seeing castles in Ireland!
On Friday, Ms. Jeannie found herself with an unaccounted for hour – so she set out to explore downtown Culver City on foot, which actually turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip.
The small little urban area is a great mix of interesting architecture, sidewalk cafes, shopping boutiques and film studios. And it was really clean and pedestrian friendly, unlike downtown L.A. which was much more gritty and wild. The historic Culver Hotel, now a luxury boutique hotel, is pictured below. The building dates to the early 1920’s and was once a semi-permanent hotel residence of Clark Gable.
As Ms. Jeannie approached the downtown area, she kept seeing these signs posted on every block…
This meant that a film was in the making somewhere in the area. How exciting! Ms. Jeannie walked until she came upon this scene just behind the Culver Hotel…
The action occurred around the truck and two of the guys standing right in front of the driver’s door. Camera crews were set up to the left of the picture (just out of frame) and the production crew and various trucks and trailers were spread within a three block radius. Streets were blocked off, so Ms. Jeannie couldn’t get too close – but she did manage to zoom in a little bit more in hopes of seeing some famous faces…
The guy in the white shirt and black and white hat was one of the principal actors….
Hmmm…Mr. Jeannie thought this guy might be Don Cheedle
Don Cheadle
but it is hard to tell with both hat and sunglasses on! This photo below is a second shot of the group standing to the left of the main action. Mostly they look like production guys – except the one in black sport coat and v-neck tshirt – he might be one of the actors.
Either way, it was fun to see a movie being filmed while Ms. Jeannie was out and about. Other fun things she saw on her walk were…
Selznick Studios – the production studio of George Selznick – which appeared in the opening credits of Gone With the Wind. Now it is known as Culver Studios – a series of sound stages and production units that are available for both film and television productions. Here is how Selznick Studio looked in the opening credits of Gone with the Wind, which was filmed in the 1930’s…
And here is how it looks now…
It was a little bit tricky to get a good shot because from one vantage point you were standing in the middle of the busy road and the other vantage point was blocked off for the film in progress. Wrapped around the left side of the block were the entrance gates to the sound stages and a little house with columns. All the columns reminded Ms. Jeannie of life in Georgia:)
Ms. Jeannie’s friends were married on Saturday in Malibu, at the Malibou Lake Mountain Club, previously a 1930’s hunting/fishing lodge tucked into the hills. They exchanged vows outside in the garden, which boasted a collection of beautiful wild rose bushes…
This is the lawn where they were married…
And the view of the lake that the guests looked out onto…
And a picture of the happy couple:)
The reception was held inside the Club. Ms. Jeannie was part of the coordinating committee so there wasn’t any time to grab photos of dinner and dancing – but it was a pretty affair. The table bouquets were especially lovely. They were exact replicas of the wedding party bouquets…
Sunflowers, kale, ferns, purple dahlias, a purple bean pod looking plant, shiny green leaves and deep red calla lilies made up each table arrangement. The addition of red and yellow striated tulips were added to the bridal bouquet .
Sunday, the last day of the trip, was a little free day for Ms. Jeannie and Mr. Jeannie. They started out with breakfast in bed at the hotel…
And then meandered their way down the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Monica…
Down the mountain they went! The topography was gorgeous!
To the ocean…
Surfers!
They spent some time on the beach,
and had lunch at the pier.
Even though it had been over 20 years since Ms. Jeannie was last in Santa Monica – surprisingly a lot of it still looked the same!
For the entire four day trip, Ms. Jeannie chased the elusive Hollywood sign so that she could take a picture for this post. Sometimes she was too far away to really see it, sometimes she was way too close and sometimes there were buildings sitting right in front blocking the view. Who knew it would be so tricky! On Sunday they drove up into the Hollywood Hills hoping to catch a glimpse. Instead, another discovery was made. Those hills are really hilly! And curvy and narrow – sort of like the San Francisco hills – so it was a bit tricky to navigate. Now Ms. Jeannie appreciates pinterest all the more for photos like this…
Photo via pinterest.
Every day the weather was gorgeous. 75 degrees, sunny, slightly breezy. But, to Ms. Jeannie, the real weather magic happened in the early mornings when it was a cool 55 degrees. A marine layer sits over the Malibu hills like rain clouds in the early morning and makes everything look spooky and dramatic just as the sun is coming up. Driving to the airport on Monday was like something out of a gothic novel. It was moody and elegant all at once.
As the sun starts to rise in the sky, the marine layer slowly burns off, so that by about 10:00 am it is like the dark part of the morning never even happened.
