Reflections of Summer at the Cottage

 

“One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.” – Henry David Thoreau

Our window boxes are my favorite garden feature of summer! Here is one at the beginning of summer and then at the end!

Scenes from around the Crabtree Cottage Garden

 

 

 

A new gardening project this summer! This garden is still evolving and we are hopeful next summer it will be full and lush!

Which led me to more Garden Centers! We even went to Project Native to dig up full grown plants. We came home with a van full of full grown plants, about 20 or so…. I could not have done this without my assistant on this very hot hot day!

Because these were full grown plants from a field we had to cut them back before we planted most of them ~ so we just can’t wait until next year when they pop up!

Of course, food is another huge theme here at Crabtree Cottage!

Stuffed French Toast ~ a guest favorite!

Caprese omlettes with our garden tomatoes and basil!

We had some guests dieting, and they wanted to maintain their healthy regime on vacation ~ A diet plate! Berkshire Mountain Bakery Sourdough Bread, poached eggs, crisp asparagus topped with shaved parmesan, with a spinach salad with tomatoes and avocado on the side.

 

Beautiful and simple fruit cup.

We love to eat fresh garden food all summer too! Zucchini from our garden made into zoodle pasta!  Along with corn from the farmers market! Our favorite summer meal!

 

Simplicity on a hot day included some Cucumber – Avocado Sandwiches – of course this is Berkshire Mountain Bakery Bread!

The garden harvest provided us with great dinners! We supplemented our little garden with Farmers Markets around the Berkshires.

When we just can’t cook another meal, and we are too tired to go out, we have a back up plan we put into action… POPCORN!  Pop over to my facebook page for this Crabtree Cottage Popcorn recipe.

Another passion here is setting the breakfast table. In the summer it is so delightful when we have an abundance of fresh flowers!

But, easing into fall floral arranging is fun too!

Autumn is the second spring when every leaf is a flower.  ~ Albert Camus

This weekend we will be closing the pool. Jeff’s little pool assistant can now relax, and not worry about leaves falling in the pool.

 

Outdoor living is getting a new look as we transition into cooler weather!

 

Outdoor living is not completely over yet!

We also have beautiful  memories of our end of summer vacation. Here we are visiting our daughter Julia in California!  This photo was taken at the Madison Gallery where she works. Seeing her at the beginning of summer and then at the end was the highlight of our summer!

Here she is with the Madison Gallery owner, and the team ~ the glam squad!  We are just filled with joy that she is doing so well, and has such amazing people to work with and learn from.

 

Thank you for coming by my blog today. Stay tuned, we have some big changes here at Crabtree Cottage which we will announce soon!