HELLO OCTOBER

R A B B I T    R A B B I T   Hello October!  MUSICA♥

Good Morning, Gypsy Vagabond Girlfriends (and all the rest of you too), Happy October!

Here’s the view outside our upstairs window this morning.  Rain and blowing leaves for us today.

Last night, we had our first fire of the season!  

We went away last weekend.  I had a wonderful booksigning and then went up to Exeter, NH (this is our view from the hotel window) to go leaf peeping and graveyard wandering. 

Here we are, parked in front of Best of British in Newburyport MA. It’s just the most wonderful store ~ the charming owners Bernadette and Bob Williams along with the wonderful people who work there, Cathy, Dolina, Lucy, and Evan — and Wendy Louise who volunteered for the day, made it SO nice for us. (If I forgot anyone, please forgive me!)  The store is in a darling town you should put on your list to see if you are ever in this neck of the woods.  There’s plenty of reason to be here; everything in this area is filled with early history of our country. We went over to Plymouth too, and visited the Mayflower Society House.

They saved us a parking space right out front! (Oh dear, she already has her mouth open!) (Photo borrowed, with permission, from www.karenharveycox.blogspot.com ~ she was there, thank you Karen!)

I signed books for two hours having so much fun because everyone in line was talking and laughing as if they’d known each other forever. It was a Girl Party! Everyone was remembering Joe with the tea bag!  Ha ha ha ha!  We all agreed we have the “best girlfriends” ever!  We even had nuns from the Holy Nativity Convent come to say hello, my first nuns at a booksigning, and they were adorable, you would have loved them like everyone else did.  This is Mother Seraphima.♥

I asked for permission to introduce them to you; they said OK, and so, from left: Mother Pelagia, Mother Xeni, me, Mother Seraphima and Mother Martha, all from the Holy Nativity Convent.  And they’re all Girlfriends on the blog ~ They came because they’re fans of A FINE ROMANCE ~ they drove in from Brookline to have their books signed!  We had such a good time ~ they were so happy and fun to talk to, I was honored (as I was with every person I met) that they came.  They brought me a loaf of amazingly delicious bread, homemade by Mother Effie (who wasn’t with them), which I’ve been eating ever since, feeling very blessed. ♥ 

They also brought us these . . .

. . . gorgeous, handmade (they make them at the convent) 100% pure Beeswax candles with the delicate delicious scent of honey.  I have one going here in my studio right now, they’re slow burning and don’t drip at all.  And I discovered they sell them on line!  They are so inexpensive I couldn’t wait to tell you about them, what a nice Thanksgiving or Christmas gift . . . only $11 for eight candles! (11 1/2″ long x 3/4″ diameter) . . . Girl Kitty loved them too, here she is this morning,

 . . . wide awake in the holy candlelight at 4:30 am.

I munch this crunchy toast one mouse-bite at a time so it will last as long as possible.  It’s whole wheat with every healthy thing, flax seeds, oats, sunflower seeds, honey and lots more, including bulgur.  Mother Effie sent me the recipe to share ~ I’ll give it to you soon. You will love it! It’s heavenly!

Our Girlfriend Martha was also at the signing (I’m sorry to say, we didn’t take enough photos!) and brought me this recipe which I made for dinner last night.  You can print it out if you like.  Lately I’m leaning more and more toward a vegetarian diet, not rigidly, but I like it better, I feel better, so it’s easy to do. So when I saw this HEALTHY recipe from Martha, I said, oh yes, please!

Here’s how it’s done:  You start with a bunch of kale (try to get organic if you can) ~ wash it and let it dry.

Put the zest of one orange into a small bowl . . .

. . . and mix it with a half-cup of fresh orange juice.

Speaking of orange . . . 

Whisk the juice and zest together with the rice vinegar and maple syrup and set aside.

Cut or tear a bunch of Kale into bite-sized pieces . . . removing the stems.

Put the kale in a large bowl, pour the orange dressing over, mix well, and then massage it  ~ (I know, this is a first, massaging greens, but massaging softens kale, takes away the bitterness, and makes it easier to eat) just take each piece of kale between your thumb and first two fingers and give it a good rub. To know if you’ve done it right, taste it, if it’s still bitter, massage some more.  You probably know how GOOD kale is for you? ← Click there if you don’t.

Once the kale is ready (you can even see it’s softer here), add a bag of broccoli slaw, and a half-cup each of dried cranberries, chopped walnuts and sunflower seeds. (Or instead of cranberries, try adding beets and orange segments, and maybe some creamy goat cheese).

Mix it well and let it marinate for four hours in the fridge, stirring every so often. Give yourself a hug for making such a healthy salad! It keeps in the fridge for four days.

GOOD HEALTH IS THE THING THAT TELLS US THAT NOW THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR.  Franklin Pierce Adams

and here’s another healthy salad . . . this  delicious Quinoa salad, I wanted to remind you in case you haven’t tried it yet ~ it’s perfect for a fall dinner and would taste just as good even if you weren’t trying to be healthy!

Some beautiful new things have come into the Studio, Girlfriends ~ starting with THIS ↓

. . . A brand new dream charm for your bracelets and necklaces!  This one is magic, it says “BE  ♥ AN ♥ ELF” one of my favorite little sayings. These days, elves are more important than ever before.

This is it from the side . . . the charms come in a small clear bag, each with a different gift card and message that says it all.

Here’s our other new charm . . . To celebrate AUTUMN from the Heart of the Home . . . ♥

This “I LOVE AUTUMN” dream charm is all about the swirling leaves of fall ~ but I’m sorry to say, there is one problem . . . we only received about a quarter of our order  . . . there was a mixup with the rest of them.  I don’t think what we have will last long, but they take such a long time to make ~ I don’t think we’ll be getting anymore this year since Autumn is racing toward winter . . . so if you like it, go now!

On top of that, our annual Limited Edition Christmas Ornament has arrived! 

Santa in all his pink-cheeked glory hanging from a gingham ribbon!

I’m watching a movie called The Merry Widow while I’m writing you  ~ and they just did the most wonderful waltz, I thought you might enjoy it!  It’s Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette Macdonald.  I have more to tell you, but I need to go now ~ I’ll write more soon!  I promise!  xoxo Have a wonderful day!♥ 

It’s raining, it’s pouring the old man is snoring . . .