a tea

~for Mama's birthday~

Greta colored an owl for her;

Olivia made a lovely tea, with apple-cinnamon scones

and a poetic collage picture, like she does;

the four of us siblings got her a copy of a book of family photographs.

 Lovely.

Will got his braces off!

Centerpiece

 

Greta and I have been reading together from Little House in the Big Woods, so we put a kerosene lamp on our table just like Laura had.  The leaves are from my climbing rose: white, yellow, pink and green.  Colored pencils--so much easier to keep in the lines than crayons, even for little people.

My best buddies

The three of us, bundled up for a chilly walk to Mimi's house

garden harvest

  

 

*  *  *

 

Dahlias

 These are special dahlias.  Greta and I picked out the bulbs in the middle of last winter and dreamed of planting them for the months until spring came.  Greta would tell me, "When spring comes then we can plant the flowers!" Spring did come and we had a little bulb planting ceremony one afternoon when Mimi was over for tea.  And here they are, now full-grown and blooming their gorgeous blooms. 

  

 

Coloring

I found the sweetest coloring pages for Greta this morning.  Alphabet pages with baby chicks and bird nests and jam to color in, number pages with mittens and socks to color in and count, a whole set of farm animal pictures.  Enough to fill many mornings with purposeful coloring!

:: Alphabet Coloring
:: Learning Colors
:: Learning Numbers
:: Farm Friends

(There are many others too, so browse
the site a bit if you like these.)

Sunshine and a nap at Mimi's

We're drinking in these last warm, sunny days, and Mama's balcony is the perfect place to do that.

(me and my boy)

Cozied into Mimi's pillows

Time in the sun with sister, her with her sailing story and me with my knitting

Their rowan tree with the beautiful orange berries

Yoshi-the-Pooh, awake and rather sunshiney himself

Seventeen

My beautiful sister, Olivia, turned seventeen on the first of September.  She and Ben were able to spend the day with us, and it was such a lovely one.

She is so very much a hobbit that we thought we really should have a birthday celebration of the kind.  And so we did.  We had such fun preparing it together, and the rest of the family gathered in the evening to enjoy supper with us.

Olivia is my true kindred friend, full of love for her Savior, deeply thoughtful, writer of poetry that so often says the very things I feel and wish to say.  The best of company; she'll dance with me to Ella Fitzgerald while we fold laundry, or delight in Handel while we bake.  Talk of books or flowers or life or places that interest.  I am so thankful for this sister of mine.
~'*   *'~   ~'*  ~'*

 

Olivia, elf-friend, slicing mushrooms for the pie~

Lembas from the elves of Lorien (honey shortbread)

To drink, iced herb tea, sweetened with honey

Our feast~ Mushroom pie, green beans with garlic, meatloaf (wrapped in bacon), tomatoes in vinaigrette, brown rice pilaf (with carmelized onion, almond slivers and craisins, with a hint of orange), and juicy miniature grapes. 

*  *  *

Having a hobbit for a sister means that on her birthday you receive clever things spelled out in sweet things to eat!

My present was such a delightful surprise: an evenstar necklace!

I don't have a picture of it yet, since I've been wearing it.
But soon, perhaps.  Olivia took one.

And there were presents for her...

Birdbath for a window garden, bare feet, earrings with leaf jewels

Brothers

A print to hang for our lover of ships and sailing

(it's the Brandybuck side)

 

A surprise gift from a far-away friend~

The smallest hobbit among us had a great time playing patty-cake with Pa;

his favorite part is "rolll-it!"

(We lost her for a bit to this notebook. ;))

A read-aloud of our favorite Lewis quotes, a gift from Daddy

Dessert!  A wonderful thing made of meringue, lemon cake, lemon curd and whipped cream.

After the littles went to bed and Mama and Dad had gone home we watched "The Return of the King", as the candles dripped and we munched our lembas.  Oh the beauty!

A wonderful time with my favorite people. 

(Thank you, each of you, for being the best companions in this life!)

~'* . . . *'~

A bit of hobbitish reading...
Evening at Crickhollow
Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit