wild violets & a trip to brimfield antiques show 2018

Posted on May 9, 2018 by Shanda

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We haven’t had our lawn mowed yet so there are wild violets growing everywhere. They are abundant and I found myself wandering around picking a tiny bouquet of them. The white ones are the most fragrant; beautiful, creamy white with deep purple lines from the middle pedal and just a hint of yellow there, too.

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We are blessed in violets. Another kind that I noticed was white with a deep blue center, with blue veins coming out from the blue.

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Also noticed was a thin grapevine twisted around and up a tree, just the right spot for another photo opportunity for my violets.

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My very favorite one is light lilac in color, with thin delicate pedals and a flat face…in the photo it is the one closest to my hand, picked last. I only know of one small patch of these. The most common purple ones are growing everywhere.

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Tied with a ribbon, they dress up the kitchen windowsill very nicely.

****

Yesterday was opening day of the Brimfield Antique Show so when the children left for school, I drove to the show. I arrived early enough to get parking easily. Later on when I left it was crowded and some of the parking lots were full. It cost 10 dollars to park at the church, and I always park there each time I go. When I got out of my vehicle I heard one of the attendants call over to another older parking attendant to ask “Which one of these trees did you plant?” He laughed and looked back and forth to a couple trees; “That one.” It was stately tall and mature and I marveled that it had grown so much in the man’s lifetime. Already I was collecting beauty and inspiration from people…….I wanted to go home and plant a tree.

I thought of Jo and Dawn when I saw these darling little tap shoes.

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Within 10 minutes I had made a fiesta purchase; a tea cup and saucer in the hard-to-find-and-afford lilac color. (to match the violets) at a great price!

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And I thought of friend Hannah, and my dear mother, whenever I saw sewing things and fabrics.

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Vintage fiesta ware

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I bought a vintage yellow dessert plate with stripes. Someone mentioned on the fiestaware FB page that they thought it was part of a Sears cake set sold years ago.

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I found a shiny and perfect medium green plate (most rare of all the colors) and was able to purchase it for 30 dollars.

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I normally go to Brimfield with someone else (or two or three) and I wondered how I would enjoy going alone, but I simply loved it. I would rather go with one or two of the children, or my sisters, or aunts, or friends of course but going by myself this time ended up being a much needed treat. I loved thinking only of myself and quietly going around watching people and looking at all the things people were displaying and selling. I took my lunch and ate it as I walked; a pb and honey sandwich, a cliff bar, an apple. All in all, I spent almost 4 hours and walked about 4 miles before I left.

It felt wrong in a way to leave Brimfield and go straight to an antique store (because Brimfield is nothing but antiques as far as the eye can see) but I had remembered a few things that I had wanted to buy a few months ago, so I headed to one more shop before going home for the day. The things I was looking for were gone, but I still enjoyed browsing. Antiquing is like a little history lesson of ordinary life.

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Jus took at that big red fiesta platter (not purchased, but admired) The colors are so energizing and cheerful.

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~A chartreuse display (fiesta disc pitcher)~

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Well, then I drove back home and determined to stay in my kitchen until it was spotless so I turned on some music and mindfully washed up the dishes, cleared off the counters and scrubbed them, and swept the floor. It’s more fun when you can concentrate on what you’re doing rather than rush through to get to the “next thing”. Pictured above are the fiestaware pieces that I bought yesterday. But I have already thought about NOT buying anymore of it for a while. I am content with my collection. I have a piece of every color and then some. I have vases and teapots, pitchers, canisters, vintage, and new. Salt and pepper shakers, spoon rests, trivets, pie plates. Plates galore. Common pieces and rare. Some to display and others to use everyday. It’s a satisfying collection.

Photos of other finds brought home:

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A Tasha Tudor craft-type book, paperback, which I had never seen before. I can’t wait to look at it slowly and try some of the projects.

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A lady in Brimfield had a “just my style” booth that she told me she started doing when she retired. She does all three Brimfield shows a year and also does her own show. She had pieces of furniture, and housewares, vintage laces, baby things, new and old. At the counter she had a display of scrapbooking packets that she put together and I couldn’t resist buying one.

