Tea With A Friend

I had the pleasure of going to tea with a dear friend on Wednesday.

The food was delicious (as it always is at the Tea Trolley in Delta, PA).

We had a crustini with a sweet tomato relish, a ham with orange marmalade, and a chicken salad with grapes.  The desserts were a little chocolate cup, a carrot cake, a raspberry bar, and cookie egg nest.  My favorite always are the vanilla scones, with clotted cream and lemon curd.

We enjoyed our time, chatting about many things going on in our lives, and enjoying the beautiful tea room, and of course the food.

I'm thankful for the friends God has given me, they are the sisters I never had!


Sharing at:
Bernideen's Friends Sharing Tea

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Game Night

My kids and Tim are big game players.  I'll play some games, and I'll play in the right circumstances, but I don't like super competitive games or strategy games that people get worked up over!

I do love Clue though, and when Lindsay and the girls got the game out last night, I was all in!  I'm pretty good at it, I won a round last night, but I like figuring stuff out (must be all the Nancy Drew books I read as a girl!) and this is one game from my childhood I'll still play.

 I like Rook, and some other card games, I like to play Domino games, too.

I guess I mainly like games that are not cutthroat, and that allow you to socialize while playing.

What kind of games do you like to play?

Spring Concert

Our homeschool co-op had its spring concert Friday night, and I knew you'd love to see Kamryn's class singing (she is in the blue floral dress with the coral sweater on the right).

Kyle and Sarah were in a drama class and they performed at the concert.  They are in the front in this photo...

They were the Sun (Sarah) and the Moon (Kyle) in a play from Genesis 2 and 3.  All the lines were scripture and it ended with the gospel.

They also were in the 7-Ups Ensemble.  (7th grade and up)  

Sarah loves to sing and perform, but Kyle surprised me when he took those classes and surprised me by enjoying them!  They both did very well.

I had to get a picture of Birdie (my mom) and Kamryn together.  They are best pals.

Kayleigh bought the girls matching dresses for spring (concert and Easter) and matching shoes.  Klaire did not want to stand still for a photo, she wanted to walk around with Kamryn, so I took a video!

Too much cuteness!



We love our co-op.  Its a blessing and a joy to join together with these dear families and encourage and support each other.  I am the one of the oldest members of the group, the only one with a homeschooling granddaughter as well as my own homeschool kids, and some of the moms are young enough to be my kids!  They say that knowing I homeschooled all these years and still love it (and am still sane) is such an encouragement to them, that they can do this long term! 

We are on break from co-op now, until September, but the way the year is already flying by, it'll be fall before we know it!

Friday Five: Spring Rearrangement

I'm going to show you some of the rearranging I've done to freshen things up in the living room for spring!

1. Where to put the plants

 The top of my mug holder looked like the perfect place for this fern, so I popped it in there and it fits just right!  

2.  Rearranging Shelves

I did some rearranging and freshening of these shelves.They are just inside the kitchen door (that is where all that light on the left side is coming from) and hard to photograph.  I like things to be pretty and functional, So I use my pretty dishes and bowls as decor!

 3. New Mirror

I bought this pretty mirror at Christmas Tree Shops for $16.99.  I put this table back by the front door, and wanted a mirror to go over it.  I was also going to do a lamp here but, it messed up the lighting triangle for the living room.  (two lights were close together and the other side of the room was dark)  I wanted some height here so I put a childhood chair on the table and popped my pretty ivy on it!  I really like this space.
(bonus points if you know what the other item on the tabletop is)

4.   A New Chair

Our friend Denny moved home last weekend.  Since he had bought that love seat, he had no room in his apartment for this faux leather chair.  Its a bit not my style, but its a mans chair and does fit with my English Country style. We may pass it on to some one else, but for now it works.

5. Polished Silver

I polished this silver plated set and have it on the dining table.  The dining table is a big farmhouse table that Tim built, and its used for schoolwork, business paperwork, game playing...you get the idea.  I needed something that was easily picked up and moved.  For now this is it!

I hope you enjoyed my FIVE today.  I can't believe its Friday again already.  Co-op Spring Concert tonight! What are you up to this weekend?

