Don't have to bark to be noticed

From leFigaro Magazine

Country curtains

I have always loved country curtains. Unbleached muslin trimmed with little fuzzy balls hanging on the fringe- that's perfect!  I remember curtains like this in our farm cottage,  when I was a child.

In the 1960s I found them again at Country Curtains shop in Connecticut, when came across a  small black and white ad for Country Curtains in the back pages of the New Yorker magazine, and ordered some to grace the windows in our big old house in Westchester Counnty.

The ones in the dining room were made (by me) of unbleached muslin and ball fringe.

It just feels comfy having them.

Rhubarb, strawberries &......

Our strawberries started ripening last week, and there is still plenty of rhubarb in the garden. Now is the perfect time for a fresh strawberry rhubarb pie.  I used a new pie crust recipe, one I found in

"From Our House to Your House" 

a spiral-bound cookbook from Southwestern Historical District, Troy Ohio 1987.

 Troy was the birthplace and family home of my mother-in-law, a beautiful town well worth visiting!

PIE CRUST

"The recipe won first prize at the Ohio State Fair some years ago. A never-fail pie crust every time" 

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1-1/8 cups shortening (or 1-1/4 cup for extra rich crust)

1 egg

5 tbsp water

1 tsp vinegar

In a bowl, cut shortening into flour and salt.

In a small bowl, mix together egg, water and vinegar and pour into flour mixture.

Mix well until dough forms.

Roll out on well-floured board or pastry cloth.

Makes 3 single pie crusts. Can be frozen uncooked. 

I found this dough a bit flaky and not too easy to roll out.  But worth it, it is very tender and tasty!

Goslings!

Poppi and Cookie hatched 3 goslings! Poppi has found a hole in the fence that the geese can squeeze through and parade around the yard.Our geese are so graceful and beautiful. They come when you call them, and they go in their house at nightfall but only if you call out   NightNight  to them.