Agronomie

Follow me to America!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:47:00 +0000

Hello dear friends. Thank you all for your readership and friendship over the past couple of years! This blog started in a quaint English village and followed our move to the United States last fall. Since then we have been settling in here in Indiana. I never felt like our new life really fitted this blog, and so I stopped posting for a while.
In the meantime we bought a homestead - 80 acres of prime Indiana farm and woodland with a 150 year old farmhouse, three barns, a lake and an orchard! I decided that this new life warrants a new writing project, and so I have started Swanky Homestead - a blog about our new life as modern homesteaders trying to bring a little style to farm life!
I would be thrilled if you came over and visited the new blog. It is still in its early stages, but please follow me there so we can get reconnected!
- Cathy x

Follow Swanky Homestead

The heart of the American Mid-West in October - Pumpkinland

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 01:28:00 +0000

The change in seasons here is a little like turning off a paved tarmac road onto a gravel farm path - you can really feel the difference, and it's very sudden.

Today at school my children spent 25 minutes in a mandated fetal position while the tornado sirens wailed. It was their first time. I was at home in my pyjamas wondering whether to crawl under the house. After the storm passed, I felt uneventfully, I saw a huge tree in our neighbour's yard had blown down just like that.

Despite the adrenaline rush of the Fall arriving (or Autumn, as I really WANT to keep calling it, please), there are many much more gentle signs of the season which are probably visible in most Western countries at this time of year, but are celebrated in a particular lavish bounty in these rural American parts.

Yes it's the pumpkins. Huge ones, tiny ones, white and the all-important orange, lumpy and smooth, striped, flattish or roundly fecund. If you visited here only once at this time of the year, you would be convinced it was the only thing they grew all year.

Now, something has made me very pleased and grateful. In England, they "do" pumpkins at Halloween, and then they feed them to the pigs (or the garbage truck). Some very resourceful, recycling types may make spiced pumpkin soup. But, in essence, British people do not believe pumpkins to be truly edible.

In Indiana, I believe they have come up with every possible way to cook a pumpkin. Now this seems very practical to me, considering how many people's porches are currently lined with them, and at $3.99 a pop, you could spend your week's food budget for the week right there in one big orange blow-out. So why not make the most of your seasonal display's nutritional value? (By the way, I am not advocating this at Christmas unless you are into edible Christmas tree decorations - dried fruit is apparently very attractive).

The reason I have been extolling the virtue of the cooked pumpkin is because the Americans are not only using their resources wisely (yes, I said it), but they are also doing it deliciously. I will share my favourite local recipe with you shortly, but if it doesn't take your fancy, do a Google search for some of the following:

Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Muffins, Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pumpkin Brownies, Pumpkin Cookies, Pumpkin Cobbler, Pumpkin Torte, Pumpkin Meringue Pie, Pumpkin Bars, Pumpkin Pudding, Pumpkin Mash, Pumpkin Preserves, Pumpkin Butter, Pumpkin Cupcakes and Spiced Pumpkin Latte (yes you get this last one at Starbucks).

My favourite recipe was served by a dear friend at Sunday Lunch, after a delicious main course of Cheeseburger soup. Yes, we are in America, and I couldn't get enough of it.

Pumpkin Crisp (or Crumble in English).

Ingredients
2 (15 ounce) cans pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup evaporated milk
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Crisp Topping

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped or dried coconut (optional)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Lightly grease an 8" square baking dish.
In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, sugar, evaporated milk, eggs, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla until smooth. Pour into prepared dish.
In medium bowl combine brown sugar, oats, walnuts, flour and cinnamon. Add melted butter and stir until combined.
Sprinkle topping evenly over pumpkin mix.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until center is set and topping is golden brown.
Serve warm with whipped cream and cinnamon if desired.

Image: http://www.goodlifeeats.com

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:49:00 +0000

Why do writers write? In fact, why does anybody write?

Image: bookshelfporn.com

I am having an inner struggle with the time it takes me to write anything, and whether that time is truly worthwhile. The irony of this is that I love to read. It is my favourite pastime, and I devour books. You would think, therefore, that I am the answer to my own question. However, there seems to be a gap in my brain, or my heart, or my will, between my hunger to read and my motivation to write. Perhaps the problem is that I don't believe anyone would really want to read (or hear) anything I have to say. "Well," you might argue with me, if you were in the room, "then you shouldn't speak, either!"

