Getting back into the groove after the holidays is always weird and foggy and intense, isn't it?
Or is it just me?
All this busy busy, long days, late nights of making and baking.
And for me, packaging and making art and jewelry too.
Shipping, post office visits.
More baking.
Staying up 4-5 hours past my regular bedtime.
Hosting.
Clean-up.
And then, busy Sunday, busy Monday and Tuesday creeps up.
I decided on Sunday that we needed a great big green salad.
There is an abundance of arugula in the veggie garden.
And tomatoes that were green are turning red.
As, we have had tank top days, still.
Cool nights, but very warm in the sun days, that make happy tomatoes.
I also needed to decompress.
I had been going non stop for 2 weeks or more.
So, I went foraging in my own yard.
A break, a breather, a slow walk.
On the hunt for little nature treasures.
I collected pine cones.
I planted a pine tree here about 10 years ago.
And it is massive now.
Like 12, 14 feet? Maybe more?
In fact, it was the first Christmas tree Lovee and I shared.
It's finally gifting lots of pine cones.
It was tiny when I planted it.
About a foot tall.
Then, I went around our little path,
through the shrubs and trees, and collected some quince.
A few decorative berries.
Some pretty peach leaves.
I stood by the nasturtium patch and nibbled those wasabi like leaves that I love.
Nabbed some for dinner.
Then I went and inspected the Live Oak tree I planted 3 years ago.
I started screaming with glee.
Practically hyperventilating.
Mister Lovee was like, what what what's wrong????
He was over there, messing with the peach tree or something…
And I just kept jumping around sing-screaming,
I can't believe it, I can't believe it!!!
(Don't forget, I am very easy to please)
Mister Lovee ran over, looked up and said,
Well, I'll be Darned…
I live in the desert.
Not the woods.
Not the forest.
Hello acorns!
(Although, I can see a forest in the mountains from my house. I live at the base of said mountains, and believe it or not, folks even ski up in Mount Lemmon)
So you see, acorns on a tree I planted myself?
Well…
Makes me extra heart happy!!!
With a little help from Mister Lovee…
My little acorn collection is growing.
I got about 2 handfuls.
We'll use our tall ladder to get the rest.
Yay.
Yay!
I finished up my little garden gathering with a big bowl filled with zinnia, cosmos and marigold seeds.
(I saved some for you Alia!! 😉
As the sun went down, I went in the house and made some Shepherd's pie with our Thanksgiving leftovers. It's soooo yumm.
And then, I made some quince jam, with the quince from our volunteer tree.
It was beyond awesome, nice and hot, on buttered toasted french bread.
And just like that, time marches on.
I am in a bit of time shock that Halloween and Thanksgiving are behind us.
Mainly because it is so warm here still.
It is still summer in a way.
Which is nice, but hard for holiday reality.
Although, I would rather be in the warm sun than freezing under blankets somewhere.
Unless I was warm under the blankets.
And that would be okay too.
🙂
But shivering cold is the pits.
So…
Okay wait, I'll stop there.
I see the weather babble could continue eternally.
Haha!!
See you all sooooon!
Love, V
A meander through the garden sounds like the perfect way to recharge and unwind at the same time….it appears the garden was expecting you! Such sweet little acorns!
I have never tasted a quince before.
Lucky Mr. Lovee to have a magician as his Dovee! You have such a wonderful way to use every trick you know (and a few you discover along the way) to make masterpieces all around….from plots of land, simple ingredients and paint, too 😀
Cameron, you rock!!! 😉
Thanks for the props. I totally needed that and didnt even know
it. Wow, awesome!
You know, onceI was a very rotten girl. OKay many more times than
once, but this one time……
I was very bad – I did something rotten in my relationship with
Lovee. And he told me that,I once had a sky full of brownie points,
but my badness led to all the brownies points falling out of the sky.
I was so crushed.
Now -I tell you this because…..
You have a sky full of brownie points 🙂
Full til bursting.
😉
Such beautiful dark acorns! The place is looking great.
I’m rather jealous of your mild summerish weather – we’ve been in the midst of rainstorms and wind gales here, where we are in the south west we were so stranded by floods on the roads last week we were stranded in the house for a good few days! It did mean time off work though (there’s the silver lining)…
Awesome TREE Miss Vanessa! Do you get squirrels on the property? We have them here in Phoenix and I couldn’t believe my eyes! Crazy animals I don’t know where they hide in the summer months!
