Baby Face Cookies

These baby face cookies began life as simple round cookies. Surprising what a little royal icing, food colouring and round sprinkles can do for a basic plain cookie. These were made for a baby shower.

What Goes Around

What goes around comes around, and in this case only three days later. I was repaid this morning for my good deed last Monday when I gave up my place on the bus (you can read about it in my October 5th post). Today I got on the bus only to discover that I'd forgotten my bus pass. I told the driver and began to place $5.00 in the farebox (as I had no change) but he stopped me, handing me a daypass saying "This should get you through the day." I thanked him profusely and mused on how quickly I experienced someone's kindess towards me after my own small act.

Autumn Trio

This is a very quick and simple project that will add a touch of autumn to your décor. I used three glass vases but any sort of clear containers would work. Mine are filled with small yellow leaves, twigs and plum tomatoes, but in fact anything that reflects the season could be used, such as small pinecones, acorns, maple keys or small red leaves like those from a burning bush, to name just a few. My preference is to go out and see what mature can provide. A blending of autumnal colours looks great together, and doesn’t have to cost a penny.

Nature

Nature

A Gift for Me

Something quite wonderful happened today. I was at my morning bus stop rather later than usual, waiting for the bus to take me to work, and two buses in a row went past without stopping because they were packed full. Nothing unusual about that. After a time a third bus arrived and I noticed that there were only a few spots left to stand, up near the driver. I was one of the fortunate ones who managed to get on. As I turned and glanced out the window I noticed a young woman pleading with the driver to let her on but he said he could not as the bus was filled to capacity and closed the door. It was obvious from the look of distress on her face and her body language that this was very upsetting for her. There was something about the expression on that face. I asked the bus driver to let me out so she could have my place, which he did. The young woman couldn’t believe what was happening and was very grateful, offering me thanks as she hopped aboard. The bus closed its doors and was off. It was such a tiny act on my part but it made me smile all the way to work because it had seemingly made such a difference to this young lady.

That would normally be the end of the story, but as it happened, I was standing at my stop waiting to catch my bus home that same day when a young woman approached asking if this was the Albert and Bay stop. I answered in the affirmative. She thanked me, looked a little closer then gasped “You’re the woman from this morning, and now you’re helping me again!” She then proceeded to lavish me with thanks and compliments concerning my kindness and generosity going as far as to call me her angel. I indeed had made a huge difference. She was late for an exam but had made it on time. She continued to thank me and tell me how wonderful I was, how everyone on the bus had thought I was wonderful, how she had texted her friend to tell her how wonderful I was, and this stream of gratitude continued until her bus arrived and took her on her way. It was so great to confirm that my reading of her distress and then relief and thankfulness had been very real. And I felt wonderful all over again. What a lot of joy I received from doing something so small for someone else and that... was a gift for me.

Orange You Blue?

It all started last spring when I admired a wall in friend D.'s home (photo at top of this post). There was an orange lamp that made the wall, painted a beautiful shade of blue, pop! Or perhaps it was the other way around, the blue wall made the orange lamp pop. In any case... next thing I knew I was bowled over with a photograph of King Tut's pendant from the book Life and Death of a Pharaoh: Tutankhamen by Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt. I was struck once again by how striking these two colours are together. Shortly after that M. surprised me with a card for my birthday that contained the same colours. It seemed like I was being bombarded with this really attractive colour combination. So it wasn't surprising when I was shopping for sweaters for my youngest today and I came across this one from Italy. I wondered why we don't see more rooms decorated in these colours. Sure enough, as I flipped through the October 2010 issue of Style at Home magazine this evening, on p. 89 there it was... a gorgeous vignette using a blue table and artwork in these colours (last photo).

Teapot Cookies

Thought I'd give you a look at the cookies I made for a birthday tea. I had such a good time trying to make them look like blue and white chinaware. And I was pleased with the result and quite excited to bring them to the birthday. There’s rather a lot of icing involved, so they certainly aren’t a cookie you would want to consume every day. Nor would you want to eat many at one time. Much too sweet. But hopefully they are very sweet in the other sense of the word and everyone enjoyed them. I think they are pretty and were well suited to the tea theme. Happy Birthday D. and J.