WHEN IS QUEEN ANNE'S LACE A CARROT?

Did you know that Queen Anne's Lace is said to have been named after Queen Anne of England, who was an expert lace maker. The story goes that she pricked her finger on the blossom, a single drop of blood fell onto the lace, leaving the dark purple floret, that is found on the flower's center.  

Driving on very dusty, rural roads, when I happen to see Queen Anne's Lace gracefully dancing along the side of the road,  I pull over, cut bouquets of this favorite delicate flower. Hmmmm many think of it as a weed. I beg to differ.  More recently 

I ran across an article claiming that Queen Anne's Lace is related to the carrot.

I like to imagine, if I had plucked out the roots along with the flower and its stem, I would have found a plump carrot dangling from its end!

(a blue and cream Swedish Dalarna Horse pitcher)

In our smallish town of Matthews, we have a great Saturday Market.  Loads of fun stuff: French pastries to pottery;  starter plants to bouquets of fresh cut flowers in Mason jars half filled with water; every day, ordinary veggies, to the "exotic" varieties.  

 The Matthew's Market is where I saw my first colorful, rainbow hued carrots.  I was quite smitten.

Not too concerned as to how they would taste, I was eager to whisk them off to take photos. 

Spending several days photographing, the poor things grew quite limp and soft.

I was quite curious about carrots that looked like they had tumbled from a rainbow, must taste! 
Due to the hours of photography, the carrots became a bit pale and limp! Nevertheless, I scrubbed them and cut some up for tasting.  Yuck! first bites, I wasn't immediately sure what I thought.  They didn't taste ORANGE.  They were.......Well, I decided I better buy fresh ones before I came to any hasty conclusions.

I  decided to brush up on the history of today's "modern" carrot...you know, as in, Carrot-Genealogy? I headed for Google: I quickly learned that these colorful carrots are NOW officially known as
Heirloom Carrots. 

Further rummaging around Google, I discovered the WORLD CARROT MUSEUM.

 You got to be kidding, a real museum....dedicated to carrots.  Who knew?
Pretty interesting where a bit of curiosity and reading can take you.  Soon I had a new found respect for carrots of all stripes, colors and sizes, limp or not. 

The Carrot Museum is located in  
the UK, but a smaller museum, just for fun, in Belgium.

If you are really curious about the emergence of ORANGE carrots, well any color carrot, 

here is a link.  

Just to give you a heads up, the article is quiet interesting and colorful but it is also LONG and detailed. 

Grab a few facts, invite guests to dinner, prepare carrot soup and carrot-nut-raisin muffins and casually insert a bit of genealogy to impress your guests. 

Hey you might even entertain writing a cookbook...
Carrots One Thousand Ways or Less.  

           

Thanks for visiting and may you never look at the lowly carrot the same way again.  Sharon

WHEW, NEARLY MISSED IT !

Four hours until Easter. 

If I don't make too many typo's this will get "published" before midnight.

This has been a great week. (In another post I will share our visit to Roanoke, VA.  A very fun town to visit, especially when meeting one's daughter. Yep, overnight stay, amazing food, shopping and the most amazing and FAMOUS salvage store ever.

Will share that soon.)

Yesterday, made another trip to garden shop and bought amazing PINK geraniums and more lavender plants.  Just had to poke a few E.E in them.

Last years lavender didn't make it. Sad.  I have a friend who planted her entire front lawn in small sprigs of lavender. A test of patience and strong back. Within a few years, she had a Provence Field of Lavender. Can you imagine walking up to her front door, in knee high lavender?????

While I am out in the yard, one more short story.

 While attempting to HOIST upright a very large outdoor umbrella, unexpectedly, a huge bird nest tumbled out, landing on my head! 

( Fortunately, no tiny bird eggs.) Haven't a clue how Mrs. Bird, built it while umbrella is prostrate on the cement patio floor!  

Being a collector of empty NESTS, I was thrilled, despite the debris in my hair. Perhaps it is apropos, my hair does somewhat resemble a bird's nest. 

A treasure trove always lies inside a vacated nest.  This one had cellophane candy wrappers.  Receipt. Laundry lint. Berries and sticks. Skeleton leaves. 

Paying homage to the mother bird who built this abode.

Despite being large, it is now fragile after landing on my head. It cautiously rests in a pottery pot, with a "fake" egg tucked inside. 

FINALLY I made time to do some spring-y, Easter-y sketches. 

If you read the last post, you know that I was berating myself for not filling a sketchbook before starting another.

OKAY, made a good start.  

Hong Kong has many parks, but a real favorite is the Bird Park, where men stroll the grounds with their "pet" bird in a beautiful cage or a simple bamboo. (Rather like going out for ice cream or a coffee with friends.) The men linger and mingle the afternoon away, discussing the merits of one's bird.  A bit of a competitive air.

