Hot day and Pretty Treasures from Ireland...

Hi Everyone, As you can see from the thermometer  on the back porch, it is a hot day here in Florida today! I ventured outside for just a few moments and am once again in the cool air conditioning!

I will show you some of my Irish treasures . Some were gifts and some I have bought when traveling in Ireland.

Belleck china is so thin, fragile and lovely! There are numerous patterns, but my favorite is the clover.

A nice cup for a "cuppa" as they call a cup of tea.

I found this cute little crumb brush once when traveling in Ireland. We stopped at a little shop off the beaten path and I was quick to spy this unusual crumb brush. She is adorable in her Irish green dress!

A Belleck collector plate which was a gift from my daughter.

A beautiful Waterford crystal candy dish shines on the table. 

Another piece of Belleck. This piece has lilies painted on it. 

Ansley pieces with orchid design and butterflies. 

A beautiful crystal bell from Tyrone Crystal.

Well, now I have them all washed and polished and put away where they can be seen and used, not out of sight. It is nice to use ones' treasures and not hide them away, isn't it? Do any of you collect things from Ireland and Northern Ireland?

Making Oatmeal Scotchies....

Hi Everyone and welcome to Ten Gables, 

My freezer was empty of cookies and I like to have a nice batch or two frozen for unexpected tea parties and to take to church when we have a Senior dinner. So I found a recipe for Oatmeal Scotchies that sounded pretty good. They were good! Yes, I sampled a few before freezing them.Here is the recipe:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1tsp. vanilla

3 cups quick oats, uncooked

1 pkg. butterscotch morsels

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, beat butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla until creamy. Gradually add dry ingredients. Stir in oats and butterscotch morsels. Drop by Tablespoonfuls onto un-greased  cookie sheet and bake 7-8 minutes for chewy cookies and 9-10 minutes for crisper cookies. Makes 4 dozen.

They are Yummy! Won't you join me for tea and cookies?

Hot Saturday in the Garden....

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a good weekend! I took a little stroll in the garden, even though I was tempted to stay inside in the air-conditioning! Click on this first photo to see the bird up close. I am not sure if it is a blue jay or a wax wing. It definitely had a bit of blue on it, but seemed a lot bigger than the blue jays I have seen around here.  Below is another shot of the bird or it's mate. There were two of them, taking a bath in what little water is in the bird bath. A pair of mockingbirds came and tried to run them off, but they stood their ground and ran off the mockingbirds! It was fun to watch.

A close up of a zinnia. I still have lots of them....the one thing I can grow in heat!

This is a glimpse of Margaret's garden. You can see the Mexican petunias in the foreground and in the far end of the little space.  Her blue table cloth looks pretty.

This is her little "gnome town", nestled among her plants.

Pretty potted Caladiums.

Another view of Margaret's garden.

My pineapple has some protection from the animals, made from wire. It is about ready to pick. It is heavy and has bent the stalk down.

Here you can see the pineapple bent down away from the plant. Look closely.

Gorgeous Hibiscus with the very blue sky in the background.  

Best wishes for blue skies and happy days!

More Antiques....

Hi Everyone, today we are visiting Rustic Star Antiques again!

Every little nook and cranny is filled with interesting items. I love the quilts that are hung on the wall. Some of the quilts in the shop are Civil  War era.

This stove is a reproduction, electrified by Country Charm.. I would love to decorate a kitchen with only old kitchen furniture, such as this and Hoosier cabinets, etc and no kitchen cabinets like we normally use!

Trays are always interesting and useful. These silhouettes are really pretty and the color of green is great!

This old steamer trunk is in my booth and for many years I decorated with it and wouldn't give it up! But I finally decided to sell it. It is from England and I have the owner's name and address from the 1800's!! Can you imagine how it happened to arrive in the U.S.and why it stayed here? Someone could research the owner, perhaps. Why do you think we like antiques? I think it is because of the memories they bring to mind, plus they aren't made any more. Just imagine if I packed this big, heavy trunk for my vacation overseas and tried to take it with me!! One person can't even lift it! Things change, but it is fun to remember "how they were".

Creating a painting.....

Hi everyone,  Today you are visiting my studio where I have been painting on a round painting! My students will be creating a round painting today in class, so I wanted to finish one to show them. They will not copy mine, as I teach them to be individuals and they will use their own color scheme, placement of flowers and leaves. I will take flowers from my garden for them to use as models.

You can see that the round paper is taped to a board with blue tape that is easy to remove without harm to the paper. The tape keeps the paper flat and tight, so that when it is wet it will not get all puffy and out of "sorts". You can see some flowers to the side that I picked as models.  They only last one day, whether in or out of water, so you have to pick new Hibiscus every day. It took a few days to finish the painting.

Here is the finished painting. I washed in a bit of turquoise, some green and sienna in the background before starting on the flowers. I put a liquid mask on the stamen and pistols of the flower, let it dry, painted the flower, then removed the mask and I had the little  bits of fluff left white, so I painted them in last.  Please click on it for a closer view. I hope you know that I have a painting blog, too. It is http://egrettawells.blogspot.com/  You may also  see my gallery at dailypaintworks.com

Hope you have a great day today and don't forget to be creative in some special way!

Mostly Green......a little Lavender

Hello All, How are you this fine day?

