It’s been quite a while since I played in the #Weekend Coffee Share but I’m so happy to be sitting down with you today and catching up.
If you’d stopped by yesterday, we most definitely would have sat out on the front porch – it was our first really warm bordering-on-hot Spring day. It’s cooler today, but there’s no holding Spring back now – almost all the trees are at least in some stage of budding if not outright leafing now, and yesterday the first of my lilies-of-the-valley started popping. Hopefully by mid-week they’ll be enough blooming so I can pick a small bouquet – I truly love their scent.
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that this has been a fairly strange atypical week. I managed to pull a muscle/pinch a nerve in my shoulder last weekend and was pretty much out of commission all week, as I was doing my best to keep my right arm immobilized. I found it easier to just give up and have an unscheduled online break, rather than trying to figure out how to navigate a keyboard without reinjuring myself. My plan paid off as I’m better now, but as a result I feel a bit behind in everything AND I’m feeling extra chatty. It must be all those backed up words I couldn’t type!
While we’re sipping our coffee, let me mention that today is Herb Day, always observed on the first Saturday in May, and it’s a celebration of herbs and all things herbal. Did you know that the International Herb Association has chosen Capsicum Peppers as the herb of the year for 2016?
One doesn’t often think of peppers as herbs, but a general definition is “a seed-producing annual, biennial, or perennial that does not develop persistent woody tissue but dies down at the end of a growing season; a plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, savory, or aromatic qualities.”
I usually reserve my limited gardening space for growing flowers and leave the veggie growing for my green-thumbed brother who generously shares his bounty, but I suspect I’ll be planting a pepper or two in honor of this year’s winner.
My mind certainly seems to be on the garden and all things flowery. It IS May so I’m not surprised. I had been considering blogging a Merry Month of May abecedarium of flowers, but perhaps I’ll settle for a few scattered posts instead.
But I do have a few more floral things to share with you now. I participated in iHanna’s DIY postcard swap, and this week it was time to send our ten postcards winging their way around the world. I sent mine out under the auspices of House of Good Fortune – I eat the cookies for you! That’s just fair warning that I’m a collector and not above including cookie fortunes in almost everything. Here’s one of the cards I sent out.
I’d also let you page through the latest issue of Flow magazine, the gem from the Netherlands dedicated to the love of all things paper. Admittedly the subscription was an indulgence, but I never regret it any time an issue shows up in my mailbox to delight me. Each issue contains a few papery treats, and among them this time are some pull out cardstock-weight flower prints. I’ve taken a photo of one of my favorites, and on it I’ve place a fabulous new brooch I purchased. Well it’s not new, it’s actually a treasure from the 1940s – a lovely reverse carved clear lucite pin with white flowers. Isn’t it wonderful?
Now that I’ve let you peek into my week, what about you? What are you celebrating? What treasure is making you smile? Share my belief that there can never be too many flowers? Have a favorite Spring flower? Do tell – you know I love to hear.
Hey Deborah!
Happy Herb Day and I really hope your shoulder is feeling better soon!
Nice having coffee with you. 🙂
Mary
Thanks for the good wishes Mary. I suspect you have a thing or two to share about herbs. 🙂
Happy Herb Day to you! I certainly learned something new today about peppers. Thanks for sharing. Nice having coffee with you.
Lovely having coffee with you as well Vernette – thanks for stopping by. And have a most wonderful week!
The broach is beautiful.
Thanks Connie – and I appreciate you stopping by. Wishing you a wonderful weekend.
Isn’t spring the bomb-diggity? I love it. It breathes new life into EVERYTHING! I love your fortune in the postcard. Simply lovely. Feel better soon and enjoy the season!
I so agree Michelle – I just want to breathe more and more of the Spring refresh into me, filling myself up so I can carry it forward throughout the rest of the year. YES!
I just had my second cup of coffee while reading your post! I would have enjoyed a Merry Month of May abecedarium of flowers because I’m not that great at IDing flowers but would like to be. However, I did enjoy your chatty mood. The only 2 herbs I have growing are basil and rosemary and I invariably forget to go out and pick them. They smell so good, though. Flow magazine looks pretty dreamy.
