My Cozy Corner

Saturday, August 11, 2012

~Swimming with the Dolphins~

Hi everyone,

Welcome to an adventure at Sea Life Park Hawaii.

While in Hawaii my daughter wanted to 'Swim with the Dolphins' on her birthday.
On Saturday May 5th. The girls swam with the Dolphins.

The girls had a great time swimming and I was the photographer.

I used my telephoto lens/Canon EFS 55-250.

While in the water the girls learned about daily dolphin life and interacted with them up close and personal in the intimate and educational adventure.

Ready to
Swim with the Dolphins?

They're very excited!!!

The girls petting the dolphin

The dolphin loves Lexi!

~First Kiss~

More hugs?

Wow! The dolphin loves Beth.

Beth kisses the dolphin

A very social dolphin

A sweet kiss for Marj

We visited

Dolphin Cove Show

Sea Turtle Feeding

and

Sea Lions and Dolphins

Showing off their talents

at the Hawaii Ocean Theatre

What a great day we had, enjoying the amazing tricks

from the amazing dolphins and sea lions.

Thanks for visiting My Cozy Corner.

and

It's time to share with some wonderful bloggers.

I'm joining
Monday
Little Red House for Mosaic Monday
Wednesday
A Southern Daydream for Outdoor Wednesday
Thursday
A Delightsome Life for Home and Garden Thursday
Friday
My Romantic Home for Show and Tell
Saturday
Natasha In Oz for Say G'day Saturday
Sunday
The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday

Thanks again for visiting me and I hope you enjoyed the show.
xo
Betty

Monday, August 6, 2012

Tablescape # 50 A Tea Cozy from England

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great week. I'm doing wonderfully. August is here.

We have had great weather all summer, but this week it's been in the triple digits. I was outside early this morning to photograph this post. I started shooting in the sun and ended the shoot in the shade. It was HOT!

Last year while in England I bought this adorable strawberry tea cozy at an outdoor market place.
I found it at the Whickham Cottage Crafts booth in Durham, England..

Do you think I'm crazy showing off my tea cozy in the middle of the summer? I think I'm crazy! My post vision was to put fresh strawberries in the post, but every time I had some strawberries for the post, sweetheart and I would eat them up.
So here is the cutest tea cozy at My Cozy Corner in the summer sun.

The Black-Eyed-Susan's are blooming up a storm.
The vintage table cloth I've had for awhile, and my vintage snack sets have been around since the early 60's.

During the 60's and 70's I would host family gathering, bridal showers and baby showers a lot and the snack sets were so wonderful to use for buffets. I have six sets of four, and
I still use them today for tea parties and family get-togethers.

The tea cozy is covered with yellow seeds and the big strawberry on top.

I used my red tea pot, but I think a bright yellow tea pot would be fun also.

The knitted green top is amazing. And the beads for seeds are so cute.

My sunflowers are going to be blooming next week, and the little lantern is lite in the evenings

for an added glow to our patio area during the summer months.

I found some vintage flatware at GW and the matching napkins I made years ago.

Bright and Sunny

There's always something to eat with a cup of tea.

I found this Lemon-Poppy Seed Zucchini Bread recipe in the

August issue of Southern Living 2012

Last night I put ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream on this bread. It was a delicious treat.

Our garden is overflowing with zucchini and this recipe was a

nice change from the traditional zucchini bread recipes I usually bake.

Now we're in the shade. Thank Goodness!!!

The vintage tablecloth has an embroidered strawberry pattern and motif around the edges.

Some loving hands have touched this tablecloth and now I'm the proud owner of it.

Lot's of summer yellow in the garden this time of year.

The rose is called Summer Kiss and I love my lavender Butter-Fly bush in the background

Can you see my tea cozy just waiting for me to buy it?

This was the cutest booth.

Thank you for visiting My Cozy Corner today.

I hope you have enjoyed my little treasures that I dearly love.

I'm joining some fun parties, so hop over and see what's up.

Tuesday

A Stroll thru Life for Table Top Tuesday

A Delightsome Life for A Return to Loveliness

Rose Chintz Cottage for Tea Time Tuesday

Antiques and Teacups for Tea Cuppa Tuesday

Wednesday

A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

Bernideen's Tea Blog Tea in the Garden

Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish

Thursday

Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday

The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home

Coloradolady for Vintage Thingies Thursday

Friday

My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday

Saturday

Natasha In Oz for Say G'Day Saturday

Sunday

The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday

Until we meet again.

