Farmhouse Porch

Spring is so brilliant and so special, especially after a long, gray winter.

It's always a pleasure to get back outside and ready the porch for the summer season.

So now that it's done, I thought I'd share with you.

I got out the old washtubs again, and this year, I used the bottom shelf, which now looks less awkward than sitting empty.  

In the washtubs are some nice full geraniums.  Someone had asked if I planted the flowers in the washtub.  They are not.  This is a couple of potted geraniums sitting up on a brick so the pots sit high enough to see the flowers.

I keep a cute little enamelware dishpan on the table with water in it for JuneBug.  I think the birdies might eventually find it and don't know what I'll do then, especially since JuneBug is such a good hunter girl.  :(

I just love the old Spirit of  '76 flag flyin' in the wind.
I usually fly two flags, one on the front and side railing each.  
So one of the flags is always 1776.

Come sit, down, let's rock and chat a spell!

How have you been?

I've missed you!

Let's Talk Strawberries

I bought this decal in a package as well as a red geranium, originally 10 cents, now $2.50, adding a little color to a lingering-a-little-too-long winter.  I love how it looks on my depression glass.  It sits on a little clock shelf in my kitchen.   ;)

***

Can we talk strawberries?  We have to plant a new patch and I would love to hear your tips, tricks and the type or variety you like.  Although we didn't have any last year, there's still plenty in the freezer!  Yum!

Cozy @ Home: Thanksgiving

A turkey platter and a pumpkin as well as a vintage book called "Moccasin Trail" nestle among soup toureens and a sugar bowl, as well as a vintage kerosene lantern.

Indian corn hangs from a nail on the old five-panel pine door. 

The watercolor leaf painting is one done by my son when he was in elementary home school.

A wooden pumpkin sits on the window ledge with scattered leaves.

A garage-sale turkey platter is the centerpiece of this buffet display.

On the left are Indian figurines found years ago at Cracker Barrel.  

They are an excellent place to find beautiful seasonal decorations.

And their after-any holiday clearance sales a great!

These nesting bowls are always used on our Thanksgiving table.  

I found them years ago at Sam's. 

You can never have too many nesting bowls!

The Bible is opened to Psalms.

It's been a comfort to me lately.

A little display centered around a $1 vintage child's chair found at a garage sale:  

I love this story of Sqauanto...The Miracle of Thanksgiving.  GREAT for kids.

Find it here.  

About the book: 

This paper-over-board picture book biography approaches the holiday from an evangelical point of view. Beginning with Squanto's kidnapping, at age 12, by the Spanish from his Patuxet village in 1608, Metaxas (The Birthday ABC) follows him to M laga, Spain. His friends are sold into slavery, "but God had another plan for Squanto." Monks purchase Squanto and teach him their beliefs, then entrust him to a kind man in London until he can find passage back to America. Finally, in 1618, he arrives home, only to find his village wiped out by disease. The discovery tests Squanto's faith but does not destroy it ("As he pondered the great sorrow in his heart, he talked to God"). 

When Squanto comes to the aid of starving English newcomers, Governor Bradford predicts the hero's role: "Perhaps God has sent you to be our Joseph." In the end, Bradford and Squanto both give thanks to God for using Squanto in "such a way that would bless the whole world for centuries to come." Of all the offerings this season, this account comes closest to describing the holiday's religious roots and historical beginnings, even though many may argue with the book's politics and/or theology. Stirnweis's portraits tend to be stiff and inconsistent, but his realistic renderings of M laga and London architecture are atmospheric. The culminating illustration portrays Squanto in a pose like Christ on the Mount. Ages 5-10. (Aug.) 

Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

My little recipe book shelf in the kitchen...is a favorite spot to decorate.

It's one of the best little spots to keep things cute!

With garage-sale find crocheted potholders warming it up, a cowbell, and little pumpkin candles.

I like to use the fronts of seasonal recipe books to decorate with, they're too cute to hide!

