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A former middle school principal, I am blissfully enjoying retirement with the Headmaster! Thank you for visiting, commenting, and following!

31 October 2012

The Witch Is In!



The WITCH...IS IN!!!



What a fun Halloween night!  In spite of the cold and the wind (which had, by the way, subsided considerably), we had a wonderful group of little goblins tonight!  Such fun! Do you see Mr. SC?


The Headmaster assisted in distributing the candy!  Here he is with Mr. SC!


I made my skirt to go with my witch hat (I made the hat some years ago; sadly, you can't see the veil in back that's all blinged out with sequins and rhinestones)!

Maybe...just maybe...I can do a tutorial on Stone Gable's blog soon for the skirt!!!!

Hope all had a great Halloween!


The Witch is going to visit:
Flaunt It Friday ~ Chic on a Shoestring

28 October 2012

A Thought for our Friends in Harm's Way





The Headmaster and I have been in south Louisiana for a week, attending the wedding of our godson, for whom we threw this party in May!

We will be heading back to northeast Wisconsin tomorrow in order to have a Thanksgiving celebration with the family in that area!  

But before we go...please know that we are thinking about all of you who are in the path of the 'Frankenstorm'.  We have been through this kind of thing multiple of times, but it never gets easy, or old.  It's always a new game.  I would hope that those of you who have been advised to evacuate will have done so, or will, very soon.  Those of you who don't have to leave your homes should be sure you have canned foods, a barbecue grill (with charcoal or gas) ready to go.  In the summer, we have lost great amounts of shrimp, crabmeat, fish, etc., that we have cooked on the grill for the neighborhood.  A great party until we ran out of food and it got hot and humid real fast!

Have batteries, and a battery operated radio.  That was my lifeline during Gustav, several years ago.  If I hadn't had that, I would have most probably lost the little mind I had left.

Please know that all of us in the south are praying for you.  Stay safe, and Godspeed.




21 October 2012

Gwynneth, Ironstone, and Bakelite



I love china; I always have.  And, I have way too much of it!  Not necessarily whole sets, but pieces of this and that.  And not nearly as much as some fabulous bloggers have--I have major storage issues!  Somehow, I've managed to find places (read:  nooks and crannies) for them all (so far)!

I came across this Crown Ducal pattern some time ago, but have very, very few pieces.  It's Gwynneth, and I think I was attracted to it because of the coloration, which, I think, is great for fall.  And I love the little touch of blue!


It's displayed here in our Wisconsin home in one of those great cheese boxes I found last year for sale on the side of the road (none, sadly, this year).  It shares space with a whole bunch of other stuff, including the vintage linens that do a great job of picking up the colors.



Another obsession interest is vintage bakelite and ironstone.  This Red Cliff pitcher holds bakelite knives and forks.  And those osage oranges/hedge apples smell soooo good!  I hope they last for a while.



This little creamer I found when we stumbled onto a flea market that was packing up; it's so sweet, and holds vintage butter knives.


It also has an embossed design on the side, which I think is so sweet on this little piece.


Another piece is this cute little tureen with lid and ladle, not old, but interesting...it holds my cough drops!



Also in the cheese box is this collection of eight ironstone plates.  You can't see very well, but there is a nice beading along the edge.


Then, there's a chamber pot (!)...


 the duck tureen from this post (holding my breakfast bars)...



.. and the pitcher and basin from this post.




And, my latest find, a sweet covered serving dish that I found for a steal!  It's coming south to Louisiana next week!




It's fun to collect these pieces and I'm always on the lookout for more!



Thanks for visiting and allowing me to share with you and at some of these fabulous gatherings:

Inspire Me Monday ~ Create With Joy
Masterpiece Monday ~ Boogieboard Cottage
Mop It Up Monday ~ I Should Be Mopping The Floor
Debbiedoo's Newbie Party ~ Debbiedoo's
Mosaic Monday ~ The Little Red House
Show Me What You Got ~ Our Delightful Home
Metamorphosis Monday ~ Between Naps on the Porch
A Return to Lovliness ~A Delightsome Life


Nifty Thrifty Tuesday  Coastal Charm 
Time to Shine ~ A Diamond in the Stuff 
Table Top Tuesday ~ A Stroll Thru Life 
One Project at a Time ~ A Bowl Full of Lemons
Tuesday's Treasures ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Show Me What Ya Got ~ Not JUST a Housewife
Be Inspired ~ Elizabeth & Co.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Create With Joy
What's It Wednesday ~ Ivy and Elephants
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday ~ Primp
Wow Us Wednesday ~ Savvy Southern Style 
Show & Share ~ Southern Lovely


Home Sweet Home ~ The Charm of Home
Home and Garden Thursday ~ A Delightsome Life
Tips and Tutorials ~ Stone Gable
Let's Dish ~ Cuisine Kathleen

Potpourri Friday ~ 2805
Vintage Inspiration ~ Common Ground

It's Fall, Y'all~ Thrifty Decor Chick

Furniture Feature Friday ~ Miss Mustard Seed

Saturday Nite Special ~ Funky Junk Interiors




Step Right Up!



