The Silver Platters

I was hunting around in my cupboards a few days ago when I came across this metal serving tray.  I use this tray once a year or so, but poor thing, it always gets covered up because of all of those scratches.

This tray has been used, abused, used some more and who knows how many decades later, it is still helping to serve food to friends and family.

The back of the tray has got to be one of my favorite things ever.

It's a little strip of bandage tape that people used to use all the time to mark their serving pieces, with my grandmother's name on it.

Mildred Corlett

Every time I see the bandage tape on pieces I cringe just a little bit.  That tape did its job, that's for sure.  Did you ever get this tape on your skin?  It took everything with it when you tried to peel it off - Yoweee!

But it made for the perfect thing to mark a platter.  It never came off of that either!

I've never been able to figure out what the design was around the edge of the platter.  Is it an apple? a green pepper (silver in this case!) or just some abstract form?  Feel free to give your suggestions, I'd love to hear them.


Speaking of the Silver Platters...I had to include this video :)




I hope you have a wonderful week!
Kristin

POTD - Sign of Summer

POTD - Sign of Summer

Nothing says summer like a big galvanized tub filled with ice and watermelon.  This was spotted outside of the L&L Shop-Rite in Lansing, MI.  I've sort of got a food theme going the past few days with the photo of the day - watermelon, cupcakes, and corn.  I wonder what I'll be hungry for tomorrow? :)

Enjoy!
Kristin

The ice cream pirate

What do a brick and a pirate have in common?


They are both located in Avondale!

Well that wasn't too terribly exciting, but I was having trouble with an intro to this post.

Forgive me :)

Please.

After my walking tour where I went through the Avondale neighborhood and took pictures (blog post - Pretty Pictures) I stopped at the Brick Restaurant.

Yummy food.

Great atmosphere.

Awesome brunch on the weekends.

I really like this restaurant but on this day, it was a godsend.

I was so hot, so tired from my long walk and I was pretty far away from my car and shhhh...I really needed to use the bathroom :)  I took a seat at the bar and cooled off by ordering a soda and a water.  I think I stayed for nearly a half hour. The sun and Florida heat can really wear me out.

The week before I actually ate lunch at the Brick, not just a glass of water!  I met up with Dysfunctional Mom from "Putting the Fun in DysFUNctional."  She and her husband were in town for a softball tournament that her daughter was participating in, so they had the opportunity to meet me!  I was so excited to have someone come through Jacksonville!

She was such a lovely person.

I didn't mention her trip earlier because sometimes bloggers like to keep their whereabouts secret and I forgot to ask her if this was the case - so I waited until she got home - just in case.  Then I waited a few more days because I kept forgetting.

Yep, that's me.  A really great blogging friend.  I can't even remember to blog about meeting a new friend.



Back to this weekend...

After cooling off at The Brick, I walked over to the ice cream shop :)

OK, so actually I was on my way to my car when I passed right by the Florida Creamery.  (They can be found on Facebook, here.)

I peeked into the window and saw this giant pirate!

I couldn't resist going in.  This was just too much of a photo op to NOT go in and see it.

The old Florida postcards were a hoot, too.  They were enlarged and became the artwork. 

I sat next to this gal.

I don't think she ever intended on going into the water.  Her hair was perfect with her pink headband and the swimsuit had a belt.  She was too perfect to be jumping in the waves any time soon.

The postcard is correct, it is Sunny Scenic Florida.

Can you imagine being this diver?

Oh my goodness I get claustrophobic just thinking about it and I'm not claustrophobic!

This pirate was a hoot though.  I wonder why this larger than life design was made.  The gal in the ice cream shop didn't know.


If you're ever in Avondale, stop by these two places.  They'd love to have ya!

