Buttons and other treasures....

Hi everyone and welcome to Ten Gables,
I seem to like multiples of certain things, like wood items from the Flea Market or buttons in a bowl.

Here is a little reticulated chrome bowl filled with cookie cutters, a biscuit cutter and a little butter mold.

I'm gathering up some things to put in my antique booth. Always interesting to see what one can find lurking in the corners of my studio.

Blogger's Bloom Day

Hello from Ten Gables cottage,

You may ask what can possibly be in bloom in this heat in South Florida of around 100 degrees!
I am surprised to see as many blooms as I did on the property this hot day. I walked around taking a few photos and after a few minutes I was absolutely burning up!
This photo shows the heat loving moss roses of the window box.












Pentas love the heat, too, and do very well in summer. I love this vibrant red hue!

Bush zinnias are doing well too and are great little "bloomers".

Just as I snapped this photo, a puff of wind moved it, but there are roses in bloom, too and I wanted you to see this pretty color.

Again, the wind made this one blurry, but the lavender color crape myrtle is stunning. It blooms later than the pink, but is really putting on a good show presently.

Not to be outdone, the pink crape mrytle has huge long spikes of blossoms and is really stunning!

Happy Blogger's Bloom Day! It is always the 15th of each month. Please check out http://www.maydreamsgarden.com/ to see more about it!

Old Florida Adventure---looking for painting subjects

Hi everyone and welcome to Ten Gables,
Yesterday, my friend Beth, and I went on a little Old Florida Adventure. I wanted to find some interesting subjects for paintings and Beth had some things in mind she wanted to do, so off we went. We stopped at a country store for for refreshment and I spotted this beautiful begonia on the porch.
There is a crystal mine about 15 miles from our homes and we wanted to find it and see what it was like. I have been thinking about taking my two grandchildren out there for a "dig". Well, we liked to never have found it, but it was a grand place when we did. The picture shows Beth on top of a mound of shell rock and full of minerals and crystals. We picked up a few little crystals, but next time, we will take shovels and buckets.


You won't believe where we headed? To an old cemetery where Beth wanted to do some
tombstone rubbings. She came prepared with some interfacing material and a charcoal pencil.
The old stones were from the 1800's and were very interesting. Here is a photo of her as
she does a rubbing.

You may ask what in the world is she going to do with them? That is what I wanted to know!
She plans to make collages of them using some copies of old photos, bits of antique lace, etc.
It sounds interesting!















Below is one of the cemeteries we visited. Yes, we went to two!

It was soooooo hot yesterday; I thought I would bake while Beth just had a ball getting her
rubbings!

These Brahman cows found us as fascinating as we found them. I started gathering ideas and photos to paint from. These trips always get me excited and ready to paint!

At Keanansville, an old railroad town, that has little left in it, we found the old bank building, which is no longer used. Such a cute building---made me want to open a gallery there! Of course it is in the middles of nowhere, with very little traffic going by.

Here is the Heartbreak Hotel, which is old but has been restored. It opened again a couple of years ago and didn't make it, so now is closed and for sale. It is so neat with a gift shop downstairs and beautiful rooms upstairs. I guess the rumor is that Elvis stayed here once.

The little old post office there is so special. It still contains the old mail boxes and the inside is just as it was in days gone by. I am glad it was never destroyed.


So, I have some new ideas for paintings and must get started!

Ready to go!













But where do I put all these paintings I do? I sell some, but not all and my studio, even though large is quite full of paintings, stacked everywhere!

I even have paintings on my grandmothers old coal burning stove that I brought from Kentucky with me when I moved to Florida. It has so many memories, but I really have no where to put it except in my studio. So I just display things on and around it!

Time to get to work! Hope you enjoyed a little glimpse of our adventure day. Beth and I really enjoyed the day.











Have a creative day! Egretta

Best Banana Bread

Hi everyone,



What do you do with overripe bananas? Well, you make banana bread! I wish we had internet smell because this smells divine! Ready for tea here at Ten Gables. Below is this most delicious recipe!

Best Banana Bread
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 Eggs
4 Tbs. buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups bread flour
1 tsp. soda
2 large ripened bananas, mashed

Cream sugar and butter, add eggs and buttermilk and vanilla and mix well. Add flour and soda and mix well. Add mashed bananas and if you want you can add 1 cup nuts. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Makes 1 loaf.
Delicious spread with soft cream cheese!

Have a happy weekend and don't forget to go to church...makes the whole week better!

Rain makes a big difference....

Hi everyone and Welcome to Ten Gables,
The grass was totally brown a little over a week ago, and then we started getting afternoon rains and a few storms. Now the grass in the back "40" (really 5 acres) is green and pretty. In fact I mowed yesterday for two and 1/2 hours on a big ole John Deere.














Now the Caladiums are looking much better and holding up those big leaves on strong stems, when before they could hardly hold themselves up!

Even though the wind from the storms, frayed some of the banana tree leaves, it still looks great and is growing away! I don't know how long it takes to get bananas, but I am hoping maybe this year it will produce.

The orchid color crape myrtle is starting to bloom now. It is about 3 or 4 weeks later than the pink ones, but it is really pretty. The buds first look pink, but then the flowers are a lovely soft orchid color. They look "pinker" in the photo then they really are.

The glories of Summer!

Gotta have some Chocolate...

Hi folks and welcome to Ten Gables Cottage,
Somehow it seems to be a baking kind of day, all cloudy and rain expected, and I am craving chocolate! However, I am trying to diet, so I got out my trusty fat free baking cook book and made these delicious Oatmeal Fudge Squares.

They only have 64 calories each and 0.5 grams of fat!


And believe me, they are so rich tasting, sort of chewy and so chocolatey, Ummmmmm




Here is the cookbook they came from. It is full of luscious fat free recipes, all moist, tasty and delicious.

The recipe follows:

Oatmeal Fudge Squares

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. quick cooking oats

1/4 cup unsweetened applessauce

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 Tbs. flour

1/4 tsp. salt (optional)

1/4 cup honey

2 egg whites

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional--you could throw in chocolate chips instead)

Coat an 8 inch pan with cooking spray. Mix all the above well and spread in pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 22 minutes, or just til edges are firm and the center is almost set. Cool to room temp. and cut into squares. I refrigerate unserved ones in a tight lidded container to retain their moisture. Soooo good! Especially at TEA TIME, which is coming up at 4 o"clock at Ten Gables!

Get Creative--Poofy Hobo Bags

Hi Everyboday,
It is a rainy day here in South Florida and do we need that rain! I am in my studio, taking a painting break and thought I would create something......a hobo purse without sewing! So, I got some squares of fabric and some old vintage silk scarves and started tying them until I had learned to made a hobo bag!!
This one is made from a 44 inch square of cloth...it is a silky feeling cloth, almost like a scarf, but with a little more body. I tied a knot in each of the four corners almost half way down the cloth. These become the handles.















After you tie the four corners, you bring together two adjacent ones and tie them together to form a handle. Do the other two and that is it! It has become a poofy hobo bag! It takes all of 5 minutes or less. I decorated this one with a vintage pin from my collection. That adds a certain charm and keeps it from being so plain. It actually holds all your loot, is very light weight and you just carry it by the two straps. How fun is that?

I made another one from some white fabric and decorated it with glued on yo-yo's and buttons.

Try it! What an easy creative way to use up your grandma's fabric stash or old scarves.

Have a great day! Egretta