Wednesday, November 26, 2008

It's Raining, It's pouring, the old man is snoring


LITERALLY! Curt is snoring, I'm serious. LOL

Anyway, it's raining, we woke up to tons of rain, and you know that scent that comes with it? The wet earth, crisp, clean scent? If I could bottle it up I would.

So my house is dark but definitely not gloomy, there's Thanksgiving Food already being prepared, there's Christmas decorations in the hallway waiting to go up and there's knitting and sewing and candles and cookies and hot tea. It's just pure bliss, for me at least. I'm happiest when I'm at home surrounded by my things and completely immersed in the homey atmosphere. It's who I am and it's who I've always wanted to be since I was a little wee one....I remember playing house, pretending I was the mom with all my dolls around, I would *pretend* to go to work and then come home and be oh so tired, but still cook a meal and clean the house and give the kids a bath.

Good times! Sounds very familiar LOL

Now I want to show you a picture of my lemon tree. Remember the whole debacle of the falling tree branches? I am no expert on lemon trees, heck I'm no expert on trees period, I couldn't tell an Oak from a Maple and the only reason I know the different fruit trees is because the fruit is hanging on it LOL
Anyway, I had no clue what was going on and I was so sad to see it falling apart, the branches literally ripped from the tree, but I guess it's a process it goes through because it grew back and now it's overflowing with lemons, not quite ripe yet.

See how pretty it's looking? I'm just keeping an eye on them and waiting for the lemons to start falling, once they do there will be Lemon Meringue Pie, Lemon Fudge (oh yeah baby, just wait for the recipe), Lemon Bars, Lemon Chicken and Lemon whatever I can come up with.

If I close my eyes and pretend (sometimes I wonder if I don't live in fantasy land hahaha), I can imagine that I'm in a farm somewhere, surrounded by fruit trees and horses and mountains. It's good to dream isn't it?

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

Here, I'll show you mine if you show me yours? LOL I'm sorry I'm in a weird mood today, must be the anticipation of Thanksgiving dinner.

Welcome to Piglet Cottage (no I didn't give it the name...quite funny isn't it? I mean I know I love food but from that to Piglet is quite a stretch)
Converted Stone Barn

It's nestled in Dartmoor. I can already imagine Sarah giggling at me, she knows my obsession with English Cottages and especially Dartmoor.

These would be the kids ponies, Jasmine's is the white one picking on the little brown one, which of course is Nicholas' LOL if you only knew how close to the truth that is.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/images/2006/08/01/ponies_randall_470x306.jpg

We would also have ducks or are those geese? Geez, I'm horrible when it comes to identifying things LOL

http://www.gonomad.com/alternatives/0608/dartmoor-images/ducks-horses.jpg

A few feet away we would have this beautiful river, a place where you could go and sit down with a blanket and a good book.

http://www.sandboxdesign.co.uk/mrshev/Holidays/Dartmoor_files/The%20River_2.jpg

And then of course just up the street we would have views like these.

http://www.lowerhooknerfarm-dartmoor.co.uk/image/U-King-Tor-above-the-farm.jpg

And if you came to visit, I would let you stay in this guest room and I would even cook for you

http://www.beera-farm.co.uk/animage/bedroom-1.jpg

And every morning I would go out and get fresh eggs for breakfast....wait....do chickens lay eggs everyday? I am SO not a farm person LOL

http://www.dartmoorkitchen.com/images/suppliers.jpg

At the end of the day we could just sit and have some tea. Now doesn't that sound wonderful?

http://www.cameronfreeman.com/images/article_photos/293.jpg

SNAP back to reality...I'm in Arizona, it's raining outside and the only thing close to ponies are my pugs. At least now you know what one of my dreams is. If you decide to play along and show me yours, let me know in my comments so I can come and see it.

I'm off, I have a to do list that needs to get tackled and just because I'm in the mood for showing things, I'll show you my list.

