And the WINNER IS....

"If you found this useful, consider visiting the main Violet Cottage website. Thanks for visiting!

The randomly picked number is: 7

Lowest Number 1
Highest Number 21"

Yep, 7 AGAIN. hahaha
Well, you know what they say about "7".

Tami, I am emailing you now for your info.
Thanks everyone for joining in.
Another giveaway will happen this coming weekend.

Do you sew or craft? Scrap giveaway !

Over at See Mommy Sew, there is a cool scrap giveaway. Sharing scrap fabric you know others will love to use seems like a great idea to me. To enter, just link to the post or if you are blogless...just leave a comment. Sew easy, sew generous, sew go for it. It ends tonight (Sunday) Sew get crackin'.

Last Day for Giveaway

If you have not entered, you have until midnight tonight 10/25.

Orionid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight

Bundle up, get out the lawn chairs and look up for a show.
Tonight between 1 am and 6 am EST will be the best viewing time to see roughly 60 meteors an hour. I love shooting stars.

This is from debris left by Halleys commet. You won't be able to see a lot in the city, too bright there, but out here in the country away from city lights we should have quite a show.
Larry and I went out a few years ago when there was a great meteor shower and saw a bunch of shooting stars...WAY COOL.
Here is more about it








Painting by Larry

There is a season...

Fall. I love it. When the air turns crisp and the sweaters come out. I love to smell bon-fires and drink hot coffee outside. I enjoy watching the squirrels so busy at stocking up. I close my eyes and smell the aroma of homemade apple pie.


We live in the woods and there is no better show than looking out your window and seeing this.....



Time to pick the last of the tomatoes whether they are ripe or green....

Winter squash almost ready.....

The woodstove is keeping us cozy inside, nice to smell the smoke when you go outside from the chimmney....

Wood is all laid in and ready to go....

Dahlias are putting on a grand display before sleeping for the winter....

Castor bean seeds are ready to harvest....

Last of the gherkins ready to pickle....



And at the end of the day, you come in the house to a great meal of Lentil stew and cornbread....
* 2 large onions
* 2 big handfulls of baby carrots or 3 big carrots chunked up
* 3 TBSP olive oil
* 1 bay leaf
* 2 cans of chicken broth
* 2 cans of water (use the broth can)
* 1 and 1/2 c. brown lentils
* 3-4 potatoes, cut into chunks
* 2 chicken breast cut into chunks and season with a couple sprinkles of garlic powder
* 1/4 tsp. of tumeric
* Salt, pepper

Directions

1. Peel and dice onion
2. Peel and dice carrot
3. In large pot, heat 1 TBSP olive oil, stir in carrot and about 1/3 of the onions untl onions are ‘glassy’
4. Add bay leaf and chicken broth
5. Add lentils, cover, cook for approx. 30 min. at low heat.
While thats cooking....
6. Wash, peel potatoes, cut into cubes
7. Using 1 TBSP olive oil, saute potatoes and 2/3 of the onions until onions are glassy
8. Sprinkle with tumeric
9. Stir until evenly covered
10. Add to the lentils
11. Cook another 10 to 20 minutes or until both lentils and potatoes are almost soft
12. Wash chicken breast, pat dry, cut into cubes.
13. Heat remaining 1 TBSP olive oil to fry chicken at medium heat, turning with spatula till cooked
14. Throw into pot with the potato/lentil mixture
15. Now, season the mixture with pepper and salt.
16. Serve with cornbread or home made bread and some butter.

Giveaway. Sterling and Chalcedony Earrings

I love these earrings and made myself a pair almost like these.
On French sterling silver ear wires, which I hammered a little for strength,
I wrapped chalcedony pear briolettes with sterling silver wire until satisfied.....ahhhhhh. The color of these just looks dreamy. Kind of opalescent.

Then I took them outside and photoed them on a little pile of limestone. I take so-so pics inside but the light outside is more on my side.
I will be having Giveaways a couple times a month hoping you will enter and perhaps follow my blog. I will be opening my own little Etsy shop and look forward to you visiting me there also.

To Enter:
Please leave a comment on the type of jewelry you enjoy wearing. ie:Natural stone, pearl, silver, large, delicate, funky, vintage...whatever you like.
Or let me know about your favorite piece of jewelry.
PLEASE make sure your email is in your comment or available on your blogger profile page.
It would make me sad if you won and I could not let you know.


EXTRA ENTERS-( do the one above first please.)