Unless I am away for vacation no freezing weather for me Please. If its cloudy out I would just rather it rain or go back to sunshine cuz it just puts me in a Funk otherwise!
Good Eats out your way! I have never tasted quince that I recall! That Jam looks tasty!
I needed to take this walk through the Bizarre Arizona woodlands with you today.
I don’t think I’ve ever tasted quince. Is it sweet or tangy?
Speaking of sweet….that ponytail of Mr. Lovee’s makes me swoon! Oh how I love a long ponytail. My son’s pony goes all the way down his back. He’s always threatening to cut it and I beg him not to.
I 🖤 a man with a good ponytail!
xoxo
Kim
Gerushia’s New World
Whew! I just finished digging the seeds out of 12 large pumpkins for roasting pumpkin seeds. I don’t know if the slime will ever come off my hands. The seeds are all roasted & tomorrow I will bake & puree the small pie pumpkins. Then the season will officially be over. The pumpkins will all be gone. :o(
I’ve never had quince either. It sure looks good!
Those acorns are cool! I’ve never seen such dark ones!
And he has perfect ringlets (should that have a w?)…. ridiculous
right?
He keeps doing this cut and grow thing, cut and grow. I like it sort
of shoulder length with curls on the forehead.
But, he is keeping this mane for now it seems.
2 years ago it was down to his waist. Then he cut it. And now
long again.
I miss the shoulder length, but you have inspired me toembrace the
pony 😉
Quince.
Okay so.
They have a dryness like Jicama.
Only they are tart-ish – and have a pear quality – and a tinge apple
quality.
But, they have an unusual dryness like Jicama. And can be very
tart.
Only dryer.
Hard to describe. But, they are good. I love them.
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 11/27/2012 8:30:20 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
I have only seen 1 squirrel ever here. But we had a Javelina in our
yard this weekend, and Matty went out of is head, with Miles howling. We
cant for the life of us, figure out how it got in. Since we are securely
fenced and walled in.
Some rain would be lovely, but hopefully only after my Fall Max Mix from
American Meadows arrives 😉
Cheers to bizarre Arizona weathers ;)))
12 large punkincakes??? OH MY!!! I have about 6 giant fairytale
pumpkins left.
I will save the seeds from the biggest one for next year. For
planting.
I cant bear to eat it – but i might if it starts getting looking like it
needs to be eaten :)))
The screaming with the laughter was throwing me off, I was relieved to find out it wasn’t a rattlesnake or raining scorpions.
I wouldn’t think one would get in a tree, but you never know. I’ve seen one on a fence, but on the lower portion.
Love the acorns, very beautiful. It is so strange how they differ from ones in the midwest. Ours are light brown with lighter brown caps. The amount we have this year compared to the amount from last year. We had thousands last year…not nearly that amount this year. You r photos are awesome.
Congrats to the winner.
Have a great day Miss Vanessa.
I’m so jealous of Mr. Lovee’s curls.
We have lots of oak trees around here. The other day my hubby came in with a handful of beautifully colored acorns for the granddaughter. What a wonderful feeling that must have been to see your first acorn on a tree you planted. Kinda like that feeling in the spring when things started appearing and your old friends begin to bloom again.
Thanksgiving was nice but tiring. Now I’m busily decorating the house for Christmas. Tree is up and decorated, bits a bobs placed around everywhere. Now to unload the boxes of “village” things. The last 3 months keep us busy with their holidays, but I like it.
Oh my!! A rattlesnake would have been horrrrible.
I was stung by a scorpion one of my first nights here at the country house
10,11,12 years ago?
I was in a dead sleep, and then, I felt what I thought was a burglar
hitting my arm with a large hammer. I felt my elbow shatter. At
least, that is what my mind thought in a 2 a.m. sleep, having to react in 3
seconds time.
I bolted out of bed – and then I was screaming. I felt my elbow, it
wasnt shattered, and there was no burglar.
Screaming only from pain. Under thesheets revealed a teeny tiny
little scorpion. The tinier, the more dangerous.
