It’s May, it’s May, that Lusty Month of May! Hi Girls. I promised, if you asked, I would give you the recipe for Blueberry Angel Cake sooner rather than later, and you asked! So, here it is! Happy May Day! You deserve it, you’ve been sooooo good. ♥ I have much love for you! Your comments are amazing! xoxo
Easy, wonderful cake . . . ENJOY!
In honor of May Day, I’m going to let our Giveaway (scroll down to the post just following this one if you missed it) continue a few more days, to make sure everyone has a chance to sign up. If 
you already did, you don’t have to leave another comment because you are already entered, but you can if you want because Vanna is not only beautiful but smart . . . she knows to choose from only one of each comment, which means you can talk all you want. And I thought I’d sweeten the pot just a wee bit to celebrate May! Someone is going to win BOTH my SUMMER and GIRLFRIEND’S Books, and in addition, we’ll draw one more name, for this:
It’s my brand new (I forgot to tell you!) COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS, BOOK OF DAYS. Kellee called me yesterday to remind me that “the Blessings Book” came in during my months in the FINE ROMANCE tunnel and I just forgot to mention it. (Now that’s a tunnel!)
I designed this book and sent it in last year, just before we sailed away to England — another lifetime ago!
I based it on my old DAYS BOOK (which is out of print now) — so it can be used as a Journal, a Birthday Book, or a Dream Book, but since we are such Blessing Counters around here ♥, I thought it would be a wonderful place to jot down the best things of each day, what we learned, and words of wisdom, so those memories last forever, and can even be passed down to people we love. If you’re not already entered for the other two books, just leave a comment at the bottom of this post, and we’ll draw for both prizes at the same time.
It’s the little things that make up a lifetime — we’ll take care of the minutes and the years will take care of themselves. ♥
Here’s a minute: Our tulips are in bloom! Blessing. ✔ Check!
Not all of us are experiencing bowers of flowers right now — and washing in snow, fair maid or not, is not quite the same as “washing in dew!” There are still snowstorms out there! So, this is for you, all of you really, if you run to your door, you might (If I had my way) find one of these hanging on your door knob, from me to you with love, a bouquet in a wallpaper cone (from our dining room wallpaper). Such a sweet tradition, leaving garden flowers on friend’s doors. ♥ The red flower is from our quince bush, which is obviously celebrating FLORA, the Goddess of Flowers, which has nothing whatever to do with Frosty, the god of snow! Go away Frosty!
This is what we want now!
May, Flowers, CAKE, and books, who could ask for anything more? The tiny frosting on the cake would be if you haven’t seen the movie featuring this Musica (playing right now if you clicked on it at the top of this post), you might want to put it on your list. FRIENDLY PERSUASION is a wonderful sweet old movie; it will make you cry, and you know how we love that.♥ XOXOX
Hello Susan,
Thank you so much for sharing all of your lovely Spring brightness in your corner of the world! I love the green grass, all of the flowering trees and fall bulbs that I planted are blooming! Everything looks so bright and new, it is my favorite season! So glad that you are out of hibernation and now be at the “light of the end of a long tunnel” and what a wonderful light it is! (however a most memorable tunnel)! It is 86 here in OH this afternoon and just a gorgeous day, birds are singing and sun is shining and I have thrown open all of our windows and doors and listening to our wind chimes right outside our back door. So Happy May Day to you and Joe and your kitties. Looking forward to “A Fine Romance”! Congratulations on a job well done!!
Hugs,
Candice
I’m so thrilled to know you have a new Days book. I have to tell you that my mother, who was a big fan of yours, had a Days book and one my birthday and my brothers’ birthdays for some years, she’d write some sweet things about each of us. She lost her mental abilities with dementia about 10 years ago, and my father in going through some of her books found her Days book. He gave each of us the page with our birthdays, and it is such a special and heart-touched thing to have from her. She passed away at the beginning of February, and I have my birthday page framed in my bedroom and have sweet thoughts of her!
How beautiful that she did that and you found it, her voice as it truly was. xoxo
Sitting down for a quiet moment in my day to catch up on your blog is such a treat! Thank you for continuing to share yourself with us. And thank you for the chance to win your beautiful handiwork. Have a wonderful May Day, Susan!
I will look forward to making this Blueberry Angel Cake. It looks delicious! Loved this blog and the one a few days ago. The colorful flowers do fill me with cheer too.
I’m excited about the “New book of Days, Counting our Blessings”. I love these books, with the spiral binding which makes them lay nice and flat so they are easy to write in. Plus they are filled with so much inspiration and beautiful art work and quotes etc. Thank you for thinking of us when you created this. I couldn’t live without my book of “Days”.
As for your “tunnel vision” it must have been required to finish the book, and now you’ll probably see things more clear and sharper than ever. I’ve certainly loved the photos you’ve been sharing with us, all that Spring in the garden. It’s so crystal clear I think I can almost smell the flowers too.
susan…you are such a blessing of a friend…even though we don’t really know each other or share two-way conversations. thanks for knowing my heart and what makes it sing. thanks for inspiring me with beauty and simplicity and creativity. thanks for taking me into your home, which feels warm and intimate and welcoming. your thoughts are such a wonderful part of the day when i receive them…i appreciate you!
heidi
ps. i can imagine your AG home is in beautiful bloom…my garden here in atascadero is just bursting with color and the hummingbirds are SOOOOO happy (unfortunately, so are the deer…)
We’ll get to see it in the fall — so looking forward to it! Thank you Heidi!
Hi Susan,
Thanks so much for the angel food cake recipe. It looks delicious! I can’t wait to make it….my husband can’t wait either. 🙂
Happy May Day,
Maureen
Oh, I wish I had a piece right now! Looks so yummy! Definitely going to make it! Thanks for the recipe and beautiful flowers.
The cake looks wonderful! Happy May Day!
Yum Yum ! I can’t wait to try this, I’m licking my lips now! I have a friend recovering from surgery, this will really hit the spot for her . Not too sweet or tart.
Saw the post from Sandra I will keep you and your family in my prayers. I’m so glad that Susan was able to lift your spirits 🙂
Jean in Ky
Such a glorious May Day! It’s beautiful and sunny and 68 out, and I logged into the website to fine Angel Food Blueberry Cake! YUM! This is what I’m making my mom for Mother’s Day dessert – Thank you, Susan!
Yum, the cake looks delicious, thank you for sharing. Love the ‘Counting Our Blessings’ book too. I can’t tell you how much I love your books 🙂
Thanks so much for the cake recipe. I will be turning 50 in July and I think this cake is the one I will bake! Can’t wait! Also ordered Count Your Blessings today. This was the first year of homeschooling my 12 year old son and I have kept records of our daily celebrations and struggles. It will be great to also track our blessings. Thanks for all of your beautiful creations and ideas!
May is here and it finally feels like Spring is here — Enjoy!!!
Martha from CT
Susan…………………thank you for the most beautiful spring flowers and uplifting comments on your blog! We are sloooowly moving towards spring in southern WI. My early daffodils have finally come out………….a blessing! Waiting for the magnolias to start their pretty show. Thanks for giving everyone a chance to win some beautiful books!
Happy May Day! Here in the Pacific Northwest we are enjoying sun, spring breezes and a plethora of flowers in bloom. Everything lovely to fill the May Day cones for the children today, especially sweet are the lilacs, Mexican Orange blossoms, tulips and bleeding hearts. After filling our cones, we laid out on the soft grass and let the crabapple blossoms “snow” down on us. Thanks you, Susan, for all the joy and inspiration you bring into every day, from your calendar, blog, and books right down to my little grocery list. Blessing to all! Love, Kristin
The cake looks yummy. My mom always made angel food cakes since they were my dad’s favorite, without frosting thank you very much. My dad took a lunch to work and when there was angel food cake, a slice was wrapped in wax paper and included with his sandwich. Even without the plastic bags of the future we seemed to manage just fine with wax paper and paper sacks. The earth was probably healthier and greener in those days.
My mom would cut my orange in quarters (just like I liked it 🙂 ) and wrap it in wax paper for my lunch bag … that had to stop — because the mung of wet waxed paper on my orange was awful, so she started wrapping it in aluminum foil. We got by!
My Grandmother, who we called Nonnie told my daughter about making May Day
baskets out of paper cones and flowers and taking them to friends – Nonnie has
been gone for many years but my daughter and her 3 girlies 10, 9, & 7 made
9 small pots with petunias etc and are taking them to friends today. I am in
WV and they are in Colo. – Nonnie would be so happy to see the tradition alive
and well. Love your day book and I just ordered it. Happy May Day everyone.
What a Springy beautiful May Day here in New York! The flowers you have displayed are just popping open here…thank you for sharing. I have the first Days book and after seeing the new one, I’m sure that will have a home here too…love it!
Oh, my, my, my……Blueberry Angel Food Cake, Susan’s books, and flowers…Was there ever anything more perfect??
Happy May…..Flora definitely has been dancing around in my backyard! The California Poppies, nasturtiums, and lavendars are all in bloom….
Happy May Day to you, Susan, and to all your loyal readers. I remember filling a homemade basket with flowers, leaving it on the doorknob of my friends’ houses, ringing the bell and skipping away before they came to the door to find their May basket. It was a charming custom, one that I will always remember with delight. I’d love to win your books – I miss your Book of Days very much!
To Rhonda and Sondra Fox and her precious hubby and all of the girlfriends facing challenges – I send prayers and oceans of healing thoughts. This made me realize that the perfect use for Susan’s “Counting Our Blessings” for me would be to make note every day of the year of one thing I was grateful for that day, one thing that moved me, made my heart soar, especially if it was a day that wasn’t so happy. We just HAVE to look for these little blessings every single day. When the year is up, start all over again. Keep it going every year until you run out of space. Then you’ll have a book bursting with joy that you can go back to time and time again when you need a lift and remember how you felt the day you made a particular entry. My blessing today (besides Susan’s yummy recipe!) was seeing my first Anna’s hummingbird of spring, that gorgeous iridescent green and red, flying around the spot in the tree where I usually have the feeder hung. I guess that’s my cue to fix up a treat for him and hopefully he’ll bring all of his hummingbird friends too! Blessings to you, Susan, and all the girlfriends today. May you find joy in unexpected places today!
Barbara, I feel your wonderful thoughts. Thank you so much. What a wonderful thing to do (the daily blessing written down). Your idea is one that I will start on today! (Sandy from Chihuahua Flate)
Barbara I, my favorite bird is the hummingbird! Anna are the popular ones around here. So lucky to have them around all year long. I need to get a new feeder and hope to atract them once again. Haven’t don’t that for a few years. I love it when I’m out in the garden and one comes right up to my face to see what I’m doing.
Your Counting your blessings, book of days sounds like a wonderful keepsake. I think it’s so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind that our days are and forget to be grateful for all of our blessings. This would be a great way to just remind myself to do that on a regular basis. Thanks for the opportunity to win one. Your blog is always so cheerful and makes my day better.
I look forward to receiving your email/blog and I save them all. I read them over and over. I would love nothing better than getting a gift from you. This is my birthday month and spring flowers month, lilac (soon), lily of the valley (soon), tulips, daffodils, and all those wonderful flowers. New Beginnings!! I love this time of year.
I would love to win the books! Pick me! Loved the pics of the flowers. Dont cha just love spring. Fresh flowers and breezy days. What could be better. Have a great sunny day.
xo Tiina
Thanks for this recipe. Oh, I love that you gave us a time-saver by providing the measurement of the egg whites. That really will help me a lot! I can’t wait to bake this cake. It looks delicious. Thanks again!
Your flower pictures are fantastic! They bring sunlight into our hearts.
Susan,
Haven’t had access to my computer for the last few days and what do I find when I get it up and running? TWO blog entries! I’m in heaven! Thanks so much for the many pictures of your lovely flowers and the yummy recipe and the musica and the hope of winning some of your fine work. I’m happy you are well again and that it’s springtime on the island, finally.
Cecelia in Virginia
Happy May Day I too love your blog and all the happiness found here.
Lifting Sondra and her hubby in prayer too.
I have spent many hours in treatment centers.
And how great it would have been to have been able to read your blog.
Let us all remember all those affected by such a ugly disease.
And let’s all eat cake!
Woolie Joy
Trace, Sitting here with tears in my eyes, knowing perhaps, what you’ve gone through with the “C” disease. I hate to even say the word. I’m hoping you are cured. Thank you so much for you kind thoughts. (Sandy from Chihuahua Flats)
I’m so glad you mentioned your new book of days! My New Year’s Resolution was to start a gratitude journal to remember all that I have right now in my life. Well, here it is May 1st and I still haven’t gotten around to finding a pretty book to put all of my “thanks” into. You have reminded me to get back on track with that resolution. Your pretty journal is the perfect place to start!
I’m really confused about the May Day Baskets and taking them to neighbors?? I was raised around my Grandparents and their siblings so why didn’t I ever hear about this tradition?? hmmm I think it is a lovely thing to do and I’m wondering if maybe it was done in certain regions? Now, I do remember the May Pole with ribbons and dancing….somehow the flower baskets slipped past me….I know Angela would love this tradition I never mentioned this at Easter; but, Angela asked me if she could “egg” my neighbor Donna and I looked surprised and asked her “Why”….then she explained it to me she had a sign that said “You have been Egged” and that there were 12 hidden eggs in her yard and not to be upset that they were empty they were to replicate the EmptyTomb once Christ had Risen! I wish you could have seen that 79 yr. old sweetheart going around her yard looking for eggs and giggling. I was so proud and touched that Angela thought of this because it gave Donna so much pleasure. My family was also enjoying watching it from across the street….a very special memory.
Who doesn’t love an egg hunt, no matter how old we are? Love Love Love it!
