Midway

When 'Queen Anne's Lace' is blooming, it is a sign that August is almost upon us.

I saw these at the park yesterday with Sophie.

Did you know, that legend has it, that the reddish black spot in the centre

 is a drop of Queen Anne's blood?

Well, as she was stitching away (I guess Queens in the day actually did this)

she pricked her finger with the needle and a drop fell on her lace-work.

What can I say?!

Other than I LOVE this flower and all its intricacies.

Queen Anne's Lace blossom and company, an ant. I had to hold the blossom because of the wind.

We Can Do It

Determination is a good thing.......if we try.

Let's Go Shopping

Here are my 'digs' every Monday till the end of October.

My little room is about 12' by 8'.

And believe you me, I have almost reached full capacity!!

As you will see....

Most of the framed photos are by a famed Nova Scotia photographer, W.R. Macaskill.

I have collected quite a few over the years.

Most of these are from the late 30's and 40's and are 'hand-tinted'.

Part of the jadeite collection I stored away for a 'rainy day'.

A few Nova Scotia hooked rugs, and shelves of Fire King/Pyrex/Banded Ring/Glassware.

'Paint-By-Numbers' were the rage back in the late 50's and early 60's.

They are becoming 'collector items' now.

I remember doing a few back in the day.

Jade (plant) with Jadeite ware.

Looking down the hall in this very old large house called MacDonald House.

It was privately owned for decades by the MacDonald family

who also had a hotel across the road and there was even a church on the property.

Most of the buildings burned down in the 50's except for this house.

The government of Nova Scotia owns it and it is on Provincial Park Lands now.

Another wall filled with more paintings/prints Fire King Sapphire ware and planters.

From the hall looking in....I have mixed a lot of white milkglass, white pyrex bowls,

 a couple of Rosenthal vases and Spode ware and Milkglass Hobnail with Amy's (the owner of the

women's vintage clothing shoppe next door and from whom I am leasing

my room).

Amy, I feel, has a very good eye for colour and she changes things around

all the time when she gets the inspiration, which is often!

She wanted a splash of WHITE for these shelves...so I went 'digging'!

There are two of the 'paint-by-number' paintings that I did in 1962.

They have resided at my parent's house up till a few years ago.

I am really enjoying this little venture I have taken on.

My main goal is to empty out our basement

and hopefully not have to bring anything back home.

I enjoy meeting all the people that come through this wonderful

old house. Most are tourists and are getting a meal at the Tea Room Cafe downstairs.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of a little room stocked full of mid-century items.

Contemplative Monday

I habitually 'suffer' from seeking resolution to something I feel needs it.

This is a good lesson for me.

The following quote is from 'Heart Advice, Weekly Quotes from Pema Chodron'.

WE DON'T DESERVE RESOLUTION

"As human beings, not only do we seek resolution, but we also feel that we deserve resolution.

However, not only do we not deserve resolution, we suffer from resolution.

We don't deserve resolution; we deserve something better than that.

We deserve our birthright, which is the middle way, 

an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity.

To the degree that we've been avoiding uncertainty, 

we're naturally going to have withdrawal symptoms----

withdrawal from always thinking that there's a problem

and that someone, somewhere, needs to fix it."

Company's Coming

There will be no 'Saturday Morning Post' today because I ran out of time!!

Getting ready to meet a 'blogger' friend and old school-mate of Ron's today.

Some of you may know her.....Louise from 'Standing Into Danger' (click).

Louise is from Colorado but she has very strong family connections

to Nova Scotia and the Maritimes in general.

Louise's sister, Barb, from Calgary, is also coming as well.

We will spend the day showing them the local sights

and eating!! I have made a seafood chowder

and a 'bumbleberry crisp'..........

and that is just for lunch!!

So needless to say Ron and I have been busy getting ready.

We are very excited about meeting both of these women.

Looking forward to a great day.

Hope yours is equally full with things you enjoy doing.

Summertime.....

..........ah-h-h-h-h.

Diners Burgers and Cars

Tuesday evening we went for a drive to our favourite diner, The Chickenburger, in Bedford

which is west of us.....about 40 kms.

They also make great hamburgers too, which we got.

To our surprise the entire parking lot and more was filled with antique cars and their owners!

That would make me antique I guess, as I was alive when some of these were on the road!!

After we ate we roamed in and around the cars with camera in hand.

I am partial to the Chevy. When I was between 10 and 13 or so, my Dad sold these.

He always had a brand new one to take home and use until it was sold.

I got to know the year and the model of all the cars he had.

Of all of them at this 'show', I liked this 55 Chevy (below) the best.

All-time favourite is the 57 Chevy!

Here is what I 'focused' on as I wandered around the cars the other evening.

Time For A Trim

When we moved here 23 years ago there was a flat lawn in the front yard

 and a flat lawn in the back yard. That was what my parents wanted.

They lived here for 8 years before we bought it from them.

My father had enough of 'country life', thank you very much!

So we started to plant....everything we could get our hands on.

Within a couple of years we had turned over all the grass/lawn and made 'beds' everywhere.

We learned as we went along.....buying gardening books to help us out of jams we got into.

We had an idea what we wanted, in our heads, 

and worked from one end of each yard to the other end.

We planted tons of perennials and had beautiful blossoms for at least a decade.

Then we noticed that all the trees and shrubs were growing as well.

Trees and shrubs, we learned, tend to block out the sun which most perennials need to thrive.

We even grew vegetables for a while there....until they too were shaded out.

Our garden was aging and maturing as we were.

We decided we liked how it was growing and changing almost yearly.

So today we are in the 'maintenance' mode mostly.

Ron is so good at pruning and trimming.

Trying to keep up with the pruning of all the trees and shrubs.

Who would have thought that all those trees and shrubs would grow?!

Unexpected Company

It was very slow at the 'shoppes' yesterday. I was happy this fella stopped by to keep me company.

He arrived around 11 AM and was still there when I left at 5 PM.

His antennae were twice the length of his body.

His six feet were interesting enough....they each had a number of spikey 'toes'

which helped it to cling to the screen.

What it is, is another matter. 

I know that one of you out there in the blogisphere will know this insect.

One customer thought it was a Cicada. 

I learned later that Cicadas are more 'fly-like' and don't venture this far north.

Whatever it was, it was perfectly content to stay on the window screen for hours.

Contemplative Monday

The following quote is from 'Heart Advice, Weekly Quotes from Pema Chodron'.

RITUALS CONNECT US TO RICHNESS

"Ritual is about joining vision with practicality, heaven and earth, samsara and nirvana.

When things are properly understood, one's whole life is like a ritual or a ceremony.

That is what's behind ritual, these formalized things that get carried down 

in the religions of different cultures.

Ritual, when it's heartfelt, is like a time capsule.

It's as if thousands of years ago somebody had a clear, unobstructed view of magic,

power, and sacredness, and realized as if he went out each morning

and greeted the sun in a stylized way,

perhaps by doing a special chant and making offerings and perhaps by bowing, 

that it connected him to that richness.

Therefore he taught his children to do that, and the children taught their children, and so on.

So thousands of years later, people are still doing it and connecting with exactly the same feeling.

All the rituals that get handed down are like that.

Someone can have an insight, 

and rather than its being lost, it can stay alive through ritual."

A 'wall bell' we have at home.