Bluer than the Deep Blue Sea: Coming Home from Across the Pond

We spent the last days of summer in London and on the Sussex shore.  It was Mr. and Mrs. Magpie and Mrs. Magpie's Mum on a weeklong adventure that left us with our suitcases and brains stuffed to overflowing with treasures.  Sine we've been back, I've been a bit blue.  

I always love London, and I'll have photos and links to share, as always, but for today, just a few pared down shots of Brighton.  I'd never been to Brighton before, but I had heard so much about it that I felt I knew what to expect: tatty seaside town, pier, greasy fish and chips, tacky shops.  Brighton does have those things, of course, but it has so much more, and I developed a little crush on the place.

I have loads of Brighton photos to post, places to mention, and adventures to share.  They'll be coming soon.  Well, just as soon as I can pull myself up out of these blues.  

I slip into a sort of melancholy whenever I return from England.  To call it homesickness is too grand a word, since I have never stayed there for more than a stretch of a few weeks, but I do miss it terribly every single time I come back.  What's to miss?  Well, in the case of Brighton, there's this:  

"But, Gigi," you may say, "you live near the sea in the States!"  

Ah, yes, I do, and I love it.  I also love the seaside in Brighton.  It's quite different.  For one, the beach is made of large, knobbly pebbles, not sand, and the water there tends towards pale greeny blues that we don't often see in Maine.  And then there's the chalk cliffs.  Here we have granite ones.  Both are awe inspiring, but they make for completely different sorts of experiences.    

What I think impressed me most in Brighton was the architecture, from the Georgian and Victorian townhouses to the quirky shops of North Laine.

And then there is King George IV's Royal Pavilion.  I think that deserves a post all its own, don't you?   

We've been back since the beginning of the month, and life has been full and eventful and rich, but I can't shake these blues, so I think I shall wallow in their depth a bit longer and wade back to shore only when I'm good and ready.  

In the meantime, I promise that I really will have some wonderful links and photos to share.  Misery, after all, loves company, so you can long for some lazy days by the beautiful sea with me.   

Our Backyard Fairy Village

The snow is falling, falling today.  Our world is swathed in white, yet my mind keeps thinking of what lies beneath the snow--the fairy world we built last Fall with our niece.  Right now, the corner of our yard beneath the great Eastern White Pine looks like this:

But in the Fall, the village thrived.  

It all began with a pile of pinecones left by the squirrels for our niece.  We took the hint and went out gathering more building materials in the forest.  It was a rainy weekend, but we knew, just as the squirrels did, that the time was ripe for fairies, and the village needed to be built.

Once we had our supplies and had drawn up our plans--there was nothing left to do but build!

And I do mean build: ladders and swing sets and arbors and roads.  We fashioned street signs and wagons and tables and chairs.  Nothing was left unmade.  

So, as the snow falls and I sit inside finishing up piles of work, I thought I'd share some photos of our handiwork.  I'm not sure who loved building the village more, but I will say that Mr. Magpie is quite a carpenter when it comes to crafting fairy furniture!

"No child but must remember laying his head in the grass, staring into the infinitesimal forest and seeing it grow populace with fairy armies."

~Robert Louis Stevenson, Essays in the Art of Writing

The farmer's wagon above was made from half a gourd.  Mr. Magpie sliced a corncob to make wheels, which he attached to a bamboo skewer.  The wheels actually turned, and we filled the wagon with crops from the fairy farm, including sage and nasturtiums, of course!

The farm is pictured above.  Miss J and I planted cabbage and cauliflower crops (tiny flowers) and Mr. Magpie built a miniature wattle fence.  Dried hydrangea blossoms make wonderful rooftops for birchbark buildings.

Above is the restaurant--totally organic, supplied with veggies from the farm, of course--complete with birch bark table and benches. 

If you climb the ladder, you can go to the fab condos in the pine tree.

Miss J thought of everything for the village, including a hospital, a Senior Center,

pine needle roads edged with pinecone guardrails,

 a school (complete with a swing set by Mr. Magpie),

and even sculptures for the town square.

Among our favorite houses were the ones we made from pumpkins.  I think the fairies loved them, too. I know the squirrels found them delicious.  This one is topped by a little crocheted roof.

This wasn't the first time we'd built fairy houses with our niece, and I've posted about them before, but this is the first time we'd built them in our own yard, and I can say that it is about as fine a way to spend a day as I can imagine.