The inspiration for this post came from Angie at Knick of Time, where she displayed some great ladders and step stools.

We have a collection of ladders here; some vintage, some not, and most all still currently used!

A great old paint-splattered stool I was going to use in the garden as a plant stand until I was halted by the Headmaster (!) ...


Instead, I used my cute little cast iron milk stool I won at the most fabulous barn auction last year.  Sadly, none (barn auctions) to be found this year.



A regular old wooden ladder, still used.  (And that's a look into my chicken coop storage unit potting shed; it's very, very old...)




A sweet little wooden ladder from down in our dungeonesque basement...




But--my favorite is this old cherry picking ladder I picked up last year at a local antique shop.  It's unique design allows one side to be placed on the opposite side of a branch or limb to make picking easier.  It currently resides straddled in our huge (waaay too big) apple tree.



Look at all those apples on the ground!!!



Thanks for visiting, and happy climbing!

These ladders will be visiting at some of the following this week:


Inspire Me Monday ~ Create With Joy
Masterpiece Monday ~ Boogieboard Cottage
Mop It Up Monday ~ I Should Be Mopping The Floor
Debbiedoo's Newbie Party ~ Debbiedoo's
Mosaic Monday ~ The Little Red House
Show Me What You Got ~ Our Delightful Home
Metamorphosis Monday ~ Between Naps on the Porch
A Return to Lovliness ~A Delightsome Life


Nifty Thrifty Tuesday  Coastal Charm 
Time to Shine ~ A Diamond in the Stuff 
Table Top Tuesday ~ A Stroll Thru Life 
One Project at a Time ~ A Bowl Full of Lemons
Tuesday's Treasures ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Show Me What Ya Got ~ Not JUST a Housewife
Be Inspired ~ Elizabeth & Co.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Create With Joy
What's It Wednesday ~ Ivy and Elephants
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday ~ Primp
Wow Us Wednesday ~ Savvy Southern Style 
Show & Share ~ Southern Lovely


Home Sweet Home ~ The Charm of Home
Home and Garden Thursday ~ A Delightsome Life
Tips and Tutorials ~ Stone Gable

Potpourri Friday ~ 2805
Vintage Inspiration ~ Common Ground

It's Fall, Y'all~ Thrifty Decor Chick
Fresh Eggs Daily ~ Farm Girl Friday Blogfest
Furniture Feature Friday ~ Miss Mustard Seed

Saturday Nite Special ~ Funky Junk Interiors

14 October 2012

Song Without Words...Silent Sunday #4




Summer is over, and pre-winter is here already.  Here are a few reminders of the summer:


On the Ahnapee Trail

Wild lilies on the side of the road

Sunset at Peninsula Players in Fish Creek


Old barn (now sadly gone) at Bremmerville 

Weathervane atop our garage at sunset



Love the wooden silo



Goodbye, summer!


Mosaic Monday ~ The Little Red House
Wordless Wednesday ~ Create With Joy




Ann Arbor Road Trip




My older son lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and last year the Headmaster and I decided to take a road trip there to see him.  We went just as the leaves were changing colors--what a beautiful journey!  A few pictures of that adventure follow (I think I may have included some of these before in other posts).  Hope you enjoy them!

The famous Zingerman's Deli...



A wonderful Farmer's Market, The Produce Station...






Muriel's in Ludington...




A deer family feasting on another family's lawn...



We had driven to Ann Arbor via the UP of Michigan, then across the Mackinac Bridge.  On the way back, we chose to let the USS Badger do the driving for us (and guess who's car was the FIRST one off?)!


Thanks for coming along on the trip!




Inspire Me Monday ~ Create With Joy
Masterpiece Monday ~ Boogieboard Cottage
Mop It Up Monday ~ I Should Be Mopping The Floor
Debbiedoo's Newbie Party ~ Debbiedoo's
Mosaic Monday ~ The Little Red House
Show Me What You Got ~ Our Delightful Home
Metamorphosis Monday ~ Between Naps on the Porch
A Return to Lovliness ~A Delightsome Life


Nifty Thrifty Tuesday  Coastal Charm 
Time to Shine ~ A Diamond in the Stuff 
Table Top Tuesday ~ A Stroll Thru Life 
One Project at a Time ~ A Bowl Full of Lemons
Tuesday's Treasures ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Show Me What Ya Got ~ Not JUST a Housewife
Be Inspired ~ Elizabeth & Co.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Create With Joy
What's It Wednesday ~ Ivy and Elephants
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday ~ Primp
Wow Us Wednesday ~ Savvy Southern Style 
Show & Share ~ Southern Lovely


Home Sweet Home ~ The Charm of Home
Home and Garden Thursday ~ A Delightsome Life
Tips and Tutorials ~ Stone Gable

Potpourri Friday ~ 2805
Vintage Inspiration ~ Common Ground

It's Fall, Y'all~ Thrifty Decor Chick

Furniture Feature Friday ~ Miss Mustard Seed

Saturday Nite Special ~ Funky Junk Interiors