This and That

                 Touches of Fall have been appearing early this year in our home.

Morning Glories that grew from seed dropped last year have covered the post near the water hose.

DH helped me and together we made muffins... Bakewell and Morning Glory Muffins. The recipe for the Bakewell muffins is on The English Kitchen blog. She has a handy search bar so one can look up any recipe. The Morning Glory muffins are your basic carrot muffins with the addition of grated apple to add moistness. DH grated the carrots and apples for me which I appreciated. I tend to grate my knuckles too.

Last of all, here is my latest addition to my family of 'stuffies'. She's not Fall-ish but so cute I, of course, couldn't resist her. 

Thanks for stopping by,

     Granny Marigold

Tuesday Teacups...and more

These are the last of the birthday teacups. This first one is neither pink nor lilac but somewhere in between. The outside is quite plain but there is a charming little bunch of flowers inside the cup.
It was made by Royal Grafton

         This pretty little teacup is a pattern called Moss Rose and it was made by Roslyn.

This rather fancy one was made by  Shafford  which in spite of its English-sounding  name was produced in Japan.

These plates I found at the thrift store and paid $2 for the set. The pattern is Vintage Garden ,
made by Princess House. I think my morning toast tastes better when served on one of these beauties.

Just to include something other than my beloved china here are a couple of pictures from our Sunday morning walk. We walked in a very light rain and the air was so wonderful to breathe after all the smoky air we've had for the past while.

                 Can you guess whose birthday it is today?

Of course you will have recognized Tasha Tudor.
 Born August 28, 1915.  She was born Starling Burgess but later legally changed her name.
She illustrated nearly a hundred books in her lifetime.
Although she is well known for her illustrations I think many people are more impressed by how she lived her old-fashioned style life.
Are you a Tasha Tudor fan?

Thanks for visiting today,

Please don't hesitate to leave a comment so I know you were here.

Granny M.

This and That

A bit of everything today.
Last week I read this book then we watched the movie with our DIL and the grands. It is very worth watching for all ages. It concerns a boy who is born with  multiple  facial deformities and how he copes with school and friends.

Company was coming over last night so I got out my flan pans which haven't been used for years.
I just used a cake mix  and some cherry pie filling. I think it turned out looking good.
I put Cool Whip on before serving.

We went to a few garage sales this morning and of course I found a few small treasures AND  I came home with this cute Budgie. The people were moving and could't take him along so he and his cage plus all his toys, food, etc.. were free.  Now he lives in the sun porch where I hope he'll be happy. He's quite vocal which I like but at this point at least, he's not wanting to be touched. Guess he needs to adjust.

I hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend. Here it is cool and we're actually having showers. It won't be enough to alleviate the drought but it sure has cleared the air.

Thank you for your visit today,


                 Granny Marigold

Teacup Tuesday

Well, it's not just teacups today.   My birthday is this week and the family came over on Sunday to help me celebrate. We had a great time together and I was given lovely gifts including these two adorable little jam pots with Lily of the Valley motif.

                Lovely teacups and a hand made card.  Do you have a favourite?

These two came from the thrift store that I made a quick trip to this morning.
The little bird cup is so pretty and the china so thin and delicate.

       I like white jugs or pitchers, if you prefer. This one with its touch of pink pleases me.

There will be more birthday teacups but I'll keep those for next week.

Thanks for visiting,


Granny M.

My Day

It was a perfect day to take a drive in the country. I thought this old church looked very picture-worthy.

We stopped to look at these goats. That top wire ( fence) looked very much like it was electrified so I made very sure not to touch it.

                   These Alpacas paid no attention to us at all. Just kept on grazing.

DH likes old tractors and apparently this one had a 'spoked flywheel' which was something he hadn't seen before. This tractor was on someone's lawn but close to the road so we chanced a picture or two.

     Stopped to see what this place was selling.  Organic everything and it was very expensive.
 

On our way back we stopped to have a little picnic at the Heron Reserve. We found a picnic table in the shade, near the bird feeders that they have outside the main building. I think it's the first time we've stopped there that not a single bird came around.

That was my lovely day. I hope you had a pleasant one too.


         Granny M.

Teacup Tuesday

A few weeks ago I was able to buy some teacups from someone who had an ad on Craigslist.
I bought 8 cups and saucers and she included a few cups that had no saucers and I think maybe an odd  saucer as well. Once I got home I put the entire box away without unwrapping any with the idea that for my birthday ( coming up later this month) I would unwrap one each day . But I guess I have no will power because I've begun to take them out and admire at least a few. So far these are the ones I've unwrapped.

             This one is by Royal Stafford. No particular pattern name but so pretty.

                This one is also Royal Stafford and the pattern is Oregon Grapes. This one has no saucer.

                        The last one is Royal Albert pattern Greenwood Tree.

 Of course I'm running out of room to display them so an addition had to be built to
the teacup cupboard .  It fits right into the corner of the room and each shelf holds just one set.

The colour seems to change according to the time of day when I take the picture.

You can see I had to do some changing around of the bottom shelves to make more room.

I'm sure that if you're not a teacup sort of person you're thoroughly bored now. Sorry.

I should warn you that whenever you see a post with teacup in the title just give it a miss.

That's all for today.

I hope you're having a very pleasant day.

Granny Marigold

My Week

I found these lovely botanical mugs made by Pfaltzgraff at the thrift store for .75 each. I couldn't resist buying them. Looked them up on-line and a set of 4 costs 34.99.

                         Also found at the thrift store... more books!

We were given a pail of figs from a neighbour's tree. They didn't take long to dry . I had never even eaten a fig until a few years ago ( unless you count Fig Newtons).  

That bunch of Lilies I posted about earlier has continued to open. Because the dining room ( where I'd normally have placed them) is so terribly hot I have been keeping the bouquet in the bedroom where there's A/C.
 I am so tired of this heat!

Some of the moments from my week that are the most precious have been spent with the 2 youngest grands. We had a chocolate fondue one day ( with lovely strawberries, banana slices and cubes of Banana bread). Also reading The Velveteen Rabbit to M.  That book remains a fav. of his.

                         GRANNY MARIGOLD

My Day

Oh it is another hot day here. We decided to pick up out oldest daughter and go to the plant shop
(where unfortunately there is no A/C).  My daughter and I had fun choosing plants while DH waited patiently for us to finish!

Sweet William is a favourite of mine and these lovely big plants were under two dollars. In fact I chose many more assorted plants and very few were more expensive than that.

Here they are in the shade behind the house waiting for a cooler day to be planted.
I intend to keep some inside the sun room and hopefully they will bloom all winter.

This particular shop has a cooler with fresh cut flowers. Today's special was a dollar a bunch of Lilies.
This large bouquet consists of 2 bunches. Most are still buds but I'll take another picture when all the buds open.

On a less pleasant note yesterday I was stung by a wasp and my arm is very swollen and sore. I'm taking Benadryl and using a cold gel pad which seems to be helping. 

Thanks for visiting, 

Granny M.