When you are speaking to someone, you can gauge their reaction to your words immediately. You have instant gratification, and you can change what you are saying to keep them interested, or at least try to obtain the reaction you were hoping for using more than just your words. When writing, your audience is mute, dark and uncontrollable. Perhaps that's what is ultimately comes down to - control. I know that some writers would defend their medium by saying that they can be perfectly in control. They can take hours or days over each word that they choose, so that the reader's reaction can be fine-tuned.

However, I know one thing. The reader has a mind and a will of his own. I know this because I often read books, and then look up reviews or interviews with the writer and am amazed at how different people's reactions were to mine, or how different the writer's intended outcome was. A book in my hands, as a reader, has become my own. The writer has lost control over it completely. I can skip pages. I can read the end first. Most particularly, the characters, the plot, the landscapes, the emotions all ultimately belong to me. It matters not how brilliantly illuminating the descriptive prose is; my imagination can only be made up of images and senses that I have experienced or constructed from my own life. This means that although the writer uses the common medium of words, in fact the true material of the writer's work is the soul of the reader. And that is unique for each one.

So I have not really answered my question. Perhaps a writer is there to provide the raw materials for vicarious experience. I could not write for that purpose. It seems too functional for me. One thing I do know is that my purposes for writing something may summarily match the purposes of the reader for reading it. Going deeper, though, once the adventure has begun and the reader has left his world and embarked onto the page, my purposes are tangential. They are trivial. My work is a setting for the reader's imagination to play. It is mere skin and bones for the soul of their story.

Finally, from America.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 01:59:00 +0000

Forgive me for my great tardiness in keeping you all abreast of our move to the New World. It has been five weeks, and yet it feels scarcely a fortnight. And yes, I have been watching a Jane Austen film this evening, in case you thought the rest of my email would be unintelligible.

I write from Upland, Indiana, an extremely small University town in the very middle of the State with wide expanses of blue and bright skies, corn fields, clumps of natural forest, lazy brown rivers and sparkling lakes, and HECTARES of freshly-mown lawns.

I suppose it is a good time to be writing, as we are coming to a milestone tomorrow. Our furniture and "effects" (who came up with that word?) are arriving tomorrow after a long wait in a rather empty house. As we have not had a dishwasher, it has been somewhat of a blessing to have only four place settings to wash, along with a few plastic cups.

Despite the transient nature of our decor, we have settled in surprisingly well and I (at least I speak for myself) have not had any bouts of homesickness. The reason for this partly is that we have been caught up in a whirlwind of social engagements, classes to teach (and study), formal events and informal events, church services, chapel services, informal worship services (if they can serve it, you name it they will serve it). Three separate Sunday Schools for the children (one on a Wednesday, just to keep us on our toes), women asking me to tea, men asking Nicholas to exercise (they don't drink beer here, so they just run around instead). Football matches to watch, icecream socials, Bible Studies, homegroups, lunches, picnics, swimming, apple-picking, apple-coring, apple-cooking, apple-eating...

They do everything together.

This is a great thing when you may at some point feel homesick, because you very rarely have the space and time to think about yourself or anything else.

Our main challenge, you may have guessed at this point, is finding some balance and learning to say no. We were warned when we arrived, but it is something you can only learn through your mistakes.

In practical terms, Nicholas is enjoying teaching. The students are great, and one of the best things about being here is that the majority of the local young people are the kind we would like our children to grow up into. They are kind, polite, thoughtful, devout, responsible, hard-working and happy. And amazingly attractive too, probably because they wash their hair and don't wear too much makeup. The neighbourhoods are so safe that friends of ours leave their keys in the car in the driveway (then they don't have to look for them madly on their way out). Everyone leaves their front doors unlocked all the time. The other day, I let myself into a friend's house while she was out, made myself a cup of tea and spent half an hour relaxing before she arrived. Her neighbour's son (a nine-year-old), playing on his own in the nearby forest, watched me park my rusty old van outside the house, and go in. He told his mom "I knew Gwen was out, but I didn't worry because the lady looked nice". This story illustrates two things - 1. I look nice to children from a distance and 2. everybody knows everything you do here and a third actually - there are still places in the western world where children can play safely on their own in the forest.

I am taking two classes (Logic and Expository Writing) and finding them a hell of a lot of hard work. Since when was University a breeze? I was trying to compare this experience to University of Cape Town. I cannot decide whether the accountability there was lacking, or whether I just managed to get away with a lot of free time, but I feel like I always have an assignment due here, and I guess the difference is now it competes with children, animals, laundry, housework, cooking, grocery shopping, and the three hundred or so social events in any given week. In terms of the direction of my studies - at this point I am trying to find fifth-gear in brain function, and then hopefully I will have a creative hiatus and discover my "unique voice" (thanks Megan). So watch this space.

