We had a blank wall over our breakfast nook at the Train House that I didn’t know what to fill it with…
Victor had an idea of putting pictures of our 3 homes on it!!
So for my birthday he gave me watercolor paintings of our homes!!
Our first house, as my son calls it “The Mother Ship,” as my grandsons call it, “The Yellow House!!” This is our main home, we have lived in it for 17 years!!! It is a half hour outside of Boston!!! I took photos of the houses, purposely to have watercolors made from them…
Victor found a website that makes watercolor pictures from a photo…and here is the The Yellow House in watercolor!!
This is our Cape Cod Cottage that we have had for 32 years…it’s a true beach cottage and we like it that way, we often call it our little gem…
And the watercolor!!!
And finally our, “Train House,” in Virginia, because it is close to tracks of a big old freight train, which we have fondly embraced, it is also in the center of the city, where we can walk to restaurants and shops… We bought this house 2 years ago, to be close to our grandsons and for investment purposes…
And the watercolor of it…
This is the breakfast nook flinished and ready for us to enjoy…on the other side of the wall is the family room and a TV that we can view from sitting at the end of the nook!!! We are still working on the family room… It is challenging managing 3 homes, but the pleasures outway the challenges…
🖼
On my last post I wrote about how I am keeping myself busy during these trying times of Covid 19!! I have discovered the world of “paint by numbers” art, and now I am hooked… This is the unfinished painting I was working on…
And this is the finished painting…
I designed the frame and Victor made it…this is my first paint by number painting, hanging in our Yellow House dining room!!!
This vase of cabbage roses was my next paint by number painting, for hanging in the Train House!!!
Finished…I will take a picture of it when Victor frames it…On to the other paintings I have lined up!!!
🦃
This Thanksgiving will be so different for all of us… Dr. Fauci tells us, “the lowest-risk Thanksgiving celebration would be a small dinner only with people who live in the household.” And so it is, out of an abundance of caution, Victor and I are having our own turkey dinner for two and then having Gina and family over for dessert outside around our fire pit!! I thought I would share my recipe with you, for a small turkey dinner cooked in a crock pot, because I know lots of my friends who follow this blog are my age with only them or a spouse living in their home…
These are the ingredients for, Slow Cooker Turkey Breast and Vegetables…
SLOW COOKER TURKEY BREAST AND VEGETABLES
Ingredients:
- 1 large onion, chopped into one inch chunks
- 16 oz. bag of baby carrots
- 1 celery heart, cut into one inch chunks
- 2 large potatoes, cut into one inch chunks
- 2 cups of chicken broth
- 2 1/2 pound split turkey breast (with the bone-in) I removed the skin,
- but you could leave it on if you prefer.
- 1 Tablespoon of Bell Seasoning
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme(optional)
Directions: Add the onion, carrots, potatoes and celery and broth to the crockpot then add turkey on top of vegetables. Sprinkle with seasonings and place the fresh herbs on top. Turn crock pot on low or 6 hrs. After 6 hours the turkey should be falling off the bone, but try to remove it very gently and place on a serving dish. Using a slotted spoon, transfer vegetables around turkey then spoon some liquid over dish to serve. You could also make gravy from the liquid.
Chopped vegetables in crock pot, before cooking…
Split turkey breast on top of vegetable before cooking. I put some celery and onions atop the turkey and scattered sprigs of rosemary and thyme around vegetables to add flavor!! Enjoy the aroma that will fill your home with the smell of Thanksgiving. We plan to take a walk while the turkey is cooking.
Cooked turkey and vegetables, the meat should fall off the bone…
Done…I will serve our meal with a salad and cranberry sauce, to complete the Thanksgiving experience… easy and so delicious!!! Enjoy!!!
❤️
As the days and months pass during this pandemic and tumultuous times, I keep my eye on all the craziness going on around us, by watching CNN, FOX and MSNBC all day while holdup in my home, going about my routines during the day. Why am I torturing myself with these news program? I’m trying to find the truth, what is the truth and who is telling the truth? I don’t know the answer to this question, they say hindsight is 20/20, but we are not in hindsight yet, we are living in the crazy drama right now, and it keeps on going, never seeming to end!!! We don’t know, as a nation, what and who is telling the truth, but I can tell you where my heart feels safe and comfortable and I think that might be the truth for me… Paying attention to our hearts along with our brains might be the answer of navigating through this chaos…I feel it is nature guiding us!! And why would I have such trust in nature? Look at this:
As Victor and I came home from a walk, I came upon this phanomonum, I looked down on our railing to our front fence and saw this…
A pattern made by dirt and maybe wind and rain, I don’t really know, but what an amazing pattern it made…
Just to prove that is was actually dirt, I smudged it!!! My point is, nature is so amazingly powerful and might be one thing we can count on to give us truth and comfort, so as much as you can, get out in nature and breath!!!