The Florida Creamery 3566 St. Johns Ave. Jacksonville, FL 32205

The Brick 3585 Saint Johns Avenue Jacksonville, FL 32205-8445


Have a great week!
Kristin

POTD - Cupcake Love

POTD - Cupcake Love

Sometimes that's all you need to say.  I like the hidden message from another day.  I think it says "A cupcake makes any day better."   This cupcake shop is in the Avondale neighborhood of Jacksonville.  A few years ago I actually had a cupcake from this shop.  My friend Bob and I went in, ordered and proceeded to eat the most delicious cupcakes I think I've ever had.  Thankfully the shop was closed by the time I walked by so I didn't have to use any kind of willpower to resist buying one.  I might have purchased one for Tom, too.  Maybe :)

Enjoy!
Kristin

Pretty houses

I love to take a walk through a neighborhood and take photos.  Interestingly enough I call them neighborhood pictures.  Genius, I know :)   I walk around and take photos of the beautiful houses, interesting sculptures, gates and flowers usually.  Today was mostly a house and front door kind of day, but I did manage to find a cool gate, an ivy covered stairway and a tree swing that overlooks the river. 

Today's neighborhood picture day was through the Avondale Neighborhood in Jacksonville, FL.  I don't actually live in this neighborhood, I just came to take a walk.

This is the ivy covered stairway. 

Look at the top of the chimney.  It looks like two large pottery vases and a small one have been placed up there.

Sundays in my City is hosted by Unknown Mami.  I'm so very grateful to be able to be a part of it again this week and to be a part of Mami's carnival.  Hope you enjoyed the tour :)

It's so much fun seeing all of the different cities each Sunday. Thanks Unknown Mami!


Hope you're having a great weekend!
Kristin

POTD - The Boxer

POTD - The Boxer

I've been told several times the past few weeks that I need to have my Christmas cards ready and available this month. You've heard of Christmas in July?  I guess this is it!

Here's one of the snowmen that I found last year at an antique shop.  The way the photo is cropped he sort of looks like a boxer to me.  A boxer with a bow tie. 

I'm not sure he's a keeper for a Christmas card, but I do like him for a photo of the day.

Merry Christmas in July!
Kristin

Vinton, Iowa

Vintage postcard source

Last week I stopped into an antique shop.

I don't normally shop but I was drawn into this store and just couldn't help myself.

There are a few things on my "watch list" and I happened to find two recipe boxes that were full - a definite YES on my watch list.

The woman who collected these recipes would write down a recipe on about anything!

I found slips of paper, pieces of magazine and amazingly enough even a Christmas card.

It's stuff like that makes old recipe boxes so much fun to discover.

Now this is just a guess, but I'm betting that the owner of this recipe box spent a lot of time in Vinton, Iowa. 

These three recipes are part of the State Bank of Vinton collection.

We have Christmas Cookies, Marg's Rocks and the all important 1 2 3 for Beets. 

I just think it's awfully strange that a cookie is called Rocks.   I guess they must be pretty good or else my unknown Vinton Iowa recipe keeper wouldn't have asked for and kept the recipe. 

My very favorite part of this recipe collection is that it wasn't too musty.

That's the biggest problem I have with finding vintage paper - it tends to makes me sneeze, gives me a headache,  and after I ooh and ahhh for a few minutes I pretty much have to seal it up in a ziploc bag and never go near it again.

These recipes were quite different.   I've actually gone through them several times and I think I'm going to find a few recipes that will be keepers!

I think I'm going to make Rocks.  Maybe even this weekend?  hmmmm, maybe.

This closes the State Bank of Vinton recipe collection.  Hope you enjoyed it!

Have a wonderful weekend,
Kristin

POTD - Corn on the Cob

POTD - Corn on the Cob

Corn on the cob is one of the delights of summer in my book.  It's just a butterfest so I don't eat it very often, but I love it so much.  This was my first corn on the cob feast of the year.  Oh goodness, it was so good.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Friday Fragments

Happy Late Thursday/early Friday! It's time for some Friday Fragments.

Thanks to Mrs. 4444 of Half Past Kissing Time for getting so many incredible bloggers together for some fun and interesting fragments.  It's one of my favorite blogging days of the week!  I love Fraggin' on Fridays.

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I buy the rectangle boxes of Kleenex in the marbled packaging, usually in the economical three pack size.  When I unwrap them from their plastic I tear off the the perforated strip on top when I store them because nine times out of ten when I am out of Kleenexes and am going for a new box, I'm in the middle of a sneeze!  So I make sure that the boxes are ready to use immediately without a whole lot of fuss to get the Kleenex out of the box.

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I haven't watched Paula Deen on the Food Network in quite some time, so when I saw her on the Next Food Network Star this past week I kept thinking that something was off with her.  At first I thought she just needed some lipstick, which she did - but I finally figured it out - She got new teeth!  Now that I've looked it up online, it seems this was a hot topic last spring!  Oh dear I'm a whole year behind.

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Found here on Craftzine.com

I saw a ton of Smartcars when I was in Rome.  I would have just flipped if I had actually seen this one!  Turns out this was done for a Roman Festival in May.  The owner/knitter blogged about it here. What fun!

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Sometimes I think it's because I don't have kids is the reason why I am so behind in certain types of technology.  I've never owned an Xbox or Wii for example.  I want a Wii, but I am not really sure why.

When I was visiting with my family my niece Zora, she came up to me and said, "Tottie, I made a we me of you and I can't wait for you to see it."

(Tottie = Auntie)

HUH?  I had no idea, so I asked her to say it again and I listened very very closely.  Very slowly, she said, "Tottie, I made a we me of you.  Actually I made several we me's of you and my other Tottie and Papa and Nana."  I smiled and said, OK, still not knowing at all what we were talking about.

The next day when I showed up at her house she was nearly bouncing up and down because she was going to get to show me the we me's.  Once again I smiled and nodded, but I was so happy to finally be able to solve this riddle.  She got out her Wii and then showed me all of the Mii's that she made.  Ahhhh, it all made sense.  She made little virtual people for her Wii and they are called Mii's.  Here I thought I was losing my mind.  Now I really want a Wii, if for no other reason to make a Mii!

I found a blogger that made a bunch of Wii Mii's of some people you might know - here. They are really good!

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Love me when I least deserve it, because that's when I really need it. - Swedish Proverb

Oh, boy isn't that the truth!

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Here's a sneak peek at a free printable recipe card from Homemade by Jill as part of a Bridal Shower gift .  She has one card that has a chocolate cake recipe already on it and one that's blank.  I like the large orange design on the side with the aqua border.  I have already printed off a set for me and I really like them.

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My Facebook friend said --- Gotta appreciate the perspective of a one-year-old: Loves the feel of the heavy rainfall (More! More!) but terrified of my black umbrella springing open.

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Congratulations to Mrs 4444 for attaining that 1000 blog post milestone.  She did a Best Of that contains her ten favorite blog posts.  Also be sure to click the blog hop and see what others are Fragmenting about this week.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Kristin

POTD - Birdbath

POTD - Birdbath

I trespassed onto someone's front lawn to take this photo.  I had too!  Just look at that bird hanging out on the side of the birdbath, she was begging to have her photo taken.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Gifts in the mail

I had been tipped off that I might be receiving something in the mail because my friend, Ruth Ann, of My Remodeled Nest, asked for my address :)  That's usually a good indication that something is coming my way.

Other than that, I had no idea what might be coming.

She mentioned a few months ago that she had something for me.

Because I have the memory of a gnat, I had forgotten that she had said something.

When I opened up the card this afternoon, a few things fell into my hands.

When I saw that shiny copper I got all excited!

Have  I mentioned how much I love smashed pennies?!

I love them.

Ruth Ann mentions that the first penny, from the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, was what she had gotten a few months back -- ahh yes, I remember that now :)

If you'd like to do the chicken dance, go on over to the museum site - what a hoot.  You'll see the chicken right away.  When I clicked to go into the site a bit further, there were so many other fun things to play with there, too.  Now I wish I lived closer!  What fun. 

Isn't that just a cute penny!  Love the child in front of the easel.

The next place that Ruth Ann traveled was to Assateague Island.  I had already heard of this place because of the book series by Marguerite Henry.  I loved Sea Star- Orphan of Chincoteague and Misty of Chincoteague. Oh the childhood memories it brings back thinking of those two books.  I could only assume that Assateague was nearby especially since Ruth Ann told me about the wild horses.  It had to be the same part of the world.

Looking it up on my my handy dandy Google map showed me that I was indeed correct.  Assateague Island National Seashore is up in the right hand corner.

