First bloom this year

Great plans are confirmed by the blooming today of this "SORBET" peony which was a Mother's Day gift from my daughter a few years ago. [It was a brown stick in a bag then! LOL!]

Today's plan is that Mom and I and my daughter and her children will all be together on Mother's Day.
Perfect! And confirmed by the peony blooming early this year to give "thumbs up" to our plan! 

Perfect day

I have the day off today and am not taking on more than I want to!

 This pile of antique lace, recently washed and ironed is ready to embellish a lace scarf.  I may sit and work on it later!

I found a recipe for lemon poppyseed cookies which uses Jiffy cornbread mix....so that was an easy treat to try!

Our springtime lunch today was artichokes with olive and lemon dipping sauce. Wonderful!

Outside it is 72 degrees and sunny.  JUST PERFECT!

I took the camera out for a look at the garden....first the shady sitting area with the newly painted blue chair....

then the newly gravelled area for the container tomatoes and peppers. There is also a dramatic with and purple African daisy....love it!

Finally, this link should take you to the cormmeal cookie recipe!

http://www.recipe.com/lemon-and-poppy-seed-cornmeal-cookies/

Yard work

This is my first post using Bloggers new features.....we'll see.....

Today was perfect for yard work (or anything one wanted to do outside) sunny and high in the 60's!

I started spray painting one of my vintage lawn chairs.  Love these chairs!

We are working on the area where our containers have tomato and marigold plants.  We will add white crushed rock and more, smaller containers of bell peppers.



All of this is about a month earlier than usual! We may have a great growing season this year.
Here is a new variety of petunia!  I love the pink and white together!

It isn't even mid April yet my garden looks like it usually does in early May!

I took these today and it is cool and overcast....in the 50's.

These peonies were open fully in the sunshine yesterday!

Hosta's are looking lush....and a trillium is emerging here too!

Yesterday, beautiful and sunny in the low 70's, I got the gardening urge....(could be those steroids I had to take for my sinus infection...but I had SO much energy!) and worked on my little outside garden bed, sowing seeds for lettuce and planting annuals, salvia, alyssum, zinnias, a dahlia, coleus....so much fun! I know I will love watching these grow! [That is cilantro which survivied our brief winter and is wonderful now!]

Here is some lantana and some small bell flower ((like a mini petunia) nesting in the pot, a bright splash of red, is the latest broken coffee cup!

Finally, two tomatoes in the half whiskey barrel, an heirloom "Mortgage Lifter" and a hybrid "Early Girl". I will add a few marigolds and call it "good"!

Spring is here, the most "intense" we have had for years, everything is blooming and leafing out (and spewing pollen) at once! My peony bushes have overshadowed the tulips, we have more lilacs than we ever had......and they certainly are popular with the swallowtail butterflies!

This is not my photo, I was cutting a bouquet of lilacs for a friend and was delighted to see the butterfly. But I had clippers, not a camera so I "Googled" swallowtail butterfly and found out that yes, that was the one I had seen ( by looking at "images"). I'm sorry, it has been a few days and I can no longer find the link to the photographer to give credit.

I'd been sewing and working at the store and hadn't spent much time out in the spring air until last weekend. Finally, I cleaned leaves and debris out of a flower bed. It didn't take long to clean....but that exposure to mold, dust and pollen sent me over the edge with my sinus and allergy problems. I became very tired and lost my voice the next day...now, after medicine and a few days rest, I am better!

Ah, SPRING!

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Remember the little Christening gowns? For a special day in Jamaica?

Yesterday, I received this iPhone photo (below) from my daughter. They are still down in the Caribbean so I was happy to have this quick peak at their celebration. The babies are not too delighted and the parents look tired, but that is to be expected! I love the little bare feet!

Wanting an almond tea cake recipe, I read several online.....






which led to reading several posts about Dorie Greenspan's Swedish Visiting Cake recipe.
I modified her recipe because I like cherries and almond together!

Here is my recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt one stick unsalted butter. Cool slightly and add 1 scant c. sugar. Beat in 2 eggs.
Add 1 tsp. each vanilla extract and almond extract. Mix in 1 cup flour and a pinch of salt.
Spread in a greased 9 " spring form pan. Top with cherry preserves and sliced almonds.
Bake about 35-40 minutes or until cake tests done.
[There is no leavening agent other than the eggs in this, but it makes a nice tea cake!]