Pansy Planting and Afternoon Tea

It's Spring

Well, almost,

to me March is spring

Even the first part of March

I'm much too antsy to wait until the 21st

for the Spring equinox

And once daylight savings time is in place . . .

then it really is Spring!

And with spring comes flowers

Outdoors

In the planters . . . 

And spring flowers are pansies

In the front pots

This year a mix of pansies and violas

Pansies in the center

encircled by yellow violas

Although I'm a purist with summer flowers

(one color not only in the pot but in the whole garden --

for pot plants)

I like the riotous mix of colors of pansies --

yellows and purples and white . . . and an orange one here and there!

The planters by the back door

The door that leads to the basement

An elegant basement entry methinks

With their chippy paint.

Every Spring Husband Jim wants to paint

Not me -- I like them chippy!

Planting pansies is often cold and tiring work

Our first "hands in the dirt" time since Fall.

We need sustenance after being outdoors.

Sustenance in the form of cookies.

Italian Sprinkle Cookies

Made this time of year with pastel sprinkles.

Found in a cookbook just before Christmas last year

I switched out the suggested pastel sprinkles for red and green ones

and called them Christmas cookies.

It's Spring, the sprinkles are pastel and they're "Easter" cookies

(and they are -- they're called Angeletti cookies and were made for both Christmas and Easter holidays) 

I think it is quite appropriate that the first cookie I made after my trip is an Italian cookie!

The breakfast room is also the afternoon tea room

Blue and white, of course.

Spode Italian plate, cup and saucer

Spode Blue Room teapot

The cookies are small

Three are a nice number for tea!

An old Chinese bowl filled with glass eggs

My great great grandmother's glass eggs

I've never met her but I always feel a connection

every Lenten season

when I display her eggs.

The tea was restorative

As were the cookies . . . 

All too soon it was time to fold the laundry - sigh!

It's Wednesday and I'm sharing my pansies with Susan at A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.

For those who would like the cookie recipe, you can find it HERE  for I made them for Christmas -- with red and green sprinkles!     They really are a good cookie and seem to keep well.