Deborah, in Iowa where I grew up, we had May baskets but we made paper baskets or cones and put a mixture of popped popcorn, salted nuts, and those little pastel pillow mints in them. I’m wondering if it was because May 1st there were not flowers some Springs. I’ve never seen or heard of them here in Minnesota…Incidentally, the snowstorm sagged south so missed the Cities but SE Minnesota and SW Wisconsin got hit bit-time–some places got 20″ of snow! A lot of places are without power because of the heavy wet snow, semis are parked along the side of the Interstate, and they are on the radio and TV saying NO TRAVEL there…I’m kind of sad it missed us… 🙂 But maybe that is why there are no May baskets in this area??? LOL! 🙂
Deborah! How fun is that! That is a new one to me! Have you heard of confetti eggs? My kids would fill the hollow eggs with confetti and then glue colored tissue paper over the whole thing. Then after the hunt they would crack the eggs on their heads! The funniest thing is when their Great Grandpa Miller would crack them on his big ole fuzzy head! I can still see him laughing and laughing with his flannel shirt and suspenders!
Hi Dawn, NO I’ve never heard of the confetti eggs; but, it sounds like a lot of fun (and mess) haha It is always fun when our elderly get pleasure out of anything the Grandkids do and participate!! Memories are the precious gifts we get to keep long after the events in our lives have passed. Priceless.
Deborah,
Grew up in NE Ohio. Remember May Day as you do. Never heard about the flower baskets until now.
Oh Thank Goodness Chris…I just cannot figure out how that one passed me by since I spent my childhood on a farm surrounded by Grandparents and Aunts/Uncles…that is the one thing our children are missing out on…being around extended family. When I was young we didn’t have arranged play dates or everything electronic and a cell phone (in the hand of every child I see), what the heck we had a party line telephone for awhile until we got a private line and Mother/Dad knew when the phone rang and allotted a small amount of time to be on it!!! Wow, am I dating myself (58)…Imagination was what we used to have fun and going into town once a week was a treat. I do not regret growing up in the 60’s and once my parents brought me into the United States (Air Force Brat born in Tokoyo Japan) we lived in so many States (Maine, North/South Carolina) before we came home to IN and growing up on a farm was so much fun I wish all children could experience a slower, calmer life and we did give that to our daughter and she truly appreciated it. Sorry for reminiscing just sorry I missed out on the May Day baskets because I would have done that for sure….maybe will start that next year for some of my new neighbors!!! Blessings
Susan:
Your may blog is so inspiring. I picked some of my own spring flowers today. I eve planted Pansies. They are in pots this year as my friendly yard bunnies enjoyed eating all the flowers last year.
Your Blueberry cake looks lucious! have lots of berries left in the freezer from last summer.
I would love to own the books or the date book you are featuring in this blog. keeping my fingers crossed to be picked.
Yum! This will be the cake I make for Mother’s Day. We love blueberries and when they are included in such a light cake, who could want more. I love thought of the blessings book and will be buying it and will use it for all the things you mentioned.
Happy May Day Susan.
Susan dear love, Happy May Day and Happy Spring from the great Midwest! Your blog always makes me so happy and thanks again for sharing your life with all of us! You are an inspiration to many.
Right now things are in bloom in Utah. And i am sooo loving it. The winter seemed so long this year. I totally get why some people get the blues. But right before winter hit i did try to come up with at least one good thing a day. And that night when we said prayers, we would speak our gratitude for that one thing. It made our prayers more meaning full. And your adorable journal book is perfect to jot those little things down in. Love love love the illustrations. Thank you for sharing your talents with the rest of us…
I used to suffer from SAD — seasonal affective disorder, a depression resulting from light deprivation in the winter. I tried different things, but vitamin D is the magic pill! It’s all gone for me, just in case you think that might be getting to anyone you know!
Great hint!!!
YIPPEE SKIPPEE!!!!!! Another Book O’ Days!!!!! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!!!
Hi Susan,
I left a comment on your previous blog, but with over 1,000 (WOW) girlfriend posts, I can’t find if mine made it on.
I, too, am always happy when I find that you have sent us a new post. If I am on the computer, I ususally check a couple of times a day, but when I don’t see a new one, I am always disappointed.
I definitely will try your cake. Hope it comes out as good as yours looks. Good cake for a tea with a few girlfriends.
You might have answered me if my comment made it on, but since I can’t find it, I will ask you again (sorry). Is your Summer Book still available? If not, do you ever consider reprinting some more. I would bet I am not the only one who does not have a copy.
I try to put things out in my house that will make me happy since we really don’t have 4 seasons down in Florida. I get a lot of ideas from your beautiful blog. Thanks again for your always uplifting, kind words. And I will say it again. Every time I see your artwork, I am simply amazed at your talent.
We’re looking into reprinting books, it’s a lot easier to do than it used to be, so we’re going to try. Thank you Isabel.
Hey Susan….Love the look of the new Days book. I mentioned that I gave one to my niece and kept one for me this year. I am using it as a “Gratitude and What’s For Supper” journal. Both of us are loving the art and quotes…so I am going to have to get us both the new ones for next year. I bought these a few years ago, packed them away, and found them after we moved !!! Thanks for the recipe…can’t wait to try it. Enjoy May ( and thanks for being another person who knows “rabbit rabbit”….have been doing it for years, think I read it somewhere……don’t always remember, but try to !
Your blog consistantly lifts my heart and soul just when I seem to be at a point of exhaustion or dispair. Keep living the life I want to be living. It truly helps to know that it is possible.
What fun colors, I love all your blooming branches and flowers. We are finally having spring here in WI and the last few days have felt like summer, so the flowers are popping, YEAH! Cold front coming in, but I think we can all handle it a bit better because of the fragrances all around. My kinders are bringing in blooming or budding branches tomorrow for show and tell, at least they will be able to find something this time around, most came in with photos or drawing of spring flowers last week for show and tell. Love the blessing books, and although I have the other 2 would love to give them away to my dear friend! Happy May Day!….our 5th graders hung May baskets on neighborhood doors today, such a fun tradition.
The cake looks perfect for spring and summer days.. I just enjoyed a week with my daughter who was here from LA.. So much fun, and now my son and daughter in law come in Friday for the weekend from NYC. My coast to coast kids! Please enter my name for the drawing.. Fingers crossed!
Okay, BFF Sandy, just think how nice it would be for them AND you if you were in the middle of them, like–say–St. Paul/Minneapolis! It would be so handy for visiting them and them visiting you… Just saying… 🙂
* Hi Sandy (Attleboro) and Pat (St. Paul) *
Hi from me…Girlfriend Dorothy Ann.
O.K. O.K. Pat…I know the history of you both BFF… because of Susan’s amazing Blog and all of yours and Sandy’s delightful posts to her and all of us girlfriends.
That is so cute what you wrote, Pat.
I would like to second the motion to Sandy…”Oh yes! St. Paul, would be just the right distance for your family to travel to you.”
Hope that helps, Pat!
