Cranberry Inspiration

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world,

and behold everything is softer and more beautiful." 

~ Norman Vincent Peale

Try as I might, I cannot take a decent photo of the Christmas tree, so I looked elsewhere for inspiration. Last summer I read about placing items in the bottom of a glass canning jar and photographing the contents. So I thought...

I wonder...what if I frosted the cranberries and placed them in stemware?  One egg and a bit of water mixed together and brushed on to cranberries became the glue for sugar.

Frosted cranberries look so elegant. *snap*



I wonder...what if I put  a few frosted cranberries in the bottom of a martini glass...  *snap* 

I wonder...what if I dipped the lip of the glasses into water and then sugar to create an icy edge...*snap*

Hmmm...there's silver dragees waiting to be added to cookies.  What if?  *snap*

I had such fun experimenting and snapping photos.  I ended up making a centerpiece using the clear glass stemware with edges sugared. One glass even has drips that look like ice melting.  I filled the glasses with frosted and unfrosted cranberries.  Silver dragees line a flute and hold a candle in place.  The look is elegant and quite lovely on a creamy white placemat.  I'm thinking the same could be done using crushed hard candies and candy canes. 

I hope everyone is enjoying this last weekend before Christmas day!     

December Beauty

    Waking up to a frosty pattern on the window

    Finding a splash of winter beauty on the kitchen window

   
    A sparkle of light added by the sun

   
    Ephemeral art on a wintry cold morning in December

Stay warm my friends! 

When the Frost is On...

The frost is on....creeping thyme, the peppers still turning red on the vine, and yes on the pumpkins. A veil of white covered the grassy field across the way creating that tell-tale fall sign that winter smirks just behind the vibrant skirt of autumn. According to the Farmers' Almanac, this area should have had ten more days before the first frost, but after an abnormally cool summer who could be surprised at an early frost?

Every frosty morning in October has a colorful leafy lining. Soon, the world around those of us fortunate enough to live where vivid seasonal changes occur will be showered in colorful leaves. I checked out a couple sites that update when to expect nature's grand show to begin. Weather.com gives regional maps along with an explanation of why leaves change color. The map of the US on GORP's Fall Foliage Guide offers an approximate time when you can expect the leaves to change in your area. For northwest Ohio...sometime in mid-October, yellow, orange, russet, and red leaves reach the peak of color before cascading into a free fall to the ground.

Bring it on autumn! I'm ready for brisk walks down country roads, trees decked out in fancy fall frocks, crisp apples, grinning jack 0'lanterns, gourds, corn shocks, goblins and ghosts, hot apple cider laced with spices, succulent turkey, geese honking overhead, a harvest moon, "...O, it's then the time a feller is a-feelin' at his best...When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.*"

*From James Whitcomb Riley's poem, When the Frost is on the Punkin