White roses, tiny and old, hover
I am really very impressed by my fellow bloggers. It takes a lot of time and effort to make the posts interesting and hopefully pretty; some of them so well done and professional looking. I, on the other hand, can only do the basics. Oh yes, I would love to have little falling stars across the written word and borders to die for. I just don't want to take the time to learn plus I fear what I have done will go poof. Also, this time of year, I am too busy gardening. Sooooo, have a look at the flower/seed pod of a leek. I planted a stand of them last year and they didn't get as large as the ones in the store, so I just left them in the ground. Voila! This year they have huge purple heads on long stems - like something out of a Dr. Seuss garden.
And, these daisies have been coming back like old friends year after year for the past 27 summers. So what pray tell, do these specimens have to do with bloggers and blogging? Well, I get to share them with you...
I have finally found Eldorado; was invited to the home which embodies the epitome of collecting and displaying treasures. My friend had been telling about her mother's home and collections for years. Sue has been collecting the world over for decades and I must say I covet everything she owns. From beautifully patinated early American furniture to early baskets, samplers, clocks and Quimper pottery, and did I say early American samplers? Ooooh!
Every nook and cranny has a beautiful arrangement; a tableau to linger over. More baskets, a dog lamp and a beautiful old oil painting of a girl.
Old wooden bowls full of chocolate molds and butter molds, so many in fact, many are packed away.
This is the smallest cobbler's table I have ever seen. I thought it must be a salesman's sample. The tole ware trays show up throughout the house.
I was just getting going, my head swimming and eyes glazing over when I ran out of camera space. Just like that. It has never happened to me before. I could not believe it as I was just getting started. Luckily, my Maggie, Sue's daughter, used her iphone camera so as soon as I get the pics and figure out how to load them on my blog, you're in for a treat. Till later...
Did you ever want to peek in a drawer? I'm always scrounging through drawers in old houses in my dreams. Don't know what that means, but this drawer is full of old locks, thimbles, dog tags, buttons, marbles and the velvet bag is very old. It has a lock of red hair inside it as a remembrance.
The monkey used to have more hair. It is Victorian and moves. The green frog is a snapper toy and there are the various war toys and covered wagons. Some, still in their original packaging: I am always surprised no child played with them. The silver zeppelin lies beside the skull of an egret with a shotgun pellet lodged in it.
There is this and that... an old hygrometer?
Here are some old books and ephemera, namely concert tickets from the seventies to Joni Mitchell and the Rolling Stones and Madonna in the 80's. Look at the oldest wallet I've ever seen. I'll have to open it and show you what's inside at a later date. Now wasn't that fun?
Bloggers love dishes and blue and white ones seem to be favorites. I too have collected many blue and white wares and thought I'd show you what I've done with some of mine. No dishes were purposely broken in the making of this border.
Some of you might have noticed the red dog on the right side of my blog and wondered, what in the world? Well, he is one of my mixed-media life-sized paper art sculptures. This dog's name is Picasso Can't Have A Dog. The text in the spiral is where he got his name. I wrote around the spiral like the 'Beats' did in a stream of consciousness style. The text says "Picasso can't have a dog, no Siddhartha he. Manipulator, manipulated, whatever..." Hence the name.
Some of you might have heard that recently, a painting by Picasso sold for a million billion dollars. Picasso was a prodigy/genius, but could be cruel (and kind too, I know). His vanity knew no bounds. Don't get me wrong, I love Picasso, but I don't think he deserved a dog. When I was almost finished with this piece, a book came out about him and his beloved dachshund. Who knew?
This piece has a goldfish, feather, clock, a sundial, an eye, a vulva...and so much more. And, its tail wiggles. This was no small fete for me. I am interested in automatons, but after some research, I couldn't get past the basic physics (pulleys and levers). You have to be an engineer to figure it out and I am too old, er, young to start a new career. I will have to take a pic of his rear end. There is a cameo painted in blue and white, of an elderly Picasso, seated and looking in a mirror...
I've photographed some of my iris, which are stunning, but fade much too fast. The second one is strongly scented. Iris comes from the Greek word for rainbow and is grown on many continents mainly in northern temperate zones. There are about 300 species of iris. The fleur-de-lis is a stylized iris. Orris root comes from irides and its essential oils are used in perfumes and medicines. Bombay gin contains orris root and flavoring from species of bearded iris. Like an old friend, the plants come back year after year and spread through rhizomes and though mine are on the wane, I'll see them again next year. The still life painting of lemons and iris came from a flea market. I heard this story once about seeing stands of iris in fields and roadsides. Supposedly, they mark where old homesteads once stood. Sure enough, I found rock foundations of two old homesteads in the mountains, and where the front of the house would have been, were beds of iris.
