Happy May Day!

Let us take our baskets early

to the meadows green,

While the wild-flowers still are pearly

with the dewdrop's sheen.

Fill them full of blossoms rosy,

Violets and gay

Cowslips, every pretty posy

Welcoming the May.

Then our lovely loads we'll carry

Down the Village street,

On each door with laughter merry,

Hang a basket sweet.

-Evaleen Stein-

Happy May Day

Dear Ones! 

xoxo

Fairy Garden Dreams

Do you believe in Fairies?

I have always been fascinated with Fairies

since I was a small child. 

So I created a lilliputian world 

to attract a Fairy of my very own. 

Step inside the gates to the Fairy Kingdom

and I will show you their world.

Fairies are very shy, so we must approach carefully....

Shhhhh! There she is - the Forget-Me-Not Fairy. 

She is taking a rest from her duties 

of attending to these sweet, innocent flowers of spring.

She is deep in thought as she blesses each tiny bloom. 

Her delicate wings are busy this time of year, 

carrying her all over the garden 

to carry out her duties. 

Tiny ducklings keep her company in her little garden,

keeping pesky slugs and insects at bay. 

Mama duck keeps a close eye on her little ones,

next to a potted Forget-Me-Not and a garden cloche

nestled among the woodland ferns. 

Her tiny cat peers curiously at us next to the bird bath. 

A sweet painted wheelbarrow stands ready for service

behind the garden gate. 

What's this? The Garden Gnome tries to make a getaway. 

He is very shy and perhaps we have frightened him. 

He holds a beneficial lady bug. 

He tries to hide in the Forget-Me-Nots. 

It might be time for us to leave this magical world

 before our Fairy decides to take flight. 

Once gone, it is hard to lure them back. 

With one last glimpse of this magical kingdom, 

We return through the kingdom gates

 to the land of mere mortals. 

But once you have glimpsed the world of Faerie, 

You are forever changed. 

xoxo

If you would like to create your own World of Faerie, 

I highly recommend this book....

You can find out more information about fairy gardens
and this delightful book Here

My sweet Garden Fairy was purchased Here

She was designed to capture the lovely fairy essence of the art of Cicely Mary Barker

I hope this inspires you to create your very own Fairy Garden

to attract a lovely Fairy of your own.

xoxo

Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of disheveled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.
-William Butler Yeats,- "The Land of Heart's Desire," 1894

When the winds of March are wakening
the crocuses and crickets,
Did you ever find a fairy near
some budding little thickets,...
And when she sees you creeping up
to get a closer peek,
She tumbles through the daffodils,
a playing hide and seek.
-Marjorie Barrows-

Every time a child says, "I don't believe in fairies,"
There is a fairy somewhere
That falls down dead.
-James Matthew Barrie-
Peter Pan

I do not receive compensation for any books or company mentioned. 

Tea and Lemon Bars

With all the April showers we've been having, 

I've been staying inside doing a little cooking. 

I recently found a delicious recipe for
 Double Lemon Cheesecake Bars.

I am happy to say that these little morsels of goodness will put a smile on your face! 

They have a vanilla wafer cookie crust,

 a lemon cheesecake filling, 

and a wonderful lemon glaze on top.

I added some frozen raspberries
and lemon zest to make them pretty. 

Here, have a bite! 

 Now isn't that delicious? 

Let me pour you a cup of tea....

I just picked the last of my daffodils.

The tea pot was a Mother's Day gift
from my daughters two years ago. 

They took me to the most beautiful restaurant for a
 Mother's Day Tea

In the Gift Shop
I was told to choose a sweet gift.

I chose this tea pot, (which you can see on the shelf  in the 6th photo of the link).

It is a nearly perfect color match to my vintage Franciscan ware.

I am always looking for pieces to add to my collection,
new and vintage.

We are having Green Tea, today.

The Quimper Ware honey pot and tiny flower basket toothpick holder
were gifts from my Dear Mother.

These small gifts represented the start of our 'new life' given
at a time when we were 'roughing it' on raw land,
building our homes.

We had given up most of our household furnishings
 and possessions to live in a 32 foot trailer while building.

A small gift of hope.
So very dear.

We are expecting a couple more days of rainy weather,

but the middle of next week is promising to be warm and sunny.

As the sun was setting last night,
we saw this universal sign of hope.

A double!

A beautiful end to a rainy day!

Wishing you rainbows, tea and lemon bars on your rainy days, too!

xoxo

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."
- C.S. Lewis -

"Some people will tell you there is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Letters and Social Aims

"So the small things came into their own:
small acts of helping others, if one could;
small ways of making one's own life better:
acts of love, acts of tea, acts of laughter.
Clever people might laugh at such simplicity,
but, she asked herself,
what was their own solution?"
-Alexander McCall Smith-
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive

A Fickle Spring

The weather has been very unsettled the last few days. 

One moment it is sunny, 

And the next moment it is raining again. 

Mornings always seem to be the sunniest, 

so come along with me (and the faithful companions), 

and we will take our morning walk 

to feed the birds

 and gather up the newspaper. 

Whitey stops to chew his doggy biscuit- 

(I always have a pocket full)

While Ling Ling leads the way. 

They share a conspiratorial secret. 

We take a peek across the road to the neighbor's blooming apple trees. 

They have a lovely split rail fence. 

All the rain is turning everything very green. 

Some trees have not yet leafed out, but all are budding. 

We retrieve the newspaper thrown inside the gate, 

wrapped in plastic to keep it dry.

 The home and garden section is published today.
My favorite.

Can you see Champ's ball to the right of the driveway?

We toss the ball the whole way. He has several hidden along the route.

You know, just in case.....

The dogs love to guard this corner of the fence.
They can see the road and the neighborhood from here.
Anything out of the ordinary is loudly announced.

As we turn to walk back towards home,
I glance over at the next door neighbor's horse barn.

Just one beautiful face to see today.
All are warm and cozy inside on a cold and wet day.

Halfway, we see the bracing posts of our perimeter fence
 peeking up from lush undergrowth.

My neighbor's hillside pasture lies on the other side,
 with distant foothills in the background.

It took my youngest son 2 years (with the help of his Dad and brother),
to finish installing this 5 foot heavy wire mesh fence
on breaks from schooling before he left home.

Each  4x6 cedar post was hand dug in the steeply forested terrain.
Every bag of cement was mixed on site.

With hunters, hikers, 4 wheelers, horseback riders, roaming dogs, and loose horses and livestock coming up the elk trail from the river, we never knew who would be passing by our home on any given day.

Sometimes they would wave :)

This fence is very much appreciated,
especially when a hunter's bullet nearly parts your hair.

The fence does not keep out the wild life.

But the wild life are much more respectful.

Once home, we see Bleeding Heart bloom inside the front garden fence.

With lowering skies and raindrops falling, we head inside.

Can you see the dog pen fencing at the bottom of the steps?

We stay on the stepping stones as we walk through there. :)

Back to where we started - soaking wet!

Lamenting this fickle spring!

xoxo


Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.
-G K Chesterton-

Linking with Good Fences