T Stands for Tuesday

 Hi Everyone, Happy T 

   We are in for many days in a row of mid to high 90's F here at the lake for the next two weeks or more.  We have been enjoying lovely cooler weather with a little rain thrown in so this will be a shock to the plants for sure-and me too haha  I am not all that thrilled with weather this hot and for many days in a row.

 We did enjoy our Wisconsin friends Rob and Rich for a few days last week. Good eats, they caught lots of fish to take home with them, and nice for us to have visitors for awhile. (more in a previous post)

 I have a handful of slow mail friends that I really enjoy writing to, and look forward to receiving mail as well-it's always a surprise to see a letter in my mail box and makes me happy. This past week I received art along with their letters.

 From Iris in Germany a lovely drawing and Henry

I love these stamps

and from one of my Debra slow mail friends (I have three Deb, Debra, Debbie friends) I received another beautiful painting and she sent me a 40th wedding anniversary card too. Thank you so much to the both of you-hugs

For my drink share this week I bought a new tea. It is one of Oliver Pluff & Co's cold brew teas made with lemongrass, dried lemon and orange peels, and rose hips. Since I bought a lemongrass plant thought I could dry some of the leaves and then buy the rest of the ingredients. It was cheaper at this point to buy the tea and it also came with a large tea strainer.

I wanted to just make a quart but I didn't have a container wide enough for the tea ball-then I remembered I had this lovely small vintage crystal pitcher that I received as a wedding gift from my cousin Ray all those years ago-perfect.

   I needed to empty the tin to find the tea ball

 This was a nice refreshing tea, next time I will let it brew a bit longer-I needed the frig space at the time. I do really like this tea company they have mostly historical tea blends and I love the packaging too

   Lake photos

We enjoyed watching this man and his dog fishing one early morning

Heavy fog early Saturday Morning

About an hour later as the sun came up and allot of the fog lifted

The lake was crazy busy most of Saturday-there is a boat parade going on trying to break a Guinness world record, and other activities Sunday morning revealed they fell short again but didn't say how much-afterward there was also a dog jumping event more here

I started drying bee balm for teas I have lots of flowers now so harvested more over the weekend

  I also tried out this wine one evening,  The wine was on sale from the local small grocery store nearby I always enjoy a glass of merlot once in awhile

  

Happy T and new week

T Stands for Tuesday-Spring Has Arrived

   T Stands for Tuesday is upon us where we share a drink related photo and link up over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth with friends.

  Spring has arrived here in the Ozarks-Missouri. Warm days and then cooler, rainy days and then warm ups again. Feels good and Sunday was the official beginning of Spring with temps in the 70's f and then back down again.

  Not ready for the grass to grow tall just yet but it is starting to grow already with all the rains we have had. I will begin killing it off and replace it with ground covers and perennial flowers. Will be easier maintenance for us and my hope is to bring in lots of butterflies, birds, some bees. The other goal was not needing to pay for a lawn cutting service as that price will be higher this year 

  As we warm up we are seeing more boats on the lake. Along with fishing boats we started seeing recreation boats out and about last weekend. This has been a rough winter so non permanent residents are getting out to their lake homes.

  We are also seeing more geese, diving ducks, loons, and even sea gulls and pelicans. Last week when I was working outdoors I got to view a very cool event.       Out over the lake in front of our home the eagle couple was teaching last year's juvenile how to hunt for fish. My husband's office has a window facing the lake where his desk is and often times sees one of the eagles hunting for fish from the lake-this was the first time I got to see that-very exciting. So grateful I got to watch this eagle family. Very special.

    Last week I did get 20 bottles of perennial flowers and herbs planted can view here how I put these together. I call them mini greenhouses. The next day I dug up an area of grass and planted 30 roots of bloodroot, goldenseal, and wild geranium-can view here  along with a pre sunrise video over the lake if you missed that post.

  For my drink share this week I found a photo I took probably a month ago now that I don't think I have shared yet. This wine is from a local winery-Stover, Missouri. This was a good tasting wine-not sweet and it had an interesting finish. This wine tasted much better warm then chilled. You can also see a glass of ice tea in the back. The top of the wine glass shows a reflection from the label-thought that was cool

      I have mentioned it before but I have really enjoyed my slow mail friends, especially over this past winter-surprises in my mailbox. I just really love hand written letters.

    End of last week I received a letter from Iris in Germany.  I love the card she created-with stitching and Henry too. The envelope was filled with pretty stamps

back of the card

and a letter written on fun papers Many of us are using different sorts of papers for our letters.

Slow mail just really brightens up my day.  and speaking of bright. A very bright sun Saturday morning We will be seeing lots of diamonds on the water now through summer

  I did make reuben sandwiches for us with the left over corned beef-they turned out soooo delicious. I will share how I made them on Food Wednesdays.

  I have some sewing projects I want to get to, thinking when it's raining or too hot this summer to be outdoors will be a good time. I just bought this pattern by FolkWear which is a basics jacket pattern, looks loose and roomy

  Happy T Everyone and enjoy the beginnings of Spring

  

  

Fun Mail

 Before I forget I wanted to share the fun slow mail I received from Iris

   Those of you in the usa this stamp is real close to a pack of first class flower stamps we have now.

The card with the lady has a green glittered skirt

Thank you again Iris-I have really enjoyed slow mail this past year so much.