Wednesday, February 2, 2011

The Great Blizzard of 2011 (not that great)

February 1 and 2, 2011 we got some snow. Not soooo much snow, but with 40 mile an hour winds and low temperatures, it's called a blizzard. Visibility was 1/4 mile, and it snowed about 8-10 inches, but we had 3-4 foot drifts.

I started snapping pics of the little stone rabbit in the hosta garden through the day.






Here's what he's suppposed to be surrounded by:




The snow was not very deep here, it blew away along this area.

Drifts against the 6 foot fence.


It's fun for a few minutes!



How ironic!! This is one of my daylily markers! Here's what is SUPPOSED to  be there.


And this is NOT....

This is......


Here's the only little guy that looks the same year around.





I am linking to Outdoor Wednesday today.



Sunday, January 30, 2011

Genealogy Dishes

My great grandmother Margaret Benne was born in 1848 in Bremen, Germany and came to America as a young girl. She met and married my great grandfather, Frederick Wahaus, who was also from Germany. This is not a wedding pic, but the only one we have.  I was interested in doing a tablescape and documenting their dishes to add to the family genealogy.


The family knows these were her dishes, but no one knows when she got them. The patent date on the back says 1909.


Replacements.com have none in stock, although they did tell me the pattern number, but they have no name.










There are dinner plates, salad plates, and berry bowls. There are 3 different size platters, gravy boat, vegetable bowls, covered butter dish, cream and sugar, and coffee cups and saucers.

The sugar bowl is missing the lid, but otherwise all the dishes are intact.





 


The cups and gravy boat have little flowers inside the rims.
 
 
 
To keep it all in the family, I used my mother's Fostoria Chintz goblets, and her silverplate flatware.
 
Mama remembers going to her aunt's house, where her grandmother lived, and having chicken dinners on these plates. Great Grandmother Margaret Wahaus was blinded in an accident when she was a young farm wife and mother. My grandmother, ( born in 1888 named Louise) as a little girl, ran past her mother out the screen door while Margaret was carrying a large pan of lye soap she was making. The lye flew up in her eyes and she was blind from then on. From all accounts, she continued to be a successful farm wife and mother. Mama and the other grandchildren marveled at how she always knew who each grandchild was, and they couldn't fool her.
 
Thank you for looking at a little dish genealogy with me. What about you? Do you have genealogy dishes put away somewhere?
 
I am joining Chari at

Saturday, January 22, 2011

What I'm Reading in January

Mary Kay Andrews is one of my favorite authors, due to her choice of southern locations and humor in her stories. I just finished HISSY FIT and it did not disappoint me. Cute and fun, a young woman in the interior design business is busy with a Greek revival mansion when  life begins to happen to her. Many interesting details about the rehabing of the mansion. As always, Mary Kay Andrews includes quirky characters to interact with the young designer.


I am also reading a Dorothea Benton Frank book called The Land of Mango Sunsets.



It takes place in Manhattan, NY and  Sullivan's Island, SC. The main character is a 40 something single lady who can't quite find her comfortable place in the world. Great characters, funny, odd and entertaining. I don't like all Frank's books, I read one recently ( I can't remember what one, now) that I couldn't get past the first chapter because I didn't like the main character, but this one's a good read. I read for ENJOYMENT and this one makes the grade. I want to go to Sullivan's Island!




                            Buy The Friday Night Knitting Club

This Kate Jacobs book was interesting, but not fantastic. I usually just don't mention books that I don't think are really, really good, but I did like the yarn shop setting. I am not a knitter, but I found it an interesting venue.Several women of different ages and backgrounds come together in the beginning in an uncomfortable knitting group in a yarn shop. They develop relationships as they spend time together, and there are lots of storylines. The story was good, but the characters could have really been developed more. I just didn't care about them. There are two more sequels of this book, if it strikes your fancy.

Julia Roberts was supposed to star in and produce this, and as of the summer of 2010, it still was not out, nor any other stars listed. Maybe it will be a better movie.

Recent GW Finds

I am anxious for lilac bloom time, so I can cut some beautiful blooms to go with these dishes I found at GW.




I selected 4 each of salad plates, bowls and mugs. I think it will make a nice breakfast tablescape with some lavender color to bring out the blooks on the plates. Maybe lilac checkered napkins, or some lilac toile, or both!  Is there such a thing as lilac colored toile? I'll have to do some investigation. Each item was 49 cents! And they look like they have never been used.


The spoons I found recently at an antique store. I got them because they have DD #2's initial on them. She said, " SO.... do I get to take them home?" I agreed, "Yes, when I'm dead!' Lots of eye rolling. They are in the cream pitcher now, that is used for coffee spoons on the counter. Mostly the DDs argue about who is going to HAVE to take my old stuff someday. Brats!

At the same GW the same week, I also found these glass salad plates, again, not a mark on them, and this nice silver tray. Tray 99 cents. Plates 49 cents.



I like the open work on this tray.

I couldn't believe the squirel book ends! I laughed, because I just missed National Squirel Day, when I was looking for odd calendar holidays! But I got them anyway...... $2.99 each!  My my what cheap entertainment.


 

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Blue and White Table

Today I am using my everyday dishes for a tablescape. Like me, they clean up pretty good for a special occasion! 

The brand is Dansk and the pattern is called Bistro Cafe Parisian. I got them at Tuesday Morning a few years ago, and they have been good, strong dishes.


Here's the salad/luncheon plate added. The twig chargers were a Christmas present from World Market.

Next I added a little flowered plate and  napkin and little napkin holders I made from beads.



The glasses are Fostoria Virginia.







I am joining Tablescape Thursday today.