California Dreaming

While the thunder rolls and the rain pours down upon the country house, come and take a cozy armchair trip with me. We all have a special place that we just can't help but love....One that speaks to our heart and calls to us from time to time. One of my favorite places is the Northern California coast. There is nothing to compare to it's beauty....

Sunrise and fresh ocean air...

Remember to embrace beautiful moments and capture them in keepsake books.

These are some of my treasured keepsake moments and I love them all.

Just looking at the raw beauty is good for the soul.

The very air here makes you deeply content.

Such a tranquil garden setting. Doing Yoga here, surrounded in such peacefulness and beauty, would fill one with absolute bliss.

Unforgettable!

Isn't life such an extraordinary journey............

****Yaya****

More Gardening Thoughts

I just LOVE this garden. Several years ago we were living in California and one of our favorite places to visit, as a weekend getaway, was Greenwood Pier Inn in Elk, California. I took this garden picture there. If you notice, the center forms a circle and each bed comes from an area of the center circle, creating the shape of the sun / sunrays. It is a complete circular garden with rock paths between each bed. This is just a wonderful idea for a small 'kitchen garden' and something I would like to do. If you ate at the Inn, which we always did, and ordered a fresh garden salad, it came straight from the garden just that morning. Today's ramblings are short because there is much work to do in the country yard before the rain gets here tomorrow.

*A Few Thoughts To Ponder For The Day*

Eat God-made food...Fruits, vegetables and whole grains...

Keep moving and eat right...

No more excuses...

Sucess is a wonderful feeling...

Keep a journal of all the beautiful things that inspire you...

Be in pursuit of daily joy and small pleasures...

Basic Pesto Recipe

1 cup of fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup olive oil

1 TBS pinenuts

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 - 1/2 ts salt

Mix in blender......Serve with fresh homemade bread......Freeze leftovers

****Yaya****

More Rambling Thoughts From The Country House

The spring air makes you want to get outside and plant a garden or flowers or maybe a new shrub bed...An herb garden would be nice. I started one inside the back courtyard several years ago but haven't had time to care for it and add to it. Tomorrow I am making a trip into town and I plan on stopping at the nursery to see what I can find. Today I must finish cutting the grass....Yesterdayit crossed my mind that I could probably walk off five pounds while pushing the push mower and I could also get some sun and work on my tan. Well that is exactly what I did but I only cut half of the yard so today I must finish. Don't you just love the smell of fresh cut grass? Lately, I have been reading a gardening book looking for ideas and inspiration. I think I have found it! Small gardens here and there...like rooms...and each little garden has a different meaning.

The Love Garden

Roses

Yarrow

Vervain

Violets

Lavender

Rosemary

Basil

Lemon Balm

Lovage

The Pizza Garden

Oregano

Basil

Thyme

Roma or cherry tomatos in hanging baskets

Garlic

Small onions

Kitchen Herb Garden

Garlic

Basil

Chives

Dill

Lemon Verbena

Mint

Parsley

Rosemary

Tarragon

Thyme

Fennel

Lovage

Cilantro

A moonlight garden would be wonderful also. Plant only flowers and flowering shrubs and small trees that have all white blooms. Can you imagine the beauty of a moonlight garden under the light of a full moon?!

I just know the two cute little rabbits in the front yard would LOVE a nice garden.

Thought For The Day

We have the power to design the world in which we live, and the strength to remake ourselves in the image of our dreams.

****Yaya****

Body And Soul

Create beauty that feeds your soul....The loudest noise is the cry of a bird...For each reason you find to be happy, the universe provides you with two more...Each spring, gardens quietly recount the stories of their past and of the poeple who planted them....Tranquility is the gift that can help you find real and lasting beauty in your life...The very air of spring is magical...

Dinner is served...I am always working toward eating healthy...

