Tea and laughter

I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose. ~Woody Allen"

We like milk in our tea... There's a reason for this:

In days of old, before the US was even discovered, cups were made from clay and baked hard. This clay was brittle, but the Brits still knew that to make a proper cuppa, you need to boil water, and scald the tealeaves. The problem with this was that when boiling water hits a clay cup, it tends to smash it as the clay expands rapidly on contact. To avoid the rapid expansion, a small amount of milk was placed in the bottom of cups, thus stopping the rapid expansion and making a perfectly drinkable drink.

Halfway Down ..

"Halfway down the stairs
is a stair
where i sit.
there isn't any
other stair
quite like
it.
i'm not at the bottom,
i'm not at the top;
so this is the stair
where
I always
stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And it isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!" ( From Winnie The Pooh.)

Mr Bee sitting on his favorite spot when the house is full of "strange people"!
Yesterday when i was very buisy preparing dinner in the kitchen,I heard a strange squeaky sound!!Where did this came from?
The door to the garden was open because of the nice warm weather and Mr Bee was watching the garden as always..
He found a little guest who he wanted to introduce to me and so he braught him into my kitchen..He carried him inside and dropt him on the floor next to me!
The little gast,a fieldmouse, of course was not happy with the way he was welcomed,infact,he was very angry and squeaking his little head of..
I lookt down at a very angry moussie and a very proud Mr bee.
Mr.Bee was thinking.."isn't this a nice surprise present,are you just as happy as I am.......
The little moussie was screaming"are you crazy,you nearly killed me ,let me out of this place..this is the last time I ever will visit your garden..oke!
So... this is where I came into the story,I told Mr bee,waving with a soupspoon, to be more careful with his guests,and then... shouted for my Hubby...
He came running from the garden and very gently pickt up the fieldmouse and walkt him to the garden gate.In front of our house is a brooke.Lots of shady green ,a good place for the field mouse to recover..After a few minutes and a dizzy spell he told my Hubby he was feeling better and carried on,looked over his shoulder at my husband ,saying,"your a very nice guy,thank you.".

Feeling groovy.

And there it was.. the last(official)summer weekend...its going to be a warm summerday weekend at the Hilltop.Not only the weather is wonderful but also there is a wonderful big Family gathering...I am looking forward to it..The 21st of September is certainly the first day of Autumn although in terms of meteorology it is the 1st of September!
(on the playlist-Feeling Groovy)

Rare Book Room

The main monastery in Gyantse Tibet

And i found a very.....Rare Book Room I love Old Books...

This

This ,It's all I have to bring to-day,
This, and my heart beside,
This, and my heart, and all the fields,
And all the meadows wide.
Be sure you count, should I forget, --
Someone the sum could tell, --
This, and my heart, and all the bees
Which in the clover dwell"

Emily Dickinson

Painting- Jules Bastien-Lepage-At Harvest Time.

On the way to..

The land of splendid dreams....wich is on the way to fairy land

Drawing- Horace J.Knowles

Tiptoe..

IIIts Tiptoe Monday..lets tiptoe with the Dancing Bears...have a good day today...(this Bear can sing..!)

On the playlist Tiptoe through the tulips..

Silly Sunday..

Beatrix Potter - Stardoll - Fame, fashion and friends

Found something SILLY...for some silliness on sunday

a Lady Mouse

Beatrix Potter
Studies and completed illustrations for Gentleman Mouse and Lady Mouse
[1903]
Beatrix Potter dressed the mice in authentic 18th-century costume, based partially on garments in the V&A’s collections. Gentleman Mouse(Miss Moussie's Hubby) wears court dress, with a tricorne hat. Lady Mouse(Miss Moussie) wears an open cotton gown, red silk quilted petticoat, apron and linen mob cap. The teacups date from about 1800.Pictures taken at the breakfast table of the Dutchess at Hilltop Hall.
No teacups where broken,no mice left without making a mess...FOODFIGHT....

Fairlight from Neverland

Women Children's Book Illustrators--Cicely Mary Barker

In Neverland lives the very beautiful and enchanting Miss Fairlight Crumb.
She knows everyting about the land of Never,she can tell you the names of all the flowers ever found in Never..she can tell you stories for ever and ever ,and show you the most magical photographs ever taken.. you will never believe your eyes.
A few Neverland days ago Miss Crumb told a story about the Autumn fairies..Yes Autumn is on its way,and Fairies LOVE Autumn.Its there favorite season for ever and ever..and mine to,I love Autumn
Thank you Miss Fairlight Crumb for sharing The wonderful world of Cicely Barker.
And please do tell us more about Neverland....

on the playlist- Finding Neverland..

