Saturday, 11 April 2015

A Windy Saturday


It was a day of brisk wind blowing clouds around. First we would have a few showers then those clouds would be blown away and the sun would shine only to have the whole thing repeated! I guess that is what we can expect in April.

My DH has been busy building matching cupboards for my ever-growing teacup collection. He has mounted them on either side of the opening into the sunroom.



This picture is taken rather far away but it gives a better idea of how they are placed. The paint is not totally dry yet but I can hardly wait to set my lovelies in them.


There were a few garage sales this morning and I got this cute little cup and saucer for  seventy-five cents. It is made by Royal Vale and I believe those blue flowers are forget-me-nots


        It joins the ones I bought a week or so ago, waiting for a spot to put them!!


      I was given this Tasha Tudor book ( a library discard) for my T.T. collection.


Lastly I wanted to show you my  Bloodroot plant ( Sanguinaria Canadensis)  with it's gorgeous frilly white flowers. The flowers grow on short leafless stems and last such a short while but they are worth it. This is the plant I had such a hard time identifying until at last one man at the Plant shop searched on-line until he found it. It's not at all common it seems. It's filling the pot it's in nicely this year.
Sorry about the photo being on its side. Once in a while it just happens!!

I see some weeds are also growing merrily in this pot. Hmmm. Next week I'd better get rid of those while they are still small. I use an old teaspoon to dig them out. In fact, I have more then a few old teaspoons that I find useful outside for weeding,  also for transplanting tiny volunteers too small for a trowel.




On that note I will wish you a peaceful and happy Sunday.

                   Granny Marigold

Saturday, 4 April 2015

Have a wonderful Easter




                                Blessings,  Granny Marigold

Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Happy April




I'm so glad April is here and it truly is Spring. No doubt we'll have lots of rain until June when suddenly the rain will stop and city officials will panic and water restrictions will  be on.
But there will be sunny days and already everything is green and just this morning I saw big fat buds on the lilacs.  Robins are singing their cheery songs and Sparrows collecting nesting material. I hope this all makes you as happy as it does me!

                                   Granny Marigold


Tuesday, 31 March 2015

An Easy Cake

A young friend turns 19 today and called to request "Chocolate cheesecake'. I knew I hadn't made one for years then it occurred to me what he meant. For my #2 son's birthday ( Valentine's Day) I made a cake with a chocolate base which I cut in half once it was cooled,, filled with cherry pie filling, then put the second layer on topping the whole thing with a cream cheese mixture. When I served it the top layer nicely slid off the bottom. Tasted delicious but looked pretty funny.
Here's what I did with today's cake. I prepared the cake mix as per instructions except that instead of a 9 X 13 pan I used an 8 X 12 and an 8 X 8.  I took pictures of the two but believe it or not they are NOT to be found. Anyway, picture the two cakes.


After they were baked and cooled I topped the 8 X 12 with a mixture of cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar and the Cool Whip.


On that I spread the cherry pie filling. I purposely didn't buy the no-name pie filling thinking name brand would have more cherries but this can sure didn't!!  Also, the cherries on the left are not darker. Darn camera again. ( Couldn't possibly be the one taking the picture!).


The 8 X 8 cake got sprinkles over chocolate icing. There are those who don't like their chocolate cake messed with.  Ha!
So there are my very simple birthday cakes. Happy Birthday, Jake!.


                                                                  Granny Marigold


Monday, 30 March 2015

This and That

Nothing much to blog about this rainy Monday morning. I hope your week is off to a good start. Mine is, in spite of the rain.  I rescued more fallen Daffs and Hyacinths, even a tulip.  I hope we get some days of sunshine very soon!


          And when I have nothing to blog about I can always go around the house and take pictures!







That is about all I have to post today.  Leave a comment if you do visit. Sometimes I think I'm just "talking" to myself here.

                          Granny Marigold

Saturday, 28 March 2015

Tea Cups


I had fantastic luck this morning and found a number of lovely tea cups for my ever-growing collection.  I bought three at a garage sale and on the way back we stopped at a church that advertized a garage sale. Amid a lot of junk I spied tea cups and my pulse quickened I'm sure. Of the ones they had I chose 5.




This pretty blue-flowered one is by Royal Windsor. I like the fancy handle it has.


I actually thought these two were identical but when I got home and took a closer look I saw they are almost but not totally the same. One has pink flowers with tiny yellow ones peeking out from behind while the other set has yellow aand pink flowers with small blue ones in the background. These two are my favourites of the ones I got today.  Although in the photo one looks paler than the other that's just my camera. They're actually the same colour.



The cup and saucer on the left below are Queen Anne and the pattern is "Autumn Glory". Quite appropriate for the colourful Zinnias, don't you think?  The other pale yellow cup is Windsor.


This palest blue tea cup has an unusual shape, pretty trim around the top edge, and a single red rose inside.


The black and white C & S are Queen Anne and inside the words Wedding Anniversary are written. I can always turn the cup in such a way as to hide this if I want.   The last C & S are pretty but quite ordinary and are made by Colclough. It does have a nice scalloped edge.


It is a wild and windy day out. The wind has blown the rain away but we sure had a downpour overnight.  A few more Daffodils fell over so I cut them and brought them in.  Now I have some baking to do and the kitchen floor to wash. While I'm doing that I'll dream of a new cupboard to put my newest acquisitions in. 

                                 Granny Marigold

Friday, 27 March 2015

Teapot Hill

My DIL and a friend were planning on hiking up Teapot Hill and asked my DH and myself if we'd like to come along. The hike was rated easy and the time given was about an hour each way. We thought we'd be fine with that so off we went. Today is the last day of Spring break for the children so it was great for them too. The sun shone and we had a lovely day. The views along the way were stunning whether it was of the lake below or the moss-covered trees and ferns that flourished beside the path.



I don't know if this photo really shows how much moss is covering each tree trunk and branch.


Whether people got the idea of leaving teapots 'hidden' along the way because of the name or if that's how the hill got its name we don't know but we did spot teapots!!  Here my granddaughter  just spied one.


Here are two tiny ones hidden in a rotten stump.  For some unknown reason my computer insists on loading it sideways again!! I'd just leave it out but I really like the colours in this pic.





So many things to observe as we walked...and walked...and walked some more. The hike was definitely NOT easy. Whoever rated it had a totally different idea of easy than we do but we made it.  It was funny because towards the end of the hike when we two seniors didn't know if we could go another step perfect strangers encouraged us to persevere. I doubt there was any part of that path that wasn't steep which was just as hard coming down as going up. Tomorrow we will feel it in our legs, I'm sure but we're glad we went.

Now I'm perfectly happy to spend a quiet, restful evening.

                    Tired out Granny Marigold