Wishing you all A Life in Roses in 2022
Mike got me a few roses for a nice start to the New Year.
What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That’s not been said a thousand times?
The new years come, the old years go,
We know we dream, we dream we know.
We rise up laughing with the light,
We lie down weeping with the night.
We hug the world until it stings,
We curse it then and sigh for wings.
We live, we love, we woo, we wed,
We wreathe our brides, we sheet our dead.
We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,
And that’s the burden of the year.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1910
Happy New Year!
And I leave you with Zaz
My Mazamet 
How romantic! Roses in December, though . . . ‘spensive! :o)
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There’s a florist here who does massive bouquets for Three Kings day at very reasonable prices š
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Perhaps the Universal sign of intelligence are those that value beauty, however it’s presented.
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That sounds Buddhist š
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Wishing you both a wonderful new year, I enjoy the roses with you xx
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To you too!!!
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All of the rose is beautifulā¦even the prickly parts š„°
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Are you calling me a prickly part? š Are the boys with you for the holidays?
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The boys have been and gone. It was lovely having them home but I am very much looking forward to the quiet again.
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Wow they look beautiful. I hope you guys have healthy happy prosperous new year
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To you and your partner as well! How cold is it there?
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Nice flowers. The pie looks good too š
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Pumpkin, which is Mike’s favourite. I did slightly burn the pastry, though š
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happy new year! I have a silver rose brooch, that has thorns on it, alas they are blunt….. so far
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Is it some sort of anti-religion device? š
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heh. only if I throw it at a theist.
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Zaz does a great job with that tired old song. Thanks for that, and for roses in December, si bon pour mon coeur qui bat. The best to you and yours in this coming year.
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She’s just fabulous. The year we moved to France to her Paris album had come out and helped us ease into the French mood. Wishing you many new beginnings!
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š„°š„°š¾š¾
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2022: the year we remove Bozo!
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Fingers crossed!
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Roses in December….something to cherish.
I hope you have a .happy and fulfilling year ahead..
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Ditto! Hope you enjoyed a very tropical reveillon!
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Beautiful roses – do they have a scent? This year I must put wordpress on my phone, so I can reply to your posts. I read them, then forget to use the laptop to respond. I hope 2022 is good for you both, especially healthwise. Your new dog looks gorgeous, but it is sad your previous dogs from Spain have died. I can only imagine the heartache that causes (I’ve only had cats, & whilst sad when they’ve died, it’s not the same as a dog, which depends on you.).x
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Barely scented… but pretty. Mike is recovering well, the stitches come out tomorrow and the doctor is thrilled with his own work. Of course!
Morgan was my baby, my soul dog. He’s with me all the time. On the other hand Remy is really making his mark. He requires an enormous amount of attention which in its own way is fun and new š Happy new year!
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Just had a random thought that I have not used or seen keys like that for over 30 years. We had locks like this when we lived in a house built in 1914 back in Ukraine.
May little details in your life bring you joy and fond memories!
Happy New Year!
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All our keys are like that. People keep telling us to change them for something modern, but I like how much easier they are to use than modern keys. I like big fonts and big keys
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I also like solid things that I can easily see or feel in my hand. I also like old-fashioned things like cars with manual transmission or fountain pens.
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Beautiful roses. Mike really is a romantic. š Huge hugs to you both.
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Iām just surprised that Mike loves pumpkin pie. None of my Brit friends like it; I love it! Even better, I like my pumpkin crĆØme caramel.
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That surprised me too as pumpkin pie seems to be such a quintessential American dish. I’ve never had it but I assume that as pumpkin is so bland, you probably wouldn’t taste it?
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Itās delicious!
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lol – I’ll have to take your word for it. For pumpkin is roasted or made into a soup with coconut milk and chilli! My tastebuds simply can’t imagine a ‘sweet’ version. š
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I like pumpkin done savory, as well. The sweet version is best with lots of ginger.
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Pinky mentioned ginger too. Curiously, my soup has ginger in it too, along with chilli. It evolved from my memories of a Jamaican Spicy Pumpkin soup I had many decades ago. One day I’ll give the pie a go. š
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What you think of as pumpkin might be different from what I think of. My late good Guyanese friend grew what he called pumpkins in his yard, and they were green striped, not orange.
