Auction

My husband goes to farm equipment auctions quite frequently. Occasionally, I go along, because there is a certain "something" about these events that draws me.
And because, he asks me to go along with him.



This particular one was a consignment sale (as opposed to a farm liquidation sale - which depress me.) deep in the Virginia boonies - Charlotte Courthouse, VA. The courthouse building there was designed by Thomas Jefferson, and it is where Patrick Henry first gave his famous "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech.



Anyhow. AHEM....

There were about 1000 people at this sale. There was a huge representation of the Amish community, also - the Ladies were serving up food in a huge white tent. OH! The food in that tent - it was coming out in streams, on paper plates and bowls, by the hoards of people flocking in there for whoopie pie, home made breads, cake, cookies, sandwiches, soup, coffee, numerous other pies whole and by the slice, candy - everything. I found myself unable to resist buying a couple of the most fluffy, light, perfect lemon-filled jelly doughnuts. And a whoopie pie. And.... well, unhealthy foods I will not mention here. If you have ever sunk your teeth into an Amish delight of any kind.... you know what I am talking about. ESPECIALLY the doughnuts. Look, I had an Amish girl give me the recipe for doughnuts one time, and I made them - sort of. But they're still not the same as the real thing. And that is ALL I have to say about Amish food at this time. My mouth is seriously watering just thinking about it..... Moving on.....



I attended my first auction with my husband just before we were married, and was amazed at how these things are not just a sale of farm equipment.... they're like a social event.



There is something so quaint, and so sold fashioned about some of the sales I ave been to. Like the one today, for instance. It was so cold - and windy, and miserable all morning. Yet, 1000 or so people came anyway. It reminds me of how it must have been in days gone by - a community gathering you didn't want to miss, because they didn't happen very often. Events like this must have been the highlight of rural folk's social life. I know, I know - us simple minded country folks; we don't get out much! :)

There is a sea of trucks parked in a field - kind of like the county fair! Farmers don't come alone - they bring their families. Wives, Kids, pets....


(This dog's name was Brutus. Like my cat. He was such a cute dog.)

.... They come in droves; and stay all day long.



Friends; neighbors; extended family all meet up and spend the day together, selling, buying, getting a great deal, talking, catching up, bonding, sharing a doughnut and a cup of coffee. I was even more "transported" to a simpler time of long ago, when I saw the horse drawn buggies pulling in and out.



Did I mention that there were around 1000 people or more there?



There were a few times, the crowd of camo and carhart closed in around me, so I couldn't even see through the coveralls and jeans to know what was going on.



We go to find good deals on things we need on our farm, of course; but half of it is just getting out and being with 1000 other like minded rural farming folk.

This sale was a bit different from others I'd been to; no only because of the Amish element, but because there were livestock at this one! There were two baby bunnies I really wanted, for $8. Kevin might have bought them for me, but before I could even get a photo of them they were sold. There were horses, alpacas, a hog, and sheep, as well.



Who were not very happy about my close proximity to their truck, I must say. They were very suspicious of me, to say the least. And when I visited the hog, she was not exactly thrilled, either. Oh well.

There were also (surprise!) Antiques at this sale!



A whole, glorious tent full of them. But I resisted. We were not here for more vintage/antique stuff for me... we were here for a backhoe.

There were some really tempting very early blue canning jars with bubbles in the glass, and other desirable imperfections in blue jars. I still have never laid eyes on the rumored "violet hue" jars.......



At some point in the morning, I looked up on the hillside, and saw the Amish boys, enjoying an impromptu game of volleyball. It was just so cute.



And at the end of the day, Kevin and his farming partner bought what they were after...



... for an excellent price. So, although I had to get up at a completely unreasonable hour on a Saturday, it was cold, I had no sweet tea all day, I broke my hair elastic and my hair was all over the place all day, I now have windburned cheeks, and I didn't get my bunnies -

It was a fun day. :)

Loosing Cavort

A sad, terrible day, this.

