Home Again Home Again

Jiggedy Jig

For those of you who have been following or know me, you'll remember that my sweetheart always has a bouquet and a glass of wine waiting for me when I arrive home from being away.

This is what greeted me last night as i arrived in from Art and Soul.

  drank the wine, sorry nothing left to photograph ;)

There is so much to show and tell but for today, I will leave you with this as I try to unpack, do laundry, catch up on mail, upload pix and in general crash as soon as I can! I am moving rather slowly today as we had too much fun to get much sleep!

See you soon

BTW ~ Sweet Trade Treats

I dare you to try to say "sweet trade treats" more than once even without saying "sweet twade tweets"

Ok , so i'm cheating a little bit with my bead table wednesday this week. These are trades I made for Art and Soul and they were on my bead table until I packed them up to leave this morning.

The theme this year is In The Garden and so i followed up on my theme for the fatbook pages and created vintage image charms and czech glass flower charms and added them to silverplated bracelets and then attached pewter garden fairies. The one pictured here is mine, notice the word "Souvenir" above the birds? Had to have it!

Instead of creating some kind of package for them, this time I attached one of my cards with sentiment on the back and tied them to the flower lollipops I ordered. 

There are 32 in total, less than I normally make for trades but it'll have to do.

I even found a gift bag in lime green with a big pink flower that said BLOOM on it. Perfect to carry them in. If I don't see you there,  I'll see you here in a few days when I get back!

What's on your table today?



Secrets Revealed

The past month has been one of many surprises.

First , as promised, here are the pictures of the fatbook pages for this years' Art and Soul in Hampton. The theme as I mentioned is "In the Garden".  My first thought was Adam and Eve but then quickly turned to a saying I have on a flower box that says "Leave room in your garden for fairies to dance" that I thought most appropriate.

I bought a few new tools to accomplish my needs, a Sizzix which i used to cut the papers for the seed packets and the flower petals. What a fun toy that is! I know, i'm late to the party, scrapbookers and paper people everywhere have been doing this for years right?

Next I bought about 60 packets of seeds to divide amongst tiny jewelry ziploc baggies to fill said seed packets. Forget-me-nots, four-o'clocks, baby's breath, oriental poppies, larkspur, foxgloves and canterbury bells, all things for a proper fairy garden don't you think? Then I sealed the envelopes with glittery purple sealing wax and a fairy seal.  I just love sealing wax.  I decided afterwards that it was probably silly to invest in the seeds as they probably won't ever get opened and planted!

I printed and cut out vintage fairy images and used glue buttons to give them a raised effect on the page and added butterflies and the sayings to complete the front. The rule is, the fatter the pages the better.

The other saying that I have loved for about 20 years is "Bloom where you are planted" but I added a twist to decorate the back of the page. I applied the saying to flowerpots that I hand cut, attached the sizzix cut out flower petals and added a face to the centers of each flower with a clear cabochon. This is the page where you list your contact information.

 Then for a dangle ( all fatbook pages need danglies) I attached a pewter fairy charm with stretch cord through a rivet, so she can dance of course! The side of the pages need to stay blank to allow for the coil binding to be inserted. We had to make 40 pages total. I will be sure to post pictures of the completed fatbooks that we will receive after I return from A&S in May.

Then the next surprise I couldn't mention was we returned to Florida on March 5th to be there for my Mom's shoulder surgery on Mon. March 7th.

I should have taken a picture of her face when she answered the door but the story goes like this.... We had planned the trip for a month, gathered as much as we could fit in the Prius such as dishes, pots pans, small appliances ,towels and linens , Gotta love those space bags, they really work! We laid the plans for where we would be that day in case she called us on cell phones, which she did, then left at 4:30 in the morning to drive straight through.  Just before hitting the Georgia/ Florida border, the phone rang,

 Mom "where did I catch you?"

Me stumbling " Oh I'm shopping in Salisbury, just going between Kohls and Michaels, what's up?"

 Mom " I just sent you some pictures in an email, take a look when you get home and let me know what you think"

Me" Ok, what are they of?"

Mom " It's a surprise, you'll see"

Well, what she sent me pictures of was the front of our house in Florida where my Dad bought some garden bedding plants, petunias, daisies and begonias and planted them, fertilized and mulched it for us.  Love and surprises abound!

About 3 1/2 hours later, we rang her doorbell and when she opened the door I said " Do you mind if i look at those pictures on your computer? I'm kinda far away from mine right now"

Surprise!!!   Speechless surprise, then tears.

The surgery was a mixed bag, they were unable to fix the rotator cuff, the surgeon called it irrepairable, torn on both sides, but he was able to clean out bone spurs, damaged cartilage and scar tissue in the hopes of alleviating the pain and allowing for better range of motion. She has already started back on physical therapy 3x week. So the recovery wasn't anywhere near as bad as it would have been had they been able to repair it but hopefully I was a help the first week. 

It was wonderful being down in March, I had never been in that month and the oranges had been harvested leaving the trees full of orange blossoms starting anew! What fragrance!!! This is a shot over the fence behind our house, these little perfumed powerhouses filled the air for blocks! I wish I could have bottled it and brought some home with me!

The sun was warm and strong, the temps upper 70's to mid 80's, pool water 84*. Perfect.

I had arranged ahead of time to have the laminate floors installed while we were down, figuring I would be with my Mom during the day and my husband could be at the house with the installers. They completed it in one day. We had the hall, dining room, kitchen and living room done.

Since Mom was doing so well we had extra time we didn't plan on and we were able to get a lot done while there. My husband and Dad power washed the entire front porch and carport side of the house, we planted several other plants such as delphiniums, peruvian lillies, snapdragons, million bells, red sister dracaena and a bouganvillia. Replaced the shower rods and curtains, removed the shower doors in the master, hung all new vertical blinds throughout and a chandelier in the dining room and ordered some living room furniture, being delivered today, and got all the dishes and kitchenware washed and put away into cabinets along with the linens.

The living room furniture is all pulled out awaiting removal. next up will be a new dining room set. I am going shabby chic romantic, all neutrals as a decor. Isn't that a pretty sunset in the windows?

Hanging these crystals would have been good therapy for Mom had she been further along! the design of the new verticals is called "white vines"

It's hard to see here but it's the only shot I have of it, there is a white corner cabinet in the living room which had been a vintage built in that mom and dad found for us at an antique shop called Second Hand Rose. We wanted it for our dining room but it was a little too large for the corner we had in mind. Ray installed the new kitchen faucet along with a new one in the guest bath.

We still have a lot we want  to accomplish but we got a lot more done than we thought possible this trip.  We even got a trip to Webster in but i'll leave all that for another post.

Thanks for visiting!

A New Chapter

It's funny how a new chapter in your life dawns sometimes without any warning whatsoever.

The scene is new year's Eve, parents had just left 2 days prior from an extended visit for the holidays, Ray and I were planning on leaving Tuesday Jan 4th for a getaway visit to Florida before reopening the restaurant for the year.  We had even contemplated not going as it seemed we had so many other things to take care of.

The phone rings, it's our daughter. She asks " So, are you and Dad going to look for a house again while you're down there this year?" To which I reply, " No, I don't think so, not this year".  You see for a number of years now, ever since my parents retired to Florida, we secretly dreamt that one day we could get a house there too, where the kids and grandkids could visit and we could spend winters away from work and the cold and snow.  Several times we came really close only to have the houses sell the week before we arrived to see them. It just never seemed the right time. Last year we toured a number of houses but nothing clicked.

So after hanging up the phone I thought , well, I could go online and take a look and see if anything new is listed.......

The morning we left, Jan 4th, this was the sunrise as we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. You can see the Cape Henry Lighthouse in the first shot as it beamed into the morning sky. The air was very cold indeed as we stopped at the lookout to take a few shots, these are taken with the new nikon, my first pictures. We were an hour and a half into the 13 1/2 hour drive.

We arrived late tuesday evening, went to see the house weds. at 10:30 am, put in our offer which was accepted and papers were signed right after lunch. Are we there yet? Talk about a whirlwind! But when looking back over our lives, most big decisions seem to have happened that way. I guess when the time was right we knew it and just jumped.  The family of the owners arrived on Saturday to empty the rest of the personal contents and sign their part of the closing and we had our closing on tuesday 1-11-11.  The pictures of the inside of the house can be seen here. Those pictures were all taken right after we signed on the first weds so have the personal contents still there.  The house is a manufactured home, 1456 sq. ft with a 10 x 26 enclosed front porch, a 9x12 shed and a nice long driveway with carport. This pix shows the newly planted gardenia on the west side of the porch along with the lemon tree and palm tree already on site.

The community is a lakefront community on Lake Juliana in Auburndale, Florida.  We are located halfway between Orlando and Tampa.  20 minutes from Disney. We had long contemplated both coasts but decided on being here as it was centrally located. An easy ride to most attractions which is key with young grandchildren, yet close enough to the coasts to visit for fishing and beaches. 

There are 2 clubhouses, upper and lower , 2 heated pools, shuffleboard courts, a dock, and many activities.  We are in the upper section, known as phase 2, number 242, and we are next to a retention pond which my dad says hasn't had a drop of water in it since they have been there in 18 years. The front of the house faces south, the west side is the retention pond so we don't have neighbors there, and the house backs up to an orange grove, orange filled trees are right outside our bedroom windows. The entire community was once all orange grove clean down to the lake.

