That's What Friends Are For

My friends and neighbors are in estate sales. I know that their job is lots of hard work and dust and grease and tears (parting with worldly possessions can be heart breaking. Or the classic "will Momma know I loved her if I get rid of these three chipped water goblets that I'm sure she and Daddy got for a wedding present in 1937?"). They are able to sort, clean, deal with the clients and shoppers, and make money for their clients and themselves. This week they let me come visit them early and see what they had to sale.

Mr. J&C and I went over Tuesday morning and 'found' a breakfast room table, it's perfect and it was the right price. So, naturally, I asked if I could come back again with a friend of mine, known for her clever decorating, quilting, and the ability to spot treasures almost anywhere - the Colorado Lady.

Many thanks to whoever made these wonderful items.

 

Suzanne came away with all kinds of things (check out her Thursday post Vintage Thingy Thursday).  I got a quilt and a few baskets... a couple of embroidered table runners... and a child's apron... did I mention my quilt?

My new picnic quilt.

Thing is, I would have had fun even if I had not found this lovely blue quilt all because a friend was with me. I hope you have people in your life who help you through the tough times, cry with you, laugh with you, eat & drink with you, and, of course, shop with you.  That's what friends are for...


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Vintage Thursday

Morning arrived very early today.  This morning the light outside woke me before 6:30... or maybe it was the neighbor rushing to get his trash cart out to the curb...

I feel like I'm running late - having my first cup of coffee and already the sun is up.

We live on one of the quietest streets in the city, so I stepped outside to see what all the noise was about.  The 'tile men' arrived early this morning to finish a neighbor's "new" bathroom.  Some one's lawn guy is here and mowing before 8 (isn't that against the law?).  The recycle collectors are not letting any grass grow under their feet - that is one noisy vehicle - especially when they dump our cart into their big truck.

(Sent to me by a friend - who knows me tooo well)

Once the door closed behind me and I was standing outside on the front porch I just had to smile. Yes, chaos is all around but the sweet smell of my first blooming gardenia was intoxicating.  On closer inspection I noticed two blooms.  I put broken oak twigs into the pots to 'hold' the plants - this also helps when you are trying to get a picture of the flower and the leaves keep getting in the way. 

Wish you could smell this, just two blooms and GARDENIA is everywhere.

Personally, I think the gardenia plant would be a great topic for Vintage Thingy Thursday.  How many grandmothers wore gardenia corsages or how many brides carried this beautiful flower in their bouquet?   If you want to grow something 'vintage' try these beauties - they work in containers or in your garden.  Sometime in my youth, I remember someone bragging about her gardenia bush growing just outside her bedroom window.  Back then I thought 'So What?'  Today I can't help but think what a clever friend my mom had.

But Suzanne has rules and I'm not sure my one year old gardenia is truly vintage.  So today I'm visiting Suzanne's blog ColoradoLady with my vintage Salt and Pepper shakers.

We've had these for years (we're not the original owners,
 but we did know and love them and that's why these
beauties have a place of honor on our table).

At night, work continues on my the scarf.  I am having fun working with this yarn, colors just pop in and out of my needles. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Hope you have a blessed weekend. 

*

This Old House

Our house was built in the mid 1960's. Would someone please tell me why it has one of these?

Notice I said it was built in the 1960's not the 1860's...  We didn't even see this little hooky-cooky thingy until the "Brick Doctor" came out to caulk up the fireplace. 

When we bought the house it had a brass firescreen attached to the fireplace.  I opened it up (it was a bit rusty and only opened about ten or so inches), looked in and saw one charred log, lots of ashes, and a few spiderwebs.  The building inspector told us he couldn't certify the fireplace as usable and explained how we would need to get a plumber out to check the gas line, a chimney sweep, and also we would have to hire someone to caulk up the cracks in the brickwork.  Still, the house was in a great neighborhood and it did (technically) have a fireplace (two things to check off our wish list).

Now, fast forward six and a half years...  Spring is here and we are finished with cold weather so I am closing the fireplace damper, dusting, sweeping up, and just plain cleaning the hearth.  I usually only think about "it" on days like this. 