Wishing you all the beauty of nature, love, health and comfort during this Thanksgiving and going into The Holiday Season…I am grateful for your friendship❤️
Visions of My 70s 
So lovely! You and your husband are so creative! I love seeing the pictures!
Sent from my iPad
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Thank you Marianne!! We enjoy being creative together and finally being retired, we have the time!! Love seeing your photos, you are creative too!! Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving, stay well🙏❤️
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Beautiful blog!!! I love the pictures of your three homes. And also the paint by numbers pictures. Paint by numbers has come a long way since we were kids.
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Glad you liked the post!! The website was great, that we had the watercolors made, but I agonized over the photos before we sent them in!!! I know, paint by numbers has come a long way!! It’s so funny, while I was painting both pictures, I kept saying to myself, these are not coming out good at all, but when I finished and stood back, they looked pretty good!!! Thanks for checking in!!! Stay well🙏💖
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Have a wonderful safe Thanksgiving this year
Love to all of you 💖🍁🎃
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Thank you Elaine, and the same to you and your family too🙏🧡💚💛
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I love your blog and it’s like getting a specialized magazine subscription,, only you make the reader feel like part of the family! I loved the waterdolors of your three homes! Both you and Victor are so talented and how lucky to have three houses! You painting looks nothing like the old time paint by numbers…so professional looking. So sorry you can’t enjoy Thanksgiving with Gina and her fsmily, but I assume you are at the train house so you can be together for dessert outside! Just hope the westher is good! Take care and have a happy, healthy, and blessed Thanksgiving! ❤
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Nancy, I love that you compare my blog to a magazine, I have magazines everywhere in my houses, I have always gotten so many ideas from them!!! I even have them in our car, so I can read them on long trips!!! So that is quite a compliment for me!!
When I was growing up, as you know, we lived in a very small cape house and rarely went on vacations. I always said, I wanted to have a vacation house, and be more adventurous than my parents, they never would have had 3 homes. We are lucky we have them, but they are lots of work😂
Thanksgiving will be interesting this year, but we have to keep everyone safe, so I don’t mind, it will be an adventure!! Thank you for your sweet and thoughtful comments!! I wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving, stay well🙏❤️
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Thanks for your kind words. You are a special person! ❤
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🙏❤️
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Wow!!! The watercolors look amazing and I always knew you were a painter from your many years in kindergarten!!! You have an eye for color. You never know…a fire pit thanksgiving dessert might be a new tradition! Enjoy! Norine
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It’s so good to hear from you, Norine, I miss you💖 I hope you are doing well at school, it must be very challenging, to say the least!!! I miss the teachers and the kids!!!
Yes, the watercolors came out nicer than I thought they would!! And I do like color, but these paint by numbers come with the paint in neat little containers, all numbered, it’s so easy, I can literally paint anywhere!!!
We are looking forward to our fire pit dessert, I hope it becomes a tradition, we have to have some good come out of this madness. Hope you and your family are staying well, Happy Thanksgiving to you all🙏
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Carolyn, this post had me captured through all your words, pictures, and creativity. Thoroughly calming and fun and informative all together. You are a talented lady.
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Thank you for your kind words, Sharon, and taking the time to comment!! It’s so interesting to hear what people think of my blog and I love that I had a calming effect on you🙌 Hope you have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving🧡🦃
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Hi Carol,
Your breakfast nook is charming. The water color paintings of your houses make it perfect; guess you know my favorite. Your paintings look so professional, not like paint by numbers- love the yellow roses. Thanksgiving and Christmas will be very different this year, but if we do everything we are supposed to, things will get better. You’re
right about the news – why do we punish ourselves ? I guess because we are curious and always hoping for better news.
You and Victor will have a delicious dinner. Desert will be the best part, with your family. Enjoy! Wishing you, Victor and your family a HAPPY THANKSGIVING, filled
with God’s blessings. Take good care, be well, and stay safe.
With love,
Lucille
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Lucille, it’s always a pleasure to hear from you, thank you for your sweet comments!! Oh yes, I know your favorite, it’s actually my favorite too, probably because it’s been with us the longest!! Our grandsons don’t understand why we have all three pictures of our homes in one house, they think we should put the one we miss the most while in each house…it makes perfect sense when they say it😂
The Holidays will be different, for sure, but probably the most memorable. You hit the nail on the head, when you said, we watch the news because we’re hoping for better news!! Ever since the pandemic started, that’s all I’m hoping for. Let’s pray that next year will be a whole lot better!! Sending our love and wishing you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving🙏❤️
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the pattern is so cool nina! you never told me about that! and those watercolors are AMAZING up close. by the way, this is aaden
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Oh Aaden, thank you so much for reading and commenting on my blog…that makes me so happy👍 I know, that pattern made by Mother Nature is truly amazing!!! I guess I didn’t tell you about it, but now you know and we can talk about it next time I see you, I think Parker will enjoy it too!! Yes, the watercolors came out really nice, I so enjoy looking at them!!! Thank you again for your kind comments…see you tomorrow for dessert around the fire pit😉❤️
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