I can’t recall the last time we took a week and just went meandering. A perfect place for this is New England in the fall and it appears we timed leaf peeping just right. Thanks for joining me today and I hope you love these glimpses into autumn back East.

Our first spontaneous hotel selection was the Simsbury 1820 house in Simsbury, Connecticut. Even though I was born and raised in this state, there are many parts of it I have never visited.

While in Simsbury, we hiked up Talcott Mountain and toured the Heublein tower located at the top. Thankfully the State of Connecticut saved it from developers and it is now a state park for all to enjoy.

From Simsbury we drove to Kent, CT and stayed at the Starbuck Inn, which was right in town and walking distance to shops and restaurants.

The innkeeper, Peter Starbuck provided a delicious breakfast and a view of these gorgeous hydrangeas in his backyard.

From there, we drove to Kent Falls and hiked the path to the top of the falls.

Stockbridge, Massachusetts provided a photo of an exceeding large pumpkin (over 1000 lbs.) and a stay at the Red Lion Inn.

This sweet town was home to illustrator and artist, Norman Rockwell and has a museum in his honor (that is certainly worth visiting).

Our last stop was in Old Saybrook, Connecticut which was home base for 4 days. The Saybrook Point Inn & Spa is located right on the water (my favorite) and here is a morning view from our room.

From here we were able to see family and friends; attend my high school reunion and go for bike rides and long walks.

Here are a few more of my favorite photos!

Thanks for tagging along with me on my week off. Happy Tuesday, my friends!

Autumn in Phoenix is a time to reconnect. Everyone scatters to their cooler locations during our hot summers, but when the temperatures begin to fall, the sidewalks roll out and the town becomes lively again.

We had missed seeing many of our friends the last few months and decided to have a gathering to celebrate friendships and good health.

I have always believed that the first hour of any event is an indicator of the success or failure of said event. In order to make this extra special, a fall theme was in order.

For the cocktail hour, tailgating came to mind. The front of our home faces east, and at 5:30 p.m. it’s the ideal time to hang out on the front terrace.

Using our vintage 1974 Triumph TR6, the trunk became the basis for the cocktail distribution. I made the banner from old scraps of decorative paper, carefully selecting those patterns that look most like fall.

Since some of our friends drink and others don’t, we always offer both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. The non-alcoholic options were apple cider and boxed water. The boxed water is my attempt to cut down on plastic bottled water and can be ordered online at https://boxedwaterisbetter.com.

A deep copper tub is tucked to the right of the TR6’s trunk and houses both red and white wine. My cocktail of the evening was a Clementine Thyme Margarita. The recipe from Hola Jalapeno calls for tangerines but they are not in season yet so I substituted Cuties for the juice. Here is the link to recipe.

The porch and front entrance were colorfully appointed for the season.

After securing their drinks, the guests lingered on the front porch with simple appetizers. A dear friend of mine, Joe Pepe is a fabulous woodworker. I was so delighted and surprised when he sent me this charcuterie board. This is the first time I have used it! To see his amazing creations click here.

Using maple leaf cookie cutters, the cheese shapes add a bit of fun to the fall theme.

This beautifully grained board is 29″ long and 9″ wide ~~the perfect size for entertaining!

In addition to the charcuterie board, I made a Maryland crab dip that was warm and bubbling out of the oven, served with Stacey’s pita chips. Click here for the recipe.

The weather was pleasant and it was a delightful evening under a full moon. Dinner followed on the back porch but that will be a separate post! Looking forward to reconnecting with all of you this fall!

Happy Saturday! It has been a whirlwind lately~~so many meetings and pending projects. I keep reprimanding myself that I want to post a new blog once a week, but I blink and time has slipped away.

There is a distinct weather change here, finally! This morning it was 68 degrees. Though that may sound warm to you, it is a cool relief from our sweltering summer.

Fall gardening is happening now and though my vegetable garden is non-existent, I did start working on my newly designated bulb garden. Several years ago I planted many bearded irises and have never taken the time to divide them properly.

