Some of you may already know that fellow blogger extraordinaire Valorie Hart of Visual Vamp fame, and her dear Alberto...both passionate Tango artists, were traveling to Calgary for one of their Tango workshops, and while at the airport there, Alberto suffered a massive heart attack.
Well another fellow blogger, Laura Ingalls Dunn of Decor To Adore, who is a close friend of Valorie's, decided to host an online fund raiser in an effort to help them be able to return to their beloved New Orleans so that Alberto can receive the care he needs from his own doctors and be near the support and healing that only family and friends can provide.
In the hopes of helping them in their plight, I've created six cards depicting lovely rooms (Valorie is a designer after all) all from a glorious old mansion in the French Quarter (one can imagine can't they?), all handmade (late last night), and ready to send (I will pay for shipping) to the highest bidder. The cards would normally retail for $18.00. If so inclined, you may leave your bids in the comment sections of participating bloggers. Bids will be taken from Friday, November 5th to Monday, November 8th. Please remember to keep checking back to see where your bid stands.
All monies for the auction will be directly donated to Valorie and Alberto via their PayPal account at boutique@planet-tango.com. Donations are also welcome.
Last but not least...a special thank you goes out to Dumbwit Tellher & Decore To Adore for bringing such loving attention to the needs of these two gracious souls in need. Please keep our Vamp and her beloved Alberto in your prayers.
*Update* - Please forgive me, I had the bidding ending Sunday Nov. 8th, which doesn't exist...I've corrected it as it should have been written to Monday, Nov. 8th. Sorry for the confusion...I'm going to blame this on being ill this past week, since it's a good excuse for something so silly!
**Update** - Valorie and Alberto are home!!! The doctors in New Orleans were able to do the lesser of the surgery options and he is doing very well!! They still need our help...please visit Valorie's blog for all the details...and have a hanky ready. Also...Decor To Adore has extended the auction till Friday...please visit and see if there might be something that tickles your fancy.
D. is the winning bidder for the cards...thank you from the bottom of my heart to all who bid, commented and just even visited...what a blessing you all are! Please D., let me know where I may send the cards. You can leave your email in the comment section or just let me know what would be preferable for you. ♥
I can't help myself...my attentions are most definitely drawn to the outside these days. It was unusually warm yesterday...as the title says, we reached 75* in our little 
the Cascade Mountains and Lake Washington were allowed to be visually stunning in the clear skies and sun...
and we all enjoyed the last glimmers of the sun touching 'the mountain', and the air that felt like summer personified. Fall perfection and summer perfection combined, make for a memorable and very special kind of a day. What a gift!
Our gray and soggy skies today made for a beautiful display of fall color! The grayness was the perfect background for the foliage extraordinaire and seemed to brighten and enhance the already vivid colors. All was aglow...
Of course...when skies are blue, the pops of warmth add an extra layer of beauty to what are already breathtaking days. God really was thinking when he came up with this glorious range of warm colors to help ease us into fall and make the foray into winter so very pleasant.
For quite a few years now, we have hosted a very silly, very mischievous, and sometimes very annoying group of Pumpkins that have insisted it is our house they would like to hang out at on Halloween.
There's always a few new faces in the bunch which keeps things interesting, and sometimes... they even bring their kids with them, who I must say, are not that very well behaved!
This guy's always terribly grumpy and always seems to be in a sour mood (we call him grumpy pants)!
And the one that's always wondering why the 
but at least he has a little brother who's always 
This weekend I decided to brave the bevy of spiders one last time so that I could harvest the last of our Monkshood...along with a few other flowers (two kinds of Dahlia's & "Autumn Joy" Sedum) to create a fall bouquet, which so didn't really look very much like fall but I liked it none the less.
Initially I just placed the vase directly on the marble but then thought it might be better placed upon *something* and decided to use a transferware platter that I had recently aqcuired. I'm so happy I did this because the next morning, the Monkshood had already started to drop it's petals...the platter ended up being the perfect petal catcher. I had given a few stalks of monkshood to a neighbor several weeks ago when they were in their prime and she said they had lasted a long time...must just be that they are on their last leg (or should I say stem).
