First one is a detail of a spiderweb after it rained.

 Second one is some fireworks from yesterday. Living in a small town means fewer fireworks, nothing fancy, but we do get twice the boom since it bounces off of the ore docks. :-)

A cold, wet day.

The last two days have been rainy/foggy/cold. 50 degrees cold. In June. Tsk. Although, this has given me an opportunity to take some different pictures than what I usually take. Here they are folks!

First one was some rain droplets on a lily-of-the-valley leaf. ((I love macro photography!))

Second one is a spider web on our deck.

Must go, Mom just got home from a visit and I'm done with waiting for things to load. We're on Dial-Up so everything takes forever. It's sometimes a good idea to have a book handy when waiting.....

Changes

I'm thinking that this blog is going to end up being more of a photography place. Things remain busy around here, and I haven't time to sit down and write a long post. :-(

So, here is one picture:

And #2:

In other news, Mom and I went to D---- yesterday, I drove all the way there! (It's about a half hour away) :-) Yay! I did fairly well, although apparently everyone speeds on one part and i was going about the speed limit so there were quite a lineup of cars behind me. When it turned to 2 lanes everyone scooted over and I had the whole left lane to myself! lol

Finished planting my garden, it was actually hot out today! The rest of the state/country is broiling, and since we're close to Lake Superior (about 2 blocks away) it doesn't get near as warm. But I'm currently wearing a t-shirt and capris and loving it!

A picture I took earlier

This morning I took my camera (which I bought last fall and am still in love/ in awe of it) outside to snap some shots in the garden. Enclosed is one of the inside of a tulip:

And the Time has Gone........ Where?

First as a disclaimer, my sister and nieces are over right now so things may be a little dis-jointed in this post.

We'll be starting with today and working our way back.

Today:
Day #5 (I think) of homeschooling. It went well, we made banana bread, and worked on letters and numbers for a while. She's doing really well with her learning, she's so eager! Mom came up with the clever idea of having her trace the letter/number instead of trying to do just by looking and trying to copy. And then Morgan and Kelli came over so the schooling kind of went kaput. Ah, well.
Otherwise, my day was spent doing dishes, walking the dog, general pickup, fabric cutting, and a little of going through my stuff. Do you ever have that urge to just get rid of a whole bunch of stuff, like you have WAY too much? I think most everyone does.....

Yesterday afternoon Mom and I went up to my Grandma's house to help her go through some of her things. Mom tackled a few boxes of books, deciding which one's were not worth keeping, and Grandma and I went through some fabric; She gave me a bunch of scraps with some bigger chunks thrown in for good measure.

Wednesday Isabelle came over. I think we planted some potatoes, what that the day I gave her a wheelbarrow ride? I believe so.

Tuesday I had my cardiologist appointment, the doctor was really nice, and quite thorough. He decided to be on the safe side and have me wear a cardio-net monitor for TWENTY DAYS. I've had a Holiter monitor for 48 hours, and it's not very much fun. Actually, the worst part of it is having to sleep on my back. I don't think they'll find anything, I've been feeling fine for a couple months now.

Monday is beyond memory. Things have been so busy, I don't know if they'll be slowing down anytime soon either. Not that that's a bad thing, but it might be nice to just have a day off without anything that has to be done. Welcome to life, eh?

Tonight we're having "Bumstead" sandwiches for dinner. :D Such a treat.

For closing, here is a picture of Isabelle, Kelli, and Poppy.

First Day of Preschool!

Today was my first day of summer-homeschooling Isabelle. It was only for 1 1/2 hr., normally it'll be about 2 hours until she gets older and then it'll be longer days. When she got here she was a little confused since I think she was expecting that we would practice more..... traditional public school things. I told her we'll work on her letters later on (she's so ready to learn them) but today we would be out in the garden. We planted Violas, she got to choose where some of them went, and then she picked a whole bunch of Dandelions. I made them into a little crown for her, as you will see. She was quite pleased with it. :-) Then I got out our large magnifying glass and we looked at flowers, trees, and ants with it. Quote from Isabelle: "I love bugs!". That part of the day didn't turn out quite as I had imagined it because Jamie dropped her off, and never really left. Then Kelli brought Morgan over so thus ended the schooling part. They left a half hour early. She comes back on Wednesday and we'll be going to the library.

