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....

The Old Country House

Please, sit a spell and have a cup of tea or coffee.....a glass of wine? "Oh yes, of course, dahlin'...a glass of wine would be lovely", she said.

Shall we open the French doors and let the warm Southern breeze fill the room? "Oh please do" she said...."I want to smell the Jasmine".

And dinner is served. A wonderful Chicken in white wine sauce with asparagus, a garden salad and homemade yeast rolls. Would you care for a glass of Chardonnay? Oh yes...Chaulk Hill please, dahlin'.

See the lovely oil painting? That was bought from a wonderful little gallery in New Port. It takes me away to a glorious place. I love it when a painting speaks to you and draws you in..."Stay awhile a dream of far away places," it seems to say.....maybe the South of France or Italy.

Vintage wicker, soft cushions, potted plants and sweet cats make the old front porch inviting.

This house, which once belonged to my grandparents, soothes my soul. It brings about the tranquility of a peaceful place in the country....far removed from the fray of city life. Ahh, the joys of this old country house.

Down the road I hear the hum of a tractor, a cow in a distant pasture and the buzz of a bumble bee. I feel blessed to be living in this peaceful, breeze-swept house in the country where generations of my family spun out their summers under the maple and oak trees.

Years of travel and collecting have created an eclectic mix of much loved pieces.

Food For Thought.

"What makes you different can make you beautiful".

Salt Air And Ocean Breeze

You can feel it. Spring is in the air and suddenly everything that is good in life is that much better.

Serenity Now

A small cottage on the Gulf coast...Soul soothing and delightful, like an old cashmere sweater. It's a smiling, happy house that speaks to you.....'come in and have a cup of tea or coffee...a glass of wine?'