Sunday Selections

Don't smother each other. No one can grow in shade.

~Leo Buscaglia

Sunday Selections

Love is a flower which turns into fruit at marriage.

~Finnish Proverb

Sunday Selections

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years.
~Simone Signoret

Sunday Selections

“Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.”

-Voltaire

Sunday Selections

“True love does not come by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.”

-Jason Jordan

Blue Moon

Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone,
Without a dream in my heart,
Without a love of my own,
Blue moon, you knew just what I was there for,
You heard me saying a prayer for,
Someone I could care for,

And then there suddenly appeared before me,
Someone my arms could really hold,
I heard you whisper "Darling please adore me,"
And when I looked to the moon it had turned to gold,

Blue moon, now I'm no longer alone,
Without a dream in my heart,
Without a love of my own.

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold
heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked the Moon had turned to gold

Blue moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

Blue moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

Blue Moon - Original lyrics by Rodgers and Hart in 1934

For those of you that are newer to our blog, you may not be familiar with Mr. MoonCat's and my affinity for the full moon. We are both very much in awe of the beautiful orb and feel quite a connection to it. These romantic milestones in our life weren't planned by any means, but our first date was the night of a full moon, our first kiss occurred under the next one, and he proposed to me when the moon was full.

So, in keeping with these probably not-so-much "coincidences", we planned our wedding for the night of a full moon. The photo below is "our" full moon.

One of our most special and cherished memories of that night was after everyone left and it was just the two of us (with the frogs, crickets, and other forest nightlife) dancing under this gorgeous full moon in the trees. It was beautiful and it was perfect! (Especially since just about NOTHING went right with the wedding & reception.)

I started reading up on the Blue Moon. There is a lot of mixed information out there about where the name came from. For the most part, it just means that there is a second full moon in a month. It's not really the color blue. In the majority of the years, there are only twelve full moons - one per month. Since our calendar year and the astronomical year don't always mesh, a blue moon can occur once about every 2 1/2 - 3 years. This is because a calendar MONTH is closely matched up to the lunar cycle or how long it takes the moon to go through all of its phases. The calendar YEAR is based on how long it takes the Earth to go around the sun. Since lunar and solar cycles are different, we end up with our beloved Blue Moon!

You can actually see a blue-colored moon at times as well. This occurs when there are certain atmospheric conditions and particles in the air. Some noted times are when we have volcanic eruptions such as Mt. St. Helens or Mt Krakatoa. Huge forest fires such as the Canadian one in the 1950s will also create the illusion that the moon is tinged blue.

So, enjoy this beautiful not-so blue, Blue Moon tonight. You may have to wait another twenty years or so to be able to howl at it on New Year's Eve!

Sunday Selections

“What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunday Selections

"Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments." - Rose Kennedy

Sunday Selections

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, and penetrates walls to arrive at a destination full of hope.” - Maya Angelou

Sunday Selections

‘”The only gift is a portion of thyself” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

(visit Thistle Cove Farm for a post that brought this quote to my mind)

Most Treasured Possession

Mom and I were at the hospital earlier this week waiting in the pre-op for one of her procedures. If you are familiar with these areas, you will know that there is absolutely no privacy whatsoever. On this day, I was actually glad of that. If the little "rooms" weren't separated by thin fabric sheets hung by chains from the ceiling, we never would have heard a very tender and beautiful moment between a father and daughter.

A family was in the cubicle next to us. The very young daughter was having her appendix removed. (You learn everything about everyone in pre-op.) While waiting for the nurse, the older sister came in and told the mother that the father was out in the parking lot crying.

He eventually came in to see his little girl. When she asked him why he was crying, he told her that he was worried and was wanting her to hurry up and get all better. She then wanted to know why he was worried. He replied that she was his most precious treasure in the world. Mom and I were both starting to wipe at tears but then hurriedly had to muffle our laughter when she squeaked and said, "Even more important than your horse?" He started laughing and assured her that she was even more precious than his horse. It was such a sweet exchange.

