Make a Driftwood Mirror

 This project was so much fun!  A long time ago we lived in a seaside town where I walked our dog Royal on the beach every day.  I used to beachcomb, picking up driftwood, seaglass, and the occasional piece of sea china.  Once in a while I found a marble!  That was a red letter day!

 I saved the driftwood for about 14 years!  Last week I got it all out and used it to decorate an inexpensive mirror.  I sorted it into different sizes and shapes.

 This piece seems to be turning around and gazing at me with unintelligent curiosity.

 The piece on the bottom is bone.

 These are pieces of my baby driftwood collection.

 The piece on the left is my favorite piece of all.  A hinged piece of driftwood!  A little door to an undersea hideway or treasure box?

 More special pieces.  They deserve to be in a special section.  The bumpy piece on the bottom left looks like a character from the Czech film "Kooky."

 I used hot glue and started by using the largest and flattest pieces I had on the frame.  I tried to find a frame which was close to being a driftwood color.  It is just plastic, nothing special or expensive.  Once I got started, it was so much fun that I worked on it intensively and it was done in about a day.

Here are some details.  A little driftwood door....

 This unique piece goes in the center at the top.

This dainty piece at the bottom may be doomed.  It twangs when you flick the little twig.  When I was little I would have twanged it until I twanged it right in two.

Here is the Kooky character looking alive from every angle.

Here is a lobstery looking character stealthily reaching around a piece of driftwood.

And now, the finished mirror hanging in place in our new bathroom.  I love how it came out.  Hooray!  Best of all, it was so fun to make!!!!!!!

A Visit With Salley Mavor

 This is the artist Salley Mavor, one of my favorite artists, with a project she is working on.  She is the author of one of my favorite books, "Felt Wee Folks," a craft book which I would also call a coffee table art book the way she illustrates it, and and another favorite book of mine, "Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes"  I like "Pocketful of Posies" so much that I have a copy of it both in Switzerland and here in the seaside cottage.  It's very inspiring and must represent years of labor.

Anyway, I got to visit her a few weeks ago.  I didn't get to write about the visit sooner because I have a terrible internet connection at the cottage.  Actually, I have no internet connection.  I "borrow" it from neighbors or go next door sometimes.  I envisioned doing lots of wonderful summertime seaside postings and that isn't going to happen, but I must share a bit about my visit with Salley.

I almost didn't post about it at all.  I just wanted to have a visit with a friend.  I didn't even bring my camera.  But there was so much beauty to record that I borrowed Salley's camera.  As usual, I took up-close pictures, and I took the picture of Salley, but all of the pictures of the studio itself  are Salley's.  Sometimes I get overwhelmed when there is a lot to see!  I need time to take it all in. Look at all of her beautiful collections!  I'm glad I can look at these pictures.  Thank you, Salley.

Look how Waldorfy it is: the baskets, the natural materials, the natural colors, the collections.

 If you visit Salley's blog, you will find out about this amazing piece of art she is doing about birds in Beebe's Woods.  Look at the cool wisteria or grape vine in the background.

Here's a detail.  Her art is breathtaking.  Click on the link to her blog in my favorites in the right hand column.  Hers is one of the most consistently interesting and worthwhile I know.  Thanks again, Salley!

How to Eat an Apricot

 Are they ready to eat when they are like this, fresh from the store, young and plump, blushing, and posing for a Cezanne still-life painting?

Or when they are like this, withered and ready to move into the apricot old folk's retirement home?  That's right.....they are ready when they are wrinkled and every child would turn their nose up at them.  In fact that is how I discovered how to eat an apricot.  I am the fruit martyr at my house.  My child will only eat perfect fruit.  If I put a pear which has a slight dent or bruise on it in his lunch box, it comes home completely slimed.  If I present a bowl of cherries or grapes on his lunch plate, he eats around the slightly sub-par ones.  Guess who eats them?  Me, the fruit-martyr.  I always wondered why people ate apricots.  They were dry and tasteless.  But one day I saw the apricots no one else would eat, sitting in the fruit bowl: the decrepit, wrinkly, sad, apricots, and I took a bite.  Apricot heaven!  Juicy!  Luscious!  Sweet!  Rich!!!!!!!!!!  This is how you eat an apricot!  Did you already know that?

A Walk After the Rain

 There was a huge storm followed by a calm, clear evening.

 Raindrops were all over the flowers.

 My little boy rode through the deep puddles on his bike.  He had a wide streak of water up his back.  It is just what I would have done at his age.

 I love our neighborhood with its funny little sheds and carports.  Look at this kayak shelter.

 This shed has lobster buoys hanging on it, and flags left over from the Fourth of July.

 This is one of my favorite houses in the neighborhood.  The shutters have been painted the same color blue for several generations.

 There are hydrangeas everywhere...

 and wildflowers in the hedges near the beach.  This is Queen Ann's Lace.

Good night!

The Great Towel Mix-Up

It used to be hard to keep all the white towels straight in the bathroom we all share at the cottage on Cape Cod, even more so when we had guests.  (In our house, having towels of different colors didn't work.  They kept getting bleach spots.)  Last summer I sewed on these gorgeous fabric strips.  No more mix-ups, (at least not that I know of.....)

Make Mama's Peach Pie!

 This is the peach pie recipe I grew up with, and it is pure summer deliciousness!  We are in the States visiting my family in Virginia and I got to assist my niece making peach pie today.  You'll find the recipe at the bottom of the posting.  Now let's make pie!  Ask your grown up to preheat the oven to 350 farenheit and get the pie crusts ready.  Put one in the deep dish pan and sprinkle some of the sugar and flour mixture on the bottom.

 Pile the crust high with plenty of ripe, sliced, peeled peaches.  Dump the rest of the flour and sugar mixture on top, and then gently pour on the cream and egg mixture.  You will need to shift the peaches a little to help the liquid to trickle down all over through the peaches.  We sprinkled some cinnamon on top, because we were thinking about my daughter Cammie today, and she likes it like that!

 Add the top crust and press the edges together to seal.

 Now seal them again with your fork.  Prick the top crust a few times and sprinkle a little sugar on top.  Bake for about an hour and a half until hot, golden, and bubbly.

 Mmmmmmmm!  It looks and smells wonderful!

It IS wonderful!!!!!

Mama's Peach Pie

2 pie crusts

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons flour

8 or more peaches for a deep dish pie

1 egg yolk

1 cup cream or half and half

a sprinkle of cinnamon

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 and a half hours.

Yummy! 

La Refuge de Tavayanne

This is Refuge de Tavayanne.

It is nestled in a beautiful hamlet of old little houses, surrounded by cow and goat pasture.  There is no electricity, (though I did see a few solar panels.)  Look inside.

We had fondu made with the local cheese and drank wine.

The granddaughter of the house played with her two kittens, Lila and Lilo.

I'm coming back in late summer.  I want to have dinner by the light of lamps and candles.