Thursday 8 June 2017

My favourite things . . .



These are a few of my favourite things . . .


Good old fashioned sour cream donuts.  I love adore them!  I always treat myself to one when I go home to Canada, from Tim Horton's. These ones are from Handle the Heat.


Old cookery books. I love them.  My mother has a few that I covet.  I have spent many hours hand copying recipes from out of them each time I visit her.  Some of the timings are off for nowadays, but other than that they are filled with sound recipes.  I would not cook a brussels sprout or broccoli for 45 minutes, but apparently they used to!  hah!  No wonder people did not like those vegetables very much!


The art of Charles Wysocki. I think it is brilliant.  Its called primitive, but there is so much detail in it.  Its not primitive to me. I wish I could paint like that!   This would have taken ages to do. 


Strawberry Jam/preserves/conserve.  It is my favourite flavour of all the jams, followed closely by apricot.  And I love Bonne Maman most of all.  I love ALL their jams and it is not just because of the jars, although I do love the jars also! 


Gingerbread Houses.  When my children were growing up I used to make one every Christmas.  I would spend hours on them, but it was a labor of love.  I have not made one in many years now, but I still love to look at them. Some of them can get quite involved and intricate. I admire anyone who can put in the work and time to make an elaborately decorated one!!!  I don't have the patience these days!


Kitchen sink windows.  I don't have one in this house, but I love having a window over my sink.  I have spent many hours through the years washing dishes as I gaze out the window above the sink, my mind in another world entirely.  This one reminds me of the window we had in the house that my ex and I built eons ago.  I had the most beautiful kitchen in that house.  I had designed it myself.  I had little shelves bordering the window just like this photograph and a pretty wooden valence over top.  It was beautiful.  I also had pink and grey marble counter tops and pale pink and white gingham wall paper . . .  another labour of love.


I love, LOVE this kitchen, with the open shelves, etc.  Its very rustic.  You would sure have to keep things ultra tidy, but I reckon it would be worth it!  This is gorgeous!


Siamese Cats.  We had one the whole time I was growing up.  His name was Simon. He was a seal point.  We also had them when my children were growing up.  Brandy the first and Brandy the second. They were both blue points.  They are very intelligent cats and not at all mean or scary like some people think.


I love the new Oykos Pina Coco Paradise yogurt.  I love pineapple and coconut flavoured anything, and I especially love this new summer edition flavour.  It's so good.  That's what we had for supper last night. We were both so full from our chicken and dumplings that I had made for a late lunch, we had no room for much of a supper.  A pot of this yogurt fit the bill perfectly!


Fonts, especially fonts that look like handwriting.  These ones are from Style of Change. There are 30 of them, all free.


British Strawberries, and I guess they are extra early this year due to the warm weather we were having!  I think British berries are the best.  But when it comes right down to it, I just love strawberries full on.  I never had a summer job picking them when I was growing up like a lot of my friends did.  My parents thought if I wanted to pick berries, I could pick them for them, for free.


Paper.  Any kind. Any colour. Any texture. Any pattern. Scrapbook papers.  Writing papers.  Art papers.  I just love paper. I hoard paper.

 

Succulents.  I love these types of plants. They are so decorative and so easy to care for.  We had a jade plant for many years, but lost it to frost this year.  We always put it outdoors in the summer, but didn't get it back indoors in time this last autumn.  It was quite large as well!  We had bought it as a tiny plant when we first got married.


This is the lighthouse in Margaretsville, Nova Scotia.  I love lighthouses and I love summer visits to the shore.  We used to go sometimes when we were children and my parents would always get us an icecream.  I liked the rainbow ice cream best of all back then.  We still like to go to the beach in the summer time and walk along the promenade.  They can get pretty crowded, but the air is always a lot cooler at the seaside.

And those are my favourite things for this week!  I am sure some of them are also favourites of yours!

A thought to carry with you through today . . .

 .° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~\。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ | 田田 |門 ★

 *.˛.°The happiness of your life
depends on the quality of your thoughts.
~Marcus Aurelius  •。★★ 。* 。


Spiritual Enlightenment


If you are looking for a really good film to watch, this one is fabulous.  We watched it last night on Netflix and really enjoyed it.  I highly recommend!  We both really loved it and the music is beautiful!  This is a great film. No swearing or nudity at all.


In The English Kitchen today.  Chicken and Dumplings.  Simple to make and delicious.  I made this for Todd as a celebration lunch/dinner yesterday!  Sooooo good!

Have a great Thursday.  It is election day here and it is the first time that I am undecided right down to the wire.  Sigh  . . . no idea at all. We are going to our friends Tina and Tony's today.  Don't forget . . .

 ═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════ ⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿
═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════


And I do too!


3 comments:

  1. Oh, a fun post of your faves today, Marie! We're such kindred spirts... for most everything on this list would be on my own too. :) A good donut...mmm... They are VERY hard to come by here, good ones, anyway. I've never made donuts, as they seem like a lot of fuss, and the fried one I'd rather not have all the oil and mess. :/ LOVE the artwork of Charles Wysocki. He creats ideal worlds, doesn't he? I enjoy the Bonne Maman range of jams too...mmm. It's neck-in-neck with strawberry, raspberry and apricot. ;) Your old kitchen with the pink/grey counters and pink gingham curtains--*swoon* Our local berries aren't in the shops yet... but hopefully soon. If some summer would hit us, instead of the very November-like weather we've been having, we may have some strawberries yet. We have a few plants in the garden this year--very exciting! I like succulent plants too. I'm wanting a pair for in the dining room window. LOVE the story of your jade plant! :) Chicken & Dumplings... reminds of meals from childhood...mmm... It will be VERY interesting to see who wins the election there today... on tenterhooks! :/ ((LOVE & BIG HUGS))

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  2. I love donuts just plain sugar ones with hole in the middle..still warm and slightly crisp. Mmmm there used to be a shop/baker in Edinburgh who made them early and when Sarah and John were up on holiday they always went there with the girls after dropping me off at work...they were kind enough to bring me in a couple for tea break !!....I also remember when I was in Rhodesia staying with my aunt and uncle she had to make dozens to take to a bowling tea, she had the house boy make the mixture but she fried and .....I knocked out the hole...and ate too many I felt sick!! It was a few years after that that I looked a donut in the face LOL....I like your ...dream kitchen....I had forgotten about making dumplings might do that for dinner next week....hope today has been nice for you. It was a wet morning but afternoon has been nice and although the wind is still blowing it's not quite so wild now....night night. God Bless. Xxx

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  3. Thanks Tracy. I loved my old kitchen. The cabinets were all pine which had ripened to a golden honey. I had a built in desk and bookcase for my cookbooks. It was lovely. We have voted. I can't wait to see who has won. It will be very interesting. First election ever that I went into the polls undecided. Scary. Love, hugs,and blessings to you! Oxox

    They sound good Sybil! It's terrible when you get ill after eating something you love.today has been a real mixed bag weatherwise. The wind is still quite chilly! God bless! Xoxo

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