Saying for the Day

Jacob says, "Work does not have recess."  

Calendar Recommendations for No place like home

Please check out Jennifer Perkins home featured on Etsy.  Lee and I agree... There is never enough when you have the creative gene.  It is over the top kitschy and we love it. Collectors untie...unite.

Dragging into Fall

It was the "casa velha" (old house) that started it all.  This blog, the love of vintage, retro, pink, wavy glass, claw foot tubs, gardens, rich dark dirt...all the things I still love can be traced back to that really old two-story house at 424 Purisima.  I am convinced that it is in the seeking of feelings of comfort and the freedom that only childhood holds that we spend most of our weekends trolling items that flood the memory banks with sweet memories.

Trader Joe's had lovely black figs and sugar plums this weekend...those flavors with sourdough french bread take me right back to childhood.  I will be looking for chestnuts soon to remind me of times in the pink kitchen on Purisima or of times at the 1970s dinette table with the matching moss green flowery vinyl chairs on Mill Street.  All our celebrations happened in that tiny eat in kitchen.

Recently Lee has been messing with hair accessories.  Holly likes the glitter.


Time spent in the gardens at County Roads   Jacob takes his sketchbook everywhere.

Notice the truck in the background.  Picking out plants just like my mother taught me.

Not only are there beautiful plants, but the garden behind Country Roads is just a wonder place with nooks and crannies to explore-for well behaved children and adults.  Holly loved that cement snail.

We reluctantly ventured inside for the amazing holiday displays.
Our family is BIG on Halloween.

The pumpkin head holding the kitty head should have come home with us.

And yesterday we stopped by Mrs. Darling.  The little green chairs Holly is sitting on had to make their way home with us.  Do you remember those little chairs in kindergarten?   Not only do they hold positive memories the color is perfect, too. Holly just makes herself at home.

Labor Day Weekend Revamped

She still requires her hat but goodness she is gorgeous. 

Favorite Things

If you have being reading along for a while, you already know of my love of dirt, wire and glitter but did you know I love lamps and chandeliers.  Nothing fancy mind you, just grandma's cottage kind of lighting.  Still this is not just any ordinary lighting.  Most were picked up in thrift stores for less than $5 and  the chandeliers for under $65.  It is a team affair,  Lee is the rewiring wizard and I clean, sand, and paint the new lighting.

While we were on vacation we completed this beauty:

Originally from Spain she started out  a dingy gold color.

This little charmer came from Utah.  She was perfect just a bath and a rewiring job.
She is installed above my side of the bed for reading.

This weekend's victim:

 

Milk glass holds a special place in my heart.
It is old fashioned and classic all at the same time.
We considered painting the wood silver, black or white.
This time, we are going traditional cottage and the wood will
be white and the lamp shade is going.  It's just too over powering
and drab.  This one came from the Goodwill in Gilroy for $15.
Even though it was in good working order,
 all our lamps are rewired.  Safety first.

Anniversary Gift

One of my extra special gifts.  Lee actually ran around to three stores to find it on the day of release.  If you pre-order your books from Amazon they are delivered on the day of release....just saying.

This is what I will be reading this weekend.


My little gift for Lee came from monkeysalwayslook.  Wonderful experience can't wait to get shop again.

Happy Anniversary

We just recently discovered that Julia and Paul Child share our wedding date of September 1.  My parents were married in March of 1946 the same year Julia and Paul were married.  Both couples had  long and devoted marriages and we feel blessed to celebrate a shared anniversary.

What I especially hold dear about our wedding ceremony is the walk back down the aisle.  We both held our emotions together until then....my mother almost ran down the aisle behind us to grab us first and give us our first kiss. A practical woman she had not supported my desire to remarry.  But what she said, as the three of us stood there at the end of the aisle, was that she had become overwhelmed with joy as we exchanged our vows and she had to hug and kiss us. She wished us the greatest joy and good health.

We all knew that Lee was an exceptional man but in the last nine years he has exhibited strength in adversity, boundless love for all four children, tenderness in the care of and loss of our beloved.  In all things we give thanks. Happy Anniversary sweetness.