A Carriage Ride at Hitty Beth's Towpath Cottage!

Meeting Hitty Beth's New Little Sisters!

Hitty Beth at Towpath Cottage invited the Corgyncombe Hittys over to see her splendid horse and carriage!

Click Here for Lovely Music

What fun it always is to visit Hitty Beth and her Mum at Towpath Cottage!!!

Hitty Beth's Towpath Cottage

Riding in the carriage are Hitty Beth's sweet little sisters Hitty Abby and Hitty Emily. Between them is Corgyncombe's little bitty Hitty. Corgyncombe's Bobby, Hitty Diane and Hitty Bug walk alongside the carriage. Hitty Beth leads the horse.

Corgyncombe's Bobby helps Hitty Abby out of the carriage.
Hitty Diane thinks Bobby is quite smitten with Hitty Abby!

Bobby surrounds himself with Hitty Beth's farm animals.

Corgyncombe's new lad pets Towpath Cottage's horse.

Hitty Beth's little sisters Hitty Emily and Hitty Abby around the Christmas tree in the parlour at Towpath Cottage.

 

In the background is the stairway that Bobby rushed up at Hitty Beth's Valentine's party a couple of years ago. In his haste to rush up the stairs to pick out the nicest Valentine for Hitty Diane, Bobby fell down the stairs and had to sit out the party with an ice bag on his head!

The lovely fireplace in the parlour at Towpath Cottage.

Last year after Hitty Bug first arrived at Corgyncombe, she and Hitty Diane set up their little play kitchen for tea, all decorated for Christmas, at Corgyncombe. Hitty Bug is named Hitty Bug because we think she is as "cute as a bug".

Merry Christmas to Hitty Beth, Hitty Abby and Hitty Emily, and their Mum!
Fondly,
Diane, Sarah and the Corgyncombe Hittys


Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.

Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com

Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2016 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson. All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-carriage-ride-at-hitty-beths-towpath.html
copyright © 2016 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Autumnal Roses, St. Nicholas Tea, and Van Alen House!

The Queen Bestows a Diamond Upon Tillie Tinkham!

 Laura Lindenwood holding a rosebud from one of the David Austin roses at the Corgyncombe gardens.

Click Here for Lovely Music

David Austin Rose "Mayflower" in the autumn at Corgyncombe.
This rose has a delightful old fashioned rose scent!
My daughter Sarah and I descend from several of the Pilgrims who came on the Mayflower in 1620.

 

Priscilla enjoys a cup of goat's milk and "Pink Lustre Violet Jelly" cookies.

David Austin Rose "Mayflower" at sunrise with beads of dew still upon its petals.

An October snow at Castle Corgyncombe.

The kitchen fireplace at the Van Alen house, circa 1737, in Kinderhook, "York State".

Amongst some of our early ancestral Dutch families is the Van Alen family.

Laura made some gourd soup for the holidays.

"It is snowing decidedly. We shall doubtless have sleighing for the holidays."
~ "Rural Hours", published 1850, by Susan Fenimore Cooper

Susan oft' times used the word "decidedly"!

"The domain of Santa Claus has very much extended itself since his earliest visits to the island of Manhattan, when he first alighted, more than two hundred years ago, on the peaked roofs of New Amsterdam, and made his way down the ample chimneys of those days."
~ "Rural Hours", published 1850, by Susan Fenimore Cooper

A bowl of chocolates in the Van Alen kitchen.

"But Santa Claus is not a sensible man; he is a funny, jolly little old Dutchman, and he and the children understand each other perfectly well."
~ "Rural Hours", published 1850, by Susan Fenimore Cooper

St. Nicholas Day was December 6th.
Wilma made a Dundee cake for St. Nicholas Tea.
She enjoys tea with Elspeth.

Making clove oranges, also called pomanders, especially near Christmastide, is a most fragrant tradition at Corgyncombe Cottage. After the cloves have been put in all round the fruit, it is rolled in an orris root and cinnamon mixture. Orris root is a ground powder from the rhizomatous roots of Iris Florentina.

Tiles round the fireplace at the Van Alen house.

When lit, the Advent wreath creates such lovely shadows and light on the ceiling at Corgyncombe.

A receipt for Dundee Cake is in "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook".
I never add the citron nor the raisins as called for in the receipt, but add more than the called for amount of currants and in addition to the almonds in the receipt, add walnuts.
This combination makes the most delicious Dundee cake!

In her cookbook Tasha Tudor says to decorate the top of the Dundee cake with cherries and almonds. I have always decorated my Dundee cakes in a different pattern than those that I have seen Tasha illustrate. I use the cherry as the center with almonds or other nuts around the cherries forming flower-like shapes. I also use the currants to decorate the top of the Dundee cake.

"At present they can only fancy Santa Claus as Mr. Moore has seen him, in those pleasant, funny verses, which are so highly relished in our nurseries:

"His eyes, how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses - his nose like a cherry ;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little, round belly,
That shook, when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly;
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf;
And I laughed, when I saw him, in spite of myself."
~ "Rural Hours", published 1850, by Susan Fenimore Cooper

Tillie Tinkham, the seamstress mouse at Corgyncombe, has a rose for the Queen.
The Queen will bestow upon Tillie the diamond as big as Tillie's shoe.

