A Few Favorite Thrift Shop Finds

I have already shown you my vintage Counterpoint magnetic boards (back in this post)

but I recently found the five magnets nearer the bottom to add to my others.

 Little anthropomorphic vegetables and fruit, and two more butterflies! 

This beautiful vintage bedspread didn't even appear to have been used.
 It sold almost instantly - no big surprise!

When I was trying to take pictures of it, Cleo discovered that she rather liked it, too:

 I found another of these great flower power vintage trays that I love, and a nice set of vintage mugs - you can tell I like orange, right?
The mugs sold right away at the shop, and I was happy to meet the lovely Finnish woman who purchased them.
 She likes color as much as I do - and that made me happy:

 I found this fabulous paisley rug AND a larger one; they're so big I think I'll have to go to a Laundromat to wash them - not exactly looking forward to that.....

 I picked up this painting, below - couldn't resist it's colorful charms:

I found a pretty blue and white Daher tin, made in England:

I couldn't leave this painted plaster plaque behind, with it's pretty yellow and orange flowers:

 And I found another great vintage Joseph Magnin department store gift box. This one is huge.
I love these old boxes with their fabulous artwork (did you see my post about them last year?).
 I very rarely see them, so I'm pretty tickled when I find one:

And last of all, I picked up this bathroom sign with it's not-so-gentle reminder because I got a kick out of it:

More thrift finds coming your way soon - as always!

What's Penny Wearing? #138 Wildly Bright Colors On A Simple Vintage Dress

Penny is wearing yet another thrift shop find today.
It's this bright and groovy dress:

Very colorful, in a great pattern:

A simple, handmade dress, and I decided to add a few accessories, so we've got vintage pink beads and an orange vinyl belt:

And how about a hat, trimmed with a long scarf ?
(You can't see it, it wraps around the hat and streams down the back).

 They were both thrift finds, as well,with similar hues.
Too much?
Well, I love color, so almost nothing is "too much" for me!

Souvenirs - From Places I Have Actually BEEN

I do actually manage, sometimes, to find vintage souvenirs at thrift shops that are from places I have actually visited myself.
When I do, rather than selling them, I figure they're keepers, instead.
 I thought I would show you some of them today.
Let's start with Volcano, right here in the Mother Lode Gold Country of California, and closest to home for me.
 I could get there in about an hour and a half:

I was tickled when I came across this sweet little souvenir box from Leoni Meadows. Getting there would take me a little over two hours - not bad. I went there with Tina back in 2011; I wrote a series of three posts about it back then.

San Francisco - about a three hour drive from here - until you factor in bad traffic, and then, who knows?
But yes, I'm happy to say that I've been on a Cable Car (many years ago!) and I've been across the Golden Gate Bridge a number of times in my life, too:

I found a key-shaped thermometer from Caspar Beach, near Mendocino.
 Unfortunately it takes about 5 hours to get there from here.
Wish I was there right now. Oh, how I love it over on the California coast!

I found a vintage Lotus bowl featuring scenes of attractions at the  "Trees Of Mystery".....

....which is along the Redwood Highway in northern California.
Now, getting THERE would take me about eight hours!
But I can be ready to leave in about an hour, if you want to go:

Okay, so if we're already up near Trees Of Mystery, we're very close to the Oregon border, so that's where we're heading next!
Only about two more hours, and we could be in Cave Junction. (More on that, below).

I have managed to find three pretty Oregon souvenir plates.

 I love Oregon, and I'll pretty much go there any chance I get.

 Heck, I've been tempted to ask mere acquaintances or even strangers if I can ride up there with them, when I overhear someone say they're going!

(I could always fly back.)

One from Oregon Caves, and two other very pretty ones:

Tina and I stayed in Cave Junction once when we were on one of our trips years ago, and I went to Oregon Caves with a girlfriend back in 1979, and did the cave tour and all of that. 

We had a great time.

I also found this bear souvenir from Oregon Caves:

It was funny, because when I saw the bear sitting on a shelf at a thrift shop, I thought it was probably a California souvenir, with the California Grizzly, our state animal, on it.

