Out and About - January

♫Here, There, and Everywhere♫

There's more About than Out this month with January being so cold and snowy.  I started the month off by feeding my neighbor's cat while they were away.  It's just a short walk through our woods to her 1935 log cabin.  I have this dream that one day she'll sell it to me and we'll move there and let one of our sons and his family live here.  The cat comes and goes through a cat door in a room under the front porch so I did not get to go inside the cabin, but on this 1st day of the year it was warm enough to sit on her swing in the front yard and enjoy the view....

The cliffs peer over the roof in the background.  In the winter I can see the outline of the cliffs from my bedroom window as the sun rises over them.

Emily Dickinson's Garden

Emily Dickinson was born in 1830 in this house, called the Homestead.  It was built by her grandfather in 1813, and except for a 15-year absence when the house passed out of the family, she lived there until her death in 1886....

ca. 1870

Her grandfather lost it in 1840 due to bankruptcy, but in 1855 Emily's father was able to buy it back.  Emily wrote about the move back, "I supposed we were going to make a 'transit,' as heavenly bodies did - but we came budget by budget, as our fellows do, till we fulfilled the pantomime contained in the word 'moved.'"

Life in Miniature - More

The winner of the Tasha Tudor's Dollhouse book has been announced!  You can find out who it was by going HERE and scrolling down to the end of my original post.

When I did my post about my dollhouse I found many kindred spirits in the miniature collecting world!  I asked to share these with my readers.  The first one is a miniature greenhouse owned by Shelly in Kentucky....

You can visit her Blog HERE to see her photos and read about it.  

Sharon Calvert in Alabama shares the log cabin (below) that her husband made for her.  I'll let her tell the story....

Life in Miniature

♫Music Box Medley♫

My interest in miniatures began when I was 6 when I collected and traded the little miniature toys that came in gum ball machines.  It wasn't until early 1978 when I was 27 that my interest expanded to dollhouses when I took a class in making miniature furniture.    With the help and guidance of the teachers I made 12:1 scale reproductions of my dining room table and hutch.  By the next year I was a Mom to a baby boy so I set my hobby aside until I had a little girl to share my interest in dollhouses.  Well, three boys later, that was not to be.  Fast forward to 2008.  I'd been a fan of Tasha Tudor for 16 years by then.  I'd been collecting all the books by and about her for several years, one of which was "Tasha Tudor's Dollhouse"....

All God's Creatures

♫Sounds of Nature♫

We live on a 1,000-foot mountain that is part of the Catoctin Mountain range in Maryland.  This is a several-years-out-of-date aerial view of our house (in the center of the photo) and surrounding area....

Hot Soup on a Cold Day

♫Music to Cook By♫

I first had this soup at a friend's house in the early 1990's.  It has been a hit whenever I've made it for my guests, so I thought I'd share it here.  

Dream and Imagine

♫I'm Yours♫

Resolution: figure out how to use all the features available on Blogger.......✔

I'm so proud of myself!  I finally figured out how to set up tabs at the top of my Blog!  Please note that once you finish reading this post you can click on "Our House" or "My Summer Garden" to see photos of same....

View Outside My Kitchen Window - January

♫Watching Clouds Go By♫

Resolution:  blog more often...............✔

As Hercule Poirot was fond of saying, "Mon, ami, the voices of the little gray cells have begun to sing to Poirot..."  My little gray cells think it's a good idea to post the view from my kitchen sink window each month and share the musings that come to me while washing dishes....

I Resolve To....

♫Auld Lang Syne♫

Do you make New Year's resolutions?  I think I quit making them somewhere in my 30's--which is a long time ago.  But sometimes one has to resolve to do something in order to make it happen, and by making it public, I'm making it a little harder for me to renege on it.  So here goes.....

I, Cathy, resolve to:

• figure out how to use all the features available on Blogger that I see other bloggers using
• be more creative with my blog
• blog more often
• lose the extra pounds I put on over the holidays (this one has nothing to do with my blog, but, hey, I'm on a roll!  (Yikes! I'm already thinking of food...I LOVE rolls with butter!)

That should be enough to get me started.

So, would anyone like to make some resolutions that I can hold them to?