April Food Day -- Bloggers Fighting Hunger

Please help us fight hunger in the US by supporting either your local food bank, or Feeding America, a national food bank with 200 members across the United States.

Click on the April Food Day image above and you will be redirected to the page with a secure link for donating to the humanitarian organization FeedingAmerica.org

Every dollar you contribute provides 7 meals or 10 pounds of food. A $25 gift provides 175 meals. If each of us who has a blog writes something on April 1 and asks our readers to contribute, imagine the difference we could make in our communities.

If you would like to help, copy my post or write a similar article on your blog April lst, and ask your readers to donate to Feeding America.

Provide a link to the original blog, April Food Day, and they will link back to your blog and to your post.

Thank you on behalf of America's hungry.

Push aside the curtain | Henry David Thoreau quote . . .

I thought the blue and white checked curtains in my bedroom were the perfect illustration for this quote by Henry David Thoreau. Most of the walls surrounding us we put there ourselves.

"The garden must be prepared in the soul or else it will not flourish"

I love this English Proverb, don't you?

Today is a beautiful Monday with blue skies, bright sun, a gentle breeze and the grass has turned bright green. Last night's storm with hail, torrential rain, wind, thunder and lightning worked its magic! When I woke up this morning and looked out the window, I thought I had been transported to Ireland. Can lawn mowing be far behind? I don't relish that thought.

10 Good Reasons to be an Ordinary Person . . .

TEN GOOD REASONS TO BE AN ORDINARY PERSON

1. You can throw away your junk: You are not saving it for posterity.
2. When you fall asleep hugging a pillow, you don't think that you need to talk to your shrink about it.
3. You derive great satisfaction from walking your own dog.
4. You can miss a day at work and the world won't end.
5. You have nothing to hide, and no place to hide it.
6. You don't travel the world in search of what you have at home.
7. You don't have to get all dressed up to go get a sandwich.
8. No one notices whether or not your car is clean, the insides of your closets are neat, and your fence is freshly painted.
9. You don't have to try to make something out of everything.
10. You are enlightened, though you don't know what it means ... let alone care about it.

"Why be happy with more if you can be happy with less?" Source: I copied a page from a great little book, "The Art of Imperfection" Simple Ways to Make Peace with Yourself I found it on the book swap rack at my Post Office. The image is a detail scanned from one of my 18th century Charles Heathcote Tatham Architectural etchings, representing the best examples of ancient ornamental architecture: drawn from the originals in Rome, and other parts of Italy, during the years 1794, 1795 and 1796. 

Vote Earth! Switch Off Your Lights For Earth Hour . . .

Earth Hour: everyone has a vote. Tonight for one hour 8:30PM - 9:30PM turn off your lights to protest global warming.

Image by Shepard Fairey

This YouTube video is only 31 seconds long. Please watch!



I will be taking part and hope you will too!

Life's Little Instruction Book, pages 56 + 57 . . .

...To be continued...

My Monogram "RB" . . .

You are in luck if your initials are RB. I bought a fabulous 19th century book at a small antiques show recently.

It has every imaginable combination of initials and a beautiful monogram for each. I love mine. It reminds me of the engraved initials on antique sterling silver hollowware.




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Silence has its benefits | Mother Goose nursery rhyme . . .

I can relate to this totally. I am not that talkative, but I'm a great listener.

Heirloom flower seeds are being planted now in Colonial Williamsburg . . .

In the Garden -- Hands-On History Lessons
You will want to get in the garden and start digging after you read this great article!

The garden beds at the Lewis House in Colonial Williamsburg are being seeded right now with heirlooms. Larkspur, corn poppies, wallflowers and many other flower seeds need this early start. Stephanie Oberlander photo for The New York Times

Calendulas, or pot marigolds, like many early bloomers, need sufficient periods of cold for their seeds to germinate. They are accents in not only the garden but also the kitchen; high in vitamin C, they can be used in soups and salads. Barbara Temple Lombardi photo.

THE quince hedge was already covered with salmon-pink flowers the day Lawrence Griffith, the curator of plants at Colonial Williamsburg, planted 19 varieties of heirloom flowers from seed. Read more...

Free trip around the sun | illustrated quote . . .

I never really thought much about this...but it's true. Oh the things we take for granted!

Life's Little Instruction Book, pages 54 + 55 . . .

...To be continued...

"Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes."

Artwork by Andy Warhol. I think it is very fitting for this Emerson fashion quote, don't you?

Life's Little Instruction Book, pages 52 + 53 . . .

...To be continued...

"Life is like riding a bicycle... | Einstein Quote . . .

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