Some of you may be wondering whether a third child is in the planning. Well no. Have you read any of the above?

A Haven in the Manor

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:38:00 +0000

Our friends have lent us their Manor House while they are away. What a blessing it has been for us! There is wild, historical beauty at every turn.

The beauty of produce

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:32:00 +0000

Well, my children are very clever. They discovered our friends' vegetable garden, went picking, and laid out a beautiful still life, without me even asking! It's quite beautiful.

Blogging Identity Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:18:00 +0000

I'm sure you've noticed my post regularity has dropped significantly in the past couple of weeks. Well, it is partly to do with moving countries, but really that's no excuse.

The main reason is that I am having a bit of an identity crisis when it comes to my writing. This was precipitated by my week in Oxford where, among many other things, I met an eminent young blogger of the non-mommy kind, namely Matthew Anderson, who writes Mere Orthodoxy. He is also a "proper" author in the process of writing a fascinating book, and I would like to say (although he may deny it), an itinerant philosopher.

Meeting him, hearing him speak and reading his work put a magnifying glass on my own rather wishy-washy attempts to write. This blog is very much a patchwork of the many things that interest me. The problem is that on the days when nothing is interesting me, I have nothing to write. Many of you may think this is a good thing, that it is "being real". However, when you have a problem with self-discipline, as I do, "being real" can very easily look like "being lazy". So I am aware of the need for some structure and focus in my writing that can get me over the hazy troughs of unproductive unease that strike unannounced at least twice a week.

The next chapter in the story is my friend Megan, who I have introduced before. Boy do I miss having Megan around. I wish she would at least join Facebook! She is naturally a creative person's muse. She has a gift for seeking out the vision in others. I had the joy of a weekend with her recently, at which she said to me, "Cathy, you need to find your unique voice".

There it is again.

Now, as a final stamp of authority on an already clear message, I was told via an email to my husband by a dear, esteemed, and extremely eminent friend that the next step in my development as an outstanding young leader is to find a speciality to focus on.

Having heard the message, I have yet to figure out what to do about it, except that I have been swanning around in a mist of uncertainty, perhaps hoping that the focus, the vision, the unique voice will jump out at me from behind some bush and present itself in all its glory.

As that has not yet happened, I ask your patience. In the absence of immediate and exciting revelation, I may have to waffle on about various things until I stumble upon the thing. I invite you along for the ride.

Keep my coffee warm baby!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:17:00 +0000

I don't know about you but I hate cold coffee, and always seems with coffee made in a plunger that by the time it has drawn to be strong enough to wake me up in the morning, it is also lukewarm. I found this free pattern on Ravelry, and it was a super-fast knit, using half a ball of natural unbleached wool yarn. It is so stylish, and practical too!

This would make a great gift, especially at the last minute.

I connect to these great linky parties.

Laundry Love

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:02:00 +0000

My sister-in-law has recently moved into her dream house. She deserves it too, after 16 years of tiny London apartments. Visiting there last week, she proudly showed me the large section of her kitchen which is going to become the "Utility" as they call it here in England, or the laundry. I expect she will put quite a lot of thought into how it is going to be organised, and so looking at that blank space I thought, what would I do if I could design my laundry area from scratch?

What a fun project! I know that a lot of people have to make do with the space under their kitchen sink, and haul the ironing board out of the wardrobe in a panic in the mornings to get the shirts done. Well, what if we could all have our fantasy laundry room? It can't hurt to dream a little...and then once we're inspired we can see what little touches we can bring from our fantasy world into real life, just to make things a little more enjoyable.

So the first thing I did was start drooling over the great stuff you find all over the web on design sites, and in magazines - you know those laundries that have been put together by a stylist and will never be touched by tumbledrier lint or bits of grass from inside your son's socks.

This is my dream fodder...

Hirondelle Rustique

Style At Home

Centsational Girl

Now, having waded through hundreds of inspiring photographs (after a while, you think you don't really want to do up your laundry room anymore...) I have to ask myself, how on earth does a normal person do ANYTHING inspiring with a real-life laundry? I mean for goodness sake, please tell me who has enough space in their house to have a laundry room like this?:

Hampton Design

So, back to the real world. Now, I did find a couple of normal, real-live women who have attempted pretty fantastic laundry-room makeovers. Here are a couple of examples:

Centsational Girl took this

and made this

Not bad right?

