Ah, the beauties of a lime...

Fabric to die for ~'::

~Shopping for vintage-inspired fabric~ (Ok, maybe not to die for, but they certainly make a girl like me excited!)

Strawberry-Carrot Cake

I have had a few requests for this recipe so I thought that I would post it here in case any of the rest of you would like to try it. Mama has made this cake for me for the past 10-ish years, and each time I eat it I remember why it is my favorite. :) It is so delicious. I hope you enjoy trying it.

Strawberry-Carrot Cake

1 cup carrots, finely shredded
½ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup buttermilk
½ cup walnuts, chopped
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup strawberries, finely chopped
2 ½ cups flour
1 ¾ cups packed brown sugar
Strawberry-Cream Cheese Glaze

Grease and flour bundt cake pan. Beat all ingredients except strawberries and glaze in large bowl on low speed 45 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Fold in strawberries; pour into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely. Spoon glaze onto cake. Refrigerate remaining cake.

Strawberry-Cream Cheese Glaze:
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon mashed strawberries
¾ teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup powdered sugar

Beat all ingredients except sugar on low speed until blended. Gradually add sugar. Drizzle over cake.

Strawberry Shortcake

Yummy.

::bringing the beauty in::

Birthday picnic

Mama dear made a delicious meal and brought it to my house so that we (my family, my man and I) could have a picnic on our patio after church (since my house is only a few blocks away from church). We had barbecue meatballs, corn and rice, roasted asparagus, and salad tossed with homemade vinaigrette. Mama made my most favorite of cakes as well...Strawberry Carrot. Mmmm. And plenty of sweet iced tea. :) My Iris and Peonies are in full bloom now and looked so lovely in the middle of the table!

Saturday

::'~My lovely pink peonies are blooming now! ...Red yarrow from my man's mama getting used to being in my garden. ...Enjoying pearly nails... I am very excited about having a new 'E' string on my fiddle; 'Orange Blossom Special' here we come! We have plants waiting to be put in the vegetable garden...I missed the smell of a tomato plant so much. I have one little yellow curtain for my porch done...two more to go (it makes the porch look sweet). I spent some time washing my man's car and polishing some chrome. :) See also my lovely purple and white cascading petunias from my man's family for my birthday. Aren't they lovely? ~'::

~Why we do it~

"How do I regard my having run upstairs with tea, or having served breakfast in bed, or having continued for years to do this kind of thing for a diversity of people, as well as for husband and children? How do I look at it? Do I feel like a martyr? Let me tell you exactly how I see it.

First, I say silently to the Lord, perhaps not always, but really almost every time: 'Thank You that there is a practical way to serve You tea [or breakfast in bed, or whatever it is I am doing for someone]. There would be no other way of bringing You food, or doing some special thing for You. Thank you for making it so clear that as we do things that are truly in the realm of giving of ourselves in service to others, we are really doing it for You. These things can be done so often!'"

~Edith Schaeffer from her book Common Sense Christian Living

The Art of Gardening

“You may have 300 acres to work with, or three; a large and fertile garden surrounding a suburban home, or a tiny square space in the back of your city home; you may have a large balcony with space for oblong or round boxes or containers of some sort, or only a windowsill or two. Whatever it is, there is something very basic in being involved with a growing, living art form such as a garden of some sort. One can grow flowers, vines, small trees in pots or barrels, vegetables in beautiful rows and lush variety; one can have a full herb garden surrounded by its own little hedge, or a miniature herb garden in a window box. There is something very exciting about holding tiny brown seeds in one’s hand, in rubbing soil in one’s fingers to make it fine in texture, in putting some natural manure at the right depth to give richness to the soil, in placing the seeds with one’s own fingers in the rows, in covering them up and patting them. There is something exciting in watering the bare ground, wondering whether the hidden seeds are doing anything at all, wondering whether they will burst out of the little shell and become roots going down and stem and leaves coming up. The day the first tips of green are seen, if they are your seeds, planted by your own fingers, there is a thrill that is surely similar to producing an art work, a thrill of accomplishment mixed with the reality of what is, what exists, what the universe consists of.”
~From The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer, chapter 6, page 86

“A Christian, who realizes he has been made in the image of the Creator and is therefore meant to be creative on a finite level, should certainly have more understanding of his responsibility to treat God’s creation with sensitivity, and should develop his talents to do something to beautify his little spot on the world’s surface. Neighbors, friends and strangers walking by ought to find the Christian’s gardens, farms, estates, schools, hospitals, huts, missions and factories, surrounded by beauty of grass, moss, rocks, fern, bushes, trees, flowers and vegetables, planted and cared for with an expression of originality and artistic planning on some scale. A Christian individual or organization should not move into a property and turn it into shambles. The opposite should be true. It should grow and blossom into a place of beauty, demonstrating something of the wonder of the One who made plant life to produce seeds in the first place.”
~From The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer, chapter 6, page 88

Rainy day

Studying Herbs

~birthday present~

a Farmhouse Bedroom

~'::

~Our first picnic on the new patio.~

~Psalm 63:1-8~

A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.
Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.

When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches.
Because You have been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
My soul follows close behind You;
Your right hand upholds me.

Old West Pictures

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I spent a lovely day yesterday at my parents' farm spending time with my Mama and my siblings (and my Daddy at suppertime!). We dressed up and had such fun taking 'Old West' portraits. ::'~*~'::