ON THE MENU MONDAY~ WEEK OF JULY 9, 2012

The farm to fork craze has captured the nation in recent years. Also known as farm to table or eating in season... this is nothing new for the avid backyard gardener.

No matter the size of our gardens...a couple of tomato plants in patio planters or a big swath filled with rows of vegetables, we eat from the land. Everything tastes so much better when we grow it ourselves!

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE~ JULY 8, 2012

Synagogue ruins, Israel

Watch what God does, and then you do it... like children who learn proper behavior from your parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love.

Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious, but extravagant! 

He did not love us to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us. 

LOVE LIKE THAT!

Ephesians 5:1-2, The Message

BEE SKEPS ON THE BACK PORCH

The summer heatwave has taken it's toll on many of my fragile porch plants. Dispite watering and tending, the heat is just too much for their shallow roots.

Replacing them gives me a chance to bring new mid-summer decor to the potting bench...

DUTCH BABIES... mini version

Isn't everything better in a mini version? I sure think so. There is just something about babies!  And DUTCH BABIES are no exception!

Dutch Babies are little pillowy clouds filled with fruity sweetness! A cross between a pancake and a crepe... eggy deliciousness...

TUTORIAL TIPS AND TIDBITS #3

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY EVERYONE!  Thank you so much for joining this new venture with me!
I have had so many kind and supportive comments about TTT~ thanks everyone. It's so nice to know that in blogland there is room for ONE MORE linky party!

So let's get this party started!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY...

FRESH AS A DAISY TABLESCAPE

The table is set for a breakfast for two on the porch. It is one of those rare summer days around here...softly warm but no humidity! A real gift.

(I thought you might enjoy this table now that so many of us are in the middle of a heatwave!!!)

A little table was set to enjoy the weather, the food, the view and the special company...

ON HE MENU MONDAY~ Week of July 2, 2012

Are you hot yet?  Most of the country has been gripped by a triple digit heat wave! And here at StoneGable we are trying to keep cool ... the heat has chased us into the air conditioning. Oh, thank goodness for AC!

This week's menu reflects the steamy weather. I am keeping things light and fresh!

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE~ JULY 1, 2012

KEEPING COOL

While a heatwave is gripping most of the country I thought I help cool you off with some images of one of my favorite spots...

ZUCCHINI CHOCOLATE CHIP BREAD

What's a girl to do when her garden is being taken over by zucchinis? When your garden gives you zucchinis... make zucchini bread!

I know there are HUNDREDS of great zucchini bread recipes and most of them taste pretty good!  Just so you could have one hundred-one recipes... here's another ( and it is scrumptious... just sayin')...

TUTORIAL TIPS AND TIDBITS # 2 AND GIVEAWAY WINNER

A big hug and hearty thank you to everyone for making the first TUTORIAL TIPS AND TIDBITS a great success! We had  76 participants and lots of creative ideas and helpful tips.  I think it was a great first turnout!  

There were many tutorials I would love to try and great tips that made me say, "Why didn't I think of that!".

Here are a few...

DRESSER DREAMING

Some peoples dreams are filled with replayed stories of their day... unrequited love... epic battles between good and evil... being chased... being naked in public.. or falling.

My reoccurring dreams are about HOUSES... usually. But lately my dreams, awake and asleep, are all about...

BACK PORCH SITTING

When the weather is warm but not too humid you just might find me back porch sitting! Either on my swing or rocking in our back porch rockers. Come on over... let me show you around!

New black rockers were tucked on either side of our back door bump-out. People gravitate towards rockers! Talking is better... reading is better... and sitting is better when you can rock...

ON THE MENU MONDAY~ Week Of June 25, 2012

Eggplant blossom and tiny developing Eggplant


My garden has taken off! The head lettuce are large and plump... the peppers and tomatoes are growing and maturing nicely and the zucchini is taking over the garden and may only be outdone by the cucumbers!  The eggplant are showing off the prettiest flowers! Life is good in the garden!

I look forward to walking in my garden in the morning and evening... watching the progress, picking weeds here and there and gathering in produce!  Right now my zucchinis are going crazy.

 I just love zucchini attitude! They try SO hard! You plant them... and once acclimated to their surrounds they go about growing and producing and fulfilling their veggie destiny with such GUSTO! They want to do a good job... give it all they've got ... they are like the little engine that could... well sorta.

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE~ June 24, 2012

Wailing Wall, Temple Mount Jerusalum

Paper written with prayers and stuck between the stone of the Wailing Wall... mine are there too!

Please pray for the people of Syria and Egypt.

