the past eight days

Gatherings.

      People coming and people going. 

          Little people, big people, all kinds of people. 

                Some arrive before lunch and stay for a few hours, others delight us with their afternoon appearance, while others come and spend the entire weekend.

One morning Claire asked me to keep Sophia. The "sweetest five month old in the universe". Truly. I have four children and three other grandchildren and only the word "sweet" describes little Sophia to a T.

She rolled over, she cooed, she smiled and she kicked her little feet until she was a nursery rhyme come alive..."one sock off and one sock on..."

After school, Breanna was here being paid by Granddaddy for picking up sticks and gum balls that were strewn across the yard. Tea and cookies were enjoyed on the brick steps in the warm sunshine that afternoon. And this Grandma had fun joining in and assisting her with her task. We then gathered on the living room sofa to read this delightful series together.

We have already finished Book 1 and are well into the second one as we sit and read chapter after chapter until it is time for her to go home.

Chocolate bundt cakes were on my mind two weekends ago as I began hunting for a simple cake recipe to serve to my dinner guests. 

What do you say about a chocolate cake that is so good that you bake the exact same cake two weekends in a row? Actually, I wanted more of this cake since it is fabulously delicious. Rose and Ivy arriving for the weekend, bringing another guest with them, provided a perfect reason for baking another one this past weekend!

"It's amazing how lovely common things become if one only knows how to look at them."

                                        ~L.M. Alcott