And the best part of building the village came later that night, when we peeked out our windows.  The fairies had come!

And they'd lit the candles we'd left them with their fairy wands.

"The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve; lovers to bed; 'tis almost fairy time."

~William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Wreaths and Trees

Hello, chickadees!  Just wanted to touch base, because I've been away for so long.  I'm planning a holiday post to show you a few pictures of the new house all decked out for the season, but today I thought I'd share a teeny sneak peek of a little bit of the tree plus a pinecone wreath I made from the gazillions of them we have in our backyard.  Some people might not like having to pick up all those cones, but I consider every last one of them a gift from our massive white pine.  And when I say massive, I mean it's branches begin higher up than the the tops of many of our other trees.

I promise not to post a tutorial on how to make the pinecone wreath.  Why not?  Well, because when I set out to make mine, I did a Pinterest search and a Google search (I like to be thorough) for pinecone wreath tutorials, and guess what?  There are almost as many pinecone wreath tutorials online as there are pinecones in my backyard, so you don't need me to add to the pile.  I will say this: while a pinecone wreath is simple to make, it is time-consuming, and it takes many, many cones to create a full wreath.  Oh, and yards and yards and yards of wire.  I used a very thin gauge wire, so I didn't hurt my fingers too much, and I used a grapevine wreath as the base.  Some tutorials I read said to sort the cones by size first, but I just eyeballed them as I went along, using larger cones for the outside ring, smaller cones for the inside ring, and cones somewhere in-between for the middle ring.  This approach seemed to work well with the longish cones of the white pine.  If you had shorter cones, you'd be making a very different kind of wreath with very different results.  Equally pretty, but quite different.  

Okay, I said no tutorial, but the above paragraph was starting to veer into tutorial territory.  Sorry about that.  I just get so excited about Christmas.  It was my father's favorite time of year, and it is still a magical time at my mother's house.  Last weekend, Mr. Magpie and I went and bought a tree for my mother to have outside on her back deck where she can see it when she's in her kitchen as well as when she pulls into her driveway.  This has become an annual tradition for us.  We brace it with twine to hold up during storms, string it with white lights, et c'est tout!  Beautiful simplicity to enjoy through the New Year holiday.  Of course she has her inside tree, too, and her amazing collection of vintage Santas, all of which I love.

Back here at home, our annual tradition is now to cut down our own tree.  If you're local and like wild-looking trees rather than perfectly pruned ones, I'll let you in on our secret: we go to Staples Tree Farm in Windham on Christmas Tree Way, just off Webb Road.  It's $30 for any size tree, no matter how tall, and they have gorgeous specimens to choose from, plus handmade wreaths and kissing balls at prices well below any others I've seen in the Portland area.  True, some get a little Dr. Seussical, as you can see in my Instagram photo, but that's just part of the fun!  

I'll be back soon with holiday musings and other news, but in the meantime, I wish you a Happy Holiday Season, whatever you celebrate, and however you celebrate it.  

xo Gigi

P.S. I'd love to hear from you about your favorite annual holiday traditions, especially the ones that kind of snuck up on you and became traditions without your even realizing it at first.  

Falling Leaves and Pumpkin Seeds

Happy November, my friends!  My three-month-old MacBook hard drive crashed last week, and it's still not back from the Mac Store yet.  I miss it, but in the meantime, Mr. Magpie is lending me his laptop.  I know I've been promising photos of the house, and they are coming, but delayed furniture deliveries and other hold ups are slowing down progress on the house.  We're loving being here all the same, so it doesn't really matter to us!  For the moment I thought I'd just share a moody late afternoon instagram shot of one of my kitchen windows. 

October was wonderful here in our new neighborhood.  One highlight was a visit from our niece, with whom we built an entire fairy village, complete with street signs, a hospital, school, a senior center--yes, she's that thoughtful a girl--a restaurant, farm, lookout tower, and much more.  I have tons of photos that I'll share once my computer is up and running, but in the meantime, here's one of the fairy houses.  This one's long gone now, as it was one of the first to be eaten by the giants squirrels who invaded the village.

Our lovely dead end street just an hour before Hurricane Sandy hit.  We have wonderful woods for exploring and for gathering fairy village supplies at the end of the street.

The morning after Sandy hit the waves at Portland Head Light were monstrous--beautiful, but monstrous.  We were fortunate to lose just a few tree limbs during the storm.  Our hearts go out to all those who lost loved ones or whose homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. 

