Quick and easy.

Shiny copper pots for the holidays.

Maybe you use your copper pots every day, as I do, or you like to have them sparkle for the holidays. 

There is a painless and quick way to make them shine. 

All you need is CLR (available in every hardware store) 
coarse salt, a lemon, a sponge and gloves. 

No need to scrub,

just glide a corner of your CLR soaked sponge over pot.

Dip a lemon, cut in half, in coarse salt and rub.  

Let rest a minute. 

Wash with soap and water.  

Dry immediately or it leaves streaks. 

One more pot to go. 

Caution: do not let CLR stand on natural stone surfaces.

Unlike copper polish,  
CLR rinses clean and does not leave a residue. 

(CLR meets U.S. EPA Safer Product Standards).

I use my copper pots every day. 

They hang from bicycle hooks. 
More friendly than metal hooks. 

Wishing you a happy week.

Gina  

Winter Break

 Where else but in sunny California

Where the Lemon Grove is in bloom all year round.

Where the oranges are sweeter than anywhere else.

Where the flowers grow in wild profusion.

And where the trees emit a heady perfume of blossom and fruit.

All lovingly tended by our friends J & B.

At La Casa el Grande, in Rancho Santa Fe.

And my favorite shop is right around the corner.

Trader Joe's, where orchids can be had for a song.

I brought many home.

Even a small lemon tree. Laden with tiny lemons. 

Now in my dining room.

Thank you J & B for letting me pick to my hearts'  content.

Gina 

Rancho Santa Fe

Our friends J and B invited us to come for a visit.  No wonder so many people love California.  It is beautiful.  It has everything;  The ocean, the warming sun, flowers blooming everywhere,  mild climate and fruit and blossoms on trees at the same time.

Picking oranges, lemons and limes with the sun shining on my face. 
Taking in the intoxicating perfume.  What a treat, especially for us snowbirds coming from minus degree temperatures and several feet of snow.

 Welcoming us, the portal to the garden, hand carved doors from Mexico.  Palm trees planted by B forty years ago... the trees now almost a hundred feet tall.

Beauty everywhere and flowers in our apartment

We brought our treasures home.

We will make lemon juice and freeze it to be used for Summer Margaritas, afternoon teas and most importantly, during canning season when our fruit is ripe.

 We are so lucky to have such special friends!

Thank you J and B for a lovely vacation

Gina