"Bound and Bordered in Leaf Green..."

"...Edged with trellised buds and flowers

And glad Summer-gold, with clean

White and purple morning-glories

Such as suit the songs and stories

...unrevised in text or scene..."

--James Whitcomb Riley

Dear Friends,

Our summer has been unusually cool and nice; which means we have been able to be outside more and jump on our trampoline. (And draw with chalk!)

Evangeline doing a flip~

Our Black Swallow-tail caterpillars have all turned into beautiful butterflies and flown away.

The garden is in full bloom and looking lovely.

These little hobbits found giant cabbages and eggplants in "Farmer Maggot's" (aka the Farmer's Market) crop.

Have you ever seen the likes of those cabbages and eggplants before? They are huge!

The heat has been turned up lately, with temperatures around 100, so now it is starting to feel more like a real Missouri summer! We do love the singing insects at night, as well as the fireflies on a sultry evening, and will miss them when they rest this fall.

Many blessings to you all.

Love ~ Marqueta

An Anne of Green Gables Birthday Tea

Dear Friends,

For Tasha's birthday yesterday we hosted an "Anne of Green Gables" tea party with a friend of ours.
It would have been wonderful to have had you there as well, but, since you weren't, allow us to show you what we did in pictures. . .

For the centre piece there was a freshly gathered bouquet of Queen Anne's Lace blossoms--so perfect for the occasion!

 Tasha setting the silverware before we began.

 There were many delicious things to eat that we mentioned in the Anne books including:

 "Anne Shirley’s 'Unpoetical' Sandwiches"

"The girls sat down by the roots and did full justice to Anne’s dainties, even the unpoetical sandwiches being greatly appreciated by hearty, unspoiled appetites sharpened by all the fresh air and exercise they had enjoyed."— Anne of Avonlea

Plain old cherries.

And plain old peaches. 

"Susan Baker's Monkey Face Cookies"

"In a very brief time everything had changed. Walter was in bed, warm, fed, comforted. Susan had whisked on a fire, got him a hot cup of milk, a slice of golden-brown toast and a big plateful of his favourite “monkey face” cookies..." —Anne of Ingleside

More "Unpoetical Sandwiches".

"Diana Barry’s Splendid Lettuce Salad"

“Oh, Anne, mayn’t I help you cook the dinner?” implored Diana. “You know I can make splendid lettuce salad.” — Anne of Avonlea

In the back of the plate can be seen a good-for-you "Anne Shirley's Lady Fingers:"

  "I’m going to have the daintiest things possible. . . things that will match the spring, you understand. . .little jelly tarts and lady fingers, and drop cookies frosted with pink and yellow icing. . ."

— Anne of Avonlea

(What we really ate were coconut-date rolls)

And now here we are going to the party. . .

As a present, our friend brought another bouquet of other beautiful flowers!

 

Hyrum stole a lot of attention with his adorable looks and handsome overalls.

We all donned tea party hats—fancy and un-fancy alike—which added to the party.

After we were finished with the tea, Audrey gave us recitation of "Music" by Percy Bysshe Shelly:

 

"MUSIC, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory;
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.

 

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heap'd for the beloved's bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on."

Our hostess "Anne". . .with almost the hair colour that she wanted. :)

It was such a lovely party and we did have a splendid time.

Thank you for stopping by and enjoying our tea party through the pictures.

Blessings,
Marqueta (. . .and Tasha, who write this post!)

Birthday Wishes to Miss Tasha

 Dear Friends,

Today is the 13th birthday of our precious Tasha, lover of turtles, Anne of Green Gables, the Gothard Sisters, and living each day to its fullest!

Evangeline decorated the parlor and made decorations for Tasha's special day~

We showered Tasha with gifts from the heart; she received a total of 6 journals (ask and ye shall receive. . . )!

Every child holds a special place in the family, and we are grateful for the spirit that they all bring to our home. May the Lord continue blessing you, Tasha, with health, strength, and joy.

Love,

Marqueta

Celebrating Summer

 Dear Friends,

It's been a peaceful Sunday at home. I had a few hours to myself (with Hyrum) while Mr. Graham took the children to his father's house for dinner, and it was lovely just meditating on the many blessings of life.

Our lone hollyhock is finally blooming; hopefully it will have lots of babies, and come back year after year like the ones we had in Idaho!

 I put together this bouquet of all-white flowers for the pulpit at church. I try to have fresh flowers at church every week, since I love the spirit they bring. All these flowers were blooming next to each other, so I thought I would just put them "as is" in the vase. They are are froth of Philadelphia fleabane, Hedge Parsley, and Queen Anne's Lace.

Our hostas are putting out their blooms, which are the perfect mixture of purple and white.

My yarrow plants started blooming while we were gone, and they've grown quite tall! My mother had lots of tall yellow yarrow she didn't want, so I brought lots of it home to dry. Dr. John R. Christopher taught that washing one's hair three times a week with yarrow tea would bring back one's natural color after it goes gray, so I thought I would try an experiment with it since there are "silver threads among the gold." I'll have to let you know how it goes!

 This cardinal family regularly partakes of the seeds we faithfully put out for them each day. The father (whom we dubbed "Cardinal Bentfeather") is molting at present, and looks rather like a reverse turkey buzzard!

Hyrum is loving being back home again, where he can be a dirty little pig and not get called "Mud" by Grandma. :)

"Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."

                                                 ~Henry James

May you be richly blessed as you begin this new week.

Love,

Marqueta

A Road Trip and a Birthday

Dear friends,
 
We've just returned from taking a family trip (minus Mr. Graham, who had to work) to Idaho, where we stayed with my mother. We started out with temperatures of 92 degrees, and ended up in the 50s in Cheyenne, WY the first day. It was quite a shock to the system! Thankfully, on the way back the weather was very nice, and it was only in the 70s for the first couple of days back in Missouri, so it was easier on our bodies.

In Idaho, we visited with beloved Uncles and Aunts, and were able to spend the week with a favorite cousin, too. Another cousin was married, and it was wonderful to be able to be there to support her in this momentous event.

(This photo was taken as we were saying our last goodbye, so Evangeline doesn't look too happy!)

On the eleventh of June, before the trip, we celebrated the fifteenth birthday of dear Audrey (who is in love with England and New Zealand at present, and so received many gifts pertaining to both). Another girl who is getting just way too big! What a blessing it is to be the mother of each child, and to be able to see them grow and develop into the people that God intends them to be.

Now that we are home we have our work cut out for us, cleaning up after the three floods that have occured in our basement this spring and summer (don't ask!), as well as the jumble of sawdust-covered kithenware that is a byproduct of one of the floods. We are doing dishes outside until our kitchen sink is fully functional, and living off sandwiches and cold cereal until the stove and oven are back on as well. You could say that when it rains, it pours! At least we'll have plenty of material for when we write our memoirs. :)

May your summer be a glorious one, and may the Lord bless you this day.

Love,

Marqueta