Grandma’s Garden Tea …

“The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.” ~William Morris

…

thanks to a friend for including me on a recent shopping excursion to give some well loved quilts a good home (we cut them each in half)…

the Grandma’s Garden quilt pattern is a favorite of mine…

our garden continues to delight with its parade of blooms…

Mr Magpie surprised me with a handful of precious rocks the other day…

 as good as a dozen roses in my book…

here’s wishing you an especially lovely day…

Mandala Monday: we are all connected

“The garden is a love song, a duet between a human being and Mother Nature.” ~Jeff Cox 

my husband’s parents were gardeners and shared plants with us over the years…

each year when this Kerria japonica blooms we think of them especially…

nature connects us…

and delights us again and again…

“Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher.” ~William Wordsworth

… joining Dawn of Girl Unwinding for her Mandala Monday …

Wisteria Wishes …

“If your eyes are open, you’ll see the things worth seeing.” ~ Rumi

for some time I have wanted to see Wisteria in bloom up close and personal…

this year my wish came true…

thanks to our glorious spring weather the traveling tea cup got out…

to enjoy the splendor of some blooming Wisteria at our favorite city garden…

which also gave us the chance to enjoy the sparkling Crystal Cloud Terrace before it leaves the gardens this May (we still have our fingers crossed that it will become a permanent fixture there)…

we could not believe our eyes…

and noses…

with so much beauty and fragrance wafting on the breeze…

several varieties are growing so bloom time would be extended…

in every stage of unfurling…

with lots more blooms to come…

helped by our cooler temperatures…

“I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.” ~Ruth Stout

***also if you do not know about it already the talented and lovely Theresa Martin is having a fantastic giveaway here***

 

Flieder…bzy …liliowy …lilas …seringen …lillà …syrener …lilacs

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” ~John Burroughs

it’s lilac time again in northern Virginia…

seemingly overnight the leaves are back on the trees and blooms are bursting everywhere…

for friends who still have snow or cold temperatures

there’s hope and

I look forward to your Spring when it arrives for you…

the talented artist Jan D’esopo‘s sculpted face that we brought back from Old San Juan last year was begging for some lilac tresses…

 *** Special wishes go out to my dear friend Lennie for a very Happy and Healthy Birthday  *** OXO

Blossom Love…

Mr Magpie and I celebrated our anniversary last week by enjoying the cherry blossoms in unusually hot summer like temperatures…

we made time first thing that same morning to visit our favorite bluebells with our traveling tea cup in tow…

 the cherry blossoms are in the city…

and the blue bells are in a park a little nearer to our home…

each place is special to us for different reasons…

the bluebell forest walk is always so peaceful…

 we had the idea of using the panorama feature on our camera and Mr Magpie made it work vertically to try and capture the majesty of one of the trees in the bluebell woods…

we are lucky that for the fourth year in a row we have been able to enjoy both blooming events…

one year we visited the bluebells six different times…

“Do not watch the petals fall from the rose with sadness, know that, like life, things must sometimes fade, before they can bloom again.” ~Unknown

*thank you for visiting this pre scheduled post…thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the tragedies in Boston*

April Tea …

 

already…

this beet dyed egg was the first we broke into curious if the natural plant dyes soaked into the shell…

 the papers in the background were part of the egg dyeing cleanup and will be nice to use for collage…

our blue eggs dyed with red cabbage will be the last to be cracked into I think…

a favorite condiment of ours is a Sesame seed mix called Gomasio which is a delicious way to cut down on salt consumption and flavor food…

“April is a promise that May is bound to keep.” ~Hal Borland

I like coffee … I like tea …

 a treat for me on the weekend is a nice cup of half-caff cappuccino…

at home I enjoy hot tea…

this June we are looking forward to sampling lots of real English tea on a trip we have planned to the UK…

here’s wishing you a lovely day just the way you like it…