An Edible Book Review

Jain at Once in a Blue Moon  and Food For Thought is an avid reader and an amazing cook.  She had this wonderful idea to cook dishes or meals that were mentioned in the books she reads.   I didn't realize how many times food was mentioned until I decided to join her.  So today she is hosting "an edible book review." 

My book is The French Gardener. by Santa Montefiore.

A neglected garden. A cottage that holds a secret. A mysterious Frenchman (handsome, naturally). A family in need of some love. These elements are entwined in this heartwarming novel. If you enjoy reading Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher, I know you will enjoy this book.

Apple and blackberry crumble was the food I chose to make.

This is my first time to make apple blackberry crumble/cobbler and it was so delicious with ice cream, especially while it was still warm and the ice cream melted a little bit.

Thanks Jain, for hositng this fun day!  Now make sure you go on over to Food For Thought where you will find some other wonderful "edible book reviews."

Hope you have a great weekend. 

Rhondi xo

Thankful Thursday

Even when things are going badly there are still so many things to be thankful for, some big, some small.  Taking the time to list what I'm thankful for always puts everything into perspective for me.

As I mention in my profile, faith family and friends are the most important things in my life.  This Thankful Thursday post is about those three things.

Faith:

I am thankful for Elevation which is the church I go to.  I just got back from an early morning leaders meeting and it's so exciting to be part of something bigger than myself which is having an impact on the city of Charlotte.

Family:

I am thankful for our 2 married sons and the wonderful woman they married.  I am thankful for the 4 granchildren they have given us.  I am thankful for our other son and daughter, who live close by and we are able to see a lot.  I am thankful to be able to say that I am proud of the fine adults they've all turned out to be.

Friends:

I am thankful for friends, both old and new.   I am spending the weekend with some of my quilting friends and we are going to sew and talk and eat all weekend.  Yesterday I was invited to a lovely breakfast at the home of a new friend I met through blogging.

There are so many more things, but today I will just say I am thankful for these.

What are you thankful for today?

Rhondi xo

If you are joining me today, use the button, publish your post first, then click on your title and copy that URL in  the Mr Linky  box.  Thanks for joining me in being thankful.

First White Wednesday

        

Welcome to my first White Wednesday!

 If you have visited me very often you will know that I love color, so you may be wondering why I would chose to host a "white" day.  Well, recently I've been admiring many of your all white interiors,appreciating the clean, calm look of it and thinking how it might be fun to change my whole color sheme to white.  However, I know that it wouldn't be long before I'd be sneaking color back into my home!  So rather than redo my whole house white I thought I would get it out of my system by hosting White Wednesday, where we can all enjoy  the color white.

This is going to be a challenge for me but I'm up to it.  Are any of you color lovers out there going to take up the challenge with me? 

Encouraged by all your advice I went ahead and painted my studio table and chairs white and I'm very happy with how it turned out.  See how well it highlights the pattern  in the back.

Here is my white chair against the white cabinets.  White furniture, white walls. 

A white wicker vase filled with fake flowers looks good against the white chair.

My white ceramic rooster looks good against the white chair too!

They also look good on my white wicker desk in my studio.

If I had a house like this I definitely could be persuaded to go all white.  Isn't this room fabulous? 

Country Living

This room is gorgeous too, especially with all the light coming in the windows.  The word DREAM on the wall says it all!

Many homes in Norway and Sweden are decorated in all white.  I think it's because it brightens their rooms during the long dark winter days.

One blog I love to visit that is filled with scrumptious white is Anette's Hus . Anette lives in Norway and you'll love seeing all the lovely white she has in her home.  I told her you might stop by!

If you want to join us for White Wednesday, please see the instructions below.

Rhondi xo

Publish your post.  Please include use my White Wednesday button in it.

After you have published your post, click on the title of that post and use that URL to sign up with Mr Linky.  That way it will always link to the White Wednesday post rather than just your current post.

Then leave a comment telling me you signed up.

If you have any questions, just leave a comment or email me.

The Bloggers Have Spoken

Thank you all so much for your response to my question about painting my furniture.  So many of you left me a comment and I felt like I had my own personal interior design team! The consensus was overwhleming in favor of white.  So I followed your advice and  here it is.  Sorry about the quality of the photo.  It is very dull today and I didn't want to use a flash.

I am using my old blue check cloth until I can make something else and I gathered a few things from around the house that feel like spring.  I am looking forward to spring arriving so while I'm waiting I'll use fake flowers for some more color.  Just a nice soft spring look.

I can easily change the whole look next time by adding red, or all yellow,  or green, or black & white  or...

I'm so happy with how it turned out.  You were right about the white.    It means a lot to me that you care enough to take the time to leave a comment and express your opinion.   Thank you so much. You are the greatest!!


Rhondi xo

Painting Furniture

I was hoping you'd stop by today.  I made you some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  I can get you a cup of coffee too if you'd like but my husband says I make the world's worst coffee so maybe you'd better have a cup of tea instead!  I hope you can stay awhile because I need to talk to someone.

I can't decide what to do and so I need a second opinion. 

