A Springtime Delicacy

Yes, the hunt for morel mushrooms is on! Mom discovered these two yesterday, after hearing that one of my Dad's friends found THREE-HUNDRED!!!!!! Just thinking about it makes my mouth water....... I'd love to know where he does his hunting, but I am sure it is a carefully guarded secret. All mushroom hunters take this sort of thing very seriously...



Well, anyways, we sliced up these two beauties and sauteed them in butter........mmmmm! The kids got to try their very first bite, and liked it very much. Now if we could just find a few more.......

Basket of Bouquets

I wish you could be here to bury your nose in these lilacs.......

......they'd have you believing you'd died and gone to heaven!

From St. George's Day

On St. George's Day morning, we had dragon, sword, and shield pancakes for breakfast. ~If you use your imagination, you may be able to tell which is which;)

Big Brother only wanted to eat swords and shields, but Miss Posy........well, she was my fearless little dragon~eater. As she told me herself, "I am not afraid of dragons, muver. I will hit them on the head with my cook book and they will die!"

Lilacs

.......almost ready to be clipped and put into big vases.......and they smell just heavenly!

Puss and Boots

Meet Raskolnikov (~we call him "Raskol" for short, and are big fans of the book Crime and Punishment from which he received his name.........just in case you were wondering;)
One evening last fall he showed up on our porch and promptly adopted us as his family, much to the children's delight. He is a great cat, and lets the children take all kinds of liberties with him. And most importantly, he is a good mouser........

Speak Gently

Speak gently. It is better far

To rule by love than fear.

Speak gently, let no harsh word mar

The good you might do here.

Speak gently to the little child;

Its love is sure to gain~

Teach it in accents soft and mild.

It may not long remain.

Speak gently to the young, for they

Will have enough to bear;

Pass through this life as best they may

Tis full of anxious care.

Speak gently to the aged one.

Grieve not the careworn heart.

Whose sands of life are nearly run~

Let such in peace depart.

Speak gently to the erring, know

They must have toiled in vain;

Perchance, unkindness made them so~

Oh, win them back again!

Speak gently, 'tis a little thing.

Dropped in the heart's deep well~

The good, the joy, that it may bring

Eternity shall tell.

~By David Bates

Vibrant Pink Tulips

A Dandy Bouquet

The children have been picking me vase~fulls of dandelions each day and I really am growing fond of my little bouquets of sunshine. Who needs fancy flowers, when these humble little weeds are so bright and cheery?!!

Apple Blossoms

I ran out this morning, during a light rain, to gather these lovely blossom-covered boughs. Apple blossoms have always been very dear to me. They bring back so many memories from my childhood.

My dad built me a tree house when I was about four, in an old crab apple tree out behind our home. It had two levels -though I liked to pretend that a little seat he later added above the second level was actually a third floor. It's blossoms always smelled so sweet. I loved to pick them!

Years later, when I had grown a bit big for the tree house, an old apple tree down by the pond became my favorite place to spend time alone. It had the perfect obliging branch for swinging up onto its slanted trunk. Sometimes I'd be perched in it with a book, and other times just with my thoughts. It is gone now, as is the crab apple tree..........I do really miss them sometimes! It's funny, but you really can make such friends with a tree.

My dearest memory, though, is of a Sunday during Spring when I was probably about four or five. I had been sick, so I had to stay home from Mass with mom. When dad came home, he picked me up from the couch and carried me outside to the apple trees. They were all white with blossoms. He lifted me up to let me smell them, and then gently stripping a blossom from one of the branches, tucked it behind my ear. Then he carried me back home. It is a memory I will always treasure.

~So, I made Miss Posy a little bouquet this morning.

She was so excited, and immediately set it in the center of her little table.

I think we are making some new apple blossom memories to add to the old......;)

Posy's Pie

I made an apple pie the other night, and had enough leftover filling and crust for Miss Posy to make her own little pie. I had to help her a little bit, of course, though when it came to crimping the edges and brushing on the egg wash, she did very well on her own. She was so very proud!







Of course we had to smother it in whipped cream!

And the very best part was when she and her Daddy got to share it. I remember doing the very same thing with my daddy when I was around her age.......

Laundry on the Line

Morning Light

It stealthily crept through the window pane and came to rest here, in this corner of my kitchen.

And here I found it serenely glowing as I waited for the coffee to finish brewing.

But then, we both moved on to other things, unable to linger in any one place too long.

For the day is begun.

Another Glorious Day....

The Heart of a Flower

"Have you ever looked into the heart of a flower?.....I love their delicacy, their disarming innocence, and their defiance of life itself."

~Princess Grace of Monaco

A Walk Through Mom's Garden

Daffodils.....

...grape hyacinths...

...dogwood buds....(edited to add that this is actually a red bud. My mistake! Sorry;)

....tulips......

....and this little johnny-jump-up, who is bravely growing in the thick grass outside of the garden.

Who Knew

.........that an old dress would make such a spiffy pillow cover? I had been planning on giving the dress to a thrift shop, when I suddenly realized it was the exact color I wanted in a pillow for my living room. (~I had been putting off buying new pillows for the couch, because they are so expensive!) And I remembered that there was a bag of old pillows from my grandma down in the basement. Perfect!

The bodice of the dress had some lovely bead work that I just couldn't let go to waste, so I cut it into strips, and fashioned it into roses. And you know the best part? It all cost me absolutely nothing..........except the time to put it together, which wasn't much! The dress was given to me several years ago in a bag of clothes, and as I said above, the pillow was from my grandmother. Isn't it great when being thrifty works out so nicely?

Tiny Tomato Plant

At least I think it is a tiny tomato plant. Boots has played musical popsicle sticks, and Big Brother musical peat pots so often that I can't exactly be 100% sure. I guess we will just have to wait and see......

Still no signs of life from the okra section, but I think I might have a few green beans.........

Patience, right?

The Good News

.........is that it is all clean.

And now the question:

Is it possible to get it all folded and put away before dinner?

I guess there's only one way to find out............

Goodbye, Flannel Sheets!

~Hello, crisp cotton line-dried sheets!!!

Easter Basket Hunt

Ah! It is found!!!

Boots and his basket. Not very sucessful at opening his eggs at first....

But once the eggs are open, well that is the best part in Big Brother's opinion!

Hope you all had a very blessed Easter!!!!

From Easter Morning

I was so glad that I remembered to set the table before Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday night. It was one less thing I had to do in the morning. Just a quick trip to the garden to pick the bouquet of daffodils and everything was ready.




I blew the insides out of these eggs ( a very first for me!) and then the kids helped me paint them and decorate them with glitter. It was really a lot of fun! We painted them red in honor of the legend of St. Mary Magdalene, and Saturday night I used them to decorate the dining room wreath.

For breakfast we had boiled eggs, sausage, and these delicious hot cross buns. I didn't quite make them in the traditional manner.........I stuffed them with walnuts and cinnamon-sugar. Then I cut a cross in the top of each and placed them upside down in a pan of home made caramel sauce. They rose in this overnight in the fridge. Then all I had to do was pop them in the oven on Easter morning, and then turn them out on a nice big plate. Mmmmmmm!!!! They are especially tasty with coffee!