Teacup Thursday #3

Thursday is here already! Time to share another cup and saucer for Miss Spencer's Teacup Thursday.My friend Mary from Virginia sent me this beautiful blue egg and nested inside was the charming bunny egg. A special thank you to her goose Lucy who"donated" the egg.

I just added this teacup to my collection and I thought it was so soft and sweet. It's made by the Coalport company. I'm not sure if the pattern has a name or not? I guess it's about time to put up my Easter decorations.

My Tasha Tudor group is doing an Easter exchange. Several of us have Easter trees~great fun.

Rain, rain, go away!

Oh my goodness...over six inches of rain here for the month of March! I took these pictures of my flower beds after a downpour. I've given up trying to be cheerful about it all. I'd just love to see some blue sky and a bit of sunshine.

After the rainstorm, I walked (waded) through the beds and found a tiny bit of spring. Spring does wish to come! I found some heather, violets and even a forget-me-not for Tasha Tudor.

Not a big bouquet, but still a spring spray!

Jim arrived home safe and sound late last night from Illinois. A big thank you to all his family who made his trip pleasant.

Rainy Rainy Sunday

It's Sunday and it has been raining so hard all day with dark skies and a total lack of sunshine. I didn't even want to go out to the grocery store this afternoon but empty cupboards were begging me! As I ran into the store, I passed the garden center loaded with spring flowers. No one was visiting but the splashes of color were so inviting. Oh spring, where are you?

I wanted to work in my cottage this afternoon, but it was just too nasty. I did find this cute children's book that LaVonne sent to me awhile back. I had forgotten about it.My first name is so common, I have been going by Linda Lou or Loo Loo just for fun. Notice the name of the cat...another choice for me. Cute book and of course I have to keep it.

A Busy Friday

Another busy day of sorting and organizing in my little storage unit, my cottage, as I like to call it. So many years of gathering, retail stores, collecting, treasure hunting and yes, just being a sentimental pack rat! Now it's time to part with things and reorganize. What a job! I think it will take me most of this year to do it all the right way.

Duane our wonderful handyman built the two units in December. We originally just thought of them as our own storage units and a way to stop paying someone else to store our things. Once we saw how cute and nice they were, we started to change our focus. So I now have a place-a work in progress-that will become my little work studio. Duane gave us a bid to finish it off so, someday...

Once it stops raining, he'll sand the deck and stain it along with the fence.

Flowers in the window boxes?

As Duane told me one day when he was building them,"Linda, this is a gift for you from Jim."

Thank you my wonderful husband. What a JOY!

Teacup Thursday #2

It's Teacup Thursday and I just love it. I get so excited for Thursdays to roll around. It's now Spring...at least that's what the weatherman tells us! We did actually see the sun yesterday but the East wind was blowing so hard, it took some of the joy out of the sunshine. Clouds and rain greeted me once again this morning. Such is life in the Northwest.

Anyway, I did decorate my little window frame up for spring and that made me feel better.

It's too muddy to plant anything. My friend Sha just earned her master gardener's certificate and she was telling me that the earth is too cold and too wet to plant yet...seeds and tender plants will just sit there and rot. I wish I had a greenhouse or at least a cold frame. Maybe that will happen someday.

So, it's still March and I wanted to show a few more of my St. Pat's tea cups. This harp one is really pretty. I love the harp inside the cup. The name on the bottom is Stanley. I've had this one along time and don't even remember where I found it.

I'm anxious to look at the teacups today and add a few more followers from Miss Spenser's Special-teas. It's been fun to meet some new bloggers who love tea and other lovelies.

I'm thinking spring and sunshine and pastel colors.

Hello Spring...Goodbye Winter

Today is the first day of spring but it sure doesn't feel like it here in Oregon. I'm looking out the patio window watching the rain fall-again. The East wind has been blowing all day making it feel chillier than it really is. Sigh...March is such a dreary month.

My friend made me a darling little stitchery for my Bee Retreat and I finally finished it up. I wanted to make it into a pillow. It's a combination of her wool felting and embroidery work and it's just darling. Thanks LaVonne. I thought it would be a good way to celebrate the coming of spring.

Now all we need is some sunshine☀!

Friday evening...

Today was my very dear friend LaVonne's birthday. I think she had a pretty good day. She's on the road to 50, her Golden Jubilee year. She's so deserving of all the very best!