It was a beautiful day out, we were expecting the usual 55 cloudy, and instead it got humid, sunny for a bit, and 75. :D
New schedule is working out well, love getting everything done so much sooner. I feel so productive!
Got all my plants for the year, it's horridly expensive. Also, my quilt came back from the quilter. She did a wonderful, lovely job and it looks great. I should be going over to my Grandma's tomorrow and she's going to help me put on the binding.
What busy days these are.

Some pictures taken today

All righty. I don't really have enough time to do a full, long post, but I wanted to put up some pictures I took of my nieces today. It was gorgeous out there. They behaved most of the time, except at the very end when I got too tired to push both of them in the double stroller and had Isabelle get out. Being 4 she likes to pout over random stuff, this time it was just AWFUL that I helped her out of the stroller insead of her doing it by herself. Perish the thought! (do you detect a little sarcasm there?) So she was lagging behind with her lip hanging out, then Morgan saw her and wanted out too. By this time Isabelle decided to stop being cranky and wanted to help me push the stroller. Morgan wanted to as well. When she wasn't able to do so, she sat down on the sidewalk in disapointment. (during this time there are some older folks sitting on their porch watching us) I said "Morgan, come on let's keep moving". The kid didn't even look up. So I went over, picked her up, which she didn't want and was therefore in the "football hold", and helped Isabelle with the stroller with my freehand. Needless to say after we crossed the street they went back in the stroller. Anyhoo, here are some pictures:

Picture #1 ~ Isabelle with dandelions.

Picture #2 ~ Isabelle down by A. Bay, with an ore boat coming in. Very Minnesotan!

Picture #3 ~ Morgan with a rock that is about to be thrown in the water.


One more thing, you know that robin picture? Well, a few days ago one hatched! I saw mid-morning and decided that I would take more pictures the next day since I didn't want to disturb them too much. By then it was too late, some critter (we're thinking cat) had gotten in there and ate the chicks and every bit of eggshell. Seriously, there isn't even the smallest bit leftover. GRRR....

First Day

Greetings to all!
Today is my first day of the new schedule. I ended up staying up later than I wanted thinking about money matters (I have a list of things to purchase, everything from 2 Christmas gifts to a subscription to a magazine to plants) and it all costs around $150.00. But, as my Mom pointed out, Kelli owes me some babysitting money, I'll probably work a few days at the shop this summer, plus hopefully my booth will have some good sales. Anyways, back to the schedule. Because I stayed up until later I didn't wake until about 1/2 hour after I intended. But, I'm did stuff quickly this morning and am back on track. So, if I may brag, I've washed/put away dishes, dusted (oh, so hard don't ya know!!), cleaned my room and bathroom, did my first math lesson of the summer (got 3 wrong), and made bread. Currently I'm waiting for lunch to be done and decided to do my computer stuff since I hadn't earlier. In general, I'm pretty doggone happy with the way the day is going.
Mom's not feeling too good today; she has something similar to Trigeminal Neuralgia, which means that she has horrid facial pains. Seriously, you can't imagine what she's been through with that. Her meds work most of the time, but the pains goes up and down and it's currently on a down. But, she was able to go visit with a friend, which is what she's doing now.
Yesterday was the Lia Sophia jewelry party. There were 4 or 5 other ladies besides us and the hostess and rep., who is my sister. There was really good food. :-)
Other random news: I've started really liking a singer named Britt Nicole. If you follow christian music, you've probably heard of her. SUSIE magazine interviewed her a few issues back and she's pretty neat.
Have a lovely day!

A Very Good, Busy Day

HELLOOOO!

I had a great day today. This morning I did a load of laundry, vacuumed, swept the entire house, did the bathroom/bedroom/downstairs general pickup, got some lunch, and did a little sewing. I also called a lady who does quilting and she will hopefully quilt my quilt. :-) Left a message and haven't heard back, but she does all my grandma's so I don't see why she wouldn't do mine.
My Mom left for D----- around 1:00 and I made some more banana bread. Turned out wonderful, as usual. (I'm sorry, does that sound like I'm bragging? It's just so easy to make I don't think it could be messed up.) Took the dog for a walk out in the rain, we both came back soaking wet. Then I called my sister back and dropped off a piece of B. bread and picked up a lemon load pan. Came back and started on the lemon loaf. I think (hope) it turned out. I followed all the directions so it ought to. Then I started on dinner, and was quite tired at this point. We're having BBQ'd chicken and baked potatoes. Easy and delicious. So, I made a horrid mess of the kitchen, but had a lot of fun. Oh, and I delt with 25 pounds of sugar.

