Keeping The Pot Warm

A new tea cozy pattern.

Making me smile.

 

 😸

 

 

Sunshine

We enjoyed an incredible spring day today, a roasting 81 degrees.

Finally a day which beckoned you outside to dig in the warm soil.

Tomorrow, rain.

*sigh*

 

Optimism

There is so much work to do, after a long winter's nap..

Fluffing and cutting and general sweeping away winter's dust and grime.

The lawns have been mowed three times this spring, but I'm resisting the urge to plant flowers until more stable warm weather arrives, since covering plants with white sheets every night, becomes a chore in itself.

We're hoping all the freeze-warnings will soon be a thing of the past, and we can soon return to the outdoors.

I know of two sweet kitties, who are just busting at the seams to join us.

 

 

  

 

 

Friendships

I've been spending time catching up on long-overdue visits with friends.

You know how it is, we all seem to get caught up in the everyday comings and goings of life, and before you realize it,  half the year has passed.

There have been wedding showers, and baby showers, school graduations and birthday celebrations, lots of reasons for get-togethers and endless hours of tea-drinking and giggling.

 

My dearest friend, also from the same home-county in England as myself, thoughtfully prepared a little brunch treat . Homemade  Cornish Pasties, with lots of HP sauce and pickled onions on the side, absolutely delicious.

Followed by left-over Christmas plum pudding slathered in custard, and endless pots of tea.

What a lovely day !

 

Plans Gone Awry

My plans were to start a little outdoor spring cleaning this weekend, but you know what they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men.........

The weather has turned wet and cold, and despite the flowers enthusiastically blooming their little hearts out, there are whispers of snow once again heading our way.

Most of the cleaning will have to take place on the inside, accompanied by a cozy fire, and pots of tea galore.

 

 

 

Weather Watch

We're having a glorious spring day today, sunshine a'plenty, just perfect for those tree-climbing kitties.
Tonight however, will be a whole different story,  horrendous winds and freezing weather on the way, just when you think it's safe to come out of the box......

A Visit With The Easter Bunny

Blessings to you this Easter

 

ALL I EVER NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT LIFE I LEARNED FROM THE EASTER BUNNY

Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
Walk softly and carry a big carrot.
Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.
There’s no such thing as too much candy.
All work and no play can make you a basket case.
A cute little tail attracts a lot of attention.
Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.
Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.
Some body parts should be floppy.
Keep your paws off other people’s jellybeans.
Good things come in small sugar-coated packages.
The grass is always greener in someone else’s basket.
An Easter bonnet can tame even the wildest hare.
To show your true colors – you have to come out of your shell.
The best things in life are still sweet and gooey.

~ Author Unknown  
 
 

Nature's Gifts

Off to spend the day at my daughter's little farm.

It's a beautiful place, nestled down a country lane and surrounded by farm fields and rising hills.

One of the perks of farm-life, are the daily fresh eggs.
She shares them with family and friends alike.
If you've never tasted a farm fresh egg, you are missing out, those store bought eggs are just not all
they are cracked-up to be.
*giggle*

 

 

 

Farm-fresh eggs have one-third less cholesterol, a quarter less saturated fats and twice as many omega three fatty acids, than store-bought eggs.

They also have more vitamin A and E and seven times more beta carotene.

And more important, the chickens are raised humanely.

 

Egg-gathering always seems to draw a crowd.

 

 

Treasured Memories

I love Irish lace and crocheted curtains, that timeless look just captivates me.

It reminds me of looking through my grandma's kitchen-window, and watching her work in the rhubarb patch out in her garden.

Surrounded by a weather-worn picket fence, wearing her apron, and the family Corgi by her side.

I've treated myself to a beautiful pair of intricately crocheted panels, I swear I can smell rhubarb and custard simmering in the kitchen.

 

March Surprise

 

So despite the rise in temperatures these last few weeks, with plants emerging, and flowers blooming, we were hit with another round of snow last night. No accumulation in our neck of the woods, but a little further north, merely a hop, skip and a jump over the state line, snow blanketed the landscape once again.