Do you have a stack or two of old painted shelves lying about? I've got a million projects I'll finish someday. One of those projects was to recycle one of said painted shelves. I simply did a reverse scratching on the paint and came up with different countries and continents. This shelf is above my bed and hopefully fills my head with exotic locales and dreams that rarely come.
I saw this recipe the other day and decided to try them. I call them Gobbits as in just gob it on your thighs. They are easy to make. Simply get a box of your favorite brownie mix (I get Duncan Hines Dark Fudge) and mix according to directions. Butter the muffin tin and place some of the mixture in each one. It will make twelve . Push the batter up the sides of the tin and leave an indention in the middle of each. Make your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and place a tablespoon of dough into the brownie and press down slightly. Bake approx. 30 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream or Blue Belle Homemade Vanilla ice cream. 
I heard a whippoorwill this eve. The first this year. I don't know where they go in winter. I love to hear them with their three distinct whistles. Many songs laud the whippoorwill's call - too many in fact to list here. There are also many early native American legends about the whippoorwill. The Omaha's believed its song was an omen of death while the Ute's thought the whippoorwill was a god of the night. There were also early American legends surrounding the bird. Washington Irving mentions it in THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. One New England legend says the Whippoorwill can sense a soul departing and can capture it as it flees. Who knew? For Earth Day, we should know that this bird is becoming endangered and/or threatened by habitat destruction, predation by feral cat and dog populations and insecticides. They are ground dwellers; build their nests on the ground and you rarely see them - just hear that lonesome whippoorwill...
What started out as a bucolic spring afternoon, progressed with me upended in chicken shit and broken eggs at the barn. I'd collected the eggs and looked around the hay bales for some stragglers who like to try and trick me and hide their eggs in the goose's nest. I climbed and raided said nest, then began to descend and got snared by fence wire used to hold the hay bales together. As I flew chickenlike through the air, the eggs went flying and my feelings were hurt, not to mention my neck has a crook in it now. So no eggy recipe today. Hope I can turn my head tomorrow. Got to plant the rest of my strawberries. Happy birthday to my dear friend Mary Kay. She's the best egg of all.
It's that time again! There is an old belief that eating the first asparagus of spring will bring good luck. Yesterday, I did gather a handful of spears and fixed them for supper. I didn't Julia Child it, nor use my silver asparagus tongs. I simply tossed the spears with olive oil, 2 cloves of sliced garlic and a sprinkling of salt. Then, I grated a Spanish Parmesan cheese on top (this cheese is less salty and a little softer than parmesano reggiano). Here's the good part. I did all this on a paper plate and covered it with another one and cooked it in the microwave for 1 minute and 45 seconds. Atop a pile of sticky sprouted brown rice, it was so good, and easy. I'll have to see if the luck legend pans out. I need all I can get right now. However, on the other hand, I guess if I'm still kicking, then perhaps that is luck enough... Anyway, asparagus grows so fast that I'm going to be freezing lots of it in the coming days. Anybody have a good recipe out there?
Though not a shamrock, this four leaf clover deserves a wish today. "A wish is a prayer," the old saying goes. So, may the wind always be at your back, may the road rise to meet you, always take the high road (I think that's Scottish, oh well), and may the luck of the Irish be with you. I don't know much about Irish, but in their honor, I think I'll make an Irish Soda Bread today.
Bella came down for a fun day at Nonna and Poppa T.'s farm. She is fearless and hung on to the eggs she gathered. Odette the horse, enjoyed carrots and the chickens and geese got bread. Bella wanted to take the bread out to them. Baby brother Oliver is too little to enjoy the outdoor fun, but just wait a few more months.
Isn't this a pretty interpretation of the Madonna? A young woman seated with a book; a small village past her in the distance. The period of her clothing, seated on a rag or hooked rug, is reminiscent to me of a pioneer Madonna. This print was originally painted by a German artist so I guess maybe her clothes are from the time it was painted in Germany. Just thought you'd like to see it. It is different. It's for sale in my etsy shop. I might like to keep it but for the need in this period of my life to simplify, clean out, I'm not sure, whatever.