Betty

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Secret Garden Progress - July 2012

Hi everyone, I hope you are having a great week. Sweetheart is golfing today and the sky is very smoky.

There is a fire about 7 miles from here and the planes are flying overhead trying to contain it.

I've decided to stay inside and catch up on some blogging research and get a few posts ready to publish.

I love to blog...

Before

Go Here for Story

If you have been following my blog for awhile or you are new, sweetheart has been building my pergola since 2011. He finished the before part of the project in October 2011.

And now he is busy installing a beautiful floor.

Our wonderful next door neighbor has this fabulous tractor. We borrowed the tractor for the afternoon to level the area for the new floor.

Doesn't Sweetheart look like he is having a great time Playing?

I look at these photos and think of Tim Allen the 'Tool Man' grunting away!

I'm sorry sweetheart if I'm picking on you... You are wonderful to build this beautiful space.

You are amazing!

We had about 300 brick leftover from another project around our home and wanted to use them up.

Great idea~Use the brick and clean the storage area.

The pergola is on the East side of the house.

It has shade in the afternoon that's a real plus since the West side of the house is cooking at 115 degrees in the afternoon.

The pattern stacked bond is used for the edges and we used sand as the base for the brick floor.

We wanted rain or water from the plants to filter into the ground and not have standing water on the bricks.

Construction site

Oh My Gosh ~ I love this man. Down on his hands and knees for me.

He is almost finished. He has placed the center bricks in the usual running bond pattern

The space in the center is going to be used for a table and chairs, but the space needed more dimension so we found some basket weave brick pavers at Lowes to put around the edge.

I love the way it looks with the red bark spread around too.

The flower beds are next. Sweetheart is waiting until the temperature drops into the low 90's or high 80's

before working outside again.

While the weather is hot outside I'm inside designing the landscape.

I'm so excited!

This is a view from our patio.

The plant in the corner by the fence is my beautiful 'Sally Holmes' being very neglected..

Hopefully by this time next year I will be having tea parties under my pergola.

Thanks for visiting My Cozy Corner today.

I hope you've enjoyed how we are progressing with our project.

We love our Cozy Corner.

I'm so happy to join some parties.

Monday

Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Thrifty Decor Chick for Before and After Monday (first Monday of the Month)

Little Red House for Mosaic Monday

Tuesday

Home Stories of A2Z for Tutorials and Tips

Cedar Hill Ranch for Cowgirl Up!

Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

A Southern Daydream for Outdoor Wednesday

DIY by Design for Sizzle into Summer

Thursday

StoneGable for Tutorials Tips and Tidbits
A Delightsome Life for Home and Garden Thursday

The Shabby Creek Cottage for Transformation Thursday

Friday

My Romantic Home for Show and Tell

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday

Saturday

Natasha In Oz for Say G'day Saturday

Sunday

The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday

Until next time

Betty

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Best Ever Bread and Butter Pickles

OK ladies and gentlemen let's

start canning!

Hello everyone,

On Sunday our granddaughters and son left after a fun filled week on the lake and playing in the pool.

The week before they arrived I was busy using the Very Large Cucumbers in the garden for

'Best Ever Bread and Butter Pickles'

Sweetheart and I have lived in this house for 43 years and we have enjoyed a garden every year.

The early years 1969-1980 Very large

1980-2012 Smaller ( that's when I said! No More)I started growing roses and developing an English garden.

Last week I agreed to put up some delicious Bread and Butter Pickles just like the 'Old Days'

You see 6 quart jars now. But, during the 1970's I would can 250 quart jars of pickles plus many other vegetables. There is more to that story later.

Now let's talk about how you can do preserve pickles in one afternoon.

It would have been great to have a visual experience of what my canning product would look like when I completed the process in the 'Old Days'. The tips and this tutorial will help you reach your goal with ease.

The printable recipe for

'Best Ever Bread and Butter Pickles'

GO HERE

4 Quarts of cucumbers and 1 Quart of sliced onions

sprinkled with 1/2 cup salt

Let stand 2 to 3 hours

Drain thoroughly and rinse.