For You.....

A Special Wish

Betsey Clark for Hallmark

A very Blessed and Happy Easter

 

Camera Critters: Crowned Lemur

I had a lovely time at the zoo's Spring Fling despite the cloudy weather.

It didn't really rain -- it spitted. 

The primates were the featured species that morning.

I love visiting the lemurs.

They are always entertaining!

Mrs. Lemur

"There's the crazy woman with the camera .... again."

"Quick -- turn your back."

"Maybe she'll go away."

Mr. Lemur

The crowned lemur is found in  the dry deciduous forests of northern Madagascar. Its diet is made up mostly of flowers, fruits and leaves. It is a medium-sized lemur with a distinctive chestnut-orange crown pattern on their head. They have pseudo-opposable thumbs, binocular vision, are highly intelligent and are on the endangered threatened list. The forests in Madagascar are being destroyed by mining, farming and some lemurs are killed for food or kept as pets. 

Thank you to Misty for hosting Camera Critters for 5 years!

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

Happy Easter!

Five Random Things

It's Friday.

Sit back and relax.

I have some random, this and that, things for you.

Thank you, Nancy!

*

Since today is Good Friday and Easter is Sunday,

here is a reproduction vintage postcard celebrating the holiday.

No artist, publisher or date was listed.

Can you hear the music?!!!

Thank you to the lovely Beth for hosting Postcard Friendship Friday each week.

**

Sometimes the kitties think simplest toys are the best.

Like an empty box.

In this case, it was a waded up piece of paper.

I think the sound got Cassie's attention.

I threw it across the room, Cassie fetched, and we had a game going that's lasted all week.

Of course, the other two had to get in on the act and two more pieces of paper gave their all in

two furious games of soccer for Teddy and Mina.

***

I mentioned that I finished a counted cross stitch project.

I couldn't share it with you as it was a birthday gift.

The gift has been delivered and here is the project all finished.

This is a kit I purchased from The Stitchery.

****

I'm taking part in the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap.

This is my first postcard swap and the reason I liked it --

I could use photographs of art I had previously made.

Five postcards (goes well with 5 random things) could be made of one image or more.

I made five different postcards using 4 Index Card a Day images and one tea image.

Kat Sloma put the swap together and I should be seeing postcards in the mail by mid April.

I'll share as they come in.

Thank you Kat!

*****

I've started reading As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis Devoto

Food, Friendship and the Making of a Masterpiece edited by Joan Reardon.

What a lovely book and what lovely letter writing.

It really makes you think about the lost art of writing ... and writing letters.

I'm taking the letters a few at a time.

Wishing YOU well and much joy this holiday season.

Happy Spring!

Good Morning!

Hoppy Spring!

I went to the Spring Fling at the zoo.

Lovely breakfast buffet, a mimosa or two, and cookies!

This morning I decided to make a pot of tea and eat one of those cookies.

The Happiness is a Bunny Rabbit mug is by Emma Bridgewater.

The teapot is hand built porcelain and painted by New Mexico artists -- a husband and wife team.

I've had it for over 30 years.

One of my real treasures.

The cookies are on a bunny plate from Pier One.

I couldn't resist the zebra and the monkey cookies.

There were butterflies and tulips on other cookies,

but I was at the zoo and just had to have the zoo animals.

 Cookies By Design made the cookies.

Happy Easter! Some bunny loves you.

And remember --

“Easter is the only time of the year when it's perfectly safe to put all your eggs in one basket.”

Thank you to our tea party hosts:

Tea Time Tuesday

A Return To Loveliness
Friends Sharing Tea
Teacup Tuesday

Tuesday Cup'a Tea

Share Your Cup Thursday

Wishing YOU well, much joy, a delightful cup of tea and a happy and blessed Easter.

Note Card Party: Easter

It's time for one of my favorite Blog Land Parties:
Vee's Notecard Party.

We need to pick 4 photos that have been shown previously on our blog
that we think would make good notecards.

I decided to celebrate Spring and Easter.

The first three are from an Easter Tea I shared last year.

Rules of Chocolate Easter Eggs:

1. If you get melted chocolate all over your hands, you're eating too slowly.

2. Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices, and strawberries all count as fruit,

so eat as many as you want.

3. Diet tip: Eat an Easter Egg before each meal.

It'll take the edge off your appetite, and that way you'll eat less.