Fall leaves "scattered" on a Coke crate turned on it's side, 

and a set of vintage coloring books in a little box my sis gave to me...

Scattered reminders of fall on the hutch, 

mixed with blue...

The old farmhouse is finally decorated for Thanksgiving...

I was a little slow this year.

Something different every year, I never do the same thing exactly the same way twice, but one thing doesn't change!

And that is...

The warmth and beauty of the Autumn and Thanksgiving!

Let us now remember...

How we have been blessed.

All in For Orange

The trees turn and I just love the mellow soft oranges that come with Autumn!

But yesterday, I stopped in at the grocery store and they were marking all their "sweetest day" flower arrangements down to $1.

So, I brought some soft orange into the house.

Enjoy Autumn!

PS:  Fall decorating post coming up soon.

Corners of My Home: It's A WRAP!! That's Christmas!

We're down to the "Christmas rush"...those last few days, when we're squeezing in everything extra along with the everyday routines and chores and responsibilities.


We wonder how it will all ever get done. 


Somehow it does.  And we sleep a little in between all those lists.

We may have to re prioritize our time and eliminate some things we really thought we should do, but now cannot do.

This, too, for moms, is one of "those Christmas things"... we recognize that niggling panicked feeling.  

SO much to do, SO little time!

But sometimes, we're so intent on the goal that we miss the scenery on the way by.

Like the excited face of a child...looking at the lights on the tree or dreaming of a toy they want.  We remember back to our own childhood how thrilling it was when the lights came on and that meant Christmas was coming soon.  What a feeling!  May it always be so for our children and theirs.

But when we're no longer children, and we are the ones making Christmas happen in our homes...it may take a little more to get the feeling we remember.

It might mean that we must take notice of the Christmas tree lights reflecting on the window--the way the frost is curling just so around the window to frame it...and we remember that is Christmas, too.

We see the wrapping paper, ribbon, and scraps of paper thrown willy nilly, and remember that, too, is Christmas. 

We see the Salvation Army kettle and hear the kind attendant ringing that bell, and that, too is one of the sounds of Christmas that we have heard for our whole lives--if we just stop to notice...

We walk through the grocery store, and notice that the customers are talking just a little more animatedly and have a more excited sound in their voices, and that, too is part of this wonderful season.

The heavenly scent of those tangerines you walked by, the mixed nuts ready to scoop up and take home, all remind you of the scents of your Christmas stocking when you were knee-high to a grasshopper ...

Greetings between friends and acquaintances are just a little more warm, a little more sincere this time of year than any other.  That is Christmas!

It's all combined to make a warm, wonderful, light time of celebration.

And as long as we have our family, we're fine.  That's all we need.

And somehow, on the day we celebrate, we feel it all come together.  And it's all just fine--no matter what may be left undone.

The greeting cards in the mailbox, peppermint, the eggnog, the ham, the sugar cookies, the cute ornaments and decorations your kids made through the years; it all just gently urges us to get us to that ...

Wonderful feeling of CHRISTMAS.

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

See you on the other side of New Year's!

XOXO
Joni

Corners of My Home: Christmas in the Kitchen

Every year it's different.

That's what makes it fun.

That's because some things seem to fade away and new ones come into our lives.

Just like real life.

Change is constant, sometimes unwelcome and often very hard to adjust to.

But it's the wonderful ways we mark our year that make everything come back around again, and we slow down to appreciate what we have, who we love, and to remember what CHRISTmas is...

Not just the decorating.


Not just the buying.


Not just the planning.

Not just the baking and cooking.


Those are all can be wonderful, each in their own way, all coming together to make warm and special memories for our loved ones.


Celebrating a new beginning, a New Hope for the world...


All from a manger:  a simple, humble place.


We can all have hope, too, in spite of our simple, humble beginnings, that we can make it to the Most High from access through the Son--a King--that came as we did:  helpless, innocent babies.


Only this Baby was different, He was born a King.


Simply amazing.