Martha Stewart & Etsy Contest Finalist!!!

Oh I received the most wonderful news this week! I am so excited!
Well, saying I am excited about being a finalist in the Martha Stewart & Etsy collaboration contest would certainly be an understatement! I am beyond that - overwhelmed might be a better term to use to correctly describe my feelings right now.

I was contacted by a member of Martha Stewart Weddings on Tuesday about being one of the finalists in the contest. One of my wee Lucky Sixpence Books had been selected as one of 19 finalists and one winner out of thousands of entries. After some questioning I discovered that the announcement was going to be made on Thursday, today.
I feverishly began completing books I had very slowly been working on, in order to try to get them listed in my shop ASAP.

Of course, you know when you are busy, that is when all things come to a head: the phone rings a gazillion times, there are doctor appointments to attend to, tradesmen appear at your door, email builds up, the bank decides to ring you with am accident insurance policy to sell, birthdays, and even a very early Christmas coffee morning celebration, too!
So it was with great difficulty, with everything else going on, that I tried to keep working so that I would have some new additions for my shop by today.

You might imagine my surprise when I then discovered the announcement was made on Wednesday instead!
Oh well you know what is said about the best laid plans!

I have gotten a lot of work on the books finished and some are in the shop now and some more will go in this weekend - new styles and designs and custom covers as well as a new concept for design-your-own book.
Stop by Etsy and have a look - and thank you for letting me do the puffing peacock thing tonight!
xxx
Maggie

Happy Halloween!

The air is crisp and there is a smell of pumpkins and candle wax in the air tonight.
I love Halloween!
In America, it is a night to go haunting your neighbourhood and visit neighbours you do not get to see every day.
As you walk with your little ones, who run haphazardly up sidewalks in order to be first to the door, you recall the times when you were young and the excitement you had doing the very same things your children are now experiencing. Ah, the memories!
As an older adult, we now see our grandchildren reliving those days as our grown-up children walk with them. And so it goes.

I can recall one Halloween night I was out alone with my younger brother. We were very young - maybe 9 and 11 years old, or younger. But in those days, parents allowed kids to go out alone - it was not unsafe. Some older kids grabbed my brother's treat bag and ran off with it. He stood there in shock not being able to say a word and then when he did, he simply let out a yowl and cried.
I insisted he remain right there and ran after the kids who took it. You know what they say about adrenalin in times of need? I cannot believe how fast I ran. It was like I had the wind behind my back. I caught up with the kids, and tore the sack from their hands and ran back to my brother who was still in the exact spot I had left him.
I marvel at how I had the courage to do that. The kids were older than us and much bigger. I think I surprised them, too, and they were caught off-guard and so hadn't the reaction time to do anything about it.
Tim and I headed back home after that. We had had enough excitement for one evening.

My first year in Birmingham, we had dozens of children come calling at our door and I was thrilled to see them. I had been led to expect not-too-much in the way of ghosts and goblins, being told this tradition was not as big in the UK as it is in America.
But last year and this year, we had only a handful of children calling out, "Trick or Treat" and I am wondering if the kids who were here the 1st year are now to old to come round, or if they have moved, or if parents are too afraid to allow them out with so much bad out there these days.
I do hope the tradition continues to live on. It is so much fun for the kids and so much fun for the adults, too.


Katie carved our pumpkin for us today and we made up treat pouches just like my mom made when we were little. I didn't have the same candies in them, but the meaning is the same; traditions carried on from mother to daughter, generation to generation.
Make your traditions memorable and all the best to you, too.

Boo!
Maggie

A Bit about Easter

The umbrella, mentioned in a former post
Purchased in Witney, Oxfordshire, England

Three vintage, wooden, darling harbingers of Spring from Germany,
purchased from friends, Stephen & Gerry's Antique Shop, in Williamsville, New York

A German paper mache candy container rabbit and cart

My spring cleaning is almost complete, so I have done a bit of decorating for the season.
Here are some of the little things I set out at Easter and Springtime.
Some of them have been with me for decades, and have mad the journey with me across the Atlantic. Others are 'new' finds from England.
And some are actually and really new.

A Bunny Tray from my sister, Deborah, and a black-faced lamb from my daughter

I grew up in an area of New York State, with people predominantly from Germany, Poland, Italy.
So the customs I have are sourced from those influences.

Antique salt and pepper chicks I have had for at least 20 years Reproduction paper mache rabbit candy container, from Germany Vintage chick egg cups from England


New milk glass container on the left, purchased in Bourton-on-Water in the Cotswolds
Vintage white ceramic vase purchased at a car boot recently
Antiqu milk glass container on the right, purchased at an estate sale in Buffalo, New York

Easter would not have been the same without a bunch of Pussy Willows and Butter Lambs on the table. Chocolate foil eggs and trays with chocolate rabbits adorned the table when it was not being used for dinner. And, Mom always had some fresh stems of Forsythia in a vase.

