MY BOYS OF SUMMER!

There has been considerable discussion at my house the last two years about the possibility of a treehouse. You are only eight years old once, so it was decided that this was the year to make it happen. When you combine an eight-year old dreamer (Wyatt) with a seventy-one-year old engineer (his papa), there is a lot of talk about possibilities versus structure/buildability/safety/etc.
And then the supplies had to be gathered - trips to yard sales for reclaimed lumber, to the lumber yard and to the Habitat for Humanity restore for bolts, etc., and to one of our own hidey-holes for necessary pieces!

Finally, they got started.

A left-handed hammer and a right-handed drill.

Learning a few skills along the way.

Safety first - a railing, gate, and a sturdy ladder so the old-folks can climb up there, too.

Every castle needs a shield and every pirate boat needs a flag.

You need a supply of rope because you might decide you want to surf under the treehouse. In arid Colorado, you have to pretend to surf on a rope and board.

Where will this happy boy's imagination take him next?

Hopefully, when he is seventy-one years old; he will remember the summer he and his papa built the treehouse.

I'm linking up to Mosaic Monday with Mary at
Little Red House

and

Outdoor Wednesday with Susan at
A Southern Daydreamer

Please stop by these two blogs as I'm sure you will enjoy your visit!

FLUFFING AND BUFFING

It was time to change up the shelves in the dining room; so I removed my Friendly Village dishes, and replaced them with some previously hidden-away brown transferware and antique apothecary jars.

From Memorial Day until July 4th, I like getting out some of our patriotic ephemera that we have accumulated over the years.

Here we have Betsy and her flag under glass!

Old postcards.

In this apothecary jar are three generations of draft registration cards from World War I, World War II, and the Viet Nam War.

I'm partying with Mary at Little Red House
for Mosaic Monday

and

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life
for Tabletop Tuesday.

Be sure to stop by their blogs to check out the list of participants this week.

VALENTINES IN A BOWL

Not a lot of energy flowing around the Salmagundi household since the surgery, but I sure didn't want to miss the Valentine's Day party hosted by Laurie at
Bargain Hunting with Laurie.
The extent of my Valentine decorations this year just include some of our collection of vintage cards in a bowl.

You know that any party at Laurie's has to be a blast, so be sure to stop by her blog and check things out!

I'm also linking up with Mary at Little Red House
for Mosaic Monday. There is always such beautiful photography at that Monday party, so check Mary out also.

Thanks for stopping by; and may you have a lovely Valentine's Day!

MY SILVER STORY

Recently, everyone has been showing their silver. I decided that I should join in; but first, I need to fill you in on the history of my silver.

When we were married in 1958, it was quite fashionable to give and receive silver serving dishes as wedding presents. Evidently, we were fashionable because we received over 40 pieces. Now, this is just what two 19-year-old, college students living in a two-room basement dumpy apartment needed. So, the silver lived boxed up in my parent's basement for several years with my Dad always asking when we were going to take our stuff to our own place.

Finally, after we bought our first house; we unpacked the silver and displayed it, but not using it. In those days, there was no such thing as the 'tarnished look'; so I faithfully polished every month. Then, I entered into my 'earth mother' era and was too busy baking bread and tending to babies to polish. The silver was packed up again and began its 40-year existence under the bed. It has been moved many times to different houses, but always shoved back under the bed.

The only time I have dug into the box was thirteen years ago when our daughter got married. We used several trays and the coffee service on her reception table. I repacked everything at that time into plastic boxes and shoved it back under the bed until today. I decided it was time to take another look.

I was told to pack silver in tissue paper, then in plastic bags to keep it from tarnishing. Surprisingly, It has not tarnished a lot during all of these years.

The platter at the beginning of this post is huge measuring 15" x 21". By the time you put a turkey on it, it would be too heavy to carry to the table! Does anyone still carve at the table anyway?
This piece of silver below is a Silent Butler. Was I really expected to go around with this to empty my guests dirty ashtrays and brush the crumbs from the table into it during a party?

I have several sets of assorted dishes that match each other in pattern.

How many canape trays do 19-year old couples need? Evidently, five - that is how many we have!

