Granddaughters and Tea Parties

One of the joys of being a grandmother is doing the silly, frilly fun thing that as busy moms we didn't have time for.  Rather than doing laundry, making beds and picking up toys, a gramma can set a table of cookies, candies, and cupcakes to play dressup in floppy hats.

My sister-in-law's granddaughter is in town and is one year older than my mine, so I thought a gramma/granddaughter tea party would be delightful for these three and four year old darlings.  Knowing they don't eat much at one setting and would be off to play quickly, I didn't spend a great deal of time on fancy food.

• Egg salad sandwiches cut with a heart shaped cookie cutter and toothpicked with a grape tomato
• Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut with a biscuit cutter
• Turkey and cheese sandwiches cut in rectangles

No little girls' tea party is complete without cupcakes with pink frosting!

Easter and spring time are perfect seasons for shopping for pastel dishes.  Target had plastic purple polka dot and green polka dot plates and tray with matching glasses.  Not a huge investment and the dishes can double on the Easter table, my annual garden party and of course future granddaughter tea parties.

While the plates were plastic, real flowers, fabric tablecloth and napkins gave the table an air of elegance and whimsy.

Seeding Season at Last

The date has finally arrived to begin my seeds indoors.  The last average frost date here is May 15, so counting backwards I find the magic "weeks prior to transplanting outdoors"  when I can start my petunias, tomatoes, cilantro, etc.

This year I am attempting red begonias for the first time.  These are a special, super duper strain that should reach 2-3 feet and bloom all summer.  However, they begin as teeny, tiny seeds that need to be started 14 weeks before going outside.  March 4, I dropped the size-of-a-pinhead seeds on to seed planting medium and set the tray on the dining room table in front of a south facing window.  They need light to germinate, so they weren't covered with anything but plastic wrap to trap the moisture build up from the 1/4 inch of water put in the bottom of the tray.  I always use a soilless, pre-mixed growing medium. Such mixes are generally made up of peat, perlite and vermiculite along with some nutrients. These mixes are for the most part free from disease, insects and weed seeds.

At about two weeks sprouts started showing.  Out of 45 seeds, 26 are up.  Everyday I see a few more and give them words of encouragement.

This week I'll start cilantro, but next week is fanny farmer week when petunias (4 kinds and colors) and tomatoes (3 varieties) need to be started.