Little mouse, little mouse, where have you been?
Gathering roses to give to the Queen.
Little mouse, little mouse, what gave she you?
She gave me a diamond as big as my shoe.
~ Adapted from an old nursery rhyme

Little Alice Parsons in ribbons and lace, with her Mother, who looks like a fairy godmother as she holds a little slipper.
In this fairytale like scene, the Mother's gown and the little slipper take on a radiant luster as little Alice holds a book and looks intently at the little satin slipper.
Perhaps her Mother was telling her the story of Cinderella!

Nearby the dollhouse is our old fashioned table top Christmas tree like my Grandmum always had! The tree is surrounded by an old fashioned fence; it looks like a park in the distance from the house. In front of the dollhouse are little trees and another fence.
The address 863 Park Avenue is above the door.

Alice and her family lived at the real life 863 Park Avenue, built in 1908, and this dollhouse was  found at their old estate in Connecticut. The estate was the family's summer home, the rest of the year they lived in Manhattan, New York.

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.

Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com

Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2016 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson. All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2016/12/autumnal-roses-st-nicholas-tea-and-van.html
copyright © 2016 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nutmeg Flits Amidst Autumn Loveliness!

Like a Hummingbird She Flits and Flies!

Nutmeg was out amongst the autumnal leaves busily flitting about, gathering any flowers that she could find.

Click Here for Music

She found some wild asters around the little apple tree.

Nutmeg flew over to the maple trees.
What a lovely day to flit and fly about in!

Nutmeg flits and flies about so fast, like a hummingbird, she is quite difficult to keep up with!

She took the asters over to the stone wall where she has a little cave amongst the rocks!

She flew out to the garden and what a delight to find some sweet violets amongst the sweet woodruff and autumnal leaves!

 

Over to the edge of the bird bath, the water covered with fallen leaves.

In she slides and floats atop a colorful maple leaf.

Lovely Autumnal leaves at water's edge on Corgi Creek. Green forget-me-not leaves can be seen under water.

"Thursday, October 19th. - The brooks and streams are often gayly strewn with the fallen foliage; the mill-dam at the Red Brook was sprinkled this afternoon with bright leaves, red and yellow, like a gay fleet from fairy-land."
~ "Rural Hours", published 1850, by Susan Fenimore Cooper

Landing near her cave with her sweet violet.

Nutmeg was made by talented dollmaker Margaret Flavin.

Nutmeg tucked in her cave amongst the rocks.
The fragrance of the violet fills Nutmeg's cave with a wonderful scent!

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our previous writings elsewhere on the internet.


Please do not "Pin" our photographs.
Please do not post our photographs on facebook.

Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com
If you receive an email you think is from me from this email, please make sure it is atthecottagegate@yahoo.com, and not just something that sounds similar.


Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2016 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson. All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.


http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2016/11/nutmeg-flits-amidst-autumn-loveliness.html
copyright © 2016 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frost, Pumpkins, and Falling Leaves!

Sweet Pumpkin Moonshines!

Lydia Lindenwood found an acorn on a Corgyncombe outing in the woods.
The jack-o-lantern and black cat candy containers look as if they are laughing and jolly!

Click Here for Music

"Wednesday, November 1st. - Decided frost last night; yet very mild this morning. Bright, cloudless day. Long walk on the hills. The woods are getting bare; even the willows and abele-trees are thinning. The larches are deep orange; their evergreen forms look oddly in this bright color."

~ "Rural Hours" by Susan Fenimore Cooper

There indeed was a "decided frost" at Corgyncombe last night and the morn dawned sunny with the brightest blue sky as time progressed!

"Thursday, November 2d. - Very pleasant. Delightful walk in the woods...
The earth thickly strewed with fallen leaves, completely covering the track, and in many places burying the lesser plants - a broad, unbroken carpeting of russet...
Acorns and chestnuts are plentifully scattered beneath the trees which bore them. How much fruit of this sort, the natural fruit of the earth - nuts and berries - is wasted every year; or, rather, how bountiful is the supply provided for the living creatures who need such food!"
~ "Rural Hours" by Susan Fenimore Cooper

Tasha Tudor called carved and lit pumpkins "pumpkin moonshines". Above is a sweet pumpkin moonshine that we carved and photographed several years ago. He reminds us of our lad Eliakim May Corgi when I was about to give him his tummy elixir and he decided not to take it! The pumpkin also reminds us of the moon! We prefer to carve sweet pumpkins!

Lovely Charlotte sitting on her stone wall holding her pumpkin.

Sarah looking for the best pumpkin in the patch.
Tasha Tudor was delighted by this photograph that I took of my daughter Sarah.

Sylvie Ann and Ethlyn Corgi from Corgyncombe celebrated the
70th anniversary of "Pumpkin Moonshine" in 2008.
Tasha Tudor's first published book was "Pumpkin Moonshine" in 1938. In Tasha's book, Sylvie Ann went out to the cornfield to find the largest, best pumpkin. In "Pumpkin Moonshine", Sylvie succeeds in getting her pumpkin out of the cornfield but the pumpkin has multiple mishaps as it rolls uncontrollably down the hill!

 Ethlyn Corgi is very curious, steps up and gives the pumpkin a nudge with her nose...

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our previous writings elsewhere on the internet.


Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2016/11/frost-pumpkins-and-falling-leaves.html
copyright © 2016 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~