On a quiet Saturday

These lovely cooler days of lately have me spinning 'round...  

Dancing in the garden...  

following mysterious black cats around... 

Have you noticed the shifting taking place in Nature?  

I love how the woods surrounding our little white cottage have started to change its colors

How lovely and precious these subtle changes are to me...  

I have been harvesting herbs and vegetables from the beds too...  

The pepper patch is having a fresh wave again.

I saved some time this week to freeze and preserve fresh herbs in olive oil...

Do you use your freezer to preserve herbs, vegetables, or fruit?

I freeze a lot of things for my juices and cooking...

...peeled garlic, fresh strawberries and pineapples, kale and spinach. 

It was also time to prepare my "sofrito".  Chop all your vegetables and herbs up a bit and toss everything in the blender or food processor. Then spoon the mixture out into ice cube trays, add olive oil and freeze. 

In our little white cottage 'sofrito' goes into everything: black beans, pinto beans, soups, 'pollo con papas', poached chicken breasts and rices. If it's heated, you put some sofrito in it!  Yum!

Preserving herbs in oil reduces some of the browning and freezer burn that herbs can get in the freezer.  It's also a great way to have herbs ready immediately for winter stews, roasts, soups, and potato dishes. These dishes usually call for oil to start with, and so you can take a cube of frozen oil out of the freezer and use this as the base of your dishes. Cook the onions and garlic in this herb-infused oil and let the taste of herbs spread through your whole dish.

I've been bringing a lot of roses and wildflowers inside these days...

I have always admired those bloggers and home makers out there who always seem to have fresh market roses and flowers of any kind on display... how do they manage to do this?  Market roses can be costly, and add to the expense if purchased on a weekly base... can you imagine?  

I cannot express enough how rewarding it is to be able to embellish your home with the products of one's own efforts and dedication and love of Nature...  flowers straight from your very own garden!  What can be better than that!

Of course, it helps a lot too, the amazing amount of wildflowers we get around here all year around. There's always something beautiful growing.  

I feel fortunate to be able to have cost-free fresh flowers most of the year to embellishing our little white cottage with.  Right now, even the herbs are putting out flowers... so I bring them in too! ;)

 Well my friend, hope you all have a lovely day today....

I am waiting for some very special people to arrive at our little white cottage
any minute now...
The fairies are all excited!
More soon!

Autumn magic

Oh, do forgive me for peeking in again so soon, would you?  I cannot keep away for too long...  you see, days are so precious, mornings so sweet, and the sun shines so purely and lovely that I just had to come back here and share it all with you! 

The foliage has been losing its freshness, and one can find a golden leaf here, a crimson one there... the exuberant summer colors has faded from the borders and the last roses have found a bed in rainbow-tints of beauty all over the garden.  My soul sings...

The garden has started to go into its rests.... 

it rests, awaiting for the enchantment of days to come.  

It awaits for showers of crimsoned, toasted autumnal jewels 

and wind blowing through giant leaves... 

and glows of lamps through windows in the early morning... 

I'm sure the wood fairies must love it too... I mean, the glows of lamps on windows in the early morning...  

And I can attest to that because I have seen them do so... ah yes, right at the first light of day, that's when fairies would usually come out of the woods and approach to take a peek inside. Must be the magic of golden glow of lamps what attract them, I'm sure...  You see, the ability to perceive fairies, is easier than one might think...  

Wispy fairy like vines are putting on flowers... 

Hummingbirds and butterflies love them too!

Oh, listen, little Dear-My-Soul to the fairy voices calling, for the moon is high in the misty sky and the honey dew is falling; To the midnight feast in the clover bloom the bluebells are a-ringing, and it's come away to the land of fay, that the katydid is singing. - Eugene Field

A hundred years or more from now, I will be still loving autumnal days... a thought that keeps me wonder if perhaps that's why another a hundred years or more ago I was brought onto this earth on a particularly lovely October day.  Yes, another birthday coming up this Sunday oh my! ;)

I'd have to blame these lovely autumnal days for all the magic swirling in me and about me... ah autumn, a magic beyond all we do here!  Are you an Autumnal gal too?