The platter, made in 1892 by JHW & Sons - Hanley, England, was another to good to be true find, like recent Ironstone coffee/tea set that I happened upon, and one that I'm thrilled about. It's slightly warped and stained which to me means it was well used and well loved...and it was only $19.00! I've seen other items from this maker, plates not platters, that start at about $50- so needless to say, I couldn't pass it up. And see...it has a new job and seems to be quite happy in it's new home.
Monkshood, also known as 'Wolfsbane' as it has a long history of creating and repelling werewolves (the perfect Halloween flower ;), is an amazingly beautiful and hearty garden perennial...albeit a very poisonous one if you should decide to eat it's roots. It will also multiply into a forest very quickly if left to it's own devices.
Ours started out as a little potted plant that was a gift from a dear friend. We had never heard of it before and happily planted it in the garden. Each year there were more and more of them until finally, we started digging them up and giving them as gifts ourselves, passing them out to friends and family. Of course when dividing the roots, you must always be careful not to leave any pieces lying around as they might look like a tasty snack to someone, a fatal tasty snack!
The flower itself truly does look like a little hood, or a helmet that a Spanish conquistador might wear. I desperately tried to take a close up picture of one so that you all could see this phenomenon for yourself but my camera was acting very naughty and kept producing the blurriest of images and after about thirty attempts, I gave up. Hopefully you'll be able to see the hoody's in the images I have posted, if you look closely at the top bunch, they are quite visible.
During my excursion I also culled some Hydrangea's that have turned a suprisingly pretty mixture of green and pink which I'm so happy about because not that long ago they weren't looking so nice...but that's for another post! 
"I paused on the threshold, I turned to the sky"...Emily Bronte wrote these words in 1838, and last night, when I stepped outside and had to pause on my own threshold, instantly turning in amazement to the sky that was before me, I wondered if she had been feeling the same way before her sky as I was that very moment before mine.
I paused on the threshold
My two most favorite ways to enjoy them are in a "White Bean & Rosemary Soup" and "Turkey, Fig Jam & Brie Sandwich on Rosemary Bread". The soup, which I've doctored up a wee bit, is from the first Barefoot Contessa cookbook and the sandwich, well that just happened to materialize one day...both have become regular occurances in our home, and they couldn't be more simple or easier to make.
For the soup, you chop fine one leek, half an onion, as much garlic as you desire (I used four cloves this time), two stalks of celery and one or two carrots (my carrots were super skinny so I used two).
You will also need one large sprig of rosemary, one dried bay leaf, juice of two small lemons or one large...
three cans of Cannellini Beans or any other white bean you happen to have, rinsed and drained, 1/4 cup olive oil, two boxes of chicken stock (I use organic), about one teaspoon of dried tarragon (my favorite herb) and last but not least, salt & pepper. Sometimes when I'm feeling spicey...I add a pinch of cayenne pepper too!
Just heat up olive oil in your favorite stock pot, add dices veggies, some salt & pepper, and saute over medium heat for about 15 minutes, don't need to go too soft.
Add the beans, stock, sprig of rosemary & basil leaf. Bring to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes.
Once soup is cooked, cool for about five minutes, add the lemon juice, and then blend any way you choose...I use a food processor (favorite tool in the kitchen) but a blender will work just fine too. Sprinkle in the tarragon, add a bit more salt & pepper to taste and the cayenne if you so choose, then just enjoy.
To make the sandwiches, I use Essential Bakery's "Rosemary Diamante Bread" which a local bakery makes. It's not mushy and has a crispy crust coated in sea salt, if you can find it, please use it...it's the best, some grocery stores such as Whole Foods carry it. Spread one slice of bread with the fig jam, I use Organic Adriatic Fig Spread (usually sold in the "frommagerie" of your local grocery store), the other with Dijon mustard. On the fig side place as much Brie cheese as your little heart desires, then your turkey (I use the no salt turkey from Whole Foods), then *butter* or red leaf lettuce...top with Dijon slice and enjoy...hopefully immensely!
Another way we love to eat this lucious combo...and what I'm one day totally bringing over to
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