give me lace

Been a bit under the weather since Sunday...

finally awoke in the wee hours with a clear head, head ache gone.

Decided to just be in the moment, kittens at my feet,

fan slowly "purring" overhead, quiet quiet quiet outside.

Everything looks better when you feel better...I have found this truth time & again.

And as I thought about that, I turned to my right, to my sweet bedside lamp.

I had covered a plain white shade with layers of vintage lace...

topped with two necklaces I purchased last fall from a vendor on Etsy.

One says "sacred", one says "whole".  Two words I ponder.

In the darkness, this sweet light provides me with inspiration.  

happy day

Happy Mother's Day weekend!

so lucky

Today I had off, having hit a 40 hour+ work week last evening.

I had the day ahead of me with a citywide sale in nearby Strum.

Coffee in hand, cash in my pocket and raincoat on, I was out the door just before 8.

My pulse quickened as I neared my turn and saw the first thrift sale sign...

a familiar garage that is always my first stop.  Filled with tables of vintage goodness,

I walked the space several times, sharing stories with the home owner as if we had not weathered a whole year~~but had just seen each other the day before.  My favorite find, a vintage child's bluebird dish for a quarter!  I collect these dishes, one by one, wherever they find  me!   I felt lucky!

My next stop was another familiar garage, folks that have supported me and my Barn Sale over the years.  They welcomed me with sweet hugs, and asked after my health.  Such dear dear people.  I felt lucky!

Several stops later, my blue Ford Focus was filled to the brim: vintage feedsack fabric, a sun dial, sweet china~including Lemoges from France, worn garden tools, an early child's whicker rocker....

My first citywide was less than ten stops, but was successful.  Indeed I was lucky!

Home to see Dave off for opening day of fishing, an hour of picking up sticks in the yard with the help of three kittens, a bit of time in the hayloft and then a rainy afternoon with popcorn and a movie. 
Lucky!

And if things could not get any better, a letter arrives from Nan, who has blessed me with a thoughtful handmade card EVERY week since the year began.  In the letter was a story from Michael Perry's newest book of essays, From The Top.  My eyes got "all shiny" as I read it.  I am lucky!

On this rainy, dreary day, with hair humidified, I awoke with a choice.  Today I choose to count my blessings and remind myself how fortunate I am.  Lucky indeed!

May Day

Each year I think this will be the year!

I will make sweet paper cones full of flowers, hung on the back of chairs at work.

I will plant teacups with sweet pansies and surprise neighbors at their door.

Then May 1 arrives and ends.....and I make an oath that next year will be the year.

I still adore this first day of May. 

I adore the idea of May poles and May baskets!

So do picture this sweet little pitcher filled with daisies...

and take this wish for the happiest of May Days.

let's just call it what it is...

"Obsession!"

I adore Steiff ~ mohair fur & feather critters from Germany.

Now in their 70s, these adorables live in my upstair's craft room.

**do notice the fab wallpaper! love love love that too!  Was here 

when we found the farm!**

I love everything about these sweeties!  

I took a 360 degree tour of my craft space....check out my menagerie!

Will let the pictures speak for themselves ~~ obsession indeed!

in the hayloft

I am drawn to our barn.

A place of solace and quiet.

Over the weekend Dave helped me set up a workshop at the back of the hayloft...a place to work on vintage finds.  A place to sand, poly, pound, fix, repurpose.

With my radio on and kittens nearby, I work.

I am lost in time, most content.

As you know, there will not be a Barn Sale in 2014, my health helped me to reevaluate this year........but, I am still ticking, still gathering, still adoring time in the barn.

Over the weekend I did set up furniture in case I decide to offer a "pop up sale"  ~ a day I decide to just throw open the blue door at the top of the stairs and invite folks in.

Not sure if I will or not, but I set the stage, just in case the mood strikes.

For details on that blue door opening, 

be sure to "Like" the Meadowview Farm Facebook page to the right.  

Today I will be happy!

And I will....with a kitty sleeping at my feet,

another tucked under the blanket purring,

the sun shining outside, and a full day ahead~~

with no plans.

Today I will be happy!

Soon I will get up, oatmeal with pecans & raisins...

out to the hayloft with hopes to set up my own little

workshop ~~ a place to clean up vintage finds.