Only 2 more pages left until I'm done with journal #7! teehee. It's become more of an impulse now.

Also, I have decided that I won't be going online in the mornings. It makes me a tired, lethargic, and I'm not even really creative enough to write an interesting post so what's the point? Plus then I'll have extra time to do chores and stuff. I'll be putting a new schedule into place soon, hopefully I'll be homeschooling Isabelle come fall and need to re-arrange my current schedule. It'll be interesting.

A New Neighbor

Yesterday my Mom and Dad discovered that we have a robin family nesting underneath our deck. The picture is one I took earlier on today. It isn't the greatest angle, but it's in a very awkward place.

It was beautiful out, I spent a few hours out in my garden raking leaves and weeding. I was talking with my oldest niece, Isabelle (age almost 4) and she wants to plant Dandelions 'cause they're her favorite flower'. Maybe I can convince her that peas are better.

Later on I went for a walk with some friends, Tattie (pronounced Toddy), Micaiah, and Erica. We walked down to the breakwall, around downtown, and then back to their house. After a bit we all headed out to D.Q for some blizzards, got there just before closing. Stayed out until 9:45 I believe. All in all, a good day.

This afternoon was spent over at my sister's house helping out with the kids. She torked her neck & back and wasn't really able to move and when you have a 3 and 1 year old that's not such a good thing. Got her some meds and did some pick-up in the living room. Hung out until around 4 when she, Jamie (husband) and Morgan (1 year old child) went to the doctor to figure out what's what. I didn't get to hear the whole story, but there was mention of tendons......

Isabelle told me I have angel eyes.

Havin' sloppy joe's for dinner tonight. Kinda forgot to eat a proper lunch so I for one an good n' hungry.

*Thought for the day: It is not your circumstances that break you, but your circumstances that introduce you to your own brokeness.*

Some extra time and a black cake

I seem to have some extra time on my hands so why not write another post?

We're having our own little Easter dinner tonight. We were supposed to have it yesterday, but Mom and I weren't feeling well so it's today. Mom had a place she needed to go to, and gave me a little list on a piece of paper of things that I should do for the dinner while she's gone. She wrote it in large writing, and I told her I would keep the paper with me at all times. My head's been in the clouds the last couple weeks when it comes to remembering things like that. I used to be good at remembering things like putting of coffee, ect. but lately I haven't. Or, if I do remember, then something happens, like putting the coffee pot in the thing a little sideways so coffee grounds go all over. Twice. The last few times Dad just got it ready so all I have to do is flip a switch. Did I remember? No. Let's hope things go better this time.....

Well Osama Bin Laden is dead, front page news today. " Ezekiel 33:11- ..."I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked; I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live" is my view on it.

Wrote back to my Grandma today, and got a letter from one of my penpals. :D Good day.

Few days ago I made a chocolate cake, the cake part turned out fine but the frosting is another story. I hadn't made the recipe before, and misunderstood the directions so that didn't turn out. And I also almost ruined a pot, that has never happened before. In trying to resurrect it we boiled it and it wasn't meant to get that hot. After that I made the "No Fail Chocolate Frosting" and sure enough, it didn't fail me. :-) The project turned out divine if I don't say so myself.

A Day at the Aquarium

As you read from the last post, Mom and I went to the aquarium today. Although it's only a little ways south, we've never gone. Suprisingly, it was a blast! We played the tourist, looking at things, and taking each other's picture. We look kinda dorky, but who cares?

The above was a bus we saw on the way home. Isn't it awesome?!

Not such a good picture of me.

What an interesting way to haul things.....

On a side note, my Mom touched a sting ray. Is she the coolest Grandma or what?

Minnesotan Weather

Hello out there! Hope your weather is better than ours cause we had SNOW earlier. Not just little flakes either, big, white, fluffy, decrease visibility snow. It's stopped now, thank goodness. I've been griping to Mom and Dad about it, but my dear father doesn't mind the snow. ??? It's late April and just insulting. He's right of course, it won't last long and will green things up, but still!