Perhaps that is a little bit of movie magic on Mother Nature’s part!
Even though this was such a quick trip and laden with wedding frenzies, Ms. Jeannie felt like she was able to experience a big part of the Los Angeles culture. Next time she goes back to visit, Ms. Jeannie hopes it will be for the Academy Awards, where both her friends will have been recognized for their talents:)
Until then it is one great big giant cheers to them – for new beginnings and for continued strength to pursue their dreams.
All summer long, the garden tomatoes have ripened one or two a day – making an easy pluck, enough for a sandwich or a salad or an ingredient for dinner. Now as the end of the season comes to a close, the bushes have reached their relaxed state of exhaustion. They are leggy, bald in some spots from clipping and pruning and dry in others from months beneath the hot Georgia sun.
For all that they lack in fine appearance, a curious event has been occurring over the past week or so. Suddenly, it seems, the last little stragglers have joined together for one last hearty attempt to grow, ripen and red in abundance.
Over the weekend, Ms. Jeannie pulled 18 ripe tomatoes from her vines, with about 15 more “in the hopper” so to say that will be ready in the next couple of days. My goodness! Their efforts seem valiant! Armed with her big basket full of beauties and under the spell of a cool rainy Saturday, it seemed to Ms. Jeannie like the perfect time to make a new recipe from an old cookbook. The recipe is Salsa Semplice Di Pomodoro #1, otherwise known as Plain Tomato Sauce #1 from the Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Lo Pinto, circa 1948.
The Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Lo Pinto, 1948
The cookbook is great. Hardcover, spotted, penciled, appreciated – every time she opens the cover, Ms. Jeannie feels like she is communicating with a dozen different women before her. Their notes, their stains, maybe some sweat and tears all marked there on the pages. The author, Maria, bound all these recipes together because her friends kept asking how she did that, and this and that and this, again and again. Just like the cookbook endeavor of the women of St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church, the recipes contained in the Art of Italian Cooking have been passed down in Maria’s family for generations. Tried and true Italian, at it’s best!
This is a really simple recipe with just 7 ingredients, which include basil, another overzealous grower in Ms. Jeannie’s garden! The recipe called for canned tomatoes, so Ms. Jeannie actually added a little bit of extra work to the whole affair by using fresh, but really that just meant a little bit of extra time preparing the tomatoes in a hot water bath. So you could make this recipe either way depending on the amount of time you have.
The hot water bath is easy – you just boil a big soup pot full of water and once it starts bubbling drop your tomatoes in the water and let them bob about for 4-5 minutes. You’ll see the skins start to wrinkle and burst. When that happens, they are ready to come out.
While the tomatoes are bobbing about you can chop the onions and garlic. When the the wrinkles appear, lift each tomato from the bath (Ms. Jeannie likes to use a slotted spoon so that the excess water drains) you can put the tomatoes in a strainer to let them cool off a bit. Once cool enough to touch, you just peel the loose skin from the tomato, cut off any blemishes or spots and then set the tomatoes aside in a bowl.
Next, warm the olive oil in a saute pan, add the onions and garlic, saute for 5 minutes and then add a sprig of basil and the tomatoes and sort of mash the tomatoes up with a wooden spoon in the pan.
Simmer the whole pot on low for 45 minutes, stirring often. Next add the sugar and salt and pepper. Simmer for another 15 minutes and then it is ready!
This batch makes about 3 cups of sauce (maybe a little more or a little less depending on the size of your tomatoes). According to the recipe it is enough for 1 lb. of pasta. The consistency is thick with big chunks of tomato and onion, which works well with either a small pasta (shell, bow-tie, ziti) or the traditional spaghetti or fettuccine.
At the last minute, Ms. Jeannie decided to add two tablespoons of tomato paste and a cup of water, so that she would have enough sauce for an Eggplant Parmesan recipe she is going to try in October. After simmering for another 15 minutes, those two additions increased the yield to 4 cups of sauce.
The great thing about this recipe is that you can tweak it however you like – add olives or mushrooms, oregano or a dash of red wine. In the introduction of the book, Maria encourages any and all experimenting – as she states – all these recipes are simple foundations of Italian cuisine – you can build up from them according to your palette.
Right now, it is still too warm for a heavy baked Italian dish, so Ms. Jeannie is freezing her batch. It is always seems fun to pull out little reminders of the summer garden when you are well into another season.
The next harvest challenge that needs to be tackled is the basil. Ms. Jeannie has plans to dry some and make a batch of pesto but there will still be lots to use before it starts going to seed, so if you have any suggestions please comment below!
