Time out from all that cleaning and grocery shopping! Let’s get to the good stuff, the decorating! ♥ When I was young I would pour over my decorating magazines gleaning every teeny scrap of inspiration about homemaking and decorating. Of course nothing has changed; I still do it.♥
(But we need music for the rest of this story, don’t we . . . us dreamers? Yes, we do, click there, and come right back.)
There was nothing I loved more than going to a restaurant by myself, taking my newest issue of Country Living Magazine, finding a cozy table, and ordering lunch. I would lay my knife across the pages to hold them flat, and slowly go through the whole magazine, absorbed, lost in dreamland, reading every bit of it, while stuffing my face with a BLT, or dipping French Fries in tartar sauce.
My favorite 
restaurant had a tall open fireplace and old, scruffy wooden floors. Snowy afternoons in front of the popping fire were the best. From the silver-rimmed windows that ran across the harbor-side of the room, I could see the ferry coming into view through the snow and mist and the choppy grey sea. Because it was winter and freezing outside, I would often have the whole restaurant to myself. I would wrap my green-plaid shawl around my shoulders and burrow in for an afternoon of uninterrupted home-born happiness. ♥
The magazines were full of crochet-edged pillow cases, rose-covered picket fences, old hutches with tea cups hanging in a row over baskets filled with apples, and snowy scenes streaming in from what I called “cris-cross” windows. I dreamed of old stoves and homemade noodles; I learned to tie up fresh herbs and hang them to dry and polish brass candlesticks; I would go home, inspired to try a new recipe, embroider a dishtowel, make curtains, stencil my walls.
There seemed to be a lot more rules about decorating in those days, and one of them was that it was gauche to use faux flowers or fruit. That’s over now, anything goes, it’s all mix and match, and I’m so happy to finally admit, I love fake fruit!
I love my little faux lady apples in the tiny Longaberger basket, on my miniature chair in the little scene on my stove shelf! I love the little red pear in the Love creamer my girlfriend Rachel gave me (she’s coming from England for Thanksgiving!), and I love that perfectly wonderful fake little pumpkin!
Over the years I’ve collected fake fruits in pottery, paper, clay, glass, wood, wax, and marble, whenever I run into one, which isn’t that often.
There’s a lot of good things I can say about fake fruit, first off, it doesn’t rot! It doesn’t attract fruit flies; it’s not expensive, and you only pay for it once; and if you get tired of it, you put it away in a bag until you want it again. A bowl or basketful livens up a dark corner. . . (I just found out, we have a few boxes of pears and crabapples left in our web store, if you need some!)
. . . adding a bit color and whimsy.
It’s fun to mix fresh and fake . . . the pinecones, the little pumpkin, and the sweet-smelling tangerine poked with cloves are real; the rest isn’t.
This marble apple had a hole in the top. I went out to the driveway and found this little stick, so now the apple has a stem. Mixed media.
This miniature mixing bowl is going to be part of our Thanksgiving tablescape. And my fakery does not stop at fruit . . . oh noooooo . . .
I like fake birds too, on a fake tree! This is my favorite holiday decoration — I started putting this on our kitchen table during the holidays about ten years ago. Jack the kitten helped me put it up yesterday.
Here it is several years ago, when my sister Shelly lived on the island and had her little Lovebird “Grace” here with her. Gracie gave the tree some serious je ne sais quoi. ♥
I’ve collected birds forever, some of paper, some with feathers (Jack particularly likes the ones with feathers). One day, I went around the house gathering all my birds from their perches, from book shelves and bedside tables and when I saw them all together, I realized I had enough for a tree full! My Bird Tree was born. ♥
While decorating for Thanksgiving, I’m also planning ahead, so that the Christmas decor will slide right in as the Thanksgiving guests go out the door!
And speaking of decorating and speaking of kitties: Girl Kitty has been very helpful; jumped right up to help me put on the Thanksgiving tablecloth. Such a big help! BTW, Girl and Jack touched noses for the first time this morning.♥
But mostly, when he isn’t knocking jars full of paintbrushes and pens off my desk, or climbing up Joe’s pantleg, Jack’s playing with his ball!
One last thing: here’s one reason I love REAL fruit, in particular, the delicious juiciness, beauty and versatility of a red pear. If you need a little color for your Thanksgiving dinner, ripe red pears are perfect! Top any green salad with chopped up red pears; or make a sparkly fruit salad with them: Mix together chopped red pears, pomegranate seeds, green grapes, thin slices of red onion, sheepmilk feta cheese (or blue cheese crumbles), and a sprinkle of walnuts or toasted pecans. Make an orange dressing from 3/4 c. fresh orange juice, 1 Tbsp. orange juice concentrate, and 1 Tbsp. orange zest — simmer together and reduce to 1/2 c. Chill and pour over cold fruit. Serve ice cold.
Or have pears for a healthy breakfast; chop them and put them in a bowl along with blueberries, over creamy plain yogurt, and then sprinkle everything with good granola. Yum!
OK, so I think we covered it all, fake fruit, fake birds, real fruit, one real bird, salad, and breakfast. xoxo
This weekend, I’ll announce the win-win-winner of the book-book-book!
This, by the way, is what 95% of the photos I’ve taken of Jack look like, he is a blur. This moment as we speak, he has just reached up out of my lap and has the island-shaped pendant on my necklace his mouth! Help!! I gotta go now! ♥ TGIF Girlfriends!!
This is a photo of my heart-shaped Lemon Pepper Tea Biscuits, just out of the oven, still warm, ready for someone to slather them with butter and Cranberry-Orange Marmalade. They are one of the recipes featured in a new cookbook I’m very excited about — it’s from 
I am one of the twenty-eight women featured in this book; honored to be included with such luminaries of the food world as 
(Do I like tea, really, or is it just the dishes? That’s the question!) Anyway, I have the first copy (still warm off the press) of CELEBRATIONS that was sent to me here on the island. I’m going to sign it and send it to one of YOU as a Thanksgiving present! Just leave a comment at the bottom of this post, and on Friday we’ll let the RNG (Random Number Generator) pull a name out of our hat and see in what corner of the world this book ends up. But for all of you, my girlfriends, scroll to the bottom of this post, and I’ll give you the recipe for the Lemon Pepper Tea Biscuits. ♫ Do I love you, Oh yes I love you . . . ♪
Taking center stage is my grandma’s stuffing, which requires real bread that has to be air-dried for three days. Two days won’t do it. Don’t even think about putting it in the oven to dry. Those are the rules. So, I need to be ready. My ironing board does double duty as drying rack for the bread, spread out on cookie sheets in the pantry.
I’m already done making the butters:
One for each biscuit plate (the baking powder kind). Yum.
I use leaves for place cards at Thanksgiving (as long as there isn’t snow on them!). I made these from rhododendron leaves, which are the perfect size, especially if you have a “Marjorie” coming to dinner, because her whole name fits on one! Plus they’re smooth and flat and don’t break too easily. I pick the leaves the day before and keep them in the fridge so they stay fresh, then write the names on as big as possible with a correction pen (after first practicing on a paper towel!).
Gradually beat in flour until well blended. Stir in cranberries or currants. Put a heaping tsp. of dough into each cup of an ungreased miniature muffin pan, filling the space completely and leveling the surface of the dough. Grind pepper over the top. Sprinkle with sanding sugar (if desired). Bake for 15 min. or until light brown. Pop out muffins into a basket lined with a tea towel; cover to keep warm. 
Guess what? A foghorn is blowing, I can hear it sounding out up from the water. Later gators. 
