Fave Five Little Every Day Happy Stuff

Time to look back and reflect on the good things from the past week.

1. Home baked bread. I love to bake my own bread. It's been a while since I last baked one until last night, when I realized how I had missed it. It's aroma slowly spreading through the whole house while it's in the oven. The rustic look of it when I put it on my wooden cutting board.
That crunchy crust, and the taste of that first slice when you have hardly given it the time to cool down thoroughly... It needs nothing more.
Hmmm, unless ... some real butter, some marmalade or home made jam ... strawberry jam mmm yes! A hand cut thick slice of that bread, with some Parma ham, a little salad on the side and some mustard and pickled onions to go with it? I think it would be a great idea for lunch!
Eww, I must be hungry? Or seen to many Nigella Lawson cooking shows on television this week?

2. The days are definitely getting a lot longer now. The last day of February already today, now where has that month gone to? March will be on the calendar as of tomorrow.
Next week is the tenth week of the year, and for some reason, I don't know why that week has always been some sort of wake up call, when new energy starts to flow. I think I carry the genetic heritage of a hedgehog inside of me! Oh well, it could be worse!

3. Coffee. Yeah I KNOW I talked about coffee last week too, but that was about the first coffee in the morning, which is very different to the coffee I treat myself to some time in the afternoon.
That's when I make myself a little espresso. My latest treat is some foamed up milk to top it off.
I add some flavour to the milk, ( cinnamon, vanilla, sweetener, or that new orange - star anise sugar I bought yesterday) heat it in the micro wave and stir it with my aerolatte milk frother.
( You can find recipes through this link)
It works great to get a terrific low fat creamy layer on top of the coffee! Yum!


( You can click to enlarge this collage)


4. The new things I learn through blogging. I learn something new every day, and I love that.
Sometimes I have to Google stuff I don't quite understand, but that's what makes it interesting.
It can be fun! Having to Google stuff sometimes makes me feel stupid, but then I discover that I am not the only one to never have heard of "a dog and pony show" before.
But I'm afraid it will still take some time before I'll be able to participate in Quilly's Three Word Challenge though! Or do a Haiku, or a 100 word challenge ... **Sigh**
Still. I've come this far, and I'm grateful for what I learn each day.

5. I was feeling a little lonely yesterday, so what does a girl do? Yes, I went shopping at the mall! Not that I spent that much money, nor did I spend it on clothes.
I ended up in one of those shops for foodies like Oil and Vinegar, and a trendy tableware shop.
I KNOW I do not NEED more new plates, but I could not resist, besides, they were a steal!
Beautiful plates always inspire me to create a new recipe to use them for.



Mind you, these are just a few highlights of the week that has passed.
There was also that deliciously creamy Veal Goulash I made, the Blue Tits inspecting the nest on my patio, the blue Hyacinth I bought and it turns out to be pink, the first good lace design I have finished this week ( No, no pictures of that just yet, I'm building up some tension here!)

Find other people's Fave Five's at Suzanne's, on Living to tell the story.

Sepia Scenes The Kiss

Almost Valentine's day ...




Do you see these two doves? Boring huh?
I made a series of pictures them. Well, ... to be honest, I thought they were going to ..um ... do "it" and I was ready to make full coverage of that event.
I stood there waiting with my camera, ... but in the end they did nothing. Duh!
And so I ended up with more than a dozen(!) rather boring pictures.
(! Hmmm, yeah I'm a very patient girl)

After all, they're just two doves up on a roof huh? Doing ... nothing?

Now this morning at breakfast I was wondering what on earth I'd have to come up with this week for my Sepia Scenes when the series with the doves crossed my mind.

So I opened my Corel Paint Shop Pro x12 and had a little fun.
I picked the cutest picture, "the kiss".
First I cropped it. Then I created a layer.
I used the time machine option for the sepia effect.
Which was nice, but I thought it looked rather plain.
Well you all know how I love to play with half sepia, so I removed the sepia from the doves with the eraser tool.
And this is the result. I uploaded the full sized picture, so you can click on it to enlarge it.



Happy Valentines Day!! Even though it's not quite Valentine's day yet!

For more Sepia Scenes go on over to Mary the Teach and visit the other players as well?

Birds of a Feather

It's been a very very cold week this week.
But it has it's advantages.
The bird feeder on my patio seems to attract a lot more visitors lately.
Do you remember the jackdaw that visited me the other day?




I think he has a girlfriend.
He invited her to feast on the suet balls with him.



Aren't they adorable?
They say they're bad luck, but I don't believe that.
That's just because they're black, right? Anyway, they're more than welcome here.
I stocked up on more suet balls and peanut garlands yesterday.
It's great to have birds visiting my patio, and it's good to know that I actually can take pictures through the window. They seem to come out reasonably well.

While writing this, I got visits from the robin and the blackbird as well.
More pictures to come! Yoohoo!! I love it!