Missing Willow Farm

The luggage is stowed away and we’ve started winterizing our garden.  I guess vacation is really over.  *sigh*  I’ve gone through all of our photos and here are my favorite views, all but one is from our balcony.  The ocean is beautiful.

Four of our 19 days of vacation were actually spent on solid ground.  We visited Bruges, Normandy, Southampton and Windsor Castle.  Our visit to Southampton included a trip to the SeaCity Museum which has a huge exhibit dedicated to the Titanic, which sailed from there.  The second to the last photo shows the crowd that came to see us off in Cherbourg, France.  Our tour guide said the local radio programs were covering our arrival in minute detail.  Folks on the QM2 are having dinner right now!  The last photo shows the crowd that came to see us off in Southampton.  LOL!

Food aboard the Queen Mary 2 is amazing.  We didn’t take our camera to dinner every evening but caught a few courses.  Can you tell we were impressed by the desserts?  I had my first baked alaska ever.  I think I have a cookbook from the 1970’s with the recipe and may have to make it over the holidays this year.  The last two photos are from a galley kitchen tour that was so interesting we attended it both times it was offered.  The ship carries 2600 passengers and almost always sails completely full so there are a lot of meals to prepare.  They do a wonderful job.

Is something we attended every day at 3:30 in the ballroom.  Finger sandwiches and pastries were served with English Breakfast tea, then followed by scones with clotted cream.  All accompanied by a string quartet.  Heaven!  Now that we’re home, I miss it (but not the calories).

As I sort through all of the photos we took on our vacation, I’ll post a few here and there.  We’re still working our way through a mountain of laundry.  🙂   In our cabin, we found a bottle of champagne, fruit basket, orchids, chocolate covered strawberries and canapes.  A promise of a magical journey ahead!  The sail away was very unusual for Cunard.  The Queen Mary 2 usually sails at 5PM from Brooklyn but it was a particularly busy cruise embarkation day so we sailed from Manhattan just at sundown.  It was a clear, warm, gorgeous night.  We chose the late dinner seating so we would be able to experience our ship’s funnel passing just 10 feet below the Verrazano bridge.  What a thrill!

At sea!  Three weeks on the Queen Mary 2, across the Atlantic, up through Northern Europe and then back across the pond.  When I get a chance to catch my breath, I’ll post some highlights.  Many many thanks to my parents who took farmsitting duties on while we were away on our first ‘real’ vacation, first cruise and Brian’s first trip to Europe.   Best. Vacation. Ever.

Summer is over and our raised beds are done but the greenhouse is still going gangbusters.  It’s so nice harvesting tomatoes while it’s crisp and cool outside.  Too bad the deer got our pumpkins.  Again.

We cooked at the Euphoria wine and food festival in Greenville, SC last weekend and shared a cowboy cauldron with LaFarm Bakery.  We were cooking lamb ribs and kebabs while they were cooking lamb sausage and feta baguettes (yes, they are as good as they sound)!  At the end of our evening, we were gifted one of their signature sourdough loaves that is now living in our freezer waiting for my parents to visit later this week.  Yum!

If Bindi isn’t in my lap or Brian’s, she’s hijacked a blanket somewhere in the living room (but she prefers a lap).   It’s been our experience that sphynx cats are generally very social. We’ve had one (or more) around since 1994. She loves meeting new people and has been known to jump up on a guest’s shoulder in the middle of dinner.  Bad kitty.

We spent the day helping friends harvest their grapes yesterday.  We filled five of these delivery containers with cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon grapes.   Each bunch had to have any damaged grapes removed before including it in the bin.  It was overcast and in the 70’s all day, just perfect weather for being outdoors.