There is a coffee service with a big, footed serving tray and two big covered vegetable dishes.

On the left below, there are quite a few candy and nut dishes; and on the right a big Paul Revere bowl with a matching cream and sugar set. Then, there are salt and pepper shakers, a butter dish, candle holders, a marmalade jar, and a gravy boat.

I guess our acquaintances didn't think we had enough silver, so our children each received a silver bank and a baby cup when they were born.

One of the things I found packed away that we didn't receive as a wedding present was this monogrammed dish below. I remember my uncle giving this to us when he went into the nursing home. With the "M" monogram, it must have belonged to my grandmother's family as her maiden name began with "M". It is lovely with all of the grapes around it. I may just keep this out for awhile to enjoy.

So, what is your favorite wedding gift to give? Do you do something from a registry, give something homemade, or money or gift cards? If you are looking for something to give that is unique, run to your local Goodwill store. I bet you can find a Silent Butler just waiting to be regifted.

I'm linking into Mary's Mosaic Monday at Little Red House.
There you will find a list of participants with beautiful photography and interesting subjects.

Also, Beth at The Gypsy Fish
is hosting Silver Sunday. Please stop by there to check out all of the beautiful silver.


P.S.: I must get busy polishing and repacking my silver. It is very empty under the guest bed.

PONDERING PILLOWS AGAIN

I love pillows, and I love to make pillows; so I had to join in on Rhondi's Pillow Party at Rose Colored Glasses.
Please check out her blog for a plethora of pillow goodness.

Below are some mosaics of some of the pillows around my house; all of which I made.

Back in June of 2009, I did a post about 'Pondering Pillows'. If you are interested in reading the post, you can click here.

I'm also going to link into Mary's Monday Mosaic Party. Check out the participants here.

CHRISTMAS WRAP UP

Christmas is over for another year! I always thoroughly enjoy the season, but I'm always glad to start a new year, too. There is something about taking down all of the Christmas stuff, cleaning and reclaiming the house that invigorates me.
Our immediate family is small with just our two kids, our son-in-law and the two grandkids; but we always enjoy getting together for lots of food and to watch the young kids opening their gifts.

For some reason, we didn't take a lot of pictures this year. But, here are a couple of mosaics of our favorite moments. It is always special to celebrate a birthday or a Christmas with our daughter after she was diagnosed with the worst kind of brain cancer 3 1/2 years ago. Isn't is wonderful that a seven-year-old can still get excited over a new soccer ball? And, all boys no matter their age still like to play with legos.

And, a teenager is still filled with wonder?

And, now tomorrow, I will start dismantling the decorations to begin a new year. I'm excited, and I hope the joy and reason for Christmas stays with you throughout 2010.

I'm joining Mary at Little Red House
for her weekly Mosaic Monday party. Please go visit her blog for wonderful photography and for a list of the other participants.

MOSAIC MONDAY & DECK THE HALLS TUESDAY

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!

I'm joining Mary at Little Red House
for her weekly Mosaic Monday party. Stop by her wonderful blog to see what she has going, plus there will be a list of participants of the mosaic party.

Also, please check out Thoughts from over the Rainbow
for the Deck the Halls Tuesday get together.

MY PERSONAL PILGRIM

Granted, it is a stretch during this Thanksgiving season to call him a pilgrim, but he definitely was my personal pioneer. This is my great, great Uncle Asa.

Uncle Asa was a logger in Parkman, Maine in the 1860s. He was involved in a logging accident and lost his leg. They told him that there was no place in the logging business for a one-legged logger; so he should go West where he could ride a horse.

So, with $100 loaned to him by the local Masonic Lodge and only the possessions he could carry; he headed West on the train to Denver. Once in Denver, he then walked to southeastern Colorado to homestead to farm and ranch. The year was 1876.

After Asa's brother, my great-grandfather, was widowed he soon was lured to Colorado by the promise of free land. He came to farm, ranch and raise his sons alone. And that is how I became a Colorado native.

I've been fortunate to inherit what few possessions Uncle Asa had. Among them was this walking stick. With a peg-leg, I'm sure this was a very important belonging.