Beauty After The Storm

The sun is shining, the birds are singing....Happy Spring! (grin)

 A view not often seen on the blog - from my bedroom window and the end of the house.  The wood pile there feeds our campfires and bonfires, that space is buried under snow.


The next two photos are from my bedroom windows that face the road.

The table on the deck gives the best indication of snow accumulation.  It was compacted by sleet overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday.  It snowed hard all day yesterday, becoming light snow as it got dark, but even then kept on coming.

I did some rearranging on my cabinet by the kitchen door yesterday.  I'll show you tomorrow.  I like how it looks.  Its not dramatic just freshened up!

Have a great day!

Snowy Start To Spring

Friends, Monday was a gorgeous spring day.  I ran errands without a jacket of any kind; I only wore a light cardigan.  It was delightful.

We’d been seeing weather reports about snow but mostly this winter storms have come with a dusting or an inch or two and pretty clear roads.  It stared to snow yesterday and hasn’t stopped.  Its been heavy at times, but steady.  We had sleet and ice overnight which is packing the snow down.  The plows have been busy and the roads are passable.


Yesterday

Today

It’s enough of a mess though that appointments have been rescheduled and I was looking forward to tea with a friend today.  Not happening.  Instead I am sitting with my diffuser going and enjoying a quiet nature sounds station on Amazon Music.  I've also been reading.

It’ll be over tomorrow and that’s good since we have our spring co-op concert rehearsal tomorrow and the concert Friday night.

"To Celebrate A Simple Life"

                                                                         source


I love this quote by Bilbo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring.  Of course, he's referring to Hobbits and their life in the shire.  The Hobbits had no real interest in life outside shire, generally, but enjoyed their simple lives, growing things in gardens, eating many times a day, brewing ale, and smoking pipe-weed.  A very simple life.

In the years since we moved to Creekside Cottage, we've simplified our lives.  We grew veggies, have chickens for eggs, made friends at the local produce stand, played in the creek, rode horses, did animal care, sewed skirts, pillow cases, curtains, painted walls, read books, knit, morning greeting of each family member, and hugs and kisses goodnight.  A boy tucking his dad into bed every night.

A simple life is not a slow life necessarily.  Some days, I'm very busy, but for me it is a choosing of lifestyle.  We've chosen to live a life that is not about keeping up with the neighbors, but one that centers on God, and is lived out with His priorities.  

Love your neighbor, do good to others, love one another, practice hospitality, be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you.

Simple living in a complicated world.  It can be done.  I hope you don't think we're living some kind of Little House on the Prairie life. We don't.  We enjoy technology, and use it daily.  Laptops, cellphones, ipods, ipads, we enjoy them.  We've got music playing often, watch movies together, listen to Audible.  

 I read the news daily online, rather than watch it on tv for hours everyday.  We discuss current events at mealtimes, so that our kids are aware of what's happening in the world, and have the time to listen to the adults in their life discuss it and then, they get it share their thinking and views on what we're discussing.  I've learned a lot from my kids!

The simplicity comes when you control your life, and what you choose to bring in to your home. I see our married kids making many of the same choices.  Hospitality, simple living, home cooking - all in their own way.  That's key, I think.  No one person has been made to be exactly like another and our lives should reflect that.  God has made each one of us with the personality, gifts, and abilities to be who He has created us to be!  Isn't that amazing?  For us simple living is choosing to live authentic lives.  To be who we are, warts and all, in a world that is seeking to be like everyone else.

Sundays At Creekside Cottage: Making A Place For Fellowship

In years past most of our Sundays were taken up with families from church coming over to spend the afternoon.  Now, we only have three families with kids/young adults still at home. Most people are older with adult children, most of whom are married and on their own now.  One family does come over occasionally (they have a boy Kyle's age), and the other family just the young adults come over.  Tim and I are in the unique position of having kids still at home, while having married kids and grandkids.

Its been an adjustment, but we really enjoy having these young adults at our house every week.  Some weeks they go hiking, or they do Bible study together, but at some point they always end up at our house.

There's always food involved, games or a movie or both, and lots of laughing.  The main thing I like is that they are building community together.  They've taken mutual interests and choose to spend this time together.

We miss the other families who used to attend our church, and we work to make time to get together with them, because we spent years building community with them.  They are still some of our dearest friends, and though they chose for various reasons to find a different church home, they're family, and always will be.

