Look what followed me home . . .

I know some people think that pink flamingoes are tacky -- and I suppose they are.  But they're also CHEERFUL!  My roses, which were going great guns, are taking a break, and with all that ivy out there, I thought a splash of color might be fun.

What do you think?

Mr. Bee likes my coneflowers

Happy Fourth of July

Mmmmm...cookies!

Thanks to the rain, the yard sales were a bust today. Even a church rummage sale was canceled.  (Although the good (?) ladies of the church might have put a sign out to warn people.  Ahem...just sayin'.)

But the Fly By Night Cookie Company in Fair Haven, NY was open, and I had the most DELISH cookies. (Why didn't I think to take a picture?)  I had a hermit cookie, unlike any hermit bar I've ever had before--and this was BETTER, and a peanut butter brownie.  They price was a little steep, but it was well worth it.

Maybe if you're driving around the edge of Lake Ontario, you might want to stop in the charming little village of Fair Haven--and do stop in the Fly By Night Cookie Company and test their cookies.  You won't be sorry.

And it only cost 50 cents!

The weekend's junking expedition started off with a fizzle.  I had seen a sign saying a church rummage sale was set for Friday and Saturday.  No surprise--it always had been on a Friday and Saturday before.  So I showed up bright and early and . . . no line.  What gives?  Oh, they decided to hold the sale on THURSDAY, Friday and Saturday this year.  Ha-ha!  I bought a 25 cent bowl and left.  The other three sales I passed on the way had nothing of interest.  But I did have to pass the rummage sale sign again and low and behold, someone had hand written in THURS. 

Saturday was better.  One sale in particular, too.  We have a Saturday circuit and we'd been to a sale at this barn a couple of years ago and everything was EXPENSIVE, so I had low expectations. Apparently there'd been a death in the family and they were eager to get rid of stuff, so the prices were terrific. 

I'm a sucker for brown transferware, so when I saw this Old Sturbridge Village mug, I knew I had to have it.  Any time you buy a souvenir these days, you can bet it was made in China.  Not so my little brown mug.  Ironstone, Made In England (which tells me it was probably purchased 20-30 years ago).

It just so happens, that several years ago my husband, parents and I made a trip to the old Sturbridge Village.  It was a wonderful trip, but I didn't buy any kind of souvenir, so I was pleased to find this.
And here's what it says on the bottom of the mug.
Don't you just love it?  And the cost?  Fifty cents. 
I bought more things at the sale--like a whole bag of doilies (12) for $1.  Birthday candles (can you ever have enough of them?) and . . . brown craft tags (a big bag for 50 cents--they look like toe tags.  Gotta think of something wonderful for those), earrings (for 25 cents a pair).  I'm sure there was more, but I can't remember right now.  No doubt about it, it was the best sale of the weekend.

Did you get anything good at the sales this weekend?

Somehow the tea tastes better in a pretty cup

I'm a tea drinker.  There.  I've said it.

Most days I drink my tea out of mugs.  It's just easier that way.  But sometimes I want to drink it out of a dainty cup.  So I collect bone china tea cups.  I've paid as much as $24 for a tea cup -- but that was when I had a regular day job.  Those days are gone.  So now I look for bargains.

This little beauty was just such a bargain.  I got it at a yard sale for a dollar.  Why?  A tiny hairline crack in the cup.  I really, REALLY had to look at it a couple of times before I saw it.  But will that distract from the pleasure of a nice cuppa?  I think not.


On the same day, I came across this coffee mug. I love old restaurant china and have many pieces.  This, alas, is not old, but it was only a dime.  If nothing else, it'll make a nice place to put pens and pencils.

Or I could just put it in the daily mug rotation.

What's your favorite cup/mug for tea (or coffee or cocoa)?

Squarish Plates

I am a sucker for dishware, and one of the things I collect is square plates. I have a wall of them (well, it's a stairwell, actually), and I'm always on the lookout for them.

