Pink Saturday

"God gave us our memories so that we might have roses in December."

...................J.M. Barrie, Scottish Author & Dramatist.

Remember Summer by the roses. Their blooms are precious. Their days aren't really numbered because they can continue to live, yes, even until December, once dried. Their colors change, sometimes for the better. Their texture becomes even more interesting, taking on the subtle crispness of vintage crepe paper.

I sometimes buy a bunch of pretty long stemmed roses from the florist ~ they have interesting colors when fresh but I know they will be even more beautiful once dried. After enjoying them in water in the house for a week or so, I tie them together and hang them upside down from the iron chandelier in the potting shed to dry. This can take several weeks depending on the weather and the temperature in the shed. I know there are fancy ways to preserve flowers, however this is my simple way and it works.

The roses of Summer can share their beauty year round. These retained their pinkness and are perfect standing on a tray decoupaged with more pink roses. This is my second post in a week on dried roses ~ guess you can now tell I love them!
Our fun Pink Saturday hostess Beverly at How Sweet the Sound grows beautiful roses in her own garden. If you stop by today she will definitely have a growing list of participants for this always fun day.

Friday's Favorite Family Foto

Sisters. Four sisters. Edith, Gladys (my mother), Madge and May. Gladys and Madge, the dressmakers, created the beautiful gowns. If only they had kept them. I can imagine them cutting out, stitching and fitting each dress. Excitement must have been high. Their workroom tables covered with fabric, scissors, lovely old wooden spools wrapped with thread, pins everywhere. Oh to have them back, to ask them about those days when they worked the treadles on the old Singer sewing machines. It was a lovely wedding I'm certain.

Edith's wedding day ~ mid-1940's


Do pay a visit to Deborah today at Pictures, Pots & Pens
for the list of participants in Friday's Favorite Family Foto.

A FIGment of My Imagination

A trip to Trader Joe's last weekend enabled me to buy fresh California FIGS and they didn't cost an arm and a leg like at my local grocery store. Recently I used blog friend Sara's recipe for fig preserves. My first minuscule batch turned out great using sweet little green figs gathered from a generous neighbor's tree. I didn't realize that there's apparently quite a difference between green and purplish-brown figs.

I cooked them the same way using sugar and fresh lemons.


But look how they turned out. The original preserves using green figs spread on my English muffin - sweet, smooth and full of lemon flavor. The new batch darker, much denser with many more seeds, and the fig flavor seems stronger. Both are good but I think I prefer the green ones with fewer seeds.



Fig Fact ~ Although considered a fruit, the fig is actually a flower that is inverted into itself. The seeds are drupes, or the real fruit. Figs are the only fruit to fully ripen and semi-dry on the tree.


Illustrations from the beautiful book

FRUIT ~ An Illustrated History

A Rose is a Rose

A bud on the rose Peace is about to unfurl its peachy yellow petals - I will take a picture soon. More rain today has brought life back to many garden treasures.

Some roses dry so beautifully it's hard to discard them until they crumble to petal dust. These I've had since Spring. Now and then a petal falls, blows across the floor in the air whirled by the ceiling fan. I love them when the colors fade and they appear like vintage crepe paper beauties.

More surprises coming. Remember the Endless Summer hydrangeas? It's true, they are. Just wait and see.

After the Rain

Thunder rolled in the distance, some lightning flashed and a gentle rain fell for a short time. Precious raindrops last evening making the garden inviting this morning. Camera time instead of having to water with the sprinklers and hoses. With cooler nights creeping closer the trees will soon start to turn. These lovely greens will change and fade into Autumn's golden shades.

A gentle Sunday morning garden. Humidity has been literally breath taking these past few days. Today should be the last unbearable one..........a perfect day forecast for tomorrow's holiday. Enjoy the fruits of your labor on the holiday.

Pink Saturday

Pull up a chair and sit a while.....................it's Saturday, PINK Saturday. Your week has been busy, perhaps hectic, possibly chaotic. For many of you it required getting the children back to school after the long Summer vacation. Are you breathing again? Are you happy they're gone from under your feet for a while? Or are you worried because they're no longer within earshot and view all those hours of each school day? I hope all the children will have a great school year.

Truly a 'shabby chic' chair from SuzAnna's Antiques

While you're taking a breather why not have fun filling out a "happiness card"..........................

...........................and then stop over to visit Beverly our hostess at How Sweet the Sound to see the long list of Pink Saturday participants.

Round Every Corner

Rounding the corners of life can bring one face to face with many surprises.

Sometimes you turn to the left and there spread before you are cold hardscapes, concrete jungles, pavements, winding gravel paths, rocky roads and stony byways, colored grey by mist and rain................

.......................or you may turn right and feel the sun on your face as it warms a generous landscape made up of meadows painted with wildflowers, grassy pastures, rolling green hills, fields of golden grain and tall primeval forests.

Corners, whether hard right angles or soft rounded curves, are always interesting. Turning them can determine your pathway in life, similar to reaching that fork in the road where you hesitate before deciding whether you should go left or right.

Personally I'm of an age where hopefully I will no longer have to make such an important decision, turn left or go right. I feel my turns have all become straight lines, a road whose perspective disappears into infinity......................and I'm following it joyfully.

I hope you enjoy life's journey no matter which corner you round or road you take.

Corners and edges around my home.