This board shows phase 1 with the main clubhouse, pool, shuffleboards and dock down by the lake.

We drank champagne with strawberries out of plastic cups and spent one night there before all the work began! In the week before we left, we had the entire house painted inside, ceilings and walls, Ray replaced all the ceiling light panels and fluorescent tubes, the kitchen faucet and guest bath faucet, we cleaned the baths and kitchen and washed curtains replaced irrigation sprinklers and weeded and planted a gardenia which was an offshoot from my Dad's beautiful bush. We had someone come and give us an estimate on wood flooring for the kitchen, dining, living and hall areas which will have to be done while we're away.  We couldn't have gotten it all done without the help of my parents, who patiently drove us everyday to Lowes and all the other stores for everything we needed. I hope they're getting some rest now that we're gone!

With the forecast of snow and ice possible with ridiculously cold temps coming our way, I wish we could have stayed just a little while longer! All in due time I suppose.

Greetings

I have a story to tell, but that will have to wait until another time right now.

We just arrived back home last night from a 2 week Florida visit and are in the middle of sorting mail, checking emails, unpacking, catching up with the kids and grandkids, restocking the fridge and all the things that happen when you arrive back home.  For now I will leave you with this-

I have been collecting interesting old postcards for years now from flea markets and antique shops. This was found at a local antique shop here on the shore. As you can see the postmark is 1938 ,way before our time. Our last name is Twiford, descended originally from 3 brothers who arrived from Twiford England. My husband's name is Ray and he has a younger brother Jack.  Here on the Eastern Shore is a family of Twyford's, obviously whose postcards these one time were. Onley is a town about 25 minutes from me. I couldn't believe the coincidences when I found this postcard and I especially love the printed description on the top back of the card-

Florida, land of sunshine, is the winter playground of the Nation. Every known form of outdoor pleasuring is pursued without the necessity of considering weather conditions -- for winter skies are always smiling and December breezes are as balmy as May.

Roadtrip

This is pretty much how my week has been, a blur. Somehow I don't think it will slow any between now and the New Year either!

 My parents have been staying with us and we have enjoyed visiting, cooking, eating and shopping.  We decided to take a roadtrip up to Pennsylvania Friday to do a little shopping.

Our first stop was the Green Dragon flea market in Ephrata. We love to go here and get Amish meats and cheeses, butter and double yolk eggs and of course those jumbo, hot off the press pretzels that are about a foot across and feel so good to cold fingers.

It was cold, around 39 most of the day but not as windy as we have seen it this time of year so that was nice. Everywhere you look up there is beautiful scenery. I would love to go back with my new camera ( more on that in the next post) when the weather warms a bit just to do a photo shoot. It was hard with me doing all the driving to get many opportunities to take photos.

It was washday as most of the farms we passed had incredibly high and long clotheslines filled with clean laundry.

After we left the green dragon we took the scenic route down to Intercourse to shop there. I would venture a guess that this is probably one of the most photographed signs in the country!

We parked right in the center of town and walked to the shops. Everything was decorated for the holidays.

The village pottery with attached bookstore is always a favorite stop with it's redware and stoneware.

Then the Old Country Store to select some fabrics for a quilt. They must have 1000's of bolts in there, there are 2 rooms of fabrics alone!

The store is very quaint with lots of homemade goodies at every turn. I picked up a few cookbooks and canning books and a jacob's ladder toy for the kids. 

The quilt room is much larger than what is shown here but i was only able to capture this much from the doorway.

This is the entryway to the fabric room. I was unable to get a clear shot of all the bolts, arranged like a massive rainbow because of all the displays but you get the idea.

After we left Intercourse, we headed back towards Ephrata to the Oregon Dairy for lunch and their delicious ice cream sundaes and a little shopping. Then we headed up to reading to do a little outlet shopping and after that we went even further north to the flagship Cabelas store as a reward for the guys. 

By the time we got home it was midnight and we had been on the road since 5 am. I learned i am not as young as I used to be as it took me all of yesterday to recuperate, we were exhausted. Next time I think we will plan to stay over and slow the pace a little!

What I Did Over my Thanksgiving Break

After feasting Thanksgiving Day, we got up at o dark thirty to brave the elements and people and do a little Black Friday shopping. Then on Saturday I had to go into work for a little while and then we decided to do this studio tour.  Getting a later start we decided to skip the furthermost studios ( which i had been to in previous years) and meet up with firends at the Holly Grove Vineyards.

Mom and I ready to do a little tasting!