However, I think I would tire of this after a while. It's smart, and pretty but after a while I would forget what it looked like before.

No, what I am going to need to make laundry interesting are some unusual touches. I am going need the things I use to be beautiful. So, what about some handmade laundry soap?

un arc-en-ciel dans lavabo

Yes it's lovely, but it may get a little tedious having to grate all that soap. However, having a couple of bars next to the sink with an old grater ready to wash your pretty lace undies...now that's practical and stylish. And how about getting an old wash basin too...vintage utility items have an immense beauty, unique to each item because of the years of hard work put in on them by women just like us.

Not sure my white shirts would like the rust though...

Practically, though, it is quite easy to find the more old-fashioned laundry accessories, brand new. Wooden pegs, for example, are gorgeous and sturdy. And of course, you can go mad with storage items.

Country Living

So, to finish off, I did a bit of leg work for you to source some beautiful and practical laundry-room basics which you can buy online. So get yourself a cup of coffee (or tea), maybe a yummy piece of cake, and using these basics, build yourself a dream laundry (or at least just dream it).

Gorgeous Ironing Board Covers (you could get two and change them seasonally) are $25 from Etsy.

This cotton drawstring bag with pegs is on sale at Raw Edges Studio for $12.80

Isn't this sunshine yellow tin wash tub gorgeous? Guaranteed to brighten even the rainiest washdays. It's $40 from Sigmosaics.

And this is my favourite, because I have always used an old Ikea bag to keep my lost socks until their partners show up again.

It's $18 at Handmade By Bette.

Well, I could go on forever. Let me know if you use any of these ideas, I'd love to see what you're up to!

Let's get to know one another again...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:44:00 +0000

Seeing as I have been away from my blog for almost nine days, I thought I would use the great opportunity from Chic Click to meet some new people around the web, and also remind you who I am...

I am Cathy, the Wandering Woman. We are currently living in my in-laws home, our household is packed up in a crate waiting for the big boat to the USA, and we have three weeks left in England before we move over to Indiana to start a new life in a farm house with 30 acres, a barn with seven cats, a horse, chickens, a University, a sixteen seater van, two kiddos, and our home-grown Springer Spaniel, tabby cat and kitten in tow.

I write my blog to encourage women to be all they can in life, to follow their dreams and to keep their feet firmly on the ground. We all need a little bit of heaven, and a little bit of earth. I wrote more about this in one of my favourite posts Monday Morning Mindfulness - Heaven and Earth.

You'll notice on my sidebar a little widget called Chic Chick Media (Visit our Peeps!). There are so many great blogs out there and this is a great way to connect to each other's work. My favourite peep this week is All Things Wonderful. The blog has a lovely old-fashioned feel. Have a look, especially if you like vintage.

Why don't you have a look at one of the peeps on the widget below and see if you can discover a new gem!

I'm back - everyone needs a holiday!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:59:00 +0000

Well, most of you would call it a vacation, and it isn't really what I've had, but thank you for your patience while I have been absent here. Sometimes life just runs ahead of you and you can't keep up any more. We moved house and I went away on a week's conference, and when I got back I had completely lost my routine.

So here I am, and I am excited about some new ideas for my blog, and my life in fact. Looking forward to being back with all of you!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:55:00 +0000

Melissa from Wife in Training writes...

My goodness, these books are seductive. Granted, I don't own a single book like this, and if I did, it would be completely ruined in a manner of weeks, or however long it would take me to spill food all over it. (I like to read at lunch and dinner and whenever I am snacking.) (Maybe I'm eating too much.) But whenever I imagine books in my head, I imagine these kind of books, a morocco leather-bound octavo with gilt letters and silk end papers, full of dignity and all of the spirit of humanity.

Because to me, that is what books are--the collective human spirit, preserved, immortal, enduring long after our bones and belongings have withered away. And not only are these books the story of us, but they are the story of all that ever could be, and all that never was. And in a world where all of the final frontiers seem to be closed, books are the gateway into the one frontier that is always expanding: our minds. We create entirely new worlds in our minds, and in the stories we tell, and when we put them into books, that is how we explore them.

And on an entirely different note, I wonder if I can get my Batman fanfic bound up into one of those pretty volumes?