Happy Spring to you both!
* Dorothy Ann on Cougar Mountain, Washington *
Thanks, DorothyAnn! I keep working on it…what is the old saying? “Hope springs eternal…”?
* Hi again Pat M. from St. Paul, Minnesota *
I always scan back to the pages where I commented, to check for Girlfriends’ replies to me and there was yours. I like that.
Keep working on “it”, as you wrote, but if, and I’ll highlight “IF”, hope doesn’t spring as soon as you would like it to…well…here’s another old saying for you.
“It doesn’t matter how far apart you are, in miles, to family and BFF…what really matters is how “close” you are in your hearts”!
Now, go and call Sandy. Say hi for me.
* Dorothy Ann on Cougar Mountain, Washington *
That cake looks so good! I am not much of a baker but I am a great eater of cakes!
Happy May Day! This weekend we have Dover Days in our state capital of Delaware. Many of the local elementary and preschools have groups of students perform the maypole dance in period costume throughout the day in the town green. They practice for weeks! It is so sweet to see the girls in their beautiful dresses and the boys in old fashioned suits weaving in and out. They rarely finish it perfectly, but they have so much fun.
I enjoy your blog very much , so am sure I would love your books. We don’t seem to have them here in New Zealand. I think I call that red flower japonica?
Tulips don’t do well here unless we artificially store them in the fridge for 6 weeks to fool them into thinking it was a cold, cold Winter, before planting the bulbs.
Happy May Day Susan and girlfriends,
It has been an absolutely gorgeous day here in New Jersey today. Everything is blooming and I am remembering days past when we danced around a May Pole with our little ones, in flowery dresses and wreaths in our hair. Thanks for reminding us of all that is beautiful.
Happy Spring!
Love everything about blueberries and lemons so I cannot wait to try this cake! I was, however, surprised to see your instructions to turn the cake pan over on a rack to cool. What happened to the coke bottle? Whenever we made an angel food cake we had to turn it over and put it on a bottle to cool. Not sure why we did this but our mom was a home ec major and we had a very specific things we did in the kitchen … like sifting flour just like you 🙂 My kids think it’s funny to see a cake (only angel food) dangling upside down on top of a bottle … but its what mom did so its what we do! “A party without a cake is really just a meeting” ~ Julia Child
I do have a bootle, it’s Hires Root Beer though that I also use (with a cork) for sprinkling ironing!
huh, I have a bootle too….but, it doesn’t have a name though!
Spring has finally arrived in Albany, NY. On Mother’s Day weekend there is a5
Tulip Festival with tours of the beautiful tulip plantings and flowering trees. There is a traditional crowning of The Tulip Queen. Albany was established in the early 1600’s by people from the Netherlands, thus the celebration of these fabulous flowers.
Does your quince tree produce fruit in the autumn? My mother used to make poached quinces for a delightful dessert.
I would use your date book to record the quotes at the top of The Vineyard Gazette newspaper. I’ve read the paper every week since the 1980’s when my Aunt Elva and I stayed at the Attleboro House in Oak Bluffs each summer. Someday I want to use the quotes for art work.
Enjoy the enchanted spring!
Jeanie
Beautiful orange tulip! 😉
Oooh, the cake looks delicious. As soon as I knock out this salmonella infection, I’m going to bake the Angel Dream Cake for my husband. He’s been a hero/angel around the house and he deserves that cake! ♥ Plus, he loves blueberries! And I would love the ‘Book of Days’! The other two books are already part of my Susan Branch anthology 🙂 Thank you for another beautiful and uplifting post.
Mary Ann down Mexico way
I absolutely love your Book of Days! It is perfect for journaling, just the right amount of space for a few comments to remember the day. So far I am on my fourth one. I am carrying on a family tradition, my mom kept journals for 30 years and they hold so many precious memories that would long be forgotten. Thanks for creating a new one!
I so enjoy your blog…it is inspiring, reminds me to “stop and smell the roses,” count my blessings. Especially enjoy all your photos!! Find myself having a dialog with you…so many of your comments are sooo spot on!!!
Oh yum! Just made (and ate!) a piece of that yummy cake!!! Never have made an angelfood cake from scratch. Your recipe is so good. My blueberries kind of sank, though. Do you have any problems with that? The lemon and blueberry flavors really complement each other. Thanks!! xoxo…Karen P.
Mine didn’t do that but someone else said they dust theirs with flour to “stop it.” I wonder why it happens sometimes but not others? Fatter heavier blueberries maybe!
Same thing happened to me. I did NOT dust the blueberries with flour (against my better judgement) but will next time. The blueberries sank and the upper 1/4 of the cake stayed in the pan. Also, Susan, do you bake it on the lowest rack in the oven? I didn’t do that, either, but thought about doing it as that is what angel food cake mixes call for. I will tell you, though, it was DELICIOUS and I will try making it again…thanks for the recipe! 🙂
Are you saying that you made my recipe and the top of the cake stayed in the pan? Make sure your oven is totally pre-heated before you put the cake in, I think that should help. I’ve not had that happen!
Yes, I made your recipe. The oven was preheated. But I’m wondering if you had your oven rack lower than I had mine–mine was sort of in the middle of the oven and afterwards I remembered that if you use an angel food cake mix, it tells you to use the lowest rack setting…but like I said, it tasted fabulous–just didn’t look as nice as yours. I will definitely make it again. And the other thing you mentioned–that might be true–the blueberries I used WERE huge so maybe that made a difference…
Maybe, mine were those little wild Maine ones, but that still doesn’t explain the top of the cake!!! Yikes!
I did have some big honkin’ blueberries so maybe that’s why they kind of sank. Not all did, though. Will try the flour tip. Mine didn’t stick like yours did, Pat. Hmmmm? I was so surprised about how simple it is to make from scratch AND how good it is compared to boxed. Will never make boxed again! I just love using my vintage sifter!! xo
Love that word…honkin’. It must be a WI word, as my sisters and I use it a lot. LOL
Hi Susan.
Spring is arriving here in Colorado. Like you very day I am out taking photos of new blooms and filling little vases in our home with them. I love your blog and seeing how wonderful Spring is on the east coast. Thanks for sharing your beautiful island views with all of us.
Hugs, Carol
Hi, Susan:
I had not intended to comment on this or the last post, as I am blessed to have your Summer & Girlfriends books already … share the wealth, and all that 🙂 (altho’ I’d LOVE to have the new Book of Days) … but I just saw today’s post at the following site that included current snapshots of Chatsworth and got so excited that I wanted to share it; this lady blogger is currently walking through the English countryside and posting daily … I’m getting another opportunity to ‘armchair travel’ in the UK. Anybody care to come along? 🙂 meanqueen-lifeaftermoney.blogspot.com
Hugs from Sharon in Alabama
Dear Susan, I’ve missed your messages so much these last few weeks. We’ve been away on a lovely vacation. I’ve been catching up on the heart of the home and all feels right with the world after visiting with you. I’m happy to hear you are feeling better. Take care of yourself! xoxo ♥
Welcome home Martha Ellen!
