Spring Fling

Feeling a little springy? It's time to "Get Happy" with Judy! (Cue the Music)

When it comes to spring in my house, it's all about the bunny!

Especially as Easter draws near!

There's a little bit of bunny in every room of the house. Standing at the sink is more fun when you're with the bunnies!

And isn't this little tray cute? A new purchase this year. I'm trying really hard to avoid too much shopping but I couldn't resist this one!

Well, OK, I did cave and buy one new bunny... I could not resist him, either!

It's time to bring out the little peat pots made in years past and pair them with bunny favorites!

And time for the Bunnykins mug, too!

Here's the overall look, atop the china cabinet.

And inside another cabinet -- bunnies on parade.

I love these guys!

Of course there is an egg tree. (Actually there are two and other eggs pop up elsewhere!) Some of the eggs here were purchased or gifts, but my favorites go back more than 45 years, crafting with my mom.

You might see a few repeaters here. I do. Not to mention the china cabinet. I am so glad I am not at that stage anymore. Junior high is hell. But my arms looked pretty good back then. I can't remember when I had the guts to wear sleeveless in public!

 Little spots in my house make me happy.

So, as Judy sings, "forget your troubles, c'mon get happy!"

And don't forget -- be nice to the bunny. Baskets might be involved!

It's almost officially spring!

Linking with:  Pink Saturday   /  Let's Add Sprinkles  /   Share Your Cup  

Chelsea Morning

Recently my blog friend Mae and I met up halfway in Chelsea, MI, where we've lunched before. (Cue the music!) After lunch we took a walkabout in this wonderful town filled with cute shops! And then there was this mural.

"There's a sun show every second"

Don't you think the song lyrics fit this little alleyway well?

"...the first thing that I saw
Was the sun through yellow curtains, and a rainbow on the wall"

And the streets are paved with passersby...

...And pigeons fly...

And the sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my senses

When the curtain closes and the rainbow runs away
I will bring you incense owls by night

'Tis the week to wear green, so if it suits your fancy, I'm sure these two Chelsea-ites wouldn't mind a little company!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Linking with:  Pink Saturday    /  Sami's Colorful World  

Transition Time

Springing forward!

Easter is early this year and I'm not quite in full-out decorated mode yet, but getting there. It's hard to think it's nearly spring when outside it looks like this...

My neighbor's yard -- a view from the window!

...and little guys like this one are on seed patrol!

All the color is inside!

All that snow won't last long. Soon we'll be singing our spring songs!

Isn't this sweet? A demi-figuring, used to top old pincushions!

We'll look forward to time outside with our Baby Grand...

...Anticipate the ground tulips to pop and open like this pretty one on its last days...

And eagerly await the bunny!

Life is so good!

Linking with:  Pink Saturday    

A Few Prizes!

I've been lucky, too! In recent months (OK, many, because some of these go back to last fall!) I've won a few things and want to thank...

Jean from Delightful Repast -- I've been enjoying the tea that came with this adorable teapot since fall!

Pam from Everyday Living for a subscription to Southern Lady. (Which, by the way, is a terrific magazine.)

(incidentally, on page 13 in the lower right corner of the current issue, you'll find a photo of Pam's gorgeous garden!)

Sylvia from SMD Greetings for her cute Teddy Bear calendar!

And I've sent out a few prizes recently too! In December I had my 10th Blog Anniversary drawing and the winners were Jenny, Valerie and Bella. Instead of just pulling something from the Gypsy Caravan I decided to do watercolors for each, based on a photo they had taken and shown on their blog.

This was the inspiration photo for Bella.

And here is my version of her Porch Pup.

Valerie's beautiful photos were hard to choose from but I loved the simplicity of this still life.

And here is it in watercolor.

I thought Jenny's wonderful image of the shrine at Miyajima in Japan would be the easiest because of its clean, straight lines and simple colors.

But it was the hardest! Some things always surprise you!

I had loads of fun doing them.