We had white eggs from local hens, and coloured them each year. The Easter bunny hid baskets filled with chocolates and jelly beans and we searched wildly for them as soon as we were awake Easter morning.

Vintage and new paper mache ggs from Germany

When I had children of my own, I found an egg farm that supplied me with pullets - the tiniest of eggs from hens just beginning to lay them.

They were so small they fit nicely in the hands of my young children, and were easy to cover completely, with egg dye in a teacup.

Reproduction chicks, vintage egg; large vintage egg; two ceramic bunnies from Target

We attended church on Easter morning, too. I can still smell the flowers, and hear the hymns if I just close my eyes and listen.

A different type flower child pyramide from Germany Purchased on ebay in Germany

As an adult, I added new traditions to the old - most came from the Poles in our area.
A visit to an historic indoor farmers' market, The Broadway Market, (click on the name to g directly to the market, and also take a look at Hometown Girl for more images from it.) each Easter, resulted in a return home with bags brimming with freshly baked rye bread, butter lambs, Polish sausage, Easter ham, and some treats.

Two cabinets found in an antique shop in Evesham, England filled with Easter & springtime treasures

Television featured the annual egg hunt at the White House and the Easter Parades being held around the country. Later in the day, the movie, Easter Parade was shown, and was watched as we eagerly awaited our holiday meal.

Times are different now, but memories remain. Spring is a time of change, and hope, and renewal. It is when all things breath again and com to life after a long, dreary winter.
I hope these images add a little cheer to your day, too.

xxx
Maggie

Vintage German Pyramide with Flower Children
I traded an antique doll for this and have not seen one like it before or since.
It is one of my favourite things. It traditionally would have small candles in the little cups.

Sugar Mice!

We visited lovely Witney, in Oxfordshire, on Saturday.
We were headed to Witney Warehouse to collect a vintage parasol, (or umbrella) that we had seen there the week before. You can just about see the darling little thing in this photograph of the shop's front window:
I will take more pictures of it later, to share with you, once I am finished with spring cleaning and decorating!
After collecting our little item, we took a stroll along the high street and visited some shops.
One was a bakery called Huffins. I was immediately drawn to a tray containing the sweetest little mice!

All set out in pink and white, with wee tails made of string, these tiny creatures captivated me right away!
I asked my husband if they were traditional, (they looked it!) and if he had had them as a child, and his answer was affirmative to both questions.

Of course, we had to have two of them for our grandchildren, Libby and Ethan. They were packed away in a white bakery bag and off we went, heading home, with our two Whitney purchases.
I only wish I had taken some photographs of Libby and Ethan demolishing them on Sunday!
It was a sight to see as Ethan held the tail in his right hand while keeping a firm grip on the doomed mouse with his left!
It was nice to see the children partaking in a bit of English tradition.

I don't know if Sugar Mice are just available at Easter time, or if they are for any time of year, but this was the first time I have seen them.
You might want to try your hand at making some for your children. Here are links for recipes for making them.
Sugar Mice from Foody. Sugar Mice from The Sugar Boy.

Although I didn't get a sugar mouse for our all-grown-up daughter, Katie, that didn't stop the little kid in her from putting in an appearance . . .


Have a great week my friends!
xxx
Maggie

Today is the day for lovers - and in our house, we take that seriously!
And it includes making a 'new' traditional favourite - decadent chocolate brownie hearts!

When my children were young, I left chocolate Valentine heart lollipops and Valentine cards for them on the dining room table before I went to bed.
In the morning, they would hurry downstairs, getting ready for school, and find their surprise waiting for them.
It was a nice way to welcome their day and let them know how much they were loved.

Since I married my husband, Jim, and now live here in England, we have begun a new tradition: we celebrate the day with home-made, from scratch, brownies. I make them, bake them, and cut them into hearts using a cookie cutter.
Then we adorn them with fresh raspberries and a bit of vanilla ice cream.

I use a brownie recipe from Martha Stewart's Living Magazine, originally published in 2004.
I looked for it on-line, and it has been removed, so I cannot provide a link for you.
But I will place the recipe at the end of this post.
So here are some pictures showing the steps, and the finished product.
Enjoy and wishing you all new traditions to share and love in your hearts for Valentine's Day!

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

Makes about 8

Vegetable Oil Cooking Spray

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 ounces semisweet chocolate (about 170 grams)

* I used Green & Blacks

¼ cup best quality unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder

*I used Green & Blacks Organic Cocoa

¾ cup all purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (about 180 C)
2. Line an 8” square baking dish with parchment paper, leaving a 2” overhang on 2 sides. Coat with cooking spray. Set aside.

· Press the paper in the pan, trim to fit.

· Spray the pan first, and then replace the trimmed paper.

· Spray again. I used butter.

3. Melt together: butter, chocolate & cocoa in heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Remove from heat. Stir until smooth. Let cool slightly.
4. Whisk together: flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
5. Put eggs, sugar and vanilla into a bowl of an electric mixer fitted wit a whisk attachment. Beat until pale, about 4 minutes.
6. Beat in the chocolate mixture. Add the flour mixture. Beat until just combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
7. Transfer batter to the prepared pan. Smooth top with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted between the edge and the center of the pan comes out with a few crumbs on it, about 30-35 minutes. Do not over bake. Let cool about 15 minutes and remove from the pan and transfer to a wire rack.

Martha Stewart Living magazine: 15 Years of Delicious Desserts

February 2006; Originally from magazine published in February 2004

Photograph & Description: Page 61; Recipe: Page 16

Halloween Memories: Buffalo & Williamsville New York

It's almost here: Halloween Night!
I can still remember the little poem my children learned in Pre-K:

On Halloween Night
The ghosts come out
Say, "Trick or Treat"
and then they shout-
"Boooooooo"!!!

I can close my eyes and smell what Halloween smells like: all crisp and cold, creating red, dripping noses, with smoke-filled, chilled air, from fireplaces burning wood to keep the chill away from inside rooms.
Stomping through piles of fallen leaves, making crunching, paper-like sounds as we pushed our way through them.
The occasional jump in a neatly piled leaf mountain near the road, and laughing as we made a mess of it all.
Those were simple days and exciting times for the little ones.

Although there is controversy regarding Halloween and many people believe it is an un-Christian-like night, kids only believe in the magic and make-believe of the evening.
All they want is a night to be someone they are not, and to run rampant throughout the neighborhoods, shouting and reveling in the fun of it all.
The eerie nightfall; other costumed characters; the scents and sounds of the evening; and of course, getting all of that candy!

My children were no different: they adored Halloween night. They were dressed-up in costumes I made for them, and carried flashlights and glow sticks and little pumpkin pails in which to collect their candy.
Tradition in our family had it that a pillowcase was used for candy collection, so I always carried three pillowcases and periodically, dumped the tiny collection pails into them, all through the evening.
We would walk in a safe neighborhood, usually where my sister lived, as we joined her children and the other cousins to trick-or-treat, all in the same area.
The older kids would take off on their own, while we strolled along with the younger children.
Sometimes, kind adults would offer the parents liquid refreshments to help keep them 'warm' on the cold, cold nights.
Those beverages were anything from wine, to mulled cider, to hot chocolate or coffee and all were welcomed by us! Since we weren't doing all the running our kids were engaged in, our older bones needed a little boost!

Throughout the years, my children were cats and pumpkins, prisoners and boxed Christmas gifts; fairies and skeletons, Princesses and chefs, but never a ghost. Not one of my children ever wanted to be a ghost, but oh how much I wanted one of them to be one!

When I was little ghost 'costumes' were standard fare! We would raid our mother's linens and steal white pillowcases, cut out two eyes, drop the cases over our heads, and we were off for a night of fun and frolic.
I don't remember mom ever chastising us for our indiscretions with her linens, but I know if my children had done that I would have been very angry, to say the least!
But I loved the ghosts in their simplicity and total coverage for anonymity!
And how much they reminded me of my own youth.

Ours was a different sort of Halloween from that of my children.
The costumes were mostly home-made and they represented inanimate objects, like TV sets, or spaceships. Or simple things like dogs, cats or teddy bears or babies, dolls, or Indians. Or scary things like witches, vampires, devils, and ghosts.
The closest thing you would see to an overly commercialized movie or TV character might be kids dressed up as Raggedy Ann an Andy dolls.
When compared to the costumes my childrens' friends had, costumes of my youth, were innocent and for the most part, non-controversial.
Schools didn't have to resort to limiting costumes to characters found in literature books.
Pretty much, that was all we had anyway.

We carried soap with us to soap the doors and windows of people who didn't offer candy.
Our parents forbid us from carrying the soap, but we sneaked it out of the house anyway.
We rarely used it though - we were too afraid of getting caught!
Some bad kids carried eggs and egged houses that were not offering treats.
They believed that was their 'trick,' I guess. We never did anything like that.

"Trick or Treat," we would shout as we pounded on doors or as we rang bells of the unsuspecting victims of the fright we believed we were causing.
They would open their doors and drop candy into our pillowcase sacks. Some were acting frightened, and some would question us, and all were friendly.

There were some families that actually invited you into their homes for warmed, mulled cider and a donut. I can remember a family who did that on Lexington Avenue in the city of Buffalo, New York and another one Norwood Avenue.
The ladies on Norwood opened-up their enclosed porch and served cider from a punch bowl and Freddies donuts.

