Tea for Three

Hello lovelies ~

Our dear friend Cynthia, who, even though being a woman of a certain age, has decided to go to university to take Fine Arts. In celebration of her braveness and new life, Bea hosted a beautiful little intimate tea party in her honour.

Although the rainy weather put a kabosh on our intended garden party (and crochet game), Bea invited us into her cozy cottage to partake tea together.

We laughed. We cried.

We talked about babies and art.

Oh, and our bellies were full.

It was a very good day indeed.

Until next time,

Bessie & Bea x0x0

It really is all about Pretty!

Well bless my soul ~

it looks like Bessie and Bea may have to take a road trip!

Just look at what is coming up in a couple short months...

it the Mother~of~all~shabby~chic-ish~sale, and it is taking place in the town of Coaldale in the heart of southern Alberta. We are sure, that our vintage-smart readers will simply swoon at the thought of attending the lovely Laura's event bursting forth with charming handmade lovelies and a whole lot more.

Why not plan to join the festivities on September 10 & 11. You won't be disappointed.

And who knows ... maybe you'll spot Bessie and Bea there too!

Bessie's Watermelon Salad

You can be assured that the girls don't always tolerate the heat too well on these hot summer days. It's on those insufferable humid days that Bessie makes up a batch of her famous Watermelon Salad. Here, for the first time, Bessie and Bea are sharing this family recipe with the world. Get your pens out and keep a copy in your safe deposit boxes!

Bessie's Watermelon Salad

1 small red onion

2 limes

3.3 lb (1.5 kg) sweet, ripe seedless watermelon

1 cup feta cheese, cut up in chunks

Fresh cilantro bunch, chopped

1/4 cup Fresh mint, chopped

3–4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup black olives

black pepper

Squeeze juice out of limes and put into small bowl. Cut red onion in half and then cut into very fine half moons and steep in lime juice.

Cut up watermelon into bite-sized chunks and place in wide, shallow bowl. Cut up feta into small bite-size chunks and add to watermelon. Finely chop mint and cilantro. Save a few Cilantro leaves to garnish top of salad. Add onion along with lime juice to watermelon. Add oil and olives. Toss salad very gently so that the feta and melon don't lose their shape. Add a good grinding of black pepper.

Bea says to serve Bessie's Watermelon Salad with pasta and a creamy Alfredo sauce.

Delicious and refreshing!

Yields 8 servings

Bessie & Bea xox

Joy!

“It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. – C. H. Spurgeon

Today, I've been thinking about happiness and joy...

We all seem to want more. We know better, but we think, if I can just have this, or if I can just learn how to prosper, or if only I could win the lottery! But when we look around us at those who have more, and some much, much, more than ourselves ~ we see just because they have more resources, they don't have more happiness or joy. In fact, they often are much less happy. Sure they may exhibit a superficial happiness, but where's the joy? Where is the contentment? So, if things don't bring us happiness, how can we be happy? Can we experience joy in the midst of life's most difficult times? Yes.

I can still have joy in my heart when life is twisting me all up inside? At that point I am not feeling happy, but an inner joy remains: faith picks me up and hope carries me on.

My thoughts are with my dear friend Bea, today. Her brother is gravely ill and she has gone to be with him to comfort him, and her mother. This is not a happy situation, but Bea carries with her the joy of the Lord with her which gives her strength to care for her family in the midst of this most difficult experience.

To read more about joy, please read C. H. Spurgeon here. You will be glad you did!

Joyfully yours,

Bessie x0x0

New Canvas

Hello Lovelies!

A dear sweet friend of ours
sent us this quote,
and we just had to share it with you this morning ...

Each day is a new canvas to paint upon.
Make sure your picture is full of life and happiness,
and at the end of the day you don't look at it and wish
you had painted something different.
~ Author Unknown

Happy Painting!
~ ~ ~

Bessie & Bea
x0x

Forgiveness

Be kind one to one another,

tenderhearted,

forgiving one another,

as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32

It is a season to reflect upon forgiveness.

Easter blessings to all our readers.

Love,

Bessie & Bea

Cupcakes!

Well hello dearies.
Do you ever get a hankering for something that you just can't let go until you get your hands on it? Well that happened to me in the last couple days. I've been wanting to have a nice cupcake with lots of gooey icing, in the worst way. Even though I put the call out for cupcakes to my family and dear ones, not a single cupcake showed up on my cottage's doorstep.

You can imagine the dire sadness that overcame me when I visited a lovely new favourite blog of mine, Pink Roses ~ only to see yet another irresistible cupcake! What is an old girl to do, I ask you? I know you're thinking that I simply got out my baking gear and started baking up some scrumptious cupcakes. Well just call me Mrs. Safeway, because sitting in front of me at this very moment are some perfectly wonderful cupcakes. Don't they look lip-smackingly scrumptious? Well, it's time for a nice quiet cup of tea and some cupcakes. Too bad Bea missed them ~ she stopped by for a visit earlier today, but that was before my trip to the grocery store! She never did have a good sense of timing.

Baking Beauties

Look ~ it's a cake fit for a Queen!

Wait! This isn't what it first appears.
This is not a cake at all.

Then what exactly is on the cake plate?

Goodness gracious ~ it's Bessie's hat! Looks like she's found a new place
for her hat when she doesn't have
a freshly baked cake to display.
Inventive and pretty: Bessie and Bea strike again.

Lettin' ourselves go

Bea came over for tea this afternoon. She had a ever-so-lovely birthday gift for yours truly. It was a beautiful hand sewn tote bag with numerous goodies tucked inside the pockets. One of the things that was included in the bag was this beautiful homemade pin cushion. It has Bea "written all over it" in all its lacy lusciousness!

There were many laughs and giggles between us gals today. At one point we were discussing the colour of our hair. Now you probably picture us gals having various shades of blue hair, but in actuality, dear Bea's hair looks blonde ~ she insists that it isn't. She says when she was younger it was blonde, but it went white some time ago. White, blonde, whatever, I think that her hair is a lovely shade and a couple years ago, I decided not to colour my hair anymore in hopes of reaching the beautiful shade Bea sports. Today, I wanted to tell her that she was the reason I decided to let the white take over, but it came out a little crazy. I said: "You know Bea, you were my inspiration to let it go!" "I inspired you to let yourself go?" Bea asked with a somewhat shocked, yet amused look on her face.

Ah sweet friendship!

It allows us to let ourselves go.

Until next time ~

Bessie x0x