*Tweet about this and leave me the link- 1 entry per day,per tweet,leave the daily link.
*Follow this here blog (over on the right side bar,sign up)- 2 extra entries- leave 2 extra comments for these. Like "follow #1"then "follow#2"
**Blog about this giveaway-3 extra entries- yep, leave 3 separate "I blogged #1"...Blogged #2...Blogged #3

This Giveaway ends at Midnight EST on Oct. 25th.
Open to US and Canada.

This ain't "Green"...A Chemical Reaction.

If you are concerned about your health and the enviroment,please watch this movie trailer.
We should all be concerned about the harm this is causing.
This shows what one small town can do when they decide to stand up and not accept what is done in the name of profit, big corporations and a "green" lawn.

To read more about this movie and where it is showing click here.

We have a WINNER !

Erin from Long Island is the winner of the Autumn Metal necklace. I have emailed you Erin. You have 72 hours (about 1:15 pm on Thursday) to get back to me with your info.
Thanks everyone who entered and I will be having another giveaway this coming weekend.

Random Number Generator
This page simply picks a random number, within a range you specify.
For example, to pick a number between 1 and 100, set the Lowest Number to be 1, and the Highest Number to be 100.
Then click on Pick a Number to pick the number. That's it. Have fun!

If you found this useful, consider visiting the main Violet Cottage website. Thanks for visiting!

The randomly picked number is: 17

Lowest Number: 1
Highest Number: 23

Happy Birthday to my Dear Husband

You're the Bee's Knee's


I have miracles in my life.
I love you Larry. I always have.
We are golden.





About 1970....

Fried green tomatoes...yum

88888
There are ways to pick end of the season tomatoes and store them for use in the fall and into the winter.
There are also varieties made for long storage ie:'Long Keeper'

I always pick the green ones around this time for frying up. We love Fried Green Tomatoes.
Here is a favorite recipe.

2 large green tomatoes
1 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
Cannola oil for frying


DIRECTIONS

1. Slice tomatoes 1/2 inch thick. Discard the ends.
2. Whisk eggs and milk together in a medium-size bowl. Scoop flour onto a plate. Mix cornmeal, bread crumbs and salt and pepper on another plate. Dip tomatoes into flour to coat. Then dip the tomatoes into milk and egg mixture. Dredge in breadcrumbs to completely coat.
3. In a large skillet, pour cannola oil (enough so that there is 1/2 inch of oil in the pan) and heat over a medium heat. Place tomatoes into the frying pan in batches of 4 or 5, depending on the size of your skillet. Do not crowd the tomatoes, they should not touch each other. When the tomatoes are browned, flip and fry them on the other side. Drain them on paper towels.

Also the Movie 'Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe' is one of my all time favorite movies. You could rent the movie and make up a batch of these and be set.


Oh, does anyone besides me see a pattern here?

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Blogs, Blogging and Contests.

Please, please, please! If you are entering a contest or giveaway, read the rules. I am on my second giveaway and during my first one and also on this one, there have been people who have entered and either not read the rules thoroughly or do not understand on how to set up their own blogger account and have their profile set up with an email addy.
And just because you have left a comment, it does NOT mean you now follow my blog.
You must go over to the side bar and press buttons to now be a follower of my blog.
I had a couple who set up blogger accounts and no profile was made so if they HAD WON, I would not be able to contact them as there was no email addy in their comment. I recieve a copy of each comment sent to my email account, but if there is no profile made for you, then there is no return address on the email I receive.
Luckily,none of this affected the outcome of my first giveaway. But I have no way to contact these commenters to help them fix their contact info and they may be out there in bloggoville, happily commenting on others blogs with stars in their eyes and fingers that are crossed in the hopes of winning a prize that will never come.

Frogs and bathtubs.

I used to have 2 ponds when I lived in Virginia. Both manually put in. One was small, about 3x4. The other bigger,5x8. The small one held a couple of small goldfish and a few plants. The bigger one had water cascading down stones and held all kinds of wonder. Like I wonder where that fish went?
It was eaten by a wild duck that came to visit with it's mate and stayed for 3 days, that's where the fish went.
I wonder what that smell is?
That's the smell of a partially duck eaten koi that floated under the slate that overhangs the pond. A great hiding place for rotting fish,laughing posthumously as you wander around the yard and the back alley looking for said smell. Only to find out 2 days later that is was not a bag of garbage someone left next to the dumpster in that back alley.

Yes, the trials and tribulations of owning a pond.
I bought a few water hyacinths and wondered how in the world those 3 turned into 30 almost over night.

I wondered what that funny noise was in the middle of the night wafting through my second story window as I lay my tired head down. Finally getting up and going out to the yard with a flashlight and discovering about 15 frogs in my pond having some kind of full moon mating ritual/frat party.

