Yummy "Acorn" Treats

Hi Everyone, Even here in Florida I can feel Autumn in the air! It is a tiny bit cooler and the slant of the sun is different, crows are flying about and calling, and the oak tree is dropping acorns on the ground. Squirrels are having fun gathering and eating them! I made some cute little treats that look like acorns! They are adorable and taste really yummy!

Gather some unwrapped chocolate kisses, some Nutter Butter bites and some little chocolate chips. I had these all laid out to use. Then I popped a microwave safe plate into the microwave and heated it for a minute. Now put some of the kisses, bottoms down, on the hot plate, a few at a time and when the bottom of the kiss begins to soften and melt, press a kiss onto a Nutter Butter cookie bite. Do the same with a chocolate chip at the top. Now you have an "acorn". How cute is that!

Today my church Senior group meets, so I am taking a couple of leaf shaped plates filled with these treats to share. I think these would be fun for the grandchildren to make, too, so that will be a project we can do together before Thanksgiving.

Happy Autumn days to you!

Itsy Fall Garden

Hi Everyone, I am trying to get my Fall garden in!

This year I just bought the plants already started. It costs more, but then it seems to me to be less trouble for my little itsy garden. I mix a few veggies in with flowers, so it is right in the front of the guest cottage, which looks really pretty. I bought one eggplant, one pepper plant, 2 tomatoes, 2 basil, 9 argula, 9 cabbage, 9 broccoli, crooked neck squash and acorn squash and marigolds to mingle in because marigolds repell  bugs.

The trouble is: it rains everyday and I can not get them planted! I have been trying for a week! Finally I have most everything planted except the squash you see in the above photo. I am planning to plant it in the back garden where it has room to run.

This broccoli looks healthy, doesn't it?

And here is one of the cabbage plants.

This is their guard....a pretty marigold.

Keep away bugs! Wish me luck!

When do you put the raisins in???

Hi Everyone and welcome to Ten Gables, 

The other day I thought I would make some bread in the bread maker. I have tried this recipe before and it is really good....cinnamon, raisin bread. So I mixed up all the ingredients, except the raisins. The recipe said to add them when the machine "beeped". I happily became involved in other work and didn't hear the beeps.

When I returned to the kitchen, I wondered if it had beeped. The machine clicked onto the rising mode! Oh, no, had I missed it? What to do? Well, I thought, maybe it will knead a bit again after the first kneading, so I opened up the lid and just dumped them in..... 30 minutes later, the raisins were right where I dumped them, getting big and puffy!

The bread went into the bake mode. So boy, did it smell good baking. The smell of cinnamon floated throughout the house! When it finished baking, I took out the bread with all the raisins around the top.  A little hole in the top, after the first slice was cut, gave me a place to stuff any of those that had fallen off!

I got a big laugh out of the whole thing, but my, it was DELICIOUS. Looks aren't every thing. PASS THE BUTTER.

British Humor, pottery and other delights...'

Hello from Ten Gables Cottage, 

you know how fond of cottages I am, even naming my own home Ten Gables Cottage! The cottage here is one from England...I just had to do a watercolor of it!

The ole Curiosity Shop in Burton on the Water.

This is Anne Hathaway's cottage, taken from our coach. We did not get to go inside or to walk through the delightful garden, regrettably.

Now, here is my favorite dessert which I had at a beautiful garden center tea room! Oh, the flavor, the eye appeal! Meringue baked to a crisp on the outside, softer on the inside topped with gobs of real whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate. Why doesn't some one in American put this on their menu? I have never seen Pavlova here! I must try to make it myself!

This lovely pottery pitcher was given to me by Jane and Mark Willis of http://marksvegplot.blogspot.com/  and it came from Bartley Heath Pottery in Hampshire, England. You can find their web sighst on the net. I love pottery and will find many ways to use this pretty pitcher. Thank you Jane and Mark!

Seeing as Queen Elizabeth just celebrated her Jubilee, I had to have a memento and chose this tea cozy of the Union Jack with crown. The Union Jack is on every thing. I love the banners flying all over England; so pretty and welcoming. I even saw a girl with shoes printed with the Union Jack design!

And we had to get this for each of two granddaughters, just for fun! It is a coaster with a message!

And this little saying was printed all over every possible thing, but I loved it on a tea bag holder. Good advise for everyone.....keep calm and carry on!

I love the British attitude!! More fun things in a day or two...keep looking!

More pictures from Holiday to England...

Hi everyone,  I will show you a few more photos from England. We took a little boat tour down the Avon at Stratford Upon Avon. It was rainy but we enjoyed it and saw some interesting homes there......

as well as the church where Shakespeare is buried. You can glimpse the spire of the church in this photo.