Letters

van Gogh's Letters - Unabridged
Vincent van Gogh remained in London... he visited the many art galleries and museums and became a great admirer of British writers such as Charles Dickens
Unlike Dickens, Van Gogh never achieved fame or wealth in his lifetime. He had no reason to think that he was accomplished, but his mania-induced grandiosity convinced him that he was godlike. He was overconfident in his art (a type which was looked down upon in that time period), and he would pursue it vigorously. Instead of taking time off from his art to earn money, he would simply not eat. Impulsivity was another manic trait that he suffered. Van Gogh smoked a pipe because Dickens advised it as a cure for melancholy.Each night, when the hours of painting and drawing were over, Vincent van Gogh put pen to paper and poured out his heart through letters - no thought was too small, no element of his craft too insignificant, no happening too trivial but it was scrupulously recorded and shared. The letters of Vincent are adited in such a way as to retain every line of beauty, significance and importance. "Vincent was as great a writer and philosopher,as he was a painter."

Poppies, my favorite flowers painted by my favorite painter....

gold

Dear Louise awarded me with.. gold!I am a great Louise fan ,her blog is so beautiful, and when i visit i can hear the birds singing and the flowers whispering fairytales...You know where to find her,"This is my patch"at the kindred spirit list!
And you know when you are the lucky one to recieve an award, you are also the lucky one to share them with other blog friends..
So..here we go..to my Kindred Spirits and friends

Valerie...Acornmoon
Grandma K..A bit of Blarney
Tressy..The Plateau
Laure..Sometimes
Rosie....Family matters

The Blogging Friends Forever Rules are:

1. Only five people allowed.
2. Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog.
3. One has to be someone new, or recently new to your blog, or live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to whoever gave you the 'Blogging Friends Forever' award

Wednesday...upside down

"On Wednesday, when the sky is blue,
And I have nothing else to do,
I sometimes wonder if it's true
That who is what and what is who.'

(from Winnie-the-Pooh)"

Summer Evening Light...

The days are getting shorter already at The Hilltop.I love the evening light.Its a true Golden moment of my day..

Firefly ball

Yes i know..iiiiiiits Moday! And we are all very busy because..There's a firefly ball tonight and you are all invited..lets start this week with fireflylights in the garden..Grab yourself some GLOW..

Miss Potter: A Life in Photographs -

Miss Potter: A Life in Photographs - Victoria and Albert Museum: "It was Beatrix's delight to accompany her father on photographic expeditions. Happy to be by his side and excited by the possibilities of the new art form, she also became an avid photographer. She inherited one of her father's old cameras,'a most inconveniently heavy article. Through photography Rupert instructed Beatrix in the art of composition, and like Millais she too took photographs to record details that she would later use in her art"

Family

Clickety-Clack: "I feel like in our family, our hearts and souls are really more visible sometimes than our physical selves because we all know each other so well and love each other so well and care more for hearts than faces any day"

Today I am celebrating my husbands birthday!A day you again feel how fragile you and your loved ones are ..I a way we should celebrate birthday's every day..Every day is special.When you open your eyes in the morning its a birth of a new day.A day you can share with your family and friends! Have a happy day today and a great weekend with your family.
This post is one of the ..I love list..I love my Hubby!

For you..

This is for you,for cherishing life,nature and all creatures great and small!
For lovely blogspots and blogfriendship.Wish you many happy returns to your favorite places .....Just for you..What a wonderful world!

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And i think to myself:
"What a wonderful world!"

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to my self:
"What a wonderful world!"

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying "How do you do."
Thay really say: "I love you!"

I hear babies crying I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself:
"What a wonderful world!"
Yes, I think to myself:
"What a wonderful world!"

And a big bear hug and flower from the Hilltop dancing bear...Mozes.
He is the biggest strongest dancing bear from the Hilltop. He can lift you up like a feather....!
But never fear,he knows you by now,after all your kind and friendly visits..
(on the playlist What a Wonderful world)

Sad

A sad Sunflower at The hilltop today,is the end of Summer near....

If the first week in August is unusually warm,
the coming Winter will be snowy and long.
For every fog in August,
There will be a snowfall in Winter.
If a cold August follows a hot July,
It foretells a Winter hard and dry."

vanished..

