Small and Wonderful Things . . .

"The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But who gets excited by a mere penny?...It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won't stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted with pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. what you see is what you get." ~Anne Dillard 

A few of the small and wonderful things which bring untold joy into my life.   It's the small things in life which truly mean the most.  Simple abundance . . . it's the best.

(I am still having a heck of a time with Photo Bucket.   Does anyone else use it???   It is very, very slow to get anywhere on it.   Usually it is a quick as a whistle.)



Don't you just love these little Salt and Pepper Shakers?   I know!  They are so cute.   So Susan Branch too.  I picked them up at Gordale Nurseries after Christmas and they only cost me £2.  They were marked down 75%.  I could not resist them.  I Love Salt and Pepper Shakers.  I have been collecting them for a while.   When I was a girl there was a restaurant in town called The Shaker Restaurant.   It was a place to hang out and buy cokes on Saturday afternoons with my friends.   One whole wall was covered in shelves filled with Salt and Pepper Shakers.  I always loved looking at them.    They also had a waitress that looked like she had stepped off a 1940's film set.  I wonder what ever happened to her.   She had the hairstyle and everything.    The restaurant is still there, except now it is the Chinese Restaurant in town and has been a Chinese restaurant for years and years now.   Best Chinese food in the area!    I always get a number 9 when we go there which is Beef and Broccoli, Egg Fried Rice, Sweet and Sour Chicken and Egg Roll.  My mother always gets the same.  What can I say . . . we are creatures of habit!



This is a little cloche, my very first one ever, that my friend Rachel sent to me before Christmas.  All through the holidys it sat on the mantle with a tiny nativity scene in it she had also sent which fit just perfectly.   Now that Christmas is over I have filled with another of my favourite things . . .

 

A little tiny fairy.    She is captured in a glass cage.  I feel a little bit sad saying that . . . like birds I think fairies should be free, so maybe I will change what I have in the cloche.  Food for thought there . . .



I found this old picture of my business cards.  I love my business cards.   They are what I put in with each order that I send out when someone orders a piece of my artwork.  I need to carry some in my wallet I think, and then I could hand them out when I meet people.  I am just not very good at putting myself forward.   This year I hope to be better and to do better.   We shall see.

 

This is another old picture I found today.  It reminded me of my trip that I took to Utah several years back.   This is Jen from Tater Tot's and Jello (on the left) and her mom on the right.   They met me at the airport and drove me to Lura's daughter Erin's home where I met up with Lura.   It was so nice of Jen and her mom to pick me up at the airport.  I was sooooo tired!   That was such a lovely trip though.  I got to spend a whole week with one of my best friends in the world, Lura.   I got to meet most of her family and we got to go up to Idaho and watch my Eileen compete in the International Winter Special Olympic Games, along with our friends Lenis and Dick, who had been Missionaries over here in the UK prior to that.  What a fun week it was.  It was great seeing my Eileen and watching her win two gold medals and a bronze.  It was wonderful getting to spend some special time with my dear friend Lura and to meet her family, and it was really wonderful getting to see and spend time with Lenis and Dick again.  It is hard to believe that it is almost five years ago now that I went on that trip.   I came home on Valentines Day . . . so, yes, it was five years ago.   Time has just sped by since then! But . . . I still have these lovely memories that I keep in my special memory box and that I take out and hold every now and again.

Memories . . . small things, but beautiful things.



This is a picture of Todd that I took on our trip to Austria a few years back.  We were at some special water falls, whose name escapes me right now.   Todd loved hats.   He has quite a few of them.   He had gotten himself this Austrian hat and delighted in wearing it.  It had a very small feather on it, but the coach driver told him that the size of a man's feather was a sign of his prowess and so he went out and bought a bigger feather to put on to  it.  Men . . .

In any case he has never worn the hat since.   I suppose there is not much opportunity to wear a hat like that here in the UK.  (Thank goodness!!!)



This is a page I did for an illustrated cookbook I was working on.   I never did finish it.  Perhaps I need to.   I don't know!  What do you think?  I found it this morning on my google images that I am taking these photos from.   Darned Photo Bucket!!



This is a picture of Pendragon Castle that I took when we were on holiday up in the Lake District a couple of years ago now.  I love going to that area.  It's my favourite place to go . . . when it is sunny and warm at any rate.  It's the pits when it is raining and miserable.   The last time we went there it was exactly that and we had Mitzie with us, so we couldn't really go to very many places as it was not fun sitting outside with a dog in the rain.  We cut that holiday short, but when it is nice and sunny, there is not a much nicer place to be.

 

Those are the salt and pepper shakers I got in the Lake District.   They are Henny Penny and Jemima Puddle Duck, of Beatrix Potter fame.   I love them.   They have never been used . . . I just like looking at them and having something which is Beatrix Potter.  I could not afford much so I got these and they were a bit of an indulgence.  Like Susan Branch I am in love with anything Beatrix Potter.  Unlike Susan Branch, I have never ever been able to get into Hilltop Farm.  It has always been full up when we've been there.   We have seen the museum in nearby Sawrey though, which was quite nice.  You can't have all your dreams come true at once you know . . . you have to keep something to look forward to.



Todd and Mitzie on that trip, on the one day it wasn't raining.  He has another hat on!  That's his Crocodile Dundee hat.   That one he does wear all the time.  He loves it.  The only thing it is missing is all the corks  . . . thank goodness!   (Now that would be embarassing, if he walked around in a hat with corks hanging from the brim!)   Mitzie was only about a year old there.   It's hard to believe she will be four this year.   Time flies and all that! 

I guess I do have a somewhat interesting life . . .  looking back on some of the pictures I have taken.  I suppose when it comes right down to it, life is about as interesting as you make it to be.  And with that I am going to leave you with a thought for the day, only because I am getting terrifically frustrated with my pictures in Photo Bucket.  I think I will have to find a new storage place.   Any suggestions? 

A thought for today . . .

✫*
(¯`♥´¯).✫* *´¯`.¸¸.☆ `*.¸.* ´

"Do everything with so much love
in your heart, that you would
never want to do it any other way."
~Yogi Desai 

*´¯`.¸¸.☆*´¯`.¸¸.☆*´¯`.¸¸.☆  


 

Baking in The English Kitchen today . . . Carrot Cake Doughnuts.

Have a wonderful Monday! xxoo