We had a big Wuitschick gathering at dad's tonight. What fun we had and dad was loving every minute of it. So fun to see the gene pool...lol! I'm not looking forward to some pictures that I know are going to end up on FB.

They are calling the full moon a SUPER MOON as it is very close to the earth and it looks just huge. I did get to see it for a bit driving home. The most common names are Worm,Crow and Sap/Sugaring moon. I tried to take a picture but it didn't turn out too good. I found these sox at the bins. I think I need to wear them on full moon days.

I found a cool poem-not sure who the poet is.

Worm Moon, Crow Moon

Crow Moon, tonight you fly
at the balance of the year,
half light, half dark, tipping
your wing toward spring.

Crow Moon, caw away
this winter, gnaw the last
crusts of snow from the
frozen garden. Shine

the earthworms up to
the surface. Worm Moon,
Crow Moon, Full Sap Moon,
wake us up once more.

Teacup Thursday #1

♣"How sweetly lies old Ireland

Emerald green beyond the foam,

Awakening sweet memories,

Calling the heart back home."♣

I couldn't resist showing an Irish tea cup today as Teacup Thursday falls on St. Patrick's Day!

I have a nice collection of Irish cup and saucers so it was difficult to choose one. I have two more Teacup Thursdays to feature a couple more, so I decided to show this one today. It says Souvenir of Ireland on it and shows a lady spinning. It's stamped Royal Tara Fine Bone China Ireland on the bottom of the cup and the saucer.

I'm anxious to see what others are sharing today. Don't forget to check Miss Spenser's Special-Teas blog. Thanks for starting this Donna and Spenser. I love so forward to Teacup Thursday.

♣ ♣♣Irish Potato Candy♣♣♣

4 T butter

1 pound box of powdered sugar

2 T corn syrup

4 T milk

1 7 oz package of shredded coconut

2 T vanilla

cinnamon (can mix with cocoa)

In a medium bowl, cream butter and 3 cups of powdered sugar.

Add milk, vanilla and corn syrup and mix thoroughly.

Add remaining sugar and coconut. Seal in a container and chill in the refrigerator for one hour.

Shape into 1 inch balls and form into little potato shapes.

Roll in cinnamon/cocoa mixture.

Store in a covered container in the fridge.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

♣"May JOY and PEACE surround you, contentment latch your door,and happiness be with you now and bless you evermore"♣

I was looking over some family genealogy that my mom did years ago and the Irish heritage in my family comes from my grandpa Ted Smith's grandmother...Isabell Byrns who was born in Ireland.

She married Cornelius (Mike)McMenamy who was born in Scotland. I don't know much more than that. I'm hoping my sister Debbie continues my mother's work once she retires.

I have been looking through the book "The Irish in America by Michael Coffey and Terry Golway.

It was used with the PBS series-"Long Journey Home: The Irish in America" which I watch years ago. I remember being really touched with how hard life has been for the Irish and wonder how life really was for my ancestors.

I'll post my Teacup Thursday pictures in another blog post today!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Off to Springfield, Illinois

Took Jim to the airport early this morning. He's off to his hometown of Springfield, Illinois.

His family needs his help with his aging mom of 94 years. It was hard to say good bye as he'll be gone for two weeks, maybe more if needed. It what we do with our parents now. Honor thy father and thy mother and so we try.

Weekend Adventure...

This weekend I went out to the little town of Mollala Oregon to attend a miniature and dollhouse show. It's in a rural area much like Mt. Angel and Aurora where I love to go so often. The historic home was built by an Oregon pioneer in 1859 and some other building have been moved to the location too. I was given a personal tour of the place and met the other ladies who were into the miniatures and dollhouses which was even more exciting. We had so much fun looking at all the dollhouses...about 20 in all... a delightful variety of skill and time periods. My favorite sweet lady was named Isabelle and she told me her husband had built her a dollhouse fashioned after Louisa May Alcott's home. I wish I could see that one! They invited me to come back on a Friday afternoon with Jim to introduce him to this lovely place and to chat with him. Just a very special afternoon.

They allowed me to take some pictures of the buildings. I loved the summer kitchen and am happy to share the photos. Note the old wallpaper. LaVonne, I took the picture of the granite wash basin for you. It looks like the miniature one you bought for your Annabelle in Troutdale! I am fascinated with summer kitchens and it was fun to see one set up. I love the photo of the table. I just happened to catch the light coming through the window.

I bought a tiny thimble and five tiny safety pins for Annabelle.

