Cup and Pansies

see the sprouting bulbs under the handle?

Our Spring bulbs seem eager to bloom and have already pushed their bright green leaves through the soil in several places. I planted Pansies as a companion flower, in anticipation of the Narcissus, to compliment the other's color. I also planted Pansies in one of the Fairy Gardens.

When I finished gardening, I sat outside for a cup of tea and browsed through some scrapbook catalogs I got when I attended the Craft & Hobby Association event earlier this month. So many neat products coming out soon!

And while I sipped and browsed, I also nibbled!

My dearest friend sent the charming pink Keep Calm Birthday Girl mug to me for my recent birthday, along with home-made tea cookies! 

 

She spoils me something awful, doesn't she? I like the deep pink of the cup and the elegant crown above the sentiment.

There is nothing like home-made! A treat from the heart <3

After looking through the catalogs and reading a chapter of The Dark Tide

on my nook, I filled the bird baths and watered the pots on the patio.

 Well, I could linger outside with the Pansies half the day but there is laundry and dishes to do and photographs to take of my newest projects - which I can't wait to show you!

sharing this post with:

 Artful Affirmations

 Martha's Favorites

You're Going To Love it 

Rose Chintz Cottage 

Share Your Cup 

Time Travel Thursday 

Favorite Things 
A Return To Loveliness 
What To Do Weekends 
Made You Look 
Pink Saturday 

You Be Peace and I'll Be Quiet

 

Today's cup was under the market umbrella accompanied by cuttings of home grown sunflowers and hydrangea. In keeping with the mood, I selected a cup with a definition on the rim:

Tranquili * tea

n. a state of peace and quiet while drinking tea

  

Grace Tea's Winey Keemun is a staple in our home , a favorite standby.  I took a photo of the steeped leaves to share with you - you can see bits and pieces of tea leaves on the saucer. Whenever I put sugar in my tea I use turbinado because I like its warm, molasses-like flavor.

I took my Nook outside with me so I could read a sample from Michael Crichton's Pirate Latitudes, a swashbuckling adventure.  

I nibbled on a banana muffin - it had crushed flax seed inside and was topped with toasted pecans - College Girl baked a batch of them last night. You can smell a hint of fresh ground nutmeg before you even take a bite!

Have you had a chance to read a new book or magazine article? If you were able to drop by we could chat about it! You might've noticed I added a Shelfari book shelf to my sidebar where I share books I've read or are planning to read.

this cup is made by Mud Pie

 Hope you can carve a few minutes of peace and quiet into your life this week. Whether you dig into a book or not, just sitting down with a nice cuppa will definitely recharge your batteries.  

P.S. My scraproom is covered in gold glitter! College Girl has been using my Cricut to cut out things for her sorority's Fall Recruitment. The glitter has somehow escaped into the rest of the house. It's gotten so bad that kitty is sparkling, and I could have sworn Handyman was winking at me from across the room until I got closer and saw the glitter on his cheek!

sharing this post with:
You're Going To Love It 

Martha's Favorites

Artful Affirmations

Make It Pretty

Cottage Style Party
Antiques And Teacups 
Bernideens Tea Time Blog 
A Return To Lovliness 
You're Going To Love It 
Share Your Cup 
Home 
Freedom Fridays 
Thrifting Treasures with Jeannie Marie & Co 

 

If anyone is wondering about this post's title it is from a line in the movie 'What About Bob' starring Bill Murray.

Moments

Moments are all we have~ 

I saw this video and thought, "Yes! Someone put into words what my heart has felt since College Girl was born!" I have not read One Thousand Gifts yet, but based on this video I'm downloading it onto my Nook.

Just thought I'd share this touching film clip with you as you prepare for the week ahead.

sharing this with Spiritual Sundays

 

Cameras, Horses and the Beginning of Moving Pictures

I'm reading a book called The Inventor and The Tycoon by Edward Ball. An unlikely friendship between the man who would become governor of California and an eccentric photographer who would become a murderer is the basis of this story.

Amazon book review: 130 years ago E. Muybridge invented stop-motion photography, making possible motion pictures. He was the first to capture time and play it back for an audience, giving birth to visual media and screen entertainments of all kinds. Yet the artist and inventor Muybridge was also a murderer, his trial one of the early instances of a media sensation. His patron was railroad tycoon Leland Stanford, whose particular obsession was whether four hooves of a running horse ever left the ground at once. Stanford hired Muybridge to answer that question. And between them, the murderer and the railroad mogul launched the age of visual media.

Does the surname Stanford sound familiar?  You're right if you think it's connected with the well known university in California.

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, stanford.edu images

  I'm reading this book on my new Nook.

my Nook dressed in it's Jonathan Adler case

I have to admit I like love reading this way. I resisted an e-reader for awhile but am seeing the advantages of having access to so many books, as well as the various features the Nook offers, like word definitions. I looked up the definition for Brobdingnagian by touching the screen and found it meant 'enormous'.

E. MUYBRIDGE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST TO PHOTOGRAPH YOSEMITE VALLEY

 
I'm half-way through the book and am enjoying it. I like the way it rounds out dates and facts with living, breathing people who traveled in different circles and yet through their interaction gave the world something new - a door from the machine age into the virtual world.



sharing this post with~

 It's Monday, What Are You Reading?


 

Pa Rum Pa Pum Pum

 

Sunday was Epiphany, the 12th Day of Christmas. It was also the birthday of a few famous people such as Rowan Atkinson, Danny Thomas, King Richard II and Joan Of Arc. For me it began with a surprise birthday cup of steaming Chai Tea Latte when I stepped out of the shower!

Next, College Girl spoiled me with a bottle of Viva La Juicy, which I recently discovered I liked. I'm not a huge perfume person, but I keep one or two bottles on my vanity for special times. This pretty bottle with the crest and pink bow will probably find it's way into College Girl's bathroom now and then. I think she had an ulterior motive when she got it for me! Haha~

 

Handyman had flowers waiting and made sure to inflate my old blow-up cake. He bought that inflatable cake for me the first year we were married and I love the sentimentality of it! Of course, we had a real cake too. College Girl baked Emeril Lagosse's Spice Cake, and she used a delicious Sour Cream frosting recipe from All Recipes dot com. I'm sharing the recipe below: she ended up using an extra cup of powdered sugar to make the frosting thicker, but if you want a thinner glaze-like consistency, use 2 and 3/4 cup as the recipe calls for. It tasted wonderful on the Spice Cake. 

 I love my new Jonathan Adler Nook cover. It has a question mark on the back cover and small pockets inside.

We waited for rain all day since the weather report gave us a sixty percent chance it would be a wet day. But, as always since our daughter was born, the sun shone and kept rain clouds at bay. I call her my 'Sunshine' for this reason, and more. College Girl has a 20 year sunshine streak going for me! Before she was born it always rained on my birthday~

the view from our backyard

The day ended with Tostadas for dinner, card games, popping open our '12 Drummers' Toy Soldier Christmas Crackers, and eating cake. 

 Here's that yummy frosting recipe we used:  

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter, softened 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:

1.

In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, sour cream, vanilla, lemon juice and salt. Stir in confectioners' sugar, and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Submitted by Lilly's Mom.   Getting older is not so bad when you do it with traditions that mean the most to you and people who bring sunshine into your life! A little Spice Cake with Sour Cream Frosting doesn't hurt either. sharing this post with:  Mosaic Monday Freedom Fridays