Cinderella

I have this little glass slipper sitting in my kitchen window.  (Amber hobnail glass, made by Fenton.) It once belonged to my grandmother.  It always makes me think of one of my favorite stories: Cinderella.   An ordinary girl meets a Prince, they fall in love, overcome all obstacles, get married and live happily ever after.    I do love a good fairytale!  Don't you?

These pictures are from a favorite childhood book of fairytales: "In Fairy Land",  Brimax Books, published nearly 50 years ago.  The illustrator is identified only by initials F.K.  (You can tell it got read a lot... dog eared corners and pages that are falling right out of the binding.)

When I think of Cinderella, and the beautiful dress made by her Fairy-Godmother, this girl in gold, with pearls woven through her hair is what immediately comes to my mind.  (Not the Disney version.)

Speaking of gowns and shoes, a few weeks ago, my best friend and I went to see the Princess Diana exhibit. (I'm on the right.)

 Diana's wedding gown, train and slippers were more detailed that you can see in photos.  Really amazing.  Loads of tiny sequins and tiny seed pearls.  That was truly a fairy tale wedding, but didn't have a happy ending.

These 3 pictures  ( Diana's clothes and Will and Kate) were borrowed from the web.  

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the exhibit.

We are about to witness another real live Cinderella story.  An ordinary girl (Kate) met a Prince at college (William), they fell in love,  worked out a few difficulties, and are getting married on Friday.  I hope with all my heart that they have a happy life together.  I'm excited to see Kate's gown and shoes and will be getting up early on Friday to watch on tv.  How 'bout you?

Joining Vintage Thingie Thursday, hosted by The Colorado Lady

Eggs Of Every Hue

Yes, it's a bit messy.  But so worth it!

Eggs dyed in cups of hot water,  a tablespoon of vinegar and a few drops of food coloring. My kids loved making eggs of every hue by dipping into more than one pot.

P.S.  We will be eating quite a bit of  deviled egg, egg salad and potato salad (and anything else I can think of with boiled egg) in the next week.   Maybe I should send out the SOS for egg recipes now.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to you! 

Easter around my house.  Bunnies, eggs  and a posy pocket I purchased from Diane last year.

Lilacs And Violets

 My lilacs have burst into spectacular and fragrant bloom!

And the wild sweet violets have scattered themselves throughout the dappled shade.

Spring has painted the world with beauty!

*  *  *  *  *

A package arrived for me yesterday!

My Easter chick helped to unwrap all the pretty gifts!

Two cheery tea towels, whimsical spring garden platter, bright butterfly notecards, 

and delicious ginger lemon creme cookies.

I was the lucky winner of this sweet spring giveaway!

THANK YOU, Molly! 

I hope you will pop over to visit Molly's darling blog, birdie blue.

Nesting Hens

It's spring and the hens are nesting.

Closer to Easter they will start laying eggs. (The chocolate and jellybean variety.)

I am particularly fond of the slag glass.

Some of my hens have Mosser, Westmoreland, and Boyd marks.  Others have no mark at all.  

Did you know there were over 50 glass companies that made nesting hens?  Hens were made in every color of the rainbow and in over 150 sizes and forms.  The very first pressed glass hen-on-nest was made in Germany, in 1895.  (None of mine are that old.)

This chart, borrowed from  Shirley Smith's research on glass hens, shows some of the differences in the hens and  how they are identified.    If you collect hens, it's a great site to visit.

This page on Fenton Hens will also help the collector identify

the wonderfully varied features of nesting hens.

Close-up on the vintage embroidered tablecloth.  

(I collect those too, but that will have to wait for another post.)

Today I'm linking to Vintage Thingie Thursday.  Thanks to our hostess,  The Colorado Lady.

Triple Lemon Tea Cake

I have been baking.

I had a big supply of lemons, and my friend was coming over for tea, 

 so I made delicious Triple Lemon Tea Cakes.