In doing so, I realized the watering system was rather inefficient, so we replaced the drips with spray heads. The rhizomes needed to be dug up, divided, checked for infestation, soaked in water, trimmed and replanted. The end result was 108 rhizomes planted in one afternoon. I also planted some salmon-colored iris given to me by my new gardening friend, Denise!! Thank goodness for soaking tubs and Epsom salts.

In early October, I am expecting a bulb shipment from Longfield Gardens with 100 each of alliums, tulips and hyacinths. The bed is ready to go and I’m hoping my back will hold up after setting the 300 bulbs in the ground. Photos below are from Longfield Gardens.

House projects~~this is the time of year that I start looking at the house with a critical eye. It’s time to touch up all the paint chips/cracks, wash the windows, fix anything that is broken all in time for the holidays.

My son’s room is on the agenda to remodel. My first inspiration was a scarf I received from the May installment of My Stylish French Box. This Létol scarf is 100% cotton Jacquard weave. I absolutely LOVE it!

My next inspiration is this fabric designed by Sarah Nicholas Williams from Radish Moon Textiles. It is a heavy Oyster 100% linen and the indigo color is spectacular. My friend, Janie, thinks it looks more like a kitchen fabric, but my son loves food. I’ve yet to find a fabric that thrills me like this one and for some reason it just makes me happy 🙂

The Dash & Albert rug sample is from Annie Selke and again, it captures this sense of blue that I think will work wonderfully in his very white room. Just ordered it so when it comes in, then the work begins!

Over the summer I subscribed to an online artist series by Kelli Folsom. She typically does still life paintings in oil. Since I have little to no experience in oil paints, it has been a bit of a stretch for me to try this. This is my first attempt of learning how to paint online~~hydrangeas in a silver pot. Maybe it will work in the bedroom remodel?

I hope you are enjoying the beginnings of fall weather. One of my favorite bloggers, Karianne at Thistlewood Farms, shared this on her post recently and I thought it made me happy. I thought I would share it with you! Click here for the download image. The colors are much more vibrant than the photo below.

Hope to do more fall decorating this weekend! I hope yours is a relaxing one.

Since it is National Dog Week or Day (who decides these things?) I thought I would share with you the ways I spoil our dogs. I’ve often said I want to be reincarnated as one of our pets. They have the life of Riley.

It’s a long story as to why I started supplementing their dry store-bought dog food with homemade food, but what a difference this had made in their interest in mealtime and overall health. The fresh homemade food is mixed in with their morning and evening kibble. Their reaction is pure excitement! Quite honestly, with a little salt and pepper I would eat this too.

It is NOT hard to make your own dog food, and it only takes a few hours to do so. I multiply this recipe x 6 and it provides enough dog food for 1 month. This recipe is from The Whole Pet Diet by Andi Brown. I highly recommend this book if your dog (or cat) is having any health issues. Look at the fresh ingredients!

The dog food is then divided into daily portions and put in the freezer.

I also make Beautiful Coat oil, an essential fatty acid blend, rich in vitamins A, D and E that is added to each meal. This oil benefits their skin, heart, eyes and immune system. I typically triple this recipe as we use it daily for both our dogs and cats.

PawDiet sends out texts regarding pet food recalls. It is astounding how the quality of pet food varies and often, the recall warnings include salmonella or listeria, which often can contaminate humans.

As a result, I make the snacks for our pets, too. It is so easy and simple, and the pets LOVE them. When a large, good quality steak goes on sale (did you know Safeway has to mark down their meat after 24 hours?)), I turn it into dog snacks. Cut the steak into strips, whatever thickness you like ~~I tend to do thin slices. Bake in your oven on a cookie sheet for 1 hour at 250 degrees. I put them in Ziplock bags and freeze.That’s it!

It has been SO hot here and I can only imagine how uncomfortable it gets for big, hairy dogs. Typically I would buy Frosty Paws (dog ice cream sold in the grocery store’s refrigerated section), but I noticed a lot of ingredients that I can’t pronounce. I experimented this morning with a frozen yogurt/berry treat.

