Book Review - Secret Daughter

Hello Friends...

Last month I finished reading the book Secret Daughter, by Shilpi Somaya Gowda.

The story is about a young girl who was adopted from India by an American couple, the father, who happens to have been born in India.  The book goes between the story of Asha, the adopted girl, her Indian birth parents, and her American parents.  Although I found it to be a bit slow at times, overall, I enjoyed the story. Once Asha, goes to India to spend time with her family, and searches for her birth parents, the story picked up for me. Indian culture has always been fascinating to me...this book certainly delivered on that front.  I would certainly recommend Secret Daughter. 

Be sure to check out some of my other favourites on Goodreads.  Although I have a couple of books on my nightstand now, it's been going slow going.  I seem to be out of a reading phase at this point in my life, as we prepare for our move.  Happy Sunday to everyone!

Practice Motifs

Hello Friends...

As I've been cleaning out my house in preparation to move, I came across a load of squares and motifs that I have done up over the past few years.  Looking back, I should have labelled them so I would know where the pattern came from.  They are mostly from the various crochet books I've purchased over the years and some are patterns that I've found online.  I'd mostly used inexpensive yarn that I had purchased for practice and testing out patterns and of course, some leftover yarn from finished projects.  Seeing as I've pretty much put all my projects and ideas on hold until we are settled in the new house, I thought I'd share some of these past efforts:

Little flowers.

More flowers.

I love this flower, I think I used it on one of my pillows.

Motifs.

More squares and motifs.

There you have it...just a selection of samples.  Do you keep all yours, do you label and categorize them?

Granny Treasures

Hello Friends...

As many of you may know, we're moving at the end of July and in the process of going through all my stuff, I've been re-appreciating some of the treasures that have been passed down to me from my Grandmother.  It was such a lovely day today, so I took it all outside so I could capture a few of my goodies in the natural light - take a look...

After my grandmother passed away and my mom was going through her stuff, I was fortunate enough to take these two lovely pieces...canister and butter dish.

I love the bird motif and chinoiserie style of these china pieces.

They are called "Chinese Rose"

This little bowl again has the bird...it's called a VAR-I-ETE bowl...so pretty.

Pretty floral on the inside.

And this jar (not a china piece), but I just loved the colours on it...I've always had it out somewhere in my home.

Around the Backyard

Hello Friends...

We've just had some amazingly beautiful weather the past few days!  Here are some of my latest photos of the yard, garden, etc.:

Lovely Clematis.

Mock Orange.

Some kinda weed.