The Season of Wonder and Winter Hygge

Freezing rain

Ice and snow

Bitter winds

Winter woe

But in the depths

The flowers grow.

~ Joyce Monachina ( my mom)

We have been in a cold snap here in the Berkshires.  Today we are preparing for a Nor’easter.  I am tucked in and cozy, with the heat turned up, candles going, soothing music in the background and a pot of soup on the stove.  Tonight we will forgo the fireplace because the night-time temps are expected to be below zero… but that may not stop us if we need the extra hyggeligt to sooth our souls.  I have new book, netflix, and the most comfortable bed, so that may just do it.

I have been thinking about ritual and tradition lately. Trying to mindful of living in the moment.  I love the feeling of being in the flow of life. For me nature provides me an awe inspiring presence. Winter still being in the early stages, is truly magnificent, and the shadows, light and darkness combinations really do take my breath away.

Fresh pines are such a delightful Christmas tradition.  The simplicity and absolutely gorgeous look are so comforting for the winter soul.  It is really so amazing that this ancient ritual, and tradition of gathering pines for Christmas decor still manages to make our hearts sing year after year!

“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!”
–Thomas Wentworth Higginson

When it comes to holiday decor, inside and outside, there was a time I was a bit over the top. Now I let nature and simplicity be my guide. I no longer like to compete with the magic of simplicity.

Simple traditions ~ nothing new about this little homemade potpourri, but it still manages to say wow!

A new twist for our traditional tree this year ~ a concolor fir. It has a citrus scent. I am very fond of this tiny tree, and may keep it up for a while.

My sister Kaye gave me this simple butternut squash trick. You pierce the whole squash a few times and then bake in a 375 degree oven for about an hour or so. And get this – if you forget about it, no worries it doesn’t matter. Then you just scoop it out and it is even better than roasted.

So far I have made butternut squash soup with some other unknown squash we got from the farmers market, and this butternut squash “mock frittata.”  Such comfort food. My new tradition. Simplicity at it’s best.

Another new twist to “bites” this year has been charcuterie boards. My vegan version was a big hit on Christmas Eve, our holiday family party. I had a big board out in place of all other hor dourves. It was filled with delicious faux gourmet sausages, nut cheeses, olives, some roasted veggies and dips, bread and crackers. New Years Eve for my little party of four, I made it again – here is the mini version. One of my new traditions here. I am having a friend over tomorrow night, and in this winter wonderland storm, I thought I would serve another version of this board with soup. I had this amazing shiitake bacon on both boards and it was one of everyones favorites! Pop over to my facebook page for the recipe.

The absolute highlight of the Holiday Season was this beautiful girl coming home from California for eleven days! We just saw her in November, but that doesn’t even count, when it is your favorite person in the whole world! She was the greatest blessing for our broken hearts. The day before she arrived, we had to say goodbye to our little lover, Max.  The greatest comfort for our heartache, and the greatest joy of the season ~ we will forever be grateful for the divine timing of her visit.

Here she is with our little Margot. The dynamic duo!

Below, our beloved Max, aka, our “little bubba.” Our grateful hearts are filled with amazing memories of this sweet little soul, who filled our home with humor, joy and LOVE.  Here he is with a good cigar, and just as cute as he can be.  Cheers to one of the greatest lovers ever!

 August 2, ’02 ~ December 22, ’17

I feel about my dogs now, and all the dogs I had prior to this, the way I feel about children — they are that important to me. When I have lost a dog, I have gone into a mourning period that lasted for months.  Mary Tyler Moore

Thank you for coming by my blog today. May your new year be filled with many blessings and lots of love.

Happy Spring!

Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way. – Dr. Seuss

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Yay! Spring has arrived. Although it has been a bit cold, it still has beautiful signs of new life everywhere you look. The grass is green, the gardens are popping up, and we have things to do before the official gardening season begins!

In my last blog we wrote about our daughter moving to California. How did we adjust to our empty nest? We kept busy, did some home projects, and went on some vigorous hikes and long walks.  We also ate out a lot!

Our guests always ask us where to eat, and what our favorite restaurants are.  One of our favorites is Elizabeth’s in Pittsfield, about twenty minutes away. It’s a casual place with an incredible menu. We almost always get the same thing, Eggplant Provencal. We are usually full before the main dish because they serve a huge family style salad, and Berkshire Mountain Bakery Bread!  After our dinner at Elizabeths, for about a week or longer, we eat our version of their salad and bread!

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A salad for two! After all we have to make up for all of that eating out. And the bread! Berkshire Mountain Bakery is located in Housatonic, about 20 minutes away. It is our very favorite bread, and extremely healthy. Flour, water and salt. That is what real bread is, and it is our favorite. In the photo above, I tried to recreate the hummus the owner brought to our table. It was chunky and very light, with chopped tomatoes. He said it was a staple in his house growing up. Delicious.

Fun is good. Dr. Seuss

Another favorite restaurant we both love, is the Starving Artist Creperie. Just two blocks from our house. We order numerous things off their menu. One of my favorites, when we are on a salad kick, is their Vital Vegan Salad. So we come home and recreate that too. They aren’t open for dinner, and sometimes you just need that salad at dinner! We also love the owner and the staff.

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Salad for two again! Wow. I bet you think we live on salad alone – no we do not!

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Tuscan Mashed Chickpeas on grilled bread.

This is a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa. Pop over to my facebook page for the recipe. Of course, we use Berkshire Mountain Bakery bread for this too. See why we eat so much salad!

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. – Dr. Seuss

We also did some home reno projects. And, after recently becoming addicted to HGTV, Fixer Upper,  we felt like Chip and JoAnna Gaines while we were doing it! Here is a peak at some of our projects:

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Jeff made this table out of repurposed wood with pipe legs. Very Fixer Upper! And perfect for my kitchen. He was not overly excited about the pipe legs, but then he got a kick out of putting them together.

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Our next project was new wallpaper in the dining room hallway. I fell for this last year when we started this re-do the whole house project. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and even though the wall paper in that are was still cute – this had to be done. I’m in love with it. As you all know I am mad, crazy and wild about blue and white. This chinoiserie paper goes perfect with my entire house! 

We did some other projects too, and I still have a list, but the highlight of spring so far…is not to be missed!

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We went to San Diego to see our girl! She has been gone three full months. She has an adorable apartment, and a new job. She guided us around like she had lived there for much longer. We had the time of our lives! While we were there, we saw our beautiful niece Kate. She drove down from Los Angeles.  She is living a very successful, and ambitious life. Her career is in the business world. We loved catching up. We had a hard time leaving these amazing young women.

It’s moments together that change us forever. Dr Seuss

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Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.  Dr. Seuss

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Thank you for coming by my blog today ~ I hope you come back soon.

p.s. While were visiting Julia, we went to La Jolla where she is now working in a Gallery.  We visited the Legends Gallery, aka The Dr. Seuss Gallery. A highlight of our trip, hence the Dr. Seuss vibe of this post.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. Dr. Seuss.