Pandas in kilts......

The Chinese tartan

The colours chosen for the Chinese Scottish tartan represent the bond between the two countries, the design includes the blue and white of the Saltire combined with the red and yellow of the Chinese flag, green was also included in the design as it is a traditional colour in tartans and references the links between the botanical communities of both China and Edinburgh - indeed the botanic gardens in Edinburgh holds the largest number of Chinese plants outside of China.
China’s association with Scotland goes back 1000’s of years when explorers in China found a burial place of Caucasian travellers wearing perfectly preserved tartans.  The Chinese Scottish tartan was unveiled on the 6^th of April which is National Tartan Day and it was designed jointly by the Scottish Tartan’s Authority and the Strathmore Woollen Company.

How dandy the pandas will look, but then black and white goes with everything right? 

Kudos to the Edinburgh Zoo, spent many happy childhood hours there.

PROBLEM SOLVED?

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes .. Pass a law that says that if the deficit is more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election."

-- Warren Buffett

HOW SWEET IT IS......

MOUNDS BROWNIES

1 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup dark chocolate chunks
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
3/4 cup Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate & Cocoa
2/3 cup unsifted flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir 1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk into 1 cup of coconut in a small bowl. Combine thoroughly and set aside.
Coarsely chop up the chocolate chunks. I use Valrhona feves, which you can find at Whole Foods, but any high-quality dark chocolate will work.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a spoon, stir eggs with sugar and vanilla; add butter.
Now here's my crazy Kat trick: I save an empty Ghirardelli can to shake all the dry ingredients together because I find sifting to be a chore. So add all dry ingredients together, except for the chocolate chunks, and shake or sift, however you roll!
Stir dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Stir in chocolate chunks. Spread half the batter in a buttered 8-inch square pan.
As evenly as you can, spoon the coconut mixture over the bottom brownie batter layer. You can probably do a neater job of it than I did. Smooth the coconut layer out as evenly as possible.
Now, cover the coconut layer completely with the remaining brownie batter. Take your time. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool completely before cutting and enjoying.

These brownies are a celebration of sweetness on the tongue, and hugs for the soul.

This wonderful recipe that found me, and now belongs in my treasured recipe collection filed under joys to share.......

PEACE IS WHERE YOU FIND IT

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

- Wendell Berry

FRUITPIP SILVERWAND

Just call me Pip!
And I even wear a heather colored dress,  perfect........


My Fairy name is Fruitpip  Silverwand

She protects people from ghosts and demons.

She lives in stony places and tumbling wastes.
She can only be seen when the seer holds a four-leafed clover.
She wears a heather-colored dress and has shimmering translucent wings like a cicada.

Get your own fairy names from The Fairy Name Generator!

WILD GEESE

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting 

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver

published by Atlantic Monthly Press

© Mary Oliver

NEXT QUESTION

Next question: Within each of your groups, do you see commonalities?  

The common thread suggests nature offers me great comfort, the colors reflect my love of nature, colors of mountain heather, flowers and the changing colors of the earth as the sun blesses it each day.

All of my choices are inter related in a way I was not really conscious of,  until looking a little deeper into my answers.


I seek comfort,  tranquility, and a connection to the greater Spirit.  My answers reflect this journey.  I guess, it is not such random wander, as I had believed.  Though I still love the synchronicity of it all!