My Recent Finds

When I went to Placerville last weekend to attend a "Celebration Of Life" gathering for very dear old friend who passed away, I came home with some thrift finds, too. Doing a bit of thrift shopping on my way over there brightened up a weekend trip which was made solely for this somber occasion. I loved seeing all the family of this woman who was dearly loved, and it was wonderful to spend time with them again.
So, speaking of brightening up, here we go with the finds: a perfect pretty pink Pyrex pie plate (say that real fast ten times!), two nice Tepco restaurant china bowls, and a Peach Lustre coffee mug, all of which are on top of a pink bandanna print Martha Stewart dish towel:
I found a bunch of patterns this trip (more on those in another post), including two bridal dress patterns, and here's a glimpse of a few more of those quilt squares, along with a nice blue and white vintage hot mat:
An unused toaster cover that's as bright as a daisy, nice yellow tags (Lori found those), a Mille Bornes game - we played that a lot growing up and I didn't have the older one in the green box, a Sierra Nevada Natural History book (also something that we had at home growing up, but I didn't have a copy), and a pillowcase that I believe may be a Vera design:
I found a big bag FULL of crafting leaves, a curtain panel that I plan to use as a table cloth, and knives with what I am pretty sure are Bakelite handles:

These two baskets full of costume jewelry were given to me by one of my old friends (one of the family I visited):


And I couldn't believe it when I found this vintage McCall's pattern, below. It happens to be the very same one that I had written about in a post back in December of 2008, and I had always hoped I would find one some day!

And I found another little book for my Peter Pauper Press collection!

And that's not everything, but I think it's quite enough for today, don't you?

Pretty Quilt Squares

I found these (and others) at a thrift store.
I don't usually find anything like these, and I thought they were pretty.







I haven't decided what I am going to do with them yet....

Oh No, It's Time to Mow!

I love our views of the river. Since I am rather disabled right now due to an arthritic hip, I don't get out into the yard to work as often as I used to. So I have more time to sit and muse and survey the weather and the wild, rampant growth of the grass!
Lots of rain fell this past winter. Lots of rain has fallen this spring. We are lucky to be high above any flooding problems, and as I sit on the front porch I remember back to other homes and other yards, other wet winters and springs.

I first remember noticing our grass when I was still young enough to find it made a great plaything. It would grow so high it became a hiding place, get down on your hands and knees and crawl through, make long curving tunnels through it, mazes leading from the swing set to the barn, the driveway to the chicken run. How did we never end up with ticks all over us? As it got to the most perfect point for tunneling though, Daddy would step in and spoil all the fun. He would mow it down. Darn.

At Gold Oak School there were rolling hills to each side, and on the Northeast there was a perfect hill on which the grass grew high. The wind would blow and the grass would form into lovely waves of changing shades of green, now soft sage, now bright new leaf green, now a golden yellow green about to change and put out the seeds of summer. I could sit and watch it for hours.

A couple of weeks ago I was driving back one Friday morning from my weekly Weight Watchers meeting in Folsom. Along Green Valley Road, almost back to Placerville again, there was a hillside which was a match to the one of my childhood. Wave after wave flowed up the hill, it was mesmerizing. I had to pull to the side of the road and watch for a bit. Last Friday the show was still going on, but the colors are already (in spite of all the rain) changing from green to the golden shades of summer.

I remember what seems like just a few weeks ago (but must have been months instead) looking out at the brown dried grass and wondering when the new green shoots would start to peek out and take over. Now they are in control.

Robbi (our Welsh Corgi) can sometimes disappear into the grass, making mazes and tunnels just like I did when I was about his age! He is more likely to come back home with a tick than I was.

Ah, our not-so-secret weapon against the grass. Hubby has two riding mowers. One is 28 years old, and still going strong, but will only turn right. With our steep property that can be a bit problematic. The newer mower is about 7 years old.

He tries to avoid the wildflowers, which tend to bloom in drifts. You might notice he holds on with one hand to keep himself on the mower as it tips on the hills. The steeper spots are where he uses the weed eater. He has gone through several in the 12 years we have lived here.