 Then I picked it up and looked at it more closely - nope, Oregon Caves! 

No problem - I'll take it!

Farthest from home, we have a souvenir plate from Florida featuring oranges.
I've been to Walt Disney World twice, so yes - I've been there!

And that's about as far from home as I've ever been, actually.
So that concludes my little gallery.
 Hope you enjoyed my souvenirs!

An unusual May - Watering Cans not needed

Good morning, Tina here. I am enjoying some vintage images with watering cans,

It is nearing the end of May. We haven't had much hot weather, a few days. One hot day last week.

April showers bring May flowers. May showers mean June grasses stay green for a while.

I collect vintage plastic watering cans. There hasn't been much need for a watering can around here this month.

We are enjoying the thunderstorms, lightning, torrential rains, hail and sprinkles.

It has been great not worrying about watering for at least one month.

Who knows what summer will bring? Will we get very dry and hot again, or have a mild season?

I will be ready to break out the watering can, if needed.

But for now, it is a life of leisure...

At least when it comes to watering. So I can enjoy seeing these images of others.

So little watering needed, even a child could do it.

I also have a small collection of parasols, they come in handy during a hot sunny May.

Maybe next year I will need one, or maybe next week.

Come what may, we're bright and gay, every hour of every day!

Lady Edith's Hats #2: Vintage Black Velvet

 Lady Edith is back again today, serving as my hat model.
This time, she's wearing a little black velvet number with a bit of netting in the front, and a sprinkling of pearls as trim:

 I paired the hat with a pearl choker that was actually a Christmas gift from my husband years ago, and also a necklace of black glass beads. I honestly can't remember whether those beads belonged to my mother-in-law and were here in the house, or whether I bought them myself and have had them for years and years.
Either way, they are one of my favorites.

Blueberry Muffins

I was looking through some books that were for sale at the shop a couple of weeks ago,
 and one of the things I came across that looked good to me were these blueberry muffins:

 So I snapped a picture of the photo in the cookbook (I'm sorry, I don't remember which one it was!),
and also a picture of the recipe, here:

 I knew I had just about exactly a cup of blueberries left in the refrigerator at home.
 Usually I have them for breakfast with Greek yogurt, but I thought "Boy, those muffins sound good!".

So, within the next day or so, I decided to make some.
 I have about a zillion cookbooks, so there are a lot of recipes to choose from, and of course you can search the web, as well.
But, in the end, I pulled out my tried and true vintage "Betty Crocker's Cookbook", published in 1969, and looked inside of it for a recipe.

Oh, yes - of course, here it is, precisely what I was looking for.
Right there on page 47.
Betty won't steer you wrong, you see!
That's why I have at least 30 different Betty Crocker cookbooks, most of them vintage. (I've written about them before.)

I made the Sweet Muffins, the Blueberry version seen below; using my cup of blueberries.
 I don't often make muffins; I had sort of forgotten how quick and easy they really are.

I sprinkled a little turbinado sugar over the tops.

Were they good?
You bet your sweet Betty Crocker butt they were.

Wildflowers I Know and Love: Snow Plant Revisited 2016

Good morning. Tina here.

Quite a while back, January 2011, in fact, I showed you a favorite of mine, Snowplant.

http://goldcountrygirls.blogspot.com/2011/01/wildflowers-i-know-and-love-no-1.html

I have gathered quite a few photos together since then, so I thought I should share them. Most of the photos come from the Lake Tahoe area.

Incredibly lucky folks up there might find them popping up in their backyards!

I find it so amazing that Mother Nature chose that color for the "flower".

Almost florescent, a hot pants kind of color.

This hue sure does get them noticed!

If you are out hiking in the Desolation or Mokelumne Wilderness, they stick out like a sore thumb!

And if you are in your friends backyard, you wonder how they got so lucky!

Years ago they had an old tree rot and become part of the soil, and this almost prehistoric beauty took hold.

You can tell how special they are from the amount of photographers eager to share their photos!

My friend Lucy took the photo below, with a forget-me-knot trying to share the spotlight.

This is a prime time to go searching for a spot of color, if you get up into the high Sierras.