In the meantime, here’s the tomato sauce recipe in full…
Salsa Semplice Di Pomodoro #1 (Plain Tomato Sauce #1)
1 large canned tomatoes (or 15-20 small to medium garden tomatoes)
4 tbs. olive oil
2 sliced onions
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 clove garlic
1 sprig basil
Salt & Pepper to taste
Fry sliced onion and garlic about 5 minutes in oil. Add basil. Strain tomatoes through sieve; add and simmer 45 minutes or until tomatoes are cooked to a thick sauce. Stir frequently; add sugar, salt and pepper, stir thoroughly. Simmer 15 minutes.
This sauce may be used on any type of macaroni or boiled rice. Sufficient for 1 pound. Also used with pizza recipe.
Mangia, dear readers! If you are unfamiliar with that expression, it means eat, in Italian!
This past weekend ushered in the first cool weather of the approaching Fall season. The temperatures brought 75 degree days and 55 degree nights, which means that Autumn is definitely on its way. How exciting! Ms. Jeannie just loves this time of year between September and Christmas.
In an effort, not to rush the season, nor lose sight of any end of summer magic, Ms. Jeannie has been compiling a little nature journal for you, of all the creatures she’s encountered in these past few weeks. They have all made her summer so memorable!
The goldfinches have been hard at work collecting seeds from the coneflowers in the garden…
It’s precarious business – getting all the seeds while still keeping your balance!
Boy-O is still looking for just the right nanny job. This is still his favorite way to spend the day…
Tomorrow morning he goes in for a little “procedure” so he doesn’t populate the world with his own little nursery full of kittens. As cute as those little legacies would have been, Ms. Jeannie explained to him that all of tomorrow’s events were really for the best. He seemed pretty thoughtful about the whole thing during the conversation…
And then went right back to napping. “Piece of cake, Ms. Jeannie,” he meowed as he closed his eyes.
The little fig that Boy-O was looking after, unfortunately has not faired so well. It got caught up in a dramatic bird rescue (see hummer story below), which cost it it’s two little leaves. So we are back again, watering and waiting!
A hummingbird got caught in a spider web inside Ms. Jeannie’s screened in porch last week. Luckily, with the help of a step ladder and an umbrella he was freed before he really started to panic. This incident really caught Ms. Jeannie off-guard – imagine how fragile a creature these hummers really are, and how strong spider webs are. This was just a regular web – nothing gigantic about it. And webs are everywhere in nature. Could they really be such a peril to light little birds?
After some research, Ms. Jeannie learned that hummingbirds actually use cobwebs as a binder when making their nests, so eventually this little bird would most likely have worked himself free. But Ms. Jeannie was thankful anyway for Mr. Jeannie’s quick abilities in rescuing this little flyer…
Billy Bob and Betty Boop have moved onto greener pastures. Apparently, Ms. Jeannie’s neighborhood didn’t really take too well to all of Billy Bob’s antics. He was constantly getting his head stuck in the fence, head butting just about everything, and climbing all over the feed bucket at dinner time. Ms. Jeannie thought these were supposed to be the fun things about having goats – their comical personalities and theatrical displays – but Ms. Jeannie’s neighbor was looking for less dramatics.
The day before they left for their new home, Ms. Jeannie filled them full of Saltine crackers – their most favorite snack.
Billy Bob most appreciated it!
Due to all of our rain this summer, giant mushrooms are growing out of the trees down by the creek, which really has turned it into a magical forest. Ms. Jeannie is half expecting to see little gnomes or fairies pop out from behind those umbrellas!
They really are quite pretty when you look at them up close!
Right on schedule and just in time for fall, a new zig-zag spider, also has built a web in a bush along the driveway.
She’s about as big as an egg from leg to leg. Hopefully those hummers will stay clear of her area!
One of them landed in the yard just as Ms. Jeannie was pulling in the driveway. Oh how she wished she had her camera with her on that day! The hawk was about 2′ tall and just stood in the yard for a few minutes watching Ms. Jeannie watch him. It was a marvelous moment.
A blue tailed lizard, also known as a skink, emerges every evening now from its home underneath the porch steps and hangs out on the brick window ledge for a few hours.
If you’ve never seen of these guys before – they are really colorful. Their tails are a bright, bright blue and their bodies are black with yellow stripes. Interesting enough – if under attack from a predator, they can voluntarily pop-off their own tails, which will still wiggle about and deter whatever it was that was chasing them so that they can get away and hide. Eventually their tales will grow back – although their new tails will no longer be blue but instead match the color of their body. The ones with blue tails are the babies of the bunch.