Heart Healthy Healing Salad

Spinach

Red & yellow peppers

Cherry tomatos

Red grapes

Broccoli

Walunts

Dried cranberries

Onion slices

Black beans

Cottage cheese

Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette (light)

Serve with fresh home baked bread, baked sweet potato and a Burgundy wine.

Improving one's life and health one day at a time.

****Yaya****

A Walk Around The Country House

It's a springtime Sunday afternoon

The sun is shinning

The birds are singing

It is a beautiful day in the old South

What a lovely day for a country walk.........

Oh look! A yellow rose in the garden waiting just for me!



Along the path of pretty roses.

Oh pretty lady of the garden, what might you tell me? "Yes, I know about the weeds," said I.

Lovely Azalea blooms making their final show.

Come along...come along.

This is the true meaning of, "a long row to hoe".

......and winding and winding along....

.....and along the old field road we go. I had a few brown paper bag lunches under that tree when Grandaddy had those fields full of cotton.

Did you hear that?

Hold up! I think I'm on to something here....it is the scent of a strange dog!

Little Prince Jagello (Jag for short) smelling the ivy.

Would you hurry please! I need to get to the water bowl!

Good Housekeeping 1903 Edition

Not so long ago, I was out on a treasure hunt and came across this wonderful reproduction of the original 1903 edition of the Good Housekeeping Everyday Cook Book.



If I should follow the rules of the fine housekeeper, it's time to clean the pantry.

Care of the Pantry

It tells me that neatness and order in my pantry will depend in great measure upon the way my table is cleared. It also tells me if I look upon the pantry as a dumping ground, then dirt and disorder will be inevitable, but if on the contrary I consider it a workshop to be kept shipshape I will avoid these dangers!

Not only is it time to do the spring cleaning and re-organizing, but this wonderful little book tells me when I have finished washing my dishes, always leave the pan or sink perfectly clean. Once a week I am even expected to wash down the pipes with a strong solution of salsoda and water that is actually boiling, not simply hot.



I have also been told that I am to make up my mind in the beginning where to lay the knives. I do have a drawer for that as well......so far so good.

Did it say organize by items? Okay, there is work to be done.

And more work to be done........

And all of the pantry shelves must be wiped and dusted.....now that's almost reason enough to stop collecting......but not quiet!

And more dishes to wash and more shelves to clean and I have only just started....Looks as if the spring cleaning of the pantry will carry into next week.

Miss Downing also says: "I have found in my teaching that only pupils who do not know how to wash them properly dislike the washing of dishes."

Merciful heavens.....so that has been my problem all along.

Thought For The Day...

Will it be easy? Of course not. The worthwhile, the best never is.

ClingCling the crystal rings.....a toast to spring cleaning.

Pleasures of the Morning

Hello little bird. I heard you tapping on my door. Surely you do not want in. What might you be thinking in that little bird brain?

Well look at you, little bird. I do believe you would join me for breakfast, should I open the French door...or do you see your own reflection and now you are in love? I wonder about you, for you have been here everyday now for at least a week.

An early morning, gentle rain fell and kissed the roses.

"Gazing on beautiful things acts on my soul, which thirst for heavenly light."

Michelangelo

Tea Cakes and Lavender Iris

As elders journey on, we are left behind to recollect, to ponder and hopefully carry on some of their traditions. Today, as we paid our respects to a wonderful southern lady, her journey through life, and our version of 'Aunt Bee', I was reminded of her delicious old fashioned tea cakes and lavender iris.

I am certain there is nothing better than a plate of tea cakes and a cup of hot lemon tea or coffee. Or, tea cakes and a glass of ice cold sweet tea, if you're a true Southerner. I believe 'Aunt Bee' would be proud to share her recipe.

OLD FASHIONED TEA CAKES

1 c. margarine

1 egg

1 c. sugar

3 c. flour or enough to make stiff dough

1/2 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Cream margarine and add sugar and egg, beaten lightly. Sift dry ingredients together. Add milk and vanilla alternately with flour. Roll thin and cut. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees until brown.

