More Violets

The Dog Violet Fairy

Cecily Mary Barker

I dropped in to Main Street Antiques in Turlock last week. My friend Betty Sue has a booth there. You see that I was unable to resist more violets. I am such a sucker for them. Don't try to tell me that they wouldn't have found their way home with you if you had seen them first! These were mailed in 1910 and 1911. Think of that. Do you suppose anything we send now will be worth saving in a hundred years?

. . . Oh, and you should see what I bought from Betty Sue! Maybe I'll just tease you, and maybe I'll take more pictures . . . You should definitely stop in!

Don't you just love the wax seal and ribbon on this one? It was intended and expected to be cherished. And someone did just that. Such a nice thought.

When I posted the photo of my first violets of the year a couple weeks ago, I actually did a little research, and just couldn't waste it, thinking, naturally, that you were probably going to need it. :)

A Little Violet Lore
Courtesy of the American Violet Society

Violet Magic :

A garland of violets around the neck protects from deception and inebriation.

Used in love philters and spells, it restores health after a long illness.

If you are given violets plants as a gift, it's very auspicious. If this gift comes from your lover, the better.

When violets bloom in the fall, they mean to warn us about imminent dangers.

When violets appear in your dreams, fortune is not too long away.

Dreaming Violets? A Violet in your Dreams.... You will marry someone younger than yourself!

I see that dreaming of violets has two meanings. You will marry someone younger, and fortune is not too long away. They both do sound pretty dreamy, I suppose. :)

Want to know more about Violets?

The American Violet Society

The Heartease Fairy
Cecily Mary Barker

Antique engraving, compliments of Diane Knott's Musings

Do you like it?

Actual jpeg removed due to copyright. {It has been pirated, not fair to the artist. Shame on those scurvy pirates!} But, proof positive that I'm not the only one who loves it!


How much do you looove my new banner? I found a lovely woman with an etsy business to design it. When I was looking through her offerings, I noticed that I already have two of her artworks, making her a pretty natural choice for me, don't you think? I just know that you're going to love her work as much as I do. Here's a link for you to check it out for yourself! Thompson Designs

Signs of Spring

Plum Tree Blossoms, and a sweet pair of House Finches.

You really need to click on these next three pictures to enlarge and properly appreciate the birds. :)


This little pair is waiting for me to leave so they can resume their breakfast. They don't completely distrust me, they are still in the open but would be a lot more comfortable if I just weren't as near as I am. They're perched in a wintering Hydrangea. You'll just have to trust me when I tell you that it's a beautiful plant in the right season.

Dining along a Primrose Path.
They aren't tidy little guests but worth it, still. Don't you think?

Click here: Feed the Birds, if you would like instructions for sterilizing birdseed.

Nesting Season

I can't wait to tell you what I discovered in our backyard this morning. First, a tiny bit of background . . . When Sam was a little boy, he built a perfectly beautiful little birdhouse in his 4-H woodworking class. It was immediately, and with great pride, hung on the deck post, right where we could enjoy it from the breakfast table. Over the years his beautiful birdhouse has been the birthplace of gazillions of . . . wasps! Today, I see the promise of something new, different and wonderful! As I stepped under the little bird house, I felt and heard a flutter of bird wings! I didn't see the bird, but there was no doubt that it was there. I hadn't been looking in the right direction because I was trying to discover what all of those lumpy things were on the ground. They were bits and pieces of an old wasp nest. Birds are moving in! For the first time in about ten years! The little birdie parents are taking over their proper home, built for them, throwing out the squatters, and cleaning house! I couldn't be more pleased! Isn't it wonderful? I'll try to take pictures tomorrow, but I couldn't wait to tell you! A lot of moving going on these days. Must be nesting season. :)

It is good

We, as in all of us, the entire family, are spending our days helping with the big move, and the nights recuperating. Every last one of us is sore and achy. Mark and I are walking, nay, hobbling around like we've added thirty years to our already ample ages.

Justin has youth and fitness on his side. Pregnancy is not helping Elizabeth. {Mom grin} She's achy and off balance, and not allowed to lift, so she's a little frustrated, wanting so much to do so much. Isn't that the way it is?

