All on a Summer's Eve...

A hot air balloon

gently floating by 

the farm.

Reminding me that

these are the days of Summer.

Sunsets streaming through

the back yard arbour on

freshly mowed grass.

Summer evenings (and 

monster mosquitos).

A garden doing it's 

best to produce

fresh edibles in spite

of a late start and sparse germination.

Summer's promise...

Summer blooms .....

Sweet stir fried snow peas 

from a friend's luscious garden.

Summer's treats.

Happy Summer's Eve to you .................

Bench Memories

It's been a busy, full and fun week!

There was a lot of shopping and

an unexpected "Tea Party"...

Beautiful quilts....

An interesting Amish Sale Day

consisting of homemade everything from

donuts to quilts to baking to kettle popcorn

to almost anything you can think of!

The children caught my "lens" - they are so

adorable with their ice-cream stained faces ...

and oh, the horses - amazing!

I loved this vintage

threshing machine with it's  

folk art painting.

There were rows and rows

of "treasures".

Rows of horses and 

buggies!

But one of the best treasures of all

were these church pews that my friend Jan spotted!

They are the pews from our old church!

Apparently the congregation that had purchased

the building have replaced them with new ones.

We were so excited and waited hours till

the auctioneer finally came to that 

special row - because we just had to 

have one or two of those.

The skies were threatening but

we used our best bidding strategy

and were able to acquire a few at 

a very decent price.

Like the farmer said, "Now what do we do with them?"

Time will tell, but we just couldn't leave without one, right?

These are the benches of memories where we sat for our

weddings, our baby dedications, baptisms, summer bible schools,
four part harmony, where we shared our most sacred moments.

Did I tell you - it's been a busy, full and fun week?

Thanks to our dear friends Dave and Jan, Larry and Debi and Bill

It's been terrific!

Bench memories made?

Till next time ...... our hearts are full.

Week of Blues

There's been a bit of blue stuff going on this week!

Mulched the flower beds around my blue house....

Started making a "blueish"

table runner for my

friend who is coming for

a visit next week....

The piecing only took me a few

hours - but the quilting

is going very slow....

What was I thinking!!!!??

It was a blue rainy Monday

that got me started on

this project....

I really have to learn how

to "machine" quilt!

Even after watching umpteen

Youtube videos on how to do it,

I'm still afraid to try it on a 

"real" project - ugh!

The best blue thing that happened was

when the farmer found me this awesome

bike on Kijji!!!

I love it and am on the hunt for a sweet little

wicker basket parcel carrier.

It's my new blue touring vehicle....

What's blue in your life these days?

Hope all is well where you are "blueming"

Here's to a new week with blue skies and wonderful visits with

dear friends from Kentucky .....

Happy Canada Day!

Canada Day is starting off a bit soggy today.....

However, we need the rain and with all the

hot and humid weather of late,

the crops and gardens have been flourishing

and growing by leaps and bounds!

It's the perfect day to chillax on

the deck with a banana cupcake and a glass of milk....

I love long weekends!

And, I think I finally found the banana cupcake

recipe that works for me.....

It's a "Taste of Home" recipe

The only thing I changed was the frosting.

I used my mom's old fashioned 

brown sugar icing.

BTW - perhaps the trick to getting this recipe to work

might be that half way through mixing the batter,

I remembered that I was to take a snack to the church

for the morning Vacation Bible School children?

I turned off the preheating oven, covered up the half mixed batter,

grabbed the cheese and whisked off to deliver it.

1 hour later I returned to my cupcake task

and it turned out great, 

in spite of me.

The cupcakes baked

nice and rounded and didn't drop while cooling.

I think I'll keep

this recipe....

Here is the "Easy Brown Sugar Icing" recipe - it's yummy on any kind of cake or cupcake!

Easy Brown Sugar Icing

1 Cup packed Brown Sugar

¼ Cup milk - I used coffee cream

½ Cup butter

1 ¾ Cups Icing Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

Melt butter and add the brown sugar.  Cook over low heat for 2 minutes stirring constantly.  Add milk and continue stirring until mixture comes to a full boil.  Remove from heat, cool slightly and then add the vanilla and  icing sugar– mix with electric beater till smooth - add more or less icing sugar as needed until the right consistency to spread. Spread on cake immediately while the icing is still warm.

Till next time ............ Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends and family. We are truly blessed to live in this great country!