Friends Carol and Steve who began the tour at the first stop in Cape Charles, met us there and we all had a great time. I have to say, I really enjoyed all of the wines we tasted and did a purchase order to begin to carry several of them in our restaurant.

Our next stop was Highpoint Glass Works where Ken Platt was doing a demo and serving hot spiced cider and cookies. Carol and I ordered handblown fruit fly catcher bottles. A very handy thing to have here on the shore come late August and September!

We then stopped by Copper Creations and watched Don Drew do his magic with copper. Carol and I were in awe of all his cool tools and antique rolling mills which he demo'd for us. We each purchased some of his yard pieces, I got a dragonfly, Carol got a crab sculpture, and some frogs. He then took us on a tour of his huge Koi pond and yard sculpures before sending us on our way with a box of scrap copper to use in our jewelry. He also invited us to come back and learn welding with him anytime. Sounds like a plan!

We went by the Onancock School which has been turned into studio spaces with other guild exhibitors before heading up to Bruce Hoover of As The Wood Turns. Dad and Steve especially enjoyed this stop as my Dad is a woodturner and Steve just purchased his first lathe to begin woodturning. After the tour ended we all headed back to our restaurant for an enjoyable dinner and a visit including having a cake to celebrate my parents' 52nd wedding anniversary before Carol and Steve headed back home to Maryland.

Happy 52nd Anniversay Mom and Dad and may you share many more!

Sunday my parents left my sister's house and came down to stay with us for the week before they get ready to go visit my brother in New Jersey. On Monday, we took a drive to the Blue Crow Antique Mall where I was renting a checkout counter display case for the past 2 years for my jewelry. I had made the decision to close it out and remove what I had left as it had become too difficult to maintain since it is about 45 minutes away from my home.

All in all it was a busy but very enjoyable long weekend!



Over The Moon

I am over the moon happy about a workshop that I had the privilege of taking yesterday with Barbara Lewis. 

The day started out early, I left about 6:45 to drive to Annapolis to the Maryland Hall  for the Creative Arts where the workshop was being held. The moon was still up for a good long while as I drove, this was shot from my car.

I met up with several good friends, Anne, Bette and Carol who were also taking the workshop and also got to meet Lori Anderson whose blog I have been following as of late.

The class had been sold out for awhile and with only 10 students it made for a very intimate learning experience. Everything was set up and ready for us when we arrived which was SSoooo nice.  Barbara, shared all her knowledge of torch fired beads and we all got to freely play and experiment with the colors of the enamel rainbow!  Beads, enamels, and any portion of the torch setups were available for purchase so most of us left with an arsenal ready to play once home in our own studios! It was a very relaxing atmosphere and a most enjoyable workshop. Thank You Barbara (and Jim!)

 

Just a Perfect Day

We can't remember when this tradition began, my husband seems to think it's been at least 10 years ago if not more that we started this.  On my birthday, I like to go pick out my pumpkins and mums and take in a few antique shops before celebrating with family.

It was a beautiful fall day yesterday, about 65*, partly sunny with heavy fall clouds dotting the sky.  We headed up this time to a farm stand I recently saw out on Rte 50 in Maryland and then stopped at a curious little antique mall near Cambridge.

On our way home, we ran into a stray shower and at one point I looked out my window and saw the most glorious double rainbow I have ever seen! I practically stopped the car in the middle of the road!  My husband urged me to find a safer spot to pull over as i was frantically trying to pull my camera out of the back seat.  I pulled into a side lane and jumped out of the car not quite putting into park yet, and you will see here why.  Have you ever seen where the rainbow ENDS? Well, we did, it came straight down to the ground in FRONT of the tree line!

I was so excited i could hardly breathe! I was so hoping it would show up in the photos- take a look-

These pictures are as shot from the camera, no photoshop, just cropped. Can you see the entire spectrum? Is that not perfect??? And truth be told, the pictures really don't do it justice.

Then as we started to drive away, the song "Forever Young" by Bob Dylan came on the radio and as i listened to the words I felt i had been given a divine gift.  I had goosebumps.

"Forever Young"

May God bless and keep you always

May your wishes all come true

May you always do for others

And let others do for you

May you build a ladder to the stars

And climb on every rung

May you stay forever young

Forever young, forever young

May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous

May you grow up to be true

May you always know the truth

And see the lights surrounding you

May you always be courageous

Stand upright and be strong

May you stay forever young

Forever young, forever young

May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy

May your feet always be swift

May you have a strong foundation

When the winds of changes shift

May your heart always be joyful

And may your song always be sung

May you stay forever young

Forever young, forever young

May you stay forever young.

Like I said, Just a perfect Day!

Peace