I am finally able to use my tea cart today, as it has been stacked with books for a long time. I bought a bookcase at Big Lots the other day on sale for $15, put it together and transferred all the books into it. With my Yorkshire Gold tea, I had a piece of Pineapple Upside Down cake I baked yesterday - the first one ever; and it turned out pretty darn good.

Earlier today, I planted 232 scilla bulbs, tore up the tomato plants in the garden and threw them on the compost pile and then removed the flowers from the window box. They were still blooming, but the foliage was looking ratty. It was easy to clean out the box - I started to take the plants out individually but then then the dirt in the window box came out in two big pieces of sod, packed solid with roots. Easy work. It was a sunny, mild day up until right now. It's becoming dark and gloomy again at 5pm.

I'd like a screened porch, but an add-on to my house wouldn't look right. Maybe someday I'll build a small screen house down in the corner of the orchard.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Schoolhouse- Your tea cart is beautiful! The china is very pretty, too :)

How was the pineapple upside down cake? It looks wonderful and now I want to go make some, myself. (LOL) It's so good with tea, isn't it?

232 bulbs??? You've been busy! I need to get out there and work on the garden, too. Maybe I'll finally get some time this weekend to get the last of my shrubs planted...hopefully.

Oooh, screened house in the orchard sounds lovely. Now, that would be a wonderful place to sit and have a cup of tea :)

Love the teacart!

I forgot about the Tuesday tea being on this side. Since it's Friday, I hope there are a few crumbs left. I have a splitting headache today and have resorted to caffeine. I need to kick this headache so dd & I can start the big garage cleanup.

We're having a beautiful fall day today. Yesterday was 101, then a front blew through with a great lightning show and a little rain, and today has been cooler and breezy. I love fall.

Schoolhouse, isn't that what you'd call HIGH TEA?
All the covered serving dishes on the side table, and ohhhhh that piece of pineapple upside down cake....it looks so moist. It looks like you know youur way around a tea table, lady.

Did you count the bulbs? On the hosta forum the other day, Gesila counted the slug eggs she removed from one of her hosta plants. Uggg...slugs.

It's been a lovely day today and more so because it is sandwiched between two stormy days, or projected to be so, tomorrow. I finally repotted my Rex Begonia 'Red Kiss' today, after subjecting it to alcohol and dish detergent and bleached the old pot and put new soil/medium with some root booster. It is not much of a bloomer, but it sure has gorgeous red and bronzed metallic leaves...a real knockout.
What is left of it will take the long migration to south Alabama some time late this fall.

And I am right now drinking a cup of Rooibus, or "bush tea" just like Precious Ramotswe in the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency books. If you are under stress, I highly recommend those books (12 so far with another one due in April) to ease your pains. She drinks bush tea.

Lavender and Precious are the two folks I credit with turning me into a tea drinker.

OMG. I hate to tell you this, but I picked up that very tray Tuesday to put things away, rolled the cart back to it's place against the arm chair - and saw this long deep scratch on top near the end! What?! Oh, my. I mean, the scratch is so deep it went right through the finish to the bare wood. All these years I've used that cart and never marred it. That's what I get for braggin'. Happens every time. I hurried and put some dark scratch cover polish on it, but it's not doing a whole lot. Ugh.

If you remember that tray is relatively new, I checked the bottom of it and here there is a sharp piece of metal on the bottom of one of the fancy arches that go around the top of it. I'm so ticked off, not sure if it can be ground down or not.

Sorry about your headache, marti. How is it now? Good luck with the garage cleanup, but take it easy. It's cold here today, raining since early this morning. My furnace came on twice all by itself without me even touching the thermostat.

moccasin, you must have posted the same time I did. Didn't get to read your post first. Yes, I counted the dried up or rotten bulbs as I was planting and tossing them away and that's how I got my total number planted. I'd love to see a pic of the Red Kiss begonia. I plan on planting more begonias next year.

You know, I've been looking for another good book series to start. I think I'll go to the library and see how many of the Ladies No.1 Det.Agency books they have available. I watched the series when it was on Tv and loved it. Where did you find the "bush tea"? Maybe I can Google it.