When I was looking at the map, I have to say that I saw something that I wasn't sure was a real town.  It's down here at the bottom, left side....Assawoman.  Really??  Right there next to Temperanceville.  haha

So Ruth Ann and her family went to the seashore on Assateague Island in either Maryland or Virginia (not sure which side of the line they were - maybe both!)  Her family had a wonderful time and she took some stunning pictures.  She blogged about it over at her place, here.    The second photo, with the baby nuzzling her momma is the photo she put on my card.  Love it!

And can I just say - She has the cutest boys! 

Ruth Ann knows how to get things done.

In this case, she discovered that the penny smashing machine was in a section of the park that charged an entrance fee.  So she asked the woman at the guard gate for a pass to just go to the gift shop to smash some pennies.  The woman had no idea what Ruth Ann was talking about and from what she wrote in the card, it sounds like the guard was thinking that she was just making stuff up!

Thankfully the guard allowed them to go to the gift shop, but they were only allowed 10 minutes.

or else...

The grateful Ruth Ann dashed into the gift shop and pressed some pennies.  She even made and extra one, just in case they lost one...but as they were ready to pass through the gate, Ruth Ann decided that the woman at the guard gate needed to have a pressed penny.

What a fabulous Random Act of Kindness!!!

From what I understand she was absolutely thrilled to receive the penny.  And of course, now she'll believe that there is a penny smashing machine in the gift shop!

The last thing in the card was this shell.  It's white on the other side and that's the side I saw first, but when I turned it over I saw these layers of purple.  I immediately smiled.  I now understood why this was included in the gift - I love purple.

This is just a beautiful piece and it's so smooth.  I may keep this in my purse - sort of like a gratitude rock.  (every time you touch the rock, or shell, you think of something you're grateful for - a nice smooth surface makes a nice gratitude rock.)


Ruth Ann, thanks so much!  I loved the card, the story, the pennies and the shell.  Thank you so very much.  You made my day :)

Kristin

POTD - Swiss Guard

POTD - Swiss Guard

The Swiss Guard protect the Pope and watch over Vatican City.  Their ceremonial dress is such an incredible sight to see that one might think the men are just a decoration in the city but they are indeed guards and are trained as such.   I really liked the view of the guard in this doorway with the green lights all along the hall.

Enjoy!
Kristin

George's Cottages

I have always been fascinated with the old key fobs from motels, inns and in this case, cottages.   A few years ago I purchased some new plastic key tags that had the shape of being vintage, but are bright and shiny.  The one I have in the house is called the Safari Motor Inn.  I think the one in the car, that holds my mailbox key is the Kings Court. I do like them, very much actually, but having the new ones has made me aware that I would like an old one or two.

I'm sure I was on someone's blog when I found a link to the Etsy shop of Lucky Little Dot.  I clicked over and found some really neat things in their vintage shop, but when I happened upon the key fob, I pressed the buy button.

I hardly every buy on impulse like that, but this was wonderful I could just tell.

The package arrived just days later with this lovely tag, which by the way, was stitched at the bottom!  What a great detail. 

It's always such a pleasure to open up packages that arrive from Etsy sellers.  They tend to have at least one really cool element that makes you even happier that you chose to buy from them.

Thanks so much Lucky Little Dot, the key fob is truly as wonderful as I was hoping it would be.  I haven't decided what I'm going to use it for, but I will use it.  Maybe I'll change out my mailbox key and put it on this one instead.  hmmm,  decisions, decisions.

Have a wonderful day!
Kristin

POTD - Kids in the surf

POTD - Kids in the surf

I'm just drawn to red this week as I couldn't resist yet another sunset photo with a red sky.   This photo was taken in Clearwater, FL in January of 2010.  I was watching a family playing in the surf when I realized that they'd be in silhouette, so I could take their photo and not have to ask permission.  The parents soon sat down on the beach but the kids were still playing.  

Enjoy!
Kristin

Don't get caught in the rain

Mrs. 4444's Favorite Things Series is wrapping up today with the Lawn-Garden-Garage Edition.  I immediately thought that I wouldn't have a thing to talk about since I haven't had a yard or a garden in quite a  few years.  I had a yard when I lived in Daytona Beach, but I had a lawn service, so it was like I had a view and not a yard :)

However!  

