Because you asked...

Well, bread is rising and laundry is drying and dishes are soaking... so it is a good time to post some more pictures.  Today I want to answer some of your comments and questions.

The Calendar...

Here are more pictures from other months.  I love how Stephanie put it all together, the pictures were all taken when we were at Colonial Williamsburg except for December... which you may recognize as the tea room we girls visited.  This is the nicest of gifts!

Today is Elisabeth's actual birthday!

David my Hobbit

Matthew the adorable

Anna who is just like her mom at that age!

Faith aka Tigger

Tea time!

Other Questions

I find Mrs. Meyers products at the Wal Mart in town.  This was the first time I saw their Seasonal scent offered there (Pine for Christmas).   I also can purchase 7th Generation there and I often use their Lavender scented dish soap.  Since I do a lot of dishes by hand, this is one place I budget the money for pure products!

Yes, there is a George MacDonald book on my current reading list (on the sidebar).  A sweet friend sent me The Gentlewoman's Choice long ago!  I pulled it off the shelf to make certain it was placed in my current reading stack.  I'll start reading it in a few days.

I do still love Downton Abby.  There are a couple scenes in the first one or two episodes of the first season that one must overlook.  So far the only scenes perhaps not suitable to watch around children in the second season are war scenes (which, from what I have read about WWI, are actually quite tame).

Stephanie reminded me that part of the continuance of the first season into the second is that they all are paying for their bad decisions... very true!  Another thing... I thought the daughters quite unlikeable in the first season and I love how they are changing for the better (so far), especially as the war affects their lives.

I do still enjoy my Keurig machine very much, it is hard to believe I've had it over a year now (it was a Christmas gift).   However, we do not use it as our primary coffee pot even though it makes delicious coffee.  We still use regular ground coffee in the drip coffee maker for our morning coffee (I make enough that we each have two cups).

Keurig K-cups are rather expensive when not purchased on sale.  I look for sales and then use the Keurig when we want one cup of coffee in the afternoon as well as for unique items like seasonal coffees and the Cider cups.  Yum...   I also received K-cups as birthday and Christmas gifts... another yum.

Haven't read Gaudy Night but it is on my Amazon Wish List for future credit.  Will look up the Julie Klassen books!  I also love the Inspector Lewis shows on Masterpiece Mystery, which take place at Oxford.   Although it would make one think Oxford is the murder capitol of the world.  ;)

I have always had sinus "issues".  It comes with living in my part of the Midwest.  That's when a tropical island with low humidity... and temperatures which hover around 72 each day... and a beach... and yummy non-alcoholic drinks with little umbrellas... and gentle sunshine... all begin to sound really good.

For a long time I had a cartoon on my kitchen bulletin board of a woman at the beach stretched out in a lounge chair with an umbrella over her... and a bookshelf beside her on the sand.  Hubby told me, "That is SO you".  ;)