I didn't even know what "it" was called until Wednesday morning (that's right, yesterday) - It's a fireplace crane.  I was getting this post ready to link up with ColoradoLady's Vintage Thingy Thursday and wanted to know the name of the vintage treasure I planned to show off.  You can 'google' anything - even things you don't know the name of...

Tell me, what's in your house that makes you wonder "why did the builder add this little beauty?"


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Wake Up Call

Do you have something you have loved for years that no one else knows about?  I ponder this because my vintage beauty is a bit of a mystery to me.

After my mother in law died I was the happy recipient of  her sewing supplies.  She had an old cookie tin full of tools and thread, a few pins and needles, a seam ripper, buttons, hooks, and a little compact with a spider and fly design.

Sewing Box / Treasure Box.

There were all kinds of sewing supplies in here along with the little compact. 
I cleaned it out and just keep buttons in here these days. 
The compact stays in a special place and I see it every day.

My mother in law, Mary, was on my mind Monday morning. I had picked up the little compact from its usual resting place and thought about using it for my "Vintage Thingy Thursday" post. Something cute and easy to blog about. I'm looking for cute, quick, and easythese days because there's so much work to be done in the garden - leaving me with little time for blogging. I carried it around the house, found a cord and wore it for a while. I wish she had told me a story or two about it. What did it mean in her life? I will never know, my husband doesn't remember ever seeing it when he was a kid - he doesn't remember what her sewing box looked like either.

Thunderstorms kept me awake Monday night.  I was in bed by 11:00 p.m. and at 3:00 a.m. I was wide awake.  I got up and had a glass of milk.  Went back to bed, started to doze and was awakened by THUNDER!!!!  Just one extremely close thundering bit of thunder.  That was it, I gave up and went in to the living room.  Sat in the quiet for a several minutes and then turned on the t.v. (this is not my normal morning routine).   BBC America morning news was "live" (always a good sign) at London's Westminster Palace where they were waiting for Queen Elizabeth II to arrive and to begin celebrations for her Diamond Jubilee. 

I stood there a few minutes and took it all in.  Sorry, not the Queen's speech or the fact that 60 years is a long time, I wasn't even too concerned that one of the men in the front row really needed to comb his hair... 

I was thinking about all the conversations I had had with my mother in law about "The Royal Family."  I remember her father was from Great Britain and she enjoyed following their Royal Family's adventures - we usually ended up talking about the clothes. I'm sure she would have liked the outfit Queen Elizabeth wore Tuesday (she liked everything the Queen wore). 

For a few minutes on Tuesday I felt close to Mary. Maybe the rain and thunder were just there to help me remember someone I have loved. Was it because I had her on my mind that I had this fun coincidence? (This is where I confess I did not get up early last year to watch the "Royal Wedding." It takes a bit more than that to get me out of bed.)

I don't know all the stories about the little compact, life goes on. I enjoy having it in my life reminding me of Mary.

I'm joining Suzanne at ColoradoLady for  Vintage Thingy Thursday.  Stop by in you would like to see other vintage items.

Also, my blogging pal, Annie, of Annie's Ruby Slipperz is having a giveaway.  Annie explains it all at Annie's Mystery Baby Give Away or something like that.   If you quilt or know someone who does check out this fun chance to win.

Was it a gift or had she saved and bought it for herself?
Or maybe she found it years ago in someones sewing basket?

One more thing - If you wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, just ask "Why am I up?" The answer will come. 

*

Spring Onions

Wednesday was damp and cloudy my favorite time to work in the garden. I cleaned out an area where I usually plant basil and planted an assortment of onions instead.

Ready to plant.

Red, yellow, and white onions.

My back garden needs serious weeding.  Yesterday, in the midst of garden guilt, I was reminded by HolleyGarden at Roses and Other Gardening Joys that no garden is without weeds. 

I've decided not to knock myself out trying to have a perfect garden (I learned long ago that perfection is highly overrated).  I'll just do a better job of editing my pictures so you (and I) won't notice all the weeds. 

