Saturday Meanderings
Happy Saturday and I hope you are enjoying the fall season. Our morning and evening weather is slightly shifting to cooler temperatures. Last weekend we went to the mountains where we had actual crisp sweater weather. The social season is starting up again here in Phoenix, and we are looking forward to entertaining again. It’s that time again for Saturday Meanderings where we recap all good things this week. Grab your favorite beverage and let’s get started!
Cute Fall Hostess Gifts
There is something romantic about a wax seal on an envelope or using it here, affixing paper oak leaves to the top of a candle. By simply tracing a real oak leaf, I made these sweet notes out of decorative paper.
If you don’t have a wax seal, please do get one as it feels oh so very civilized. They are affordable and you can choose wax colors and your stamp design here. If you are a Target shopper, there are such good candle selections from Threshold (Studio McGee). Check out this 14.5. oz. Harvest Apple and Leaves candle for $15.00. Personally I like the wooden lid to affix the leaf.
The perfect hostess gift.
Ever attend a Webinar?
I’m probably sounding like a dinosaur here, but I really prefer meeting people in person or attending real classes. However, this week I signed up for a webinar through the University of Virginia (my son graduated from there in 2018) for a 45 minute class entitled Behind the Scenes – Sketch a Fall Leaf with Botanical Artist Lara Gastinger. A webinar is an online seminar that turns a presentation into a real-time conversation from anywhere in the world
Lara keeps a perpetual journal that she uses to sketch plants everywhere she goes. Rather impressive and I can say it was nice to sit still for nearly an hour and focus on the structure, design and color of one leaf. I did get to draw along, however, I did not have a micron pen (which Lara uses) only a sketch pencil.
Here are my notes and my simple sketch. Anyway, it is a good way to learn something new.
Virtual Vacation
My husband and I didn’t do much traveling this summer as we spent lots of time at home with our dog, Cooper. Typically our summers are filled with travel destinations and I long and dream to go somewhere. I follow artist, Jeanne Oliver and she has been exploring Italy for the past 9 years. Just reading her post, An Artist in Bellagio, transports you to the beauty of Lake Como in Italy.
You will feel as if you are on vacation as her posts are filled with travel sites, restaurants, activities and nature. Jeanne also has other artist series in Florence, Tuscany, Marrakech, Lombardy, Oaxaca, and Lisbon. If you need a mental vacation, check it out here.
Autumn Play List
There is never enough music in my life. The music system we put into the house 20 years ago, is non-functioning and I miss listening to music while cooking in the kitchen. I need to plug my phone into a good set of small speakers, but I just haven’t done that yet. However, I may be inspired to do so.
Jen, from Simple Modest Mom recently assembled an Autumn Playlist, which she states is perfect to play on a cool autumn day. You can find it here. I haven’t sampled it yet, but if it is not your taste, you can search the web and find several other genres.
Visit to the Pumpkin Patch
I get a little giddy going to Willis Family Farm in Snowflake, Arizona. It was opening weekend and we (my husband , Scott and my friend, Tevia) bought 340 pounds of pumpkins! The trunk is full with all sizes, shapes and colors. I cannot wait to finish my fall decorating.
Doesn’t this look Good?
The Autumn issue of Chic & Country magazine is now available. Not only are all the home pictures gorgeous, but the recipes they are featuring this month look so yummy. I may try out this Hazelnut Cake with Pears and Grapes. However, one of the ingredients is 2 glasses of milk. What? How much is that? American sized glasses? Does anyone have any idea? Plus one of the ingredients is Maria cookies? On second thought, maybe it is just best to look at the picture.
Fun Story
With so much bad news out there, it is a delight to come across a good story with a happy ending.
Andrea Scholten of St. Albans, Maine, and her family packed up their pop-up camper late last month and set off on a road trip to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for an airshow event.
Little did they know their cat, Delilah, had invited herself along for the ride.
After driving about 900 miles from home to Toledo, Ohio, the family discovered the stowaway in the camper.
Scholten suspected Delilah had sneaked into the camper when they were packing it that morning.
“The plan so far is to see how she does as a camper cat. If she doesn’t do well, we’ll have to find a kennel,” she wrote in a Facebook post at the time.
As it turned out, Delilah was well-suited to both camping and fame. Scholten’s Facebook posts attracted lots of attention, especially after arriving at their destination. Delilah quickly became an Oshkosh sensation, making multiple local news headlines and getting traction under her own hashtag, #stowawayoshkoshcat.
On that note, I will wish you a wonderful weekend…and it is already October! Oh my what even happened to September?!?
Just a reminder that any words that are italicized bring you to the source. If it is a product on Amazon, please note that I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you purchase something through my website, I receive a small (very small!) stipend, which doesn’t affect the price you pay at all. My goal is to make sourcing the items easy for you. Thank you for your continued support.
Delilah’s story reminded me of my neighbor’s kitten. My neighbor frequently drives between her farm in middle Georgia to her weekend beach house here on St. Simons Island. It is major highway driving and takes a few hours. Once, the day after arriving one of her very tiny farm kittens was found safe meowing under the car. We are pretty sure that the kitten did the trip in one of the wheel wells. His name is Lucky and is now an adopted island cat.
Kitty, what an amazing story! I can only envision that poor little kitten clinging to dear life in the wheel well. Lucky is the perfect name for him. Thank you for sharing!
Mary,
Thanks for sharing today! I’m subscribing to Chic and Country. Love the photography!
Rachel, the magazine is only virtual, but I so love looking at all the gorgeous photos.
Maria cookies are sold in the supermarket cookie isles all over Miami, but maybe in Arizona they are not very common. I think they originally came from Spain, but us Cubans eat them with cafe con leche (steamed milk and espresso coffee). They are sold at Amazon (what don’t they sell) and the Goya brand is very good. They can go stale really fast, so I don’t know how fresh they would come from Amazon. That hazelnut cake looks so delicious and moist, you should try it out and tell the rest of us how it is!!
Elena, thank you so much for the info about Maria cookies. I did order them from Amazon and they will arrive Sunday..any leftovers will be consumed with cafe con leche~love that! I think at this point I will assume that 2 glasses of milk equals 2 cups? Should be an interesting recipe!