love bugs of June

Tennessee wedding, Kentucky heart

April showers bring May weddings...

and delicate proposals on wood.  Personal contact information for the host has been protected by a privacy fence made of digital blur, but in real life the information is present.

4 wheel drive drive drive drive

We are going to the Monster Jam truck show next weekend.   Really I should be printing (and I am!) but still have to take a break and do something different and get some inspiration every once in a while.  And while we aren't big car people (or anti-car people for that matter), yesterday we went to an auto show.  No compelling reason, really, it just was one of those things we never do, never think of doing so probably might not be a bad idea to do and see what it is all about.  And one of my favorite things to do is to hide out in a car or truck as if it were a fort you built with your parents good sheets in the living room when they weren't paying attention.  And that is exactly what it was like except the cars were a bit swankier than what we are used to!

(photo from the funny icanhascheeseburger.com) 

We have two vehicles, one is an inefficient compact truck sitting on a farm across the country holding hay and kittens I am sure (and happy about!) and the other lives here with us.  We don't use our KTV (stands for Kevin Transport Vehicle as it was my brother-in-laws back in the day) often unless all five of us are going someplace together, in which case all the kids do a domino act when the back doors close.

It was impressive seeing how incredibly busy the auto show was with thousands of people.  We might have been the only ones that consistently entered each vehicle through the rear hatch or trunk if there were one of those nifty luggage doors which I have never really understood the point of aside from letting me and and my kids have too much fun pretending we are in a gymnasium on wheels.    

Whoa Nelly! Slow down there!

Its been a busy month filled with lots of snow and things on ice.  Today felt like a perfect snapshot of an industrial, gray winter day so I decided to find some flowers.  The first ones I have seen in reality this year, in fact.  Looking at the buckets and buckets of gerber daisies, calla lillies, ferns and irises, felt a bit like a very lucid and water-laden prismacolor display.  Not quite ready for spring, I picked up some deep purple proteas, white tea roses, and some eucalyptus with mauvish-like berries.   It was a nice addition to our home, particularly in the afternoon winter light.  Hard to believe that February is moments away.  So this afternoon, for the first time in quite a while, I went the pace that the day called for- slowly, slowly, slowly with the company of roses, three little voices, and an early evening glass of wine.  Excited to commence the hunt for more botanical visual elixirs, like the one above, and enjoy the last of winter next month.

hello and goodbye chicken little

Chicken, chicken, who's got the chicken?

Well it was fun.  New addition to my butcher buddies and he is FOWL.

Enjoy!

etsy shop is open!

It was such a pleasure meeting so many at the I Made It! Holiday Market, I hope you had as much fun as I did! My only regret was not being able to peruse the aisles a bit more as it was wonderfully busy. But for all of you that I didn't see, my etsy shop is now open!  Link to it HERE.  Here are some photos from the market:

you could go with this ... or you could go with that

(image from the Arkansas Plainclothesman blog link here!)

We over here at clothespeg press love to eat year-round.  In fact trying new provisions and libations often form the itineraries of rare trips, schedules of a ho-hum day, and sometimes impromptu pickings in the kitchen when really, we should be in bed.  And while sometimes our tastes go against the wills of our wallets, often times what we hunger for is something simple but maybe tried in a new way.  There are times when we talk for MONTHS about getting an heirloom turkey for Thanksgiving (MONTHS because you need to save for one of those and I imagine it is very worth the austerity efforts) but a little over a week ago my husband took a trip to the barbershop and, well, our plans changed.  Good thing we didn't put an RSVP or a down payment on that heirloom bird after all.  

The barber, an eloquent and intriguing Italian gentleman, took a respite from dappering up my husband to have an enthusiastic conversation with his wife of when exactly to pick up the capon and how best to go about making its final preparations.  A capon... hmm... now I am particularly interested.  It sounds familiar as I am sure one of the history of food books we have at home has a chapter or two devoted to it, so why have we not pursued this as a dinner option before?  You can click on the Plainclothesman's link to learn a bit more about this bird formerly known as rooster.  

(image above from the McGill digital library)

Since we are traveling to visit long-ago seen family members and are all recovering from bouts of various seasonal ailments, this year we are going to have a post-Thanksgiving celebration complete with a Capon, Lithuanian Bacon Buns (with Peruvian potatoes and French thyme - our palates know no political prisoners), filberts (hazelnuts) from the Pacific North West, apples from PA, and I would guess that my husband will throw in a perogie or two in the sides of stuffing that probably are made from Swedish Rye Bread.  And if my parental units were in town, I am warmly positive that we would have shrimp or maybe even alligator, too.  

Here's to good food - newly tried or true- good company, health and wonderfully informative barbers!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone