Spring Mantle

With tulips and daffodils in full bloom, spring arrived early and my winter laden fireplace mantle was in dire need of its own season change-and it had to be a budget conscious one.

Inspired by some white tulips I saw while at Home Depot for lawn fertilizer, I picked up a can of Rustoleum Heirloom White spray paint and painted some objects I had in the basement & garage that were lying around gathering dust.  A dark blue birdhouse. A little cabinet with screen doors that was hand-painted multiple different colors and patterns. And a pretty hideous dark brown wood mirror.
I had the white glazed pots and mini-terrarium.  I scavenged some forsythia, creeping buttercups,mossy tree bark and vines. I made a small vine wreath and birds nest.  Gathered some eggs,chicks, birds and rabbits from around the house and....

My pride & joy of this project is this mirror...because it was so downright ugly.  I forgot to take a picture of it before but it really transformed once I hung the wreath with a pretty white ribbon from it.

Spray Paint $4

Tulips:$12

Total cost for the entire mantle: $16!!

Snowdrops

I took a walk with Jackson through the woods yesterday and came across a carpet of pretty white snowdrops.  I could't stop myself from uprooting a few.  They'll go out in the garden once they're done blooming in the house.

Banana Splits

The other night while cleaning out the refrigerator, I noticed some older strawberries that were on the verge of not making the cut.  I've been making a real effort to be less wasteful when it comes to food so I started dreaming up possible recipes for these "about to bite the dust berries"....  

The winner...a strawberry sauce....  

Chop a pint of strawberries...

Cook in a medium sauce pan with 1/2 tsp of lemon
juice and 1/2 cup  of sugar...

Mash & stir for several minutes until the sauce reduces

...then came the Homemade Hot Fudge idea...

Hot Fudge recipe can be found here: Hot Fudge Recipe

...followed by the bananas that were sure to be banana bread in a few short days had they not been needed for these diet destructing deserts I had conjured up...

 All because of old strawberries...scrimpy yet scrumptious!

 Check out Harbor Homestead & Co. for the perfect accompaniment:

Our Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor Spoons 

and make your own Banana Splits tonight!

Montauk at Sunrise

For Christmas, I finally got a real 35mm camera (Thanks Marc :) one worth getting up in the middle of the night to drive to Montauk and photograph the sunrise.  I haven't been up this early in awhile and sadly, I'd forgot how rewarding it is.  Truth be told, it was my brother who inspired me (Thanks Steven:)  He is a great photographer who should morph his hobby into a living somehow.  He was planning to go and I thought it would be a great opportunity to use my new toy.

The fabled Montauk lighthouse didn't disappoint.  We got there about an hour before sunrise amid deer and dedicated surfers beginning to stir in the pre-dawn light.  What I am really captivated by though is the lamp softly glowing in one of the lighthouse's windows.  Really? Someone lives there?  A lighthouse keeper, my nostalgic heart skipped a beat at the thought.  Upon returning home, I researched it and it turns out there is still a lighthouse keeper at the Montauk lighthouse.  I am grateful for things like this in life - that automation and computers and technology cannot replace the lighthouse keeper and her gigantic black Newfoundland.  Jealous...yet inspired before the sun even came up, we walked down to the beach.

Here are the pictures, my first attempt at real photography:

Starting a New Year at The End