Molasses Crinkles

Hello everyone,

I do hope you are keeping warm. It is very cold here at Ten Gables in South Florida! We are expecting temperatures to fall below freezing tonight. The citrus growers are busy harvesting what they can. I have harvested most of my broccoli and am covering the cabbages and tomatoes at night. I forgot to cover the banana tree, which is small and has not had bananas yet, and today it looks quite desperate. Probably too late, but I will cover it tonight, as well as the poinsettias and all the potted plants. I understand most parts of the U.S. is very cold and so is England and Ireland. Wonder what happened to global warming??

Today I am posting my Molasses Crinkles, delicious little cookies so perfect with a good cup of hot tea, hot chocolate, or coffee. A very long time ago, my son was playing with a friend at the friend's house and when he returned home he told me about the yummy cookies the mother had served them. So I asked him to get the recipe the next time he was invited over, and he did. I have been making these for years and years. They are easy and delicious. I had a meeting with my quilt group today and took a tin of them . So here is the recipe:

Molasses Crinkles

3/4 cup of soft shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup of molasses ( I believe in United Kingdom, they call it treacle)

2 1/4 cup flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

Cream first four ingredients, then add dry ingredients to make dough. Chill. Roll into walnut sized balls and dip tops in granulated sugar. Place on greased cookie sheets and sprinkle a few drops of water on each ball. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!

Keep yourself warm and cozy!

Cold Florida Flowers and Snowy Village Scene

Brrrrrrr!! And Hello from sunny, COLD Florida! It is turning very cold this evening and I am wondering whether to cover all the flowers that I can cover. Tonight will be in the 30's with a bad wind chill, so I am debating to at least cover the tomatoes and broccoli. I will harvest most of the broccoli, but it will keep making stalks, not as large, but still nice, so I do want to try and save the plants. The peas, radishes and cabbages should be fine.

Above you see the white Christmas cactus, which is full of buds and blooms and then the pretty red Bromeliad just in time for Christmas .

The red and white impatiens look so pretty in the planter box on the bannisters on the back porch, so I really must cover them as they are not cold weather hardy.

Florida does not quite look like my Christmas Village with all the snow, but we can dream of snow and we can dress warmer than usual! The little Christmas Village is in my dining room and is composed of several different houses and churches that I hand painted. The lighted ceramic trees were made by an old friend who is no longer with us and so these are cherished possessions.

Well, I'm off to find some old sheets and blankets to use to cover plants. Last winter was a cold one for us and maybe this one will be too.

The Oak Sideboard

Hi from Ten Gables,

I polished up the antique oak sideboard for Christmas, thinking I might remove all the glassware and decorate it, but alas, after polishing it, I decided it needed no decoration! In fact, I have way too much "stuff" on it. I must weed out the teapots for one thing. How many teapots does one need, anyway? The cake dome will be used Christmas for the old-fashioned apple stack cake and the candle holders will be used. The antique clock sitting there chimes on the half and whole hours, so it is very nice to hear and to know what time it is. My few pieces of Waterford, gifts from my daughter, are there, so brilliantly sparkling, and then there are my mothers two lovely vases that I cherish! And that bible. Well, it was printed during the time when James was Prince---does anyone know exactly when that was? It is very, very old. So I just decided to let well enough alone and enjoy the beautiful old sideboard just as it is!

Broccoli Harvest and Tomato Cages

Hi everyone,

I harvested some of my broccoli today and will have some steamed for dinner, plus I froze a big packet. I will have to cut more tomorrow as it will start turning seedy if I don't.

The broccoli is so clean and pretty---not a bug in sight!

The second ph0to is of one of my tomato plants inside (somewhat) a tomato cage. Look carefully and you can see the wire cage. Do you see it? Well, I found another use for tomato cages!!

A tomato cage is the basis for my handmade Santa Clause!

