It’s a girl’s dress calendar. This picture on the cover happens to be the painted art print for the month of May. The dresses are vintage-inspired with the floral of spring.
January’s look…
fabulous February…
March– umbrella for rain showers…
April (my favorite print), a party month for birthdays and the change of weather…
Here’s June…
July, summer fun…
August shifting into fall…
September…
October leaves and a pretty black dress…
November, my birthday month– and the beginning of winter holiday baking and cooking…
then it’s another December. This calendar is by Lang.
This is my eight year-old’s handiwork. My daughter attempted to put a checkerboard pattern on my nails… not bad for a person her age! I think it looks nice, actually.
This is light-activated– the cat’s paw continually waves.
This is Autumn, she’s like an owl with her expressions at times but she happens to be the sweetest cat. She’s affectionate with her paws as she caresses your shoulder with her face when you’re at the computer or desk doing work. She’s personable, she’s always right there.
With the new year comes preparations and plans for the upcoming Spring and then for Easter, organizing the house, deep-cleaning, even re-designing the rooms with things that can be rearranged to give it a fresh appeal again. Are there any walls that need a touch-up with a new coat of paint?
I like this rustic-looking pitcher with its marks. It’s heavy and cannot be easily tipped.
Would you stack China? Carefully? I love finding these at garage sales; some are half a-dollar on up to costing just a few bucks, if that. Some think it’s gawd-awful ugly, junky; I don’t.
They’re attractive, they’re China dishes. These can be used for a multitude of uses, not just for putting mismatched pieces together for a complete dinner or for hot tea or coffee, but storing things in for drawers, for crafts, for candle-cups in a tea room or on a nightstand.
It’s the latest issue of Victoria Classics, their Spring edition.
Tea tools, utensils from long ago for afternoon tea, is illustrated nicely on pages 15 and 16. I especially like the “shell” strainer and the pearl-like handles of some of the utensils. They had such an elegance back then, such style and charisma; and grace. This article not only speaks of the beauty of then but what the utensils served in making that exceptionally good cup of tea, each one being particularly useful for a distinct purpose in the process of brewing and serving tea. It is believed that beverages taste better when poured from porcelain.
Milk is the choice over cream so that the natural flavor is not masked; and if having dairy, leave out the lemon slices– citric acid curdles dairy. Taste your cup of tea, first, then add dairy and/or sugar– or citrus with sugar or honey.
“As rosemary is to the spirit, so lavender is to the soul.”
“Dew of the sea”,”Rose of Mary”, and “remembrance” is the expression for rosemary. It is a member of the mint family. It is a hearty evergreen that can bloom with flowers of purple, blue, white or pink. It is said to improve memory. Though particularly fond of in savory dishes, with creativity, it can be baked with in sweets. I’ve included rosemary in sweet rolls, desserts, in chocolate bark, and in simple syrups for cocktails; just a hint of its aromatic taste, the pine needles chopped finely into specks. It’s a pleasure just to smell the sprigs prepared for a meal, the process of cooking and baking with the earthy perfume of rosemary in the kitchen from the outdoors as though you’re in the woods or in a deep garden filled with nothing but rosemary. I’d rather see a gathering of rosemary on a table or counter than a bouquet of roses or tulips even though those are lovely, too. There’s something about the rosemary plant that is of great value to the smell, to the eye, to the taste of its healthy and whole essence when it accompanies just right in any dish of food. It’s a must for meat rubs, I think; ideal for the juiciest beef brisket.
Lavender is also Latin, and it means, “to wash”. It is referred to as “an herb of love”. It is calming and healing, just what you want in a mate.
What I also think is more prominently attractive than a typical array of flowers on a table is the subtle arrangement of citrus of any kind, like in this photograph in a white heavy pitcher. Leaves are deep-green. The fragrance is freshly scented without having to cut open the fruit. The colors, bright like the hues of the warm seasons; and if oranges or lemons rather than limes, you think of the hues of the sun on those warm days. You immediately begin to remember the yellow sun shining in blonde streaks as children, or the sun rippling with waves glistening on a river or pond of water… you can recall wearing or seeing a bright yellow summer dress as you played in the sand… prancing, dancing on crisp green grass in morning hours with your bare feet before the sun had a chance to get hot in the day, when the dew was still present like a mist of water on toes and heels of soft skin. That’s what the bright, bold colors of citrus and its scent does to the senses and to memory. It makes you think of a youthful time when all was carefree.
In the cold of winter when snow and ice are on the ground, we can look forward to the months ahead when the fruits of the earth bloom and produce these fragrant foods that compliment our lives and the times with our families, as well as beautifying our homes. When the heart of the family is around the heart of the table, there is always a ray of light that is like those warm days as children. It’s what we live for, it’s what we keep. It’s the simple arrangements that make it enjoyable.
The threads in these needles give the bird-cushion its loose feathers.
Besides the regular herbs that I grow indoors before Spring, I’m growing my dandelions inside since I want them out of the yard this year, having them in their designated areas just as I would have for lettuce and cabbage– and since I like to cook with dandelion greens and have them in salads, not just wilted with warm bacon and vinegar, these are included in my plans. I can have them, now. Most people still think they’re weeds; on the contrary. It’s an herb having the name of, “Priest’s Crown”, “Lion’s Tooth”, “Blowball”, “Monk’s Head”, and “Irish Daisy”. It’s full of vitamins such as: Potassium, iron, calcium, manganese, magnesium, vitamin A, vitamin B-6, riboflavin, and vitamin C. It is the richest herbal source of vitamin K, good for bone mass.
Make it an original; enjoy every moment you have for a rose-colored day.
— Susan Nuyt, Skirt in the Kitchen
[pink for Breast Cancer Awareness]
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