Thanksgiving

The turkey is in the oven.

All the sides are prepared as far as they can be.

Keeping it simple this year (Demanding puppy on hands, remember?),

only the traditional must-haves.

Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet potato-marshmallow casserole,

corn, cranberries, rolls and butter, apple cider and wine.

Pecan pie and cherry pie with vanilla ice cream.

Did I forget anything?

Oh, gosh, I'm making myself nervous.

Did I?

Doesn't seem like much this year.

The table is set.

We are thankful for most everything.

And, it's 5 o'clock somewhere.

Which means...

It's about time for a much appropriate Cape Codder.

2 oz vodka

4 oz cranberry juice

splash of lime

lots of ice

Finished it off with a slice of lime and cranberries on a rosemary sprig.

(My, those cranberries look more like kalamata olives, but they are not!)

Cheers and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Lovely Lavender

The lavender is blooming right now, and I can't get enough of it.

I pick a branch every now and then just to smell it.

Today I made some sugar cookies.

Topped the sugar cookies with lemon icing.

Topped the icing with some lavender flowers.

What do you do with your lavender?

Very strawberry

On my way to get groceries this afternoon, I spotted the OPEN flag at Shelburne Farm. I had time to pick a few strawberries before getting my groceries, so I pulled in.

This is what the strawberry plants looked like last time I visited.

"Just a couple of weeks now", the owner had told me. Back then, that was hard to believe, but she was right. A couple of weeks was all it took.

The farm was fairly empty. Not many people are yet aware that they are open.

But the strawberry field was not empty. Lots of big beautiful red berries were waiting for me in the straw.

Here are the only other customers. A mom with her three girls. The mom literally had to pull the youngest from the field when they were leaving. The little girl couldn't get enough of the juicy, super-sweet strawberries.

Ever wonder why they are called straw-berries? I've heard three different versions.

1. Farmers use straw to protect the berries from the dirt
2. Children used to take a straw to thread the berries on them and sell them as "straws of berries."
3. The berries are "strewn" about on the plant, and the word strewn eventually turned in to straw.

In Sweden they are called "jordgubbar" which means soil- or dirt- berries. Not quite as romantic.

This rusty tractor has seen its best days. I think it's pretty handsome though.

My little basked of freshly picked strawberries.

At home, I mixed fresh strawberries, lemonade and ice in my blender to make a cool refreshing drink for my kids as they got off the hot school bus.

For me, a splash of Tequila was added. After all, it was Friday afternoon and it was five O'clock somewhere. Yummy start to the weekend with lot's of vitamin C!