Rousing Pickings

Used book store shopping this afternoon , after a morning of blackberry picking.


Upon reading "Romancing Miss Bronte" by Juliet Gael while sitting under an umbrella at the beach, an interest was roused regarding the Bronte sisters and their literature.

I plan to enjoy the awakening along with my bowl of blackberries.

White -Themed Luncheon

It was that time once again...

for the Mother/Daughter Luncheon. A table adorned with white roses and cut daisies, giving one a picture of an urban hothouse colliding with a rural country garden. These lovelies were deftly arranged by Claire, in a white teapot naturally.

A ladylike luncheon food menu of vichyssoise, a salad with fennel and hearts of palm,white creamy chicken pasta and crescent-shaped rolls.
Dessert was served in Depression- glass sherbet dishes, strawberries and whipped cream upon which little bits of crushed meringue cookies and curls of white chocolate were folded providing delectable lumps of heavenly ambrosia.

We filled crystal goblet after crystal goblet with lavender lemonade that fizzled with the addition of sparkling water.

Lavender Syrup
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon dried or 2 Tablespoons fresh lavender flowers
1/2 cup sugar
Boil 3-5 minutes and cool.
Strain through sieve.

We talked. Memories of Witt stopping by last year and regaling us with his plans for a first official date with a certain girl that evening. It couldn't be helped that smugness was worn like a badge by each one of us recalling the tidbits of womanly advice freely administered. Because there Claire sat with us today at our luncheon table.

Who doesn't love a happy ending?

the week at the beach

Miss Austen says it well

"What dreadful, hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."

-Jane Austen

amid the gerber daisies

From my point of view eating outside is what makes summertime purr with deliciousness, the sort that makes things come together like a jigsaw puzzle just fitted with that last piece. So one Sunday after church we gathered together with our friends and dined in the back yard. The gerber daisies popped amid us.

I guess I will be sharing from time to time, yes?

Mark's gift

Exceedingly desiring to post a couple of wedding photos.


Giving thanks for dear friends such as Mark that came and took candid shots on cameras and cell phones. Of course, they then took the time to email pictures while we breathlessly wait on the professional photographer's booty.

I chose these two because I adore the looks on my oldest and youngest faces. They were beholding two entirely different attractions, but their expressions were out of this world fetching. Oh, it does a mother's heart good.

Now, I want to invite you to my summer abode. If you do not know about listography.com then it just might stir a wee bit of piquancy. I am piquantly stirred on these luscious summer days.

Until later

Here you may read my very first post, written two years ago(lacking two days). I'd hoped beyond hope and back that I would get the chance to do a post yesterday commemorating the very first time I actually pushed the Publish Post button. Instead I spent the day with my parents gratefully serving them in very real ways.

It is my exceeding intent to do a post on the wedding. "It was a thing of beauty ... a joy forever:"*; what I expected and yet over the hill from any of the wildest dreams I could ever imagine. It was so Witt and Claire. A solemn covenant of their marriage vows witnessed and a wonderful celebration of their special day with all whom attended.

Summer break beckons me like it has at no other time in my life. It is a time...a season, to regroup. I shall leave this little blogging universe of mine. The lightening bugs are once more tempting me with their annual dance and I am planning to breathe deeply from all the wealth that surrounds my life,to listen more closely to the Holy Spirit and to those that I love, and to waltz into each new day with its long list of quotidian duties yet fully expecting the serendipitous charm that awaits me there too.

Keats says it well, so to finish the first lines of Endymion

*"Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health and quiet breathing."

so until later

Pink and Orange Rehearsal Dinner Memories

Justice is never done on a whim, therefore, to adequately share how the rehearsal dinner went is more than I have to give at the present. But I do want to share with you all, so I will allow the photos to tell the story for the most part. Not exactly wordless though.

Hors d'oeuvres were served in the rose garden.

The backs of the bride and groom, even if Witt looked rather like he was wiping his face on his sleeve.

We celebrated under a lighted tent with dangling globes of orange

Most of the guests joined in with the silly photo session

Gladsome toasts were given to honor the bride and groom.

And when the rains came, the sides of the tent were lowered and the magic continued.

But I must say I was very thankful for type A personalities that insisted in getting the side flaps delivered that morning...just in case.