I got this table and two chairs at GW a couple of years ago for only $35.  The top was really in bad shape so  my plan was to paint it.  Most of the time I have a tablecloth on it.  Well I decided it's time to paint the whole thing and I had in mind to paint it blue and paint all three chairs the same.

 

Yesterday I gave everything a coat of primer.

Then I went to Lowes to get some paint chips. There are so many wonderful shades of blue to choose from!

But here is my dilemma.  I like the look of it white.  I'm concerned that if I paint it blue it's going to stand out too much in the room and detract from the view out the windows.  I'm wondering also if blue will limit me too much in the colors I can use in that room. Rather than have the color be in the table and chairs I can accessorize the tabletop with different colors.  Usually I am pretty bold with my use of color, but the white looks so nice.  Am I just playing it safe?

What do you think? 

Rhondi xo

I just noticed I'm almost at 300 followers.  Maybe some of you lurkers could become a follower and put me over the 300 mark?  I would be so excited!!

Thankful Thursday

The situation in Haiti has been on my mind a lot this week and as I watched the TV, I was thankful for:
a roof over my head
hot and cold running water
a safe place to live
my family is all alive and well

I am also thankful for:
many beautiful sunsets and sunrises this past week
gorgeous spring weather yesterday
bulbs sprouting in my garden
robins  in our yard
our son is going to help me with some painting today

One last thing I am thankful for today is the gift certificate for Anthroplogie that  I won from Erin at The Painted Garden.  I finally went shopping there yesterday and this is what I got: a beautiful tea towel with embroidery and applique on it.

Here it is opened up so you get a better view of it.  Isn't it cute?

Little bird salt and peppers.

 a beautiful small bowl

and a mug with my initial.

and I still have a little money left over for next time!  These are # 650-659 in my one thousand gifts goal.

What are you thankful for today?

Rhondi xo


If you are doing a Thankful Thursday post please sign in below.  There was a little confusion last week and a few people signed in and didn't do a Thankful Thursday post.  Enter your name  after you have posted for Thankful Thursday and please use the daisy photo on your post.  You can just copy and paste it.

White Wednesday

My favorite color combination is blue and white. I love bright colors and have lots of red and yellow in my home. Lots of dots, stripes, checks and other patterns.

Sometimes I daydream about changing it all and I wonder what it would be like to go to an all white pallette. White is so fresh and clean, so calming. When I see homes that are different shades of white I am drawn to them.

So in an effort to appease my desire for a house filled with white, I am starting a White Wednesday post. Every Wednesday I will post photos of things that are white. It can indulge my yearning for white online and not redo my entire color scheme!

There are a few things in my home that are white: this beautiful Wedgwood tea cup, in the conway pattern which was the same as we had when I was growing up.

Some white gerbera daisies sitting on my wicker desk.

In my virtual white house my living room might look like this!

Would you be interested in joining me for White Wednesdays?  It's probably too short notice for you to post today, but if you want to, just let me know and I'll link to you.  Otherwise I'll have the link up next

Wednesday for you.

You can use the "White Wednesday" photo.  Can someone please tell me how to make a button for it?

I hope you have a wonderful day today!

Rhondi xo

Paint Your Heart Happy

I love little inspirational books and am always picking them up at Goodwill or garages sales.  A Book of Joy by Thomas Kincaide is one that I enjoy both for the words as well as the beatiful paintings in it.  He says these words:

"Decide that joy is the hue you want your heart to be and then start making the little and large choices that over time will paint your heart happy."

So today  when I  take a break from my chores, I am making a little choice to relax, make a pot of tea, browse through a few old magazines, write in my journal and count my blessings.  My heart is getting happy just anticipating it!

What little choice can you make today to begin to "paint your heart happy"?

Rhondi xo

Bloom Where You're Planted

If you have been reading my blog for very long, you might remember this quilt that I have hanging in my studio.             

I have decided to sell it.  It is an original design and measures 36" x45"

Here are a few close ups:

The first photo below show the size of the dots most accurately

The price is $325.  If you are interested in buying it please let me know.

Hope you're having a great day!

Rhondi xo

A Mild Winter Day

Saturday was very mild and we took advantage of it and went for  a walk in the woods behind our house.  As we were walking the path we saw this ahead of us.  We weren't quite sure what it was.

As we got closer we could see that someone had collected some junk they found and created a little sculpture.

I wonder who the artist was?

Just pieces of junk really but arranged as they were they were beautiful.

This old pail looks like it's been used for target practice.

When we came home I did some cleaning up in the garden and was surprised to see these daffodils sprouting up already!  How  exciting!

I also found that the hellebores (lenten roses) were blooming.

Camellias were budding

and in full bloom in protected places.

If I  knew I had things blooming in my own garden I might not have bought these wonderful  gerbera daisies at  the grocery store, but they were on sale and they are really gorgeous, aren't they. 

I hope you had a good weekend.

Rhondi xo

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for beautiful sunrises.

Sunsets on vacation

Candlelit mornings

Afternoon sunlight

memories of summer flowers

and especially for our four grandchildren

#594-600

What are you thankful for today?

Rhondi xo

If you wrote a Thankful Thursday post and want to link up please use the daisy button and sign in below.  Make sure you link to your post about Thankful Thursday  not just your general blog address.  Thanks for joining in!