I'm excited for my young adults to have these kinds of relationships being built.  It is a blessing to know that they have these friends.

I said to Tim and the girls last night, that it makes me happy to know that in years to come, they will all have memories of these happy times at our cottage.  That they knew they were welcomed and that there was a place for them.

Friday Five

I like the idea of posting Five things on Friday, so I am going to keep with it for a while.

This week is all about Five things that happened since last Friday.

1. Rachel and I went to see Seussical performed by a local theater group and we enjoyed it so much!  

Bonus - Rachel works with the Cat in the Hat!

2. Our chickens are laying very well this year.

We keep old egg cartons, so we can store the eggs easier and it makes it easier to share eggs with friends.  These five dozen didn't count the eggs in a bowl on the counter.

3. Tim and I went to a company dinner with our friends' business that he does subcontracting work for.  It was held at the historic Marshalton Inn.  It was a lovely place, Colonial in style.  Cheryl, you would love the interior of this place!

4.  I got to have a fun lunch out with these people this week!

They are all introverts, so I have to take photos of them before they catch me or I get the look that Tim is giving me in this photo!  LOL!

5.  I'm really enjoying the plants I bought at Aldi last Friday!  They were $5.99 each.  They are making our cottage look happier, with all the lovely green!

I'm desperate to repaint my kitchen cabinets and Tim has an inspection and then going to help our friend move back to his own apartment on Saturday, so I may buy paint today and try to get those cabinets done tomorrow!  It won't be as big a task as when I took them from wood to Old White.  I'll be doing a brighter white this time but still haven't decided what color exactly yet. 

Do you have favorite white paint colors?  Please share them with me!  We'll chat in the comments!

Knitted Baby Blanket

I need to block it and tuck all the ends in, but the blanket I've been knitting for Emma and Vinnie's baby is finished.  This sweet one is due in May, and I can't wait to hold him.

Here are the details - 

I used this pattern by Lion Brand Yarn, but used Studio Classics by Nicole yarn.

I used by size 8 bamboo circular needles, which is a size up from the pattern, I believe.  I used 3 and 1/4 skeins of yarn.

It was simple to knit, and I often did it while watching a movie or reading on my Ipad.  I also to pray for for the person I'm knitting for as I work on a project, so I also did that from time to time while working on this blanket.

Are you working on any projects?  I know you poor gals in New England are doing nothing but shoveling out from your three Nor'easters in two weeks!  Spring is on the way, it really is!

Babysitting My Granddaughters

I babysit the girls about once a week.  They arrive before 7:00 am usually, and sometimes Kamryn goes back to sleep on the couch for a while, but Klaire never does.

Yesterday, they both stayed awake.  Auntie Rachel left for work, but Grandpa was here for a few hours in the morning, so that was a treat!  He read them a story, and we had breakfast together.  

After that it was bathtime (They always arrive in their jammies, and Kamryn loves a bubble bath.) Klaire is always quickly in and out, and by the time I had her dressed, I could tell she was sleepy.  I was happy to hold her, and she snuggled right into me and fell asleep.  Hey, its a rough grandma life, but someone has to do it!

Kyle and Kamryn went out to play in our inch of snow before it all melted, and enjoyed fresh air and sunshine.  Then they came in and did some schoolwork.  After Klaire woke, I did a reading lesson with Kamryn, and then she did a few pages in a BrainQuest workbook.

My mom was released from the hospital yesterday mid morning, and wanted to see the girls, so they came by for about a half and hour.  Klaire played with the magnetic 'paper' dolls, and had lunch.  I had Sarah take Klaire for a while so I could get a few things done. There was a lot of nerf gun shooting in the basement, a little video watching, and it was time for Kayleigh to pick them up.

Kyle finished his school work, folded some clothes, Tim came home, so did Rachel.  We made fajitas for dinner, and watched a movie in the evening.

I've found my groove, I think, having little ones in the house for the whole day.  We'd gotten used to all older kids, and independence.  The girls are sweet, and they listen well, but its basic training of what they can get into, what they can't (this is Klaire mainly at 17 months), and what we're going to do.  I find Kamryn does well with set activities - a bit of a routine - when she's here.


Thank you again for all your prayers for my mom.  She's very happy to be at home.