The Joy of Creation

Visit Bunny Jean  for this fun  weekly party!!!!
When I retired    one of my favorite hobbies I took up was oil painting.....    My precious teacher, Dorothy,     had so much patience with  my limited skills, and    taught me  to paint what you see,   not what you know is there...   and   to  put light where you see light, and dark where you see dark,, and those were  her two most important rules she drilled into us...  but I cant tell you  how much more observant she made us.   I  notice things  in  the world so much more  clearly   now,   picking out details  and  the play of light and dark on colors...   I really need to get back into painting  and not let the  circumstances of life  take  my joy  from me.
These are a few of my   pieces....   not a masterpiece to be found,  at all, but each one   blesses me in some small measure   because  of the memories they evoke    during the  time of their  creation...  amazing  the joy that comes from  applying  paint to canvas!

Do The Bunny Hop

Visit Bunny Jean  for this fun  weekly party!!!!

I have to admit that the extreme temperatures and  the  crisis  that our area has  endured  this week with  so many  folks still our of  power, no A/c and  little water,and ice,   the  whole  celebrating   of the fourth has  taken  aback seat  in my  heart...  I    love our country and am praying  mightily for  our  leaders and  am so thankful for  our  wonderful country and  pray that  the very nature and fabric of who we are as nation will endure  for  generations to come...  but it is difficult to  celebrate this week...    Just a bit here and there is all we can muster!!!

 Earlier we had  a lovely  early  breakfast  al fresco!

Yummy poached eggs over  English muffin  and  thick sliced bacon...     and a  very patriotic  fresh  fruit cup with  strawberries,    blueberries,  and bananas  and bit of  real whipped cream!As always  fresh  ground/ brewed arabica coffee!!!
  
  A bit of   devotions  and our day is off to a good start!
  

Refresher on Ice

Visit Bunny Jean  for this fun  weekly party!!!!
  One of the  favorite  recipes I have  enjoyed  this summer  with  its  unyielding heat and  humidity is  something I put together  following reading  
Dr. Oz's  article in Woman's World magazine about the benefits of white and green tea ...   the antioxidants and    benefits  in  cutting the appetite  and for  digestion... really caught my attention...  Also,  the tea Pureh   is one that I am still trying to locate in my health food store... 
  Anyway  our local grocer  has  all  my  other immediate needs for creating the  most  wonderfully refrshing     iced tea....  and each  time I make it  I  try it  a bit differently.. 
     


I always begin with my glass 8 cup measure filled with water for the microwave.... then I add 2 white tea bags, 2 green tea bags,... then I start adding from my stash of teas.... for I know I need to use them up and replenish my hot teas before cold weather anyway...

so usually add a couple of roobios, and then a blackberry, or a lemon.\,  or a Winter spice, just whatever catches my fancy... . I try to have about 8-10 tea bags in... I set the microwave for 7:30 and then after it heats up I allow it to steep about 5 minutes, I add 3/4 c sweetner or 3/4 sugar depending on who my guests are.... My husband doesnt like sweetner... and I add it to my pitcher... It generally will fill the pitcher so I dont add any water.... I will add about 1/4 c lemon juice and some cut up lemons.... and refrigerate... this has been a huge hit everytime I have served it and it is so very refreshing! I love how each different type of extra tea will add just a bit of zing...but it is very encouraging to know that the green and white tea is so very good for the body!

Blue Mood

  I am all out of wack this week...   just  getting over   my  viral sinus  problems,,,  and   splitting my time  between home,   my mom's  house  getting it  cleaned out, painted, and ready   to sell, and  visiting with my parents in Assisted Living...   Sometimes I dont know if Im coming or going...   but  yesterday it was  just good to  stay home and  get  ready for  my dear friends today!...  My house  really needed a bit of attention!

 I have posted that I was inspired by cooling blues...  and  

  So  I  tried to allow the blue to spill out of the dining room and into  the living room a s well!


Robin's egg blue  silk pillows on the sofa ,  


  and an arrangement of  silk hydrangea on the floor by the fireplace 

the Jim Shore angel collection on the bookcase
 
 all add just the touch of blue to the room to  bring a bit of  coolness to the mood!
 I am also sharing on  
  Home  Sweet Home Friday

Show and Tell Friday 


Feathered Nest Friday 

Soul Time with the Blues

     Bunny Jean  shares  this theme each week,  and it is always so much fun to  just contemplate ok,,  where are we going this week.. last week, she asked,    what is the  impetus for blogging...   is there a schedule of  what keeps you going.... .   Well, Im not one who has a new project going every week,  and Id  love to  go  flea marketing every w eek and come away with  fantastic  treasures,  but then again,  Im trying to get rid   many of the treasures I bought years ago, and  am in the  process of scaling down, so that isnt quite me either,....  I  think about  what can I do this week to  spur the creative juices  along and  create either a space or an event in my day that    feeds my inner being...   Soul Time is what I call it...  Often  I am inspired  by   magazines I love like  Victoria, Bliss!
This month,    it's blue  cover  grabs me, especially on days like today,,,,
Mainly, because today  it is overcast,  with the threat of rain.. a lazy day,,, a blue day!