'Aunt Bee' of Flat Rock

A few thoughts for the day......

The greatest thing you will ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

Think beauty, live beauty.

Grandmother would never be defeated by the size of her house or the amount she had to do.

You have a place in this world.

Blessings and good energy.

Yaya

All the Pretty Roses

Flowers, sunshine, just enough rain, love, peace, happiness, beauty, the scent of spring, wine, candlelight, romance, success, animals, waterfalls and fountains, music, good health and yoga, butterflies, birds, a Southern rose garden cottage, a place by the sea, good friends, family, honesty, delicious food, a blue moon, sunsets, chocolate euphoria, bliss, passion, did I say beauty? The universal power has an abundance of blessings flowing your way. Reach out and grab it. Blessings and good energy. So it is and so shall it be.

Runnin wild and free, the way nature intended them to be. The scent is as intoxicating as a fine wine on a spring night, under a Southern moon deep in the Southland.

Stop and Smell the Roses

Island Time

I want to stay here for a thousand suns and watch the golden, southern sun rays dance upon my grandangels.

Oh so sunkissed. "Look Yaya...baby crab"!

Little Island Cottage

Miles and miles of empty beach to explore....The beauty of life is a marvel and children are gifts from God....An enchanting island where butterflies hover and seagulls cry and birds sing and imaginative sand angels dance.....

Oh pretty oil painting on the wall, you capture the true spirit of a lowland Southern island and you captured my heart. This lovely painting hangs in our island cottage and was bought at a Starving Artist sale.

It is early morning and the shutters are thrown open. The tiny cottage is filled with fresh air and warm, peaceful tranquility. I feel the Southern breeze and smell the salt air and breakfast coming from the kitchen. An iron skillet is filled with a breakfast medley of chunks of home style potatos, onions, red, yellow and green peppers and broccoli. Sausage balls and homemade biscuits and fresh perked coffee send a wonderful aroma throughout the house.

You take yourself wherever you go. I made my way to the salty marsh and lowlands of Alabama. Come sit a spell with me and have a glass of muscadine wine.

This oil painting hangs in our island cottage. It has a spirit of its own. It beckons you in...."come away with me to my island paradise", it seems to say. "We'll read, "The Old Man and the Sea", and sip wine by the fire on cool Southern nights when the sea fog settles over the island".

The house has a soul of it's own, believes the Southern woman who loves it. Washed seawater green with sunburned pink, old Bahama shutters and a long sweep of veranda hugging Aloe bay. When you are sitting on the porch, it could be 1950 in any small Southern village.

It is tropical, serenity, dolphins dancing in the Gulf of Mexico, deserted sugar white beaches. We feel our lives renewed here and we know we will always love this tiny fishing-village cottage.

It once was loved by the son of a son of a sailor man. He was lost at sea with his boat during a storm. The silence of the house is broken only by the call of a seagull and a distant fog horn.

We love sunrise on the veranda watching boats slip off before dawn.....coffee, the cry of a seabird and a gentle Southern sunrise over the East end of our island. The look of this place has always been this way, as if time hasn't passed.

It is said that art and beauty rewards the senses and moves the soul. I surely know this is true.

The raw beauty of the Southern lowlands called to me....come....come...I got into my Jaguar and drove South. It was a foggy night. I couldn't see more than five feet in front of me as I drove out of Mobile and through thick woods but always overlooking the bay. The road made it's way South toward the coast.

Winding along the dark road, through the sea fog and rain I drove toward the causeway and crossed the Mississippi Sound and came upon our beloved island. Thru the mist and heavy fog I see a dim and distant lights of island cottages. I turn West and drive along the bay. I take a left turn and pass under the giant oaks weeping with Spanish Moss. Through the trees and sea fog, I see our tiny little cottage looking as if it was washed up on shore.

It was well worth the drive on a rainy foggy Southern night in the spring.

Food For Thought...You need something to put your heart into....