Happy highlights of my week

baking peanut butter cookies, using a cookie stamp in place of a fork to mark the tops

 daisies from The White Garden fill a jar on the kitchen table

checking out the pears on the trees in the front yard -- looks good for this year

making sweet cherry preserves to enjoy on English muffins

how about you? what have been your happy highlights this week?

Turns out you don't even need the sun to make Sun Tea

So it was a cloudy morning yesterday. The sun didn't peek through until after it would have been on the deck (pesky trees, the sun goes behind them around 2 PM).

Anyways, I poured cold tap water into a large tea pot and added 3 small tea bags (well, 2 bags and 1 tea ball).

I left it sitting on the kitchen counter at about 68 degrees F all day. To my surprise, by 3 PM I had tea about the strength of my sun tea. It probably would have become stronger with heat. But this was just fine for me. I let the pot of tea sit on the counter until bedtime, when I put it in the fridge.

This morning, I have cold tea, ready and waiting for me. I can heat a cup in the microwave or drink it over ice. No electricity or sun needed to "brew" a pot of tea.

I never would have thought . . .