I went to put a blanket on our horse, Cavort, and found him dead in his paddock.

This came as such a shock.

He was very old; But not sick or anything. It looks like he died in his sleep. I had just seen him the day before yesterday, and he was fine.

And today, he is dead.

I wrote about his life on my Horse Blog, All The Pretty Little Horses. You can click on the link in my sidebar to read it. (Or, I just stick a link here instead...)

Years ago, I lost my first horse; Cookie. I was devastated over it. I found this poem, and it helped me out, in some way. It soothed my hurting soul again when I lost my horse Buckeye in a horrific, bloody accident.

Don't Cry For The Horses - Brenda Riley-Seymore

Don't cry for the horses
That life has set free
A million white horses
Forever to be.

Don't cry for the horses
Now in God's hand
As they dance and they prance
To a heavenly band.

They were ours as a gift,
But never to keep
As they close their eyes
Forever to sleep -

Their spirits unbound,
On silver wings they fly
A million white horses,
Against a blue sky.

Look into heaven
You'll see them above
The horses we lost,
The horses we loved

Manes and Tails flowing
They gallop through time
They were never yours;
They were never mine

Don't cry for the horses,
They'll be back someday
When our time has come,
They'll show us the way.

Do you hear that soft nicker,
Close to your ear?
Don't cry for the horses -
Love the ones that are here.

If you have ever loved a horse, and lost them; you know.....

Post Script - Things I Love

I suppose this could wait till tomorrow... but then again, I guess this is tomorrow, officially. Seeing as I am doing this at.... 12:30 AM on a Monday night/Tues. AM.

Anyhoooo.... I am wide awake. (Must have been the rice crispies treats I gave in to a little while ago.)

Remember my post at Valentine's Day on things I love? Well, a few of my friends joined me and posted really swell lists that made me sit here and think "Oh, Yeeeah! Me too! OH, yeeees! I love that also!" Here are the links:

Susannah's List

Jodi's List

Elisa's List

And I have a couple of amendments to mine also:

Bacon, bacon, and - well, more bacon.

Thunderstorms.

Flip flops.

Hummingbirds.

Porch Swings.

Waves, crashing onto shore.

See where my mind has been these days?

Baking with my nieces is one, too:



Which we did, on Valentine's Day



Making a huge mess in the kitchen



I also simply LOVE this cookbook, given to me by - you guessed it, my Mom. Or, maybe you didn't guess it.... but anyway



It's by Allysa Torey, founder of the Magnolia Bakery in NY City. It is a vintage style bakery. This book has lots of really outstanding recipes, as well as photos of her Victorian country home.... and her style is soooo vintage and shabby chic and *sigh*..... She doesn't own the bakery anymore, but the book still rocks, and I love it. Mostly for the photos of her home. Terrible, I know. But I look at it for inspiration and ideas for decor.

I also love the recipe I made up for Lemon Cupcakes with Coconut Cream frosting this weekend. I seriously love them. And I need to stop thinking about it before I go in the kitchen and start baking a batch at 1 AM on a Tuesday. (Cupcakes are fast becoming my favorite dessert. Although, I had a discussion with the guy at the checkout at Ollie;s today about whether Apple or Cherry was the bast pie. I was buying a jar of Spear's Farms preservative free, HFCS free, natural cherry pie filling, and we started talking about pie, and which was the best filling, and eating it with ice cream, and all the merits thereof....he said Apple, I maintain it's Cherry.)

Ok. It's getting late and I am borderline goofy..... G'nite, y'all.

Shop Update - Spring is Around the Corner!

I am so excited about my new Spring and Summer items for the shop! Of course, I can't just slam them in all at once, so I am letting things expire and adding the new things little by little. I recently added a bunch of sweet items for table and home, which I hadn't offered a lot of until now. I had to decide to let go....