We had a good Easter. Mom and I went to church (the Vineyard) at the exact wrong time. Everyone from the last service was leaving, and people were arriving for the next one. They actually had a couple guys out directing traffic so it wouldn't get too mucked up. But, the music was good, sermon was interesting and at the end a couple people came to Christ which was pretty neat. Had dinner at my Granparent's house. There was only 15 of us this time & we ate cheesy potatoes, ham (of course!), jello (not a dessert), cole slaw and wood tick salad.

Mom and I will be going south tomorrow to do some running. I want to get my pictures developed, get some more hotpads stuff and we'll be visiting the aquarium. The library gives out free tickets to various things around here and Mom got 2 for us.

I've been going through a dry spell in writing. All of my penpals wrote me back a while ago so I wrote to all of them, plus my personal journal, this blog, emailing a friend, and a small journal for other purposes. Whew. A story gets old after telling it 7 times. Speaking of stories....

We had my two nieces over yesterday for a short. I was taking pictures of them and they were both saying "cheese" as kids do. Then, Isabelle started saying "cheese-ah". I said "Cheese-ah! What does that mean?" She responded: "It's French". So cute.

A Totally Random and Probably Boring Story

I forgot to take my iron supplement this morning so I've been tired all day. Around 4:30 I decided to lay down, I wasn't totally zonked out, just enough that I could hear everything but was interested enough in my dreams so I didn't care. Heard my Dad come home. Didn't matter enough to make me open my eyes ("surely Mom would talk to him, right?" my sleepy mind said. My now half-awake brain is saying: "Duh.") Poppy (my dog) decided to join me, inviting herself up onto my bed. This is fine because she just layed down next to me and kept me warm. Then, she heard the neighbor dog barking, shrieked, and raced down the stairs after upsetting my glasses and a sewing project.
So ended my nap.

Happy Easter (2 days early)

Whew! Been a while since I've given an update on what's going on.

Not much actually. My parents went to Market last weekend so I had the house to myself for 36 hours. I worked the shop on Sunday from 9:30-4:00. On the way back Kelli called and invited me over to hang out. After doing dishes, making my dinner (meatloaf & a baked potato), taking the dog for a walk, being on the computer and eating my dinner I headed over. They were doing some cleaning so I kept her company and watched a movie ~ Resident Evil 2. After their living room and bedroom were clean Jamie wanted to play a video game. Growing up we never had one so he is much better than I am. (Kelli's had some experience since she moved out) I'm horrible. It was one of those shooting games and Jamie liked to follow me around, and one of the times I saw him and of course panicked. So I was throwing 2 kinds of granades, shooting, jumping, and running (or trying to) all at the same time. Naturally, it didn't work but he got a kick out of seeing me try!
The next day I did some spring cleaning. :-) Yes, I am a dork. Cleaning is one of my favorite things to do, there is just such a sense of satisfaction when it's all over with. So most of my day was spent doing that. Parents got back that evening and life has gone back to normal.

This Sunday is the big Easter dinner at my Grandparent's house. There's usually 17 of us, but this year my Auntie Jean and Jeff will be away somewhere south. The best parts of the dinner are: all of us sitting at one big table, the ham, and the cheesy potatoes. :D Yum.

A Very Neat Quote

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds-and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace, where never the lark, nor even eagle flew - And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod the high, untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee (1922-1941)
A Canadian Spitfire pilot in
the Battle of Britian  

A Case of Mis-Heard Lyrics

This is (as you saw from the title) a case of mis-heard lyrics. This song is from "All Star United" called Superstar. It's actually a good song with a nice beat to it ~ great cleaning music!

This ball the disco,we get a little misty remembering Menuto and all those old pros. They say rollers and pinky tusks it must be of meaning~ call us like cattle with gum stampeading to new romantics. Everybody wants love titanic and tiger be Jesus
You! It's true we were born to worship someone it's true. Aye!
You! You are my Superstar and they know who you are. You're never fading. Yeah, You! You are the only one my Far* because You are You're never changing.
Jackson's offence: we got that jet-a to comp that cause and have a poison/ All have a mighty night and have fun.
 (chorus)
No, you never had infection and you never made the cover of a rat like Hit Parade. I could have never known enough. When I tasted the friend and I tested only one. And I might to anything but have you shot.
 (chorus)
You are my Superstar!