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Hmm…good point. We get a few different varieties but most do have green stripes or at least they’re dark. There is one that’s orange though. It looks a bit like a peanut in its shell.
Or could we possibly be talking about sweet potatoes? They’re orange. Gah. Language is a minefield!
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The “peanut” shape is a butternut squash. For pie you should look for a not too big round orange affair like this:
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Yup, thatād be a pumpkin. I used to make the pumpkin from scratch, but the canned PURE pumpkin works really well. The canned pumpkin pie filling is gawd-awful, imho.
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Oh…I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of /those/. Maybe we don’t get them here. The closest I’ve seen is the big ones used as Halloween pumpkins but I’m pretty sure they’re not for eating. š¦ As you can probably tell, pumpkin pie is not an Aussie dish. š
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If the Halloween kind grows, then the smaller pie types can also grow (same weather requirements). You should try planting them. It’s a fantastically easy crop and very versatile.
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Funny you should say that! I threw some pumpkin seeds on the compost last year and ended up with about 6 pumpkins. I’ll definitely give them a go this year as well. I know we’ll never be self-sufficient, or even close to self-sufficient, but having edibles in the garden is such a joy.
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Found you an AU seed seller that has a great selection: https://www.theseedcollection.com.au/vegetable/pumpkin?gclid=Cj0KCQiA_c-OBhDFARIsAIFg3ewwPF7e9ZH01p59g8NuSAsit5Hk2fZlM9B9BXXdC4VIfCQnjvJNZ2UaAqjyEALw_wcB
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what a fabulous site! Thanks Pinky. I think I’m going to pass the url on to the Offspring as well. We both have birthdays coming up. š
But…which pumpkin for that pie??
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I’d go for the butternut, which you’ll bake with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar to add a little oomph š
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Or/and butter and dark brown sugar.
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Butternut we definitely have but…so you bake the pumpkin /first/ and then turn it into the sweet pie filling??
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I’ve never had butternut squash as a pie before. I always use the orange pumpkins.
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I’m a total n00b at the whole thing. Butternut pumpkins are common and available at all supermarkets, the orange ones I would have to order in specially.
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And another twist – every time I try to grow a pumpkin on purpose I fail. All the best pumpkins I’ve gotten by accident like seeds in the compost pile or something and then – surprise pumpkin!
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OMG! yes! that happened to me last year and /this/ year I’ve just discovered a new one on the compost heap. Very happy. š
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It works very well, the sweetness and texture make for an excellent result š
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Pumpkins are different from sweet potatoes (aka kumera) but when made in a pie tast somewhat similar. Pumpkin pie is one of my favourites and some recipes use heavy cream.
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Heavy cream works very well, much better than condensed milk in my opinion. I’m a sweet potato fanatic.
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Everything is better with heavy cream: “I’m sorry, we have to kill you. But we will do it with heavy cream”. “Oh okay!”
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Thank you. Pinky posted a pic of the kind of pumpkin used in the pie and I’m pretty sure we don’t have them. I’m getting kind of curious now!
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When it’s well done it’s fabulous. The right combination of cinnamon, ginger and sugar makes for an almost Indian flavour.
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Sounds a bit like my soup. š I discovered a volunteer pumpkin growing on what used to be my compost heap, so if I get a decent crop I’ll ask you for the recipe.
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It tastes good and is very sweet. I think what people don’t realize is you aren’t taking the pumpkin and baking it like you would a gourd to eat with dinner. This was my mother’s mistake (she’s from New Zealand) when she made it first for my dad in
Canada.
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Mike spent his gap year as a Richardson Scholar in North Carolina and fell in love with a number of American things.
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That āsplains itš»
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He wasn’t before, it’s something new and very welcomed!
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-grin- I suspect he always was a romantic but that stiff British lip got in the way of him showing it. Glad he’s loosened up a bit. š
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I donāt make it super sweet. Dark brown sugar and lots of ginger. No condensed milk.
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Me too. I’ve use an adaptation of this recipe and it’s just right: https://www.inspiredtaste.net/24962/pumpkin-pie-recipe/
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šš
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Hello Pink. Just popping by to wish you and Mike all the best for 2022 ā contentedness, good health, and of course, many laughs.
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To you too! Why does no one ever wish me drugs, diamonds and paintings?
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