More old papers for scrapbooking and journals.

L O V E

L O V E **Eloise Wilkin**

This was such fun. “My School-Day Autobiography” owned by Doris Jeanette Reid. Perhaps you know her. I would love to send it back to her, or her descendants. How do things end up being sold and bought by strangers?

In the meantime, here are some of the pages:

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“Stay as sweet as you are and you won’t have a hard time getting a husband.”

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“Best wishes to a bad girl.”

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“Your one of my best friends I mean it”

BEAUTIFUL script and blessing

Taped on the last page.

*****

quilts and fiestaware and salt cellars and . . . . . . .

Posted on March 22, 2018 by Shanda

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Good morning! I can’t wait to tell you all about when I took Grace back to college this weekend. But first a little update on the day so far. It’s snowing, for one thing. I have a boy home with the flu, for another. On a scale of 1-10 my mommy-burnout meter is at about a 6. . . .so thank goodness there was no snowday today or it would have shot up to a 9 I’m sure. I plan on a quiet day with Caleb, four cats, and the dog. Caleb is snuggled up with Parker at the end of the couch, wearing a flu mask. He looks much better this morning, although his eyes have a sad look to them, which is what prompted the doctor to do the flu test on Tuesday. He is looking out the window. He feels sorry for the birds, digging in the snow for birdseed, which we have run out of. He assures me that I can leave him at home while I go get more. “They depend on you,” he reminds me. And there goes the snow plow, rumbling by. Sherlock the orange cat is sitting on the windowsill also watching the birds (he doesn’t care what they eat as he would rather eat THEM) and our two black cats (adopted in December) are chasing a marble around the room like little spitfires. How two cats can make so much noice is beyond me. . . . . .

Grace and I left the house Saturday morning at 6:15, she was rather annoyed as I had said to her that we would leave at 8. But I could not sleep anymore so I woke her up and we drove away from home. It was very cold, quiet and as dark as night.

We arrived at Joanna’s house around 11:45 and we headed out to a few shopping destinations. The first one we went to was a shop/antique store in a building on someone’s farm property. The owners sell new items, with unique older pieces mixed in everywhere, so exploring was very exciting. I bought some new kitchen towels that I really love because after washing and drying them the hems around the edges did NOT curl (which I hate), I bought a vintage salt-cellar, white with a hinged wooden lid, and a few other odd and ends.

We LOVED the big heavy teapots on top of the wooden stove in the shop. This place was full of women shopping and we were very impressed that although it was out-of-the-way, it was apparently quite popular and visited by groups of enthusiastic customers.

It was such fun to include Grace and Chloe, our two beautiful young daughters, with us for the day!

If you would like to visit this quaint and lively shop it is called Feick’s Vintage Finds (click link for more information)

It was almost an hour drive from Joanna’s house but totally worth it! I would go again in a heartbeat.

On down the road to another antique shop. This one was called “Apple Wagon Antique Mall.”

I found an amazing beveled mirror framed in a grass green wooden frame (old) and a fiesta tripod bowl in persimmon (first time seeing one of them!).

Other things seen and noted:

Mortar and Pestle used to mix paints (old) that Joanna snatched up (she bought two on this day). Joanna has a great artist’s eye for things and knows just what she loves and what she would do with the items she sees, color, art, etc.

Grace saw this shelf of goodies first. She called me over and then said, “I won, Aunt Joanna!” because she was proud of herself for finding the first fiestaware of the day. The tripod bowl is not in the photo because it was already in my hands. I think what I’ll do is an instagram post of some of the things I bought. I was very tempted by the dark green small plates (6 dollars each) but I was trying to be a good girl and to be honest I already have a stack of like 15 small plates (but none of them are dark green. sigh.) Some of the shapes here are not fiestaware. They are made by the same company (HLC) but from a different line called Harlequin. The colors are similar but even the feel of the plates is different. Harlequin is much lighter in the hand. Some fiesta collectors end up collecting harlequin as well.

