to market

A weekend with girlfriends in the mountains gave us opportunity to gaze upon and 

appreciate some fall color. It wasn't really the leaf color; it appears that we may not 

have much of that this year––but the fall farmer's market in a small city near 

where we stayed gave us much rich color to enjoy. 

Those fingerling potatoes mimic what we wish we could see on the trees!

Linking to Little Red House and Monday Mosaics.

autumn greetings

I wonder how much use there is for autumnal greeting cards. 

Maybe a thank you after a Thanksgiving dinner invitation. 

Or just a hand written note to say "thinking of you."

Hand written notes or letters is a subject dear to my heart. 

And it seems to be a dying art. There is so much history found in old letters.

There is great loss in our lack of writing letters, or in emails forever deleted.

Sometimes when a grandchild visits we write a letter to mommy and daddy, address it, 

put on a stamp, and walk it out to our mailbox. If we're around at the right time, 

we can even see the mailperson pick up the letter. And then, the next day, 

I ask their mommy to have them help her get the mail from their mailbox.

 Maybe it instills a bit of the joy of communicating with pen and paper. 

At least they will know how to do it! I enjoy writing letters 

to them or my nieces and nephews, because . . .

. . . is there anything quite like finding a real letter in the mail?

Please visit A Haven for Vee for her very fun notecard party!

a food photo challenge

 

 

All mostly "healthy" food . . .

taken with my little canon point and shoot camera.

Usually a scene calls me as I visualize what it might look like.
Then I reach for the camera, aim it, and then crop later for the
 image I was seeing in my mind.
(Cropping photos is a favorite past time of mine.)

This food group maybe not so healthy ....

but the sweeties were from Wh*le Foods ...

Linking to Donna's Personal Photo Challenge; this month the subject is food.

off the wall

It's easy for me to fall in love with a dish and now I have again. The thoughtful gardener found a set of six of these Churchill dishes with cups and saucers at GW for a song. Just a pure melody that was so cheap I can't bear to pay what  eb*y or Cr*igs is asking for the two more I now wish I had. 

So when eight friends gathered around our table the other night I scrounged around for 

two more blue and white plates. I liked the orange and blue together --- best I could do for autumn.

I found two on the wall. That night I played a little game seeing if anyone could find 

"something" wrong about the table.  The things they came up with almost gave me a complex. 

Like "one side of the table is higher than the other." ...  Huh?

This sweet girl who came down off my kitchen wall was the one they almost didn't notice.

We really did play a game though. I named it 20 questions. Yes I wrote them. We passed 

them in a little bowl around and around the table until all were answered. No one 

seemed to want to quit.  Questions that ever so subtly dug into our lives a wee bit 

and swung the conversation to all sorts of places, and oh did we laugh. 

Some were downright silly.  

I love this little butter dish by the way. In the lower level you put some water or a 

small ice cube. It keeps the butter firm. The small white inset is where the butter sits.
And see the quirky butter knife, which I have sitting 

incorrectly in the photo. Cleverly made.

Linking to  Between Naps on the Porch's Tablescape Thursdays.

the search

We went in search of a pumpkin, better known to some little girls as Cinderella's carriage.

When we got to the farm the animals were scarce. Before long a trailer full of white cows arrive.  

Good enough for us to watch and exclaim over once they were in the pasture. 

Hide and seek: Can you imagine a very tall grandpa hiding in hay bales? Yes he did!

It's a toss up who had more fun, but it may have been the grandparents.

See Little Red House for other Mosaics!

Shoe Fairy Part II

I had a sort of pay-it-back-return of the shoe story I wrote about a few months ago. The Gardener played a key role, and I'm still laughing about it.

I've been cleaning out. Seems like the time of year to do some of this and I don't think I'm the only one with this idea from what I've been reading on my favorite blogs. I decided the "wedding shoes" --worn when I was a senior bridesmaid for my niece--would be worn no more and I should give someone else a chance to use them rather than letting them sit on a shelf in my closet. Little did I know who would be the recipient.

I took them to the garage and placed them on the lid of the trunk. When next I got in the car I'd pop open the trunk and put them in with the other stuff headed for charity.

There was a lot going on at our house that morning so the Gardener said he was going to get some lunch at a fast food shop. He came back just mystified with a story to tell.  As he got to the window to pick up his food a lady banged on his car window. "These fell off your car."

He didn't recognized the shoes (I hardly wore them) the woman held up to show him and he was totally confused. "Do you want them?" he asked her.

"Sure," was the woman's reply. How did that little black pair of fancy sandaled heels manage to make it all the way to the restaurant without falling off? (We won't ask why the Gardener didn't notice them sitting on the trunk. :-)

I guess it was that lady's turn to get a gift of shoes.

Photo: Little One's new red shoes on her first day of school. Photo credit to CLC or EBC.

dusk comes early

Dusk is falling earlier, and with it comes cooler temperatures and candles.

It's turning to a cozier time of year.

Joining Mary's Little Red House for Monday Mosaics.

mantle for fall

 It's time for a fall mantle. It's starting to feel a bit like fall outside; 

I even found myself looking for a sweater!

I seemed to find brassy-looking things for the mantle, including a 100+ year-old family heirloom. 

My challenge is always the brick wall behind the mantle which absorbs dark colors. 

But I decided to go with the fall tones just for awhile since I enjoy a change.

The mantle showed off a lot of silver and white over the spring and summer.

