The Cottage on the Hill

(The picture didn't seem blurry when I first took it!) Mr. Moose arrived in our lives adorning a cute pair of infant pajamas that even had antlers on its feet. Once my babies grew out of the moose pajamas, I removed the moose patch and put it on a size 3T t-shirt for my 3rd child.  It was his favorite shirt.  Unfortunately, as children do, he grew out of it and it was set aside. Recently, his favorite pair of jeans developed a hole in the knee. Lo and Behold! Mr. Moose fit over the hole perfectly! Hopefully he'll survive the jeans until my boy grows out of the jeans and Mr. Moose can be moved to another garment.

Last night as I scrolled through my facebook news feed, one of my friends posted THIS article.  It is about a woman who spends much of her time in Victorian garb and living as if it were the Victorian Era.  I found the article intriguing, but one bit stood out to me. The article quotes Ms. Chrisman saying, " 'People have   mixed reactions,' she admitted. 'Some are enthusiastic and positive .  The other day an old man ran out of a restaurant to tell me I made his day, he said: "You look beautiful." Read more:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2506542/Wearing-corset-liberating-Meet-woman-living-modern-day-Victorian-life--cell-phone-car-home-appliances.html#ixzz2kleYzYKQ Follow us:  @MailOnline on Twitter  |  DailyMail on Facebook That made me think that in today's world, beauty is vanishing.  Instead, we have sexy or sloppy.  Just scroll down the sidebar of the page the article is on and you'll see what I mean.  Whe...

From:   The Village Alpaca Yarn Shop There is an alpaca farm nearby, so I called on them first to find Alpaca yarn for my Something Soft and Kitten Gray .  They didn't have the shade I wanted, so a quick etsy search found me these skeins!   I can hardly wait until they arrive in the mail.  I plan on knitting myself a scarf on obnoxiously large needles.  If that yields undesired results, I'll resort to my usual number 8's for scarves.

"La Seine" Vanessa Paradis and -M-.

I had success baking bread on my stove top!   I dug through my shed and found a Griswold cast iron pot with no lid.  Hubby removed the bale handle for me and my inverted #8 cast iron frying pan fit nicely as a lid and gave height to the "oven." I made my usual sized recipe of 3 cups of flour, but had to divide it in half and bake each half one at a time.   I used one of my small round pyrex casserole bowls to bake the bread in.  Greased. Inside the pot, I placed a trivet to put the pyrex bowl on.  I preheated the pot on the burner and preheated the frying pan on another burner. Then, I placed the bread on the trivet and covered the pot, keeping the heat at medium.   I didn't get a chance to time it, but it does take longer than in a conventional oven.  A long while later, I ended up with this! It is a successful, tasty little loaf of bread!  The bottom has a good crust.  The top is weak, as is understandable ...

Once again I apologize for the poor quality photographs. I'm still waiting on that new digital camera. Despite, I hope you enjoy the bits of pink around my house. This is my mom's Amy doll dressed in a sweet pink dress with white sheer apron. Some of my collection of Victoria February Magazine back issues. I couldn't pass up this pink tissue box! I'm just glad I had a coupon for it. What belongs more in pink than a little girl? Here's my daughter dressed in a flannel nightgown I made her recently. Pink flowers were a must for me. This winter has been so bleak with it's khakis and whites. The local grocery store had African Violets on sale. I wanted ones that were strictly pink, but all they had left were white ones, except for this lone one with pink ruffles around it's white center. I browsed ebay looking for vintage pink linen toweling fabric, but I really didn't want to spend the money. I remembered that I had some pink linen stashed away. I ...

My latest project is using this reproduction 18th century lucet to make a cord for a hat hubby is putting together for re-enacting. Using a lucet is a very relaxing, easy activity. It's great to keep idle hands busy while waiting somewhere or watching television. My son was so thrilled to find out that he's finally tall enough to reach the pedals on his tricycle and actually pedal it around the driveway. Yes, it was cold enough for a parka that day and he insisted on wearing mommy's winter work gloves. Oh, and all those pine needles! We had a day of steady 30 mph winds and the woodlot next door has a lot of white pines. That combination made quite the mess of our yard! Oh, how we'd love to own that woodlot. It is a prayer of mine. Right now it belongs to the nursing home just down the road. They own it because their well houses (which I believe are no longer in use) are back in the woods where the springs are. However, they don't take care of it. The trees are in ...

Sorry that the images are out of sync. Here are some pics of what we've been up to lately here at Taigh Beag: There is a frost advisory tonight so the herbs had to be harvested. Here is a layer of Stevia to be dried. We also when to a re-enactment. My little boy loves riding in the wagon. Sister, on the other hand, prefers to walk. Taking a picture of her constantly moving is impossible with a camera phone. If my husband asks anyone what he should get me for Christmas, I'd like a really good digital camera! We love art in our house. Here is my daughter happily working on a paint with water. My son has poster paints and loves to paint pictures of farm machinery like this combine. Here they are at the re-enactment climbing on a fence. We didn't stay long. It was COLD and they don't really have proper cold weather gear. Daughter didn't seem to notice the chill, but my dear son was shivering. My son wanted me to make a Play-doh pig for him, so I did and h...