Summertime, and the livin' is easy...

It's been a most enjoyable time lately as we have been out and about, spending time with my brother and sister in-law and family who were up for their annual Highland holiday.

We've visited the park...

...had plenty fun and fresh air...

...been to see the Moscow State Circus - that was really cool!

...and meantime, the garden continues to bloom and flourish. Already we are collecting seed heads for next year from some flowers. These seed heads are from some pretty purple violas. Exquisite don't you think?
Remember the pot I painted back in this post? Well here it is planted up with Alyssum and Osteospernum.

Naomi's Blog

Naomi, my older daughter has just updated her blog with some more photos. I particularly love this one she has taken of her little sister. Isn't it adorable? My little miss is always picking dandelions, daisys and buttercups - and anything else she can get her hands on. So this picture will be treasured.

It's a first

OK, it might not be very exciting for you, but my "Little Miss Three" had her first ever ice cream cone on Saturday. I have to say she managed immaculately. In this second photo you can see her holding her hair out the way lest she mess it. She ate the whole cone and didn't spill a drop!

What a star.

I'm afraid there has not been much crafting or painting going on at the moment, but hopefully I'll be able to find time to do some soon. There has been too many other things vying for my attention.

The Visitor

Oh fuzzy little ginger one,
From morning light ‘til day is done
My garden is your pleasure.

No bloom too large, no blossom small,
You gladly pay respect to all
To gather golden treasure.

The Criminal

Every night by the pale moonlight
Into my yard crawls a thief.
No plant is free from his gluttonous glee
As he munches through petal and leaf.

It makes no sense to leave evidence
When committing so greedy a crime.
But my powers of deduction
Soon traced the destruction
It was easy – I followed the slime

Birthday cakes

My 3 year old and my 18 year old share the same birthday - how funny is that?

This year we celebrated my sons birthday a few days early, so my little girl got her birthday more or less to herself. This was my effort at a cake this year. Just a few days before we had upwards of 20 people to the house, so I was a bit tired out when it came to cake making.

My little girl is happy on her birthday as long as she has two things - a cake, and a crown. She is not bothered about presents at this stage, the crown is more important!

The cake had the letter G on it. Nothing very fancy. To think of all the character cakes I used to make for my older two. (I'll need to dig out some old photos and show you sometime). I just don't seem to have the energy for all that right now!

Naomi made my son's cake a few days beforehand ( a much more refined effort than mine). He did not want to celebrate his 18th birthday the way some teenagers do - by going out and getting drunk. He wanted to celebrate by doing something significant, and he chose to get baptised for his 18th birthday to make a declaration of his faith in Jesus.

There were a couple of other people who got baptised that day, (at the local swimming pool). We had a great time back at the house afterwards with food and friends. It was a really special day.

It's raining...

It's raining today. Shouldn't complain really - it's been so beautiful lately. This rain is also God's gift to us - and it does save us watering all the pots :-)
I am trying to perfect a low fat or fat free carrot cake recipe at the moment. I was into baking cupcakes, but by the time I had lathered on the butter frosting, they weren't exactly a healthy treat. So I am making individual carrot cakes - or I guess you could call them muffins. Once I have the recipe sorted, I'll share with you. At the moment it is more of a guessipe.

I used these handy reusable silicone muffin cases to bake them in. You can get an amazing selection of silicone cake moulds nowadays, and they are so easy to use. Give them a try if you haven't already. I made some frosting using quark virtually fat free cheese and icing sugar, and then Naomi made some little marzipan carrots for me.

They were really yummy!