Oooh and one more thing--

I forgot to let NG know how delighted I was at her including me amongst several other "brilliant bloggers" as one of her selections for Thinking Blogger Award. I am indeed honored to be among her selections. I know I am supposed to list five that inspire me, but I couldn't pick just five, there are so many places I travel daily in cyberspace that make me think, and excite and inspire me. It is the most wonderful community--the world! I will add one site, not a blog site, that never fails to make me think. Quite a departure from the world of beauty and garden and home delights that I usually post about, but this is truly a "thinking" site and very controversial also. The Edge has so many interesting and provocative ideas that help me keep my mind open and to truly "think" about things differently and try new ideas on for size. It may not be for everyone, but when I was challenged to pick a site that makes me think, this one came immediately to mind. I try to keep a balance of serious thinking and creative pleasure in my life, this shows a more serious side of me, (but not too serious!). Steven Pinker's articles are particularly interesting to me as I ponder life's mysteries.

Now to bring this back to the beauty of the world, be sure to click on the gorgeous anemone
at the top of the website and explore the breathtaking beauty of Katinka Matson's images, artfully arranged and presented to transport you inside the beauty that exists around us all the time.

Azalea Garden Tour-- Wilmington, NC

Two of the three days were nice, but Sunday got rained out I think. Fortunately, we spent the whole day on Friday getting lots and lots of pictures with lots and lots of gardening ideas! The gardens were very nice with beauty and hard work evident at each location. From the grand and majestic to the delightful treasures of a tiny garden with lots of surprises. Toured with two friends and their adorable dog and had a lovely time. Did manage to bake cookies for the ribbon cutting and made an extra batch for my daughter.

Also took hundreds of pictures and they all can be seen in the separate photobucket album here.

Wedding Marathon

Just recovering from a three day wedding marathon that was really wonderful. If I am the least bit tired, I can't imagine how the primary participants are feeling. The wedding events began (for me at least) this past Friday with a bridal shower, then the rehearsal dinner that night, then next day, the actual wedding and spectacular reception was quite an experience. I think it was the most elegant wedding I have attended, just beautiful. Then on Sunday, the bookclub gals (I am one of eight of us) provided food for Easter Brunch for what seemed like 200 people. We never did count them. The setting was absolutely gorgeous in the backyard of bride's parents, one of the most beautiful gardens here! I got up at 6:00 a.m. and made about 150 ham biscuits as my contribution, it was so much fun working with my book club friends. Now a brief rest for this upcoming week's event, the Wilmington Azalea Festival. I will enjoy seeing the garden tour with friends this Friday and will need to make cookies for the ribbon-cutting for the event. The Azalea Festival is a major event here in Wilmington, NC and the garden tour that comprises one of the events during the weekend is the main fundraiser for the Cape Fear Garden Club. Lots of money is raised that goes into beautification grants for many organizations throughout the city. I am proud to be a member of this garden club.

So much in common!

I truly do have so many hobbies, I just am scattered everywhere. I also never know what I want to post on this blog, but I have blogs of friends that I visit often and sometimes one or more of them jogs something into my head that I want to follow up on. Too bad there is no way to have a community discussion on some of the blog postings where you can share pictures, etc. I do often comment, but want to take it further. For example, I just visited Nature Girl's blog and see that she has just posted photos showing her beautiful pansies pressed from last year and it reminded me that I had recently had my bag of dried/pressed flowers out and they looked so pretty. They were just laying on my cutting table so I took some pictures (photos were dated March 18th). I love saving some of my flowers this way, and do dry them (in fact my phone books (old ones) have these bits amongst all the pages.) I had dried these last year as well, most using the microwave, silica gel method.
For a great rundown of all the methods, check HERE
I have stuck a few on cards and gift tags, but am always looking for unique ways to use these dried flowers. For example, in the photo collage, you will see a plastic cup where I decoupaged some around the edge. I was making a dinner "to go" for a friend who has been looking after her pregnant daughter-in-law who has been bedridden since last December hoping to bring the baby to term (so far so good, I think baby is due in April or May). Anyway, my friend needed a break from cooking all the meals so I thought I would help out. I wanted also for her not to have to return any dishes, etc. I decided to make Rachel Ray's Chocolate cup dessert which I have made before and love since it is soooooo easy! Then I thought, maybe I could use plastic cups to put the dessert into, but wanted to jazz them up. What you see in the picture is an attempt, made but abandoned, since I couldn't wait for glue to dry and wasn't sure how it would look. I ended up just covered the desserts with plastic wrap and tying with rafia. Sooo, long story short, thanks Nature Girl for helping me to come up with another posting stimulated by you!