In my back garden on Wednesday - Salvia greggii, rose bush,
blueberry bushes...  one of my bird baths, the daffodils and more roses...
then my neighbor's very neat and tidy garden plot.

Almost perfect are the gardens at The House in the Roses.  CIELO's blog has a fairy tale look and Tuesday's post, reminding me of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, inspired me to get into my garden to plant the onions... and a few more cilantro seeds... and marigold and nasturtium... once I start gardening, it's hard to stop.

I keep my favorite seeds handy and tuck them in when the mood strikes.

My favorite garden tool is at least twenty years old.  Its familiar wooden handle makes me smile as I work in my garden, not because it's perfect but because we've been together such a long time.

Is it vintage?  I'm not sure, but let me tell you I feel a bit vintage after a few of hours working in the garden. 

Thank God for long, hot showers and mugs of tea.


I'm joining Suzanne at ColoradoLady for Vintage Thingy Thursday,
even if my little garden tool isn't vintage, I'm sure the dirt is.  

*

Frog

This green froggy bank has been with me since 1968.  It looks very MOD don't you think? 

On the window sill in the laundry room -
iron, bank, rubber duck and  marbles.

Today my little bank sits proudly in the laundry room window and collects coins, and sometimes a dollar or two, that get left in clothing.  As clothes washer for the family this is how I make a bit of extra cash.

Like many people I have talked to recently, I can see that I take money for granted.  Not that I have piles of the stuff around the house.  I just always seem to have enough to meet my needs.  There have been times in my life where I counted (and recounted) every penny.  These days I just whip out my debit or credit card and get on with my life.

Then there was Tuesday.  Tuesday, two weeks ago, when I was out shopping doing my serious stocking up of paper products and such.  Please don't leave when I tell you - I was at Walmart.  On this day they had the best price for the items I needed.  I was very careful to buy American made.  As I neared the checkout area a sweet voice came over the sound system. "Attention, Walmart Shoppers, we are sorry for the inconvenience but at this time our service is down and we can not take credit or debit cards.  Again, we are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause."

Hello?  Help?!

I looked at a few of my fellow shoppers, we were all looking around like we had just heard that Elvis was in the store looking for backup singers and wanted to meet each and every one of us.

Disbelief is a weird thing.

I slowly started for the front of the store.  As I walked I heard the announcement again.  They were still sorry and they were still unable to accept any form of payment except cash.

I had a few dollars on me but not enough to pay for this afternoon's work.  All the price checking and looking to see where things had been made would be for nothing if these guys couldn't get their computers up and running.  They couldn't.  Word got around through the shoppers - there was an ATM connected with the bank that was in the front of the store and for a small $3.50 fee I could get cash, pay for my groceries and leave.  Or I could just leave, afternoon wasted, gas wasted to get there and I would have no Kleenex in my house.  I decided that the ATM fee was worth it, got my money (I did great I got enough for all my purchases except one item - for a moment or two I thought I was a genius).

Sad thing was when I looked back in the store there were carts left all over the place.  Are we becoming that much of a cashless society?  Where does that leave us when computers are down? 

That moment or two that I considered myself a money genius vanished when I realized:  I am not prepared.  I really don't have supplies at home.  If I had had to leave the store that day it would have made our lives a bit uncomfortable.  What if a neighbor had needed help?  How can I help anyone if I can't help myself?

Coincidence time:  Sometime during that week a blog I follow, Mockingbird Hill Cottage (yes, I started following her because I love the idea of naming our house  - another story for another day).  Anyway, Claudia at MHC is working with 4 other bloggers and they are doing a series on Thrifty Living 2012.  It's interesting how different folks are making life work within their means. 

A week or so later I also found Rhonda at Down to Earth (a blog about simple life).  Rhonda is teaching me how to stock a pantry, really stock a pantry.  Not the one extra roll of paper towels, a few bags of pasta, and a few cans of tomatoes and soup that I had been happy with for the longest time.  To really stock up, to be prepared - to be ready at all times to take care of the people I love.

