first days of fall

misty mornings, evening fires, white pumpkins...

autumn with matthew mead

a fall harvest supper at my home is featured in the new Autumn with Matthew Mead...we made my favorite pumpkin ravioli with brown butter sage sauce, and invited friends for a fall supper out in the woods... best part was the tarte tatin (from Donna Hay) with sea salt caramel gelato for dessert ...get all my entertaining tips and recipes in this new issue on sale now at www.holidaywithmatthewmead.com

autumn rituals

time to light the fireplace in the evening, bring out a stack of soft wool throws, and add a rug to warm up the room...much as i hate to put away the white linens, i love to layer in dark rich browns and blacks in textiles and branches to replace the summer garden flowers and shells as the new season comes in...

fall weekend reading

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need" ...Cicero

I stocked up on new mysteries and historical novels for the hurricane weekend here and was lost in their pages for days...
Well, no gardening this weekend, but so happy to have growing bookshelves and electricity!

Here are my recommendations:

1. The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy : a love story and insight into a woman's life on the Isle of Guernsey in the early days of WWII occupation ...brought back the wonderful Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Shaffer and Barrows
2. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh: how the message and passion for flowers can transform our lives ...evocative contemporary San Francisco setting.
3. The Bitter Truth by Charles Todd: WWI nurse Bess Crawford comes home to London on leave and gets embroiled in a murder investigation in Suffolk and rescuing a baby in war torn France
4. Bound by Sally Gunning: next in her series of 18th century New England historical novels, this story brings to life women's lives on Cape Cod in this period of political unrest and search for independence.

In the stack to read next stormy weekend (I have to get back to work!)

5. Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, first native American graduate of Harvard in 1665 from Martha's Vineyard and his living in two different cultures.
6. A Book of Secrets by Michael Holroyd: an evocative tapestry weaving together the lives of Violet Trefusis, Alice Keppel and Eve Fairfax in the Italian village of Ravello
7. On Canann's Side by Sebastian Barry, a woman's journey from Ireland in WWI to America over a 70 year period

kindling

as the days get shorter and the nights cooler, it's time to light a fire in the fireplace at the end of the day, and this season, there is a lot of kindling to gather from the latest hurricane on long island...I bundle twigs and branches and tie with twine to use as firestarters and give as gifts for friends who have fireplaces in the city! photograph by michael skott
from THE NATURAL HOME by tricia foley