Joining the mantle "party" today at Thrifty Decor Chick.

kegs and pans

I took a trip to GW the other day. In my trunk was this amazing 60 year old roasting pan. It was a painful trip, reminding me of the time I took my dad's clothes to GW.  I am impossibly sentimental and all I could think about were the many, many turkeys my mom had made in that pan. I just can't keep it anymore, and probably will never make another turkey big enough to warrant keeping it. I tried to find someone of the younger generation to take it, but there was no interest. It's a true work horse and hopefully someone will see it's value and take it home to use for many more family meals. One of the things I think of when I remember my parents is the wonderful cook my mother was. She was a nurturer extraordinaire and cooking for her family was part of that. So I said goodbye to a piece of my life and tried not to look back.

I was much happier about this old nail keg. The story goes that it was my grandfather's, 

and ended up at my father's house. My dad was a builder-turned-preacher, 

but my grandfather was a builder all his life. If you were to travel around the Philadelphia 

area you would see many wonderful stone houses, banks and churches built by his company. 

So the nail keg meant a lot to me. I was delighted when my nephew's wife expressed 

interest in it. It's now an umbrella stand in her front hall!

I'm struck by this attic scene: the old nail keg next to the pack n play,

used for the builder's great-great grandchildren.

the color of food

Doesn't color enhance our enjoyment of food?

I can see why dogs don't mind dog food. 

Don't they see in black and white?

Please visit Mary's Little Red House to see more Mosaics!

sharp pencils

My sister wrote this at the end of a chatty email the other day.

 I decided to make her my guest blogger today! She wrote:

"I meant to write you a 'blog thought' which if I was a blogger I would write 

about. It has to do with the back-to-school time of year, and in particular 

school supplies for sale at a big box store. It always brings a surge of feelings, 

and quite a mix of them, actually.  The sight of them all lined up and 

sparkling new brings back the excitement/anticipation/anxiety of starting a

 new school year as a kid, and it reminds me of my kids' schooling, 

our years of homeschooling, etc.  

"Also I flat out love office/school supplies, and remember the fresh feeling 

of a new notebook, new pencils, new folders at the beginning of a new year. 

I am drawn in to look at the school supply aisles. And of course that reminds 

me of getting a couple--not many, of course--new outfits, and perhaps 

making some new clothes in the extra bedroom upstairs where we 

had the sewing machine. [And going to 

buy our one new pair of sturdy shoes for the new year of school.]

"And, overall, a feeling of "wistful" relief that none of this concerns me anymore!  

going home notecards

 It's almost a year ago that my sister and I traveled back to the hometown of our childhood. 

 We went to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the church our father pastored for 20 of those 100 years. 

 It was a time we will never forget, rich with new memories stamped upon old ones.

And it seemed appropriate to make this month's notecards remembering that special time.

Please visit Vee's blog to see other notecards in this fun monthly "party."

framed

Windows and doors are my favorite things to photograph. For me they are sort of framed anticipation, either looking in or looking out . . . .  Or even a pretty frame in itself.  This amazing door is in a leprosarium built-to-last in the 1920s. The building stands strong though a little paint

 is needed. It now appears to be mainly used for storage as part of a larger 

TB and leprosy (Hanson's Disease) center (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia).

I used several cameras while I was photographing our time in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia so 

I can't tell you what camera this was, but most likely my little Canon "point and shoot." 

It was the rainy season so we rarely saw the sun. When you see a window up high you love, 

don't you wish you had some scaffolding for a moment? This window is over the door shown above.

From a little bathroom in the guest house where we stayed, looking out 

on the tin roof, shanty houses, and sky scrapers.

I loved all the wood in this guest house built in 1950, and this door in particular,

 opening out to a pretty yard filled with flowers.

A door opens to a whole new world inside, or closes it to the world outside.

And you never know what all you'll catch in a photo as you "reflect" on it

later. In this case you can see the tall Gardener reflected in conversation.

A beautiful church in Addis Ababa, with wood imported from New Zealand.

Linking with Donna's Personal Photo Challenge today!

skypartee

All of us gathered around the table on this particular morning have been friends for many years ... from back in the days when our children were young. As the years went by and the children left our nests, we started gathering to celebrate our birthdays, mostly with tea or lunch in our homes. We've missed our friend who moved to Germany, though we often Skype with her for our book clubs.

I had the idea to give her a virtual birthday party. Why not? We gathered for tea as we always do, and she "sat" at the head of the table. I had asked her husband to be sure she was there, and at least the birthday part of it was a surprise.

It worked so well. We almost forgot B. wasn't really right at the table with us.

 These pictures look like we are having a "working tea," 

with papers and books spread around. Well indeed we were, of sorts. 

For we each brought a "virtual" gift to give her.

And words to share to encourage her.

I "gave" her a children's book for her to read to her grandchildren when she skypes with them. 

For when I visited her this summer, I was so taken by a chest in her living room where she has

toys for her little granddaughters and takes them out "to play" when they Skype. 

She even showed us where she has little mice hiding 

around her house that her grands look for when they "visit."

After we finished the gifts she took us on a tour of their flat. I was a little nervous 

when she held her computer outside the window to show us the busy street. 

As icing on the non-existent cake, we enjoyed blueberry tea and jam fresh 

from Lydia Grace's trip to visit lighthouses in Maine and thereabouts. 

A fine morning indeed!

to market, to market

The vibrancy and color of the markets in Germany and France this summer were a treat for the eyes!

Visit Mary's Little Red House for other Monday Mosaics!

almost stillness

A quiet morning, peeking through some trees down

 at the lake and a solitary motorboat. 

Almost stillness.

Linking to Katie's Photo Friday.