All of these blogs have me looking at homemaking in a whole new way.  Not in the June Cleaver pearl earrings on while I vacuum sort of way but as a member of society who makes the world a better place because of the way I live.

I didn't mean to go on forever.  It's just I'm on the verge of learning things new to me and I wanted to share.  I'm also exhausted from working in the garden and I need sleep.

Tell me, do you just live day to day - or are you ready for anything come what may?


It's Thursday, join me at ColoradoLady 's Vintage Thingy Thursday to see other vintage treasures. 


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Vintage Friendship

"Although my neighbors

 are all barbarians,
and you,
you are a thousand

 miles away,
there are always

two cups on my table."
(Tang Dynasty)

That's right, this Vintage Thingy Thursday is all about my Vintage Friendship (I guess that makes it official - I'm vintage).

Bev and Me

Just for the record, my neighbors are great, but they are not my oldest playmate (o.k., she probably thought she was babysitting me in our tea time photo).  

Bev is my mom's youngest sister, she has always been a part of my life - which is pretty amazing because we have spent the last 35 years living on opposite sides of the country and, at times, half a world away from one another.   

When my phone rings and she's on the other end it's a very good thing.  We can talk for hours or just a few minutes and life just seems better. 

Her homes have always seemed sort of magical to me.  When I smell apples and cinnamon I think of Bev, the last time I was in her house it had that wonderful scent.  When I light a candle, I think of her (I've always thought of her as a candleholic, in the nicest possible way, of course). 

We learn so much from our parents and siblings, but it's amazing what we learn from our first friends.  I feel doubly blessed because my friend is a family member (that's right, we're stuck with each other).

Today, about 50 years after this photo was taken, I would still enjoy having a cup of tea with her.  And I bet this time she would let me pour.



Join me at ColoradoLady's Vintage Thingy Thursday (button just the the right) to check out other vintage treasures.

*

Under the Influence of a Blog

Christmas Day
long ago and far away...

I am no where near putting up the tree,
but be of good cheer - don't worry about me,
I've spent the day cleaning with the songs of the season,
And after hours of 'Jingle Bells' my mind can not reason.


I leave you now to sleep, dream, and snore,
Tomorrow I hope to finish housework and chores.
Then I will decorate, gifts I will wrap,
and I promise
NO MORE DR. SEUSS!
this post sounds like crap.


*

This feeble attempt at poetry was caused by 
Suzanne, COLORADOLADY, who mentioned
HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
and I watched and can tell you honestly, 
Dr. Seuss and blogging is a dangerous combination. 

 For Vintage Thingy Thursday I'm going with
vintage Christmas Music.

I could listen to Christmas music all year long.  I sang Christmas carols and songs to my babies when I got tired of lullabies  - I could only remember the first verse of most lullabies and my babies never were asleep after one verse... or one song.  

These days I try to wait and only listen during Advent (maybe a week or so before) until about the first week of January.  With the events of the last  few weeks I'm off to a slow start and just started listening on Tuesday. 

Once the music starts I get in the mood to clean the house and decorate for Christmas. I figure anything that can make me want to clean house is truly amazing and (maybe) even a miracle...

 *

Short and Sweet

Someone in my husband's family liked to paint.  It's the same flowers, maybe even the same paint on this set of glasses and pitcher, on some pink silk, on a picture taken over 100 years ago, and on a wine decanter set. Family myth and legend does not give this person a name, too bad, I would love to know who this talented person was.  

This set came to me with five glasses - the pitcher holds 72 ounces,
each glass hold 7 ounces (8 if filled to the rim). 
Wonder how many glasses came with the original set...

I enjoy using them every now and then.  Yes, even though they are old and beautiful and have to be hand washed, they still get used.  If we don't make memories with them, who will?  All we have is today, let's take care of each other and make each day as sweet as possible.

Today I'm making Fuzzy Navels.

Why? Because as Bing Crosby used to say, "A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine."

3 oz Orange Juice
3 oz Peach Schnapps
1 oz Vodka - (optional - your drink will be much sweeter without)

Hand full of ice

Put everything into a cocktail shaker. Shake until top is frosty.

