Staying Home and Finding Simple Joys
Its been about six weeks since we’ve been under Stay at Home orders although personally we’d already been doing it for several weeks before it was mandated - so it seems like so much longer. Since we normally work from home this hasn’t had a huge impact on our day to day lives during the week. Over 15 years ago I structured my business to include remote and long distance services via E-design so on that front it seems we were ahead of the curve as so many designers are having to make that shift now. For local projects we’ve transitioned to working remotely as much as possible and structuring any site visits safely - everyone is just making great efforts to ensure homeowners aren’t stranded indefinitely with half finished construction during this time of sheltering.
Knowing that staying home is the best way to contain the spread we have zero complaints, and honestly as an introvert and home body, i’m quite content. The weekends are when we feel we really need to get out of the house, so to say we feel fortunate to have vast landscape to walk right outside our door is an understatement but it is after all one of the reasons we chose to live in a rural coastal area - the solitude and natural beauty. Its been a huge loss to the community that the local public beaches have been closed all because a few (or hundreds) senseless people gathering in large groups in parks and beaches (in Halifax area) ruined this privilege for everyone - when people need it the most.
We can head out our door and walk along the shoreline at the back of our property, wandering for an hour or two, or just perch on the rocks and watch the waves crash. I’m usually taking pictures and collecting shells or rocks. Everyday, every visit the palette changes with the weather, moody days like this one are the best for taking photos. The pics (above and below) are elevated views, we’re on a plateau above the dunes looking out over the beach to the ocean, but you can’t actually see the beach directly below.
Above is a view across to the long beach, In the next week we’ll shift our focus to our potager garden and spend as much time in it as we can in hopes to get things growing sooner this year, the days of eating from our own garden again can’t come soon enough!
At home we typically cook a lot, practically all our meals are home made every day, so even going out to restaurants or take-out isn’t something that we’ve missed too much but its definitely getting to that point! Just one of us is doing all the shopping (and its not me!) and we’ve reduced the number of trips to the grocery to once every two weeks. We’ve been pretty diligent about just making do with what we have on hand rather than running out to pick-up items that were forgotten or we ran out of. I haven’t been into a store in almost 2 months now., which means I’ve had to up my meal planning and grocery list game. Trying to stay out of the grocery store means we’re making a lot of things we would normally buy and googling a lot of recipe substitutes!
I made flour tortillas for the first time, which only require a few basic ingredients and are simple to make. Not as simple and quick as every recipe would lead you to believe (! plan ahead!), but still pretty easy. Next time I’ll have to master the art of making them round. If you google you’ll find hundreds of recipes which are all pretty similar. There’s so many uses for these its worth the bit of time to make them.
This chicken orzo recipe has been a new favourite and on repeat (by request) since February, in fact I made it again last night. Its a one pot recipe that has all the comforting taste of chicken soup and all the carby satisfaction of pasta. A few basic ingredients and it makes enough for several meals. You don’t even need home-made stock, I use a knorr instant mix which I always keep in the panty. The recipe is from one of my fave online sources The Modern Proper, link here.
We’ve done more than our usual share of baking too. Here’s a new twist on an old recipe that I bake almost every weekend. It started with plans to make banana bread (no bananas) which changed to pumpkin bread which hit a snag half way thru because the frozen pumpkin puree I was about to use looked ‘off’. On a whim I decided to substitute with sweet potato, which when it was steamed and pureed looked just like the pumpkin. Well the results were ah-mazing!! Its now our new preferred version of the recipe and is also on repeat. Here’s a link to the Pumpkin Bread recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction I’ve been using for a few years, use pumpkin or sweet potato - baker’s choice.
One thing that has become a must for me during the cold weather months is house plants. I’ve come to appreciate (be addicted to) how much life and energy plants bring to a space, not to mention they add colour, texture and form and… i’m slightly obsessed with terracotta pots. There are times of the year the inside of our place resembles a green house, which only makes me want to build one! Although I killed a variety of new plants over the winter we thankfully have great success with ferns, and this year for the first time we successfully overwintered several rosemary plants from the garden .
These are the survivors, (several others didn’t make it) I know it doesn’t look like a lot but these make us so happy because its the first time any of the rosemary plants lived through the winter. We didn’t do anything different so we have no idea why they made it this but that’s just the mystery of gardening and plants - we roll with it and keep experimenting.
