Saturday, April 30, 2011

Beauty in a time of trouble


I'm still smiling thinking about yesterday's royal wedding and all the festivities.  There has been discussion on various TV news programs about the amount of money spent while the world is in a recession (albeit the Royal Family and the bride's parents paid for most of the cost).

I truly believe there are times when such lovely breaks in bad news are necessary, a million dollar version of purchasing flowers instead of bread when the soul needs a lift.  When all is done there will continue to be natural disasters, wars, governments falling and rising, the need for children's hospitals, and our terrible horrible ugly April weather we've been experiencing.


Speaking of weather and flowers... I made my way to our backyard with great apprehension yesterday.  The second azalea bush had just begun to bud last weekend but since then we have had very heavy winds, rain, and even a tornado warning.  How relieved I was to find the bush in full bloom and safe!  It is tucked up against the deck, which probably saved it.


The raspberry pink colored flowers are now in my kitchen and dining area.  As beautiful as the lilac azaleas had been, we really love this color.   The blooms don't last very long with our rather stormy springs but the few days we have them are so gorgeous they take a prominent place in our yard.



Miss M brought me Easter lilies for our dinner last week.  I also had a bouquet of lilacs from my friend Linda's back yard and tulips from mine (they are rather droopy now!).  Those were the only two tulips that bloomed this year.  There were also pure yellow daffodils displayed in my mother's favorite vase... the only remaining blooms from our backyard.

Today I need to get some housework accomplished, throw a couple loads of laundry in the machine, and clean the kitchen.  I was going to make a cake before my husband told me we were out of eggs.  I almost put the other ingredients away and then I remembered... somewhere in my recipe cards was a recipe for crazy cake (also known as Depression cake) which used vinegar instead of eggs.

Wallah!  A very nice chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream butter frosting (using some of the last of the butter from the freezer!).  The guys will love it, as I did the little piece I had to try (quality assurance you know).  ;)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I only got to see snipits of the ceremony yesterday. Beautiful. I was happy to hear that the butcher and several other merchants from her home town were invited to the wedding. I was surprised as other big names were not invited, yet I was very happy that she thought that people special to her should be there. Good for her! :) We are enjoying family and friends here and we are all bracing for the next round of price hikes. This week and gas prices about 200 miles away from us was into $6 a gallon, and I am in the United States. Here it is close to $4.75 a gallon. What does not change is that God is still on the throne and we are still his children. :) Sarah

moreofhim said...

I TOTALLY agree with you!! Sometimes it's so important to just treat ourselves to a bouquet of flowers (there are very modest priced ones out there now) or a cup of coffee from our favorite coffee shop. Since it's a treat, it makes it that much more special.

Your flowers are beautiful!! I'm heading out to my own yard today to cut some lilacs and iris as I looked out the window today to see them blooming! How exciting after such a hard winter. :)

Have a very blessed weekend. As always, your post and words just totally blessed me.

God bless you - Julie

Vee said...

That's an interesting way to look at it, Brenda. You may have a valid point. I was thinking that the economy of Britain must have taken a boost as the result of this wedding. I just learned that a local shop in my corner is featuring William and Kate souvenirs and they've been selling like hotcakes. I may have to go buy a mug myself. ;>

The forsythia is blooming here and next will be the azaleas. I see the buds are getting plump. Yours are very pretty and even though they don't last long, they do brighten a corner for a few hours. (I'm actually wondering if I've gone overboard by having four azalea bushes. They may not deserve the prime property they have given they bloom for such a few short days.)

Trisha said...

Yes, QA is so very important, and I like to tackle that hard job as well. :)

Your flowers are lovely! I splurged on some last week, and they are still bringing me joy.

Becky K. said...

I love that you "tested" your cake. My daughter is baking now for our Fellowship Meal at church tomorrow and she asked if it would be ok if she took a piece out to photograph. Her big brother informed her that no one was paying for the cake and they were blessed to be getting any...of course she could take a piece out.

I love hearing my kids converse.

Your flowers are so lovely. I don't bring enough of ours indoors. This was a pleasant reminder to do so.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of my mil's chocolate mayo cake...YUM!! When hubby's blood sugar drops again...maybe we can have some, made with xylitol instead of sugar.

We can hope we will not get more of these nasty storms...but with all that is going on in our world...well, we can at least pray hard that our loved ones and we are kept safe!!
Blessings, Elizabeth in NC

Linda - Behind My Red Door said...

i didn't plan on watching much of the wedding, but as I heard more and more how modern and in touch wiht the 'commoners' Kate and Willima have been and continue to be, I decided to have the TV on as I worked. I was so pleased to see and hear even more of that kind of tradition with this young couple. Good for them! And it was nice to know they were marrying for love too! All that goodness was a welcome break from the sadness, wasn't it?

I have the same color rhody's are your azalea's but they are weeks from blooming. Today when spreading the bark mulch in my garden, I noticed that my Mother's Day azalea with it's crimson red blooms is budding though - maybe it will blossom right on time!!

I have given a lot of prim stuff away in the last few years and last fall I donated boxes and boxes of household goods to the Salvation Army. Now I have a pile of prims to donate to a church tag sale. They can sell it and help others - a win win!! It feels good to do that, doesn't it?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!! HUGS!!

Carol said...

Sometime when you have time, would you mind posting the Depression cake recipe on your recipe blog? It sounds wonderful. (in MD)

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

I loved watching the wedding yesterday - it was lovely and since it was paid for privately, there should be little complaining - but we know people will anyway.
Reminds me of the time when we were in missions training and had a very old refrigerator. It had to be manually defrosted, etc, and we loved ice so we decided to buy a small bag every week for about $1.00. Another missionary found out and made a big deal about how we should have put that dollar into the deacons fund, instead of being so frivolous to buy ice with it!

Anyway - your flowers are lovely - tell your city boy to leave the wild violets alone! :)

I love being able to cut flowers and bring them into the house!

Deanna

Martina said...

Dear Brenda, did you know you can substitute eggs with applesauce also? One large spoon per egg. Hope it works for you should you ever be in this situation again!
Love, Martina

Mama Squirrel said...

Hey Brenda, I have an eggless chocolate cake recipe (not the "wacky" one) on my blog too. I'll put the link in my signature.

Anonymous said...

Please be aware, any kind of lily is poison for cats! We found out the hard way with a very sick kitty.

Friend Debra