The Wisdom of Birthdays

I have always loved the fact that I was born in the beautiful month of May.

Spring is my favourite time of the year.

Nature is in all her beauty and usually it is not yet too hot!

Here are my cards and a new recipe for a delicious flourless chocolate cake.

which is made with 250 grams of high quality dark chocolate

3 eggs

50 grams of butter and 50 grams of raw cane sugar.

That is all.

The secret is to bake it for only 15 minutes so that it remains soft and very moist.

I received three beautiful red roses from my son and his wife.

They came with that lovely red rose card on my table above.

My daughter's gift is yet to come a little later.

It's a surprise, so I cannot talk about it here!

Isn't this card fun?

It came from a good friend.

The words were the best wisdom for this year's birthday!

Our 'bounce', or our resilience in life,

is what allows us to deal with the more difficult events that we may encounter.

Peonies continue to bring me joy all through this beautiful month

Their detailed centres are amazing.

I love notebooks and received this one

with a particularly beautiful cover designed by the British textile designer,

William Morris.

You can read about him 

here

The first entry in my notebook is the one from the card I received.

That's true!

These last two messages were inside my daughter's birthday card!

May so far this year, has not been the warmest nor the sunniest month.

We have had gale force winds and rainy days.

I find rainy days can be calming when the rain is gentle

and I love walking with my red umbrella in and around my neighbourhood.

enjoying the freshened greenery and listening

to the pitter-patter on my umbrella. 

A quiet birthday this year,

but filled with love and gentleness.

Day 16 - Fragrance

A morning walk after a storm in the night took me up to some gardens.

Everything was fresh and bright

and a sweet fragrance in the air led me to some beautiful roses

gracing the still somewhat cloudy sky.

What a wonderful sight

and a perfect way

to start this new day.

The softness of the dappled sky

set off their loveliness so perfectly

They grew quite high and I held my camera up from below

to capture their cascading beauty.

Day 13 - "IF"

IF

If I had a garden,

it would have lavender growing all along the path right up to the front door

and roses growing over an archway.

If I lived in a house,

the front door mat would have the word 'WELCOME'

written on it.

There would be a different wreath for every season on the front door.

If I had a big kitchen,

I would invite everyone for breakfast or tea

with a gingham tablecloth on the big wooden table

with tantalizing smells coming from the oven or the stove!

BUT

where I live now, I have a balcony and flowers and always a cloth on my table

and a wreath on my front door.

I have organic coffee or herb teas for any visitor coming this way

and I don't have backache

from bending down gardening!

I'm still on the lookout for a front-door mat which has

WELCOME

written on it,

Life is as it is

Life can be good in all circumstances

We just need to recognize them!