Vintage Button collections— made me think of my mom— but these were a little out of my price range. Aren’t they lovely? We would display them right up on the wall and admire them daily.

This is just one of the reasons why we love antiquing. It is a huge source of inspiration. Don’t you just want to find an old family black and white photo and put it into a bottle now? I know I do. . . . . .

This whole place was a treat to visit. The prices were encouraging and negotiable, and there were many unique things to see. Not to mention the homemade cookies and coffee-free to anyone who needed a pick me up, which was definitely us by that point!

The beautiful hands of the woman who totaled up our purchases. They even used a very old cash register that dinged when the drawer opened. This is one of my favorite photos of the day.

The girls each bought a red-covered book. Grace bought Robinson Crusoe and Chloe found a copy of Black Beauty. 2 dollars.

As we drove Joanna kept saying, “LOOK at the beautiful mountains!”

We drove to the middle of the town of Tunkhannock, PA for the final shop of the day and coffee. There was also an amazing mural Joanna wanted a photo of, and as it was St Patricks day, the green was very fitting.

“The Old Store” was small and cold yet I found a pristine round fiesta platter for only 4 dollars (in “Rose”)!!!

She was right about the mountains……..

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What a fun day we had all together with our girlies. I’m just so deep down thankful. Chloe is 13 and Grace is 18 but they got along like two peas in a pod. Like sisters.

A quick walk down the road, Joanna treated us to lovely drinks (I had a hot chai tea latte) in a warm ‘n’ cozy coffee shop and then we took one last photo before heading back to her house for pizza.

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When I sent this photo to my brother he thought of stained glass windows. (he’s taking a class and making his first one). . . . .

Thank you for a wonderful day, Josephina!

Tomorrow I will share photos from Sunday and what we did on that day together before dropping Grace off at college.

my birthday {2018}

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Shanda

Yesterday was my birthday and Rich took the day off. We had such a nice day together. We took our books to the diner but never touched them. We had plenty of things to talk about. I had wanted him to try the homemade corned beef hash and we both ordered it with eggs and toast. He liked it so much that he took me back for lunch so he could order it again. Between breakfast and lunch he ate half a dozen eggs (over medium) and lots of hash.

He told me stories about his wrestling team and at one point we noticed one of the youth wrestlers across the room eating with his grandma and Rich went over to shake his hand and say hello. During our meal he told me about a freshman who began the season so soft that he couldn’t do a pull up. He couldn’t do a sit up. But on Friday as they did conditioning Rich noticed him from across the room and he was easily doing pull ups on his own. “Hey how many of those could you do when you first began the season?” he called. “Zero, Coach!” was the happy answer. He told me that wrestling is hard work, hard practices, but one of the boys answers when Rich asks, “How’re ya feeling?” “Like a million bucks, Coach!” We’re both so proud of the team captain who was so shy she cried when she first started having to speak publicly for the team a few years ago. “She’s something else, Shan, she’s going to be something someday. She’s brave in her own way.” and he told me a story about wrestling tape and singlets and how she got things done. They aren’t perfect kids by any means, but they’ve been a pleasure for Rich to work with this year. States are on Saturday!

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We left the diner and headed out to mail something to our son Jacob and then Rich said, “Where are we going? It’s your birthday we can do anything.” So I said, “Please please won’t you take me to the antique store in Sturbridge?” and he did. Happiness is going to an antique store that you haven’t visited in a very long time. We had plenty of time so I looked at every single thing in the store (two floors).

The first thing I studied (through the glass door) was stone fruit. I’ve noticed over the years that I always pause over fake fruit. How dumb. But I do not collect it. However, I was reading a magazine over Christmas and there was an article in it on “what is hot to collect next”‘. Stone fruit was on the list along with a picture. If you look at the fruit you would not think it was made of a solid stone, it looks lifelike, with bruises on the bananas and markings. I made the decision that I would keep my eyes open for stone fruit since now I know it’s not dumb—after all, the magazine said it was a hot collectors item for 2018! I didn’t buy any yesterday. I didn’t realize it was so pricey. But I believe I will come across it during some of my thrifting trips. . . . . . .