Yeah, that's right. I write fanfic. Go ahead. Mock me. I do it every day.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 06:45:00 +0000

Image: Etsy.com

Melissa from Wife in Training says

Is this considered mixed media? Drawing? Watercolor? (If one draws with a watercolor pencil, is it considered drawing or "painting" in water color?) Golly, I'd like to do mixed media. And draw. And work with watercolors.

Anyway, I love Etsy. I've only purchased two things from there, but I've certainly SPENT a lot of...time scrolling through the pages. Not always to ogle the merchandise, but to get creative ideas.

In a child's parlance, this might be considered "copying." In adult language, "patent violation" or "plagiarism" or just plain old "ganking." I call it a "creativity c-section"...maybe creative idea was lurking in my metaphorical womb somewhere, and someone's realized art served as a midwife and coaxed it into the world.

Right.

Let's face it, "creativity" and "originality" are not the same. One can be creative (i.e., create something) without being original. Creativity simply requires tools, materials, and technical skill; originality requires...something else. Something different. Maybe an inner genius. I think "visionary" is a good word. But while I am creative, while I have the urge to create, I don't delude myself into thinking I can conjure something extraordinary or never before done/seen/written. So whether I am getting my ideas from Etsy, or a book at the local library, it's all the same, at least so long as I am not trying to sell it or pass it off as my own. I just want to make stuff, for me and my people.

Etsy's wonderful, and I call blessings down upon all the artists out there who bring their original creations to us. I get a creative high just looking at it. Not only are you bringing art into the world, but you're helping those of us out there that can't.

Chalkboard Paint and Bedding

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 21:14:00 +0000

Image: Anthropologie

Melissa from Wife in Training says:

This is a pretty good indication of what preoccupatioins plague me at present. WHO CARES ABOUT THE CHALKBOARD PAINT, WHAT ABOUT THE BEDDING?

Gorgeous.

I have some very distinctive visuals for my ideal bedroom design. For lack of a better way to phrase it, we'll call it "eclectic boho gypsy global chic with a splash of paisley meets Alphonse Mucha in a Turkish Harem." Of course, the ideal falls quite short of the reality, which is more along the lines of "shambled trash can and nauseous closet throw up contents and meet Hurricane Katrina in the Lower Ninth."

Needless to say, I've got a long way to go before I meet the ideal. And it all revolves around the bedding, which I can't seem to find anywhere. It doesn't help that I don't know if my bedding even exists. All I know is I want some beautiful bedding with purples and indigos and fuschias and maybe teal, with some paisley thrown in for good measure. And once I get the bedding down, then I can move on to wall art, and lamps, and floral arrangements, and candles, and all other sorts of fripperies.

Tragically, this Anthropologie bedding is perhaps the closest I've gotten to my ideal bedding, but it's no where near what I want. If any of you come across bedding that might fit my imaginary bedroom's description, please let me know. In the meantime, I might have to apply for FEMA aid.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 06:52:00 +0000

Image: thesweetestoccasion.com

Melissa says...

But...what if rain comes and washes the ink on the tags away?

(Of course, if it rains the day of an outdoor wedding, they've got bigger problems).

Also, I wish my handwriting looked like that. Does anyone out there practice their handwriting to make it look nicer, or am I the only Crazypants that does that?

Visit Melissa's blog at Wife in Training. Thanks for filling in for me while I'm away Melissa!

Facing your Fears

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 08:10:00 +0000

via Cathy Kerton-Johnson on Pinterest

Good morning! Hope you enjoy the first of our guest series - responses to random images from my Pinterest boards by Melissa from Wife in Training!

Dude, this is the story of my life.

And yours, too.

The best advice I can give is for you to go to your local library and check out Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Read it. And when you get to the part where Harry and his class take on the boggarts and see their worst fears manifest and take on corporeal form, slow down. Read carefully. Take notes if you have to.

In early 2006, I had just gone through a particularly painful breakup which landed me on a therapist's couch in Indiana for an hour a week. As the winter slowly receded and daffodils and blue-eyed marys began to emerge, as the spring storms started to pummel the landscape, I began to regain my equilibrium. And the breakthrough came one day on that damned couch (okay, so maybe it was an armchair) as I was explaining to my kindly, young, and inexplicably bald therapist about how I was constantly overwhelmed by the fears in my head which were constantly screaming and undermining my confidence. I actually didn't identify it as fear, just an insecure voice. And the kindly counselor said, "You need to realize how ridiculous that voice is. It's not true, and you need to laugh at it."