It is sunny and beautiful in Florida, plenty hot, but not TOO hot! The grass is very green and pretty because we have had sufficient rain, as you can see in these photos. There are five wild turkeys in the edge of the woods, but I don't think you can see them, even if you enlarge the photo. I was too far away and the mother turkey kept stretching her head up when I moved and making her four little ones (about half grown) go into more dense foliage.

The brown in the palm tree is not anything bad. Palms fronds just naturally dry up and fall off as new growth comes out of the top.

My Shamrock from St. Pat's day kind of died down in April and May, but is now back up and blooming again. Reminds me of Ireland!

Does anyone out there know what kind of plant this is? I got it at church at a plant exchange. It has itsy little lacy things on the leaves and I am wondering if they might fall off and start other plants. I have it in a pot and don't think I will put it in the garden, as it may be invasive. I need to find it's name and look it up.

The Caladiums are still pretty even though it is hot. Mine are planted in a fairly shady spot and have done well. 

But, alas! Here is my one tomato plant and  has grown gangly and has only one little tomato. See it at the bottom of the picture? It was planted late, not in full sun, as I knew it would just die, so it gets half day of shade. It is a salad tomato, but a harvest of  ONE is hardly enough for even a salad!! No blooms are in site, so I guess this it IT.

On a colorful note, here are some gorgeous crape myrtle blooms. I have pink and lavender ones....these are the lavender. Actually they look more mauve. Anyway, they are pretty. Crape Myrtle trees are pretty in summer, but in winter they are dreadful! Even in Florida, they have not a bit of foliage in winter...just old dried twigs. Then all at once, Wow! So I guess they are worth it.  

More from Rustic Star Antiques.....

Hi everyone,  Is it as hot in your neck of the woods as it is here in Florida? Or maybe, just maybe, it is even hotter! Would you believe that all last week it was in the 80's and low 90's here, while in most states it was into the 100's. Even Minnesota was hotter than Florida, so all my Minnesota friends should have just come on down to Florida and escaped the heat!!Chuckle! 

Today, I am showing you more of the Rustic Star Antiques, where I have a booth. I am having fun in there, changing my display about every week, displaying some of my art work (above) and teaching a painting class there once a week.

Don't you just love old granite ware. My favorite is blue, but this old coffee pot in gray is kind of nice, too.

 On my son's first Christmas in the early 60's, he got a rocking horse just like the one in this photo. That is what is so wonderful about antiques---they bring back pleasant memories!

I love tole trays!!Just look in all the decorating magazines and you will see how great they look with most types of decor, especially with "Shabby Chic".Decorative painted pieces, as well as painted furniture is just flying out of the store. Re-purposing old items is getting a lot of interest, too.

This is one of the painted pieces you will find at Rustic Star, if it hasn't sold already! Don't you adore this color.

A copper boiler and a huge basket. Both would be great for storage.

A Hoosier cabinet displaying everything from tins to aprons. Did you notice the cute school house rug on the floor! Thanks for looking in Rustic Star with me and have a great weekend. Stay in the air-conditioning!!!

Tribute to my friend, Norma

My lifetime best friend, Norma Jo Carter Boggs passed away Friday June 29, 2012 in Georgia. She was born in Loyall, Kentucky in 1940. I met her probably when we were about 5 years old; I don't remember the exact day, but it seems we spent almost everyday of our childhood and teen years together. She was a beautiful, vivacious  person, full of creative energy and so much fun to be with. 

This photo is of the Loyall School Tom Thumb Wedding. She is second from the left in the back row. She was a guest at the wedding, all dressed up with a flower in her hair. She was one of the smallest girls in our room, always petite and cute. I am in the front roll center with a black ribbon on my dress. I was the "mother of the bride", I think, because I was one of the biggest girls in the first grade! So there we were, one very big girl and one small petite girl....best friends.

This photo is of our senior class trip to Luray Caverns. Norma is on the front roll in a black shirt and khaki pants. So cute, as always. You can click on any of these photos to get a closer view.

Growing up.

Norma had pretty brown eyes, curly brown hair and a million dollar smile. 

Here Norma is on the right with another friend, Georgiana, posing by someone's car, as if it is theirs! She was probably about 15 years of age in this photo. In those days, we all wore hats to church and Norma was always dressed beautifully. She looked great in anything...

even baby doll PJs. Posing with stuffed animals that her sister's boyfriend had brought.

With friends at a Valentine party in high school.

Graduating from high school in 1958.

Another beautiful outfit, including hat, on a Sunday afternoon, in Kentucky in early Spring.

Norma was one of my bridesmaids in my wedding. There she is on the right, with her beautiful smile.

Norma, in cream color dress, with my mom and dad and my son in back, and her husband (my brother's best friend) at my niece's wedding.

Sadly, Norma had a stroke sixteen years ago. Here, she is talking to me on the phone on her birthday. I never got to visit her, but she was always in my heart and very often in my thoughts and prayers. When we talked on the phone, the conversation was as if we were still children and we discussed school and painting, sewing, paper dolls, things we liked to do as kids and how we liked chocolate!

Here she is holding my picture and birthday card.

My dear little friend....I will always remember you, your joy in life, your lovely singing voice, all the fun we had and the unique and interesting things we did growing up in that little town in Kentucky.

Norma Jo Carter Boggs   Jan. 31, 1940--June 29, 2012