“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It Goes On.”
Robert Frost

Monday, February 27, 2012

Look Who I Ran Into On Vacation...

Hello friends! I am back from a wonderful break. My husband and I took a nice trip down to Sanibel Island Florida. We had a great time going to the beach, eating fresh seafood and taking in the sights. Boy were we surprised to meet up with a couple of old friends. Many of you may already know that I live in Minnesota, but I am not sure if you know that we are also lucky enough to be the home state of these two characters.




Yes that is right the Jolly Green Giant and the Pillsbury Dough Boy are official residents of Minnesota. We found them hanging out and greeting visitors at the Islander Trading Post on Sanibel Island. I guess, just like us, they needed a little get away from the cold temperatures of Minnesota. If you were dressed like that, would you really want to stick around all winter? Besides visiting with old friends, we also checked out the beach and some great seafood restaurants.





The beaches are as beautiful as ever and the shelling was great. We found several wonderful fresh seafood eateries but Doc Ford's was one of our favorites. The food and drinks were incredible! The Crab Cakes were delicious with a delightful Jicama coleslaw on the side. I ordered the Shrimp and Grits that were the best I have ever had. Even my husband, who is not a grits fan, thought they were delicious. We shared a small sample from the Rum bar and I enjoyed a Mojito.

Captiva Crab Cakes appetizer  -  with Jicama coleslaw




The Island Mojito

 

Shrimp and Grits





On one of the days on Sanibel, we took a tour of the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge and saw some amazing birds, such as the Spoonbill and this pretty little heron, which I can't remember the name of. We learned the importance of mangroves in holding the islands together 
in the event of hurricanes.




Spoonbill and seagull



Red Mangrove






Found in front of the Island Cow



The sun sets over Salty Sam's Marina.


Our week in paradise is over now, back to the real world. It was nice while is lasted!




Monday, February 20, 2012

A Little Rest and Relaxation...

I am taking a break for a week or so to catch up on things around my house and shop. I hope to also enjoy a few days of actual rest and relaxation too! I acquired a huge lot of vintage children's books that I am still going through and will share more information on them in upcoming posts. I will be back as soon as I can. Thank you for all your support and for visiting. See you soon!  ~~ Diane




Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Heartwarming...






A few more hearts before the day is gone...







  






Veranda, November December 2007, Ex-votos (An ex-voto is a votive offering to a saint or to a divinity) of silver, gilt bronze and crystals from Southern France, late 19th c. Photo by Peter Vitale.



nuts for you



















Bokeh, Milk & Honey







Happy Valentine's Day!



Saturday, February 11, 2012

The Keeper Of My Heart...



"The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling.  Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly."     Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)













Lindsey Ray    Float Away






                                                                      

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

One Word Wednesday... And the word is...


PINK





Royal Copley Pink Pig Cream Pitcher - Vintage 1950's



Rosina Pink Teacup - Vintage 1952














Flower Carpet Pink roses as outdoor centerpiece



Red Door - Detail, Rochester, Vermont







Running with the wild vampoodles





Pink Rose Cupcakes








Shelf in kitchen









Monday, February 6, 2012

A Fuzzy Sleepy Tale



It is time to feature a cute book with some darling illustrations today. The title of the book is, "A Fuzzy Sleepy Tale". The book is by author Katharine Ross and is illustrated by Lisa McCue. More about them later. First I want to share some of the cute illustrations in the book.



If you ever wondered what rabbits do in the winter, now you know. They dance!




These bunny's are so cute and well yes, they are fuzzy! 
I just love them!





This is a very sweet book about a family of Cottontail Rabbits and how they pass the time in their rabbit warren over the winter. In addition to dancing, they nap, tell stories and play.

The author of the book is Katharine Ross. She has written over a dozen children's books. You may remember her from her other career as an actress. Her most famous role was as Etta Place in the 1969 movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Another movie she starred in was The Graduate, she played Elaine, the daughter of Mrs. Robinson. Katharine is married to fellow actor, Sam Elliott.




The expression in precious!







Of course what I love the most about children's books are the illustrations. The illustrator is Lisa McCue. She has illustrated over 175 books. Her art work also appears on clothing, home decor, greeting cards and more. She illustrated her first children's book while in college and thirty years later is still illustrating today. I am including a link to her wonderful website where you may view many more of her illustrations.






Click on the picture to open the link to Lisa's site.

Thank you for visiting today. I hope you enjoyed learning about "A Fuzzy Sleep Tale".




Friday, February 3, 2012

Love Songs and Stuff



Love, Love, Love! It's all about love and sweetness. 
Sharing some Valentine love with you all today!








I've Gotta Have You, by The Weepies





vintage valentine: bee bonnet












Raspberry Chocolate Heart Tart (recipe)










Thursday, February 2, 2012

Cute Groundhogs, Woodchucks and Whistle Pigs






It is official, six more weeks of winter. So proclaims Punxsutawney Phil's handlers. Phil seemed a bit annoyed about all of the noise and bright lights this morning. Who can blame him, wrenched from his cozy warm bed and thrust in front of TV cameras. Wouldn't you be a bit cranky too?

We don't care so much about Phil's prediction here. We usually have at least eight more weeks of winter anyway. It's a bit of a wake up call that we are in the last weeks of winter and it's best to start planning for the coming spring. Especially important in days of yore when we relied on our spring crops to keep us from starving to death. Now of course we have drive-ins so we don't worry about food anymore.

Anyway, I was searching about on Pinterest for some cute groundhogs and kept finding images of that annoying movie (you know which one). I had to do my own pinning of some cute little rodents know as groundhogs, woodchucks or whistle pigs. I will explain that later for those who have not heard this name for groundhogs before. So here are some cute pictures of some groundhogs.


6.19.08 Baby Groundhog




I Love You Mom



smell the flowers







Remember this?
If a wood chuck could chuck wood, 
how much wood would a woodchuck chuck, 
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A wood chuck would chuck as much wood as a 
wood chuck could chuck if a wood chuck 
could chuck wood.


We had a groundhog living in our yard several years ago. He lived under a fallen willow tree on the lake bank. During the spring, I came face to face with him a couple of times. He stared at me, I stared at him. He ran really quickly back to his den. I had never seen a groundhog up close before. At first I thought it was a beaver, until he turned and I saw he had a little tail not the big paddle tale of a beaver. 

After I did a little reading about groundhogs, I realized that the weird sound we had been hearing at night through our open window, was in fact a groundhog whistling. They also make other horrible banshee type sounds that would be suitable for any horror or sy-fi thriller movie. We asked our neighbors if they knew what sound we were hearing at night, they said it was raccoons. Well I have lived in areas where there were plenty of raccoons and I had never heard these ungodly sounds before. The sounds continued periodically through the spring and then just stopped.

In early summer we noticed a momma raccoon and a bunch of her babies were hanging around. Their was a hole in the top of the large fallen willow trunk and the babies would pop in and out of this hole to get to their "new" den. Apparently, momma raccoon had determined that the groundhogs' den was a perfect spot for her family. We assumed that the sounds we had heard were fighting between the groundhog and the raccoon. We never heard the weird sounds again, except for the raccoons fighting with each other. Poor groundhog was ejected from his home and moved on to someone else's yard.

Groundhog in my back yard thinks this apple looks delicious




 Happy Groundhog Day!