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| The sweetest, most wonderful peaches were grown on our family farm |
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| My "valance" of vintage potholders over my kitchen sink . . . just so fun to see them there! |
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| The joy of baking . . in miniature! |
What do you do with ratty looking, worn out things that some folks would not hesitate to toss out. Well, if you're like me you examine them for ALL the possibilities for a "do-over". This project WAS an old leather suitcase but with a lot of tender loving care it became TWO . . . yes, TWO . . .lovely little wall units for my house. The first one is the main part of the suitcase and it has hangers on it so it can be hung on the wall as well. This is currently sitting on the chest of drawers in my bedroom on top of vintage linens and with some other lovely decoration pieces with it. The other picture shows the lid of the same suitcase made into a display unit which is hanging in my bathroom.
Loving tender care . . . GOD's GRACE!!!!
I'm "sweet" on cherries and I love this vintage tablecloth that I was able to barter an apron for. And, I found this Mary Engelbreit teapot (sans the lid, sorry to say) at a local thrift shop. But I'll be able to enjoy it. Life is kind of like cherries . . there's the sweet, yummy part; the hard, difficult part that would be the pit and if not properly cared for they can go bad in a hurry. I want to be able to savor the sweet, yummy part and know how to the deal with the "pits" with grace and more grace. I don't want to miss out on any of it . . I want to enjoy the "cherries" of life!
It's almost October and it is apple time! Our farm produced several varieties of apples . . . yummy! And I spent many days on a 3-legged picking ladder with a picking sack hanging off my shoulders. I love the smell of apples, apple orchards . . and apple time!!! I was able to bring home the box stamps my dad had made that were used to stamp the big cardboard boxes we used when packing and shipping apples. There are some with the apple variety name, such as "Red Delicious", some with size, description such as "Extra Fancy", and one with the Gardner Diamond T Farm and Orchard label/address on it. I also was able to get some of the old wooden apple boxes and I use many of them in my house as shelving units, etc. Dad also made the best . . . oh, the tastiest apple cider . . . what a treat!!! We live just over the fence from the orchards (we no longer own them) but we are able to pick, enjoy the flavor and fragrances . . . and the memories!!!
Yesterday was a rainy day and in the southwest we don't use rainboots or umbrellas much, but yesterday was a RAINY day. So, I put on my "pink plaidies" and took my purple bumbershoot to go get the mail. Of course, you don't close up your bumbershoot while it's wet. A little later in the afternoon I turned around to see our kitty, Skye, preening herself inside the upside down umbrella. As soon as I got my camera she turned around, sat up and posed! Sweet kitty! She is a tortoiseshell calico and unbelievably spry and active for her age. She was 10 months old when I got her from the shelter in June of 1995!!! She is a sweet, affectionate, "people" cat and loves to cuddle. She has been missing her top fang teeth for a long time but can still, without those teeth and at her age, wrangle down rabbits, squirrels, mice and gophers half her size. And she loves to engage in rough & tumble play with our dog, Bramble. We call their romping "rodeos"! Sweet kitty!!