Laugh at it.

Like Harry Potter did to the boggarts.

The boggarts were fear.

My issues all came back down to fear--nothing yet real, all imagined. None of it had any more power than what I gave it.

And so I laughed.

And my life changed.

The fear is still there, of course. But I've learned to live with it. Call it whistling in the dark, bravado, what ever. But I laugh. And I succeed.

Please welcome....Melissa from Wife in Training!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:49:00 +0000

I am in the superb chaos of house-packing for our move. My dear and new friend Melissa, fellow-blogger extraordinaire, is kindly guest-blogging for me so that you lovely readers have something to read while I am engaged profoundly in moving my family overseas.

Melissa writes a wonderful, funny, fascinating, insightful blog about her life and interests over at Wife in Training. I love her wry sense of humour, the fact that she is really well read, and that she has a unique and poignant interaction with her daily life. Also we have in common...Indiana! She fell in love with the state when living there a few years ago, and is insanely jealous that I am moving there soon.

Melissa is doing something fun for us - a series of responses to one of my Pinterest boards, kind of stream of consciousness, and a great way of getting to know her as well as comparing your response to gorgeous images.

Here is the board. Check back every day for Melissa response to each picture, and go say hi to her over at Wife in Training!

CHA CHA CHA - the art of retro and vintage

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:59:00 +0000

I have told you once before about my very talented friend Megan (remember the great photography site!). Well, there is no end to Megan's creativity. When I visited her in London two years ago, I discovered that the living room of their very gorgeous Victorian semi was full of...yes you guessed it...STASH!! Fabric, lampshades, vintage retro finds. I think Megan's husband Hugh is a saint to be not even bothered by the loss of a room in the house to eye candy.

The purpose behind the stash (there always is one of course!) is Megan's online shop which sells the most unique and original retro and vintage finds, including lighting, furniture and clothing. Let me give you a little taste...

An original 1950's Lloyd Loom chair re-upholstered in original Alexander Girard fabric. Is it not a thing of true beauty?

Megan sources original vintage fabric, and can upholster furniture and lampshades as request. Doesn't this just take you right back to the seventies?

The great thing about Megan's store is that she has taken the hard work out of sourcing vintage. She has a fantastic eye, and you can be guaranteed that anything she has chosen will have that stylish "kick".

I am the proud owner of a vintage wallpaper-covered scrapbook, and address book. Isn't this a great idea! Especially if you are not courageous enough to cover a whole wall in it!

Take a look at her shop and be inspired!

It's official - I'm addicted to bags

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 09:05:00 +0000

It does not happen to me often that I can make something people actually admire. My craft experiences in school were always of the order of "Highly Commended" (in other words, quite nice, but not good enough for a real prize). My mother sent me on a sewing course as a teenager. Unfortunately the project was to make a SUIT out of KNIT fabric. I mean how ridiculous. It was horrible. Once I had finished, I threw it away.

So you can see why I got so excited when I first tried out this bag pattern from Vanessa Christenson, and everyone started commenting on my bag:

Friend: "I love your bag. Where did you buy it?"

Me: (smugly) "I made it."

Friend: (incredulous) "What!"

Me: (faltering slightly, at the fact that my friend couldn't believe I actually made it) "Yes, it turned out well didn't it?"

Friend: (proudly) "If you sold those, I would buy one."

Me: (incredulous) "Really?"

So you see, I have now been encouraged by my stroked ego to make more of the bags that caused a temporary buzz of fame amongst my social circle. In fact, I have made four in one sitting. I might even open an Esty shop...(one step at a time).

In the meantime I am making them as gifts. This is the one I made for my children's teacher as a goodbye gift.

The pattern was not free, but it has more than made up its value already. You can also buy the flower pattern separately if you have a thing for fabric flowers.

What I love about this bag is that the lining peeps through, and co-ordinates with the flower. It's not too fussy, but just that touch of glamorous.

I shared this on these great linky parties.

Help! I need a girl's birthday gift, now!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:31:00 +0000

This Friday evening I panicked. I suddenly remembered that my daughter had a birthday party to attend the next morning. And we were going out that evening. And I had forgotten to buy a gift.

Yes, in the past, I must confess, I have grabbed the newest looking book off my children's bookshelf and wrapped it. But this party was for my daughter's best friend, and I couldn't get away with something, well, less than the best. Knowing the birthday girl is feminine and loves vintage dresses and hair accessories, I went online and found a great, easy (and free) fabric rosette pattern.