These little guys have been jumping around the garden for weeks now. They are also the dinnertime band when Mr. & Mrs. Jeannie eat outside on the patio. In this picture, they are rehearsing in Ms. Jeannie’s wax bean garden. It’s good to know Ms. Jeannie’s twig supports are coming in handy for other activities too!
The scuppernong grapes are just starting to ripen on the vines. A few more days of warm sunshine and Ms. Jeannie will be inundated!
Which is exciting, because it turned out to be a dud year for the figs. With all the rain and humidity, 90% of the figs just molded in all the moisture. Most of them wound up looking like this…
Which of course was a little disappointing because Mr. Jeannie really hoped to perfect his fig barbeque sauce this year. But Ms. Jeannie’s holding out hope – there is a second batch of figs which, now that our sunshine to rainfall ratio has balanced out, might just turn out a good batch of figs yet. Here’s the ones that are still growing…
Of course, the construction site hasn’t been affected by the weather whatsoever. Those bald-faced hornets keep going and going and going. Now their nest has taken on the look of a pig snout when viewed from below and a horn of plenty (no pun intended!) when viewed from the side. Maybe they are getting into the Thanksgiving mood:)
As you can tell in this picture below – they have completely sandwiched themselves against the gutter now. It will be interesting to see in which direction they go next!
And last, but not least, a little concrete flower greeted Ms. Jeannie this morning when she went she out to water. This was a marvelous surprise, especially because Ms. Jeannie did not plant any impatiens this year – only last year. And yet, here this little beauty is – growing out of a crack in the concrete right under the garden hose. Imagine such a feat! This little seed must have overwintered and waited all summer to grow, grow, grow. She is like a little last gift of summer before the Autumn settles in.
Ms. Jeannie can hardly wait to see what the next season has in store in the nature department!
One hundred and twenty years ago, in the summer of 1893, newspapers across the country were reporting on a grand spectacle of an event taking place in a big city. That big city was Chicago and the event was the Columbian Exposition also known as the World’s Fair.
Silk Handkerchief Souvenir from the World’s Fair Chicago 1893
For six months, from May – October, the reception gates welcomed visitors to the downtown Chicago lakefront staging area that was a marvel in size, scale and execution.
Aerial view of the Chicago World’s Fair. Photo via pinterest.
A staggering 25% of Americans attended the Fair in those six months, and Ms. Jeannie is excited to report that one such visitor was her great great grandmother, Martha.
Martha traveled from Iowa to Illinois, armed with a summer’s worth of knowledge about the Fair thanks to the frequent reporting of her local newspaper, the Vinton Eagle who kept it’s readers up to date on all aspects of the Exposition from logistics to exhibits, history to happenings.
In illustrated glory, all the details of the World’s Fair as reported by The Vinton Eagle in a July 1893 paper
That year, the Fair commemorated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America and celebrated the latest advances in industry and technology occuring throughout the world. It was an exciting place to be, not only as an eyewitness to progress, but also for all the hope and possibility that hung in the air as our nation quickly approached the dawning of a new century.
Opening day of the Chicago World’s Fair, May 1893. Photo via pinterest.
No doubt, Martha was caught up in the fever and wonder of such marvelous new sights like the first Ferris wheel, the first automatic dishwasher, the introduction of food novelties like gum and ready made pancake mix and the debut of the zipper.
Also in the sewing category came a new piece of machinery, which drew delight to many attendees, especially among the ladies, Martha included. Debuting at the fair was the first on-site embroidery machine that could embroider names and initials on fabric while you waited.
The Palace of Mechanical Arts was where most of the textile exhibits were located. Photo via pinterest
Martha was so enamored with this “instant gratification” concept that she purchased a colorful souvenir handkerchief…
A silk handkerchief momento depicting the layout of the entire Exhibition.
And had her name embroidered in the corner…
M. J. Edwards
If you look closely, you’ll notice there is no “s” on the end of Edwards – whether that was accidental or limited due to a specific amount of allowable letters, Ms. Jeannie will never actually know. But she loves that this handkerchief carries a personal touch of her great great grandmother at an event that was so creative and inspiring.
The handkerchief itself is in wonderful condition. The silk fabric so delicate yet bright with its vivid colors and detailed drawing of the fairgrounds. The embroidery looks like it was sewn yesterday, instead of over a century ago. Ms. Jeannie wonders if Martha ever wore it or used it in any way or if it remained stored away as a special reminder of a special trip.
