Oh my sweet bloggy friends… you all gave such thoughtful answers to my mystery drawing, and I couldn’t keep you in suspense any longer.  Vee from A Haven for Vee commented that she would love to be in EPCOT.  Miss Peach of Miss Peach Meowz said she thinks it is the wilds of Canada, and Lorrie of Fabric, Paper, Thread said that it looked like it could be from her neck of the woods (also Canada.)  Then Experiment_627 (DIS) hit the nail precisely on the head (I wouldn’t expect less from a fellow Disney lover), “The Canada pavillion at Epcot! Mmmm, Le Cellier filet…. “ 

Yes, it is Walt Disney World’s Canada pavilion in EPCOT.  And now I will tease and tantalize you with some photos from our trip last year. 

These are the gardens which greet you as you are coming into the Canada pavilion, and they are patterned after the beautiful Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC.

The centerpiece of EPCOT’s Canada pavilion is a replica of the Château Laurier hotel in Ottowa.   This is an aesthetically majestic piece of architecture, and it houses the real treasure of this part of EPCOT, the wonderful Le Cellier restaurant. 

This restaurant is nestled in the bottom of the beautiful chateau and is fashioned to look like a wine cellar… hence the name Le Cellier. 

This is the famous pretzel bread that so tantalizes restaurant-goers at Walt Disney World that they cannot help themselves and must go to Le Cellier.  Seriously, it is some of the best bread you have ever put in your mouth.  But with or without the pretzel bread, I suspect Le Cellier would still be the most popular restaurant at EPCOT.

Then there are the wonderfully flavorful appetizers like this dish of Prince Edward Island mussels below.

But the true piece de resistance for me…

… is the Mushroom Filet Mignon.  It is just one of several steak dishes for which the restaurant has become so popular.   But, lest you think that is all they have to offer…

… now that is SOME MORE fabulous s’more!  And then there’s…

… the vanilla and maple creme brulee sampler.  Scrumptiously delicious (is that redundant?  Not where this dessert is concerned!)

As you can see, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Thanks so much for all who joined in the mystery fun.  I hope to have another picture for your mystery enjoyment very soon!

No my computer is not back to life.  But yesterday was such a grand reminder that this life is not all there is, that it quite put the rest of life right back into perspective.  Eternity is such a very long time, and this life is so very short.  There is so much for which to be thankful that computer woes just seem so insignificant.  God is amazing, and as I look around to see signs of new life budding from trees, from shrubs, and from small green stems it is apparent that He is once again “making all things new.”  When I look at a rose like the one here, I ask myself, “Could man have fashioned that?  Could that be an accident of nature?”  The color combinations are so pleasing to the eye, the scent so pleasing to the nose, the softness of its petals so pleasing to the touch… Could I have made that? Could it be an accident?  The only answer I can come up with is “no.”

But I think it is this very thing, His imaginative design and creative nature, that He has put deeply into each one of us… the desire to fashion beautiful things, to create, to design.  And in each of us that creativity manifests itself in different ways… for one it is with words, for someone else it is painting, for still another it is decorating, or the ability to speak eloquently about a beloved subject, or the skill to capture a beautiful image with photography, or the ability to design a computer program, or the aptitude to understand finances, or the passion to garden… but we all have that divine spark of creativity.  It just blows me away sometimes as I read blog after blog and each person’s giftedness comes shining through.  And if this world is as marvelously diverse and excitingly creative as it is, just imagine what the next will be like!  Resurrection…

Life is really full of seasons… highs and lows, ups and downs, and everything in between.  But God is God throughout them all.  He is, He was, and He will be.  Never changing, yet ever new.  Count on Him.  For everything.  All the time.  No matter how out of control life seems to be, He is in control.  He is a refuge, a tower of strength, a present help in time of trouble. 

It’s as if I have lain down in a green pasture somewhere and let the warmth of the sun wash over me.  Peace and joy… unspeakable… yet too wonderful not to speak about!  May you, too, experience the joy of resurrection as you ponder what it truly means.

Well, spring is almost upon us… so I thought it was time to give Charm & Grace a fresh new floral bouquet.  I hope you like it.  I am busily working on the upcoming articles for the spring issue of Charm & Grace, so I thought I’d give you a bit of a teaser.

We will have features on flowers (of course) and some lovely photos of England.  We will see what April has to do with springtime.   You’re in store for a lovely “Gardens of the Web” feature… just in time for that first burst of color.  Discover why we’re having a spring fling… and much more.  I hope to have the articles out by next week, so stay tuned.  I promise you’ll be the first to know!

The new life that is all around is such a vivid reminder of what God does in us.  Rebirth, renewal, cleansing… all things that spring, with its freshness, beckons us to remember.  What a glorious time of year spring is (but, then again, aren’t they all!)

I received the loveliest surprise in my mailbox today, the March/April issue of Victoria magazine… which I am sure they intended as an early birthday present (as mine falls a week from tomorrow.)  The third offering of Victoria by Hoffman, this one is resplendent with beauty… definitely their best effort.

With gorgeous images of gardens, flowers, a Scottish-style manor house in British Columbia, fashion, and more, this issue delights the eye from cover to cover.  I am all the more encouraged that the magazine will again be what she once was… the rightful Queen of Magazines. 

 

My heart is full to see this magazine come in all its glorious springtime splendor. My spirits are buoyed by what I have seen from this issue and my hopes even higher for the ones to follow.  Thank you, Victoria, for your early birthday present to me and for ushering in our vernal equinox in the proper fashion.

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