From Antiques to Canning

Yikes, I haven't been here in almost 2 years.  Time flies.  Life changes. Interests change.  Time to go out and find fellow bloggers sharing some of those same interests.

Hope I make it back here before 2 more years is up!  Those are San Marzano tomatoes, supposedly the best Romas/Paste tomatoes out there.  And they aren't kidding.  Easy growers, good producers, and fabulous flavor.

Our Christmas meal was wonderful.  I am still trying to snag the very last crumbs of the sage dressing and cranberry sauce.  Meals are always from scratch here.  We basically had our Thanksgiving meal for Christmas since we weren't here on turkey day.  It was all delicious.  Add to that traditional poppy seed and apricot rolls, Grandma's Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookies (my great-great grandma - we use baker's ammonia in these), chocolate nut fudge and rugalah (with many different spellings).  Veggies were collard greens (the healthy way), rutabaga's and mashed potatoes and gravy (which was the best gravy ever - learned a new trick).  Have dropped the green veggies I grew up with (green beans) and replaced them with more nutritious varieties.  Overall, a huge success and am already looking forward to preparing another holiday meal!

Revisiting my Blog after a Long Absence

Going the way of Early Country Life in my decorating schemes and having a lot of fun.  But it takes time to incorporate a new style.  Slow but sure wins the race.

New Client

We are working on a new estate, mostly smalls.  Lots and lots and lots of smalls.  It will be an online only Proxibid auction.  It will have to be broken into 3 or 4 auctions as there are that many smalls.  She (being an 85-year old widow) showed me the most amazing crazy quilt she made years ago.  It is all silk and the stitching is perfect.  As in pure perfection.  Not a loose stitch.  And such artistic feather stitching with some modifications to spice it up a little.  Unfortunately, the quilt will never be for sale as it will become a family heirloom.  I sure hope the younger generations will appreciate it.  Anyhow, here's a few pics...

Catawba Indian Artifact

This face pipe was in the basement of a client whose estate we are helping to liquidate and/or downsize.  Lots of neat other items, but this one caught my attention.  I knew just enough about Catawba pottery to know that's what it was.  I've yet to find any comparibles to determine its value.  The other two pieces are my own, which are fairly common.

Valentine's Day and Occupied Japan

It was a busy day in the kitchen this weekend, baking 2 cakes and a batch of cinnamon biscuits, all requests for Valentine's Day treats.  And we got an unusual snowfall here on the island.  But, back to business today.  Peter says the new website/shopping cart is ready to start adding product.  So, that will keep us busy for awhile.  One of my favorite groups is Occupied Japan...problem is, I keep a lot of it for my collection.  But sharing is still the most fun of all.

Super Bowl and Underwear

Why were there so many guys in underwear in the Super Bowl commercials?  I counted 5 separate commercials of guys being portrayed as unshaven dunderheads in their underwear.  Were the commercials written by women?  LOL.  Anyway, my team won.  And I played with photoshop again.  Fun.  On another note, check out these adorable Black Americana salt and pepper kids.  They are sitting cozy in their yellow weaved basket adorned with a cute red bow.