Now as the seasons are about to change, I am trying to get new warm weather clothing, accessories, and hats photographed and listed as old listings expire. The new things are going to be a lot of fun. I am excited!

Here are a few new ones I did today:

Black polka dot blouse.

 

It's a size 10-12; too big for me, but see how cool it looks when belted with a wide belt!

 

"The Toothpaste Dress"

 

I considered not buying this when I found it in a packed rack in a dusty thrift store, because the color is..... yeah. Not the greatest. I thought I would give it a swirl in some dye; and never got around to it.

 

The dress is quite comfy, and a flattering style.

I took these at my friend's antique shop. Upstairs is a huge loft. I had to move a bunch of stuff out of the way, but it was worth it.

Stay tuned for more!

I Stole This Idea - Things I love

Ree Drummond over at the Pioneer Woman website did a post this week on things she loves.....in light of Valentine's Day - and I liked it so much I stole the idea and will do a list of my own. Some of the stuff on her list are things I love, too!!
I love lists like this. I used to make lists of my favorite words.
In my Bible, I kept a list of mis-pronounced words speakers at church said that cracked me up. Look around my desk and other places in my home and you will certainly find lists scrawled on the backs of receipts, junk mail envelopes, scraps of paper, bank deposit slips, etc. etc. I am only listing things that might not be obvious that I love. Everyone knows I love cats, dishes, vintage clothes, etc.

Anyway.

I love........

Coupons

Butter

Antique books

My husband

Funk music

The smell of leather, hay, feed, and horses

Peonies

Nacho Libre

Chippy white vintage furniture

The Summer Olympics

Old lace

Pride and Prejudice

Going barefoot

Cilantro

Mary Kay

Gunnie Sax (Even if I can't wear them)

Laura Ashley

Homer Laughlin

Mary Jane's Farm

Napoleon Dynamite

Key Lime Pie

Mom and Dad

My siblings

My nieces and nephews

Other family members I fail to mention

Les Miserables (The book)

The Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights

Beethoven

My Grandpa

My Grandma

Italian food

Bird's nests

Old Barns

Old Houses

The Old South

Auctions, Yard Sales, Estate Sales, and Thrift Shops

Gone With the Wind (The book and the movie too)

Daffodils

Corelli

Crewel

Wrought iron furniture

St. Augustine, Florida

North Carolina

Montana

French fries

Dogwood

Provolone Cheese

The Andy Griffith Show

Cottage flower gardens

Anne of Green Gables

Creamed Spinach

Sad, depressing piano music

Peppermint

Blue & White anything

Swing music

Long hair

Cherry pie

The Phantom of the Opera (2004 Movie)

Sundresses

Surprises

James Earl Jones' voice

Ok I think this is long enough - although I could go on and on and on. Who wants to follow suit and make a list of things you love on your blog also? I'd love to see it. If you are, leave a comment and let me know so I can check out your post. (And it doesn't have to be all different things from me - I have a sneaking suspicion that many of you reading this like the same things I do anyway. You know who you are. :) )

A Good Trade

....In fact, an excellent trade.

One of my New year goals was to sort out my stashes of stuff and donate, sell, or otherwise get rid of surplus items. So I came up with this huge bag of trims and laces and scraps of ribbon, embroidery floss and other things I simply was not going to be using at all. I didn't want to throw it out, or donate it to Goodwill, so I posted what I had on the Farmgirl Connection Barter. I soon got an offer for a barter from a fellow Farmgirl in Texas.

She makes tote bags, aprons, and................ these pin cushions.

 

I opted for the pin cushion. I have tried to do this with a tea cup of mine, and got nowhere. I wasn't expecting to get a pin cushion from the barter, as I have one I use and love; but when she offered this, I couldn't say no.

 

I got to choose from a selection of tea cups, and fabrics. It came with all the cute pins and buttons, too.

I think I made an excellent barter. Thanks, Victoria; if you're reading this!