 No Chocolate bunnies for us this year. Mr. H and I are by ourselves for the first time ever in our marriage at Easter.  I guess that is one reason why I managed the sketches this week. smile. 

Treated myself to three small grocery store bouquets of flowers.

You can tell I was excited by them as they are in many of my photos!

 In Roanoke I saw this large, enamel mug. I loved the words. Six dollars well spent. I didn't think about the fact that I can't use it in the microwave. Oh, well it makes a great vase, or paintbrush holder.

Bavarian papier mache eggs.  

Decades ago, (wow that sounds old), I had opportunities to travel to German speaking countries. Besides everything else, I fell in love with the authentic Bavarian folk painting...Easter...Christmas...Spring...

each season has its own quaint and colorful look. 

The photo below shows a few of our eggs. They nestle inside one another. Lace-like doilies separate the eggs. The interior has delicately printed paper that indicates where it was made...

The small bowl is my attempt at paper-clay sculpting.

So that's about it.

If you have stayed with me to the end, I want to share a fun website.

No doubt many of you will be aware of it, but if you aren't and you love all things French.  French sketches. French pastry. French open markets. French flair.  Then this is for you.

PARIS BREAKFASTS is written by the very talented Carole Gillott.

You can even subscribe to her Paris Letters and bi-monthly received a beautiful, large, watercolor from Paris. I will share photos of mine if someone reminds me!

Click here..

You will see her post I enjoyed today, via email (you can subscribe to email/no cost.) I love the last photo in her posting...my all time favorite spring blossom, which you never see in the south.

LILAC

And with that, I say adieu, have a beautiful April. 

And for those who celebrate Easter, a prayer for Peace in this struggling world.  Actually whether you celebrate Easter or not. 

smiles: Sharon

Sugar and Vitamin C

What did you do in December when family and friends gathered around?

Some go to movies, some go out to eat, others it is shopping, and I imagine that there are those who go for manicures and such delights.

What did we do?  

WE CREATED BIG MESSES !!!

For example, four kiddos and one Grandpa, making MARSHMALLOWS.

Have you ever prepared "homemade" marshmallows? Let's say that the fun part is licking the spoons, as opposed to washing the pan.

Then there is...

Finding an area conducive to FORMING and EMBELLISHING the set marshmallow (it takes at least 6 hours!) was next. Plastic table cloth, move chairs with cushions AWAY, set out plates of powdered cocoa, sprinkles, mint chips, powdered sugar, cookie cutters...nothing MESSY, mind you. 

We started out nice and tidy...??  No dustings of powder sugar on noses and such.

 The marshmallow, after resting in a pan, forms a soft, yummy sheet of mallow heaven.

Squeeeeeez the cookie cutters to maximize number of marshmallows...yes, they got to keep what they made. This became a serious, almost mathematical, equation. 

Okay things are getting interesting...flip flop one's marshmallow into "topping" of choice. Of course one little boy who will remain nameless, THREW, with his baseball arm, his marshmallows into the powdered cocoa...coating everyone and everything with brown freckles.

Creations go into plastic sacks...

No that isn't MUD on her hands,  just a creative mix of cocoa and powder sugar with sprinkles stuck into the mix. 

And on one's face.  

She promises she didn't lick anything !!!

Messy it is, but so much fun licking fingers coated with sprinkles, mint chips and powder sugar.

YUM.

And that is where VITAMIN C comes into the story.

A few days later we visited our local Asian Market...

Upon entering, there was a huge wooden bin of oranges. A sign made note that these oranges were sold with attached leaves!!!

Brilliant orange with glossy green leaves, bumpy skin, and a name I can't spell.

We filled a bag with the oranges with the prettiest leaves.

Chinese New Year is approaching very soon. This year it is the Rooster's turn.  

We were redeemed, after all that sugary fun, we could indulge in VITAMIN C.

And yes the oranges were delicious, in fact SUPER SWEET !!!

WELCOME TO 2017, or YEAR OF THE ROOSTER.

May this particular year bring you inner happiness, connectedness with others and those experiences that bring you contentment and joy. 

And may we in America be aware of those with less,  being supportive of their needs. 

And seek freedom from tyranny about the World. 

smiles: sharon

Welcome to My Sketchbook

It occurred to me, that I hadn't shared some of my sketches of India, nor many of my photos. Seems like it might be a return journey I would enjoy: sharing photos, especially of the tea plantations and sketches of the elephants. An Elephant Journal has a nice ring to it. Yes, dear friends, help me remember to do this very soon.

For you a few sketches very simply done with watercolor, brush and Micron pen.

If we are not living an optimistic life then what is there?

                                                                               Veer Bhadra Mishra

Namaste....may these few sketches brighten your minutes: Sharon