Autumn calls for some imagination... and I'm so ready to dream!  Would you come with me into the magical woods beyond the gardens and see what dreams and magical adventures await for us there? Well, what are you waiting for... come on! 

See you soon darlings!

To the sea and back

“It was a shore that knew the magic and mystery of storm and star. There is a great solitude about such a shore"...

"The sea is a mighty soul, forever moaning of some great, unshareable sorrow, which shuts it up into itself for all eternity…"

"The woods call to us with a hundred voices, but the sea has one only—a mighty voice that drowns our souls in its majestic music..."

We live on a blue planet that circles around a ball of fire next to a moon that moves the sea, and you don't believe in miracles?

"The woods are human, but the sea is of the company of the archangels..."

The sea... it is always yearning, sighing for something it cannot have...

Do you belong to the sea?

We had such a wonderful unforgettable amazing time...  sweet company, awesome buffets, amazing service, extraordinarily serviceable people from all over the world, awesome programs, dancing to reggae music, learning how to cha-cha, miraculous sunrises and sunsets, perfect beaches, crazy hair braids, huge iguanas, ancient Mayan ruins, lunch at the beach, formal dining, dress up nights, Cozumel, Mexico, Belize City, Roatan, Honduras, Kriol, Mestizo, Garifuna and Maya influences... dear husband, dear children, my sweet, precious darling light of my heart girlies, all of us together, what more could one ask for?  My heart is full... full of gratitude and thankfulness and so so thankful to be back at our darling little white cottage, where fall has beginning to gently settle in, and where roses are fading away in sweet amalgamations of subdued beautiful colors... trees acquiring gentle hues as the woods whisper a new hushed song... I love it all, and I'm so in love with life and with my surroundings and to be able to enjoy everything at every moment of day... what a blessing this is.  

Thank you to all of you my dear readers who inquired about our safety at sea, and who missed me here as much as I have missed you!  Love you all!  

In the garden and at sea!

There’s a delicious nippiness hanging from the fingertips of mornings...



And the skies posses that magical crispy blue-pink tint to it that 

makes you believe you're walking on a fairytale.

The field around the woods
have come alive again...
I'm collecting some its jewels
to adorn my soul with them...

Completely, perfectly, incandescently happy!

These are the kind of days that imbue your soul with dreams and hopes 

and everything that's good...

Peace in your soul

Moonlight on your window...

And then, in the garden, the air smells like sugar cane 

and it is sweet with the faint scents of vanilla fragrance 

wafting from wild honeysuckle 

and butterfly bushes.  

Wispy fairy-like butterflies are everywhere

Magical jewels of the garden

To adorn my soul with...

Large yellow and black bees hanging around

Rose bushes blooming like crazy

Still unbelievable beautiful at this time of year! 

 

The pond is looking prettier than ever...

My heart is humbled... 

Do you believe your dreams can come true? 

Believe believe, always believe!...

Roses more beautiful that ever...

Can you believe this~

Petal-filled magical corridors!

I'm I dreaming?  

I can't believe this is the same place of  just a year ago!..
I'm sure if I pay close attention I can see the wood fairies
making lovely head garlands with all those petals...

Seasons mingling...
crimson radiance bursting through.

The mingling of seasons, the tango between summer and autumn...

Look around you, open your eyes—really open them. 

Life is fleeting; pay attention to your surroundings and love every minute of it.

I know this is a long post with lots of photographs, but I wanted to leave you plenty of inspiration around in case you'd want to come back whilst I am away... Yes yes, I am going away for a few days on a cruise!! For an entire week, in fact! Can you imagine a week at sea without being able to visit Pinterest! Unbearable! I've never been on one of those humongous ships in my entire life and I'm a bit antsy about it... First, I won't think I'm not standing on land, of course... and then, I know for a fact that I won't be using the pools, hot tubs and water slides. Neither will I visit the roller blade track, ice skating rink, no rock climbing wall or basketball/volleyball/tennis court for me, no pool tables, game room, etc... Boy what I bore I am! Do you think there may be a Japanese garden somewhere in that ship where I can go read and write and talk to the birds? OK darlings, wish me luck would you! ;) We're leaving on Sunday.... see you all soon!