* Far = Father in Swedish

Pictures

I forgot the pictures for the last post!
 The one above is of their feet. So cute! Isabelle is on the right, Morgan on the left.

Can you tell which one is having more fun? :-)

 Morgan

A Very Good Day

Today was a great day. :-) Got up early this morning and headed over to the R's house to watch the girls. Jamie got a job & has to have a backround check and Kelli was working so they needed a babysitter. Isabelle was up when I got there so I got her dressed. Once I finished Morgan was up so I got her a new diaper (although she is mostly potty trained). Then we got her dressed, hair brushed and shoes on and headed out to the park. The girls were quite happy to be there and explored the woody area. We saw 3 deer and Isabelle was creeping towards them stepping on many loud twigs going "Shh!!". They both enjoyed swinging and Isabelle sang the whole time. Morgan would sing/chant occasionally. After a while we headed by to my house and got some lunch. They chalked on our little chalkboard, bickering minimal. We all did the dishes, and now I rather wish I had set up a camera to show us all standing close together in a line. Isabelle was on the left rinsing, I was in the middle washing, and Morgan was playing with the bubbles and washing the sink area. Such precious girls.
Jamie got back around then and we hung out until Kelli got done with work and then they all went home.
Went for a walk, it's beautiful out again!
Did my downtown running, this time I drove. Although I'm 18, have a permit, can drive a stick, can drive forward, I still pretty much stink. I did fine with the highway driving and with the in town, but them Mom decided that I should practice other things... like backing into our driveway. Truly, we were in hysterics by the time I finished. And nobody who could drive would park the blazer as I did. Also, I seem to always want to drive on the left side of the road.... not good.

Contentment is Happiness

There is a feeling of contentment in our house at the moment. Mom made a soup that is currently simmering on the stove, it's wonderful oniony smell permeating throughout the house. Dad just got home from the shop and they are chatting downstairs. Obviously, I'm on the computer (it's that time of day). I've been working on those hotpads for the shop and they are coming along. It's a fairly nice day out, 45 with a bit of a wind off the lake. Quiet day around here, but I got everything done that I wanted to. :-)

This Friday I need to get a package sent out to my penpal, Esther. We've been corresponding for about 2 years now and like to send a package to each other about once a year. I recieved hers a few weeks ago and have her letter all written out, just need to get the stuff to put in it...

Well, gee. I guess that's all for now.

Llamas and Hotpads

A few days ago I went through my fabric stash and came up with all the little bits (less than 10'' long) and cut them into 2 1/2, 5 and 7 1/2 inch incraments. Started sewing them into hotpads to be sold at the shop. The first few went fine enough, but then I entered into the difficult ones. This is when I entered into the U.T.W.C.G.V.B.W. (Urge to Throw a Waterford Crystal Glass Vase at a Brick Wall) syndrom. Or bang my head against the brick wall or perhaps just throw my hands up and laugh with fustration. Anyway, I took a break and decided that some of them will be ripped out and re-designed.

During this time I got a call from my sister wondering if I would like to go to the zoo with her and the girls. Of course I said yes and we all had a great time. (wish I had bought along my camera!) We went to the petting zoo and the llama was awesome. We walked around for a bit and the girls loved the animals. The tiger was stalking about when we saw him and he came right up to the window, much to our delight.

The ride home was fine right up to the end. Isabelle was complaining that her stomach hurt and the seatbelt was too tight but otherwise was content. Morgan on the other hand looked as though she would fall asleep except at the end when she got carsick, poor dear. She is doing fine now, splashing around in the tub.

( I wonder if my parents would notice if we suddenly had a llama strutting about in the back yard...)

The Things I Miss

This poem says what I have been feeling today...

An easy thing O Power Divine,
To thank Thee for these gifts of Thine.
For summer's sunshine, winter's snow,
For hearts that kindle, thoughts that glow.
 But when shall I attain to this: --
To thank Thee for the things I miss?

For all young Fancy's early gleams,
The dreamed - of joys that still are dreams,
Hopes unfulfilled, and pleasures known
Through others' fortunes, not my own,
And blessings seen that are not given,
And never will be, this side of heaven.