I plan to take some of my Tasha books to share with the ladies when I go to visit again. They have never heard of her and I must fix that!

Japan

My thoughts and prayers are with the Japanese people after the devastating 8.9 earthquake and

tsunami. Such a sad time for all those families. I so thankful that all of my family is safe and sound tonight.

Teacup Thursday

I have joined Miss Spenser's Special-Teas "Teacup Thursdays" to share teacup pictures and see what other bloggers who love tea are doing! You'll find her listed under MY BLOG LIST on the right hand side of my blog. Donna and Spenser do such a nice job with their tea shoppe. Our Tasha Tudor group is hoping to have a Kindred Spirits Gathering there next year in April!

As it's March, I thought I'd post a lovely green teacup from Queen Elizabeth's coronation. My husband gave this one to me as a gift. I collect queen items and I think this is the prettiest one I own. Note the little clovers under the crown, thistles and

roses...lovely!

The markings are Aynsley England Bone China.

Enjoy and take a look at the other tea lover's blogs listed on Miss Spenser's Special-Teas blog.

I am longing for spring.

Antique show trades

Jim worked so hard at the antique show this past weekend and he sold sold sold! He is such a natural and God blessed him with a very GOOD show! I always help him on Sundays and take down his booth. He's pretty tired by then.

He was able to do some trading and I ended up with two dolls. I never thought I'd have a chance to own this type of a doll, so I am pretty excited and yet not quite sure about these babies. I can always sell them but I'm growing attached to them as they sit in the tea room! Roy was at the show and looked them over. They seem to be what they are supposed to be except that their eyes have been replaced. I'm not a purist, so that doesn't matter to me.

The one in white is dressed well with all her proper undies. The other one desperately needs better clothes, poor thing. Oh my, another project.

Names...now they need names. I guess if I name them, I have to keep them!

I also found a beautiful little pink dress for the Parian doll that Bev and Roy so kindly gave me. She is quite happy but she also needs undies and a bonnet.

I found another Frozen Charlotte....a bit bigger than my tiny one. They are such funny little imps.

Jim and I spent the afternoon with dad and had dinner with him. He was down to his last undies so got his wash all caught up and Jim filled his meds for him. He sure was happy today.

Lots of JOY lately.

Joy in the month of March

I was reading my past posts to remind myself about where I am going to try to find JOY this month....Joy in sewing and quilting! I forgot!

Peggy and I had to cancel our March retreat due to 4 of our customers canceling on us. Very sad, not sure what's going on. These are difficult times for people and the price of gas just keeps going up too. I was relieved yet it just made me sad for a few days. I'm moving past that now and am trying to find joy again.

So, I'm going to spend sometime doing what I'd like to do. Gina can't come home for spring break this year and Jim will be going to Illinois to help out with his mom, so I will have lots of extra time for whatever I want to do.

I went to visit Bev and Roy yesterday, my doll friends. I need to start sewing some doll clothes...good idea for the month!

The weatherman is promising some sunshine today! Haven't seen the sun for weeks.

Wishbone treasure

Last fall I found a pincushion sewing "thing" at an estate sale. Part of it was made with a real wishbone which held a thimble. Being attracted to sewing items and being more interested in folk art, I bought it. I wanted to show LaVonne when she came for her next visit as I knew she'd get a kick out of it. She raises chickens and collects wishbone dolls, so I had to share it with her.

When she returned home, she found something similar, but smaller on Ebay and bid. There was a small Frozen Charlotte doll in the thimble. I remembered I had a tiny doll in Annabelle's things and of course it took me all day to find it! Good Lord. Well, it went for a huge amount on Ebay. I guess I didn't realize how special the item was. Guess I'll give it to my friend someday when I'm done with it.

FRIENDSHIP

I am amazed at the gift of friendship that God has granted to me at this point in my life. I've always had lots of friends, but the dear ones who stand by me, encourage me, pray for me, cry with me and just love me for who I am RIGHT NOW, continue to delight and astonish me! This has made me really think about the true meaning of friendship and appreciate the ones who are there for you when you really need them. It has also been a lesson to let others go which is sometimes very hard.

I've struggled with things this winter but friendship has helped me wade through the days.

It sounds like I'm in middle school, but to have a very dear best friend at my age is truly a gift from God.

I don't want to embarrass the special friend who I'm writing about, but I know she will read this. Love ya lots and thanks for everything.