  so I picked a bouquet of hydrangeas  to hang on my door...

 
 and  inspired  by my magazine, I set a lovely table...

heheheh.  from my angle there on the sofa   it looks    funny,  but  it's really not  tilted!

it is fun to go  room shopping for all things blue to pull together...

a silk arrangement    is a   shadow of the real McCoy  at the door...

  but I  am bit stingy with  my  real blooms...  So excuse me now while I continue  perusing  this months edition  of  Victoria    and  dreaming of  times and places... and perhaps planning  some Soul Time!

My Early Morning Garden Tea

Bernideen's Tea Time is a lovely site for  getting your  inspiration for  all things tea!  And today she is  inviting everyone  to  participate in a garden tea....   what a lovely  week this  will be....   with all the errands I have for  later today,..,.   it was marvelous to  have a leisurely  garden breakfast tea , just the two of us.... ( I love  that we are both retired now!)
So  early this morning, I set the stage....

fresh picked flowers from the garden...

bowers of flowers from the house... hehehehe

lovely   potted flowers  on the porch... all greeted us as we  gathered  for the fun!

On the menu....   cranberry walnut scones and baked eggs....  oops. the oven could  do with a cleaning!!!!

 Now our daughter, Amanda, would have loved to  have joined us this morning!

I never baked the eggs before, and now it is  my   manner  of choice.....  delightfully  delicious....
Our tea..

was Earl Grey....   my favorite!

My sweetie  even dressed for the occasion!  HEHEHEHEHE


A truly amazing time  to share this morning....
and the scones.

were   perfection...

Cranberry  Walnut Scones

3 c  Virginia’s best  self rising flour

1 T baking powder

½ c sugar

¾ c butter…slice in  tablespoon  slices  to make  working it in  easier

1 c fresh cranberries… I added golden raisins to make a cup

½ c chopped  English walnuts.. I used pecans

1 1/2 T orange zest

1 c buttermilk  I used  clabbered milk  ( 1 cup milk  with 1 table of  white vinegar)

To top  unbaked scones.

1 T cream or milk

1 T sugar mixed with ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Stir together all dry ingredients at top  of list..   Rub the butter  slices into the mixture until  only coarse crumbs form…   Like  cornmeal….  Incorporate the butter evenly.. no large  chunks….Stir in cranberries, nuts, and  zest. Add buttermilk and mix with a fork until evenly moistened.  I  didn’t  mix  it too much  and  as soon as I saw it coming together  I  poured it out on a floured surface and  shaped it into a  ball.   Pat the ball into a  ¾ inch thick circle.    Don’t work the dough too much…   it should be  fairly easy to  work with   you will have a lot on your fingers 

   As it will be moist. So  incorporate just enough flour     so not so sticky

   But  keep it   pliable.

Cut  rounds with a biscuit cutter and place on a greased sheet. Brush tops with the cream or milk and  sprinkle the sugar mixture on top.    Bake at 400 for 14-16 minutes or until  golden…  if you desire  lightly sprinkle with  powder  sugar.
I am also sharing on the Bunny Hop today!!


 Ruth's Thursday Tea talk

1. I'm having...Earl grey, and  we  are  loving it!
2. I'm feeling....like this is the first day of the rest of our lives....

3. On my mind....We serve a mighty, loving, merciful God  who directs our path and provides our needs!!
4. The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike. Unless we return to the crude and nursery-like belief in objective values, we perish.
 ~C.S.Lewis

Katherine's Favorite Things Thursday

  Tablescape Thursday



Kathy's  Home and Garden Thursday

 Friday's Charm of the Home

 and Show and Tell Friday

at the Romantic Home

Repurposing for Spring

AHAHAHAH!   I love this  new     blog party....   well, it is new to me....   and so appropriate to the season,   as well.

If you want to know more about  this one,  visit here!.

Ive been getting  so  exciting about  spring bursting forth everywhere... in our  neighborhood and community....  it is only appropriate it should  be reflected  more and more  inside, as well.  And to be perfectly honest....    there  truly is a good reason to  do  spring cleaning... for   in clearing out the basement   wonderful finds    keep being  uncovered....   things that had been  packed away so long that  some had lost their   value... while others   could be   brought forth  and to rejuvenate our spring revelry!

Washing and  revamping  old  droopy  silk florals  and    decorative  items  into new  displays  is such fun....     It is like Christmas   to find  a shopping bag of old silk  florals and decorative  pieces    looking sad, and  misshapen...      and bringing them back into  a lovely   vignette   helps make our house a home!!!