Recently I acquired two of them. Okay, one of them is only "squarish," but I thought it was lovely and decided to add it to my collection. Actually, this was one of three plates for a grand total of 50 cents. (That's THREE for fifty cents.) I sure was a happy camper. I'm keeping this one, but the other two will probably be part of the "catch and release" program. That is, I'll be having a yard sale later this season, and they'll be part of it. (I got the phrase "catch and release" from Yardsale Bloodbath, a weekly blog about a couple of junkers in Seattle.)

This other, smaller "tulips" plate  I paid a whole buck for.  Not bad.  I saw another quite nice, but nothing particularly special, square plate at a yard sale the other day, and the woman wanted $10.  I quickly put it back on the pile.  She gave me a story of how it was made in England and the factory was bombed out of existence in WWII, yada, yada, yada -- but the bottom line is, I'm not collecting plates because they have history, I'm collecting them because they're pretty.  The plate may well have been worth $10--but she should have put it on Ebay or sold it in an antiques shop, not a yard sale.  (Then again, everything else in her sale was overpriced. She had a LOT of stuff.  I'll bet she had to drag it all in at the end of the day, too.)

My philosophy about yard sales is this:  do you want to get rid of it, or sell it for a profit?  If your motives are the latter, then open a booth in an antiques arcade or become a power seller on Ebay.  Don't have a yard sale.

Not Everything Goes In The China Cabinet

As soon as I saw the ad, I knew we'd have to hit this place first thing on Saturday morning. I knew what we'd find: home schooling books and Children's clothing. And one more item:

Homemade cinnamon rolls.

The place was jammed, but no one seemed to be browsing.  Like me, they homed right in on those heavenly cinnamon rolls.

What a treat they were on Sunday morning for breakfast.

The Birthday Cake Plate

The other day I went to a garage sale that had so many wonderful dishes, I wish I had an old-fashioned pantry to keep them all in.  The fact that most of them were less than a dollar made them all the more appealing.

This one won my heart in an instant.  I'm not sure if it was the old-fashioned roses or the morning glories, but I had to have it.  And I decided that this plate would be perfect for a slice of birthday cake.  So, that's what I'm going to use it for.  Except, my birthday isn't for another few months.  So it will sit in my china cabinet in a place of honor just waiting for that day.

Isn't it gorgeous?

Stand Still And Let Me Take Your Picture

A man's home is his castle--his kingdom.  But what about the Queen, doesn't she have the same rights?  So, if a wild animal comes into my yard, shouldn't I have the right to photograph it?

A couple of weeks ago, I looked out my office window and saw three FULL-SIZED DEER standing in my next-door neighbor's yard.  Mind you, I've lived here 17 years and never saw one deer, let alone three, in anyone's yard.  (Okay, I lied.  I just remembered I saw a deer across the road about ten years ago.  But it wasn't in a yard, it was standing in the road and ran away when it saw my car.)

I quick--grabbed my camera and tippy-toed outside, but the deer saw me and ran away.  I was madly pressing the shutter, but all I got was several pictures of deer butts in rapid retreat.

Bummer.

The other day, I was working on the new book, sitting at the dining room table with my laptop, and the window open.  I heard a rustling and saw a wild turkey walking through the back of my garden.  Woo-hoo!  I called for hubby, who grabbed his new camera, and out we went.  Hubby wouldn't go out in the field behind the house, but I did.  And then Mr. (or perhaps Mrs.) Turkey took off, and flew away.
Rats!  Another missed opportunity.  (Of course you realize the pictures in this post came from Google images--NOT my camera.)

Okay, they're wild animals, but I live in the suburbs, and if they're coming in contact with my yard (or my neighbors), I think I should be able to photograph them.  Now to convince them.

And what's bugging YOU today?

Eeek! A spider!

I know spiders are good.  They eat bad stuff in your garden and home.  But they could live LONG and HAPPY LIVES if they stayed away from me.