A restaurant in Burton on the Water. It looks like a beautiful garden party! The flowers were gorgeous there.

Hi Everyone,  In Northern Ireland, we visited a beautiful garden and I thought the roof on this building was very interesting. I guess it is sod.

Have you ever seen blue mulch? This mulch looks like a pond with flowers floating in it. I thought it was very unusual and quite pretty.

Part of a moat around the ruined castle. Everything in Northern Ireland is so green and lush....truly the Emerald  Isle.

More of the lovely garden.

We had some rain, as you can see by the dark clouds gathering over the yellow limestone buildings.

This garden is behind Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford Upon Avon.

And here is another photo of that famous house, circa 1600's with Kelli in front taking a photo. There are no tourist because we went there early before anyone was about!

Here is a thatched roof cottage that houses a gallery of the artist Thomas Kinkade. To view any of these photos closer, just click on to enlarge.

More to come!

Flowers, Friends and more from N. Ireland and England

Hi everyone, I am still swooning over my 200 plus photos taken on holiday in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England! Above is a beautiful pot of geraniums in the window at my daughter, Kelli's home in N. Ireland. You can see some of her garden through the window. Check out her blog listed in the right hand column.

We toured several gardens in Northern Ireland and I took this photo of lilies. Gorgeous!

At Sentry Hill, this cottage caught my eye. The cottage itself is very monotone, but then the rock wall and flowers give it a beautiful burst of color.

In Stratford Upon Avon, England we were delighted to be able to meet up with two blogging friends, Mark and Jane Willis. Mark's blog is called Mark's Veg Plot and you can click on the address to the right of this column near the top of the right hand column. He is an avid gardener and has a beautiful blog. Check it out! He and Jane drove over to our hotel and we visited and had a cup of coffee with them. It was a special  high light of our trip to get to meet them, and even though our meeting was short, we felt that they were folks we had known a long while! Jane has a few blogs herself and one is about contesting. You will see on Mark's blog how to click on Jane's blog, as well. Mark brought us a sampling of his fine salad tomatoes he grew and they were delicious, as well as pretty. Thanks, Mark and Jane for coming to our hotel...we thoroughly enjoyed meeting and visiting with you!

You will see gorgeous hanging baskets all over Ireland, Scotland and England. They've had lots of rain, so the pots were especially pretty this year.

A photo taken from our coach window! A beautiful bride among the lush plantings.

Oh, those thatched roofed cottages....my very favorite! This photo also taken from our coach!

So many tea rooms, so little time! But we did manage to have several cream teas, not to mention lunch. We could have called the trip an "EAT FEST"!

More flowers along the street. Join me again soon for more photos of some very quaint villages!

Gardens in Northern Ireland

Hi everyone,  We were welcomed to Northern Ireland by Kelli, my daughter and  son-in-law Mark, and got out of the car to see this beautiful walled garden! Kelli has a talent for gardening, both veggie and flowers, and often even combines the two. I love the beautiful pink phlox and then the dusty miller and blooms in the front are gorgeous. This garden just beacons one to sit on a bench and enjoy the crisp clean air there and the very comfortable temperatures. I left a hot Florida to really enjoy temps in the 50's and 60's with mixed weather, some rain but quite a bit of sun, too.

One of her pair of outdoor cats, this one is the male and he claims to be the garden manager, but as you can see, when the sun is out, he lays down on the job!

Kelli has mixed yellow squash plant into her pot s of nasturtiums  and they are blooming. Little squash is developing and while there we ate zucchini, tomatoes and black beans from her garden, all very delicious.

Here is a view of her back garden. Enlarge any of these photos for more detailed views by clicking on the photo.

We went to a community garden at Sentry Hill. I was very interested in this type of garden, as I am presenting plans to develop one to my church. We own an unused field which I think can be put to good use as a community garden.

This garden uses raised beds with 

 chipped rock paths between the beds. As you can see, there was some activity there, as people harvested crops, cleared out things already finished, weeded, etc. The garden is fenced all around and a small glass house in a corner contains some nice tomato plants. One of the gardeners gave us a sample broad bean which was delicious raw. People plant whatever they want, often mixing in herbs as well as flowers. I noticed that marigolds were used along veggies to help deter pests. We saw slug traps made with containers with lids. Kelli was very interested in how they controlled slugs and discovered a new way to make a "slug catcher".Perhaps she will share that with us on her blog http://kelliboylesgarden.blogspot.com/

Behind the fence were some cows and I just had to snap their picture!

Join me tomorrow for more photos of our amazing vacation in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England!