Middle aged musings from farm & hearth
One of the features today on Kim’s blog (Savvy Southern Style) is a Chick Chair I adore!…and the discovery of yet another talented and courageous lady, Daena, and her awesome blog – Bad Rabbit Vintage.
Here’s the link to her post about this chair…
http://badrabbitvintage.blogspot.com/2011/11/illustrating-with-chalk-paint.html
I may have posted about this guy last year, but I’m too lazy this morning to look through the archives. Have you ever heard of Andy Goldsworthy? ” (born 26 July 1956) – a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist producing site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings. He lives and works in Scotland.”
Thanks to your generous donations, Chip went back to the vet for much needed Xrays of chest and Hip. Turns out the hip looks fine and is just sore from being in a small metal crate while he was in Florida Kill Shelter and then vet down south. *sigh?!*…. His lungs do not show signs of pneumonia… perhaps asthma from poor living conditions. The meds that have to be applied to his skin appear to sting him when applied.. but they are necessary. He’s already been in Lorin’s whirlpool for Epsom salt and oil bath. Here he is this morning, chewing on a donated nylabone. She has beds in each room because he is still so emaciated he cannot comfortably lie on a hard floor.
So… How to get your dog to stop pulling when you go for a walk? As you all know, Ben is a dane, which translates to BIG FREIGHT TRAIN pulling on little old me when we go for walks. I hate choke collars, especially on a dane with very little coat hair. Traditional harnesses tend to make them pull against it, hence more strain on the walker. But THIS harness.. the Easy Walker… works like a charm. I mean, there is NO pulling. None. And.. it’s extremely humane. Nothing tugs at or pulls on the dog. Something about the way it’s designed (actually clipped to the leash on the front chest portion of the rig) gives the dog the feeling that he CAN’T pull, so he doesn’t. Or something like that. Ben has not pulled on me once since I started using this harness and it doesn’t seem to phase him at all to have it on. It’s not tight, fully adjustable, and comes in different sizes. I got it at a feed & grain store. ( I am not being paid to advertise this… it’s just a really good product so I don’t mind spreading the word. )
I did some more junk hunting yesterday – Ever since we started restoring the old mantles in This Old House, we’ve talked about that antique clock we’re gonna have there some day. Mike even went so far as to have a plug installed at the top center of the mantle so we could plug something in if we needed to. I found a glorious thing when having my watch repaired… a 1930 Sessions mantle clock that has been fitted with a quartz setting, so.. no winding every seven days. Everything on the outside of the clock is original.. face, hands, beautiful woodwork. Just the guts have been updated.
One of the biggest sellers in our artisan gallery over the past two years were Vivika DeNegre’s Art Quilts. They are beyond beautiful and I am lucky to have two of them in my home – She uses many different color threads, a wide array of fabrics, and her subjects vary from shorebirds to pet portraits to modern designs. Often in the store, people would say “What a beautiful painting!” and I ‘d say “That’s actually a framed quilt!” … Upon closer inspection they’d see it – the quilt details are that refined. My favorites are the nests and pet portraits, which she does on commission – GREAT present for someone with a beloved pet. I have a quilt portrait of Bailey and Rudy in my office, see bottom photo.
Mike and I come from Italian stock (I’m a half-breed to be honest) , and as is typical of our history, our grandparents were avid gardeners. It was a means to feed their family, not just the hobby we nurture today. Mikes grandfather had a fruit and vegetable stand in West Haven. He remembers rows and rows of plants in the garage and out in the yard behind the store, and the scolding he’d get if he put too many potatoes in what was supposed to be a 5 lb. bag to be sold in the store.
My grandfather grew roses and tomatoes and peppers and there were fig, cherry and loganberry trees in his back yard on Staten Island. I remember harvest days when we would climb ladders and drop fruits onto tarps from the trees. I also remember being scared beyond silly in my grandparents presence. They were a stern lot, speaking broken English and always, in my eight year old point of view, so serious. Occasionally they’d take a giant Hershey Bar out of a drawer in the kitchen and give each of us a big chunk of chocolate.
Mike decided about five years ago he wanted to learn the art of gardening with the traditions and methods our ancestors used. Our grandparents are long since gone… however LOUIE… Louie Louie.. is still alive and kicking it up in his magnificent garden in Middleltown. Louie was a sheetrocker in the building business for many years. This is how Mike came to know him. He is also an italian immigrant and fantastical gardener. That man works wonders in the soil of the small plot of land next to his house. He also raises and kills rabbits for food, the reason I sometimes despise him… but in fairness he has let me buy two in recent years so that I could save them from his dinner table. One of those rescue rabbits died at the paws of my barn cat… ask me how awful I felt that day. No don’t. It’s still awful. (I’m sorry, Sonny.. I failed you.)
