Rabbits, Horses, Flowers, Sunshine and More!

We have been so lucky here in the Mid-Atlantic states with four absolutely perfect weekends in a row – sunny, upper-60’s and clear as a bell! Everyone’s taking advantage of the cool spring to be out and about as much as possible. The light this time of year is glorious and I’ve been taking pictures at my favourite time of the day, when the sun’s low and casting a golden glow.

I snapped some pictures of Connor with our new garden ornament – a wonderful rabbit given to me by the delightful and darling Virginia Newman Yocum of Pennoyer-Newman, who make the most amazing garden ornaments!

I think Connor’s a little freaked out that the rabbit’s moving around him!

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On to the horses! I am thrilled to bits for local family, the Janneys, whose horse, Orb, won the Kentucky Derby. I do what I can to support locally-owned businesses, in this case, a stable, and was happy to put a bet on Orb to win, place or show. I was even more delighted to win $128! Now it’s on to the Preakness in two weeks.

Of course, we kicked off the race-watching with Mint Juleps, served in some of the cups I’d gotten from One King’s Lane a few months ago. I had the most miniscule bit of mint growing, but when I came home from work the other day, the lawn guy had cut it back to nubs, so I had to forage for some in a friend’s garden.

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On Saturday, I attended the Ladew Garden Festival, and it was just the most beautiful day for it. I was looking at my pictures from the past few years, and noticed that the gardens are a few weeks behind where they usually are. The tulips weren’t quite in bloom,the azaleas were just beginning to bud, but the urns and other seasonal plantings looked spectacular.

There were some new faces at the Festival this year, including Matthew Mead, lifestyle editor and now magazine publisher. He and his wife, Jenny, had a great booth with lots of the vintage pieces they’re known for.

Some of the other booths in the Antiques Tent were friends, Halcyon House Antiques,

perennial favourite, Hoffman Woodward,

and of course, Pennoyer Newman.

The image above is from a casting of a container found at Ladew Gardens. It’s a terrific piece.

There were also lots of great and unusual plants to be found on the Garden Row.

For all of the local Ravens’ fans, there was an amazing deep purple azalea.

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The season for rhubarb is a short one, and when it’s around, I usually buy a bunch and then freeze it for later use. When I lived in the UK, one of my great addictions was Champagne Rhubarb Yoghurt, along with the other two flavours shown!

I decided to try making my own, and found a recipe from Jamie Oliver which I adapted. I chopped rhubarb stalks into inch-long pieces, chucked them in a pan and added water and sugar, cooked it until it was soft (about 7-10 minutes) and then put it into one of my Weck jars.Once it had chilled, I added it to some Greek yoghurt for the perfect treat.

I hope your weekend was glorious!