Roses for October

This weekend I bought myself roses.

No reason, they were on "special"---6.95/dozen---and such a sweet soft color. Like the inside of a seashell from exotic turquoise waters.

Do you buy flowers for yourself? I always do (though I adore being given flowers too!).

I don't think my mother ever bought herself a bouquet of flowers, not even the simplest supermarket bunch of daisies. She was old-fashioned that way, and frugal. Lucky for her my dad bought flowers pretty much every week, unless his garden was producing something wonderful instead.

My mother did make the tiny bouquets I've mentioned, tiny treasures from the garden. She had masses of pink Cape Cod roses that bloomed on the grey fence around the herb garden "out front"....

And she was a pro at drying hydrangeas! Hers would remain blue and purple til Christmas. (Mine go tan and old-looking.).

So here they are, my sweet soft Autumn roses...

It is raining again, the air soft with moisture...

Sunny days ahead I hope...

love

     lizzy

gone to the beach...................

Last Hurrah

Hi! Still hot and steamy here, despite the calendar saying Autumn...

These photos were taken on the final glorious day of summer....

On this special day last week Summer 2011 sent us this rainbow...at sunset! See it on the far horizon?

...perhaps caused by a small squall far out to sea?

  

giant ships waiting for space at the port

...and said Goodbye.

Goodbye goodbye, I'm sad to be leaving! Our time together passed too soon, I hate to go...

Yes, summer is always too short...

So a rainbow and a promise: I'll be back!

love

                lizzy

gone to the beach.....

Fog

The past few days here we have had fog. Hot white stifling sopping wet, yes--- HOT fog.

 None of this romantic misty cool Grey Lady stuff here at the beach.

No moody, sinister Sherlock Holmes grey London fog.

Nope, HOT white steamy fog, like you stuck you face too close to a boiling pot of spaghetti water! Here's yet another fog bank rolling in at sunset....

                 

 No breeze either. If it wasn't so hot, it would look rather charming [below]? Like Scottish Highlands and heather, with the mist lying on the dune scrub....

These are photos of the barely visible surfing beach, about a mile to my west.  On a nice day it looks like this:

  

                   

  not this....

The flea market was foggy too! Sunday was uncomfortable, oppressive and on the mainland  the fog was a little higher in the sky along with a burning white hot sun. It was almost 90! Well, 87!
My day was more about what I didn't buy (more on that in a sec...) than what I did buy---just a few baubles.....

Maybe to use with my newsest fun projects, collage lockets, coming soon.
Some will have the miniscule bits of antique quilts, what a fun gift fir a quilting friend?

Or an eclectic mix of antique lace, tiniest buttons, and other treasures no bigger than a pin's head!

And perhaps a melange of my best seaglass, a miniature mosiac of found treasures...

The locket forms are wonderful, I think. From Fusion Beads. They are pewter, plated with either sterling silver, copper or antiqued brass. Now if I can only find my resin  mix! I hope my etsy customers enjoy them.
What I passed up because it was just too darn hot to buy and schlepp:
a wonderful knife box, with a heart cut out in its handle; c. 1950 souvenir, maple and very shellacked. I 'd sand it and put blue milk paint.
Canning jars, French, I think, the ones with the crowns.
More old bottles, buttons, a black spongeware bowl (yes, new and Italin but so cute for Fall with baby pumpkins.);
a neat used book about folkart Christmas ideas:"Ruby Begonia"?
...and the man with the red transferware was back with loads of goodies! Not just red and white either.

But there's always next week and I am pretty sure nothing got sold, because it was impossible to buy anything! What's with dealers too busy on their cell phones to wait on their customers!? They may as well stay home in bed!

sunset and fog, September

And next week I think I will too...( well, no.)?

love

               lizzy

gone to the beach....

Hello Autumn....

Autumn arrived yesterday with a lot of rain and fog...

It was pitch dark when I arrived home last night just after 7 PM....the days are dramatically shorter and on a stormy night the darkness comes so early---too early!

I always think I don't mind winter, I enjoy the bright cold days...but the short days and sudden nightfalls of autumn require a real adjustment in one's mindset, don't they?

Apropos of autumn and harvest time, my weekly farmers has been busy and fun, the growers stalwart in bringing their produce to us here at the beach.

H. Irene and other late summer storms and floods destroyed some field crops, especially upstate. No late corn, no more summer squash...and I 've read no pumpkins! Unless the greenmarket relaxes its rules and lets our guys sell pumpkins from Indiana and Ohio.

I'm not a big fan of gladiolas but they were the only flowers at the market this week.

When I was designing in NYC I had a friend who was a lace sales rep, he lived on a farm way out on the Island. And he'd bring us armloads of glads every summer! My city loft was all black and white and art deco and I love the glads at that time, the bigger and brighter the better, even if I did have to tote the 4' stalks home on the crowded subway. Now I choose the softest pinks and put them in a large ironstone pitcher, hoping for a more cottage-y look.

They're very pretty, aren't they? Like old fashioned little girl's party dresses....

And also from Long Island, really spectacular lettuce right now. Butter (or Boston) lettuce is so delicate, so fragile...amazing that it looks this perfect despite the heat and rain. Yummy with a sweet raspberry vinaigrette, early pears cut in slivers, walnuts, and crumbled goat cheese, a lovely late summer ( we stubbornly pretend! Sometimes til Christmas!) supper.

Then I fell in love with these teeny tiny heirloom eggplants!

Aren't they the cutest things, miniatures!

They were so sweet, the insides white and seedless....a few I sliced into disks and dusted with cornflour, sauteed in olive oil, an indulgent treat, first course...

The rest were diced with fresh tomatoes and tossed with farmers market fresh ravioli...

 I find I really enjoy the small adventure of choosing the unusual, the fresh, the perfect in-season items at the outdoor market each week, then bringing them home and making interesting, fresh, healthy (usually!) meals for my family. I know I am lucky that my family love vegetables! They happily gobble up each effort....which makes me feel like a good cook---my culinary aspirations are fortunately small.

And soon, I hope---applesauce!

Have a good weekend!

love

                 lizzy

             [ gone to the beach]