TRIPLE LEMON TEA CAKE
8 Ounces (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter  (room temperature)
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
1/3 Cup Lemon Zest 
4 Large Eggs (room temperature)
3 Cups Unbleached All Purpose Four
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice (fresh squeezed)
3/4 Cup Buttermilk (room temperature)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

For the Syrup
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice (fresh squeezed)

For the Frosting
2 Cups Powdered Sugar (sifted)
3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice (fresh squeezed)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour two 8.5" X 4.5" loaf pans. 

Cream the sugar, lemon zest and  butter.  Beat in one egg at a time. 

In a separate bowl, sift  the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In another bowl, combine the lemon juice,  buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter.


Pour into two pans.
 
Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes.   


Make syrup-  mix sugar and lemon juice.


Remove cakes from pans and turn upside down on wire rack.  Poke holes half way through bottom of cakes with a toothpick. Ladle half of the syrup over the the cakes and let it soak in.  Turn cakes over, poke holes into the top and ladle on the remaining half of the syrup, allowing it to soak down into the cakes.  Let cool completely.


Make glaze-frosting- Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice to make a glaze.  Drizzle over the tops of the cakes and down the sides.   Allow to sit at room temperature until it crusts. 


Slice and serve. 


Notes:
You can substitute regular salt for the kosher salt. 
This is a lovely moist cake.  It tastes delicious served with fresh berries.
Wrap in wax paper and plastic wrap to store unused portion in refrigerator.    

Easter is fast approaching, and little bunnies have started making an appearance around the house. 

We have enjoyed drinking fresh lemonade.

We shared our box of lemons with our college daughter and a friend.

(They were home for the weekend.)

And now the lemons are all gone.  Boy, were they delicious!

***

Depression glass pitcher- "Iris", Jeannette Glass Co.

Glass plates- "American",  Fostoria Glass

Lemons From Jenny

Would you just look at this basket full of happy lemony sunshine! 

Jenny must have had extras from her lemon giveaway last week,

 because these arrived on my doorstep today, 

with a note to pucker up and enjoy!

You betcha!!

Yes, an entire box full of lemons! 

They're bigger than my hand!

I love anything having to do with lemons:

Lemon pie, lemon bars, lemonade, lemon curd and lemon tea.

I clean my garbage disposal with lemon peel. 

I swear that smelling a lemon makes me feel happy.

Golly, just looking at a lemon makes me happy.

Jenny, thank you so much!

 You really could not have sent these to a more appreciative lemon-enthusiast.

I'm getting ready to make fresh squeezed lemonade right now, so c'mon over.

And for dinner we might be having
lemon chicken,
with lemon dressing on our salad, 

and lemon zest on our green beans,
and lemon cake
with lemon glaze,
and lemon....

PS- And a sweet little 2 year old gave me the daffodils this morning! Two beautiful yellow surprises in one day.    Life is good.

Joining: Favorite Things  with Laurie

The Doll That Started It All

This is the doll that started it all.

The little red-headed imp, Sherrie.

A card from my grandma, when I was about 9 years old,  

was the beginning of my love of paper dolls.   

She came with such cute clothes!  

And as the months and years went by, I drew a whole wardrobe for her.

A favorite toy.

Much loved, to this day.

Joining:  Favorite Things hosted by Laurie

Happy April! - Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady

Happy first day of April!

Earlier today I was reading the post of a fellow blogger  (Selep Imaging) who talked about finding some amazing china dishes at an antique store.  I took a look and recognized them immediately as Edith Holden, aka the nature journalist of  "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady".   I'm a huge fan of her artwork,  and have the Diary, and several companion books here.

But until today I had no idea that there was china!!  (Have I been living in a cave?)   I looked it up and found not one, but two types of china bearing the Country Diary name:  Caverswall and Noritake.  They are both wonderful!

Caverswall  pieces:

 Noritake pieces:

Which ones do you like best?

I think I feel another collection coming on.