I started with a wire cage, made a papermache head, attached the lambswool beard with hot glue, after I had painted the face to resemble skin, added glasses and put the head on the middle of the three prongs. Oh, I forgot to say that I use a piece of Styrofoam in head shape and covered that with the instant papermache so when dry it was easy to stick the prong of the tomato cage up into the head and it held securely. Then I made a "pillow" and stuffed it with fiberfill for the body and sewed it to the remaining 2 prongs which were bent into "arm" shapes.Then I made mittens and stuffed them for his hands and attached them to the prongs by glue and wire. Next, I made a coat of an old quilt, glued on fur trim. Well, soon he was all decorated up and had on a hat, etc. and I glued cardboard to the bottom of the cage, so he would sit steadily and there he is! In fact a few years ago, I made several of these and sold them at a craft's fair. Finally, I have made one for myself. What do you think? Wonder what else we could do with tomato cages???

Relax awhile, Work awhile!

The rockers are ready for visitors to Ten Gables to relax awhile. Poinsettias rest in a cart!

Above:Peter Pan and Wendy Above: Little Women
These wonderful ornaments were designed and hand sewn by a woman from Germany and I bought them at a craft show. They are absolutely amazing! My grandchildren love them, so I put up a special tree just for them---actually 3 little trees together.

I know you recognize the characters from nursery rhymes and of course The Cat in The Hat, my grandsons' favorite.

Pinnochino and Jimminy Cricket

I put three little pine trees of three different heights together to form the children's tree. It is full of the handmade ornaments as well as ornaments from different countries I have visited. I have several ornaments from England and ones from Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Russia, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, France, etc. It is fun to collect ornaments from different countries, and easy to carry them back home in your luggage.

It is nice and cool here today, about 65 F right now, but tonight will be in the 30s. Sunny, though, as you can see above on the porch. Well, back to decorating!

Carolers and cabbages

Good day from Ten Gables!

What do carolers and cabbages have in common? Well, as Martha Stewart says, they are "Good Things". My cabbage is forming little heads; will one be ready for Christmas, I wonder? Look how great they look....so far no worms or bugs and believe me, Florida, being a tropical paradise is full of bugs! I watch them closely, but so far no problem. I have marigolds near by and basil, which I pick leaves off the top daily and scatter about. So maybe these two things deter pests. Do you know?

The three carolers were hand made by my mother many years ago. She always placed them on her piano every Christmas. She passed away two years ago, and I find myself wanting to use her decorations in my home now and they bring back many wonderful memories. She was such a wonderful cook and excelled at needlework. These carolers are stuffed and weighted down with something, so they are heavy enough to stand erect. She embroidered the eyes and lips, and their style gives one a clue to their age. Everything in my home must "tell a story", and everything does; it makes things so much more interesting when someone visits to be able to tell them the "story" about whatever it is, than to just say,"Oh, I bought this".

Continuing with decorating..............until tomorrow...Egretta

Feather tree with egg ornaments

Hi from Ten Gables,

A very long time ago, about 1970, I made Christmas ornaments from blown out egg shells. First you pricked a pin head in both ends of the egg and blew out the contents, then you melted parafin with a bit of crayon (to give color)and poured some inside the egg to strengthen it, then added tiny figurines or cut outs and decorated the outside of the egg with bits of trim. You added a wire with a bead inside the egg to hold it steady and made a hanger. They were fun to make and I must have made at least 50 or 60. I gave my mother a box of them for her tree and then over the years mine were all broken or just diappeared! But guess what! A mother will keep and cherish what her child makes, so my mother had her ornaments in a box wrapped carefully. So when I found them, I ordered a feather tree kit to make a little tree just for them.

The feather tree is made of dyed goose feathers and it was really fun making it!You can find kits to order on the net. You can even get huge tree kits, but mine is about 30 inches tall. Also, in my travels, I have added eggs from Russia and my daughter got me some from Prague.

Today I am reminiscing as I decorate. Check out my painting blog http://egrettawells.blogspot.com/ to see a painting of a place in the town where I grew up! I hope you are enjoying preparing for Christmas as much as I am! Have a great day, Egretta