In the morning, I spent twenty minutes over breakfast making the rosettes, and then attached them to one of my daughter's pink headbands. Popped into a pretty gift bag with some tissue paper and sparkly sprinkles, it made a gorgeous, handmade gift (that would have cost a lot of money at an uptown boutique).

So if you have a girl's gift emergency, here is the pattern for the rosettes. If you don't have a headband handy, you could attach them to a hair elastic, or you could sew a little square purse and attach them to that. They make anything fabulous.

I shared this on

Did I disappear?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:37:00 +0000

So all of you who were ready to cook Biryani on Friday, forgive me. My timetable of packing and getting ready to move ran way ahead of me, and I got myself exhausted. I just didn't have it in me to even turn my computer on. I spent most of yesterday asleep. I will be cooking it today, though so check back tomorrow if you still have your chicken pieces!

In the meantime, I must ask you to be patient with me in the next week. The movers arrive on Thursday and there is always more to do than one estimates, so that today where my to list says "Pack suitcase", I have in truth still to sort through two major rooms of my house, and find a place for the piles and piles of things we aren't taking to America. There is going to be a lot of moving stuff from one place to another. In fact, sometimes I think life is all about moving stuff from one place to another. Money from your work's bank account to yours, money from your bank account to everyone else's, laundry from the washer to the dryer, toys from one room to another etc etc. It is, really isn't it. So I can see why some people become hermits and live in caves.

I am going to ask some friends to do guest posts, so please welcome them and visit their pages.

In the meantime, your thoughts and prayers will be appreciated!!

Don't you love looking at yummy food?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:27:00 +0000

I cooked this fabulous Italian Meatballs recipe this evening for our dinner, and it was so good I thought, I can't keep this a secret!

Aren't they beautiful? Served with linguine, I could have eaten the whole lot. Luckily I didn't.

The recipe is from my very favourite Italian Cookbook The Food of Italy. If you're wondering what secret ingredients make them so special, they are blanched almonds (or pinenuts), fresh basil, celery seeds and lemon rind!

Cooking with an Empire's Child Week 3 - India

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:43:00 +0000

Good day fellow food lovers. I recently visited a new follower of mine. Her blog is called Food Floozy, and this is the definition she gives:

"floo·zie \ˈflü-zē\: a usually young woman of loose morals." Thus a Food Floozie is not a woman who can be seduced by virtually any man, but rather a woman who can be seduced by virtually any food (other than sushi)

Isn't that just great! It is how I feel most of the time. Except I can be seduced by sushi most days too.

Anyway, onto this week's recipe. I found reading about the history of the Indian colonies quite disturbing. It seems in the "old days" if you wanted to make some money, you could just sail over to someone else's land and nick bits of their country. In the long run, after the East India Company messed everything up a lot (not surprising, given their policies were based on greed and corruption) the British Government took over and tried to run the place according to British Morals and Values.

There is a lot of literature on the British Indian Colony, particularly about the women who went out there with their men folk. A lot of heart-breaking stories, and also a lot of romance and intrigue. I can imagine the British people sitting back home here in the rolling green and tame hills of England thought it was quite an interesting place. Rudyard Kipling, of course, immortalises the era through his children's stories, particularly the Jungle Book.

I digress. The reason I found this week so enjoyable is that I grew up in Natal, South Africa where there was a huge Indian population. They were brought over by the British as indentured workers to farm the sugar, and they liked it there because is was hot and tropical, just like their home. Durban Curry became a well-known South African dish, and is still quite unique in its flavours.

Image: paul v j

I have chosen, though, a firm favourite of mine. This is because it is the typical fast food you can buy on the streets of Natalian towns, usually from seedy looking Indian takeaways, or vans. Coming from within, however, you find a treasure trove of cuisine. Samosas, rotis and masala all made with love and care by Indian mamas with recipes passed down through the generations. My favourite meal to buy for lunch was the chicken biryani. Hot as a roasting brick, full of little chicken bones and heavy with fresh chopped coriander. It was nourishing and delicious. I have never tasted biryani like it again.

So I am going to attempt this traditional, South African chicken biryani this Friday. Try it with me. I guarantee you will want it again. And again.

Here is your shopping list.