Christian is just as pleased as punch. He loves playing in his new "Green Room". He doesn't want to leave. When his parents needed to make one more trip to the old house this afternoon, he came to find someone who he knew would be sympathetic to his needs, he sought out Grammy. He might have figured me for a soft touch, I don't know. . . but he came to me, hand beside his mouth lest his parents overhear, looking so pitiful it would have broken your heart and whispered, pleadingly, "I don't want to go." So he didn't. It would have taken a pretty heartless Grammy to deny him this honest, sad request. He was tired, and three, and settled in, and the television had just arrived, and Thomas the Tank Engine was on it.

Zach, Elizabeth and their boys provided much needed muscle, in spite of Zach having been up working all night, and eventually succumbing to exhaustion on the love seat. But he looked so cute. {another Mom grin} Imagine three little boys amid the confusion of moving cartons and a moving van. Oh, and the big hole in the backyard that. . . we are pretty sure, was designed for pint-sized adventures. Yep, pretty much the definition of little boy adventure-land.

{ridding the new yard of a poisonous berry plant}

Happy Parents + Happy Kids = Happy Life

Photo Credits:

In the U-Haul ~ Justin

Cutting the bush ~ Bebe

Girls' Night In

I am feeling so smug. The guys will have to entertain themselves, I am having the girls over for a movie night. At kind of a late hour, {which somehow makes it feel a little more like a special occassion} we are going to stretch out on the sofa, and watch Serendipity. Have you seen it? Don't you love it? Most of us have seen it before, and it is the perfect antidote to an otherwise seriously dark and gloomy night.

My apologies to our collective group of Honeys. Sometimes a girl's gotta giggle.

I'll build a toasty, warm fire in the fireplace, make a lovely cheese fondue, reposition the sofa to take the best advantage of the big television, {since it's not being used for hockey tonight} add wine and grapes and we're good.

I have the best cheese fondue recipe. I like to get my cheese from the makers, it feels so European that way. {silly grin here} It's Oakdale Cheese & Specialties, who, by the way provided the original recipe. I have altered it a bit. Some purposely, some accidentally, till we think it's just perfect, and because we do, we keep an eye out for opportunities to indulge in it. It isn't fair to tease you with all of this deliciousness, so I will post the recipe for your "Nights-In" to be.
It is Random Act of Kindness Day, afterall.

Can't say I never did anything for you!

Dutch Cheese Fondue Recipe

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic

1 3/4 cups milk

1 lb. Gouda Cheese, grated {We like mild Gouda, for this recipe}

4 T Flour (Wondra is great)

4 T lemon juice

Freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

2-3 loves crusty Italian or French Bread {cut into cubes or sliced}

Preparation:

Coat the grated cheese with flour in a zipper bag.

Cut the bread into cubes or slices.

Rub the inside of the pot with the cut garlic clove, then discard garlic.

Place the pot on the stove and add lemon juice to it. Heat over medium flame until it is hot, but not boiling.

Add handfulls of cheese, alternating with the milk and stirring with a wooden spoon until the cheese is melted and has the appearance of a light creamy sauce. Add pepper to taste.

Remove the pot from the stove, and place over a candle.

Additional Information:

I don't know why, but, 'wooden utensils only', are recommended.

If the fondue is too thick, add a little milk.

If it is too thin, you can thicken it with a little extra flour.

It will become thicker as time passes while it sits over the candle, though.

I really recommend Wondra. It is a sauce and gravy flour. Very easy to work with. It comes in a blue cardboard canister and will be found on the baking aisle at your grocer, near the flour.

The original recipe had wine, quite a lot of it. I don't remember how much anymore, but I think the recipe is probably available on their site to which I have provided a link.

Everybody who has tasted it, everybody, loves it.

mmm . . . . . . cheese fondue, wine and a movie with girlfriends . . . .

~Love!

Happy Day! Oh, Happy Day!

My daughter and son-in-law bought their first house today! It closed escrow this morning! If that isn't a red letter day, I don't know what is! Congratulations, Elizabeth and Justin! And Christian! You have worked hard, and scrimped and saved, and today it is all worth it! I am so very proud of you! Happy, Happy!

Oh, more good news! I was just about to hit the "publish" button, when my cell phone rang. It was Sam. He has been applying for graduate school. He's torn between two of them. While he and his fiance are entertaining her brother at Disneyland, he got a phone call, and he has been accepted into one of his first two Seminary choices! What a wonderful day this is turning into!

Can you believe it?

Praise God!

~Love