Thanks to all who have come by to read and sign up or who were generous enough to offer drawings that I was lucky enough to win!

Something Young from Cork Poppers 2

Time to check in with those rollicking Cork Poppers, taste some wine, dine well and laugh plenty!

None of us are on the chronologically young side. Let's put it this way -- Rick is the youngest and it distresses him that he isn't younger. So, we thought we'd bring some young wines to the party -- wines from 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Now, not every wine gets better with age. Some are fine early on, others are actually made to be sipped when they are young. The whites are more likely to hold up well when young but we weren't so sure about the reds.

The good news is that we all pretty much liked everything on the tasting table!

We started with Dick's Cavit Pinot Grigio IGT 2015 (Italian). This wine is freely available in grocery stores so it makes for an easy buy. Cheryl our resident white wino said "I love it! It's lovely!" (And she liked it so much that she kept this one as we went on to reds another wine later!). Dick said, "Every other Cavit white I've tried I haven't liked but this is pretty good." It was light, tart, and very fresh. At $9, a good buy, especially for a party when the wine is flowing (and white doesn't stain. Much.)

We tried another white next -- Bob brought Josh 2016 Sauvignon Blanc from California. this was totally different from the first. It was smoother and more sophisticated but to me it felt "heavier." It was a little sweeter than I like. Bob paid $12 or $13 on sale, so figure another dollar or so more.

Pat brought Robert Mondavi Merlot 2016, Private Selection. This was another good buy -- $9.99 at our Meijer grocery but she got it on sale for $8.99. I really liked this one. It had a lot of tannins and you could taste the black cherry without it being sweet. We could see the "legs" on the glass (those drips down the inside of the glass when you swirl). I'd definitely get this one, especially at that price.

Barb brought Chateau Ste. Michelle's 2015 Indian Wells Merlot from Columbia Valley, Washington. She called it a "tried and true friend."Clayton noted it was "Dry -- it's good!" and we all noted then ice tannins. Mike noticed "a little oak flavor in the back." My palate isn't nearly so sophisticated. I like it or don't, for the most part. This one was nice. Barb found it for $15 at Costco. (My photo of this bottle must have been fuzzy. Sorry about that.)

However, at this time it might be useful to point out that if you don't have Wine-Away and you spill red wine on the light carpet -- whether it is a drop, here, or the better part of a glass (later), oxy-clean works really well!

Bob brought a second wine -- another Josh and another Merlot (2015). This was interesting because it gave us a chance to taste several of the same kind. I wrote down "This is nice but I think I like the Mondavi better." It's all preference, folks. He said this one was $14.

Anne brought Bridlewood 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robls, CA. Rick called it "A delicious wine." And someone said, and maybe it was me but I think probably not "I'd buy a half dozen and cellar it for five or six years. It was definitely good now, but I do think time would make it even better. This was the picey wine of the day -- $20.

Dick brought a second wine, Ghost Pines Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 Winemakers Blend. This is a combination blen of several different vineyards. Anne noted it was almost like a pinot noir, lighter than one would expect from a Cab. Someone else said, "This has dimension." Sorry -- I don't have the price on this one.

We wrapped up with the Franco Serra Barbera dÁlba DOC 2016 from northern Italy, which I picked up at our local wine store for $14.99. I am such a fan of the wines of the Piedmont. They're full of flavor and this rich red didn't disappoint. As I was researching it, they noted that Barbera dÁlba is best given several years of bottle to age to allow the fruit, oak and tannins to best blend. It was terrific as is -- so I might pick up a couple of bottles and try my hand at cellaring! (Rick said it was his favorite.)

Corkie dinners are always the best! Cheryl had a pretty table with wine-button bookmarks for us to take home which served double duty as napkin rings.

Dick had made a wonderful Irish Stew which we had with Rick's bread (not that we hadn't half filled up on Pat's cheese and crackers and bread during the tasting).

Top it off with Anne's cornbread and Barb's salads and you're in for food heaven.

