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

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

The Cat Days of August


This is me many years ago. One thing has been pretty consistent through my life though, cats. Love them, they've owned me for most of my life! This poor kitty let me squeeze on it until the photo was over. I really don't remember any cats scratching me when I was little, maybe that's just selective memory. I was about five years old in this photo, I still remember bits and pieces of that time in my life.
 My Great Aunt made this cute little card for me when I was little. She was the 
'Martha Stewart' in our family!

 Guy loves this little camp chair!

Dot is the great Lioness atop her mountain surveying her back yard!
Of course, she has to have a nice cushion to rest on!!

It's been hard to blog this summer, the world has gone mad and every day in our country brings some new terrible thing. Children taken from their parents, perhaps never to be returned. Russians are our new allies, and the UK and Canada are our adversaries?? Up is Down and Down is Up. The sky is not blue it's red. Which is true in California, the red sky of fires consuming everything in their paths. I see it on the news and from folks I follow on Instagram, photos of the hills flaming red into the sky, and sometimes the sky has turned black from smoke.

I tend to turn inwards at these times and have been working on my shop trying to list and sell as much as possible before everyone runs out of extra cash to spend on such frivolous things. The strange thing is, I seem to be selling more than ever. Maybe people are trying to sooth that inner longing for something nostalgic and safe perhaps?  Anyway here are a few photos of a few things I've picked up, some are in my shop already. Most of these are from an estate sale of a ladies home, I found out that she was a teacher and she saved just about everything. Her name was Vivian, and even though I've never met her, I feel a great fondness for her delightful spirit.


 In this cute old board game from the 1930's, I found a handmade paper doll set. I'm guessing the paper dolls were made by Vivian and tucked away in the box under some paper and then were forgotten. As you see, some were never cut out.


Here's a set of children's puzzles still in the wrapper, from the 1950's. 
Cute as can be and the colors and condition are wonderful!



 We had lots of rain this summer and our flowers and the butterflies are very happy. 



Our weather has been a roller-coaster this year, hot humid, then cold, then raining every day and now hot and dry. The perfect days here are getting few and far between, high temps over 90 degrees used to be rare and now we're up to about 3 weeks! Every year we seem to add a few more hot days to the record. So on those rare warm but dry summer days, when a cool breeze wafts through the air, I get outside to enjoy it. One of those perfect days was a couple of weeks ago and I headed to our Arboretum and here is what I saw....

 The flowers are always beautiful at the Arb and this year they have a 
new art exhibit featuring Origami animals made from metal. 
The cranes below where in several features and I really loved the horses!



 The lilies were dazzling!


 The Dahlia's were divine!

 Stacked crane tower!




 The wildflower praire garden is a newer feature.




I purchased several boxes of items at the estate sale, I hadn't been to one all year! It took me days to sort through all of it, and it will take me another year to get it all listed in my shop!
I have to say though, some things have already sold! The pink angel trays sold right away.



 I think I'm going to fill the old tin with Christmas cookie cutters
 and put it up for sale in my shop.


The Littlest Angel book is so cute, I found several other really old books there.   They even sold the letters she had written to her boyfriend, husband when he was away during World War II. I'm not sure how the story goes, I haven't had time to even look through them. I'll let you know if I find out anything really interesting.

Here are some Christmas items I've already staged and have in my shop, or will have ready soon. The Elves are ornaments to hang on the tree.  The train light set is listed and I was so surprised that the lights actually worked!




Finally I'm closing out with this cute book illustration. It's from the book entitled
 "Doings of Little Bear", written by Frances Margaret Fox and illustrated by Warner Carr, 
1915, from Rand McNally Publishing. 

I hope that you are all feeling well these days, I know that some of you have also taken the summer away from blogging. Maybe in the Autumn with cooler weather we'll all be refreshed and ready to go again.  I just have to say that I still adore my friends here in blogland! And all of you in Canada and the UK, you are still our friends and allies, please know that the majority of the people here in the states feel the same as I do. Please don't give up on us. We are going through a rough patch, but things will get better.

Now don't mind me, but I'm going to round up my cat companions and head out side to commune with nature. Watching the butterflies does my soul a world of good and after all it's the Cat Days of August....

πŸ˜ΈπŸƒπŸ¦‹~ Diane


7 comments:

  1. Hi Diane! So good to see you! I promise to e-mail you, hopefully this weekend!
    You are so cute in that picture! I love it! I love what your Great Aunt made you! Priceless! I still adore my friends in the United States! I won't give up on you! Promise!
    Loving the photos you got at the Arb! Wow! Truly stunning!
    And, I Love all the goodies you got at the sale!! Amazing suff! That angel tray, I remember from Twitter! I thought it was so pretty! Amazing those puzzles are still packaged! That Littlest Angel book is so cute! I can't wait to hear what is in those letters!
    Take Care and enjoy the rest of the month! I know Deb and Val are off for this month. Well, Val has been off for a couple of months, she is moving!
    Big Hugs! and Big Hugs to the kitties! Love those outside pictures of them!

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  2. I forgot, congrats with your sales!

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    1. Thank you so much Stacy! Hey I finally got my blogger comment notifications fixed! Hugs my friend!

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  3. How lovely to see your post today! Your photo of your young self holding the kitty is so sweet and I love the kitty card made by your Aunt and you have kept it all these years! Good luck with your shop, you have the most delightful things.
    The world has gone nuts, all the more reason to be reminded of what is good in this world. God bless. xx

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    1. Thank you so much Kay. πŸ’— Yes you're right, there are still many things to be thankful for!

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  4. Yes, it's been a crazy summer alright! You're so lucky to have the wonderful Dot and Guy Noir! And I love those origami animals too, especially the horses and the stacked cranes. What a clever idea some artist had!

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    1. Thank you for visiting Debra, I know it's been a sad summer for you too with the loss of your mom. I'm glad you enjoyed the origami, it's quite stunning closeup!

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