Pour into your favorite glass.

I like how each glass reflects different colors.

Or, if you are fixing more than one, you can pour the ingredients into a pitcher and stir. (James Bond won't mind, he's busy tonight and can't stop by your place - don't let that stop you from having a sweet evening.)

Enjoy.

It's Thursday, join me at ColoradoLady's Vintage Thingie Thursday. 


cJoy

Back to the Garden - Passion Flower Vine

On Tuesday, the temperature at the start of my day was 62F and I was movitated to garden.  For starters, I want to improve the view from the kitchen table.  So I'm putting in a small flower bed. I bought two Passion Flower Vines and a trellis, all that was left was to make the bed and get them in the ground and growing.

Thank you Google for the picture.  (My plants aren't blooming - yet.)
In my youth we called these "MayPops."

 

 

I gathered up everything I needed for this project and completed the whole thing in just over an hour (83 minutes, but who's counting?).

On your mark, get set, go!

I used the trellis to determine how big to make the bed. Fortunately for me, the Previous Owner had this thing about collecting old bricks, so I've started using the old bricks in my landscaping.  I like the recycle aspect of using them and if I want to expand a flower bed I just have to grab a few more bricks.

Maintenance

See the hole?  A tree used to grow there, the Previous Owner cut it down and each year it sinks a bit more as the roots have rotted   composted returned to the earth.  Every now and then I put a little more soil in  (usually after I stumble).  On Tuesday, I put soil in the hole then started putting in the grass that I was removing to make way for my new flower bed.  Nothing wasted.  I like that.

All I had to do was dig out grass.

Still digging.  When does the fun start?  Wish you (or anybody) were here digging with me.

Ready to Lasagna Garden my little bed.  I added a some soil and amendments, just a little.  Then I grabbed some newspaper and lined my new bed to help keep weeds to a minimum.

I added back some of the old dirt (that sounds silly, most dirt is, well, as old as dirt - how ever old that is) mixed in some 'new dirt' and added the bricks. 

And the plants!

All that was left to do was add mulch, water, and clean up.  I've got a nice little garden and next spring and summer I will have beautiful, blooming vines.

The job is almost finished.

Here it is, Thursday morning.   It's amazing what can happen when the temperature cooperates.  Only two days in the ground and already the tendrils are at work. 

Life is good.

My view from the kitchen is better this morning --- my coffee even tastes better. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I'm off to Vintage Thingie Thursday with Colorado Lady (button just to the right if you want to join us).  I'm 'rerunning' my coin story over there - next week I must find something new to bring to her party.  Hope you have a great weekend.  cJoy

It's A Chinese Coin - An Update on Last Week's Post

My blogging adventure continues to expand (please note - I've added links inside my blog this week).  Many thanks to my friend, Stephen.  Not only is he friendly, kind, smart, and a wonderful horseshoe player - - - he also speaks and reads Chinese.  Here's his message after reading last week's blog,  "What is this?"   I guess this makes him my first guest blogger... 

I hope I've followed Stephen's directions and have the coin going the right way.

Joy,

Yes, Madison was right. It is a Chinese coin which was used in the reign of the Emperor Qian Long (1736-1795). You can see the Emperor’s name on the front of the coin (the flip side in your blog. You need to turn it 90 degrees clockwise to make it right-side-up): 乾隆 (you read from top to bottom). Other two Chinese characters, 通寳 (from right to left) means common currency (for the whole country).

So this is the back side of the coin...

On the back of the coin was the name of the Mint factory where the coin was made (there were 22 factories in total at the time). It is written in the Manchurian language (that is because the royal family of that dynasty was from that region). I do not know the Manchurian language so I don’t know where it was made.

Coins are round with a square hole in the center. There are two explanations for that design. 1. The round shape symbolizes the heaven and the square hole symbolizes the earth (the ancient Chinese believed the earth was square). Therefore, the coin is the symbol of the emperor’s sovereignty. 2. The design was necessary for the coinage technique. The craft men held the coin on a square stick to polish it. (Round shaped coins are easy to use. That is probably why the coins are still round today). Such design is also good for carrying. A large amount of coins could be easily strung together with a rope through the center hole. That was how people carried their money in old days.

