"Make a home; beautify and adorn it; cultivate all heavenly charms within it; sing sweet songs of love in it; bear your portion of toil, and pain, and sorrow in it; con daily lessons of strength and patience there; shine like a star on the face of the darkest night over it, and tenderly rear the children it shall give you in it. High on a pinnacle, above all earthly grandeur; all gaudy glitter, all fancied ambitions, set the home interest. Feed the mind in it; feed the soul in it; strengthen the love, and charity, and truth, and all holy and good things within it."

from The Royal Path of Life by Haines & Yaggy, 1879

as printed in

Treasury of Vintage Homekeeping Skills

~Collections of the Homekeeper~

written and compiled by Mrs. Martha Green, 2005

Sangria Punch

Sangria Punch

6 servings

maraschino cherries and juice

lemon slices

lime slices

orange slices

grape juice

ginger ale

Start by putting some maraschino cherries, juice,

lemon, lime and orange slices in a pitcher.

Fill pitcher with grape juice. This is your syrup,

let it chill in the fridge for a few hours.

To prepare punch,

pour equal amounts of syrup and ginger ale in each glass.

Serve over ice and enjoy.

We include this tasty drink often with Mexican food.

So fun! :-)

Linked to Gooseberry Patch Recipe Roundup.

“For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of the singing of birds is come…”

Song of Solomon 2:11-12

illustration courtesy of www.allposters.com

"American Homestead Spring" by Currier and Ives

It's Hard Work Being This Beautiful ;-)

Going to the beauty shop really tires Miss Daisy out.

"I got another perfect report card Mommy ~
I think I'm the groomers favorite client!" :-)

Supper Menus
March 23rd-28th

Monday
angel hair pasta with marinara sauce, ceasar salad, rosemary bread
Tuesday
chicken with lemon sauce, new potatoes, fresh green beans, sliced tomatoes, dinner rolls
Wednesday
sub sandwiches, potato chips, pickles
Thursday
jalapeno chicken enchiladas, black beans, sangria punch
Friday
homemade pizza, tossed salad
Saturday
sloppy joes, baked beans, coleslaw, potato chips, veggies and dip

This time of year always makes me think of the narrator's voice at the very beginning of the movie "Charlotte's Web," when he talks about "a farm in springtime." :-)

illustration courtesy of www.allposters.com

"Spring Barn" by Michael Humphries

Happy First Day of Spring!

"I love spring anywhere,

but if I could choose

I would always greet it in a garden."

~Ruth Stout

A Tour of Nottoway Plantation

Our guide to the beautiful Nottoway Plantation

was the sweetest little elderly lady.

She spoke with a syrupy, southern accent as she told

the most fascinating stories of the mansion home.

We could have listened to her all day. :-)

"At the edge of the sugarcane field stands the majestic Nottoway. This historic and architectural jewel was completed in 1859 by a wealthy Virginia planter named John Hampden Randolph for his wife, Emily Jane, and their eleven children. Nottoway is the largest remaining antebellum mansion in the Southern United States and splendidly rests along Louisiana's Great River Road in White Castle, at the heart of Plantation Country."

Nottoway

A Walking Tour of Vermilionville

While in Louisiana I enjoyed a lovely morning tour of "Vermilionville".

Vermilionville is a living history museum, whose purpose is to preserve and interpret authentic elements of folk life and cultures of the Cajun and Creole heritage. The settlement of Vermilion is now know as Lafayette.

The park seeks to enlighten visitors about the history and culture of acadiana.

Beau Bassin house was built around 1840.

La Maison Mouton is a reconstruction of an 1810 house with a detached kitchen and forge.






La Maison Buller is a beautiful house built in 1803.

The Chapelle des Attakapas is a reproduction of a Catholic church.

La Maison Boucvalt was built in 1860.

The Amand Broussard House at Fausse Point, built in 1790, is the oldest and largest of the houses at Vermilionville.

L'Academie de Vermilionville is a reproduction of a typical 1890's schoolhouse.

A lovely nature trail of native plants runs alongside the houses.