And by the way - I bet I could connect you to her if you want one of these for yourself, as I believe she told me she sells these.

I also got a hanky from a fellow Farmgirl this week, as part of a hanky swap I participated in. See what fun the Mary Jane's Farm Farmgirl Connection can be? You seriously ought to join.

Have a great day and come back soo, 'hear?

Time For More Cat Photos

Sorry, folks. I love my cats. I adore them. I am nutty cat Mom, and I freely admit it. Did you know that people who own pets aren't referred to as "pet owners" anymore; they're known as pet "parents"?
So I get this magazine from my cat's awesome vet; Dr. Seepe, and it's all personalized with their names on the front:
"Brutus is due for so-and-so shot this month", and "Cosette and Splat are due for a visit to Dr. Seepe as well...." Makes me feel all special and fuzzy inside. (Not.)Anyway, inside is this new clips page, and I read this:

 

"A new study, published in the journal Current Biology, is pointing researchers toward a theory that cat owners may already believe - namely, that cats have the ability to control their pet parents. Cats use a high pitched cry embedded in a purring vocalization to urge their owners to feed or attend to them. researchers believe this sound, which is distinct from normal purring, plays on ingrained human nurturing instincts."

 

See? I'm justified. It's my natural human nurturing instinct that causes me to spoil them. It's not my fault.

 

I was at the grocery store a few weeks ago and I get this call:
"Hello?"
"Are you at the store still, babe?"
"Yes.... is there anything you want me to get for you that's not on my list?"
"Uh, no..... I was just going to see if you can pick up a package of salami for the cats. All they have left is that bologna, and they don't like it."
"That nasty stuff you bought at the convenience store?"
"Yeah, they don't like it. Can you get the good salami?"
"Yep, I am standing right here at the meat cooler and putting it in the cart now....."
"Hey, get two packages, just in case."
"Ok. Anything for you?"
"No, I'm cool..."

 

I have also been guilty. The other day I heard myself saying this:

"Splat; Phileppe! Why don't you come in now? It's cold out. Mommy is fixing chicken for dinner; with sauce. I know you love sauce!" (They get their own little plate at dinner. Seriously. Usually a little blue willow saucer.)

And then there was this discussion a few weeks ago when we were ordering a pizza at our favorite little local pizza parlor:

Kevin: "What do you want on your pizza?"
Me: "Oh, anything except that nasty sausage, and nasty olives."
Kevin: "Pepperoni, then?"
Me: "Uhhhh, yeeeeah....and green peppers."
Kevin: "Onions?"
Me: "Yeah. Oh, we'd better get some mushrooms on that, for Splat."
Kevin: "Definitely."
(Splat loves mushrooms.)

We've got it bad, folks. Real bad.

About the above photos: This is Phileppe, who enjoys sleeping in many odd positions, and odd places.
And yes, I tortured him with a hanky bonnet the other day. It was too cute; I couldn't resist. He didn't mind so much, either.

Very Cool!

The house my husband and I had our wedding in is featured in the March issue of Country Living Magazine's Real Estate Sampler! If you have the mag, it's the house in the middle, the one in Sutherlin, VA.
If you are looking for houses to buy in rural Virginia, hop over here to take a virtual tour, or call the number listed in the magazine! The home is lovely; and owned by our friends, the Austin family, and is about 10 minutes from our house. So if you buy it and move here, we'll be neighbors. :)
Have a great day!!

Fine Dining

I know I have mentioned before that I collect vintage china - in addition to everything else vintage that I collect. I think every single thing I own is vintage.... with the exception of electronics.

I guess most girls don't think about china before they get engaged; and it's the first thing they do after getting the ring: pick out a dress, and register for china, silver, linens, and crystal for your new household.

Unless you're one of those Southern girls whose obsessed mothers dragged you to pick out your china and crystal on your fifth birthday. I am a Southern girl, but my mother didn't do that.

She didn't have to.