I love the 1st of May (my birthday!) and I love your tulips. God knew we needed flowers to cheer us after a long, cold winter.
Happy Birthday Verana!!
Thanks you for all your wonderful posts and musings. So often I’m feeling much the same way. It’s getting to be rather beautiful here with the dogwoods and azaleas blooming all over now(as well as the record pollen! Layers of yellow-green on everything). Still so much to be thankful for! Thank you, Susan!
My husband just loves loves blueberries and lemons. I might just have to make this for him for fathers day. Thank you so much!
Melissa
When is this blog going to have a man talk ? Something about fish and worms and cockroaches and deer and frogs and stuff ….
Dad! Oh you are so funny! I’m trying my hardest to think of a frog story. I do remember the snakes that Brad used to put on the kitchen table, to the joy of me and mom! Does that count?
I have a frog story!
Go for it Margot!
LOL
When my sons were in grade school we moved to Charlotte, NC for about 10 months. Crazy, I know. Not MY idea. Anyway…they collected Praying Mantis ( Who knew they came in several colors! I told the boys to take them outside! So they decorated the front bushes with the bugs!!!), we had a crayfish living under a frozen puddle on our patio all winter! When we moved back to WI we had what I call the “color changing” FROG. When it was on the front porch it was gray like the cement, when it was on the lawn it was green, and when it was on the blue-grey siding it looked blue!! The funniest part was the day I walked from the kitchen to the family room to check on the boys and I saw the frog stuck on the outside of the window (cute feet). I said, “Look! The frog is watching TV with you guys!” LOL
Good one Jack! My husband thinks the prizes he wins at camellia shows should be guy things like fishing, hunting, & gardening equipment not crystal bowls, & pretty dishes! He has made suggestions, so far no changes!
Hahaha, funny Joan!
Thanks for making me laugh this morning and cheering me up, Jack.
Jack, I hate to see you sad, so here’s a “man’s tale.” This woman who lives in our community was driving down a crowded freeway here in CA, when she spied a very long colorful snake inside her car, on the floor. She immediately pulled over to the side of the freeway, got out & called 911. Took a long while to find the snake. Who knows how it got into the car! NOW are you happy Jack? (Sandy from Chihuahua Flats)
LOL Sondra!
OK Jack, you have the blog for a “man chat” and I’m game and can talk with you and would love to since Dad no longer can have these chats with me. Did you see on the news this week where a woman making her son some canned greenbeans found a toad in them!!! Shriek oh sorry “Grunt how cool”….the manufacturer sent an apology and $50 for the inconvenience….Also, my GrandDog Duchess a 100 # Saint Bernard wish I could say she was ferocious but she is a powder puff and when we visit she comes up to the sofa turns around and backs up and actually sits down with us (so adorable) now here comes the part you will love….then she turns and slobbers more like slimes you which is really rad!!! Jack, you are a loving, caring, wonderful Father and Friend to all of us “Girlfriends” and we ADORE YOU….flowers vs frogs, friendships vs fish, warmth vs worms, and cooking vs cockroaches…..I’m sure Susan’s Blog does cater to the warm/fuzzy in all of us and whenever you need to share we will all read and support your needs too!!! I tried to be supportive and didn’t use “Eeeewww” once there are “Tomboys” on this site (I’m one) and my brother was and is my best friend so I salute your need to share and no matter how “icky” it might be we all will rally and say…Really, aaahhh isn’t Jack just the best bless his sweet heart!!!! It takes a “Real Man” to be secure enough to chat with all the ladies, accept all the love/praises they give to you and still offer all the wisdom (worms and all) that you bring to your lovely daughter’s blog. Grrrreat!
WELL SAID DEBORAH!!
Here comes: I will try to entertain you with
a snake story. When my son was 14 we were staying
in a cabin on an island in SC and my son went out to
bring in the crab net that he forgot. He had on flip-
flops and stepped on a copperhead. We went to the
ranger’s house and the EMTs came and took him
to the hospital – off island. They had to make sure
the drawbridge was closed so we could get through.
Dr. said we were lucky it was “only” a copperhead.
Now for the gory stuff: His foot swelled up like
a football and a black circle formed on the top of
his foot and the skin died all around it. The fang
marks were about an inch apart. They treated him
with antibiotics, kept him a while for observation
and sent him home. Now, he doesn’t even have a
scar.
Thanks Debbie. Nice to know that there are so many good thoughts coming our way. Blessings to you as well. (Sandy from Chihuahua Flats)
Oops, I think my reply was to go to Debbie from Valencia. Went to the wrong Debbie, sorry. Anyway, Debbie from Valencia, hope you got my message. (Sandy from Chihuahua Flats)
Okay, Deborah, you have now TOTALLY PUT ME OFF using any canned vegetables! I’ll probably ask, when eating out, if the green beans are canned or frozen!!!I’ll be happy to be the first to say “OH ICK!” “Gag me with a spoon!!!” In fact, maybe I will clip your comment and whenever I feel like snacking and breaking my diet, I’ll re-read it and instantly lose my appetite!!! LOL! 🙂
You are such baby-food Pat! I had a girlfriend like you who kept me hysterically laughing all the time because if she saw a hair anywhere within 20 feet of her food she’d instantly start gagging. Even if you talked about it! Your diet will go really great if we handle this right, describing all foods in certain ways that we know you will love! Have you seen . . . aw, no, just can’t do it!
Oh, you are too funny!!! Ugh, you are SO RIGHT! Norm and I are BOTH grossed out by the word “hair” even being used in the same sentence with the word “food”!!! LOL! We try to protect each other so if we are eating out and one of us finds a hair in our food or even on a plate, we don’t tell the other one until we are on the way home!!! LOL! (like that makes it any better??!) But that said, we have been known to–if there is only one cookie left, for instance, say to each other innocently, “Oh dear, is that a HAIR stuck in that cookie?” (sometimes we can be BAD to each other!) LOL!!! 🙂
Ya gotta do what ya gotta do!
Oh my Pat, really a critter in the 1 can of greenbeans will make you gag…honey, when we eat out we would probably shudder at what we eat?? Now, trying to be supportive to Jack’s needs for some man talk wasn’t meant to make you more squeamish about foods….sorry if that happened….;) but, theres a hair in the cookie isn’t a deterrent to snacking?? hmmmm Hey, if my toad story keeps the cookie jar lid firmly closed and you stay on track for your “lifestyle change” the word diet is a saboteur isn’t it? then Wonderful! Hey, how about getting a picture of a toad and taping it to the cookie jar?? Ok, went to far didn’t I….oh, as far as you still pining for more SNOW….will you please come over to the light and leave the Winter behind you…please!!!
Double well said. You are a winner Deb — and so secure in yourself you can freely enter into a man’s world, run around, kick up your heels and have fun — Well done girl.
