I love sponge cake at Easter. It’s just the right time of year to use my violets from the garden for decorating. The best part is, it tastes as good as it looks! I used an Alice Water’s recipe for the sponge cake and topped it with whip cream and berries. It turned out beautifully!

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One of my favorite things to do in late winter is to enjoy spring blossoms inside. The white Japanese quince I have photographed in my dining room is from my backyard. It will bloom outside naturally in late March in my climate, but I force the blooms inside for an early and encouraging display of flowers while the winter still presides outside.

I cut long, lovely branches anytime in January or February and bring them in the warmth of my house. After I crush the cut stems with a hammer, I put them in a deep container of water and check every couple days to add more water. In two to four weeks I have a spring time of stunning white blossoms to decorate my house.

While I am waiting for the buds to blossom, the elegant branches are full of expanding buds, maturing into perfect little spheres of tender white. I believe I like these pregnant buds equally as well as the fully realized blossoms. This indoor preview of spring feeds my soul with hope and beauty for the future.

Trees and shrubs to choose for forcing:

• Japanese quinces of all colors
• Forsythia
• Ornamental flowering trees
• Fruit trees

Twenty Years Later

This first photograph of my daughter, Caitlin, and me was published in the 1990 catalog and the second photograph was taken earlier this year in New Zealand when I was visiting Caitlin. Even though 20 years have passed, Caitlin is still my little girl and it is fun to share this recent photo of both of us together.

Caitlin moved to New Zealand after she finished her BFA in Graphic Design. While she was there, she worked for a design firm in Wellington. It was wonderful to know that she was following in my footsteps as an artist and designer, but difficult to have her so far away.

To my delight, she has just recently moved back to the U.S. and is here helping us at MFD with some marketing projects and also on a new product line. We are having so much fun! I appreciate her fresh perspective and the contributions she’s been making to the new line.  Both Caitlin and I are very excited about this new endeavor that will be available in January of 2011.

For right now, Caitlin and I are both contributing articles in this Christmas Ideas section of the website. I hope you are enjoying this new section in our website. We have provided a place for you to comment on these articles and also you will be able to read the comments from others. We love hearing from you!