Martha was a sewer herself, so maybe she just appreciated the fact that a machine could now produce something as equally lovely and delicate as initials without having to do it by hand.
At the time of the Fair, Martha was 47 years old, she had been married for 29 years, and had birthed 11 babies. Waiting for her back at home in Iowa, in addition to her own kids (the youngest which was aged six) were 10 grandchildren all under the age of 7.
Ms. Jeannie bets that Martha saw her fair share of mending projects involved with that large brood! It’s no wonder that she amazed by this speedy embroidery machine. Imagine how fast all those sewing projects would go if she had one of these machines of her very own!
So maybe this handkerchief represents a time-saving industrial novelty, or maybe it represents a fun travel adventure or perhaps just a stunning flight of fancy from one sewer to another… either way, Ms. Jeannie is thrilled that it has stayed in her family and survived intact for 120 years. That’s a true marvel in keeping with the theme of the World’s Fair itself!
Ms. Jeannie was thrilled, thrilled, thrilled to hear from blog reader, Victoria who set out to visit the Heath Hen memorial, one of the five sculptures in the Lost Bird Project collection. The Hen now permanently resides in the Manuel F. Correllus State Park on Martha’s Vineyard, MA, where the last survivor of the breed, known as Booming Ben was spotted in the 1930’s.
Here’s Victoria’s first sighting…
All photos courtesy of Victoria at Vintagiality.
According to her it is a bit tricky to find the sculpture. So if you go and visit yourself, here is her helpful advice…
“It took forever to find him as there are no markings of any kind besides the plaque at the entrance gate to the State forest and it only talks about the heath hen in general. I searched for directions for a long time and all I found was some local article from years ago that said it was a 5-10 minute walk from either gate 18 or 19 of the forest.”
This is the plaque at the forest entrance that Victoria referred to. In addition to the historical information, it seems people have left behind their own bird relics at the marker, which Ms. Jeannie thinks is sort of fitting. Since the sculpture acts as not only a piece of art but also a memorial tribute to the extinction of a species, this is not unlike people putting flowers or candles or other such relics on gravesites to commemorate what was lost.
This is what the plaque says…
HEATH HEN – Tympanuchus Cupido Cupido
The sole remaining heath hen in the world was seen for the last time near this spot on March 11, 1932; this eastern race of the greater prairie chicken was declared extinct in 1933. During the mating season, the males made a loud “booming” sound by inflating the orange air sacs on their necks, a sound that could be heard as far as one mile away. A staple in the early colonists’ diet, the heath hen was more important than the wild turkey to the survival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony in the hard winter of 1620-1621. Despite the passage of various protective laws, by 1845 the only birds left were on Martha’s Vineyard, having once been widespread from coastal New England south at least to Maryland. In 1908, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts set aside 600 acres here as a heath hen reservation. Additional land was added later, until the reservation totaled nearly 5,000 acres, most of which ultimately became the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest. The heath hen thrived on the reservation, it’s numbers rising from about 50 in 1908 to about 2,000 in early 1916. But in May 1916, a great fire swept the reservation, destroying many nesting females and their eggs, reducing the population to about 150. Primarily due to inbreeding, disease and predation, despite efforts to protect and propagate the bird, its numbers slowly dwindled to 28 in 1923, about 30 in 1927, and only 3 in 1928. The last bird, known as “Booming Ben” lived alone from 1929 to 1932.
To give you some visual perspective this is what heath hens looked like in the wild…
Photograph of a Heath Hen on Martha’s Vineyard taken in 1909.
This next illustration gives you a sense of their colors. The orange bulb at their breast is the air sac that they inflate during mating season. Pretty flamboyant! No wonder the lady hens liked them:)
Heath Hen. Photo courtesy of nhptv.org
And here is the Heath Hen memorial on the day Victoria went to visit him…
Victoria also provided this insight…
“I would love to say that it was an impactful sight but he really looked so small from a distance when I first noticed him. He was smaller than I expected and just sat calmly perched on the side of the path. Many people had never even realized he was there all these years walking by. It was very interesting to find out that the entire State forest was actually originally called the Heath Hen Reserve and only later took the name of its long term superintendent which virtually caused the heath hen to be forgotten.”
If you missed Ms. Jeannie’s previous post about this amazing bird art, the Heath Hen sculpture was created by artist, Todd McGrain as part of his Lost Bird Project. You can read more about his work here. In the documentary that was recently released about the project, you can follow along as Todd chooses the exact resting spot for each of his birds. Using both historical information and artistic intuition as placement guides, he took great care in deciding why each sculpture should be placed in the exact spot that it was.
