Saturday....

Good day to all. It's a beautiful day today. The weather is crisp and breezy after the storm that came through yesterday. Still looks like we may get some more rain tonight.The morning started out nice...Mr.Darling and Freckles let me sleep in ( my son is working ).We had birthday waffles...which has become a tradition in our home.Yum. Then I spent some time outside in the fresh air soaking up all the beauty God has blessed us with.
 The beauty in my backyard.

 

 

The apricot tree is producing fruit. Yay. This will be the last time we glean from this tree...I have enjoyed making jam and canning the fruit the last couple Summers. I decided not to can or make jam this Spring/Summer..Since we are still unsure where we will be moving, I don't want to have to worry about all the jars making the move. Not to fret...This fruit will surely be enjoyed and given away.

Ahhh...the Wisteria. How I wish these lovely blooms would last longer than just a few weeks.
They are almost all gone already. Sweet Wisteria, oh how I will miss seeing you out my door.

 

 

The roses are coming in beautifully, blooming all along the flower beds.Yellow, red, pink and white. They are gorgeous. Have you ever just looked at a rose really close, examining it's every petal, folding within each other so perfectly? It is truly an amazing piece of art from the Makers hands.I am in awe of this beauty

 

 

My little tangerine tree. We have shared this fruit with friends on many occasions.
I love when it blooms little white flowers...It is such a darling little tree.

 

 

What a sweet day, just kicking back relaxing with my family in our little nest.
( the nest above belonged to a Robin wen we lived in Washington.~
It had fallen from the tree after the babies flew off of course.We had no way of putting it back so I kept it )
 I display it in the Springtime, what a wonderful reminder of all things new and beautiful. Thank you kindly for the sweet birthday wishes in my comments and a few special e-mails from some dear friends. They sure did lift my spirits and made my day even brighter. You guy's are the best.
Wishing you all a delightful Spring weekend... with your loved ones.
Blessings.

Roses, Owls and Headaches....

Last week flew by like the wind, I am so behind on Spring cleaning yet, my headaches are holding me back from being very productive in the home or in my doll making. I woke once again with a really bad headache. I took what I could, drinking fluids and resting....still to no avail I have the headache and it's the end of the day. I have had headaches all my life really. I may have inherited the migraines from my father. It is actually very seldom I don't have a headache. To top it all off I have  chronic sinusitis and allergies, especially during Spring and Summer. Even though I have left with such a curse, I still appreciate the beauty outside. The flowers are blooming everywhere...This pretty was in my garden awaiting a photo opportunity...Isn't she a beaut? I found my apricot tree bloom's fell off and it's full of green balls...I so can't wait to pick them when they are ready!!! Next week I am going to buy some strawberries & make loads of jam....YUM!!!

Freckles really wanted to craft with me last week. I asked her what she wanted to do...She said she wanted to paint up an owl on my wood pieces. So, we sat down together and created these Lil sweeties. I am so proud of her. She did a wonderful job on her owl in which she affectionately named Freckles.

Now she is all gung ho ! to open a little shop of her own and sell her little owls. If anyone out there is interested in my darling little girls owls...please let her know...She is ready for special orders and priced them at $10.00 each with $2.00 shipping. Not bad for a sweet piece of art!

Speaking of orders. A blog pal ordered an owl caplet for her 3 year old daughter....I finally shipped it off last week. Hope she loved it! It's pretty close to the one I made Freckles, except it was a little smaller. If anyone would like an owl cap...Please let me know....any color, any size for $20.00 w/ FREE shipping!

Well, I am off to lay my pounding head down, this is about all I can muster up for the day!

 Happy Tuesday!!!

Autumn Rose Hip Tapioca...

We are linking up with Homemaking linkup hosted by
 Raising Homemakers.
We spent some time outside in the garden pulling weeds and
cutting back overgrown plants left from the Summer.
I also picked the last of the roses before cutting back the rose bushes.
Freckles made up a sweet little bouquet to cheer the house in a sweet vase.
 It was pretty!

One rose bush left us a delightful bunch of rose hips.
 Which we plucked off one by one and filled a basket full.
 It is such a wonderful sight to see, knowing that we can use this for food!

Not only do roses grace our gardens and fill our vases with splendor,
 like it's cousins the apple, pear, peach and cherry,
 roses produce these decedent little balls of  fruit called rose hips.
They are a valuable source of vitamin C,
 containing 60x's more vitamin C than oranges!
 They are also an excellent antioxidant.
 Vitamin K and E are also found and used to prevent and
 treat various infections, especially colds and flu's as well as fighting diseases and ailments naturally.
 Rose hips also contain calcium, citric acid, iron, niacin, phosphorus, tannin, vitamin A, B1, B2, and P.
 That's amazing!
What to make you ask?
Once you puree them you can make them for jam,
 jelly, sauce, soup or add it to pudding. You can search the web for recipes...

We decided to cook it down and put it in tapioca.
I picked them, washed them well, cut off the ends, then cut in half, rinsed them some more, drained them. Placed 2 cut up cups of rose hips, two cups of water and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan, let it boil, turn down the heat to a low simmering boil for 1 hour. After it was softened a bit I placed it in my magic bullet and blended it down to a puree. You can probably use a blender as well... You can add a tiny bit of water to get it mixed thoroughly. I then put it all into a sieve, which I also use for my apple sauce making. This sieved the fruit and left all the skin and seeds out. Set aside. You will then need to make the tapioca pudding. I used Kraft 1 minute Tapioca in a box and followed the instructions for making the Tapioca Fluffy Cream Pudding. Once I did that I put 1/2 cup of the rose hips in the tapioca mixture, mixed well. Let cool, place in dessert dishes, chill. serve with whipped cream. I made my own whipped cream...

This lovely Fall fruit paired with tapioca was delicious
 with a nice hint of natural taste of rose hips.
 You almost couldn't tell it was there!

If you happen to have some rose hips in your garden,
 I encourage you to try this at least once.
 It is fun to make and know there are so many benefits to eating it.
Have a blessed day!

Happy May Day

It's May Day today!!!

The roses in our garden are really taking bloom.

They are so beautiful.

Miss Freckles has been spending hours

outside in her imaginary world...

out in the garden.

They are bringing much pleasure to our senses.

Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses... 

to see what I mean.

I hope your April showers brought you May flowers !!! 

Now we're off to leave some flowers on someones doorstep.

Smell The Roses.....

The sky unfolded before her eyes
As she stared up in uncanny wonder
The sky was so gorgeous today!
She could have easily fallen asleep under sea of cerlean blue
She closed her eyes, feeling the sun's warmth upon her skin
The wind blew kisses around her bare toes
And she giggled with delight
Like a child who got away with stealing a cookie from the jar

She remained in an unconscious state
Her senses turned on to full volume
Taking in the wondrous world around her
Smelling, hearing, seeing, almost tasting the day

The air was sweet with plum blossoms
Thick and sticky like honey on the early afternoon air
It wafted though her nose and left but a small trace on her lips
It made her sleepy with its rich, invigoratingly aroma
It wasn't very often she had stopped to relax
To take in the world around her

To take but a few moments of her precious life and enjoy

the simple pleasures
In this very moment, she was at home
She opened her eyes
The sun greeted them with bright light

And for a few moments she felt she was somewhere else
Somewhere with sunshine and endless blue sky.
It was times like this that she realized she was glad to be alive
To be able to stop and enjoy these things

These simple things that we all see every day
And to feel enough relief to say, "life isn't so bad"