A Gray Winter's Day - Time to Make Jam

January is usually the month that Seville oranges arrive in local markets and the month 2 years ago that Irv and I traveled to England to learn how to make real British marmalade.  Today we went to Whole Foods to see if they had Sevilles since I want to try and make the Seville Orange Black Pepper Jelly we also made 2 years ago.  Nothing.  The produce guy said they had some but they can't keep them on the shelves they get sold so fast. What?  When did all these Princetonians start making marmalade?  Now I'm on a freaking waiting list to get called when they come in.  Crazy!

So I went home and made a mixed berry jam using some blackberries I had picked in our garden over the summer with some strawberries and raspberries.

The house smelled like summer.  They came out great.  

In the meantime, Nancy has been working on a design for our Hopewell Valley 'Ox' that is due next week to the selection Committee.  Here is a sneak preview - 

Now I have to capture in writing the 'essence' of the design - Summertime in the Hopewell Valley??  Maybe the smell of berry jam will get me inspired.....

Vintage Rhode Island

It being a cold and blustery day, we of course decided to try and walk the beach.  It was so cold we all turned around and headed for the warm car and some Rhode Island seafood.  We stopped and I was able to take a picture of Watch Hill (and Taylor Swift's house on the point).  This picture looks like the vintage postcard I bought of Newport yesterday.

We decided to explore a bit and drive around Narragansett, Galilee and Point Judith and came upon a number of New Year's Day 'Penguin Plunges' happening on various beaches.  It was so cold you wonder how they do it.  We stopped near the Block Island Ferry terminal for a great  ( and very large) fish lunch and a local 'Gansett

Love this logo.

Nancy motors back to NJ tomorrow and we hope she beats the snow storm.  Happy New Year!

Happy New Year and Welcome 2014!

We have been spending the week in CT with family and friends visiting around the clock.  So much food,  Thank goodness we got a chance to walk the Barn Island trails behind the house.  We discovered an old family cemetery (the Burdick family) at the end of our road with grave stones dating from the late 1700's to mid-to-late 1800's.  Research on the web says it is haunted so we will never be alone!  

Yesterday we trekked to Newport (only an hour away) to stroll through town and visit the mansions.  Nancy, Abby and I visited The Breakers, but we were not allowed to take photos inside.  A great day to visit as there were few tourists.

  

Today we are going to visit some of the RI beaches (it's cold out but may be some good strolling).  Maybe we will run into a lobster.

Opening of Filling Station Studios

It's official.  My friend and studio partner Nancy Stark and I took the plunge this month and opened a small art studio - Filling Station Studios - which will also be the base for The Red Pantry (which will feature vintage cookware, cookbooks and garden decor such as my handpainted  birdhouses).  It is by all means a labor of love and a work in progress but we are excited about experimenting and sorting it all out this coming year.  

Nancy is in the process of designing a logo (and painting!) while I work on our business cards, event postcards, mailing list, Twitter accounts (@FillingStudios, @RedPantry) and Facebook page.  Eventually we hope to launch a website in January and begin to have events such as pop up supper club dinners and paint workshops.  Our plans are to open up the studio to the public one weekend a month to sell our artwork, furniture and Red Pantry collection.  

And of course to display 'the Ox'....more about that later!

Please email me at fillingstationstudios@verizon.net if you want to get email notices about openings and events (or follow us on Twitter).

Let it Snow

This weekend Irv is solo in CT eating hot dogs by the fire, reading Zane Grey, and cursing Ikea once again as he puts a bedframe together.  

Irv sends me a picture of his Friday evening while I send him a picture of mine out in Lambertville with my friend Nancy.

Nancy and I are celebrating what I hope (snow and ice permitting) is the open house of our joint art studio venture we call 'Filling Station Studios' which is located in a gas station in Hopewell NJ.  Nancy will be painting and selling her art, furniture and signs...

...while I run shotgun making and selling my birdhouses and perhaps some vintage cookware and books from my 'red pantry' collection.

If you venture into Hopewell, come visit us (corner of Maple Ave and Route 518). If we get snowed out we will have a (re) open house on Sat Dec 21

Propane at last, Propane at last, Thank God Almighty Heat that Lasts

FINALLY we can (somewhat) stop worrying now that we have propane and heat.  I never thought this would be so stressful.  Over the holiday week Irv and I managed to finish the painting and trim work in the library.  Now onto killing all the mice that seem to be eating the soap in our bathroom!

After Thanksgiving Irv and I decided to treat ourselves by visiting Mystic Seaport on a rainy Sunday morning.  At one gallery we were greeted and then led through the rooms by a very eager and over exuberant museum guide who talked to us about virtually every item and asked us questions and waited for the answers (one question when looking at a chinese robe brought back to the US by a sea captain "Do you know how Chinese Warriors got to battle?" Wait for it pause...um, by horse?  Yes!  Score!). I told her I wasn't expecting a pop quiz this morning.  The comment did not faze her as she continued to educate and quiz us.  Thank goodness we got most of them right! She later told us she was a retired 3rd grade teacher.  No surprise there.  At one ship model, she said "What do you see painted on the sides?"  "Cherubs?", I said.  "Nudes!!", she said.  I bet she doesn't point that out to 3rd graders!

By the end of the rainy day, Lewis enjoyed sleeping by the fire in a bean bag chair.  Lucky boy.

Crazy Weather

I have just boarded the train in Westerly on my way to Trenton.  I got the only seat left and because it is pouring rain I am sitting in the 'drip' seat where water is dripping on my arm like a water torture.  Lucky me.  If I hold my arm behind me it drips on the seat but I don't think I can hold that position for 4 hours!

Nancy and her daughter Abby came up to CT this weekend.  We found a fabulous cider mill where they press cider using a steam engine.

Then we went to lunch in Noank at an old general store that has a 1950's ice cream counter where Abby ordered a strawberry milkshake done the old fashioned way with just ice cream and milk.

After everyone left on Monday I was able to crank up the radio with some serious rock and roll.  I finished painting the room Irv calls the library.  Thank goodness Nancy was here on Monday to help us put together 2 Ikea bookcases-I don't ever want to do that again.  Bad Hemnes!  

In the end, though, the room (and my newly painted shabby chic mantle) look good.