Ashley English's Blog, page 3

What I'm Digging

Happy Friday, friends! We had a bit of a harrowing day yesterday, chez English. Things were going great. The breeze was fine, there was no humidity, the birds were chirping, life was good. Hubs was in the garden and Huxley and I were on the patio, weeding. The tiny Englishman, however, decided, all of a sudden, to climb onto a patio chair, which pitched over backwards, landing his tiny

Recent Acquisitions: The Spice Bible

When you enter our home, you enter directly into the kitchen. What's technically the "rear" of the house is used as the front, while the actual "front" is fenced-in and located at the far end of a circular driveway. It's a strange orientation for a house tucked in a cove, a mile down a dirt road, but it works for us.

Once you walked in, if you'd never been here before, the

Come Join Me!

Happy Monday, friends! Hope your weekend was a good one. Ours was amazing! Huxley was cool, calm and collected with his aunt Theo Friday night while we went out for our combo birthday/anniversary date. So much so, in fact, that when we arrived back home, he was fed, bathed, p.j.'ed and asleep in his swing. Go, auntie, go!!! And the meal. Oh, the meal. We sampled and oohed and ahhed our way

What I'm Digging

Happy Friday, friends! 'Tis a special day, chez English. A special weekend, in fact. Today marks another glorious trip around the sun for Hubs, while tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of when we took the nuptial plunge and read our vows to each other down in our lower field. He's a man of immense talent, overflowing generosity, and profound humility, this man 'o mine. I can't imagine a better

Food In Jars (+ Giveaway!!!)

You know those bloggers that, whenever they make a new post and it shows up in your inbox, you just can't wait to read it? Marisa McClellan of Food In Jars is one such person for me. Soon as a new post from her appears in my email, I make a beeline to her site. Whatever new concoction she's dreamed up, it's always intriguing, and it's always good.

Imagine my supreme delight, then,

Dirty Work

These days of mid-spring, they are so very magical, aren't they? Everything is out of the ground, growing up so quickly and giving so much sensory stimulation. We've been out moving and digging and building and watering and planting and so. much. more in the garden, each and every day. I thought I'd show you a bit of what we've been up to.

1) The pea trellis (first and second

What I'm Digging

 Happy Friday, friends! We've had an interesting 24+ hours, chez English. Due to a fire at the power substation near our house yesterday (how absolutely terrifying does that sound???), we lost electricity around 1 p.m. yesterday. Since our well is electrically operated, we also lost use of running water. To that snafu yesterday, you can add the following: two crone cats that elected to

Branching Out Woodworks (+ Giveaway!!!)

Not that long ago, I wrote about my feelings of waste here. In short, I loathe it. I'd rather rip up an old flannel sheet and re-purpose it into cleaning cloths, or move the stained rug (thank you cats, again...) onto the porch, or give a beat-up dresser a fresh coat of paint than to ever throw things out.

Plastic bags reserve a special place in my waste abhorrence litany. They provoke my ire

Weekend Review

Happy Monday, friends. We had a great time in Knoxville. Here's a little round-up in photos of some of our weekend highlights:

*Gorgeous light in the cove after a massive downpour. 
*Chez English in the fading light. 
*Feeding my boy Cruze Dairy ice cream (Salted Caramel! Cardamom Lime Buttermilk!)
*Must get Hugh's book. 
*Introducing Huxley to the joys of water jets. 
*

What I'm Digging

Happy Friday, friends! Firstly, thank you so very much for your kind comments on my grandmother! She's regaining her strength daily and has been coherent for the past few days, an enormous sea change from earlier in the week.

Also, I don't know if you've been experienced the storms of spring like we have, but last night we had a rumbler so intense the very foundation of the house shook,