Walking to Dinner Out Yesterday Evening

A realtor friend invited me and another friend to join her for an early dinner yesterday evening at 6pm. This is a quick photo of the approach to Jockey Hollow Bar and Kitchen in Morristown NJ. It was a lovely evening and fun walking around town a little beforehand. I found a parking spot right away as I'm always early and I picked up my friend who doesn't like to drive at night. We celebrated the sale of her house and still got home early. I have toured many of the upscale apartments here over the years but had never been to the restaurant. https://www.jockeyhollowbarandkitchen.com 

Located at 110 South St. in Morristown, N.J., the Vail Mansion was built by the first president and chairman of AT & T, Theodore Vail. The first floor of the mansion was originally designed to house Mr. Vail´s collection of art and family inventions, while the second floor was to be his living quarters.

A project architect designed and supervised the restoration of this 1918 Palladian building as part of an adaptive reuse project. The upscale condominiums are beautiful with many amenities. https://www.ctsarch.com/vail-mansion-morristown-nj

Parmesan Crisps Decorated for Christmas

Aren't these savory crispy cheese shortbreads beautiful?

My friend Stacey made them and dropped them off on Christmas Eve along with many more delicious dishes. See the first batch she made and posted on Instagram below. 

These are photographed right out of the oven in her kitchen. Read more about the changes she wanted to make with the next batch on her @staceysnacks Instagram post HERE.

Have a great Sunday! xo

A Giant Sunflower + A Visit from Missy

I picked up Missy in New Vernon this morning and as I was leaving I photographed this single giant sunflower at the house across from hers. Her owner is having cataract surgery tomorrow so I don't know exactly long I will have her. It might be a few days or it might be two weeks. She's no trouble so it's fine with me.

Here she is with fresh bedding in her crate. We are having a rainy day today as predicted but tonight it's supposed to be hard or even torrential. I am going to feed her early and try to have the walks done before it gets bad. Tomorrow is going to be fine and I'm glad about that for me and especially because of my friend's surgery. One of his friends on the Rescue Squad is in charge of the transportation and follow up visits. Living in the same house in a great village for your whole life is a wonderful thing. I'm glad I can help as the dog sitter. xo

Be Worthy of Your Dog's Devotion

I added this text to a picture of a French Bull Dog long ago and I just found it again in my photos. It's so true too. I hope you don't mind seeing it again. I worked outside dealing with snow for much of the day and will probably sleep like a log tonight. xo

Freshly Picked Dahlia Bouquet

I picked these lovely dahlias by invitation just before dark on Sunday night. They made getting up on a Monday morning so delightful. They drank a lot of water overnight and I had to top them off after taking this photo. They are the best summer into fall flowers of all.

My Friend's Beautiful Dahlias

I took these photos at a friend's house late this afternoon and once again fell in love with dahlias. I have never tried growing them and every year I admire them and wish I had them too. Next year for sure! I know you have to dig up the tubers and store them somehow to be replanted the next spring. I love that they are so tall and straight proudly flaunting their beauty. I love that they are late bloomers providing such beauty in the fall. xo

Oatmeal Muffins Using Minimum Ingredients

Here is a photo of one of my oatmeal muffins on a cupcake stand, a Christmas gift from Stacey Snacks long ago. Here is the muffin recipe I found online. I really like it because it is so flexible for these times. It uses a minimum amount of sugar and oil and there are numerous substitutions if you are out of anything. Uses no baking powder, only baking soda. Almost all of the ingredients you will probably already have on hand plus there are many add-ons too for variety. This is just the basic recipe and my muffin is a basic one too, but delicious.

Ingredients: start preheating oven set to 425°
1 cup milk (almond, soy or rice milk works great too) I used my homemade soymilk yogurt.
1 cup quick-cooking oats or 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (off-brand works perfectly and they are no different from the name-brand) I used old-fashioned oats
1 egg (or 1/4 cup of mashed banana or 1 tablespoon ground flax seed mixed with 2-3 tablespoons of water) I used an egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil or 1/4 cup canola oil I used Avocado Oil. Otherwise I would have used oiive oil.
1 cup all-purpose flour (or wheat flour) I used whole wheat flour
1/4 cup white sugar I used organic sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon I also added 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425°f (220°c). Grease or spray 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners. I just oiled my muffin pan with avocado oil and a pastry brush.
In a small bowl (I used a 4-cup pyrex measuring cup), combine milk and oats. Soak for 15 minutes. I used this same cup for the other wet ingredients after the 15 minute soak to save dirty bowls.
In a separate bowl, beat together egg and oil; stir in oatmeal mixture. In a third bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients, just until combined. I never sift anything but stir with a wisk. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups until cups are 2/3 full.
Bake in preheated 425° oven for 15-25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. 20 minutes was perfect in my oven.

Dog Rules for My Friend Missy

I photographed this sign in the home of a friend who has a dog named Missy. She is shown below in a field of long grass on an exercise run. She's really well behaved in the house and isn't allowed on the furniture but she actually prefers the dog bed I gave her that belonged to Webster. 

She's a rescue dog too. I'm still not ready to get one of my own but can visit Missy anytime.

Unboxing My Surprise Gift from A Blog Follower

An antique English Ironstone soap dish and two mystery boxes tied with bunny ribbon.

A natural bristle nail brush and a bar of Crabtree & Evelyn Gardeners Soap. It is infused with rosemary, sage and time and has fine pumice to gently clean my gardening hands.

The verse on my card is sweet. "It is often difficult to tell if a hedgehog is ticklish. If you try, you're more likely to find him pricklish."

I rearranged the cleaning supplies I leave in plain view on the counter behind my double farm sink and now I am ready for spring garden cleanup too. I always wear gloves when I work outside but I also manage to get my hands very dirty when I take them off for fine work. I already had the Gardeners Hand Scrub and my old nail brush was too embarrassing to leave out. I am fanatical about clean nails and I adore this new brush. Thank you, Katherine for such thoughtful gifts in appreciation of my blog. I am also impressed that you were able to find my address at the office. Some of the associates at my meeting yesterday wanted me to open the gifts right away but I decided to wait and open them for you and my other faithful blog followers and friends after I got home. Today's post was fun to prepare and present. xo

More Peonies and A Field Mowing

Here are my ruffled white peonies open. They are my favorites because of their beauty and because they don't droop since the heads are so light. They close up on cloudy days and at night to protect their delicate blossoms. Peony season is the best, isn't it?

My friend with a tractor showed up unannounced late yesterday afternoon to mow my field and he ended up mowing my lawn too. Everything will green up and be uniform in no time. I didn't come inside again until almost eight o'clock when I took this photo. I still have to do some handwork here and there and I had to use my leaf blower in the front but that was fun. I am so glad to have this task behind me to maintain my field so trees don't grow back there. An unmowed field will become a forest in no time. 

I took this photo today at noon so show how nice my front lawn and garden are looking.

Today, it feels more like fall with an overcast sky and 63° at ten o'clock on Sunday morning with rain coming tomorrow. Tuesday will be filled with nothing but sunshine though and that makes me happy. Enjoy your Sunday. xo

1920s Six Room Colonial + Floor Plans

This wonderful colonial home from the 1920 is still very timely today. Photographed from a wonderful book "500 Small Houses of the Twenties" compiled by Henry Atterbury Smith. This was a surprise gift from my friend JudyMac and I couldn't love it more. I love looking at homes from this period and will share my favorites from time to time. Thanks, Judy! xo

Click photo to enlarge.