We don't know the story behind this sampler, but evidently it was brought from Maine on his journey and was important to him. Was it made by his mother, or perhaps made by a lost love? He was a life-long bachelor.

The kitchen tools of a pioneer were simple. Most of these were hand-made.

And probably the most special is this bible. It is only 3x5 inches in size, and the print is so tiny. The inscription indicates that it was given to Uncle Asa's mother, Nancy, by a friend in 1846. And, she passed it on to Asa for his journey in 1876.

I never look at these few material things without thinking about the hardships endured by the pilgrims and/or pioneers in their efforts to establish America. How blessed we all are to live here and celebrate Thanksgiving.

Cindy at My Romantic Home is hosting show and tell Friday. Please check out her blog for a list of the other participants.

I'm also linking to the weekly party hosted by Mary of Little Red House.
She will have a list of participants showing off their creative mosaics.

Be sure to check out Cindy's and Mary's blogs for a special treat.

COLOR IN COLORADO

Mary at Little Red House

is hosting Mosaic Monday. Please check out her blog for her beautiful mosaics and a list of those participating today.

OUR DEAR CAITLIN

Your days of shopping in the 'PINK' aisle of Wal-mart have come to an end.

Now you are a beautiful teenager ready for new experiences and new responsibilities.

Happy 13th birthday, sweet Cait!

Where have the years gone?

All our love from Grammy and Papa


On this special PINK Saturday, I'm linking to Beverly's blog, How Sweet the Sound. Check out her blog for other pink deliciousness.

Also, please check out Mary's blog, Little Red House for more participants in Mosaic Monday.

MOSAIC MONDAY - THE WEDDING

It is Mosaic Monday hosted by Mary at Little Red House.
Please check out her blog for a list of this week's participants; plus take a look at the wonderful portrait photography that she is doing these days.

Not only is it Mosaic Monday, it is also Labor Day and our 51st wedding anniversary. Last year on our 50th I posted about marriage - click here if you are interested. This year, I thought I would talk about The Wedding! Weddings were different back in the 1950s in our community than they are today. Even a large wedding was simple. Ceremonies usually took place on Sunday afternoon as most people worked on Saturday. They were held in the bride's church, which was usually decorated with lots of fresh flowers. I suppose our wedding was considered quite large with 300 guests, but there was no fancy meal; just a reception at our house with cake, nuts, mints and punch. My parents had a large house with a finished basement and a beautiful backyard, and could well accommodate that many people. It was a gorgeous, September day.

In those days, the marriage was between a husband and a wife, but THE WEDDING was between the bride and her mother. Even the announcement in the local paper of the engagement had only a picture of the bride-to-be, and the up-coming nuptials were announced by only the parents of the future bride. Funny as it may seem, the groom was almost an after thought. All he had to do was show up the day of the wedding with the ring!!!!

In our small town, brides almost always had a formal, studio picture taken the week before the wedding that was then used in the newspaper with the details after the wedding.

Mother and I did all of the planning together, and I only remember having a small disagreement about the plates to use for the cake. With so many people, she thought we should use paper plates; but even then I loved dishes. You can see in the bottom left picture that I won out. We used Mother's large collection of Fostoria glass plates. She hired someone to wash dishes as they were used! Thank you, Mother - to this day I love using her Fostoria. I remember how beautiful and young my Mother looked that day - pretty enough to be the bride herself as she had just turned 39 years old the day before the wedding.

I'm eternally grateful that Bob showed up that day with the ring. I can't imagine what the last 51 years would have been like without him. It has been a wonderful life!!

MOSAIC MONDAY - DETAILS

Sometimes, for no apparent reason, I become dissatisfied with the interior design of my home. I want something different. To cure this feeling, I often just walk around the house and look at the details.
I think about what I like, what pleases my eye and my personal aesthetic.

Today, I took my camera as I walked around.

I like a variety of textures and patina. Rough versus smooth! Delicate versus chunky!

Fine versus primitive plus I need my favorite colors!

Shiny versus dull!

Light versus dark!

The feeling of discontent has passed. I love my home just the way it is.

Thanks to Mary of Little Red House
for hosting Mosaic Monday. Please check out her beautiful blog for more mosaics.