4. If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer.

But if you can't eat all your chocolate, what is wrong with you? 

Wishing YOU well and much joy! Happy Spring!

Spring Tea

Spring is just around the corner.

I thought I'd share this lovely Tuscan English Fine China teacup with you.

I love all the flowers, the colors and the Spring look!

I added a Gerbera Daisy from the garden.

For tea drinkers Spring means that the tea plants are readying for the first harvest.

The first flush March into April for teas in China (I'm looking forward to Dragonwell).

India (Darjeeling and Assam), Nepal and Taiwan among other areas.

There has been drought in some areas 

and that will mean the harvest will be delayed and will not be as large.

It also means it's time for iced tea.

For me, I have iced tea year round, but for a lot of tea drinkers

Spring means get the ice out! 

"The grandfather plants and raises the tea bushes, 

the father harvests the tea,

and the son drinks it."

~Chinese Saying

Thank you to our tea party hosts:

Tea Time Tuesday

A Return To Loveliness
Friends Sharing Tea
Teacup Tuesday

Tuesday Cup'a Tea

Share Your Cup Thursday

Wishing YOU well, much joy and a delightful cup of tea!

Sunlit Sunday: Surprise!

I'm sharing with Sunlit Sunday

 a surprise or two that I found in my garden yesterday.

What a surprise to find daffodils!

I first planted daffodils in Musashi's Garden in 1998 when we first moved in.

It was December and I planted them in a pot.

There were no flower beds, but I was determined to have some Spring color!

Over time the pots were emptied into the garden beds and I forgot all about the bulbs.

That brings us to this year and my surprise.

Mother Nature -- WOW!

**

I was looking out the back door when I saw this little guy flying by.

I grabbed my camera hoping he would stop someplace close.

He did.

I believe this is a little yellow Sulphur butterfly.

He didn't stay long -- zipped right off after I took the shot.

Good thing the glass was sort of clean!

Wishing YOU well, much joy and a very happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wishing you always-

Walls for the wind,

And a roof for the rain,

And tea beside the fire-

Laughter to cheer you,

And those you love near you,

And all that your heart 

might desire!

Five Random Things

I have Five Random Things for you today.

Sit back and relax!

I've been stash busting.

All of this yarn was left from the Christmas afghans I made two years ago.

I like lapghans and thought there was enough to make one for me.

Not bad!

It's just simple granny squares.
It is a little lop-sided, but then so am I.
It fits nicely!
I finished it just in time -- the days are getting longer and warmer!

**

One of my favorite things to do when the weather cooperates

is to walk into my Village and have breakfast or lunch. 

I was leaving the restaurant with my ice tea to go in one hand and a book

in the other when a very handsome man in a three piece suit walked into the restaurant.

He was tall -- basketball player kind of tall.

I am short -- as in getting older every year, shrinking, now under five feet tall.

Mutt and Jeff.

I said "Good Morning".

He said "Good Morning".

And then he was opening the door for me.

I said "thank you very much".

And he said "you are welcome very much".

Wow.
(I could have opened the door using the *back end* method.)

Now, I'm no spring chicken and I'll tell you ladies --

I appreciated a very handsome man with good manners.

His Mama taught him well!

I was smiling the rest of the day.

And, my baseball Owls won their game that evening.

***

Maybe it was the luck of the Irish or perhaps the Easter Bunny made an early visit.

 I won the Martha White giveaway on a Semi Homemade Mom.

Mina had to supervise as I unpacked the goodies.

The blue Martha White tote bag held all these goodies.

There's a t-shirt, an apron, muffin cups, a cupcake timer, 6 packages of

Martha White cornbread mix, spatulas, wooden spoons, hot pads, grocery lists, recipe holders.

Martha White has recipes on their website. 

It's a good thing that I LOVE cornbread! 

****

Since St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner,

here is a vintage reproduction postcard for you.

Many thanks to the lovely Beth for hosting Postcard Friendship Friday each week.

*****

Lastly, I am reading

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

by Candice Millard.

It is not my usual kind of read -- it is not fluff!

I'm the first to say that my American history is not very good.

I remember very little of what I learned in school.

I knew Teddy Roosevelt was a president and some thing of a wild man.

This book is fascinating - a real look at his personality and an amazing tale of

exploration in the Amazon along the River of Doubt.

