Tag Archives: family

An afternoon tea of pastels, birds and bubbles!

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What better way to spend the afternoon with the warm sunlight reflecting off the windows, and surrounded by pastels, feathers, eggs, nests and mouth watering chocolate sweets.

I found this old English china, not your usual fine, elegant designs and motifs. Plain, no designs, no gold trims, no embossing, just plain, hardly any markings.J EG. Meakin Glamour Celeste, Glamour Jade. But I couldn’t resist taking a few photos and making the cups and sauces, plates and bowls come alive with radiant pastel colours and charm. Perfect for an afternoon tea.

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What better way then to celebrate Easter with all these soft pastel colours. Egg Blue, Sunshine Yellow, Fairy Floss pink and Glamour jade.

easter 025But to me they are all treasures, just because of their pastel colours. The plates and cups blend into a beautiful calm and playful group of colour – p a s t e l s.

easter 071 Another special treat for Easter, chocolate coated bunnies. This recipe is so much fun, just for the little ones. Another easy recipe for Mum to make and the children will love helping with this one.

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easter 023 Follow me to read on and see the recipe…

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See the smiles…

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Today was the last Children’s Liturgy lesson for twentyeleven. A day where we had so many smiles, laughing, joy and twinkling eyes. Singing jingle bells, hitting the high notes and counting down to that special day.

The children were even more happy when we told them that all their hard work of painting and gluing had seen us reaching success as the winners in the local Red Cross Christmas Competition.

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This is our Advent wreath, bright purple ,pink and white candles, painted fingerprint baubles of our class students lots of tulle and ribbon. A wonderful achievement and one I’m very proud of.

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Looking forward to next years lessons and seeing those little faces and smiles…that make my day so much lighter!

Yvette…x

Christmas Tree.

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‘Twas the write before Christmas #4

‘This one will do fine, this one is perfect!.’

The tree I have happy memories of. It’s the tree that took me on an adventure with Daddy.

The forest was filled with trees, but to find the perfect one, wasn’t my choice at all, it was Daddy’s choice. He knew which one was best to take home, he knew which one would make Mummy smile. Riding in the rusty pick-up was always the adventure I looked forward to every year, I’d stretch my neck to see the road, but Daddy knew the way, he always found the way. I was content to ride in that rusty truck, it was my time with Daddy to go on our special trip to find our special tree. Not too small, and not too big…the perfect tree. Our Christmas tree.

I knew that scent, the perfume of pines. I love the smell of the pines, the undercroft bed of pointed needles, just like a prickly porcupine, and the intriguing shape of the pine cones scattered on the forest floor. 

Each large footprint my Daddy would leave I would jump into and follow his trail. We smiled and laughed together as we sang Christmas songs,

‘There she is’ said Daddy. ‘What a beauty, she’s a perfect tree’

Daddy chopped it down with one full swoop, and I hid to keep out of dangers way. Our trail back to the pickup was different as we covered our previous tracks.

I couldn’t wait to see Mummy’s smile when we opened the door and she saw our tree. Our special tree.

Mummy had taken all the boxes down from the attic, and the warm coziness of the crackling fire in the study was welcoming. Now this was the start of my time with Mummy as we filled the tree with colours and lights. Angel wings and baubles. Coloured strings of tinsel…nothing else to do but put the little baby Jesus in his bed, and the bright shining star on the top of our tree. Here’s my job…my special job to finish our special tree. Daddy picked me up..up up high and all I could see was the love of my family, the joy in Mummy’s and Daddy’s voice and the smile on their faces and the heartbeat of my Daddy’s heart as I fell asleep in his arms.

I miss you Daddy.

Day 4 Prompt.

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Source: freshpoppydesign.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

bigger picture blogs

Have a wonderful day,

Yvette..x

A Simple Moment

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The Simple Moments this week have been many.

Seeing a very unique world, an unknown pass for me. A never ending chattering hum ,

a melody of calls,

a rhythm of  whines,

a note of sorrow,

a band of laughter,

an orchestra of angels.

