The Winner and My Garden

and the winner is

Susan  of Penless Writer

I am so glad that Susan won this give away as life is very difficult for her at the moment having just lost a dear daughter

Apparently our Spring was the dryest and hottest since records began in 1556

I'll share with you some random photos from my garden from this week. At the moment it is raining and I am sure the blooms are dancing! 

I am sure everything will look fresher and there will be more blooms after the rain which is forecast for tomorrow too

Amy at During Quiet Time

is hosting garden tours

to visit click on the link above and follow instructions

and likewise if you want to include your own garden tour 

A Royal Giveaway

Here is my Royal Give away

An engagement souvenir tea towel

or for the USA folks a dish towel

Just leave a comment saying 'include me'

if you wish to enter

and I will draw on Monday 6th June

At last I am fully up and running with all my new equipment having installed and set-up the wireless printer last night

Now I have to catch up with the myriad of computer tasks

and learning as I go

Before signing off I am thrilled to say that we have had torrential rain  on  and off all day. Hopefully this will off set 2 months of drought in this part of the country

Giveaway, Awards and Gifts

And the winner for this Giveaway is.................Bennie and Patsy of "The Smith's Bennie and Patsy"


I am sure that you are both going to enjoy many moments enjoying your tea with this lovely set and probably thinking of England at the same time! Don't forget, heat the pot first and make sure that the water is boiling when it hits the leaves. Releases the oxygen.

Commiserations to all who entered and did not win!

And now to some recent awards. The first one, Your Blog is Enchanted came from

Zetor for a blog with the character of caring. Zetor thank you so much, I am honoured to receive this from you.

I pass it on to Adrienne of With a Grateful Heart

The second award Exalting Christ Blog Award came from Kim of Stamping Between the Dishes and Laundry and was created by Women to Women. Again I am honoured and very much appreciate this recognition. I pass this on to Susan of Penless Writer.

I received the above book as a gift from Susan Kelly-Skitt

Susan asked me if I was able to help her son with a school project about aspects of life in England. I was more than happy to do this for him and was glad to know that the project subsequently went very well. Susan has a page in the book telling some of her own testimony amongst over a 100 daily devotions written by different women. Thank you Susan.



And then Willow from Southern California, who stayed in our home last year sent the above gift over with Sara. Roses for Regret by Audrey Stallsmith is a book and author that I have never heard of so it should be interesting reading. The organic Earl Grey tea will accompany the reading.

REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

I was asked by DaySpring Cards if I would review some of their 'tea related' products and have pleasure in doing so here.As I was unpacking the products soon after they arrived, Alan walked through the door and immediately said, "They are nice, aren't they".





The 3 teapots seen here easily hold 4 cups of tea or 3 mugs and they pour well with no drips. Each product has a verse of scripture amongst the design and are well made and would be a lovely addition to any kitchen or tea party. All products in my opinion would make a very nice gift.

http://store.dayspring-store.com/teandte.html

The above link will take you to the DaySpring store where they have many more products for sale







The above teapot and cup and saucer show Psalm 126:3 "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy". The cup is a good sized teacup but very dainty and light to hold.

Here we have a very pretty teapot, the handle on the lid being a Bluebird. The verse is Psalm 145:13 "The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made". Being English where tea has for centuries been our main drink I have to say that this cup would not be considered a teacup here as it would be too small for our regular brew. To us it would be a Demi-tasse coffee cup for strong after dinner coffee. However it would be ideal for an older person who maybe is unable to hold a large cup, or even a child. I would also make an ideal gift for someone who likes to display cups and saucers on a shelf. For myself, I am going to put mine on one of my shelves of minature books as I do have 2 sets of Demi-tasse cups. The teapot will certainly be used for tea though.

And now to the GIVEAWAY! The above set is a heavier porcelain and is microwave and dishwasher safe. The teapot as you can see has a message of Hope with the cups conveying Joy and Peace. The verse depicted is "The God of Love fill you with all Joy and Peace" Romans 15:13. This could also make an ideal gift for someone you were wanting to encourage.

If you would like to take part in this GIVEAWAY then leave me a comment saying so and please link this post on your blog. The draw will take place on

6th June It will arrive safely as it will be despatched directly from DaySpring.

