Flowers and Photoshop

I'm always amazed at the torrent of blooms that come with spring. It seems like one moment the ground is frozen and brown, and the next moment it is bursting at the seams with all the colors of the rainbow.

We have had snowdrops, muscari, hellebores and daffodils in quick succession, followed by quince, spirea and now azaleas.

So I picked a few blossoms and had some fun with Photoshop, giving them a vintage-y feel.

Yes, vintage-y is so a word.

Anyway, I thought I would share my little picture with you, and wish you all a beautiful weekend. :)

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Please join me for Mosaic Monday this week. Mr. Linky will be up by 8:30 pm Eastern time, USA, Sunday. I have been having so much fun visiting all your mosaics and meeting so many new people from all over the world. Thanks so much for making this such a fun day for me! :)

Tea and Cannoli

How has your week been going so far? It's been busy here, with lots of errands in addition to the usual laundry, cleaning and clearing the garden.

None of which I've finished so far. lol

But you know me -- anytime is a good time for a cup of tea and a snack. Mmmm, chocolate cannoli.

(Do you think that has anything to do with my utter lack of ability to lose weight?)

Our lilies of the valley have just opened this week, and their dainty blooms and perfume are perfect for my tea tray. I have set the tray on the sofa in our library; the needlepoint pillow you see in the background of the photo (above) was a Mother's Day present a few years ago.

The cup and saucer belonged to my mother. It is hand-painted Fan Crest fine china, made in Japan. My mother collected tea cups.

The dessert dish is actually the saucer for another tea cup -- Royal Sealy China, also made in Japan. The tray itself is an antique tole tray, which I won on ebay a few years ago.

(Don't you love the phrase "won" -- it sounds so much better than "paid entirely too much in a last-minute bidding war.")

The delicate embroidered linen placemat is vintage, another heirloom from my mother.

So what do you do when you sit down to eat by yourself? Read, of course. The book here is Shakespeare's Art, published by L.C. Page & Co, Boston, in 1901. Don't you love old books? They are so beautiful, with gilded cover art and deckled edge pages. I've added a hand-made bookmark, created together with my friend Toni Anne. We used one of my photos, some ribbon and beads.

If I ever get my act together, I'll list a few of them in my etsy shop.

I'm linking this post to Susan's Tablescape Thursday. You must visit Susan's beautiful blog, Between Naps on the Porch, for more tablescapes.

I'm also linking to Cindy's Show & Tell Friday. Thanks, Cindy, for hosting this fun meme. :)

Memento Mori

Sorry to be so maudlin, but I took these photos last week, and I could not help sharing the beautiful blooming lawn with you.

The cemetery, which is part of the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church, dates from the eighteenth century.

The old oak tree you see here is thought to be at least 600 years old. That would make it a sapling when Columbus discovered America, and already full grown when Jamestown was settled in 1607.

History tells us that famous English evangelists James Davenport and George Whitefield preached to a crowd of 3000 in the shade of its branches in 1740.

George Washington shared a picnic here with his officers, including the Marquis de Lafayette, during the Revolutionary War. Today it's branches spread over 156 feet, making it the widest of any tree in New Jersey.

You will find more information in two other posts I have written, here and here.

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church

1 East Oak Street

Basking Ridge, NJ 07920

Mosaic Monday: Natural Cooling Edition

Wow, I don't know about you, but we had some really hot weather this weekend. Close to 90 degrees. For the first days of May.

Oi!

The photos in my mosaic were taken over the past several years, and I chose them because the green and white color scheme made me think of cooler days. We don't have central air conditioning, and we haven't wanted to put our window units in yet. After all, it's only May 2nd.

I think the warm weather is going to be here at least another day. So I'm just going to sit here in front of the fan, and look at cooling photos...

Yes, I know. I really do need to tweak my meds.