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Dawn, of course I thought of you, and my mom, too. Vintage paper valentines!!!

This display case is done so beautifully!

Makes me want a display case in my own house that I can play with!

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Rich walked over to me with a Valentine and told me to put it in our stack of purchases for the day. Inside it said:

Someday when I am older,
I think it would be fine
If you would be,
Sweetheart, to me
A loving Valentine

So many things brought tears to my eyes yesterday, I was deeply sentimental.

I went in for a hug about 7 times while we were browsing.

It was a love-connection day.

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I took pictures of things that I thought were interesting but not interesting enough to purchase. One of the reasons that I love antiquing and thrift store shopping is it’s educational in a way, you get a sense of times past. You can see the things that were in style 100 years ago…old photos, postcards, jewelry, art. I love history.

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69.00 Excellent Shape 🙂

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This Cast Iron Amish Family tickled my fancy

Baby photography from time gone by….I LOVE THIS LAUGHING BABY in a basket!!!!

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I collect HLC Fiestaware so I always always search for it. I found this little set of black fiesta which was interesting because you don’t really see black out in “the wild” much. The bowls were priced at 7 dollars each, the gravy boat was 14. The creamer was missing from the coffee set. I picked it up and looked it over but left it as I do have four small black fruit dishes already.

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“There really isn’t anything much to look at over here,” he teased.

“Oh look! Gray! I hardly ever see gray!”

“Who on earth would want GRAY FIESTAWARE?”

“Take my picture!”

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The mug and two bread plates were new, but the dinner plates were vintage gray so I bought one of them. I’ve always liked gray in combination with pink and I have lots of Rose fiesta.

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The very bottom plate was a vintage Ivory chop plate in very good condition. I LOVE chop plates they are so big and make lovely platters.

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**the most cheerful teacups** only 3 dollars said the sticker

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Not fiesta ~ ~ and yet I took a photo because Springtime! Roses! Pink! Valentine’s Day!

One last picture before getting our totals added and seeing how much we spent!

It really wasn’t too bad.

And then……time to drive down the road to pick out my birthday cakes.

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At my favorite bakery. . . .

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I got a chocolate peanut butter and a carrot cake.

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And then…..lunch. As we got out of the truck to walk in the diner I noticed some people looking at me through the window. “They must think I’m pretty or they can tell it’s my birthday”, I thought to myself. But when we went in and walked to an empty table the man called out to Rich, “Hey, we were just admiring your truck! That is one nice truck!” It was awesome. I simply love being humbled.

Generously buttered sour dough toast dipped in homemade clam chowder? Comfort food. Across the table from my very own husband of more than 20 years? Soul-comfort.

WHEN I GOT HOME THERE WAS A LITTLE PACKAGE and it was from my parents….a birthday check AND a homemade glorified dishcloth from MOM. She made it up as she went along with an idea she had in mind. I placed it on a scarlet cake plate to take a picture.

I love it.

When I asked him to take a picture of me with the dishcloth so I could send it to mom, he took this first.

My husband and my fiestaware. All very important to me. 🙂 I choose the middle.

My birthday gifts from the antique store:

kitchen towel made from a flour sack with embroidery and three red and white doilies (MUCH less expensive than anthropologie!)
betty crocker kitchen toy set (I LOVE)
blue ceramic spoon (fiesta kitchen craft–a great find at 5 dollars!!!)
snake book for Caleb
Abe Lincoln book to read to the children
and a Stereoscope viewer–Rich’s find, along with a stack of photos (very cool!)

The next time I bake Sarah and I will do some miniature baking. There are 2 cake pans, a muffin tin, a pie tin, a tiny cookie sheet, and mini cookie cutters. So darling.

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Rich had a meeting at 5 and I spent time doing a puzzle and guess what? Another gift from God—SUNSHINE after days of gloom and rain. The cat agrees–sunshine is wonderful.

MY FRIEND HANNAH who is on vacation in Hawaii, sent me this photo!!

And Joanna called to sing Happy Birthday. We had the best little chat on the phone.

