Gehring Road

slightly belated happy holidays

A very happy holidays to you... we're enjoying a quiet, relaxed and lovely little holiday here. Today there will be hot chocolate and some sewing. Perfection. I hope you are enjoying these days, and all is very merry and bright. 

happy halloween!

We're celebrating the fact that this is first time in three years that this guy isn't just a light source. We have power, candy and trick-o-treaters. Yay! Happy Halloween... hope it's spooky! 

happy father's day

Hope you all are enjoying this weekend... I'm five days (and so, so much grading, ugh!) away from summer. Just wanted to pop into this space to say Happy Father's Day to all the dads in our lives and yours, especially Kylie's dad, who just happens to be our favorite. Happy weekend! 

and so this was christmas

A belated happy holidays everyone! We had the most blissfully calm, relaxing and peaceful holiday this year, it was so needed after the emotions of the previous weeks. Words sort of failed me in many ways after the tragedy at Sandy Hook... except with my students, and thank goodness for that. Here in Connecticut, where really nothing felt normal or right in the days leading up to this particular holiday season, we were blessed with a bit of snow on Christmas morning. Though our thoughts were often elsewhere, we were all the more grateful for this season of togetherness. I had no idea that a break was so needed until it was here, I've loved every minute of it. Here are some scenes from our days... 

(Rob's Chocolate Raspberry Torte... words cannot express how I loved this cake!)

We found ourselves loving left over chocolate-raspberry torte by tree-light, watching much loved favorites in pjs in the days following our holiday. It was perfection. Santa brought me an AccuQuilt fabric cutter and some amazing dyes... goodness does he have good taste! I'm anxious to dive in to new projects but am going to try to be better about finishing projects this year. A good friend knew just what was me and found that lovely Jane Austen print from My Ideal Bookshelf. We were also given tickets to see The Blue Man Group in Boston in a few weeks by Rob's Mom and her husband Chip. My parents gifted us with a super fancy toaster oven we've had our eye on forever. Such thoughtful and wonderful gifts.

Bits of organizing here and there have happened, the loft has seen some changes, more on that to come. Another storm blew by leaving us with much more snow than anticipated and another excuse to pad around the house enjoying these most lazy days. I hope you've found time to do the same! 

merry merry

I'm having a bit of trouble adjusting to the calendar... it says December, mid December at that, but my mind really does insist that Thanksgiving was just last week. Actually, the calendar in my loft does say November... sigh! Somehow this most lovely time of year has snuck up on me, and yet there have been little bits of merry. We picked out our tree on a lovely 50 degree (though foggy) day. A treat as we usually are picking a tree in what feels like 50 degrees below zero. The stockings have been hung, presents are being made and planned and hidden. Each year I feel like we do less and less with our decorations, and that's really just the way we like it. Simple, sweet, spur of the moment, that has been our merry making so far.The tree was decorated after dinner one evening. We sat and watched it long after we probably should have gone to bed. I purchased the most beautiful velvet ribbon at Anthropologie on a whim, before I really knew how I might use it. I have big plans for that beautiful coral ribbon, when I get around to it. These wreaths actually. "Easy Christmas Wreaths"... yes, please. That feels just about right this year. I'm also planning some of these as gifts... pretty, simple, useful (hopefully). Again, just right. After a few break neck paced weeks at school, some uncomfortable and difficult moments, I'm looking forward to this weekend. Savoring the preparations, the merry making, the coming restful days that are so much a part of this holiday. A much needed break as it turns out. I find myself counting down the days, much like we all are, children and adults alike. I might pull out the advent calendar...possibly, if the spirit moves me. I hope this day finds you looking ahead while enjoying the moment. Happy Wednesday to you and yours! 

happy halloween

Kylie is busy guarding all of the candy in the house... we got a treat of our own... power is back! Happy Halloween to you! 

natural egg dyes for easter

We had such a fun time yesterday using Martha's recipes to dye our eggs with items found in the kitchen. I love how they came out... as the colors unfolded it became really exciting! We used tumeric (the gold and yellows), yellow onion skins (the orange and terracotaa colored ones), coffee (the pale brown ones), and red cabbage (the blues!). Martha calls for making the dyes first, so we did that using mostly water and vinegar. The house smelled lovely boiling that cabbage in vingegar water let me tell you, but that teal makes it totally worth it. Some of the eggs are then boiled in the dye (this makes for a more saturated color) while others are hard boild first (Rob's specialty) then soaked in room temp dyes for a certain amount of time. I loved this!

 

The onion skins were by far the biggest surprise... the oranges they produced in the eggs was amazing. We had red onions on hand and I will definitely try them next time. Lesson learned with the tumeric... it was everywhere (first it boiled over, then it stained our counters at each turn... not fun, a little cleanser and some Bar Keepers friend on the stains on our stainless steel pots... yes, it stained stainless steel... and all was well). Happy Easter, friends. Did you dye eggs? Here are our recipes, they'll be hanging out in the How Tos if you're looking for them:

simple scenes

This post comes just in time for the holidays to be a little past their prime, right? And me too, I'm loving these days but am also ready for the return to normal! I've had such good intentions to blog... it just didn't happen. My (belated!) wishes for a happy holiday and new year! 

I did just want to share some small glimpses into our days these past few weeks. We had a really perfect and simple holiday this year. It was even filled with a few hand-mades (I couldn't resist the urge, despite my intentions) that were enjoyable and well loved which made them even sweeter. Our holidays were spent snuggled up in front of fires at various homes, drinking loads of hot chocolate, waffle making, snow-globe making (more on that tomorrow) and just relishing in time to rest and visit. I loved these days. 

As we are still celebrating the new year and all that is to come in these hopeful days, I did just want to thank each of you for visiting this little blog o' mine. To those that make their presence known and those that are quietly here... I'm very grateful for your dropping by and spending time here in this space. All the very best to you and yours! 

bloggers block

I'm experiencing a bit of blogger's block lately... mostly because the secret little bits of elfing going on around our home can't be shared in this forum frequented by our families. There's lots going on though, even if we're not sharing! Maybe just a peek?

Our handmakings this year have been really quick, fun and weekend morning projects which has made this season much more enjoyable for us. I've made some sugar/salt scrubs, Rob made the most amazing peppermint bark ever and there are little bits of sewing happening here and there also. I love this season. Though it makes one of us a bit sleepy...

Happy making and happy (...almost...) weekend! 

another year older...

...we love him so. Happy Birthday Honey! Off to celebrate...