SALAD DRESSING PRIMER and GIVEAWAY

Cool, fresh and colorful is the way we want to eat when the temperature begins to soar! And there is an abundance of garden and farm stand veggies to make spectacular salads... just what we crave in the summer!

Why make a salad with all of that just-picked flavor and put a bottled salad dressing on it? Enhance your salad's in-season taste with a dressing as fresh as your salad!

Here are some of my favorite salad dressing recipes and  handy formulas for making your own...

TUTORIALS TIPS AND TIDBITS #1 AND GIVEAWAY

Welcome to the very first

TUTORIALS TIPS AND TIDBITS

I am so thrilled that you joined me!!!!

Giveaway and Linky are at the end of the post...

WHITE CURTAINS

These tailored white curtains are a Pottery Barn find. I purchased them (on a major sale) over 6 months ago and they have been packed away in their box until yesterday. 

What are they waiting for?  A bedroom to be painted! But, I just couldn't let them sit any longer... 

COFFEE BAR

We are BIG coffee drinkers here at StoneGable!  Mornings start with a mug of S-T-R-0-N-G coffee!

When we have a house full, I like to set up a coffee bar to have all things coffee on hand for our family and guests...

ON THE MENU MONDAY~ WEEK OF JUNE 18, 2012

Happy Father's Day to all Dads! 

Please indulge me...

A big lovey shout-out to my husband Bobby... you are a wonderful Dad! Thank you for all the years of coaching football and baseball, paying for and sitting through years and years of dance lessons and ballet recitals (and even being in one!), for years of being our children's biggest cheerleader. Thank you for being our daughter's first love, or son's first hero and my rock! Thank you for teaching and healing and disciplining, and training and loving and sacrificing!  Thank you for saying yes way more than no, for being such a fun guy, and for striving to be a godly man and one we can look up to and be proud of.  We love and respect you...You are the best!

This week is a big week, here at StoneGable. It is the first

TUTORIAL TIPS AND TIDBITS linky party.

Come and share your tutorial DYI's, posts with tips or great tidbits you want to show-off and show us! If you have made something, cooked something, arranged something, decorated something, painted sonmething, discovered something, want to share something... you get the picture... join us here!  Linky goes live on Wednesday evening at 8:00!

Please come out and join in!

I am celebrating with a TUTORIALS TIPS AND TIDBITS  GIVEAWAY...

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE~ June 17, 2012

Galatians 4: 8-9 ~ The Message

HAPPY FATHERS DAY, HEAVENLY FATHER... With love,  Your child

IRONSTONE LOVE

It's more of an obsession, really! I have embraced the the ironstone trend and come full circle.

My first set of dishware as a college student was ironstone. I loved ironstone then as much as I do now.

For me, collecting is not a frenzied, rushed hunt. It has been slow and enjoyable and deliberate. Choosing some pieces and passing up others. Delighting in each piece as if finding a small treasure. 

Here are a few recent creamy. dreamy finds...

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE IN A JAR

I always say, "Putting any food in a Mason jar, just makes it taste better"! It must be the cuteness factor! And cute must taste awfully good!

This Strawberry Shortcake is like packing summer into a jar! Fresh, creamy and so delicious, this is what I call a WOW FACTOR dessert. To be a WOW FACTOR dessert a sweet treat must taste luscious, look over-the-top and be insanely easy to whip up. This dessert fills every requirement...

THE FAMILY DINNER

When my family gathers together, it is often around the table! Keeping it simple is my plan! I want to  spend as much time with my gang as possible! But simple does not mean thrown together. I want to set a warm and comfortable table to say "welcome home". This is a table I set a couple weeks ago for a FAMILY DINNER...

A NEW LINKY PARTY AT STONEGABLE AND GIVEAWAY

I love Tutorials... Learning how to make something step-by-step! Oohiing and aahing over creative and inspiring ideas! Saying, "Hey, maybe I could do that!" 

 DYI's makes my heart pitter pat! I bet they do the same thing for you too!

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE to post tutorials on StoneGable... they are my most popular posts!

I am thrilled to announce... beginning next week, StoneGable will host a brand new linky party....

TUTORIALS TIPS AND TIDBITS

ON THE MENU MONDAY~ Week of June 11, 2012

I am always amazed at our small orchard! One peach... one apple (was two)... and one sour cherry. The harvest vastly varies from year to year! Some years our trees are stingy, yielding little fruit. Other years our trees make a note worthy attempt at growing fruit but get picked clean by the birds and insects, especially when we do not spray.  And other years it is as thought our tiny orchard is sound asleep and the trees are too lazy to spend the energy on fruit production!

But this is almost a magical year...

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE~ JUNE 10, 2012

Wall and Old City, Jerusalem