The value of the coin is probably what people care about the most. Well, if it is a mother coin (handmade by craftsmen and used as a model for casting coins), it is valuable. Otherwise, it is not because there are a lot of them in existence. I don’t have much knowledge about coin collections and I can not give you a estimation of the value of your coin. Too bad.

You can find the pictures of different coins made at the same time at this website: http://www.oldrain.com/coin/qing/GaoZong/QLTB.html

Stephen
____________________________________________


The more I blog the more amazed I am at how connected we all are.  Thanks to all of you who visit my blog and thank you to all who leave comments. 

Friends, old and new, make life so wonderful.
 
First, there was Patti who gave me the box of buttons that had a coin inside. 

Then ColoradoLady's Blog and her world famous Vintage Thingie Thursday that gave me the 'exposure' I needed when I asked for help in learning more about my little treasurer.  Her VVT blog is my favorite way to spend my Thursday morning coffee break.  Note to quilters:  Suzanne (ColoradoLady) is embarking on a quilt project using bits and pieces and tiny, tiny scraps of cloth, you can read all about it on her blog.  No, I'm not going to attempt this - I plan to watch from a distance and see all the beautiful quilts that others are creating.  I need another new project right now like I need butt implants.

And Madison - I enjoy her blog and recently started following her adventures at Madison Makes  - she told me the coin was Chinese. 

That bit of information reminded me of Stephen and once I contacted him I learned so much about my coin.  

Thank you, one and all. 

cJoy

P.S.  Yes, I will find something new to bring to the party next week - if it's Thursday I'm usually at ColoradoLady's Vintage Thingie Thursday. Today I'm with her in another way, praying for a blogging friend of hers and praying for Suzanne.  Funny how my little story started out to tell you how in some way we are all connected in this life.  Like it or not we are also connnected in death and anyone's passing should be a reminder to do good while we can, to love and let others love us, and truly no man or woman is an island.

What is this?

Thank you to everyone who suggested ways for me to display my buttons.  One of the ideas I got last week about what to do with my button collection came from Cindy.  She separated hers by color and stores them in jars, for now that's what I plan to do.  I'm not doing the whole collection at once, just starting with the shoebox that I dumped out on the dining room table for last Thursday's blog.   I sorted those buttons in the evenings as I watched TV.  It took a few nights to go through and as I got to the last of the buttons I found this:

It was much dirtier than this - I couldn't even tell if the center hole was round or square.
(I cleaned it a bit because in the first pictures you couldn't see any markings.)

I decided to wash it because I couldn't tell what it was.  I even used a little silver polish on it.  It took a bit of scrubbing before I could finally see markings.

Texas Quarter and ?

I love the saying "Sight is an ability, seeing is an art."  I can see this, but what am I looking at? 

And the flip side...

Now I'm curious.  What is it?  How do I go about finding out what it is?  Thinking of it as a coin will be my starting place, but I've never researched coins before.  Any tips on how to find out what I've got or does anyone know what this is?

Thanks,

cJoy

It's Thursday, so I'm taking my 'whatever it is' over to Vintage Thingie Thursday with Colorado Lady. Just use her button to join us.



Who's Got the Button?

Long ago and far away my grandmother would give me her button jar to play with - obviously I was an easily amused child.  I enjoyed everything about them, sorting and counting kept me busy, and the button jar allowed me the luxury of staying in the kitchen with 'the women.'  

Today one of my favorite collections is my button collection. It reminds me of my grandmother and now I can appreciate the art and durability of these amazing little workhorses. 

Many of these are glass and, except for the "JOY" button, I found them in Germany. 

When I first started collecting buttons they were just the extras from my clothes. I would pop them into a small jar that I kept on a shelf in my bedroom.  Then I started to really notice buttons - pearl, shell, plastic, wooden, metal, and glass.  For a while I was buying sewing kits at garage sales, keeping the buttons, and giving away the rest of the sewing items.