It makes me smile thinking of you sipping your java and reading my post. If you were here we’d definitely sit out on the porch even in the rain. Basil and rosemary are wonderful herbs to grow for their scent. I’ve got lots of mint out by the back gate, and with the path so narrow back there it’s easy to brush against it. Always makes the walk fragrant.
Oh, a garden sounds lovely! I have the un-green-est thumbs you can imagine but I always wished for a pretty garden
Here’s hoping you get to visit lots of pretty gardens Marilyn – and have all the enjoyment without any of the weeding. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely weekend.
Oooh Happy Herb Day! On my way to the bank today I noticed a “garden sale” sign. Pulled over and had a lovely chat with some very helpful ladies. I needed to fill a spot in a sunny part of my garden and they all suggested Bears Breeches. Ok. I bought one. Just learned now that they prefer partial shade apparently. Oh well. I’ll plant it and see how it does. Also bought two tomato plants. We are rather farther ahead that you in the season, I’m thinking. Our daffs and tulips are done and all the trees are lovely and green with leaves.
Isn’t Bear’s Breeches a fun name? Although I can quite see why they’re called that. Hopefully yours will thrive wherever you put it. They’re lovely and long lasting if you cut them and add them to a bouquet as well.
I love the post card. I save fortunes too. I don’t think I would have thought of putting them on a card. I sometimes use them for writing prompts, though. I like your idea. I also like the idea of the post card exchange. How fun!
How fun to meet another fortune collector. May yours always fill you with a sense of delight! Thanks for stopping by Corina – and have a lovely week.
First, I love the smiling tea cup at the top of your post. It looks so vintage. I am surprised to hear that the pepper is considered an herb! I do love the taste no matter what. I have my own little herb garden out back but it is filled with dill and basil and oregano, no peppers. I am fortunate that my son works part time at a local farmers market and brings me home what ever is in season. Right now we are enjoying fresh picked strawberries. Yum!
Your pin is lovely. Isn’t it fun to search for jewelry at flea markets and yard sales? You never know what treasures you might find. Where did you find the pin?
Oh how great Nancy that you get the benefits of your local farmer’s market and get to season it all from your herb garden – nice! Yum on the strawberries indeed.
My little tea cup is part of a salt and pepper shaker set and is one of my favorite vintage find. I usually go for the anthropomorphic fruit and veggie shakers, but I couldn’t resist this cup and it’s teapot salt shaker companion. Flea markets and second-hand stores are such fun to explore – you never know when a treasure will show up. Thanks for stopping by to say hello, and wishing you a wonderful week.
I didn’t reized that peppers were the 2016 herb of the year. I did know it is classified as a herb. Sorry about your shoulder damage and happy it is healing. Iblike flowers very much especially natve American plants. I remember oundly the May1st basket we left on door steps of friends.
Thanks for the kind wishes and for stopping by to say hi! I’d love to see the May Day basket tradition rekindled – I think we all could use more flowers in our lives.
Glad your shoulder is feeling better. I fully agree about the flowers. It makes me smile to see all the flowers popping up. I am not a winter person.
Here’s to lots of blooms brightening our days!
I have planted vegetables for the first time – well, planted something besides peppers. I wanted to grow green beans, but haven’t had much luck germinating the seeds (apparently, I’m not the only one according to the local plant store) – but they take up so much room anyway. So – we’ll see if I have anything to harvest – and even if I don’t – I’ve learned a lot by researching (as a granddaughter of a farmer and my parents growing everything too – you think I would have absorbed some knowledge!) I also have worked on a private garden outside my studio doors, planted bulbs, azaleas, and cleaned out a lot of much. Have a little patio my husband built – with an umbrella, small table and chairs. I’m considering putting the croquet game from my childhood out there – and getting some bird feeders too!
Oh Vickie your space sounds absolutely fabulous! I hope you get to harvest some beans, but if not, it’s still a joy to garden isn’t it?