As the winds raged around our little house, we nursed a sick kitty (who is now on the mend, thanks to antibiotics) and made Halloween cards. 

And the first Halloween in the house was a good one.  We bought far too much candy, as we had no idea how many ghouls and superheroes would show up, and we didn't want to run out.  So leftover m&m's it is for dessert from now until . . . well a long time from now.  Sigh.  I like m&m's too much for my own good.

Last but not least, I roasted pumpkin seeds this morning from the seeds leftover after carving jack-o-lanterns last night.  The recipe follows below.  More just as soon as my MacBook's up and running.  Thanks for bearing with me, lovelies!



Quick Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

• approximately 2 cups washed and dried pumpkin seeds
• about 5 dashes worchestershire sauce
• a dash or two (or more) of your favorite hot sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• about 1 teaspoon cajun spices
• salt to taste
• about 1 tablespoon demarara sugar
• about one tablespoon olive oil.

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl.  Let sit.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Once the oven is heated, pour the coated seeds onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for about 10 minutes.  Take them out, stir well, then put back into the oven for another 5 minutes. Stir and repeat.  I ended up roasting mine for a total of about 25 minutes, but it will vary depending on how wet your seeds are to begin with.  Just keep checking on them and stirring them every five minutes and you won't burn them.  Let cool, then munch away!

A warm welcome to new readers and a big hug to old friends.  xo Gigi

Pecan Pie

I promise photos of the house very soon, but in the meantime, I have to share a recipe with you.  Over the weekend I made a pecan pie for a very special family event, and I thought, what better dessert to celebrate autumn than pecan pie?

I've made it before, but I decided to try a new recipe this time, and I'm glad I did.  Actually, I combined a couple of different recipes from Martha Stewart and Nick Malgieri, added a few variations of my own, and came up with what turned out to be my favorite pecan pie ever.  Less dense and gooey than many, this one has almost a custardy texture, and while no pecan pie feels light when you eat it, this is as close to creamy as a pecan pie can get.  It's all due to the eggs--lots of 'em.  Plus, I use very, very little light corn syrup compared to most pecan pies, which often get their sweetness from loads of dark corn syrup.  The sweetness in this version comes instead from molasses and brown sugar, making the flavor deeper and more complex--more autumnal.  Molasses is a traditional sweetener in New England desserts like Indian pudding, so if you like that kind of fall treat, you will love this pie!  It is not health food, that's for sure, but a little sliver is all you need (okay maybe two slivers), topped with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream--or even plain.

The Magpie's Pecan Pie

For the crust (adapted from Nick Malgieri's sweet dough recipe):

Note: I make a double crust recipe, using one half to make the crust and the other half to roll out and make little leaves for the top of the pie.  The recipe here is for one crust. If you'd like to decorate your pie with leaves or other cutouts, simply double it.

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1 large egg

I make this in a food processor, but you can make it by hand, too.

• Combine the dry ingredients in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade.
• Pulse 3 times at 1-second intervals.
• Cut the butter into 1-T pieces and toss in work bowl.
• Pulse about fifteen times until the mixture resembles corn meal.  
• Add the egg to the work bowl and pulse until the dough forms a ball.  This only takes 10-15 seconds.
• Scatter a little flour on your clean work surface.
• Turn the dough out of the bowl and knead it 3 or 4 times quickly until it all holds together.  Do not overwork!
• Press dough into a disk and sandwich it between two pieces of plastic wrap.  Press into a 6-inch circle, seal it with the wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Ingredients for the filling (adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook):

5 large eggs

1 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup unsulphured molasses

1 Tablespoon bourbon, dark rum, or rum flavoring

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 2/3 cups pecans, coarsely chopped, plus 1/3 cup whole pecan halves

To make the pie:

• Set a rack at the lowest level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
• Roll out the chilled crust and set in a 9-inch pie pan.  I use a Pyrex pan for this recipe.
• Crimp the edges of the crust in your favorite decorative pattern.
• Place the crust in the fridge until you're ready for it.
• If you want to make decorative leaves for the top, roll out your second crust, cut the leaves with small leaf-shaped cookie cutters, and then place the leaves on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.  Whisk one egg with a splash of milk or cream and brush this mixture over the leaves with a pastry brush.  Refrigerate the leaves until you're ready to use them.
• In a medium bowl, make your filling by whisking together the eggs, brown sugar, corn syrup, molasses, bourbon or rum, vanilla, and salt.  Stir in the chopped pecans.
• Take your prepared crust out of the fridge and pour the filling into it. 
• Arrange pecan halves and decorative leaves (if you're using them) on the top of the filling.
• Brush a little egg whisked with milk or cream over the crust edges for a gorgeous golden color.
• Bake the pie for about 45 minutes, until the filling is well-set and puffed in the center.  I have a gas stove, so I find that I have to check the pie every 10-15 minutes, and turn it for even browning.  If the crust seems to be browning too quickly, you can always cover just the crust edges with some aluminum foil or, if you have one, a crust ring.
• Cool on a pie rack.
• This pie keeps fine at room temperature, loosely covered with foil, for about 3 days.

One more note: You'll have some crust leftover from making the leaves.  I re-roll this with my rolling pin into a rectangle, spread a little softened butter on it, and sprinkle it with cinnamon and demerara sugar.  Then I roll it up, jell-roll style.  I cut the roll into 1-inch pieces, brush each with egg, sprinkle a little more sugar on top, and pop them into the oven on a parchment-lined baking sheet for about 20 minutes.  They're great straight out of the oven or for breakfast the next day.  

Home

Come August 30th, this is the 1937 Cape cottage that Mr. Magpie and I will call home.  We found out on Monday that the offer we made on it was accepted, and we've been scrambling all week to finish the loan paperwork and get the ball rolling on the million and one things that need to happen before we close.    

All that matters to us now, though, is that we've found our little corner of the world, surrounded by gardens and grand old trees.  This is the the third time we've bought a home, and as the old saying goes, the third time's a charm.  We looked at several houses, and bid on a few that we failed to get, but the moment we stepped into the backyard of this house, we knew why.  This was the place we were meant to find.  Yes, I believe some things are meant to be, and I don't question those things.  A little faith can go a long way in a wicked world.  

It feels right to be closing during the same month that Mr. Magpie and I will be celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary.  During all those years, we have called ten different places home, and I've loved each house, apartment, and condo where we've laid our heads, but honestly, I just feel blessed that every night we've had a roof to keep us dry and walls to keep us safe.  Home for us will never be a mansion.  It will always be the place where meals are shared and memories made with each other and with the people and animals we love.  As the English poet Robert Southey wrote, "There is a magic in that little world, home; it is a mystic circle that surrounds comforts and virtues never known beyond its hallowed limits."

I'll be sharing much more about the house in the weeks and months to come.  It has been a long wait for this place, and I feel like Dorothy after far too long a stint in Oz.  I can't wait to kick off my ruby slippers and leave them by the kitchen door.  

xo Gigi  

Enchanted Weekend

I have been wanting to catch up with you here for ages, but my life is so full of writing and of changes both little and grand, that even when I've had a few moments to sit still with the blog, the words just haven't come to me--me, the girl who writes.  And writes.  And writes.  

And then this past weekend was an enchanted mix of the old and the new: a new favorite brunch haunt discovered, an old favorite store rediscovered in a new place, wonderful new friends met, bags of old books scooped up at a library book sale, and the gift of a mystery packet of flower seeds.

On top of it all were the hours spent working in my mother's garden.  She has a wonderful yard smack dab in the middle of town, but with the sense of being out in the country.  Here's a shot of part of it below: 

Because there are no houses behind hers, all you see are trees and fields in the distance, a vista especially magical just before sunset.

Over the years, Mr. Magpie and I have spent many happy hours digging, weeding, and pruning in my mum's gardens.  One favorite spot is a shade garden we planted the year my grandmother passed away, using plants and flowers we'd dug up from Gram's garden.  It has come into its own now, overflowing with hostas, ferns, wild ginger, lamium, astilbe, and hydrangea.

In another section of the yard, my mother's roses, daisies, peonies, and irises bloom beside a rock wall.

And everywhere you look, blue and white balloon flowers volunteer, popping open among the phlox and the poppies and straight out of the pile of tree and hedge clippings behind an old stretch of fence.

The peonies have nearly passed now, but they are graceful even as they fade.

After a long afternoon of mulching, deadheading, and pruning, the reward was a large handful of blooms to fill up jars and vases and scatter from room to room. 

Some weekends transcend their two days, and remain etched in our minds as something more--a sense of possibility, a joy in the moment and the promise of more joys to come.  For even as one rose blooms and drops its petals, others wait to open, one by one.