Friday: Little Delights

"If one daffodil is worth a thousand

pleasures, then one is too few."

attributed to WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Happy Friday! It feels like Spring today. A real beauty. Skies are blue with wispy clouds, tulips and daffodils are coming into bloom. Trees are finally greening out. Borrowing a leafy idea from a lovely blogging friend, Debbie, I'm sharing a list of what delights me this week:

❧ Morning sunshine streaming through the living room filling the room with light.

❧ The soothing warmth of the sun on my face without sharp north winds mixed in.

❧ Detail cleaning the inside of my car. A perfect chore to celebrate this spring day by removing the vestiges of winter's crud.

❧ A simple iceberg lettuce salad with a Basil Buttermilk Dressing. It's the unexpected burst of basil in a salad that doesn't include the usual tomatoes with basil that makes this dressing satisfying and delicious. Have no idea where I first found the recipe - it's a scribbled note in my recipe binder. Here it is should you wish to try it:

Basil Buttermilk Salad Dressing

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 small garlic, mashed with a sprinkle of salt

2 Tbsps. fresh chopped basil (and, yes, save the recipe for when you can use fresh)

Whisk buttermilk and mayonnaise. Add mashed garlic, sprinkle of salt, and chopped basil. Chill in refrigerator for an hour. Pour over iceberg lettuce and serve. 

❧ A small slice of Sour Cherry Lattice Pie from Duchess Bakery with a tiny scoop of vanilla ice cream from Marble Slab Creamery. Yum.

❧ Reading through the eight books in the Anne of Green Gables Series. I'm currently on book four Anne of Windy Poplars. This is usually a favourite to read in the autumn, but I wanted to read the series in chronological order. The stories are as charming as ever, but I find myself paying closer attention to the details and descriptions that set the stories in their precise era. One mention of a character traveling to Alberta means the story took place after 1905, the year Alberta became a province in the Dominion of Canada (as it was then known). I also found it interesting when the author mentioned a telephone wire wrecking Anne's view from her college bedroom window—another clue of the era (history lessons).

❧ A real letter in the mailbox amidst a pile of advertising brochures. It came all the way from Oregon from a dear blogging friend. Thanks, Sharon, it arrived safely.

❧ Coffee on the front step this morning to the welcome chorus of robins and chickadees and a few finches.

'Tete a Tete'

❧ A single small patch of dwarf Narcissus 'Tete a Tete' daffodils blooming in the garden. I have often wondered why these little blooms wear this name. According to my bit of research online, 'Tete a Tete' means 'head to head'. It's a French expression that means 'an intimate conversation'. Peer closely, and you'll see the nodding heads seem to be telling stories and whispering secrets. I feel the delight of this bit of info.

And that's what's delighting my soul this Friday. On that note,

I'm wishing you a beautiful weekend,

Brenda

Photo credits:

Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life