We have maybe the most perfect Halloween house out there. Literally every single time we have someone new working on the property one of the first things they ask about is if we’ve seen ghosts here. Before living in an antique home, I had no idea how many people (especially, and hilariously, the largest, burliest men who we’ve hired to do various work here) truly believe in ghosts.

Sad news – our rooster died on Friday, killed by a fox. The plus side is that he likely saved some hens, because judging by the feathers everywhere he put up a pretty good fight.

We recently had our first freeze, which destroyed our poor tomato plants, and left us with an absurd amount of green tomatoes.

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In the process of planning our new kitchen, I’ve found that while there a lot of gorgeous pendant lights out there, so many are not particularly bright. If you’re looking for bright lights over your kitchen island, counters, or elsewhere in the house this is the roundup for you!

Oh, composting. I’ve been composting for two years now. We have a septic system, so can’t put food down the drain. We also have a great need for compost due to our extensive gardening, and it’s really been amazing to use in the garden. So, what have I learned about composting?

There are three basic ways to preserve (most) herbs. Dry them, put them in vinegar or freeze them. My favorite, by far, is freezing.

Last April, we purchased twelve egg layer chicks from our local feed store. One of our Welsummers turned out to be a rooster. This was a stroke of luck for us, because we’d wanted to try out having a rooster, due to a lot of problems with predators. Now that we’ve had the rooster for about six months, I have a good idea of the pros and cons to rooster ownership to help you decide if you, too, want to get a rooster!

I never had much appreciation for hydrangeas, as I’m not that big a fan of their classic purple color (clearly I’m in the minority here in New England, where purple hydrangea proliferate). Since we’ve been at our house, though, I’ve grown a real appreciation for our hydrangea bushes, which shift from light green, to almost white, to a beautiful ombré magenta in fall.

Fall is by far my favorite season for our hydrangea. Look at these colors!

I love Bolognese. Strike that – I love MY Bolognese! I order it out all the time to see if there’s a Bolognese sauce (if you don’t know, this is a classic Italian meat sauce) better than my homemade, and I have yet to find it.

Remember Monday, when I whined about how my living room is where all the furniture I don’t know what to do with has ended up, and how it’s crazy I haven’t done anything with this room yet? Well, your (two days) of patience has paid off, because here are some of my ideas of how to address the many issues in this room and make the room look cozy and … good.