found in a field

I drive past this area every day. It's the unused strip of land between the outer edge of the mall and the fenced properties beyond. Every now and then it gets mowed, and they till it up a couple times a year. Various things sprout there, depending on what the wind blew in. A few weeks ago, I spotted these gorgeous sunflowers and stopped to snap a few shots. Once I got out into the field, I saw the small brilliantly white ones and the dried weeds. My mom loved dried weeds and had them stuck here and there all over her house. I've inherited the same fondness for them, I guess.

These things were sooo blindingly white. I played with this in Photoshop for a while, trying to get more detail in the flower itself but this is the best my mad PS skilz could do.

I love this shot. The industrial power lines and tower in back with the wild and crazy flowers growing like they were in the best garden in the world. A good reminder to grow where you're planted...

I enhanced this quite a bit in PS and love how they look sort of menacing with all their spikes and pointy parts.

around town

Just some misc shots from around my little town. Sometimes I forget how pretty parts of it are.

The hand painted sign on the original newspaper building. I remember years ago when my mom moved to a very small town in Ohio, I thought it was hysterical that the paper only came out once a week. Well, our poor little paper is down to once a week now too. Damn economy.

This is a big fancy house on the outskirts of town. It's lavishly landscaped and I bet it was impressive when it was new. The large grounds are all fenced in like a Mafia compound and it's just going to wrack and ruin. Damn economy. Sorry, did I say that already?

 

There's a little winery tasting room on the south side of town, on one of the roads that goes off into the boonies. We were coming back from breakfast and I spotted the light coming thru the vines and made a quick U-ie so I could snap a couple pics. I love the way grapevines look and intend to put some of them in the backyard as soon as I figure out when they should be planted and where I want them.

The same vines shot in portrait. I may need to put that one on the wall. Love it.

A shabby little house north of town. It's a wreck but look at all those windows and that wonderfully aged fence. I want it in my backyard, next to the grapevines, with sweet peas climbing all over it. I always fantasize about these places, about what the floor plan must be like and how I'd fix it up, what its history might be. Sometimes I create whole stories for them.

scones

For some unknown reason, I got a serious hankering for a scone at 7:30 this evening.

Scones are an iffy thing for me - sometimes light and yummy, other times flat and dense, a better door stop than anything else. But this recipe has been the most consistently successful for me, so I went to work and by 8:15, I had this:

O-mazing, right? And they tasted every bit as good as they look. I held myself to only one (the biggest one
on the cookie sheet) with a glass of cold milk. Mm-mmm-mm.

I like my scones sweet, so I add at least an additional T of sugar to the dough, plus I brush them with milk and sprinkle more sugar on top before baking. I also give me craisins a rough chop so that they're more spread thru out the scone. Sometimes I add chopped dark chocolate, but I was lazy tonite and didn't bother.

If you love scones, give the recipe a try. I find I do best when I don't over-think it. Just throw every thing together, don't stir too much, and you might end up with an equally gorgeous bunch of scones.

free images - vintage friendship album

Here are the cover, the title page, and a few autographed pages from the lovely friendship album I bought recently at a local antique mall. Some of you may cringe, but I've begun to take it apart and will scan and share the pages along the way. I'd love to see how you use these.

 

 

serious retail therapy

A couple days ago my husband left on fishing trip. A week long fishing trip. On a large boat. Those aren't especially cheap. Now I'm not one of those women who feels that just because their husband spent $79.95 on a brand new whiz-bang whatever, that they get to run out and spend an equivalent $79.95 just to keep things 'even.' No.

But I DO feel that when said husband is off enjoying himself immensely while I'm home taking care of the animals, the business, the everything, that I should get to go have at least a little fun.

So I went shopping! First stop was the thrift store where I scored a black skirt as part of my Goth Halloween costume for $1.99. Also bought a funky little vase cause I'm determined to keep more flowers around the house and all I had was a couple great big ones.

Then off to the little antique mall in the next town over. It isn't huge, as those things go, about 50 vendors, but I never fail to find good stuff. This time I hit the jackpot.

(since I can never get @&#% Blogger to put my text where I want it in relation to the photos, I'm going to use the caption feature)    All these images are at my camera setting of 180 dpi, so you might want to wait until I get them scanned at 300 dpi before saving them to use, altho if 180 works for you, go for it.

An old ledger from a gas station that also sold a few groceries, kinda the forerunner of 7-11s,
I guess. It has months and days but no year...

Every single thing they sold each and every day was written into this ledger in pencil.
If you double click on the pic, you can see that some of the gas sales were noted
as 'ethel,' the good stuff.

'Pop' and candy were each a nickel. Gas was 16 cents a gallon. Can you imagine? 

I picked out a bunch of cabinet cards and old pictures from an unmarked basket and when she started
adding them up at 3 for $5, I tried to stop her cause I said I couldn't afford them all. She just wrote
down $15 and went onto the next item. So I got 19 of them for $15. Score!!!  I'll be giving away that
duplicate of the lady with the white bow, so stay tuned and let your friends know.

Isn't she lovely? Look how smooth her skin is.
She oughta look ridiculous with that tulle pom-pom on top of her head,
but instead she looks almost regal, like an early Russian princess.

And this one... no jewelry, no hat, no frilly collar. Just that lovely up swept hair and
those haunting eyes. I would love to know her story.

The gents and couples, including the sisters grim in the back.

I love this guy. I'd've gone after him in a New York minute if he'd been around when I was single.

This friendship album was in a locked case so I figured it cost a bundle. I asked her to get it out anyway
so I could look at it. Imagine my surprise when I found I could afford it.
It was marked $15 and she was having a 30% off sale. I couldn't believe my luck.

This is the oldest inscription in the album. 1883. Almost 130 years old and it's still in very good shape.
I'll share all the pages as I get them scanned. I may even give one away.

Last but not least, three old doilies and a crocheted pillowcase edging. All four for $5.
I had a really good day...

free images - vintage Halloween postcards

These were sent to my maternal grandmother from 1908-1910, back when it cost a penny to mail a postcard. Love how it was spelled Hallowe'en.   Please let me know if you make anything cool with them.

freebie images - 2 cute little girls

 Here are 2 free images for your personal use.

These are from my collection of cabinet cards and old photos. I'll have more to share as I get them scanned.

 Scanned at 300 dpi and tinkered with a bit in Photoshop for better contrast.