So many gratitude tears!

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The other day this package came from brother Dave. He always remembers and he knows me so well. Thank you Dave! I got loving texts from my other 2 brothers and my sister and other family members throughout the day. And of course Facebook makes birthdays extra fun and I heard from so many people I love. So thankful to be on earth with all of you at this time.

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Rich took the video but when he stopped it he said, “I’m so sorry but that was like the worse singing of happy birthday we’ve ever had.” I was thinking the same thing which is why I blew out the candles before the last note was finished. LOL

afternoon outing

Posted on June 30, 2017 by Shanda

“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it ‘The Present’.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

We had thirteen young ladies stay here overnight last night. They were from a NYC youth group traveling into New England to visit Six Flags, Lexington/Concord, and Vermont. We knew some of them from years of camp so it was an easy “yes” to host them overnight. Plus, they ate dinner before they came AND brought their own cereal and milk. Grace very much enjoyed the visit and sat in on their *before bed* devotions. I got lots of hugs this morning as they left in the rain…..thankfully it did clear up later on for their outdoor tour of historical battle grounds in Massachusetts.

After they left it was rather quiet, the maids came to do their weekly cleaning and the girls were asking for macaroni and cheese so I decided to take the kids to the diner just a couple miles down toward town.

David stayed at home and ended up using the time for a long bike ride.

The diner has old black and white photos of the town on the walls and the kids were thrilled to see their friend Logan arrive to eat lunch with his Grandpa, too.

The kids meals came with a free drink so Seth and Sarah chose hot chocolate, which meant they helped themselves freely to my coffee creamers….in no time at all we used up about 10 creamers. I told the kids the waitress should have just brought us the carton.

Waiting for the food is the most difficult part but thankfully it didn’t take long at all and the boys brought things to read.

You may not think so by his face but Caleb has been so appreciative of this magazine subscription….every month I get a thank you.

Grace read a book, too, by one of our favorite authors, Isabel Allende.

Sarah ❤

(I was sandwiched between the girls–such fun)

My lunch (actually, I had already eaten a salad at home so I simply HAD to get my favorite—strawberry sundae).

Sarah ate a pancake with french fries (I had to laugh when she ordered it) and the other three kids got hamburgers and fries.

It became the *thing to do* to keep passing around the ketchup. Seth and Sarah put it on their fries like toothpaste on a toothbrush.

Grace’s lunch.

Sarah had birthday money and bought this animal yesterday so she had to bring it everywhere with her today. It’s name was Lee Ann but she renamed her Rosie.

Seth’s is named Rufus.

I ate all my sundae and then offered “the rest” to Seth….and he completely enjoyed the melted remains (all 1 teaspoon).

Well, we were all happy and silly from a good lunch and decided to go antiquing at a “new to us” place in the next town over. I was thankful to have such fun friends along with me.

Right away I saw some HLC dishes, although not fiestaware, these are from the harlequin line. So pretty.

Seth saw some cool things, too!

I always like these needlework things. . . but didn’t buy any today.

Caleb found a Patriots football pennant and a football coin.

Between the three youngest children I admit I said, “Don’t touch” about 1,000 times which made for a good discussion with Grace on the way home. Did they touch things so much because I was obsessed with them not touching (and kept saying so)? We decided that in their immaturity, they had a hard time obeying my rule, but as they get older they will learn self-control and be more obedient. However, at the same time, there is also a truth that in the act of overstating/overemphasizing rules, we somehow make them more likely to be broken…..it’s simply human nature. (see Sarah’s arm on the right of the photo holding the sharp gardening tool?? yeah…….)

Tiny butter dish for a half stick of butter–so darling (didn’t buy).

This vintage kitchen towel was only 2.50 so I had to buy it (it has a small hole that I can easily stitch). (kids behind me….touching things….) I know I do need to lighten up some, as well.

I found a vintage fiesta lid! (no one understands why I had to get it). But I did!

Caleb’s Marshall Faulk coin (Rams football player).

NEXT STOP….I found more fiestaware but this collection was P86 (periwinkle, yellow, and ivory) and overpriced.

