time for a giveaway!

The everlasting heat and humidity of summer made me feel as though I was stuck in time. Imagine my surprise, then, when I went to edit yesterday's post and saw that it was post 1000!  Benchmark! Time for a giveaway.

Although it is still fairly warm here during the day--hitting 90 isn't a stretch on some days--the humidity makes less frequent appearances, there are some cool days, and the nights and early mornings are very pleasant. Ahhh... Prelude to fall.

Fall is a time of transition for many of us on many fronts, and can incorporate new beginnings. One such new beginning for me is the new line of Pampered Chef products, which, this season, includes lots of bamboo. My giveaway, therefore, will be a set of bamboo snack bowls with a pair of petite bamboo serving spoons. They're heavenly!

A transition for me at this time of year has to do with recipes. Fall introduces seasonal foods and ingredients, and we begin a return to foods that are heated in preparation. Noble Pig, a favorite food blog, recently posted a recipe for pork and mushroom stew served over apple-potato mash. That caught my attention! I'm not a huge mushroom fan, but the recipe in its totality sounds (and looks) amazing. I'm looking forward to trying it soon.

To be part of the giveaway I'd love for you to share what seasonal foods or recipes you look forward to preparing or eating. Is there a recipe you are eager to make now that cooler temps are making an appearance? How about a favorite pub for shepherd's pie? Let us know in the comments, and on Tuesday I'll draw the winner.

Enjoy your Sunday, and bon appetit!

drum roll, please!

And the winner is.....

Karen!

I tell you, this is the blog to enter giveaways--the odds (one in six) are fantastic!

Karen, it'll be a couple of weeks before I send these to you since these photos are still so hot off the press that I haven't yet had prints made.

And Nancy, I'll send you a set, too, since the Man at the helm has a thing for orchids.

Thanks for playing faithful readers. I'll be back later!

it's the great 909th post giveaway!

 

I utterly missed the fact that I had crept up on and surpassed my 900th post. I had intended to use the occasion as an opportunity to have a giveaway, but then.... So instead I decided it makes just as much sense to honor the 909th post, and here we are.

You may have noticed here and there that I enjoy photographing flowers and nature. I have a deeply embedded aesthetic gene in my DNA, so I am drawn to beauty like a moth to a flame. Nature in particular. The collage above contains some of the orchid photographs I took at the Atlanta Botanical Garden a couple of weeks ago. I have, as well, some other orchid photos from several years ago when I first encountered the ABG. The giveaway, therefore, will be a collection of note cards featuring several orchid shots.

To be eligible for the giveaway I am asking that you leave a comment sharing what it is that you find beautiful in the world. I'll leave this post for a couple of days and draw a winner Wednesday morning. Good luck and have fun!