Today I will be happy!

Friday was a day off, Dave & I left early...our first

flea market of the new year in Minnesota.  Home 

with a full car, some to sell, some to keep.

Today I will be happy!

bunnies

I like to think of the artisans that created these

sweet bunnies in Germany, they knew "charm"!

Intended to hold candy, they are hollow, with little

bunny head "caps".  

They all are nearing 100 years of age...

The largest I found in a waste basket within the past few years.

A family closing out an estate, assuming value was only 

sentimental for this rabbit.  I asked if I could take her home.

The smallest I bought at auction for a very reasonable bid of $65!

Bunnies mean spring to me.

a wish

I have this thing for vintage waxed Easter grass...

yes, a tad of an obsession.  I love to tuck it here & there for Easter.

I have been known to climb into dumpsters at auctions for this fab green stuff,

purchase it whenever I find it...

And once even made the following wish as I climbed the stairs of an antique mall,

"If I could find a bag of old Easter grass it would just make my day".

No lie, two booths after saying this wish aloud, what do I find on a shelf...

a bag labeled "bag of old Easter grass"! I am not kidding.

I have quite a list of things I adore,  and this is one of them.

Tucked into an ironstone bowl with eggs.....vintage Easter grass.

How about you, wacky obsession?  Come on, confess!

losing my patience

I have tucked little nods to spring

here & there....through my home.

But just when it feels like it is here,

Mother Nature changes her mind.

So I pass Tundra Swans, stopping on their 

migration north to rest in a field...and robins

back & weary from flight.  And I want to 

say to them, "be patient", but I can't.

This never ending winter is just getting old.

Tonight we get snow, again.  Not as much as

our neighbors to the north & west, but enough

to make driving a head ache and make me want 

to just throw my hands in the air.

My spirit feels tired, my patience is worn thin.

on a kitchen shelf in March

Spring has arrived at our farm!

Tiny Steiff chick & vintage seed pack.

         Ironstone & chicken carts.

German eggs & sweet floral tea cups.

Sweet spring, arrived ~ even before April!

What says "spring" at your home?

busy girl

she runs, she plays....sparkly toys are best

Rosie is a busy girl!

How a little kitten can have such energy!

Not to mention how I was able to capture it....did not intend to create a "gif"~~

Just kind of happened, just kind of amused me that I unintentionally did this!

(Took a string of pictures, and the computer did this on her own.)

So, please enjoy my busy girl playing in the kitchen!

(Pardon if it makes you a tad sea sick...smile.)

P.S. Just a little note, sometimes I open up a post for comments....sometimes I don't.  

I know how busy folks are ~ I always feel a tad guilty myself when I visit a blog and don't have time to leave a comment....so when there is no "Comment Section" open on one of my posts, it's indeed intentional.  I just so appreciate that you popped by for a visit!

down the road

Villages have lanes, cities have streets,

in the country, we have roads....

rural roads, county roads, country roads.

This is the road I travel to my office on.

County Road R to Barka Road to County Road HH,

eventually to Wisconsin Street in Eau Claire.

Along this road are stories:

  The 6 deer that stop their feeding to gaze at me.

  The horse that lives in the front yard of a house....right there next to the deck.

  The elderly woman, still mowing her acre of yard, tending a farm now on her own.

  The dead cow laying near the barn waiting to be hauled away.

  The woman running with her two dogs, waving as I pass.

  "Circle Dog" that comes out to chase my car, spinning in circles...thus the name.

  The cows waiting in line to come in from their fields, some kind of order.

  The roll of twine, still sitting on the round bale of hay.

These roads call to me.  Over & over they beckon.  

Each mile brings hundreds of stories and lost poems along the way.

  

     

such kindness

I came home a tad early from work today...

to find this waiting beneath my roadside mailbox.

Yellow tulips in a vintage tin with a sweet rusty heart adornment.

No note or name or card.  Just a sweet gift.

This is kindness, packaged in care.

To whomever left this sweet sweet gift, 

you have touched my heart.

Kindness matters.

Welcome home Spring!

How we have missed you!

Now shoosh with you snow & winter!

We are all just a tad ready for warm days & sun!