golden tea

my tea this morning has a golden hueI felt like I was creating a still life when I set up this shotin fact it would be a lovely little painting:)hmmmmm, paint .... what is that?


I broke the lid to my two cup teapot today:(oh well, a good excuse for a trip to Goodwill


last night was the last night of the county fair for my daughter's 4H cavy (guinea pig) projectwe have so much fun ... and get so tired (the good kind of tired)as you can see, all her hard work was well rewardednow for a little shameless boasting:two of the photographs she entered won champion and reserve champion ribbons!


I'll show you her photos in another postshe's still sleeping and put one of them under her pillow last nightcute :)

happy tea on tuesday .... the last one in august .... can you believe it?if you have a tea post, just mention it in your comment and we'll pop around to say hi!

observations on wrangling

whether wrangling guinea pigs ....


or pine needles .....


or wool ....


or logs with a chainsaw ....


wrangling is serious business and is never taken lightly by the wranglerstand in awe of skill, expertise and passionit is the power of wrangling
last day of fair is tomorrow ... and this 4h mom is just about wrangled out

it's totally fair ...

... to boss around an animal 4-10 times your size


... to stare down someone on the other side of your cage


... to express your opinion with some bumper stickers


... to have a cuter face than any supermodel


... to stand as still and be as shiny clean as your best friend


... to kiss in public


I mean, it's TOTALLY fair:)

some favorite pictures from my trip

we were in the tucson area of arizonathis first picture was taken on a cloudy day at saguaro national park


this next one is in the old barrio neighborhood of the city of tucsonthese old pueblo homes are over a hundred years old


and I love this one just for the memory of me saying, "stop the car! I want to take a picture of that bison!"


it's actually an antelopeI have more .... but I don't want to bore you :)
so happy to be home!
the county fair starts tomorrow and my third child is in 4HI'll have some classic dairy country Americana pictures in the next few daysthen school starts soon after thatI cannot begin to describe how forlorn I would be without my camera this summerabsolutely no time for rocks, paper, scissors ... or paint or glue for that matterbut my camera has been a constant companion ... satisfying the need to express something

vacation tea

as I write this, we are spending our last day of vacation in arizona we have been spending time with familyrelaxing with a low key schedulereuniting with seldom seen loved onesrejuvenating in the sunshine


mornings are spent on the porch, enjoying early morning warmth and wildlife


august is actually a wonderful time to visit arizona


the almost daily afternoon thunderstorms bring the desert into bloom


all of these flowers are in my mother-in-law's "bee and butterfly" garden


the bees are plentiful .... as are the butterflies, hummingbirds, rabbits, lizards, doves and hawks


it has been such a pleasure to sit outdoors without needing a sweater


the sounds of gentle conversation and of rolling thunder in the mountains


it has been a real treat for the senses


the time has been brief, but fullsweet in the snatches of moments and memorieswe are happy to return home ... and comforted in the knowledge of many homes in many places
happy tea on a tuesday in august!

we are on the other side of winter

earlier this year, it took a few photos of local houses in the raintoday I revisited those same "grand old ladies"and captured them in summertime's more flattering light
here they are side by sidewhat a difference!

ok, I'm not wild about it

(shrubs, that is)


last week I made the recipe (see this post)and this week the concoction was ready to tasteof the three that I made, I like the cherry/blueberry one the bestand actually, today it tastes a little better because I ran out of sparkling water and ended up using ginger ale insteadit must be my sweet toothit gets in the way of a more discriminating palate
if you tried making shrubs, I would love to hear about itI'd love to hear about anything you might be having
it's tea on Tuesday
if you have a tea post on your blog, just mention it when you leave a commentwe'll pop by to say hello!

simple goodness

here is our first humble potato from the garden



cut up and cooked in butter - that's all


when my grandmother was a young mom in WW2 Francea neighbor brought her a potato from their gardenshe sat on the stoop and wept as she ate that potato rawshe wept for her hungry children inside her houseshe wept for herselfand she wept for the baby growing inside her

sea and sky treasury

I've been having fun collecting "favorites" on Etsy ... here are a few from this week ... I quickly noticed a beach theme .... and a treasury was born

'sea and sky in my eye' by artinredwagons

a longing for the sea is in me

Los Angeles Mid Century Fine... lucysnowephoto... $25.00	ciel 3 labokoff $30.00	Then Summer Fine Art Photogr... JulienDenoyer $25.00	A Saturday in '73 - Vint... donnageissler $30.00
SCOTTISH SEAGLASS in a varie... ScottishSeaGla... $7.50	Digital Collage Surf Inspire... BeachCities $28.00	Opal Avenue - Vintage Pink a... HighlandHouseD... $22.00	I Love You - 8x8 - Fine Art ... SherriConley $30.00
L'Inconnue de la Seine P... Augenblickphot... $8.00	Polar bear swimming yoote $15.00	New 2" Brass Compass Gl... gadgetscollect... $4.99	Five Whales Stacked - Archiv... unitedthread $20.00
How To Transport a Whale sarahogren $12.50	Nesting Scallop Bowls, Coppe... elementclaystu... $150.00	Vintage Bottle Necks SG75 NorthSeaTreasu... $10.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.