"Fur & Feathers" Luncheon - S(outhern) O(regon) S(tyle)

I was incredibly disappointed that we were unable to attend the annual "Fur & Feathers" Luncheon put on in Portland by the lovely Julie of FabGabs fame.  Thus, we decided to hold our own "Southern Oregon" style right here in Jacksonville.  So we got all dolled up and went out to dinner in order to provide visual entertainment to the masses.  

I wore a vintage fur coat (in keeping with the theme of the event), but will refrain from posting pictures as I know people are very sensitive about issues concerning fur.  Let's just suffice it to say that I was spotted.  Due to the current craft room demolition, I was unable to create anything complex for myself as far as a hat goes.  However, I had a black felt tilt hat base that I had made before the destruction of my studio, and I had an enormous supply of colorful parrot feathers (I even saved one feather to tuck into Ryan's hat so that we would match!).  So I made a bird hat.  Of course.

I'll post better pictures of that hat in another blog post.

You may recognize the "Jillian Garrett Original" fedora from my Etsy shop.

Indian Summer

It's been an odd fall here - very much Indian Summer weather.  After a couple of bad frosts, the weather warmed back up again.  It's in the low 30s in the mornings, and the high 70s in the afternoon.  Very strange for this area.  The good news is that it has made the fall foliage around Jacksonville absolutely spectacular!  Last weekend, Ryan and I went for a walk around downtown and enjoyed the lovely colors.  

I wore my 1940s "His Girl Friday" suit and a Frank Palma feathered tilt hat.

 

The Jackson County Courthouse in downtown Jacksonville is one of my favorite buildings as far as local architecture.

Look at the gorgeous detailing on the columns.

They even have their Halloween ghost decorations up!

Just a gorgeous time of year!

Gearing Up for July...

Ryan and I are gearing up for July and our first set of guests for the weekend of the 4th. We had a bunch of last-minute details to finish on the Apothecary Suite (finishing up the base moulding, installing curtain rods, etc.), and we spent most of yesterday accomplishing our to-do list. It turned out to be a bit larger of a list than we expected, as we kept remembering little details that needed tending. Now everything is perfect and ready to go! Today we are going to get our grocery shopping done, as I really don't want to be out and about much later this week with all of the crazies coming out of the woodwork due to the impending holiday.

We finally found a good home for Michele and Pearl (two of our llamas up for adoption). We really liked the family, and I think that our girls will have a good & happy life at their new home. It was very difficult to say goodbye to them, but I managed not to cry, and in any case, I knew that this would happen eventually...we have 10 llamas, and they are eating us out of house and home! We simply can't afford to feed them all. Michele is a pack llama with some experience, and we gave the family a pack set-up (as well as a book on llama care!), and I have a feeling that they will take Michele backpacking soon. That will be a fun experience for all of them! Comet is still up for adoption, but I have not yet been able to find his "forever" home...

We are still attempting to get our advertising scheme figured out. Everything is so expensive, and we can't afford to do much, so we are trying to figure out the best "bang for our buck." As soon as we are able, we are going to get on the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce website, and hopefully the Britt Festival website. In the meantime, we are online, and we also have fliers at almost all of the local wineries.

I have the breakfast menu figured out for our first set of guests. We'll have to buy a bit more at the grocery store than I originally wanted, as we are inbetween berry crops right now (just finished the first strawberry harvest and are waiting on the early raspberries and blueberries), but all of our herbs and other dairy items will be fresh out of the garden! Of course, each breakfast includes our daily snack bar (set out at 7:30 am for those earlier risers), which consists of fresh (strong!) Good Bean coffee ("Midnight") w/choice of goats milk cream or skim goats milk, fresh sourdough rolls, homemade strawberry jam, goats milk cream cheese, butter, orange juice, fresh fruit from the garden/orchard, and more! I have decided that the breakfast for the first set of guests (we generally do two courses, the first one being smaller, and generally sweeter, and the second being more wholesome and filling) will be:
Day 1, Course 1: Healthy Blueberry Breakfast Cake w/lemongrass & a glass of Mango Juice
Day 1, Course 2: Lemony Quinoa w/Maple-Sauteed Apples

Day 2, Course 1: Individually-sized watermelons scooped-out and filled with melon balls, fresh raspberries, and mint
Day 2, Course 2: Apple-cranberry Pancakes w/Lemon Thyme and a side of our homemade applesauce (from last year's apple harvest)

Day 3, Course 1: Ginger-Pear Breakfast Muffins w/Mango Juice
Day 3, Course 2: Granola w/Fennel Seeds, Pecans, & Blueberries topped w/fresh goats milk yogurt

I went over to Pickety Place in Jacksonville (LOVE that little antique store!), and got a set of 4 vintage linen placemats for $5 to set the table with. My original white placemats have been defiled by a number of messy family members (my husband included, in an unfortunate incident involving a beet salad...*sigh*), and needed replacing.

Well, off to run errands now!