Today as I was driving home from my outing I realized that I do have a WONDERFUL product to showcase for the Garage Edition.

I have been known to have a panic attack while driving in a rainstorm.

A serious panic attack.

Hyperventilating, sweating, crying...a danger to society.


I used to put Rain-X on my windshield to help bead the water up and make rainstorms less scary for me.  The problem is that it's a real chore to put that on your windshield and I'd have to bring a ladder out to the car so I could get the whole windshield.  So, needless to say,  I didn't get this accomplished often and when a strong rainstorm would catch me during an off week, I might not have the product on my windshield.

My entire life changed the day that Rain-X came out with a windshield washer fluid that puts the power of Rain-X on the windshield effortlessly.  You pour it into the washer reservoir in your car and use it as you would any other washer fluid.

Now that I live in Florida we have some mighty heavy rainstorms nearly every day in the summertime.  Today's storm was a doozy!  There were dozens of cars parked alongside the expressway to wait out the storm and cars driving with their wipers on the highest setting still barely creeping along.  Me on the other hand, I had my wipers on normal speed and I was traveling at a safe speed (I think I was driving 40 MPH during the storm on the expressway) and was able to see through my windshield nearly effortlessly.

No more panic attacks.

I love love love this product.  I keep a jug of it on hand at all times and I only fill my washer fluid reservoir in my car with this product.  (Psst, it also comes in a de-icer for all of you Northern folks that go through winter.)  I make sure that my oil change guys don't fill the washer fluid because I don't want my Rain-X diluted - either that or I fill it up to top so they can't top it off :) 

 Have a wonderful day and enjoy the other folks who have joined up with the Favorite Things Lawn-Garden-Garage edition.

Have a Wonderful Week!!
Kristin

POTD - Palm tree teeth

POTD - Palm tree teeth

The dried up, sun bleached spikes on the palm tree fronds look like deformed sharks teeth. Don't you think?  When the palm fronds are alive, green and kickin' those spikes will spear you within moments if you attempt to touch the fronds. I had no idea that palm trees fronds were so dangerous to humans until I had one in my yard.  Hauling them to the curb for pick up was hazardous duty!

Enjoy!
Kristin

The Rome Reunion

We had our Rome reunion last night and almost everyone brought their photos so we could see them.   I flipped through a scrapbook and a few photo albums while I watched a photo DVD with a soundtrack.  There were several stacks of photos, another photo DVD as well as the photos that I took.

It was so much fun to relive the trip and see the different photographic views that everyone got of the same subject.   A couple of times I thought "That's my photo!" because it looked exactly like mine and other times you'd hear the whole room buzz, "How did you get that shot!" or "When did you go there?."  Two of the girls climbed up the several hundred steps to the top of St. Peter's Basilica and got the most amazing pictures.   I know the whole room collectively gasp when those photos came up on the TV screen.  They were gorgeous.

We all laughed at the people shots of all of us girls making goofy faces at the camera, but the funniest thing was when after watching the first DVD for about 20 minutes there was finally a photo of me.  Everyone started cheering and clapping.  I didn't realize that I wasn't in any of their photos either!  I didn't mean to be MIA, I was just busy enjoying the city and taking my own photos.

One of my travelmates brought this photo of me, in a frame for me.  This was taken at a castle in Rome that we toured and I guess she got me!  I love it.

I even brought my red jacket with me to the reunion last night and put it over my chair.   The very first day of the trip I wore a black jacket, but the next several days I wore this red windbreaker over my black one - it was quite chilly those days so I needed the extra warmth.  Then I wore the black jacket all by itself again and one of the ladies, Laura, told me that she couldn't find me being dressed in black so I simply must put the red one back on.  I happened to have the red one in my bag, so switched out right then and there.  I never again went out into the streets of Rome without my red windbreaker.  I guess Laura thought I was a flight risk, so I needed to be seen :)




Here's a little slideshow from my latest batch of edited Rome photos.

The slideshow starts off with a few pictures from the hand drawn map in our apartment. The highlighted building is the where we were staying. 