Now for Julia’s comment. Our neighbor was out looking for her golf ball on our local course and got struck by (what we call), a coon-tail rattler. Off to Emergency and about the same thing happened to her as your boy, only she has a reminder of two black nickel-sized marks that have stayed with her–where the fangs went in. But she recovered otherwise and is back on the course, a bit more watchful now.
Our own experience was that my son Brad lost his snake (nonpoisonous, but still, a snake) inside our house. We looked inside every cupboard, closet and shoe and could find nothing, but we knew he was there, waiting to surprise somebody. We waited for the screams. A couple weeks went by — and still no snake. One afternoon I was in the kitchen with Sue’s mom Pat — she was facing me and suddenly began gesturing like a maniac. Her mouth was going like crazy, but no sound at all, jumping up and down, waving her arms and pointing — I could not figure out what was going on, when finally she screeches, “THE SNAKE!!!!” General pandemonium ensued. Who was more frightened, us or the snake?
There it was — in the dining room just slithering past the kitchen door! We all — the boys I mean, jumped up and SHAZAM — we GOT him!!! We took him back outside. It only took Pat a couple days to stop reminding everyone she wasn’t “allowing” any more snakes in this house!
Brad and his snakes!
Fangs. Not a good word.
oH Jack, Jack, Jack!!!
Let’s see….
Frogs: I have 2 frogs buried in my front yard, in a coffin made out of an Altoid peppermint tin, with a pink blanket and pillow and a handwritten poem….I forget their names; but, I could ask the children!
Worms: Well, one dark dark night, I went with my Dad and a flashlight, to catch night-crawlers in the backyard….and I didn’t scream when the WHOLE ENTIRE backyard lawn was covered in night-crawlers!!!! It was an ocean of moving beige!!!! Later, I overhead my Dad tell my Mom that it creeped him out! Didn’t sleep too much that night….my bedroom was in the basement of our walkout and I heard those worms moving and talking to me all night long!
Snakes: Scared of them since the 3rd grade!!! Went to day-camp in the woods for CampFire Girls and Diane’s brother Bobby had to come too. Well, as we hiked and sang and made new friends….Bobby collected snakes!
He hid them…..and I found them…..when I had to use the out-house! To this day I have to hum and “not look” when I must use one…..and let me just say, that many many soccer fields in Minnesota still only have an outhouse/portapotty! I have only told this to Pat Mofjeld….Do you remember Susan’s calendar with the entwined pink snakes? I hid my calendar for that month! And then could not remember where!!!! So I missed a couple months of that year!!!!
I ate a grasshopper once!
And I have eaten sardines with eyeballs and all!
Ummmmm…..and I call dear…..Bambi!
Now Jack…..please, will you tell us a story!!!!!!
You had to hide a painting of pink snakes wearing a bow tie and pearls but could eat a grasshopper? LOL!
I know it sounds strange……but my 2nd grade teacher, Miss Lindstrom, gave us a choice of eating a bunch of ants, a worm, or a grasshopper. The grasshopper was the only one that didn’t look as gross because it was covered in chocolate. Gagged it the whole way down and was mad that my original teacher had to leave early that school year to go home and have a baby!
That doesn’t seem a good way to bring children into the magical world of food! A worm!!! Please. I don’t care if it was covered in hot fudge sundae with banana cream pie on top. 2nd grade! But I’m sure she had her reasons, I just can’t think what they were, something about other cultures perhaps.
Gosh, these last comments will be helping me on my diet plan for the next week or two, and maybe even longer!!!! (maybe all summer!!???) Think I’ll print them out and tape them to the cookie jar along with the photo of the toad that Deborah suggested. But remember, that toad in with the beans?–after it had gotten “canned”, didn’t look as “pretty” as most photos of toads do….Remember “Valley Girl talk”? GAG ME WITH A SPOON!!! 🙂
What is wrong with Mid-Western teachers!!! My experience was in 3rd grade.
OK….the teacher “requiring” students to eat insects would NOT be allowed today because parents would come down on the school board and the Teacher would probably be given a pink slip?? I recently told my 85 yr. old Mother that I’m thinking maybe our generation of kids were “abused” (yes I did), and she said “WHY”….I said “Mother, parents never questioned authority figures, we were expected to behave and follow the rules…even if the authority figures were wrong”…..we went to school with snow up to to the headlights on the bus (we see on the news a 2 hr. delay for fog?)…..parents were so complacent and never went into school except for our conferences or as a room parent. I think some of you may remember riding in a car WITHOUT seatbelts!! We were precious cargo too weren’t we? I think it is our generation (Helicopter Generation – Hovering) that has made up the new rules?? hmmm Now, that being said the parents of today (in my humble opinion), are encouraging their children to “buck” authority and are so over protective and I get that but enabling vs loving a child is so very different? I remember when Angela was in 1st Grade she came home and announced that she had a phone number given to her in class to call just in case she was “abused” by a parent!!!! GASP…I said “honey, let Mother see it”….with her little independent sweet voice…”Oh no Mother we have to keep it safe”?? Well, I had to go there and tell the little angel that if for any reason she felt she needed to call that special number and CPS came they just might take her away….I had that slip of paper in my hand within an instant….Overstepping parental rights I think so….now, for children that needed help it was a good thing. I had a niece that used the number because her Mother wouldn’t give her something she wanted?? Children are precious and at 6 yrs. old giving them that kind of power over a parent just is a recipe for disaster. I explained to Angela why she would never need that number and she knew that so I proceeded to tell her it was for children whose parents were not doing a very good job and she understood that. I also want to add that there was a child in her class that everyday after school when they went home was put into a closet…so shocking/sad. So, eating bugs would not happen today Dawn, without a permission slip from home?? Really, you ate a Grasshopper?? Oh My.
Love the Altoid tin story! LOL
Jack, I have forgotten the word SHAZAM! I think it changed to VOILA when I started learning French!
Hi Jack, Here is a story for you…..
Last year I was on my way to meet my good friend Brenda to go walking and it was about six thirty am in the morning, and we lived up in MA we were surrounded by many farms. As I was going down the road……I saw this huge animal…..and said Wow that is the biggest great dane I have ever seen. Unbeknowst to me…….it was a huge black bear sitting in the road munching away on a cob of corn. Luckily the bear just got down and sauntered away into the corn and wheat fields! As for worms…..they are great for the earth for the gardens and for fishing. As for snakes especially the garden ones they eat the bugs and don’t bother you if you just let them be. I have seen one rattle snake and tons of water moccassions as I use to fish with my husband a lot. Yet I learned just be careful and be aware of your surroundings and your fine. My Dad taught me a lot to at an early age. We were surrounded by Farms growing up in CT. We could walk out our back door and there was a barbed wire fence about one hundred feet away. Yet in the winter the cows were put in the barn so all of us kids could go sledding on the big hills. Yet my Dad always taught us to lift up an area of the bobbed wire and go underneath, not over the fence. I myself am a tall person and I was a tomboy as well and of course had to challenge my Dad’s theory. Needless to say I wanted to go over the bobbed wire cause I said I can clear that just fine………well this time it did not happen and I ended up hanging upside down with my jeans caught on the wire and yelling for help…needless to say that was the last time I tried that. I was fine but thinking of it now makes me LOL=Laugh Out Loud! Have a great day Jack! 🙂
Here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin we can only dream of flowers – our forecast for tonight includes 6 – 8 ” of snow! Your blog post pictures today reminded me that spring will come, flowers will bloom and sooner rather than later, this long winter will only be a memory! Thanks for the ray of sunshine!