This recipe is from Home is Where the Boat Is ~~I ordered the dog themed silicon trays from Amazon. Of course, our beagle, Sox LOVED them, but Cooper wasn’t so sure. Perhaps I will try it with peanut butter next time.

I would imagine I am re-directing all my mothering instincts to the pets, now that the children are gone. Regarding costs, I do look for fresh items on sale and stock up (like today barley was marked down). The costs and time justify the means because the end result is a good one~~happy, healthy pets with less visits to the vet.

For several years now, we have been asked by location scouts to use our property to film commercials, documentaries, or photo shoots for print ads. It is always amazing to me how many people it takes to create the magic we see.

Yesterday, we had a staging crew arrive at 9:00 a.m. They removed most of the furniture from the family room, brought in their own chairs, pillows, rugs, artwork, tables, lamps to turn it into a post college apartment. They even removed our curtains! This was for a commercial for an online university.

Trucks filled with equipment line up in our front driveway and side streets.

Even though the actual filming was confined to the family room, the front hall, front porch and other areas of the house were filled with equipment.

The pool house was used for wardrobe and the actors.

There were over 65 people here all day. Naturally, they need to be fed, so most crews have their own caterers on site.

Lunch was served in tents under the cluster of trees in our front yard. Portable air conditioners were brought in to combat the high temperatures.

Since we live on a busy street, a motorcycle police officer from the City of Phoenix made sure vehicular entry and exit was safe. All productions done here need to be permitted by the City.

Here are some photos from other commercials. This setting in the back yard was a children’s baseball team’s celebration for Cousins Subs.

Another Cousins Subs commercial was a girl’s graduation celebration in our dining room. Often multiple commercials are shot on the same day(s)

If you are interested in having your home as a candidate for potential commercials, photo shoots or movies, connect with your local scouting agent. Typically they will need lots of photos of your home and property.

Naturally, you are paid a fee for the use of your home and the amount depends on whether the production is for a local or national company. The fee is also based on number of days and how much of your home they use.

An insurance policy is provided and we’ve never had a situation where any damage has occurred. As you can see from the photo above, they take great care in protecting flooring from all the equipment and traffic.

By 8:00 p.m. the house was back to normal. You would never have known the filming took place! This process is a bit of an intrusion, but fortunately, we have worked with conscientious production companies who are respectful of our home. Fun day!

Having a back staircase is such a blessing. Located off the mudroom, this leads to the 2nd landing on the main staircase. Hundreds of trips have been made up and down this staircase by many feet. Suffice to say, the back staircase is used much more than the main entry staircase.

Both staircases have the same type of carpeting-a sisal natural fiber runner.

Initially I selected sisal because I thought it would keep the children, as toddlers from playing on the stairs~~their soft little feet weren’t attracted to the feel of it. I also really like the look of sisal and find it softer than jute or other natural fibers .

But, with heavy foot traffic, the back staircase sisal now looks like this on each of the treads. Since 2001, this will be the 3rd time I need to replace it.

To make matters worse, Cooper, in the last year or so, has found pleasure in scratching at it (on the top step), rolling it up and then laying on it. As a result it now looks like this! (sorry for the bad photo!)

I am really not sure what to do. Do I replace the sisal for a 3rd time, knowing that we have less feet in the house and therefore it won’t break down as quickly?

We have started removing the carpet. The sisal was put down by professionals with boatloads of glue. I was even considering painting the stairs but tackling old glue removal will be a considerable effort. What a mess! The carpet covered up many plaster wall problems too.

This project will take quite some time to finish. But in the meantime, I’d like your help in determining what I should do next. I’d love to paint the stairs and put in a runner, but I’m not sure I can fix or hide all the plaster issues.

Here are some inspiration pictures. Do you have a favorite? Remember that the stairs are angled and not a straight shot like some of these photos.

In addition to replacing the carpet, there must be a way to improve the lighting. The ceiling height obviously varies depending on what step you are on, but at the greatest point, I’d say it’s approximately 18-20 feet to the ceiling. It might be time for a chandelier?

Please send me your thoughts or ideas~~as I am not sure I need to match the front staircase runner with the back. There is a door separating the two.

Thank you in advance for your help!