tea time

This is a picture from yesterday's afternoon tea moment inspired by Dawn's tea posts. The muffins started out as the usual banana-chocolate chip and ended up the results of a pantry rummage as supplies ran low.  These mini muffins became an experiment of banana-butterscotch and cranberry.  Strange, but yummy, especially the butterscotch chips.

But what I really wanted to show off was the mug.  I have been keeping my eyes peeled for new mugs for the last year or so and was beginning to despair that I would never find anything in my price range which is "reduced".  

But on a recent trip home to PA, we made a trip into Pier 1 and found one of these in blue on clearance, the only one left.  Since my goal was to buy enough mugs for our home, we picked a set of four in a different style mug and I bought the single one for me.

After we came home, I started using mine and loved it.  On a whim, I checked Pier 1's website and found that it came in four different colors: blue, green, red and orange.  My next trip into town, I went to our local Pier 1 and found all the other colors(minus the blue) on clearance too, so I bought some more in green and red.  I love them all!  The bottom has a detachable rubber ring which is perfect for my needs and it holds just the right amount of liquid.  

It has been a long time since I bought something for my kitchen that I just adore and it feels so nice to have something pretty for not a lot of money.

life beyond the view

Each morning as I get up with the kids, this is the view that greets me as I lift the shades and wait for the sun to light up this corner of creation. The large oak tree casting its long shadow across the lush green grass. The trees budding and leafing along the river that moves and flows and captures the changing colors of the sky. The air is filled with flapping birds, flying back and forth among the trees, singing and calling to each other and no one in particular. The black and grey squirrels scamper around, up one tree and down the other side, across the top of our fence and into our neighbor's yard. Today, hundreds of butterflies are zipping and fluttering right past our noses and our nets. We are playing catch and release today since we need only one for our growing specimen collection.
It is a wonderful world that we live in and I am so thankful for this place we can call home.