I live in HOPE that you and my relatives in WI and MN get a “Spring Break” soon!!! It is no fun to go from Winter to Summer all in one week!
Thanks for your post on May Day. At school our secretary received many May baskets from our students. So charming. I also received a paper flower glued on a popscicle stick with a Hershey’s kiss glued to the center from a student! So precious. And she was just thrilled to present it to me. The true gift in giving is the joy the giver experiences. Beautiful weather today here in Kansas but cold front has moved in tonight with snow tomorrow, like so many of you will be experiencing. The beauty of the midwest! Certainly a topic of conversation around here. Hope everyone stays warm and comfortable wherever you are.
How darling the flower was, and it had chocolate too!
It is so lovely to see spring arriving on the “other” coast. Isn’t it glorious when everything blooms. Thank-you for sharing your flowery life.
Happy May Day! I look forward to making the yummy looking blueberry cake. Thanks for sharing.
The cake looks delicious!
Happy May Day! Thank you for putting up the recipe for your blueberry angel food cake! Looks so good!!! Yes, I am entering your drawing, too! I love your artwork, and I would love to win one of your books! Blessings to your day! It is nice to see all the flowers that are now in bloom for you!!!
I want to hop on a plane and head to your back yard and take a nap under the quilts on the line. Your yard looks so peaceful! I would love to win the giveaway…I would send the girlfriends book to my best friend of 37 years and enjoy the other for myself in magical May, with my birthday, Mother’s Day and my wedding anniversary all happening this month. Thank you for sharing with us!!!!!
Love from South Florida
I do that, lay under those trees on a blanket. Perfect for daydreaming! Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary Colleen!
I’m sorry but I’m still laughing from the comments above after your dad wrote. Just want to know, after you’ve mentioned lying out in the yard on the blanket, do you have snakes on MV? 🙂
We have little garter snakes in the woods sometimes, I don’t think we have to worry on the lawn!
WOW….thank you for the recipe. I am actually attending a Blueberry festival in Brooksville, Florida this weekend. Cannot wait to try this recipe…Looks DELISH!! Thank you for all of the spring flowers…have been looking for daffodils and just can’t find them anywhere. Thank you also for the film recommendation. I have so enjoyed listening to both your music and film recommendations…What a delight they have been….especially on a cold dreary day! Happy May Day!! Good luck to whoever wins these delightful items!!
Happy May Day Susan! I look forward to each of your postings and was surprised to see one today! Please enter me in your drawing! I love your art work!
Shirley
You put a smile on my face with your positive and beautiful art!! Thank you !
This cake looks so awesome, I would love a slice right NOW! Have to try this, Susan. xoxoxox
Happy May Day Dear Sue and girlfriends. Thank you for the wonderful blueberry angel cake recipe. Yum. going to get the ingredients to make it this weekend.
And most importantly, prayers to our girlfriend Sandy. Sending loads of prayers and hugs everyday Sandy that you and your husband get through these tough times. God Bless
Debbie
Can’t wait to try this recipe. My goodness…you should be a professional photographer. Beautiful photo…yummy!!! Draw my name….please…please…
please.!!! Love your site.
I wish I could send some of our warmth to other parts of the country, we have been coming close to 100 degrees, in April!! Susan I am thrilled that you made the new “Blessings” book. I bought the older version, “Days” many years ago and am so happy that you have done another. I also have both of the other books, but I would love to bless a dear friend or family member with them if I win!! Thank you again for this dear blog.
Dear Susan,
I love the book of days! I will need to order one, too, if Vanna doesn’t pull my name…
I had the chance to count my blessings today when I was able to hold a wee tiny baby duckling in my hands, freshly hatched two days ago in one of our first grade classrooms.
There is such a peace that comes from holding a baby animal, don’t you think? I enjoyed those five minutes of sweet preciousness!
Love the book! Hope I win…
🙂 happy May Day!
It’s a marvel, squirming miraculous nature in your hands. xo
Dear Susan,
Happy Spring! and Happy May! Here in West Chester, PA it is finally feeling like Spring!….and I am loving every minute of it! Spring cleaning….walking…airing out the house…watching my tulips bloom…walking and playing with my kids outside. I would love to win any of your three books for the give-away! AND…I can’t wait to try your cake recipe! Thank you for your blog…so inspiring and creative!
All the best…rain or sun!
Oh Susan! You just now inspired us to make May baskets for our neighbors…we used to do it every year when my children were smaller, but we skipped the last year or two. After I read your post, I grabbed my daughter and we got straight to work–she quickly cut daffodils, forsythia, and bluettes while I was inside with old wallpaper, ribbon, and the hot glue gun. (I loved your idea of using old wallpaper. Much quicker than birch bark!) We had to come back and make a second batch of baskets because we decided that all of the seniors in the senior housing needed one! Do you think her teacher will forgive her undone homework just this once? (She is furiously doing her math now…maybe she can just get it done in time.)
Sometimes flowers come first — love this Laura Ann!
Your tulips are beautiful! Happy May Day!!
Oh my goodness…your blog was just what I needed today! After delivering a few May baskets to neighbors and friends in the midst of a cold, strong, north wind, I so enjoyed your photos of spring. It should look like that around here, but somehow spring just can’t seem to push away the remnants of winter. It’s hard to believe there could be 5-8 inches of snow on May 1st! My husband, daughter, her 3 children, and I are in planning our trip west in June. We plan to begin in Sacramento and work our way down the coast with stops in Calaveras County to see relatives, on to SF, Monterrey, Cambria, Morro Bay, San Luis ( you know that place well), Santa Barbara, LA, and San Diego before flying back to Iowa. Our journey isn’t quite as exciting as yours was to England, but we are looking forward to introducing the children to the special places we took our children to many times, as they were growing. Grandma lived in Morro Bay; how we loved the area. Anyway, thanks again for all your entries…it’s always a treat to see you’ve sent a new message our way!
You will have a wonderful time! Such a pretty part of the country!
Thank you. Just, thank you, for every little, sweet thing you share.
Today is my daughter’s birthday. wouldn’t it be grand to win this for her?
Happy Birthday from US!
Oh, I cannot wait to see your Days book! It looks like such fun!!!
Happy May Day. Thanks for sharing with us.
Love the new book! The tulips are blooming here as well! Yeah, it is Spring at last!
Think I’ll make this lovely cake for my kindergarten team. We’re heading into the end of the school year and the paperwork and testing are becoming unbearable. But we love our adorable kindergartners even if they’re a lot of work in many ways. 🙂 This light treat with fruit included will do the trick for some cheering up.