And then…..oh my goodness! They wouldn’t sell just the serving pieces (I asked) so I was simply FORCED to buy the whole lot, thankfully I did get a great deal on it.

ROSE fiestaware:

(back at home and unpacked) I am so pleased with these beautiful dishes, Rose is discontinued and so nice to have on Valentine’s Day. The mugs are not fiesta but still made by HLC (maybe restaurant ware? I have to look it up–but its the same glaze).

Kitchen towel, plus a vintage “radioactive” red fiesta mixing bowl (with chips) that I bought along with it at our first stop. They go good together, don’t they?

The kids were great…we stopped at the gas station to get drinks along the way and they watched “Garfield the movie” in the car while Grace and I went into the second shop together. (I couldn’t stand any more begging and touching).

When we got home Rich and Ethan had just arrived. They were able to leave work early and now its the start of a nice long weekend. They don’t have to go back to work until Tuesday. I had dinner ready in the crock pot so I was able to feed the hungry men right away.

David got home safe and sound from his long bike ride, all hot and exhausted. He said he “wasn’t going to do that again for two months.”

Ethan and Tessa are here, but Jacob is still at our friend’s house, as he is house sitting for them this week.

We are watching Little House on the Prairie and it’s super dark outside; a thunderstorm warning is in effect for the next hour or so and it’s raining.

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world.” E.B. White

with aunt colleen

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Shanda

We stayed at Aunt Colleen’s in-law’s house all last week. The best part about it was Aunt Colleen and Uncle Roger live right next door and we could visit every single day. Colleen is my Mom’s baby sister, which is how the two of us ended up less than two years apart in age.

These days it is a lot of fun to have our families together for visits. We can sit and talk while the children hang around us or run around playing.

I pulled in the driveway one evening and found them all sitting in front of the garage, talking and relaxing……it looked like a nice family time, “pretty as a picture”. ^^

(Colleen, Roger, and their oldest, Molly.) I just noticed Sarah is in the picture, on the swings in the background. She really liked their playset. It was the first thing she wanted to know about.

Between the two homes, there were five dogs. My children LOVE animals and enjoyed making new friends with the dogs. Seth had a great time throwing the tennis ball for Rusty.

Rusty could play fetch all day long and so could Seth.

When I aimed my big black camera at Maddie’s dog Jayda, she got nervous and shyly looked away. We made jokes about how I wasn’t going to “shoot” her, oh but wait…..I guess I was, in a way. 😉

After we sat and visited for a while we got up to walk the trail. They keep a walking path nicely mowed. It leads down through woods to the creek that changes every year in the spring water-rise (and sometimes, flood). The rocks were plentiful and the children promptly began throwing them. We were glad that no one got hurt, with six children throwing stones. Uncle Roger threw the dog’s bike tire into the water and it sunk before she could get it. Jayda was so funny sitting in the water looking for it, not able to reach. Roger had to get a stick to bring it back up. She happily ran off with it when it appeared again.

(Madelynn, Molly, Seth, Megan with Sarah, Colleen, and Roger.) A walk wouldn’t be proper without bringing something home from nature; Colleen had bark from a Sycamore tree. I brought some back with me, too. Apparently the Sycamore trees shed at this time of year.

Colleen and I prowled around this very old barn for antiques. This place is right down the road from her house. She hadn’t gone antiquing in the local places since the last time we were together (years) so we decided to keep that tradition. I bought the yoke from Sunday’s blog post at this barn. The barn was huge, quiet, and warm. The wood and rafters were beautiful.

I would have never imagined there were so many old dusty books in the back room. Books everywhere. (dreamy)

We both found some book-treasures to take home with us.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Her Life by Susan Hertog
Pilrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Stillmeadow Cookbook by Gladys Taber
Tomorrow Will be Better by Betty Smith (she wrote A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)

We found fiestaware at the next shop. I bought some one dollar vintage bread plates on a different day, but not when I was with Colleen. I only took pictures. It was a little pricey for my mood (on the hunt for amazing deals).