ANYWAY… Louie is tight-lipped with his gardening secrets. You cannot ask him direct questions, he will not give a direct answer. In a heavy italian accent you can imagine this line …” Oooooh, you wanna know, huh?…..eeee hee heee…. well, I notta gonna tell ya”. Mike has learned that he needs to just walk with him in the garden as he does his thing, and it is there that Louie starts to talk. In the talking, he gives away little bits of information, especially when he scolds. (What is it with the scolding?). “You putta da seeds in That size seed cup? Oooh, too big, too big. You gotta starta small, so the plant gets a little root bound. Then a they grow strong, you see? Then a you move them to the bigger seed cup. You young a people want things too quick, that’s a you problem.”
This weekend while Mike paid a visit and gathered some tips, Louie gave him a big bunch of dried oregano from last years crop. This Old House smells delicous with the scent of rich oregano.
I read something out there in blogland today, and please forgive me, for I have forgotten where I read it….that it takes but one kind word to warm an entire January.
I took my Bailey dog to the vet today for a check up – her tumor still exists but it has been held at bay with meds. No new growth, and I allow myself to feel a little relief.
I’ve also developed a wicked allergy this year – my eyes look like I went a round or two with Evander Holyfield. And Lord help me, I think it may be the dogs. It’s either that or dust. Both are part of my world for eternity… so… Right now I’m giving Claritin a go because Benadryl just makes me look like a drugged out zombie if there is such a thing. Well yes there is, cause that’s what I am when I’m on it.
When I pulled in the driveway after the vet appointment and a Walgreens stop for drugs, there was a package hanging out of the mailbox. It contained these wonderful treasures from a truly gifted Folk artist in Nova Scotia…. Shelagh of Alice in Paris loves Art and Tea. It was the most wonderful of surprises… a gift for simply wishing her a happy birthday –
Shelagh – you’ve warmed my January, February and lets sail into March.
Now here’s the really incredible thing…. I have been following Shelagh’s blog since before I had one of my own. Every now and then I’ve commented on a painting or photograph I particularly like – her colors and subjects are always vivid and fun. Within this collection of postcards and notecards, a print and a board-mounted photo, they are all included! Each one I commented on!… Shelagh, how could you have possibly remembered? And if you were just winging it, well that’s cosmic.
Shelagh also shares some fabulous recipes on her blog… I’ve made quite a few, and I’ve got a copy of her cookbook too… wonderful Novia Scotia recipes in her own whimsical style.
http://www.amazon.com/Nova-Scotia-Potluck-Friends-Family/dp/1412028027/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296514649&sr=1-1
The guys over at Roba Dolce headquarters are getting a kick out of your flavor ideas. They also said “WOW, blogs are pretty cool!” And then they asked me to throw this out to you too – Not only are they going to pick a winning flavor and ship one of you a case of their sorbetto and gelato – Whoever posts the Roba Dolce button I have over there on the right (you can grab the code below it) on their blog sidebar for a period of a month (or more! Hey it’s Ok with us!) will ALSO get a gelato and sorbetto delivery. After you’ve received the product and sampled it – if you enjoyed it – a brief post on how much you liked it would be appreciated. If you want to participate in helping us get the word out, simply e-mail me with your blog address and delivery address at karenthisoldhouse@hotmail.com.
We’re still looking for flavor ideas too, so don’t be bashful. Let us know what your favorite flavors are and what combos you might like to see. Be creative! Personally I’de love to see a rootbeer float gelato!…
I love things made of glass, always have. When I was very young, my grandmothers house was a refuge – she had a lovely little house full of domestic and exotic treasures. One piece that I particularly adored, caressed and held in my hands just to feel the smooth surface and heavy weight of it… was this…
Some History on paperweights –
Nineteenth century revival of the glass industry -In early nineteenth-century Europe, a new creative potential developed in the decorative arts. An increasingly urban population and an expanding market of goods created by the Industrial Revolution stimulated the manufacture of many new decorative novelties. In the mid-1840s, glass paperweights appeared. They were a wholly modern, functional glass form that drew upon the ancient glassmaking techniques of millefiori and lampwork and the late-eighteenth century technique of cameo incrustation.
The sudden emergence and popularity of paperweights can be attributed not only to their decorative appeal but also to a growing Victorian leisure-time interest in letter writing. This fashionable upper and middle class pastime assured their profitable manufacture along with many other glass accessories related to letter writing, all of which were purchased inexpensively at stationery and novelty shops.
My collection over the years has grown, most pieces kept in a small curio cabinet in the keeping room. This is a jellyfish by Richard Satava – the photo doesn’t do it justice – very luminescent in the right lighting, as are jellyfish in nature.