Thanks! 🙂
That sounds hard. I don’t remember much testing when I was in kindergarten. Just play. I think things have changed a bit since then! Thank you for doing what you do — kids need their teachers. I loved mine!
Swoon! Nothing but gratitude in my heart for always making my day with your BLOG posts! Love to you! Mitzie
PS-BTW very excited to find so much of YOU in a Barnes and Noble Book store yesterday!
It was such a surprise that we got another treat today. Your kindness in sharing May flowers is much appreciated. Thank you again for sharing the beauty only you can create.
RABBIT! RABBIT! Just flipped the mini calendar with Mom and Sister. 🙂 All three of us love it! JOY!! We had Mom read out all of the “Mother Says – Famous Last Words” and we had to laugh because she used to say all of them!! Still says some of them too! Too fun…
Thank you Susan for another month with a lovely calendar page for us to enjoy!
Hugs,
One of your Missouri girlfriends
Hello Deb — love to you, your daughter and mom — can just picture you together!
Yes, it’s snowing on May Day in MN!!! I agree with you … this has got to come to an end, but when?
Speaking seriously for a moment. After reading the email from Sandy, SNOW on May Day is no biggie!!!! Praying for her, her husband and all those in need/hurting … physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Keep those beautiful inspiring hopeful emails coming! We need them!!
PS…Thank you so much for the recipe and a chance to win your new “Days….” I absolutely my old one!
Thank you, Susan for sharing your many gifts with all of us! It is so exciting to see a glimpse of things on the other side of America… and hear from others who follow your blog. My family and I will be praying for Sandy and her family…
…Here in California May brings with it gardens fully laden with rose blossoms, clematis, azaleas and citrus in full bloom. We have had warm days in the early 90’s this week and it is already feeling like summer. Happy May Day!
I think this Blueberry Angel Cake would make a special Mother’s Day treat! Blessings to all the Mother’s!
Cake looks and sounds yummy and I can make one improvement to it … using saskatoon berries rather than blueberries. Saskatoons are a local wild berry here in SK and the good news is they have been domesticated so those who don’t have a secret wild patch can go to berry farms to get theirs. We won’t be picking anytime soon as we are one of the snow places you mentioned. However, today was warm enough that gobs of snow were falling from people’s roofs which really amused my dog when we were out for our walk.
I enjoy your blog. The flowers are pretty.
Those beautiful tulips are definitely a blessing to be counted…
So glad to see this book back it print! I love the new cover design, so pretty! I love these books and have many many many of them, some used as journals, others as calendars, and a few unused yet. What a good idea to use them as a count your blessings book, I think I will do that next 😉
Thank you for posting the cake recipe too, makes my mouth water, mmmmmmm.
“May, Flowers, CAKE, and books, who could ask for anything more?” Well, a cup of tea wouldn’t come amiss! 🙂
I looove tulips and your orange ones are gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.
Dear Susan,
As I sit and read your blog, it makes my heart sing! Beautiful water colors you paint, and the beautiful photo’s and words! How blessed ALL of us who read your blogs are!
Picked the lilac buds off the bushes this evening, as cold and snow are coming our way! Spring time here in Wichita KS has been different! The Purple Martins came back 3/14 (as usual) and we ran out and stuffed their homes with straw! They have been so happy! However, we lost 5 barn swallows from the last freeze, a week ago. We hope the ones that remain all get in their one nest they have built and snuggle tonight. It will be cold and if we get the snow we are suppose to get, it will break all records! We are close to the OK border……….suppose to be warm!
Happy May Day Susan! Oh, we love your Jack!
Love how you’re taking care of the birds Sandy! Stay warm, here comes the sun!
Sandy Fox, I’m a Sandy Fox too! Imagine that? I sign my reply as (Sandy from Chihuahua Flats). Never heard that someone else has the same name. Imagine that? This blog is getting to be sooooo big.
Oh, Susan! You are a delight! Thank you for the blessings you send our way through your wonderful blog with all the wonderful pictures! And Happy Spring! It has been snowing all day, here in Colorado! Can you believe it?
I have your Girlfriends and Summer books and these are my favorites! If I win, I will give them to girlfriends who haven’t already received them as gifts from me (I love to give these 2 books as gifts!). And I have the original Days book and it is wonderful, but that’s a silly statement, because all of your books are wonderful! Anyway, I would love to win the new Days book!
The cake looks delicious!!
When my kids were little I let them choose the kind of birthday cake they
wanted. My son always wanted home made angel food cake with Seven Minute
frosting!!
Please enter my name for all three books. Sign to “Judith” when I win.
What brand of water color paint do you use , Susan?
Happy Spring……
Judith
I use them all! Tubes and children’s paint boxes, anything I see with color in it.
I DO THE SAME!!
THE CHILDREN’S PAINT COLORS TEND TO FADE OUT
THOUGH…..
Hi from Brenda in NC,
Your reference to hanging May Baskets on the doors of friends and neighbors really brings back memories of when my daughter, Anna, was little. Every May Day morning would find Anna and mommy up early, beside ourselves with excitement, as we hurried softly from door to door in our neighborhood, delivering our miniature floral gifts around to several of the neighbors’ houses. How fun it was to share this lovely tradition with my daughter, and watch her learn more about the joy of giving, as she tried to stifle the sweet giggles, eyes dancing, as she hung yet another secret surprise gift onto another door knob by the ribbons we had tied onto each basket.
We would ring the doorbells after placing the flowers there, and sneak away to the next house. It was so much fun, and we had worked hard together in the week/s before, planning our design for the hanging containers, buying supplies or using pretty scraps from our art supply stash at home, putting the containers together, adding ribbons, etc., then on the day before delivery, we would go to gather our flowers.. sometimes fresh ones to put into water in little vases nestled down in the hanging basket, but usually, it was a pretty little blooming bedding plant we tucked into the moss-lined cone or basket … or whatever container we had made. We both looked forward to that with such anticipation!
Goodness, how time flies… Our daughter is now grown up and married, but sometimes it feels like yesterday. You’re so right about remembering to treasure our blessings while we have them, and then remembering them with fondness and thankfulness.
Thank you for sharing life from your lovely point of view with us, your girlfriends. You are an appreciated blessing.
Best wishes from Brenda
I do think it’s a wonderful way to teach children the absolute delights of giving! The fun in the surprise. The joy in the eyes of the receiver. They learn that they alone can actually make the magic we need so dearly in this world. Huge great lesson. Not to mention, a wonderful memory.
Thank you, Susan, I would like to be entered in the drawing for the Book of Days! I already own the other two books! And just bought your “Mother’s Day book” for filling out the story of Mom’s life! Your artistry and wonderful sentiments are very appreciated in our family! I have ordered the Fine Romance and can’t wait for it to be published! Your delight and joy, as evidenced by your artwork and choices, are such nice things to share with the world! Thank you again!