Paperwhites

 

I went looking around the house for containers

 to plant some more paperwhites.

These blue and green glass jars are pretty.

Then I spied this old wooden box in the corner of the basement.

I can't quite remember where it came from.

Maybe it was always here...after all...

...this home used to belong to Mr. Flea's grandmother. 

In any case, it will be perfect as a container

 for a mass of pretty paperwhites.

Taking it a bit easy today...

...recovering from too much delicious Thanksgiving Day food!

Once again, we spent the afternoon and evening

 with my sister MaryBeth and family...

She outdid herself...and we stuffed ourselves with all sorts of Thanksgiving goodies.

She even baked me a special chocolate cake!

After dinner...we curled up all comfy to watch

 Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation.

We laughed as if we were seeing it for the first time!

I did get up early this morning

 to go to one...

...and only one...

Black Friday Sale.

Can you guess which store I scored at this morning?

hint: it's my favorite store!

:)

Pink Hollyhocks and Other Old Fashioned Things

While I'm here at my parents home packing up some of my mothers things to drive north...I have been poking around and thought I would share a few pretty and well loved family antiques...

I have always loved this pretty hand painted sugar bowl that I first remember seeing in my Grandmother's china cupboard...She acquired it from her sisters in law...my three great aunts...Nani, Fifi and Mimi. They volunteered at a thrift store in White Plains, outside of New York City back in the 1940's and 50's and brought home many treasures back then that eventually became some of my grandmother's most prized possessions.



This mother of pearl and tortoise calling card case belonged to my great grandfather...
William B. Huff ...



The calligraphy was his own...



The base of this old kerosene lamp was in the farmhouse when my grandparents moved in as a young couple in 1924. The brass was refinished in the 60's and the globe was replaced.



And isn't this the sweetest little mustard pot with blue forget me nots?
Oh, how I remember loving to use this tiny porcelain pot as my Nana always set a pretty table.



This old wooden box was handmade by my Grandfather in 1910 when he was in high school in Brooklyn, NY. He hand carved the decoration on top and today, one hundred years later, it sits proudly on my Dad's dresser.
I just love that!



This metal pin was in my Mom's jewelry box...tiny pearls are wired on it.
I don't know where it came from and don't think it is particularly precious but...
... I like it.



And here are the pretty pink Hollyhocks as promised.
They were on the side of an old barn in the Adirondacks last week and I stopped to snap a picture or two.



My grandmothers both grew hollyhocks in their gardens...



So pretty! So old fashioned!

Still traveling ...
I have scheduled to link up to Pink Saturday this week...
To see more pink pretties visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound!

Have a wonderful weekend!
:)

Weekend Tales

On Saturday, Kate and a college friend reunited and planned to go to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.......Rob offered to drive them in and I seized the opportunity to ask if he and I could check out the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market on West 39th Street..........so off we went.....the 45 minute drive produced beautiful views and we even got to see the parade of the Tall Ships which were on their way up the Hudson River to Croton-on-Hudson to the Clearwater's 2009 Great Hudson River Revival.

We dropped the girls off near Central Park West where they met another friend and then Rob and I headed to our own adventure.......

The flea market was fun and interesting....Rob bought me this little book from the Netherlands with wonderful illustrations......





and we found this French enamel clock face.....

Within sight of the market and upon the recommendation of one of the dealers....we stopped for what turned into a delightfully long lunch at the most wonderful little Trattoria.....
The restaurateur was outside tending his grapevines that were strung up and over the sidewalk.....he had window boxes of parsley....tubs of basil and tomatoes growing on his little piece of real estate there in the middle of NYC......
The only customers when we arrived were three police officers seated at a back table......One of them jumped up and showed us to a table .... he produced menus and alerted the owner to our presence......We were served an exquisite meal....complete with homemade Pinot Grigio. Issac also makes homemade Sangria and Grappa with flavors of fig, prune, rose, pineapple and apricot........Issac was charming, hospitable and gracious. He told us all about his history....his cooking and his singing career......He is very proud of his establishment and claims to make the best Paella in New York....I do not doubt him!
We really had a great afternoon.....and are making plans to come back with family soon.....

Sunday morning.....we inexplicably became involved with cleaning out the garage which was filled to the rafters and housed everything except cars........the effort ended up taking the entire day....



This old garage with its dirt floor is home to all sorts of critters and three generations of stuff...... it was a dirty and exhausting job......



But it yielded treasure.....

I discovered things that I hadn't seen in twenty years!

We managed to clean out a lot of junk.......and consequently made room for more!