THE J.O. EMPIRE

tuesday tea and muffins. these ones are jamie's butternut squash...recipe here. i just stumbled on these sweet storage jars on his website too...we're an open shelf kitchen house here and these are perfect for my stashing and squirreling habit.p.s. did you know he sells shower caps??!

BABY HOROSCOPES

yesterday a couple very dear to me welcomed their baby girl into the world! i am so happy for them and can't wait to meet their special little bundle...as yet to be named.

but i do know she's a scorpio. and here's the wee card i sent off to them today along with a gift which i'll post about later after it {fingers crossed royal mail} arrives.

i love making these horoscope cards. i first saw the idea years ago in the spring 2002 martha stewart baby magazine...i managed to acquire all {but too few...in my opinion...copies} of the sweet issues and although i am currently on a mammoth magazine cull in our house i can not bear to part with them. the birth announcements featured in the article actually use a punch to cut out the little constellations but i like to add sparkles for the stars.

and for another adorable arrival...how wonderful to hear the news that baby hili is here...congratulations julie!

WE ARE DETECTIVES

the search is over. aided by a trusty investigator i now know where to get tinned pumpkin!

found by lynn here...and lots of other brightly packaged things that i'm sure i must need. and then a bit closer to home and cheaper here at waitrose.

i now see these pancakes featuring in our future october breakfasts. and maybe a decadent (decaff) coffee.

in other saturday news...i am braving the "junk room" aka the spare room and if i can come out the other side of the mess {without any injuries caused by falling towers of old magazines} i shall light candles for diwali tonight and sit in the glowy darkness watching sparkly dancing on the tv.

KITCHEN THERAPY

{feet up image from a/w 2004 jigsaw catalogue}

thank you.

your lovely comments gave me a lift this week and a reminder of the warmth and friendship that i've found in this space that seems so small to me and yet so very big when i look at where each visitor hails from. i know i have a very special new focus in my life but if i can keep creative and make a little journal post here and there i think i'll be getting the balance in some way.

and so it's friday. another week whizzes past and each day i'm noticing the change in the light and closing the curtains a moment earlier. it's hard to believe that the clocks will change in another seven days and by then i will have left my job and started my new one as full time homemaker. i am really looking forward to trying to bring a bit of order to each room in our nest...and as a messy person believe me it is going to mean a bit of overtime!

today i've baked and listened to radio four. berkley buns {as seen in the gigibird kitchen} and the archers to be precise. i recommend both highly...very english country living! any recipe that involves mixed spice and ginger has me at the ingredients list. i still have plans for tinned pumpkin too {once i find some} and have a lot of bookmarks for amazing looking treats found on websites across the pond. pumpkin and hazelnut clafoutis anyone?

tonight i'm going to bake butternut squash in a nigel slater stylee. i've enjoyed his tv series {which you can watch again in uk} not because i feel particularly enlightened by anything he has made but just in the gentle way he has made me remember what to cook for supper. i was getting into a dangerous game of mashed-potato-again-tonight-dear...not such a bad thing for an irishman...but felt i'd lost the way a bit with our home food.

a plated-up photo no doubt will follow later...a post just isn't a post without a visual!

BLOGGING BLOCK

the truth of the matter is that i just can't seem to blog lately. pretty obvious if you stop by here with any frequency. so this is hardly a comeback post...more of an i'm not sure why i can't post kind of post.

and as much as i delighted in the arrival of october and all things autumnal i'm not embracing it in quite the way i'd hoped. inspiration seems to be all around me...tapping me on the shoulder...but i just can't grab a hold and go with it. and sometimes it worries me...i could do with getting into first gear folks!

i have been reading blogs and books and magazines and almost feeling overwhelmed with all the good things out there. then i start to write up a post and i feel weirdly self-conscious...what's that all about? see...i'm on the verge of deleting this one because who wants to read about my doubts? but i suppose the reason i'm going with this one is it's really for me to be able to draw a kind of virtual line under them.

and more important than any niggles tonight is that i am managing to grow our little baby with success...and that keeps me more than very happy. especially as i can play the kick me over here now game! just one week left in my job at the post office and then i'll be home full time...and that may just be the green light i'm waiting on to move forward.