Hubby had a bit of a hard time here between the two digger tree stumps, it was steep and the ground was rough. Kind of like riding a mechanical bull, only he didn't have several beers first!

Ride 'em cowboy, and thank you for keeping our property mowed and beautiful! Our neighbors have a barbecue once a year and hold lawnmower races. I think it is a sneaky way to get their grass mowed down, but it works and it is a lot of fun.

May you always have someone to mow your yard, and don't forget to take time to stop and watch the grass wave.

Susan Blue

Simply a sweet little poem and illustration from a Kate Greenaway book.

"Please may I go for a walk with you?"

It Sort Of Grew On Me

This lamp was here in the house when we moved in, and my husband took it out. I can't even remember, but either I said I didn't want it, or he just moved it out because we needed room for other stuff and it was in the way. He found it recently in the basement at his son's business, and he decided to bring it back home. He said he thought I'd like it.
Well, I probably didn't like it back THEN - but guess what?
Now, I DO!
We still don't really have the proper place for it, but we are using it anyway, even if it has not yet found it's new "permanent spot" back here at home, where it belongs.

What's Penny Wearing? #47 1970's Vintage Tops

I found more of my old clothes stashed away.
Butterfly dreams, floaty and flirty:

Peasant blouse with a pretty pink bodice:
A couple of cropped tops:

And a nice blue cotton chambray sort-of "camp" style shirt, with a belt. This one is really small - and I don't think I ever wore it - it looks and feels brand new:
Why did I buy it, then?
Geez - who knows?
Crazy kids.

Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Revisited

I did one of my "Then And Now" posts about Kellogg's Corn Flakes back in 2008 but I found some more neat old ads, and I also have a recipe to share, so I decided I would simply revisit this cereal again.
The oldest ("new" - for this post) ad I found is from 1929:
And I found one from 1931:

1949:

1950:
Boxed Corn Flake Crumbs from 1961:

1964:

1968:
Below, you see the box I just bought recently. I am happy to see that Cornelius is still on the box - but just barely:

(It's not that hard to smash them up and make your own corn flake crumbs for this recipe, rather than buying the Corn Flake Crumbs.)
Corn Flake Chicken
3 tsp. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 cup 1% buttermilk
70 g crushed corn flakes (2&1/2 cups before crushing?)
4 (4 oz.)boneless, skinless chicken breast pieces
Preheat oven to 365. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.
Combine flour, salt and cayenne in a bowl. Put buttermilk and corn flake crumbs into 2 separate shallow bowls. Roll chicken breasts in flour mixture and coat evenly. Next, dip chicken into buttermilk and then corn flake crumbs. Bake until chicken is tender and no longer pink, about 25 minutes.
This was an older Weight Watchers recipe that I changed very slightly. I entered it into the Recipe Builder on WW, and each serving of chicken has 5 Points Plus Values. I just made this the other night, and we liked it, BUT I do think it does need more seasoning of some kind. Next time I may try adding 2 tsp. of taco seasoning from a packet to the flour mixture. That would not add any points.
If you try it, let me know how you like it - all right?

Some Of Our Skunk Train Collectibles

We used to visit Fort Bragg on the California coast at least once each year.

Quite often, we would take a ride on the famous Skunk Train while we were in town.

My husband has been collecting Skunk Train souvenirs for a while now.

Mostly, he finds them on eBay, but I have also gotten lucky and found a few things for him at thrift shops.

The older china ones, like ashtrays and plates and such, are probably my favorites:



That's all we need - another collection - right?

I'm not complaining, though......
......after all, he doesn't collect nearly as many things as I do!

Again With The Azaleas

I can't seem to resist taking photos of our azaleas when they are looking so vibrant and pretty.
So, even though I have written about them before, I am at it once again, as you can plainly see.









Consider it a community service post.
Just doing my part; I'm here solely to add a splash of color to your day, folks.
You're welcome.