By the time I got engaged and started wedding planning, I had bought boxes of china, and stashed them away. China, linens, crystal, silver.

Anyway, I finally thinned out my stashes, and sorted out what I can part with. The following is a sample of what I will be offering in my Etsy shop this week.

The only thing better than excellent, thoughtfully prepared food is eating it on an elegant service.



I am a sucker for floral china; can you tell?


"Moss Rose"


This is actually a very common pattern I see a lot in antiques shops.


White cut work embroidery napkins




Homer Laughlin, 1956


All of these pieces will be available soon in my shop. Unfortunately, They are not complete sets; but each has a couple of pieces, for display, or for adding to a "eclectic" collection, or for romantic service for 2.

I took these photographs on my Great Grandmother's table cloth, with her silver and linens, as well.

There is more where these came from, also..... this is only the beginning.

Looky What I Won!

(I apologize if you tried to view this earlier today; Blogger ate my photos; and it took me till tonight to re do them on Photobucket, as I spent the day sitting with my elderly Grandmother.)
I *used* to think that giveaways were a vast Internet conspiracy. I entered in many giveaways on different blogs, and never won a thing.
Then the other day, I entered a giveaway - not on a blog, but on one of my favorite forums - The (Mary Jane's Farm) Farmgirl Connection. (the Farmgirl connection is a community of like minded women who are interested in organics, healthy cooking, old fashioned things, aprons, animals, farm life, gardening, sewing, crafts, thriftyness, etc. You don't even have to live in the country, or on a farm, to be a MJF Farmgirl - it's a "Condition of the Heart", as we all say...) Anyway, one of the ladies there was giving away an apron. There was no picture, and she didn't describe it.
Imagine my delighted surprise when I WON!

It came in the mail yesterday. "Farmgirl" mail, that is. (see the left hand corner of the box? I know, it's blurry.)


It's purple paisley on one side....


And yellow on the other! With pink ric rac - how "vintage"! Reversible! 2 aprons in one!



I love the purple paisley. I don't know how I will even cook in it; I might mess it up.





I realise these are awful pictures. The apron looks so good; and I look totally frumped out. :( Oh well.

I feel frumpy a lot these days. All the nasty weather keeps me bundled in so many layers of clothes, I can hardly move. I hate this time of year; always have. If we're not having rain; or snow, we're trudging around in thick gooey mud. Bleh.
I'm feeling the winter "doldrums" pressing in on me. I have a stinking headache today, feel generally yucky, am breaking out, have itchy skin, and desperately want to see some green grass and pretty flowers. I want to get my hands in the dirt, and plant my gardens.

But guess what?!

We are closing in on a new floor for my kitchen remodel. When Kevin asked me what I wanted, I said what I really, really wanted was wide, distressed pine flooring in there; distressed meaning new, but artificially aged to match the antique "pantita" of my glorious, late 1800's log wall. (I think I will just go ahead and name the wall "Gloria", and be done with all this "log wall" stuff.) BUT wide pine flooring is about $6 - $10 dollars per board foot! WHOA! I had resigned myself to laminate. :( But then my amazing, incredible craftsman husband searched on Craigslist and found a lumberyard that is selling bunks of solid OAK, rough-sawn, "cull" type lumber for mere cents per board foot! He's going to buy a "bunk" (like a huge bundle wrapped in plastic), and install it in the kitchen; then we're going to rent a floor sander for a day and sand the thing down to a soft finish, and top it off with several coats of polyurethane. Glorious! I am thrilled; as I have been walking around on plywood sub floor in that room because we hadn't painted yet. Now it's painted, so flooring is the next big thing and I am thrilled to have a real hardwood floor; for such a low cost. :D