  • Iron and put away two loads of laundry
  • Sweep the kitchen floor
  • Finish another 5 pockets for the advent calendar
  • Work a little more on Nichola's scarf
  • Start the Crayon Rolls
  • Make the pecan pie for tomorrow
  • Make sure the turkey is thawing
  • Strip the beds and wash all the linens
  • Make the pizza dough for tonight's dinner

Yeah, I'm sure there's things I'm missing in there so I'll add on as I go. BTW there will be no Slow Cooking Thursday tomorrow, it will return next week.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, enjoy the food and enjoy the family. I'm thankful for each and every one of you :)

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your dream is so close to mine that I can't even begin to come up with a different version. I really did enjoy visiting you in your dream world... just like a touch of heaven to me.
That's a beaufiful lemon tree.. it's making me drool thinking of all the good foods that can be made using them.
I think I'm all done with tomorrow's prep work. Pumpkin pie is baked and everything that could be assembled has been done and is in fridge.
The only plans I have left is to curl up with my book and maybe take a nap.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family... may you have a wonderful day.

Cheri said...

I love your dream- I don't want to wake up!
I'm smelling pumpkin pie baking in my oven almost done so time to get off the computer!

Susanne said...

"The old man is snoring...literally" *snort* that was pretty funny!

The rain is lovely and rain is my very favorite smell. I've always called it God's Cologne. So comforting.

That lemon tree is insane. You better get yourself a good juicer! LOL.

Jen said...

What a beautiful lemon tree!! Lemon/yellow is my very favorite. I love being home during the rain. I love the smell after rain. All it has been doing here all day is snowing!!! YUCK! Not looking forward to the drive tomorrow. Send some sun here please! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

The Raggedy Girl said...

Sandra:
I too think that taking care of my home is just like playing house. i love your dream cottage. Here is a link to a castle I would love to live in. The little island has a tea house and you can only get there by boat. I took a picnic basket and sat there and had tea.
http://www.vikingsholm.org/

I love your blog and I am new to bloggy world but it is so much fun.

Roberta Anne

Mari said...

I love the smell of rain soaked earth! And - I'm so happy about your lemon tree. I know how much you love it!

Kirstin said...

I love those pictures!!! Thanks for the trip!

Hey, did you cut your hair recently...looks cute!

I've been busy unpacking and not much time to blog or visit.

Lavinia said...

What a wonderful post. I'd like to live in that dream cottage surrounded by ponies, duckies, fresh eggs and wonderful rolling views. ANd my dog would just love walking by that river.

Your haircut is snazzy!!

You ask where we would live if we could live anywhere. So hard to narrow it down to one place. I think I would be torn between Morocco and Italy!

Don't make me choose....I'll just have a house in each locale...LOL...

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful and very Happy Thanksgiving. Up here in Canada we already celebrated last month.

I have to go check to see if a chicken is thawing, thanks for the reminder from your 'to do' list!

Keri said...

That little cottage looks lovely! I'll come visit you when you move in :) lol

I'm jealous of your lemon tree. How cool!

Christina said...

I cannot get over the size of that lemon tree. WOW.

I love the little cottage and the bedroom you posted a picture of is to die for. Can you imagine crawling in that be with a good book, a cup of tea, and listening to the rain wash over the countryside. Nirvana.

Brandy said...

Sandra,

I love reading your blog. We have chickens and they do lay every day and the eggs they lay are the same color as the chicken. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

P. said...

You are a buzy woman and you have such a nice life.

Alfazema

Lara said...

Your dream is just like mine!!!
Happy Thanksgiving Sandra. I hope you have a wonderful day.

The Bookworm said...

At least for today you have one think in common with Dartmoor - the rain! Though I bet you get rain a lot less frequently ;). Your dream location is not far from mine ... Penzance, Cornwall. I need the sea more than the moors, though I do love them.

Joolz said...

Hello Sandra

I must come and visit your blog and have a big read up.

I did however, read about how you like the smell of rain just fallen.

It actually has a name - petrichor. A useless piece of information, but a fact not less! I actually like how Susanne calls it Gods Cologne, much better.

Cheers - Joolz