Now let's have some mosaic fun! Here are the instructions:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate Mr. Linky box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate Mr. Linky box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.
That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.net. I can't wait to see your mosaics! Here is Mr. Linky:

Sweet

I have to confess that I bought these blackberries just so that I could photograph them. (Yes, I know -- I'm strange.) But then I tasted them, and they were so sweet that I ate almost half the container in one sitting. Guess I'll have to get another half pint to photograph. lol

Oh, and before I forget -- just a quick apology. I have had a ton of visits from spammers again, so I've had to turn on word verification and limited comment moderation. I'm so sorry -- I know it's a royal pain in the butt to have to type out that extra word, but I spent a lot of time this morning removing comments from old posts.

Well, that's about as exciting as it gets around here. How about you -- got anything fun planned this weekend?

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I'm hoping you'll join me for Mosaic Monday. Mr. Linky should be up by 8:30 pm Eastern time, Sunday. I look forward to seeing your wonderful creations!

My Beautiful Breakfast

I have a thing about setting trays. Maybe it's because I tend to collect tole trays and individual dishes when I see them, at thrift stores and rummage sales. Maybe it's because we don't entertain very often.

It's a chance for me to "play" with my dishes... a creative outlet, if you will.

I set this breakfast tray yesterday, and sat in the sunny library window for an English muffin and orange juice. :)

The blue transferware dish belonged to my mother. It's a little chipped and worn, but I love the scene on it, and as it's the only one I have, I like to use it occasionally for a single setting like a tray.

I used a Waterford water goblet for my orange juice. My husband's family and my mother gave us a few pieces for Christmas and birthdays for the first few years after we were married. It's lovely to use them and think of all those happy celebrations years ago.

I love monogrammed silver. This tiny piece was given to me by my dear friend Robin. It fits perfectly in my Waterford jam jar.

German silver spoon and bone handled knife, from local antiques stores. Are you getting tired of seeing these in each of my tablescapes? :)

Here is the jam jar, a gift from my mother. Do you use pretty pieces every day? I often think I should not save these things for a special occasion. How much more gracious would life be if we dined on Spode and Waterford every day?!

Actually, it would be a lot more work, because I wouldn't dare put Spode and Waterford in the dishwasher! lol

So here is my breakfast tray -- a little bit of elegance for my English muffin. ;)

The flowers are white azaleas, from shrubs that grow in our yard. The bud vase was a gift from a very sweet blogging friend, Sue of Rabbit Run Cottage.

I'm linking (late!) this little "trayscape" to Susan's Tablescape Thursday. Thank you so much, Susan, for being such a wonderful hostess! I am also linking to Cindy's Show & Tell Friday. Thanks for having this wonderful party, Cindy!

BTW, the tray shown here was a gift from Cindy, who was so kind and helpful to me when I first began to blog. I will be forever grateful to her for her kind and encouraging words and her generous support. :)

A Walk in the Park, 2010 Edition

Can you tell I love to be outdoors this time of year? So many of my posts over the past few weeks have been based on pictures I've taken outside. lol

I LOVE SPRING!

After a few days of dark and rain, I took advantage of the beautiful sunny weather yesterday and went for a walk at my favorite park, Natirar. I've posted about this lovely park in the past. They have opened a new nature trail, and I brought my camera with me so that you could come along for the walk.

Pictured above is what you see as you get out of your car in the parking lot. Not bad, huh?

Here is the scene as you enter the new nature trail (above). Yes, the grass really is that impossibly green. We had three times the normal rainfall last month in our part of New Jersey, and it is showing. :)

I actually brought my camera because I wanted some sky photos for my 365 blog,

beauty unspoken, but I couldn't resist the beautiful fields and trails, too.

My walk ended next to this picturesque scene of the Raritan River. I hope you enjoyed coming along with me. For more information on Natirar, please visit this website.

I am linking this post to Outdoor Wednesday at Susan's beautiful blog, A Southern Daydreamer. There are some wonderful links this week -- go check it out! :)