So it doesn’t really come as a surprise to Ms. Jeannie, after hearing from Victoria, that the Heath Hen should be in a location within the state park that lacked any sense of showmanship or fanfare. According to the documentary, Todd wanted each bird to not only be a memorial to what we have lost as a country but also a teaching platform that could draw surprise, sympathy and inspiration to all who viewed it – but in a natural way – a walk in the intimate woods, so to say, that wasn’t preachy or guided.
Ultimately, the project aims to educate and draw awareness – to appreciate our natural surroundings, to notice what occurs in our everyday environment and to hopefully take a little bit more care with our natural world so that in 100 years we do not see other animals – ones that are so prevalent today like deer and foxes and geese – on the extinction list in the future.
A great big thank you to Victoria for sharing her road trip with us in both thoughts and pictures. Stop by and visit her Etsy shop here. Learn more about the lost bird project here.
As you might recall dear readers, Ms. Jeannie got rained out this past 4th of July in the fireworks department. But as luck would have it, a friend of the Jeannie’s cleaned out her garage over the long holiday weekend and discovered two forgotten bags of fireworks from long ago. Knowing what a big fan, the Jeannie’s are of such entertainment , she dropped them by for a little Labor Day celebration fun.
The weather cooperated (thank you Mother Nature!) for a few hour break between rainstorms. Just enough time to enjoy a pre-fireworks patio dinner and the after dinner treat of a little light show. Here’s some photos from the display…
And the big finale…
Labor Day is actually the celebration of American worker’s and all the strength, perseverance and endurance it takes to continue to make our nation great. Ms. Jeannie was thinking about this as she watched (and photoed!) the fireworks and thought what a lovely and fitting tribute the light show actually was.
Here they are, just small little individual rockets of paper, kind of like people . But when ignited or inspired they shoot to the moon and make a splash of color across the atmosphere, leaving a bit of awe and wonder in their wake.
It doesn’t really seem to matter whether you watch a big show like Macy’s 4th of July Spectacular or just a humble homegrown attempt – either way it’s still marvelous. Just like people, just like workers, just like America.
Happy Labor Day dear readers! If you are watching fireworks anywhere this weekend, send Ms. Jeannie a picture or share your holiday plans below in the comments section.
The last time we checked in on the virtual appearances of Ms. Jeannie it was May. Now, September is just days away already, can you believe it, dear readers?
While Ms. Jeannie is looking forward to the cool, cozy days of Autumn, the impending holiday season, and a few treats she’ll share soon, she also feels incredibly humbled and privileged to have been featured on these following sites this summer…
KELLY BURMUDEZ
A little link in the inspiration chain for watercolor artist Kelly Bermudez, came in the form of Ms. Jeannie’s vintage 1949 “hear” flash card photograph…
A queen conch shell in two mediums!
Stop by and see more of Kelly’s beautiful work here.
THE ETSY BLOG
Editor’s Picks: Stories of the Sea
Editor’s Picks: Stories of the Sea featured 11 nautical themed items on Etsy – one of which was Ms. Jeannie’s 1940’s photograph portrait of a sailor. Sailor was very pleased indeed to be among such comrades:)
PIXIPORT
Pixiport is an online marketing site for fine art photographers. Ms. Jeannie is thrilled that they just featured her June 2012 interview with French photographer Yann Pendaries! See the Pixiport featutre here and see more of Yann’s work here.
DISCREET CHARMS
Discreet Charms is written by California blogger Dana, and features a wide variety of stunning people, places and things that inspire her. In August, she wrote an incredibly lovely post about Ms. Jeannie’s vintage shop. Goodness gracious – Ms. Jeannie could not have been more touched by her kind words.
ART CRAFT SECRETS
Art Craft Secrets, an internet business and marketing site geared toward creative enterprises, recently published an E-Book entitled How to Set Up a Successful Etsy Store. Ms. Jeannie’s shop was one of three sample shops used throughout the book to highlight various aspects of marketing and promotion. Ms. Jeannie was thrilled to help aid, in whatever small way, a new batch of future Etsy sellers!
It’s been an incredibly rewarding season – chock full of interesting new perspectives, people and passions. Thank you to all the above and to all you dear readers for taking the time and effort to include Ms. Jeannie in your life. Cheers to a new season and to new start!
In the Vintage Kitchen: Where History Comes To Eat 