It made me recall a time when I was in trouble and my dad offered to sell his valuable (and most precious to him) horse (the mother to both Cinderfella above and my mare Cindy) in order to get me out of a jam. I wouldn't let him do it, but it just goes to show that good daddies will do anything for their little girls. I obviously wouldn't trade mine for the world!

Since we were there at the hospital for almost six hours for Mom's 30 minute procedure, we had lots of time to discuss and reflect on what we'd heard. We posed the question to each other as to what our most treasured "possession" would be. Excluding our loved ones, friends and critters.

When you are surrounded by "things/possessions/stuff", how do you narrow it down to just ONE item? What would be YOUR most treasured possession?

After contemplating it for quite a while, I decided that mine would probably be my engagement ring. Not just because the love of my life is the one that gave it to me, but for another reason as well. Michael designed my ring to be fit with the three diamonds that I inherited in my grandmother's ring. The diamonds belonged to her and my great-grandmother. I always dreamt of having the ring reset into something I could wear daily. Michael made this happen with the most important piece of jewelry in my life. This makes it even more sentimental for me because there are generations of happy, long-lived marriages attached to my ring.

All of this pondering (besides straining my brain) follows along with the fact that I am into some extremely heavy de-cluttering of our lives. Our move has really brought the point home that we have TOO MUCH STUFF. I am planning on doing some future posts on de-cluttering and probably will have some giveaways involving fabric & craft stashes that are taking over my new sewing/craft room......stay tuned

Sunday Selections

“The best and most beautiful things in the world

cannot be seen or even touched.

They must be felt with the heart.”

- Helen Keller

Saturday Sweetness - Nutty Spice Cake

If I've never mentioned it before, we had cupcakes at our wedding reception. 300 cupcakes to be exact. 300 cupcakes that I personally baked two days before the big event.

To top it off, we ended up having a "Frost Your Own Cupcake" dessert table due to the fact that everything fell apart the night before the wedding. My friend brought up all sorts of sprinkles and fun decorations the morning of. Between a forest fire, blown tire, cancelled rehearsal, unfinished dress, no flowers delivered, etc. etc. etc., it is a miracle that the ceremony took place at all. But it was perfect, it was us, and we're happily married! (And everyone says they had a blast..)

My point is that one third of those 300 cupcakes mentioned above were from my favorite cake recipe of my grandmother's. She made this wonderful spice cake for me all the time growing up and I couldn't imagine not having it at my wedding. The directions below are exactly as she wrote them for me over 20 years ago and are how I make mine still today.

Note: One of these days, really really soon I hope, we will unearth the camera from the moving boxes and I can provide you with real photos again. My cell phone camera just won't cut it..

Gramma's Nutty Spice Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup shortening

3 eggs

1 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour baking pan, 13x9x2" or 2 round layer pans (8 or 9x1 1/2"). Measure all ingredients into large mixing bowl. Beat 30 seconds on low speed, scraping sides constantly. Beat 3 minutes on high, scraping occasionally. Pour mixture into pan(s). Bake 40-45 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out of center clean. Cool on rack. Use choice of frosting and sprinkle finely chopped walnuts on top.

While you can use any frosting you want, in my humble honest opinion - the one below is the absolute best frosting, ever. I can eat this simple buttercream frosting on graham crackers, out of the bowl, off my fingers, etc. I highly recommend it for this great cake. (You can find it and other variations from C and H Sugar Company . They also have it printed on the boxes.)

Simple Buttercream Frosting

3-3/4 cup (l lb. box) C&H Pure Cane Powdered Sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup butter or margarine (2/3 stick), softened

Combine all ingredients in bowl. Beat until smooth and creamy; scrape bowl often. If too stiff to spread easily, beat in a few drops of milk.

You can vary this recipe by adding chocolate syrup, peanut butter, orange peel, etc. Lots of ways to customize and really experiment with changing the taste to suit you.

Enjoy your Saturday!

Sunday Selections

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." - based on 1 Corinthians 13

Instead of creating posts on Sundays, I will be sharing some of the various quotes and passages we used during our wedding and reception. I hope you enjoy them as much as we have.