Every minute is a changing moment when children are home. Music…

Simple moments make up the bigger picture.

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Join in and link up to Sarah’s blog.Share those simple moments from your week, through photo’s, poetry, thought’s, anything where you touch on something simple which creates the Bigger Picture.

 

Have a great day!

Yvette…x

How they look…

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Joy of Love #2

Happy messengers.

Even as we’re having sweltering weather outside 40+ degrees. It’s another school day, and you can always almost depend on a child to turn any day after the afternoon school bell rings into a colour of sunshine. Children seem to instinctively know when a hug or kiss and smile is needed.

“Hi Zia” ( Zia:Italian for Aunty) what did you do today? Not boring them with my daytime chores. “And what did you do today at school?”

A continuous melody of words, giggles,faces and laughter fill the next 10 minutes.These little messengers of magic genius let me forget the outside world and capture my time for 10 minutes to see the glimpses of their playground imagination. And even more smiles with an afternoon icy pole treat.

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“A world without children is a world without newness,regeneration,color and vigor”.

Dr. James Dobson

This is part of Joy of Love hosted by Willette Design you can join and share here

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Still Going Strong

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Some things are just too valuable   to throw away. Some might think this tractor is one of those things, it’s not used anymore for work,its… Full of rust and  broken bits, let’s just get rid of this rust bucket. But this tractor will never leave 

the hearts of our family, and will never be thrown to that steel yard.

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These are all the original parts. Don’t you just love the hexagon shaped key.

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There’s something about Black and White photo’s that give that vintage, old look, but friends this old motor is still running, and has been running since Nineteen Sixty Three – 1963.

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One of hubby’s comments was that this motors been ticking as long as his heartbeat…this tractor was bought by his father in the same year he  was born…

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A true family treasure.

Whistle Stop Cafè –no fried green tomatoes!

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I’m sure everyone thinks of the Whistle Stop Cafè and Fanny Flagg in her country overalls making famous -  fried green tomatoes. But I’m not frying green tomatoes today instead conserving them under oil. One of my Nonna’s recipes.

An image comes to mind of when I was little…helping my Nonna pick green tomatoes ready for conserving under oil…I remember how I use to sit at the farms laminated kitchen table and watch my Nonna prepare jars and jars of green tomatoes.I instantly think of this image every year when the gardens full of tomato bushes with their plentiful supply of juicy plump tomatoes. So sneaking out to grab a few green tomatoes, I’m on the run to get them pickled and undercover before anyone notices…

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Recipe: Preserved Green Tomatoes

1 kg of green firm tomatoes

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup of water

fine table salt

estimated guess 300ml of olive oil depending on jar size.

1 garlic clove

oregano and fennel seeds

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Slice the green tomatoes into thin slices,layering and salting them,place in a colander to drain.

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Place a plate and something heavy on them , (a few cans of peas will do fine) and leave in sink overnight.

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The next day, bring to the boil 1 cup of water and 1 cup of white vinegar.

Turn off heat, when this mixture has cooled a little… the fun begins.

Place the sliced green tomatoes,a few at a time into this liquid, leave for a few minutes, place on a kitchen tea towel to dry. Make sure the tomatoes are dry as water can deteriorate the conserve.irrigation 035

Then in sterilized glass jars  layer the  green tomatoes with a sprinkle of oregano, fennel seeds, and thinly sliced garlic.Layering to the top and pressing down,so that they’re packed in tightly…clearing all air bubbles.Leave the jars over night,opened,but covered,the next morning check the level of oil at the rim of the jar…you may need to add more oil.Close tightly the lid and leave in a cool, dark place.

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After a few weeks, this method of conserving , leaves the green tomatoes softened, to be accompanied with fresh bread and a cheese platter,or even an oven roasted pork roll.

It’s a traditional method of conserving green tomatoes, and one that you should try…

Enjoy!