In addition to the potted plants there’s rarely a time when i don’t have some seasonal flowers or branches in the house. Its such an in-between time of year with not much to forage but I was craving blooms so i brought in some quince branches to force. I’d never tried forcing these before but it couldn’t have been easier.
Here’s some of the cut branches at day 2 of being inside.
These branches (above and below) were at day 9 of being inside.
I had enough branches to keep a few in the kitchen over easter and another couple of branches in our upstairs bathroom. It really heightened the sense of spring arriving as you could see the buds opening up more each day, an uplifting little reminder - brighter beautiful days are ahead.
So here they are 19 days after cutting and these blooms stayed fresh for another week at least. That’s a lot of joy from a few free branches. On the East Coast we’re probably still at least a month away from anything blooming outside. If you’re looking for a way to thank a special person or a Mom in your life, now is a great time to give it a try and create a your own ‘forced’ bouquet.
HOW TO FORCE BRANCHES: Cut branch stems about 2 or 3’ long and with visible buds on them, run the cut ends under water and trim another inch off, put in warm water in a tall sturdy vase or vessel,,,,,,and,,,wait. Replace the water every 3 days, keep them in a warm spot but out of direct sunlight. In about a week you’ll see the buds starting to open (this could take longer depending how far along in the season the branch was cut). In about 2 weeks they’ll be blooming and will last another week or so. If you have a crabapple or magnolia tree, forsythia or quince bush in your yard - go and cut a few branches to bring inside!!!! I promise they’ll bring so much spring beauty into your home and you can watch them transition from bud to bloom. A treat for everyone in the house or a special gift for Mom.
While we’re on the topic of free things, here are a couple of free downloads I’ve enjoyed on my Ipad and thought I’d share:
Kindle Reader App: If you’re an avid reader and running out of books to read, but have never read digital books before, nows the time. You don’t have to have a Kindle, you don’t have to leave home, no delivery service required, no sharing (non contact) with others involved. Go here, download the free kindle reader app all you need is an Amazon account (also free) and you’re ready to buy and read any digital book. Bonus, they cost a lot less than traditional print copies. (Not an affiliate ad or promo, just a new to me find that I wanted to share).
House & Home: Did you know H&H are offering the digital copy of the current May issue for free! On your Iphone or Ipad go to the App store and upload the H&H app. Once you’ve uploaded the app, select The May issue and it loads on your device for free. (Sorry Android users I only see an App for Apple users. ) Thank you Linda Reeves and the team at H&H for this gesture. P.S. The french garden of Design duo Les Ensembliers in this issue is an absolute dream garden! Check out a video tour here.
House & Garden UK: They’re also offering a free download of the current May issue. Just download the House & Garden UK app onto your device from Google Play or the App Store, then click the red “download” box under the May 2020 issue and Enjoy. The issue features the newly redone Restormel Castle, the country home of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall (Prince Charles & Camilla). Or visit H&G website for the story, More here.
Lastly I wanted to express condolences to all those in Colchester County and elsewhere who who lost loved ones or were effected by last weeks mass shooting. Colchester is one of my favourite antiquing destinations so I’ve visited the area many times. I wrote this blog post well over a week ago, before it happened and simply have been overwhelmed with sadness all week. It was a shock for so many in NS to face the reality that in a place renown for its peaceful simple living, and even in the most remote rural small towns you are not safe from the spread of a deadly virus or the potential deadly effects of mental illness gone un-checked.
The virtual tribute that aired on Friday night was incredibly moving and it will be difficult for Nova Scotians to move forward without this having a lasting impact but no doubt those effected will be stronger from all the support that’s been shared. One of the most beautiful and saddest performances I’ve ever seen was Natalie McMaster’s duet with the young victim and fiddler, Emily Tuck. Anyone who has followed me for a while knows how infatuated I am with Cape Breton and particularly the local celtic music. There’s something about the sound of a fiddle that I find so moving, it instantly lifts my spirits or brings a tear to my eye. If you missed it here’s the cbc link of the performance.
Wishing you well, from our home to yours.
Take care. Stay Safe. Stay Home.
C
xo