Another 'tea related' product. This pretty box holds 20 cards. 10 with the design seen here on the top of the box and 10 as seen below showing the verse from

Romans 15:13 "May the God of Hope fill you with all Joy and Peace". Again a very pretty gift or a box of loving cards to send to folks.

Blessings in the Post

A lovely surprise in the post today. I won the Giveaway over at Nanna's Reflections through her 'The S G Notebook' blog which can be accessed through the SG link on their sidebar. You will see that SG stands for Speakable Gifts and visiting the blog will explain just how Maxine and Beverly are reaching out to children in order to affect their lives in a Godly way. The giveaway is a very fine junior Scrabble with a two sided games board. I will enjoy playing these games with my grandchildren when the time comes. So thank you Maxine and Beverly.

Isn't she sweet - Rebekah at 3 days old. A very good and contented baby Janie tells me. She has posted a lovely picture of herself with Oliver and new baby sister which will not be on line for long if you want to go over and visit her.

Now to my garden. My Crab apple tree has come into bloom. This is a pretty old tree. It was here when we bought the house 32 years ago and it looked pretty ancient then, but for many years we had masses of blossom and Crab apples which we used to make either Crab apple jelly or Crab apple wine. The wine tasted like a Rose. These days we just enjoy the limited blossom that it produces. We have toyed with the idea of removing it but always end up leaving it for another year.

Seen here with the green and gnarled trunk which looks interesting against the pink

Seen here with a couple of aircraft in the background. If I had a professional wide angled camera you would see that there are 6 aircraft in view. We live under a stacking system as well as different levelled flight paths so when the sky is clear, at certain times of day,I can count numerous planes in the sky.

And The Winner Is - With some August Ramblings

300 post Giveaway Draw! The post on mother Shipton's Cave was my 300th and I just want to say how much I appreciate all those that follow my blog and comment. I appreciate the E-mails from 'blogging firends' and I enjoy visiting your blogs too. I learn so much not only from your posts but also from the research I do for many of my own posts. I have also had the pleasure of meeting 3 other bloggers, one of them staying in my home. We have come a long way from the 'pen friends' of old (yes I had several as a child) to this new world of cyber space friendships.

And the winner is?

Something from my garden first. This is my new garden furniture. Having replaced the wooden bench seat at the bottom of the garden early in the Summer I took advantage of a half price sale and renewed some more. Every Summer we look at the wooden furniture that always needs rubbing down and painting and sometimes even needs parts of the wood renewing. Sometimes it gets done and sometimes it does not. This new furniture is coated alluminium so we can n ow forget about maintenance. I have only one wooden bench seat up next to the house now and that was sanded and painted this year. I have to say that it has rained and rained since I bought this furniture. We have used it once.

The reason for our very wet August is because the Jet Stream usually rests North of the British Isles but this year it has been pushed South so has held the dryer weather from the African continent way South of us. We are a small island where 6 weather patterns converge so no wonder we have a reputation around the world for our obession with the weather.

The roses are coming into their second flush and although they are never as fresh and large as the first flush, they still show some vibrant colours against the black spot and mildew that attacks them this time of year.

I received this award a little while ago from Vee Thank you Vee. This is a different picture to the usual one. I pass it on to Linds who makes me smile and wince in equal measure. Linds is an excellent story teller.

Also this award from Zetor . Thank you Zetor I am honoured. I very rarely visit a blog without commenting. I like to know that people have visited me and I know other bloggers feel the same. I am passing this on to Patsy. Patsy is a fairly new visitor to my blog but she always leaves valid comments. She is the same age as me and has been a Christian for the same number of years.

Now what is left of these August Ramblings? I have not taken pictures of the drawing of the Giveaway as I have so many photos that I am dealing with at the moment but trust me it was carried out in the same way as my other Giveaways - drawn by my dear husband Alan. Out of 18 contestants the winner is:

Teresa

Congratulations Teresa, you will need to E-mail me with your address and I will send you the Mini Kath Kidston bag with a surprise inside.

I don't know how I got through this post - 'blogger' has played up at every turn.