The shops are displaying their summer wares. Beautiful gardening goods, shovels, spades and digging forks, all nicely decorated with butterflies and ladybugs, just waiting for eager hands to partake.
New bird houses and baskets filled with flower seeds of endless varieties.

Easter is just around the corner, I hope those kiddos can avoid wearing their overcoats when they are busily egg-hunting.

Welcome Spring

Hello Spring, we've been waiting for you.......

The Robins have returned, a sure sign you have arrived.

Our days have warmed up nicely.

New grass and flowers are beginning their journey to awaken.

Songbirds have returned, and there's a nightly croaking of a frog heard at the tiny pond.

Springtime appears.

 

 

 

 

 

The year's at the Spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in his Heaven -
All's right with the world ! "

Robert Browning ; The Year's at the Spring.

 

Flowers are budding

Birds are nesting

Bunnies are hopping

Frogs are croaking

 

 

 

Oliver Love

"Oliver look this way and smile"

 

 

 

 

" You forgot to open your eyes "

 

"Perfect".

 

Nesting

Just as longer days appear, and plans of garden-plotting begin, a March-snow falls from the sky.

Thankfully measured in inches, not feet, as with other parts of the country.

Newspaper coronets have been placed over plants that have boldly appeared from the winter soil,  and white sheets draped to protect emerging Clematis vines.

Humans and portly felines now cocooned fireside.

 

 

 

 

Brambly Hedge : Illustrated by Jill Barklem

Spring Forward

 

This coming Sunday at 2 am our annual clock fiddling takes place once again.
An hour forward to Daylight Savings Time, payback for that extra hour of sleep, we enjoyed so much back in November.
Spring is not far behind, what a lovely thought......

Rabbit Love

I have loved rabbits for as long as I can remember.

All breeds of rabbits, their soft fur, and long ears, floppy or standing tall.

When I was younger, most of my time was spent caring for, and raising rabbits, they were my constant companions. 

My school friends spent  their pocket-money on weekly cinema-visits and ice-creams, mine was spent on rabbit food at the local pet shop.

It's a love I have carried into my adult life, although sadly, I am rabbit-less these days.
We'll have to see what we can do about this inequity.

Feeding the Rabbits: Felix Schlesinger

 

Tennessee In Bloom

Color is once again returning to our landscapes.

The spring trees are in bloom.

Dogwood, Bradford Pear, Cherry and Magnolia, all doing their part, and adding their touch to the spring palette.

 

 

 

                                                       

An altered look about the hills;

A Tyrian light the village fills;

A wider sunrise in the dawn;

A deeper twilight on the lawn;

A print of a vermilion foot;

A purple finger on the slope;

A flippant fly upon the pane;

A spider at his trade again;

An added strut in chanticleer;

A flower expected everywhere ..."

~Emily Dickinson

Color Comes To Town

I know that spring is upon us, when the Redbud trees start giving out their beautiful pink buds.
The redbud is a tree that is valued far more than its small size might suggest. This lovely harbinger of spring has been called “a breath of fresh air after a long winter” and no less than “one of our most beautiful native trees” writes tree expert Michael Dirr, of The Arbor Day Foundation.

It is hard to express adequately the miracle of a tree that had branches so bare all through winter suddenly go from stark brown to magenta.
But there she is again, emerging from her own winter of storms, freeze, winds, and drought, still standing, still surviving, still blooming, still giving.

In Anticipation

The garden has come alive, with songbirds, squirrels, rabbits, and the resident possums..

 Bluebirds are feathering their nests, in anticipation of the next generation.

So much activity fluffing and feathering. 

 

 

 

 

 

For winter's rains and ruins are over,

And all the season of snows and sins;

The days dividing lover and lover,

And time remembered is grief forgotten,

And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,

And in green underwood and cover

Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

~ Algernon Charles Swinburne