Spring and fall are the worst for these icky creatures.  They're either coming inside to stay warm, or coming out of the cracks on their way outside to find food after a long winter's nap.  (Except for the ones that show up in my kitchen, bedroom or office, who are immediately squished.)
If I'm outside, I usually let the spiders live.  (If they jump at me while I'm not wearing gardening gloves and working in the dirt, die sucker!)  There've been spider nests in my big rural mailbox for years.  I've turned a blind eye to them because I've never actually seen a spider in the mailbox.
Until last week.

Ooooooh! *Shudder*  This not-so-little guy was one of those squishy black ones that RUNVERYFAST!!!  When I'd open the box, he'd jump into the back seam.  I did not like the fact that he was there.  I really, REALLY did not like the fact that he was there, but figured if he stayed away from my mail AND ME, he might live.

But the other day, I got a HUGE amount of mail and packages.  The entire big mailbox was stuffed full.  And when I took everything out, there was Mr. Icky Spider.  And he didn't run very fast.  There, on the street, I whipped off my shoe and beat him to death.

Now, usually, killing a spider doesn't bother me.  But, as I said, if they live outside, they can live long and happy lives.  This spider wasn't in my house, and he'd probably survived out there in the mailbox all winter long.  And I killed him.

Gulp.

Now I'm annoyed that I feel so guilty for killing him (or her). 

Have you ever felt sorry for a bug?

With life comes loss...

Yesterday I lost a trusted friend of almost 29 years.  We'd been together through thick and thin.  In sickness and in health.  Through good times and bad.

Yesterday, my multi-speed Waring hand mixer died.

And, of course, it died in the line of duty.  It was hubby's birthday.  He prefers pie to cake, and his favorite:  lemon meringue.  I was whipping up the egg whites and my kitchen buddy suddenly died.  The pie turned out okay, perhaps out of respect for my old mixer, but the meringue didn't stand as tall as it might have if the old Waring had lived just a minute or two longer.
I knew it wasn't well.  Oh, it hadn't been coughing up blood or anything like that, but for the past couple of months, it would only give me two of its six speeds, and I would have to mess with the speed control before it would start.

Before the poor thing even had an indecent burial, hubby was on the Internet searching for its replacement.  (You see, he's quite fond of Dr. Oetker's Mousse Supreme which must be beaten for nearly five minutes.  I think that's what might have killed the Waring...all those Mousse Supremes we've had this year--the light version, to avoid excess calories.)

I loved that mixer.  My brother gave it to me when I moved into my first house. (As I've mentioned in the past, he's given me most of my small kitchen appliances.)  Now I live in fear that the toaster oven and electric fry pan of the same vintage may soon kick the bucket.  My Waring hand mixer even lived in the box it came in from the factory all those years ago.  And, of course, you can't buy Waring hand mixers anymore.  Now Waring concentrates on bar blenders.

I'll get a new hand mixer, but it won't be the same.  In these days of planned obsolescence, a new mixer will probably live a couple of years and go on to that great appliance store in the sky.
But please, let's have a moment of silence for my late, great, Waring hand mixer.

( ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...)

Thank you.

Are you inordinately attached to any of your kitchen appliances?

First Find of the Season

After I wrote about the terrible moving sale on Saturday, I found an estate sale right on my street.  I had to go to the post office, so couldn't stop.  By the time I got there a couple of hours it was pretty picked over.  But I did find one tiny yellow casserole dish.  It'll be perfect for a small chicken pot pie.  (Cost?  $1.)

It was marked FTDD, so no doubt it came as part of a dish garden.  I'd sold many of these when I had a booth at the local antiques co-op, and now I have one of my own.

I love it!

April Showers?

The snow peas are now planted.  According to the seed packet, they take between 8-12 days to germinate.  To give them a head start, I soaked them in water overnight.

Now I just need some of those April showers to happen.

According to the Doppler Radar, the rain was supposed to hit more than an hour ago.  It looked pretty evil.  But no, a few drops fell and the icky clouds moved on.

What gives?  I need that rain if my peas are going to sprout!

Maybe I should do a rain dance.