And the stars were shining,
and the earth smelled sweet,
the garden gate scraped,
and a step brushed the sand.
She came in, fragrant,
and fell into my arms.


Oh! sweet kisses, oh! languid caresses,
while I, trembling, released her lovely features from their veils!
My dream of love has vanished forever.
The moment is gone, and I die in despair!
And I never have loved life so much!

Puccini...no summer without opera..

E lucevan le stelle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drawing..Edmund Dulac-on the playlist E Lucevan le stelle-

message..

Want to know what this little angel whispered in my ear...don't forget she told me,write it down,tell everybody to visit Ninona(a Kindred Spirit)You know where to find her..gogogo

thoughts

My love of nature has led me to the kind of work I now do—I want to lead people’s thoughts from nature’s wonder to nature’s Creator"

Margaret W.Tarrant(1888-1959)

iiiiiiit's

Monday......... do(n't go )nut(s) ....Day

on the playlist-the donut song-

The Unanswered Question

Its all about the music today,the music and a post about" Questions "from a lovely blog "Sometimes",wich you can find on the Kindred Spirit list. Please visit..
At this moment you are listening to music called "The Unanswered Question",from Charles Ives.I believe we all struggle with questions ,and how to find a place whithin yourself where you can find the answer...and then to find that the answer was always there...

About the music
The woodwinds are said to represent our human answers growing increasingly impatient and desperate, until they lose their meaning entirely. Meanwhile, right from the very beginning, the strings have been playing their own separate music, infinitely soft and slow and sustained, never changing, never growing louder or faster, never being affected in anyway by that strange question–and–answer dialogue of the trumpet and the woodwinds. The trumpet then asks "The Perennial Question of Existence",seven times.. and the woodwinds seek "The Invisible Answer", but abandon it in frustration, so that ultimately the question is answered only by the "Silences".
Its not easy to play ,and not easy to listen. Its one of my favorites,especially when i can hear it life in a concerthall.I love The Unanswered Question

Wishing you a beautiful sunday..enjoy

Painting Study of clouds-John Constable

[The Unanswered Question - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

a place called morning..

"Will there really be a morning?
Is there such a thing as day?
Could I see it from the mountains
If I were as tall as they?

Has it feet like water-lilies?
Has it feathers like a bird?
Is it brought from famous countries
Of which I have never heard?

Oh, some scholar! Oh, some sailor!
Oh, some wise man from the skies!
Please to tell a little pilgrim
Where the place called morning lies!"

Emily


Painting Michiel F.Wood

Cloudburst

Typical Dutch weather..no,its extreme dutch weather today.....
Cloudburst - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The first Fairytale

As you know...i love ...fairytales
This one was the first fairytale told by my father when i was about three years old.
Little red Ridinghood..in dutch "Roodkapje"

Online Reader - Project Gutenberg

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”

Painting Georg Frederic Watts -Birmingham Art Gallery

Once upon o'clock ...

“Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday
Once upon o'clock ...

Holding hands

"Hand in hand,
with fairy grace,
will we sing,
and bless this place.


I love.. holding my daugthers hand..

(on the playlist -mother and daughter march)

IF..

Stepmother: Well, Cinderella, I see no reason why you can't go to the ball... if you get all your work done...
Cinderella: Oh, I will.
Stepmother: And, if you can find something suitable to wear.
Cinderella: I'm sure I can. Oh, thank you, Stepmother.
[she exits]
Drizella: Mother, do you realize what you've just said?
Stepmother: Of course. I said, IF.

on thye playlist- The work song- Cinderella

imagination

"Beatrix Potter has been loved and is important as an artist and writer because in The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and in book after book, she shows that we don't have to make up a better world. She shows deeply and surprisingly, that seeing the world we meet everyday, factually 'as what it is,' will make for the wonder and excitement that is the beautiful, right imagination of art — the true, proud imagination we want in life! www.peterrabbit.com

Summer Love

On the ground

Sleep sound:

I'll apply

To your eye,

Gentle lover, remedy

Have a sweet Summer loving sunday.......

kiss the girl

How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said. ~Victor Hugo

On the playlist- Kiss The Girl..

Jump

"I'm one of those people who when I go over a bridge, I want to jump. It's just this intense tickle in the back of my throat. It's like I'm on the verge the whole time I'm walking over that bridge, and I'm not going to get a release until I jump.
Willem Dafoe"

Let's jump into August and love it..