For dessert I made Isabelle Lambert's Lemon Meringue Log. This is like a yule log only with a light cake filled with a super tart and totally delicious lemon curd, then "frosted" with Swiss meringue and torched.

It was my first time with Swiss meringue or torching -- I had Rick do the honors there. The recipe is from her book "Lemon" ("Citron") and it includes 100 recipes that feature lemons. It's a winner.

If you're into trying wines and want to check out our Cork Poppers take on various types, click on the Cork Poppers link on the menu here!

Thanks, Monique, for introducing me. (This is Isabelle's website but I couldn't get the translate feature to work on the primary copy -- just the headers, so if you can read French, check it out!)

Sharing with: Let's Keep in Touch at Let's Add Sprinkles    

Self-Discovery on the Genealogical Highway

For more than a year now (as many of you know) I have been ambling down the genealogical highway, in search of stories of my family's history and knowledge of the times in which they lived.

My mother was born in this house that still stands in our city.

This quarter's focus on Modern Creative Life is "Selfies." Here's how the theme is described in its submissions page:

What does it mean to examine one’s self? Can self-portraits – and all versions of that such as memoir, personal essays, and such – heal us and help us grow as creatives? How do we make the space for blank canvases and blank pages if we ignore our need to create? Can we expect to fill those pages and canvases with our creations if we dive deeper into who we are?

Part of living a creative life is the understanding that we must refill our own wells in some way on a regular basis, otherwise, we find ourselves resentful of our own lives. Without the time or space to pursue our creative ways, we will burn out. Our souls demand that we uphold the responsibility of using our gifts. So how does looking at ourselves help us or hurt us?

Taking this road trip through history has been and continues to be a journey of discovery. But it isn't just names, dates and birthplaces I've discovered. I've also learned some stories about my ancestors and -- perhaps more important -- something about myself.

I'm sharing that in the current issue of Modern Creative Life right HERE. I hope you'll stop by and read it.

Which one do you think is my mom?

And if you, too, are on that journey, I encourage you to consider -- how has it changed you? How has knowing about your ancestors' lives affected how you feel about your family, your ancestors or you, yourself.

When we found this photo of our grandmother, we realized how much she looked like one of my cousins.

Not every story is pretty or happy. Hard decisions had to be made and some were heartbreaking. But so many are inspiring.

And if you haven't taken that journey (and I know -- many who read this blog haven't even considered looking into their past) I offer these suggestions for the "just in case" day that you take this journey on.

Eight Tips for Your Future Geneology Journey

•  Ask questions of your parents while they are here -- or your grandparents? Even better. Write it down somewhere and let someone know where it is. And consider printing it out -- electronic documents have a bad way of getting deleted or lost in a hard drive crash!
• Put labels on the backs of old photos while people are still around to identify them. 
• Get a file and toss in documents like funeral handouts with birth and death dates, newspaper clippings or obituaries of family members.
• If you have oral history on "old media" (cassette tapes, etc.) transcribe them or note key points, even if you keep the original. And of course back up electronic documents.
• If you have old family Bibles or cookbooks, check inside for notes or newspaper clippings. They often have birth/death dates and if you are lucky like me, you'll find a newspaper clipping describing your great grandparents' wedding reception!
• Remember, it's not just "all about me" but it's all about them, so before you throw out your sister's diary or your mother's old calendar -- all stuck in a box in the basement -- or a postcard sent from afar, check for the stories. 
• And finally, remember the line I first heard in "The DaVinci Code." "History is written by the winners." Stories "evolve" over time (usually for the better!), particularly those shared through oral history. Get as close to the original source as possible. Save the wills and legal docs long after the scores are settled. They are part of the story.

And then when you're ready to roll, your job will be loads easier than mine!

I never would have researched the fascinating story of the confectionery industry in 1800s Buffalo if I hadn't looked into the stories of my great grandfather.

Here's the link to my article on MCL -- A Journey of Self Discovery through Family History

Sharing with: Let's Keep in Touch at Let's Add Sprinkles