Candice Millard is an historian and a former writer and editor for National Geographic.

She's made the whole adventure come to life. 

I am half way through the book and had to take a break and come up for air! 

Wishing YOU well and much joy! 

Good Morning!

I Am Lost

I've gone to look for myself.

If I should return before I get back,

please ask me to wait. 

Wednesday Wisdom

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

Daffodils

"For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils."

~William Wordsworth

A big thank you to Karen for hosting Sunlit Sunday

 The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday

and

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

Camera Critters: Okapi

I've previously shared with you the beautiful Okapi at the Houston Zoo.
Not long ago, I was fortunate enough to meet Kwame in a behind the scenes tour.

The Okapi has always been my favorite animal at the zoo.

It is a beautiful and unusual looking animal.
Shy, graceful, magical!

With the stripes (great camouflage) the Okapi looks like he might be related to the zebra.
Looking at his face, you can see the resemblance to the giraffe and indeed,
the Okapi is the only living relative of the giraffe.
Like the giraffe, the Okapi has big ears (better to hear you coming) and a long dark prehensile tongue.
The tongue feels like sandpaper -- great for stripping leaves from trees,
not so great for kissing humans!
The tongue is long enough to clean his eyelids and ears!
Only the males have the horns (ossicones).

They are a solitary and shy animal.
Their home is the dense Ituri Rainforest in the Congo.
Their fur feels like velvet and is also quite oily providing them with a natural raincoat.
Petting an Okapi will turn your hand red from the oil on the coat.

They are a threatened animal and I can't imagine Mother Earth without this gorgeous creature.

Thank you to Misty for hosting Camera Critters.

Wishing YOU well, much joy and a magical weekend!

Good Morning!

Spring Is Coming!

The bunnies are coming out of hiding and

things are turning green!

A bunny with a rose from the garden.

I found the teapot at World Market at the end of the Easter season last year.

I like the bunnies, the carrots and the lovely green color.

I thought it would go well with my green glass.

The ceramic bunny was made in Brazil for the Avon company.

I bet I've had it for 30 years and it holds a candle.

The towel in the back ground is from Angela McRae .

She had lovely give-a-ways this year to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Thank you Angela!

I put it to work immediately!

Thank you to our tea party hosts:

Tea Time Tuesday

A Return To Loveliness
Friends Sharing Tea
Teacup Tuesday

Tuesday Cup'a Tea

Share Your Cup Thursday

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

Sunlit Sunday: Baseball

It's time for Sunlit Sunday.

Nothing brightens up my day more than baseball.

Especially college baseball.

That's part of the Texas Medical Center in the background.

My owlettes started the season off well and then they went to Hawaii.

They played well there.

I think they may have had too much Hawaii as they haven't played well since coming home.

The season is young -- and so are they!

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

This and That

You probably heard me yell a very big

YEEHAW

over the weekend when I found gerbera daisies at Home Depot!

I have a lovely orange gerbera, but I wanted some other colors.

Jackpot!

Now I just have to keep them happy with a freeze coming this weekend.

*

I love taking photos.

I am a definite photoholic.

But what to do with all of them.

I had a lovely book made of my favorite garden photos.

What else could I do other than just printing out my favorites?

I decided to try having one printed on canvas.

It was an experiment to see if the color was true.

What about size?

Thin or thick wrap?

I picked a photo I'd recently taken of the Shoebill Stork at the Houston Zoo.
I was very pleased with the color.
Next time I'll get the thick wrap and have the photo printed larger than 11 x 14.

He looks like he's going to walk right off the wall!

**

I had a surprise in the garden this morning.

Can you see him?

When I first saw this bird several years ago, 

at first glance I thought it was hummingbird.

So small and so quick.

It is a Ruby Crowned Kinglet and how lucky to see his ruby crown.

He must have been in the bath first and was drying off here -- showing off his crown.

He didn't stay long.

Zip!

***

Friday means Postcard Friendship Friday

and I have a special one for those of you still in the midst of winter.

My sista went to Kauai recently and sent me this reproduction vintage postcard.

The original was titled Isle O' Dreams and was first published around 1939.

Thank you to the lovely Beth for hosting Postcard Friendship Friday each week.

*****

I'm still coughing.

I'm really tired of it.

Calgon take me away (and take the allergies, too).

Wishing YOU well and much joy!