2 onions
4 medium potatoes
1 small piece ginger (fresh)
garlic
cooking oil
dried curry leaves
tomato paste
Mild or Hot curry powder
bay leaves
250ml plain yoghurt
whole cloves

star anise
cinnamon sticks
fresh mint

dried thyme

turmeric powder
1 can brown lentils
quick cook basmati rice

This meal is best left overnight before eating, so perhaps plan to cook it on Friday, and eat on Saturday.

No matter what happens - use great stationery

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:15:00 +0000

One of my greatest weakness is my desire to communicate to the world on beautiful paper. With an expensive ink fountain pen. And preferably an original letterhead design.

I can't walk past a stationery shop. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I discovered Papyrus in the Pacific Place Mall in Seattle. You must remember, America dwellers, that the rest of the world is still discovering stationery.

So, you can imagine that one of my greatest decision, my biggest burdens, in our preparations to emigrate to America has been - what shall I use to notify our change of address?

Should it be a postcard? In fact providence would have it that The Executive Homemaker has free change of address printables this very morning. While these are cute, and probable great for a local move, I didn't think they had the punch, the originality, the clout needed for a final "I'm leaving the country forever".

I had to do some research. I had bought myself a pack of 50 white pressed notecards ready for this project. I needed a printable that inspired me.

What a blessing Google Reader is. I just typed in "printable" and it searched the archives of all my favourite blogs for inspiration. And that is where I found the treasure!

Indiefixx has some gorgeous printable art and it's all free! I chose these two gorgeous little artworks, with birds as the theme. Paste them into word, and plan two cards per A6 postcard note, with a note on the back saying "We're flying away...".

My plan is to have them in my bag to give to family and friends that I see regularly, and pop one into any written correspondence I send. Then I will go through my contact list and post out to anyone left.

Cute, no?

I am looking forward to something else I can design use the Indiefixx art. I am sure there will be some thank you cards coming out of my printer soon...

Monday Morning Mindfulness

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:38:00 +0000

Being a woman hasn't changed much.

I am sure you are all disagreeing quietly in the back of your minds. Of course our lives have got easier. Our children are more likely to live till adulthood. We have appliances that do the hard work for us. We have tiled floors, motor cars, the internet connecting us to a community drawn from all nations. We have homes with doors and windows and roofs and security systems. We have hospitals and ambulances and antibiotics. In this world we should never be lonely, tired, dirty, sick or afraid.

This week I was lonely, tired, sick and afraid. I was even dirty (although not for long). Yes, I am in awe of the environment and circumstances that women have had to endure in the centuries before us, not so long ago in fact, and even today in a large part of the world. But having the comforts and benefits of living in a wealthy, stable Western society does not protect me from the fundamental pressures of living. I still have to learn to deal with them in my own way. In fact, the romantic postmodern rural movement would have us believe that life was in fact easier when there was no city rush, no noise pollution, no fragmentation and decimation of the family from the land. I'm not sure I agree with them wholly. I think I would go mad if I had to boil my laundry and spend the day working my knuckles to the bone getting out the grease from a week's worn clothes, or milk the cow every morning just so we could enjoy breakfast.

It's so easy to look at different times and places and compare ourselves to those situations saying, "I ought to be grateful", or, "They had it so much better than me". My aim this week is no longer to compare myself and say, "If only", but rather to consider what others have been through, or are going through, and say, "What can I learn from them?".

During this time of moving to another country, I am so grateful that I am not moving because of genocide, famine or unrest. My grandmother had to leave Kenya in the 1960s with her five boys, leaving my grandfather behind to fight a guerilla war in the jungle. She went on a ship to England, and lived there on her own for two years. What anxiety she must have suffered, when she would not see her husband for a year, wondering whether he was still alive. How difficult it must have been to move away from her family and the only life she had known to a world of terraced houses, smog, crowding and particularly cold and rain, after the wide plains and warm winds of Africa. My move now to Indiana is like preparing for a vacation in comparison. I can learn from her that homesickness is inevitable, but that we are stronger than our emotions. I can learn that no matter how far we are from our family, the bonds can never be broken.

Most of all, I am trying to think about how she would have dealt with all the little details of moving a family to an unknown place. She is so practical, has such ingenuity and above all finds such joy in solving the small problems of everyday life. She lives life almost as though in a children's story book. Everyday objects get special names, plants are talked to like old friends, routines become little rituals that rise above the profane and bring a spiritual quality to mundane tasks.

This week, I am going to try to keep the magic, in the midst of forms, boxes and lists. I am going to look for the little things that sparkle. I know they are there. My granny's legacy to me was gently opening my eyes to see them.

My granny, Beth Fey.