I wondered after we moved to our land if I would ever have a pond again.

Living out here in the woods, you have to take into consideration the dangers that can befall creatures in your care. And while a pond can be it's own little ecosystem, I still have a responsibility to anyone I introduce to living in it.
So we decided not to have a pond for now.
well at least we decided not to PUT IN a pond for now. We have a pond though.


This is a bathtub that we found at the local dump. I use it for a trough to mix my own soil in before adding it to the raised beds.
We dumped the compost and bags of the other amendments in and stirred and used about half, planning on finishing the next day. That night it rained, actually it poured...ALL night and when we went out, what to our wondering eyes did appear?... a pond.
And you may ask why I would call it a "pond" instead of an old tub half filled with dirt and water?
Because there was a FROG in it!
yes, a little black and green frog,peeping up over the water line. He ducked as I walked by leaving only bubbles.
This was all in early June. There are five frogs in the "pond' now. I wonder if they will stay all winter.

Giveaway for your choice of Angel Earrings or Stone and Metal Necklace

CLOSED
'Erin From New York' won.
A new giveaway will open this coming weekend.

I had such a good time with my first ever giveaway that I am going to make it a regular thing. Okay...I admit it, I have ulterior motives.

You see, I really want to open my Etsy shop this Winter. And I was wondering how to generate some interest in people to stop by and look at my stuff.
Well, I love giveaways. And I have bought from etsy shops because I saw their items in a giveaway...so "Hey"! I thought to myself ( I call myself 'Hey' in my head) if I like giveaways and Etsy stuff, then I know there are others out there who might stop by and look at my stuff if I tantalize them by dangling jewelry...ooooeeehhh jewwwwlryyyy.

So to whet the jewelry appetite, I am going to be having giveaways to build up my blog readership unabashedly and hope that those who are not already followers will break down, give in and just join, darn it !

Oh yeah, I will also have some of my artwork on here too. And not just the stuff that I mess up, some of the good stuff.(that's one of my angel paintings above)

My giveaways will run the gamut from earrings, necklaces, bracelets, paintings, mixed media pieces, destash stuff, beads and wire kits to make your own and books (from new to lovingly used).
So I hope you will stop by and join in to see what I've been up to, leave a comment, join in a discussion, enter a giveaway, share a recipe or just whatever.

Okay on to what's up for grabs. Winners choice of one of the two following items.

First choice is a pair of Angel earrings. Made with silver metal findings and cobalt glass beads. The ear wires are sterling silver. Very cute, and made with love.
Approx. 1 and 1/2" from the top of the earwire where it goes into your earhole.


And next is a necklace I finished late last night. And I wanted to start the giveaway last night but really wanted to photo this outside so we all had to just wait.

Made from different metals, wires, turquoise beads, and a large carnelian free form bead. The cord is rubber,26", and has a barrel swivel closure of brass.
I call this 'Autumn Metals'.


ENTER

Just leave a comment saying which one you would choose if you won. Make sure to leave your email in your comment or make sure its on your blogger profile if you are a member of blogger.
If you are not comfortable leaving your email in a comment, view my complete profile and email it to me. Letting me know which comment you left
if the user and email names are different. Hey all you, 'Anonymus' commenters, could this be you? I REALLY would be sad if someone won and I could not contact them.


EXTRA ENTERS-( do the one above first please.)

*Follow this here blog- 2 extra entries- leave 2 extra comments for these. Like "follow #1"then "follow#2"
**Blog about this giveaway-3 extra entries- yep, leave 3 separate "I blogged #1"...Blogged #2...Blogged #3 And leave me the link to where in the world you blogged it.

This will run until Sunday October 11th at midnight EST. Winner will be announced on Monday October 12th. Thanks for checking me out and Good Luck.

And the Winner is....LUCKY #7.

And the beautiful and NEVER DULL,"Wrestling Addicted Mommy" is lucky #7.
From randomnumbergenerator.com
RANDOM NUMBERS - (click 'More random numbers' for more!)
Random lottery number between 2 and 36 7

Congrats to you Gina, I know you have been having a hard week so this should brighten things up for you as Corning Ware always can.
Gina has already gotten back to me with her info...hahha like 2 minutes after I mailed her.
As for the rest of you, well I can only say...I'm having ANOTHER giveaway!
I will be posting later today a chance to win a pair of earrings, winner will get their choice from two pair. So keep your eyes peeled.
And thanks to everyone who entered for my first ever giveaway, and here's to lucky winners.