Speaking of Craigslist: in all my browsing around on the local page, I found two more vintage metal lawn chairs - $10 each. We picked them up this morning. One is a more unusual rocker type. They're in amazing condition! $10 EACH?!
You "non-antiquey" folks have to understand: these chairs are in HIGH demand, are getting harder and harder to find, and if you restore and paint them, they can go for upwards of $50 - $60 apiece or MORE at antiques shops, depending on your area. Some go for even more; I have seen it.......... So, I am happy with them. Now I have four all together. They'll be turquoise or jadeite green before long... and placed under shade trees in my yard so I can sit and watch the Ferraris, Porches, Lamborghinis, Mazzarattis, and other fancy European cars whizz by on their way past to the Virginia International Raceway that is, like, 5 miles from my house. And I know I didn't spell any of those right. And, I don't care.

Anyhoooo..... have a great day and y'all come back soon, 'hear?

How to Wear Vinatge, Pt. 2 - Formal

 

This is a long white skirt that was my sister's in the late 90's. She wore it to a formal Christmas banquet. I rescued it from a plastic bin in my parent's storage unit a few weeks ago. I am wearing a (not-too-poofy) crinoline under it.

 

Paired with one of my favorite thrifted pieces: a black velvet wrap around top with lace on the neckline and sleeves. From the 1980's (ish), it has such a romantic, Victorian, Spanish feel to it.

 

And a faux fur muff I thrifted as well.

 

Add some nice shoes or boots, a loose, romantic, Gibson Girl hair do like mine in the photo, and "walla"! You have a very neat looking, striking formal look.

I am thinking about listing this on my Etsy; although the "formal" season is pretty much over with (except for proms.) Everything would be listed except the top - definately keeping that piece!

See what fun vintage is?

Have a great day and come back soon!

Green Box Find

Remember my "green box" escapade last summer, involving a vintage chair?

As I explained before, our dump has trash dumpsters, recycling bins, a huge "green box" where folks dump "big stuff" for the landfill, a Goodwill donation box, and a little shed where people put things they're giving away. You bring stuff to leave, and you can take anything you see ..... all for free. I have got many cool things this way - including an antique oil lamp, bird feeders, and boocoos canning jars, and a guitar, for starters.

So today I go do a recycling run, and put my donations in the "goody shed", and I found this in there:

 

New. With Tags. Yeah.

 

I guess you hang things on it. I don't know what, but I figured I'd stash it for a while, and see what I decide to do with it.
That is what I do with things sometimes.... hold onto it, until I get a "vibe" for what I want to make/use/re-purpose it for. As of this moment, I don't have a creative vibe on this... it's just interesting. It has little leaves on it. Any thoughts or ideas?

ALSO - quick randomness:

1. For dinner tonight, we had grass fed, organic beef steak, mashed turnips from our garden (tastes like creamed cauliflower) and green beans I canned myself from my garden. 100% what we grew ourselves. (The cows were raised by a friend, who fed them our hay, so yeah, we "grew"them too).

2. Has anyone seen the March issue of Country Living magazine? Yeah, I subscribed to that redundant mag, because it was so cheap, and I figured "why not?" most of the time, it is a huge yawn, but this issue had a feature on RUFFLES and I am in love with them. There is this pair of towels with rows of little ruffles sewn on, and I am tempted to do that to towels for my upcoming bathroom remodel. (Although, I cannot really picture my tall, masculine, "man's man", hunter/farmer/carpenter/mechanic husband using them.)

3. Speaking of re modeling, we went wandering through Home Depot today, discussing aspects of said up coming bathroom remodel. May I just say, my dreams of a tub with jets went flying out the doors when I saw the $1,200 price tag? Darn it!

4. I made English muffins yesterday. Check out my Vintage Kitchen blog for the scoop.

5. I got up some more kitchen decor today. Snow has kept my husband indoors these past few days, looking for something to do, and so we have caught up on a few piddly "details" like socket covers, shelves in the laundry area, and decor in the kitchen. Yay. Tomorrow, I paint trim.

6. I am reading "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. *sniff*

And now I have to trot off and watch some very thrilling and exciting "24".....