A unique church was just up the road from our apartment and I included a bunch of photos from there.  This church was literally put together from pieces of other buildings and columns.  Truly fascinating.

Then there are a lot of shots of the Coliseum and a picture of the three girls that went on the walking tour with me that particular day. I like mailboxes, so there's three different ones - the red and blue will be postmarked Rome and the yellow mailbox is for Vatican City.

The four photos of the map of Europe shows the Roman Empire. In the beginning it was just Rome - You can barely see the small white circle in Italy. Then some years later the empire has grown and then again and the last photo is of the Roman Empire at it's largest. I was so happy to have walked by these so I could photograph them. They are on a busy busy roadway so you can't stop to take a picture, the only way to do so is to find yourself walking by them...and we did :)

Have a wonderful week!
Kristin

POTD - Testing 123

POTD - Testing 1 2 3

It is so juvenile that I get a kick out of it every time I see this tag, but I do!! I've been wanting to make this the Photo of the Day for a long time, but I've been chicken.  Well, I decided to man up and just do it :) 

Enjoy!
Kristin

Mums the word

I've had to keep a secret.

I don't know if I'm actually a secret teller, but I do know that it just kills me to have to keep a secret and on Thursday night I stumbled onto something that required me to keep a secret

I went to my dinner with my transplant support group friends at a place called Mimi's.  We were meeting there at 6pm and I walked in right about that time.  One of the group members walked me to the table and as I was about ready to sit down, I hear "Hi Kristin!"  There, at the table right next to ours was my friend Lori.  I hugged her and said hello and something else I'm sure, and then I looked up to see the rest of the people sitting at her table when I see Aunt Jean!  (shown in the photo above)

I yelled out (I'm afraid I did not use my inside voice)  Aunt Jean!! and in order to get to her I had make a little lap around the dining room because our tables were too close together.  I was absoluetly thrilled to see her.  

You see, she lives in Ohio.  She came on our Rome trip and when I met her in Philadelphia for our flight to Rome, I instantly loved her.  She's Lori's Aunt Jean but she was "our" Aunt Jean the whole trip.  We all said "Hi Aunt Jean!" probably more times than she cared to hear and when Lori started saying "I love you, Aunt Jean,"  well, I started saying it too. 

These days, when Lori calls me on the phone she says "Hi Aunt Jean" to me and I say it to her.  It's become jokey and fun and keeps Aunt Jean in our hearts.   (although I have to admit I just typed out hearse!  Oh my goodness what a hoot.  ...keeps Aunt Jean in our hearse... I can hardly type I'm laughing so hard!)

OK - so back the story!

Because I was such an Aunt Jean fan, Lori and Jean were anticipating my reaction at the Rome party when Aunt Jean comes walking in - I was sure to cause a scene and become far too excited!  Well it all happened just a few days early when I stumbled upon them at the restaurant.  Of all people to run into, I run into them. 

I love it.

I hung out with my Rome group tonight and saw some awesome photos from the other members of our group, we ate some delicious food that our host, Ann, made for us.  Goodness it was delicious.  It was called the Taste of Italy Dinner - spaghetti, meatballs, homemade sauce, salad and bruschetta.  Two other girls made up the dessert that was similar to the one we loved so much in Rome.  The rest of the evening was spent by seeing the wonderful photos that everyone brought, laughing at the fun times we had and telling stories. 

Aunt Jean doesn't leave until Monday so I've invited myself over to Lori's Sunday afternoon.  :)

What a great surprise.  I'm so happy that I didn't have to keep that secret for more than two days because I nearly burst from excitement.

I love you Aunt Jean!  Thanks for coming to Florida to the reunion dinner.  What a treat to have you here.

Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Hidden Messages Revealed

POTD - Hidden Messages Revealed

I turned up the color on the photo of this Savannah, GA building so that I could see the faint markings of the advertisements from the past.    Since I can't read most of what's on the building it almost looks like it's been written in a foreign language. 

This is the building without the enhancement.  You can click to enlarge it.  My first double photo in a photo of the day - but since it's the same photo I'm going to let it slide :)

Enjoy!
Kristin