Comptez vos benedictions

Joining Ann today


Counting blessings

"Sometimes our thoughts turn back toward a corner in a forest, or the end of a bank, or an orchard powdered with flowers, seen but a single time on some gay day, yet remaining in our hearts and leaving in soul and body an unappeased desire which is not to be forgotten, a feeling that we have just rubbed elbows with happiness."

Guy de Maupassant


199 - galad (pronounced gah-lahd) - Elven for "light" A nod to Tolkien

200 - bird nests hidden in berry bowers

201 - river banks

202 - water babies

203 - the art of geometrics

204 - tomato juice running down my elbows

205 - jars of edible rubies

Screaming yellow zonkers - yeah, I get that

When I was young, I HEARD color. Words and phrases were colors. The alphabet was not symbols to me, but colors. It took me forever to learn to read. I got in trouble in the first grade for going to town with a box of Crayolas in my phonics book. It made sense to me. My brain is wired funny. They give it a word - synesthesia. I think it falls under the category of learning disability. I think it's a gift. I love color. I love color even more than form. I thank God for color, in all its screaming, singing hues.



Joining Emily today - Imperfect Prose on Thursdays

Easy basil lemonade

This a family favorite on hot summer days when there's plenty of basil in the garden. I suppose you could make it using homemade lemonade. I've never been good at making that, so I use frozen :)

Ingredients:
1 can frozen lemonade
1 generous handful of fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup boiling water for steeping basil leaves
sparkling water
borage flowers (optional)

Here's how:
In a pitcher, mix the lemonade according to the directions on the can.
Substitute some of the tap water for the 1/2 cup of "basil tea", discarding leaves.
Stir, then top off the pitcher with some sparkling water
(I use about a cup of lemon flavored mineral water)
Garnish with borage flowers

Yummy and thirst-quenching...try some!

Tally on

Counting blessings

Take joy home,
And make a place in thy great heart for her,
And give her time to grow, and cherish her,
Then will she come, and oft will sing to thee...
It is a comely fashion to be glad;
Joy is the grace we say to God.

Jean Ingelow

191 - keeping cool

192 - barn swallows

193 - old gates

194 - mason jars

195 - rewards of a sunrise nature walk

196 - moss-covered bricks

197 - daybreak

198 - iPod bonding with your new brother-in-law

And the winner is...........

ALEXIS @ Finding Prose in the Laundry

Congratulations, dear poet extraordinaire! Send your info to my e-mail address, and your package will be on its way :)

Imperfect prose

Joining with Emily today on Imperfect Prose on Thursdays, I'm sharing with you my quite imperfect experiment with egg tempera painting. The illustration is meaningful to me because it expresses how I feel about praying. PRAYER means going to war, doing battle in the heavenlies, standing in the gap, depopulating hell. And our Father who art in heaven bends His ear and listens. I know because I wouldn't be alive if it weren't true. I am still here because someone prayed. And so I pray...the beat goes on.

Also sharing with you one of my favorite Greek words - hupomone.

"Hupomone is the quality which makes a man able, not simply to suffer things, but to vanquish them. The effect of testing rightly borne is strength to bear still more and to conquer in still harder battles."

William Barclay

Concerning blogging hobbits...

Did you know that hobbits enjoy giving presents on their birthdays? They do! And since I am a hobbit of the Tookish sort, and this being my blog birthday, I'd like to offer you a chance at a present. I only wish my photo were as pretty as the objects offered. These are some little trinkets crafted by artists from my neck of the woods. This prezzie includes a hand-carved and painted wooden bird, a little stone squirrel, a silver acorn, and a miniature Andrew Wyeth painting/magnet.

All you need to do is to leave a comment on this post (lurkers, this includes you, so if you've never commented before, don't be shy now). Deadline is Friday July 23rd at 11:59PM EST. Next week I will pick one name out of a hat, and then this little package will wing its way to you, wherever you are in the world!

Curious Acorn is one year old today. I've been so appreciative of all the readers and commenters that have visited this little space. It's been a pleasure getting to know each of you.

"Hobbits give presents to one another on their own birthdays. Not very expensive ones, as a rule, and not so lavishly as on this occasion; but it was not a bad system. Actually in Hobbiton and Bywater, every day in the year it was somebody's birthday, so that every hobbit in those parts had a fair chance of at least one present at least once a week. They never got tired of them."

J.R.R. Tolkien
Fellowship of the Ring