Some people gave out candy corn, and some gave out smaller versions of our favorite candy bars: Reeses Peanut Butter Cups; Milky Way bars; Butterfinger; Heath; Snickers; Clark bars.

And some gave out our favorite candies: Good and Plenty; Milk Duds; Licorice, red and black; Dots; Mike and Ikes; fireballs; Tootsie Roll Pops; Safety suckers; peach stones; candy lipsticks. Some families gave pennies, or apples, or popcorn balls, and some gave gum.
But our favorite houses were the houses giving full sized candy bars.
The word would spread from group to group of kids: we all knew where the good candy was being given out and would race to get there before it was all gone!

It wasn't all a selfish, gluttonous evening. We also carried little milk cartons for UNICEF, into which the charitable would drop coins which we would carry to school with us to give back to our teachers.
We'd walk for blocks and blocks, unsupervised by adults, coming home tired and cold but all too ready to dump our sacks onto the floor and take a good long look at our loot.

Most of the time Halloween was icy cold and sometimes even snow was on the ground. The snow was the worst. You had to wear a coat over your costume and oh no, BOOTS too!
And you would be freezing and wet and it just wasn't the same as Halloween nights without snow. But either way, the scheme was the same; you were in it for as much as you could get!

When my children were young, someone was alway on hand to give out our own candy. This usually meant that the dads had all the fun of greeting the trick-or-treaters, while moms went out with the kids.

In order to have both parents go out with the kids, some families had grandparents man the doors and some trusting people simply left bowls of candy on their doorsteps with a note of instruction to help yourself to one treat and leave the rest to share with others.

When I was young, our parents remained at home, answering the door for the Halloween revelers, and we went out alone. As years went by, my older sisters stopped going out (except Debbie) and they helped with the door.
I think I stopped going out about the age of 12. I think Deb carried on right through High School!
In those days, kids teased you if you were still trick-or-treating at ages much above 11.

My own kids carried on as long as they had breath in their bodies!
I do believe Katie kept going the longest - maybe until she was about 20!

Preparation for the giving of treats began with a trip to the farmers of Western New York.
Our parents would take us out to the countryside to select our own pumpkins.
We weren't wealthy, but there was always enough money for each of us to have our own pumpkin to carve.
We would carve them in time for 'Beggars' Night.' This was traditionally the evening of the 30th of October - a night for brave young children with a thirst for rejection to try to get some extra treats.
The brave ones would go door-to-door, trick-or-treating, with the audacity of a Wall Street risk-taker: they knew the rewards could be good, if they got lucky!
They appeared on your doorstep asking for candy the night before the actual event.
In our house, we didn't give candy out on Beggars' Night. We would politely ask them to return the next evening.
But since we answered the door, they would simply scurry off.

They were luckier in homes where people were afraid of retaliation: soaped windows, et all, if they didn't hand out the goods. Those frightened people gave candy out on beggars night only to find they had none left for Halloween - so they would need to buy more or take a risk of getting soaped - or worse - egged.

Sometimes older kids used toilet paper to toss in trees which left eerie shreds of thin paper flying about on Halloween night.
In our neighborhood, since Halloween was very near to Election Day, the temporary voting booths were set out in places between the street curb and the public sidewalk.
(Do you remember them?)
We had one set in its rightful spot on the corner of Ashland and Highland Avenues.
One neighbor teenage boy climbed upon its roof and hurled water and worse on unsuspecting trick-or-treaters walking past.
Oh the merriment and tricks that were had on Beggar's Night!

But with out pumpkins carved, we would set about doing other traditions to prepare for the big night.
My mom and dad bought the candy, and with all of us sitting around the big harvest table, we sorted and packed; making tiny treat sacks for other kids to have from us.
We spread out white napkins and filled them with candy corn and other treats. Then we tied them securely with curling ribbon and made mini ghosts of the bundles.
The white bundles filled massive bowls and were set near the door awaiting the arrival of fiendish visitors.

Part of the fun of Halloween in those days was the preparation and anticipation of it all.

Here in England, Halloween used to be celebrated when my husband was a child, but it went out of favor for a while. Now, it is beginning a comeback and each year more and more shops are carrying items to decorate homes, and costumes, and candy.

I brought some of my decorations with me, and some, I have purchased since my arrival here two years ago.


This Halloween, we again have some candy from home, courtesy of our friends, Esther and Don. We have some candy corn and some mello creme pumpkins, and some Hershey's Kisses in the Hugs style.
I also purchased some candy bars with familiar American brands: Mars bars, (really Milky Way bars in disguise) and Twix.

Tonight, Jim, Katie, and I will wrap small bundles of candy in napkins, the same way we always did at our house when I was a girl, and fill a bowl with the precious bundles.
We'll carve our pumpkins and prepare for our little 'guest' tomorrow evening.
And the traditions carry on.