Ina Garten's Irish Soda Bread and a peek inside the Presbytère.

(The Graphics Fairy)

Lynn @ Happier Than a Pig in Mud has invited us all to take part in her Celebrity Cook - Along this month with TV Chef and prolific Cook Book author Ina Garten.

Cuisine Kathleen is also hosting the 3rd Annual St Patricks Day blog crawl.

Click on the links or the sidebar buttons to join the parties.

To celebrate St Patricks Day I made Ina's Irish Soda Bread and invited a couple of dear old friends, Brian and Bree Bear, to share this tea time treat.

We'll be taking tea in the 16th century part of the house today, in the Bishops bedroom of the Presbytère.

Click here to get Ina's Irish Soda Bread recipe from The Barefoot Contessa At Home cookery book.

Brian sends his apologies but he didn't have time to change out of the holey aran sweater which he likes to wear when gardening.
As you can see Bree has gone to a lot of trouble with her appearance and is wearing a favourite linen dress trimmed with Irish lace and a matching hair ribbon.
She's not too pleased that Brian looks a little scruffy, but at least he took off his muddy boots and put on indoor shoes, and he did bring me daffodils from his garden.
I popped them straight into a cherished Waterford crystal pitcher, a wedding present many moons ago.



Why not pull up this wooden rocking chair and join them for a slice of soda bread, the orange zest and currants make this a tasty tea time favourite.

There's mascarpone cream and black cherry preserves in the Waterford crystal bowls, do please help yourself.

Perhaps you'd prefer to settle back amongst the cushions on our comfy sofa?

Excuse me just for a moment, I must go and see if the kettle has boiled.
I'll be back in a jiffy with the tea.
In the meantime, if you would like to know a little more about the Bishops bedroom why not sit back and enjoy these photographs of a very special place.

It's a beautiful, peaceful room which still has the handcut terracotta tile floor original to the house, circa late 1500's.
Simple white plaster walls and an eclectic mix of antique and vintage pieces.

We discovered the beams in the ceiling, above the windows and doorway, and the Caen stone surrounding the doorway when we were renovating this part of the building.

Chiselled into the stonework, at the side of the doorway, we also found the date 1787, which we believe was done to mark the "new addition"  to the house.
The fireplace and decoration on the chimney breast are original too, we think.

It is the perfect place for a Reiki treatment.

Click here to see the post of how I use the Bishops bedroom as my Reiki space.

I've so enjoyed your visit and showing you around a part of our Normandy home.

 I hope you'll come back again soon.

There may be crumpets for tea next time.

R is for Reiki.

Time for Mrs Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday lesson and I'm so happy that this week the letter to discuss is "R".
For me R means Reiki.
What is Reiki?

Reiki is universal energy, and is accessible to all, regardless of belief, age, colour, or creed.

Reiki is holistic healing, working on mind, body and spirit.
Reiki can do no harm, it is always working for the higher good.

What does the word and symbol Reiki mean?
Loosely translated Reiki means "the free flow of universal life force energy".

In Japanese Rei means spirit, ghost, soul or spiritual conciousness, it can also be interpreted as free passage, universal and ever present.

Ki means life force energy.

Reiki as we know it today was rediscovered towards the end of the 19th century by a Japanese Doctor: Dr. Mikao Usui, and is based on the teachings of centuries old Sanskrit Sutras found in a Zen monastery in Tibet.

Dr. Usui dedicated the rest of his life to healing and teaching Reiki and was decorated for this by the Emperor of Japan. He died in the early 1930's, and his teachings were eventually brought to the West by Madam Hawayo Takato.

The 5 Reiki Principles:

Just for today, I will not worry.

Just for today, I will not anger.
Just for today, I will honour all living things.

Just for today, I will earn my living honestly.
Just for today, I will live an attitude of gratitude and show kindness to all things.

After a relaxing Reiki treatment walk slowly to Jenny's and enjoy all the great blogs gathered there this morning.

YMBD On Line Crop Weekend

Just taking time to have a cup of tea and catch my breath. I have been having such a great time working on all these crop challenges, it really makes me think outside the box.

Finally did a LO for Chakras which I have wanted to do for a while just wasn't inspired before now.

Go to

http://yourmemoriesbydesign.ca/

to check out the fun for yourself and see all the great designs that people are posting.