About a decade ago, I realized my collection was getting out of hand so I told myself I would use buttons on my sewing projects.  Of course, many of my pieces are baby quilts and table runners, not really suited for buttons.  My button collection continued to swell.  Eventually, I stopped buying buttons and, by and by, started to give some away.  Then (surprise) friends started to give me more buttons. Several months ago Patti showed up at my door with this box.

Gift Box

When I peeked inside I was thrilled.  Then I put the box on my 'button' shelf in my sewing room. 

Button Shelf

As you can see from the picture above it's not very glamorous.  Even worse, you can't see most of the buttons.  The Texas Star Jar was a Christmas present.  The other tall jar was a $1 garage sale find.  After that, I sort of got lost, I couldn't figure out how to store and display my collection, I used whatever I had on hand - old tins, candy and shoe boxes - even ugly plastic (ugh!). 

I think it's time to make a change.  I'm thinking that maybe if I really like my buttons I should give them a better place than on a shelf inside old boxes.

Here's a peek inside Patti's box, a few little boxes, a lot of buttons.

Notice I have poured them out on an old sheet because I don't want to scratch the table top...

...you never know what you'll find in a box of old buttons.

One woman's trash, another woman's treasure.

I'm on the look out for a way to display my treasures. 

Any suggestions?

It's Thursday, so I'm taking my buttons over to Vintage Thingie Thursday with Colorado Lady.  Just use her button to join us. 

Losing My Marble

"Imagine how it would feel to be surrounded only by things you use and love."                      Karen Kingston


The blogging world can be the most beautiful place.  Here houses are always warm and inviting, gardens are blooming, children and pets are clean, well groomed and have perfect manners...  

Looking for its 'best' side...

Welcome to my home.  The alligator head was the only souvenir my husband wanted from New Orleans.  (I blame the History Channel television show "SWAMP PEOPLE.")

Me?   I wanted this. 

Compared to some of the other stuff in this shop, it was a very simple fireplace mantel.

It must have called to me while I was walking down the street. I popped into a little light shop with lots of chandeliers, lots and lots of chandeliers (I couldn't resist saying to the owner, "So it looks like everyone is going with ceiling fans this year."). I asked if I could take pictures, he said, "Sure." I walked through the store and suddenly, from across the well lit room, I saw this beauty.

The more I looked at it, the more I liked it.

"Oh, there you are." I heard myself say.   Right out loud.  It didn't answer. There was no need for words. I was enchanted. Amazed. And maybe slightly giddy.  My pictures may not catch all the glory, but trust me, it was wonderful. I liked it just the way it was and no amount of faux finish could ever make me want less than the real thing. 

I've never thought about buying a marble fireplace mantel before.  We have a nice, little wooden mantel shelf above our fireplace and I have thought about looking for a more substantial (maybe even beautiful) wooden mantel, kind of like this with the sides and a some carving, but this....  I just sort of fell in love with this amazing work of art. 

The details were amazing, I'm using my camera on this (not my flip phone) hope you can see how beautiful it is.

After a few minutes I realized I was a little angry that someone would have ever taken this out of the home it was made for.  Was it made especially for someone?  Was it original to the area or had it come from another part of the world?  I just kept staring.  At some point I found myself running my fingers along the edges (it was in great shape), the carving was smooth and it was cool to the touch.  I tried to imagine how many hours (days, years...) it had taken to create. 

(sound effects please:  TIRES COMING TO A SCREECHING HALT) 
$42,500.00

I finally looked at the price tag and realized we couldn't be together on this day, I would have to leave my discovery here.  I left the shop a better person, and I left New Orleans still married to the sweet guy who likes alligator heads. 

After a fairly lengthy goodbye, I somehow left the mantel.  Maybe someday we'll meet again...

Have you ever been surprised by your reaction to a thing - especially a thing that was so beautiful it took your breath away? 

I have to leave my blog now to go visit Colorado Lady's Vintage Thingie Thursday http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/ .  I'm a genius!  I just added a button from Suzanne's blog.  Happy Thursday!