We called the fire dept. They said have a glass of milk, and just ice
it, also watch for allergy with throat tightening etc. (milk neutralizes
the sting or something of that sort?)
My elbow hurt for about 8 hours.
Then it hurt for about a week. And believe it or not, every once in a
while, it will hurt me still, in that spot whereI got stung all those
years ago…..
That is my scorpion tale, tail.
What fabulously shaped and colored acorns! They’re wonderful! 🙂
I didnt realize how different they were – hmmm, very very interesting
isnt it? I just googled acorns, and you are right, sooo different.
Wow!
I like the busyness too, for sure. I am tired this week. My
body doesnt want to wake up in the mornings, as I threw off my body clock
staying up til 2 a.m. last week.
I am normally an early bird. Must fix this, haha! 🙂
I caught up today on all your posts that I’ve missed because of my busy-ness. I so enjoy viewing the lovely photos of your grounds, and your delightfully enthusiastic commentary. It made my day.
Yum – your golden Quince color looks amazing and oh-so delicious! Usually the Quince I see (and sadly, have to buy for loads of cash in a store,) is a reddish color. Mother Nature is awesome to provide so much variety and amusement, haha.
Looking at your acorns, reminds me that over the Thanksgiving Day holiday I was trying to teach *Little Man* (my bf’s 5 year old who lives with us P.T.) – how to *whistle* with the acorn top. You hold it between your fingers/two hands and then make a V shape with your thumbs. Imagine your knuckles being the bottom part of the V letter and your thumb tips/nail area is the top…got it? Now put your lips on the lower half of the V shape and blow *into* the acorn cap. You should get a sharp whistling sound. I know, I’m full of useless knowledge, heheheheh.
I’ll be jingled what a lovely post.
Black acorn bottoms, scorpion bites and quince.
What rapture.
Yay seeds!!! I am going to plant them in even more places next year! All my nice old lady neighbors were very impressed with my little zinnia patch that I grew from seed thanks to you. Also a funny seed story. I brought some sunflower seeds home from a visit to Oregon in the late summer and even though it was getting late in the year I planted some (along with some other seeds). I have mostly stopped watering because eveything was starting to go south, but one little sunflower seed decided to grow. It is tiny, but has produced a sunflower. The smallest one I have ever seen! Seriously the flower is like an inch across. It is adorable, but weird. Do all sunflowers start that small and then get bigger? I will try to take a picture of it to post.
ps. That shepherd’s pie looks delicious!
I LOVE it!! I need to try to do that whistling! Lovee does it
with a thick and heavy piece of garden grass. I still cant do it 😉
G.G. Pinkster!!! XOXO
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 11/29/2012 8:59:04 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
Oh how cute!!! I have had last minute seeds spring up from sunflowers
if it is warm for a little snap in autumn and winter. But they wont get
too big probably, since the days are shorter and they know something weird is
up. BUT, when you do plant the sunflower seeds in spring, they do start
all skinny and spindly, and especially if you thin them out they get bigger and
bigger and thicker, and before you know it, you have 14 ft. sunflowers like I
had all summer.
I will send you some sunflower seeds too, when I send this smattering
😉
Yay for the acorns, Miss Vanessa! I have to say I have never seen any like those before (dark on the botton part). Very interesting! I never really saw them much at all until I lived in Washington. Where Mr. V and I grew up in Colorado and Wyoming, we didn’t have oak trees. So, when he moved there to live with me, they were a new experience for him! He would walk to Georgetown when I worked nights at my job there so he could ride home on the bus with me (wasn’t that lovely??). But the streets of Georgetown are lined with oak trees and in the fall, the acorns would fall on his head in the dark and scare him as he walked!!! And once, a VERY bad acorn made him twist his bad ankle and fall! So, he had to stop walking around at night around oak trees!! BOO! I hope your acorns are the behaving kind!
Hugs to you, Miss Vanessa!
Betty
Hooray for acorns! Yours look so different from the ones I forage for here. What a TREASURE!!!! Very glad you found some. Things were quite hectic here, as well, after the holiday. And now gearing up for the next one! But there is so much excitement in the air – I wouldn’t trade it for anything. 🙂 Sometimes, though, I DO need a good rest!!! xoxo
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