Had I, too, shared the joys I see,
Would there have been a heaven for me?
Could I have felt Thy presence near
Had I possessed what I held dear?
My deepest fortune, highest bliss,
Have grown perchance from things I miss.

Sometimes there comes an hour of calm;
Grief turns to blessing, pain to balm
A Power that works above my will
Still leads me onward, upward still.
And then my heart attains to this--
To thank Thee for the things I miss.

~Thomas Wentworth Higginson

the face of everyday life is always changing

Truly, it is. Just when you think that everything will stay the same for about 6 months, Wham! Something happens and it all changes. Don't worry, nobody died or anything like that. On the contrary, this is a good thing. My sister and her husband got jobs today! They'll both be working at the same place, Kelli (sister) will be the baker/server and her husband (Jamie) will be their I.T. guy and a server on the side. What does this have to do with me? Daycare. I would be possibly watching them from 7am til 10am or early afternoon. (they don't know details). This could be quite the challenge for a perpetual nightowl! I was planning on homeschooling the oldest niece (Isabelle, age 3) but I don't think I could or would want to if I had to watch Morgan (age 2) at the same time. So, I'm not opposed to having an Auntie's Daycare for the summer, but come fall.... Ah, well. Cross that bridge when we come to it. But I would make a bit of money for the summer! :-) Always handy.

Mom and I took my dog, Poppy, to the vet today to have her nails trimmed. (Poppy is a Sheltie/Border Collie mix and has a lot of energy, so we both get a walk everyday.) This was a successful trip as she didn't vomit on the way back! Thank goodness cause I really don't like cleaning it out of a car. The trimming cost $6.70 which is quite reasonable. She has her dew claws and they are a royal pain to trim.

My tulips are up! I have to cover them soon cause we have some very hungry deer in our neck of the woods. Seriously, the deer are everywhere. Of course, it's amusing to locals to see people from the cities dash out of their car trying to get a picture. Spring has sprung!

We can now say "the F word" in our house!

Yes, you read that right. This nice girl is going to start saying the F word with enthusiasm. F stands for Fence. (probably not what you were thinking, right?) We've wanted one for about 10 years now and we finally will be getting one. :-) It will be about 6 feet tall and encompass the entire back yard. My uncles and grandpa will be building it, and we know they'll be doing a good job since their motto is "perfect is good enough". It's going to be madness this spring since living up north we have to dig far-ish into the ground and pour concrete in with the fence post because of the frost. Plus, I also have a larger raised bed that's going to have to be moved since it's sitting on the property line. As are my rosebushes and peonys. The roses aren't going to be that bad to move since they're rugosas and can't be killed. It'll be a pain to deal with one of them though since it's about 7 feet tall. Mom's also thinking of having our monster of a deck taken off and having a little one instead. If this should happen, I get to re-do all of my flower beds since the plants were placed assuming the deck would stay put. Oh, well. In the end it's all going to look great.

Just the goings-on...

Hello out there. The picture above is one I took of the lake earlier on today. We were supposed to have a blizzard (yes, a blizzard at the end of march...) but instead we got less than an inch of snow and a ton of wind. This makes for some pretty incredible waves. I can't wait until Spring so I can be in my garden.

I had my nieces over for a short a couple days ago, it was beautiful out. The oldest played with the neighbor boy who is the same age and then we all came in. We then had a snack: those marshmallow eggs my mom had made. Here is a picture of the youngest niece licking her lips.

My Mother's Eggs-Capade

My Mother and Martha Stewart now have at least 1 thing in common: they have both made marshmallows. With the Easter season coming up and having been reading blogs to become inspired, she decided to try making marshmallow eggs. They are very sticky. The picture above is her putting the extra goo into a different container. After setting up for a little bit they are about the consistency of silly putty. In a while she's going to coat them in chocolate. Let's hope they turn out cause we have a lot!

Pretty in Pink

This is a double poppy I grew in my garden last summer...

Rosemary and Violets

I thought it would be befitting to have my first post be my favorite quote. This is also was Tasha Tudor's favorite:

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take Heaven.
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present instant. Take peace.
The Gloom of the world is but a shadow; behind it, yet within our reach is joy. Take joy!