A change of pace weekend

For the first time in a while I got out of my antique shop for the whole weekend and did an antique show at a nearby mall. It was not very well advertised but we still did amazingly well. Those "mall walkers" like to shop too I guess.
We had to set up for a couple of hours on Thursday night, then on Friday and Saturday we were there from 9-9 and on Sunday 12 to 5, and got to pack up again. That is a LOT of standing.
The mall itself is not a very active one but enough for us. The only real problems were that the bathroom was a LONG way from where we set up and the floors of the mall were hard. My feet were sore each evening.
I loved meeting all the people. Had some lovely chats. And it was fun to see people get excited with their purchases. One fellow couldn't wait to get home with his "new" old toaster and try it out. And a lady was thrilled to find a cup and saucer that matched a partial set she already had. And then there were the three ladies that were each trying to decide if they wanted to buy the table and chair set. Finally one just handed me the money and said... it is mine.
I am happy I can sell in my shop most of the time instead of a show but this was still a very nice and interesting change of pace.

A good recipe

My daughter is a great cook. She is constantly on the lookout for good recipes. I tried one that she recently talked about on her blog. Well, it sounded good and I had all the ingredients in my frig and pantry so I did it.
The recipe, Chicken Stroganoff, came from the Taste of Home website. My daughter didn't follow it exactly. I did so there was a bit of difference but it was still great. I even took a picture of my offering. Notice that I added green peas and a couple of tomato chunks. When I was in high school I took home ec classes and they always stressed your meal should have colorful presentation. So that is what I did with this one. I did not use paprika this time. Maybe I will the next time I make it. However, I think I will go back to using beef. That seems to be more of a family favorite here.

Swaps and Art and Such

A friend of mine told me about all the swaps she was doing at a site called Swap Bot so naturally I had to check it out.....
And I signed up for three swaps. That is in addition to the two I am already doing with the ATC-ArtDolls swap. So my art studio is now a mess of paper, glue, embellishments and I am loving it.
I have been so wrapped up in making clothes for my dolls and doing dollhouse things I had forgotten how much I like doing these little art projects.
I will post pictures here after I am finished and of course after the recipients have seen the results.
So now to get the glue and glitter off my hands..... LOL .........

Anniversarys and Restaurants

We always know which anniversary we are celebrating when it comes. Just check on the number of the superbowl. The first one took place near our first anniversary.

We celebrated our 42nd anniversary three days late thanks to a small bout with flu.
We went out to dinner last night at one of the newer style restaurants, Bennigans. The kind that have a bar, a grill etc. They are all pretty much the same..... however at least this one had excellent food. Even if the beer was flat...........

But my real problem with these places is that they are so "cold" feeling. No tablecloths or even placemats. And the napkins are wrapped around the flatware with a little paper thing that is on so tight it is hard to get off and you end up tearing the napkin. What is it with that.... they save a bit of money I guess but they certainly charge enough to make up for it! The "niceties" of dining out seem to be gone. So while we enjoyed the food we were still disappointed. Now you may say... well the food was good so what was the problem........ We just felt a bit cheated in the whole "dining" experience. We must just be old fashioned but I don't see why we have to feel old fashioned because we like our dining out to be a bit of an experience.

Any comments on this would be welcome

Ice Storm 1998

(You can click on the pictures to see them in a
larger size)






Ten years ago this month, while we were living in Maine, a terrible ice storm came through. We ended up going without electricity for 9 days. Thanks to our sort of pioneer spirit we had a lovely wood boiler furnace and an antique gas and wood cookstove we had heat and could cook But no electricity meant our water pump didn't work and no tv, computer or lights. We had a lot of kerosene lamps so we could see at night and a portable radio let us be part of the world. Our phone lines came down but my husband could fix that.

It was an interesting experiment. We didn't have a terrible time but realized we like living in the modern world. We rejoiced when we could have our first shower and didn't have to melt ice to get water for the toilets.

We ate well because we had to quickly use up everything in the freezer... It was cold out but not enough to keep the food.

I am putting up some pictures of that ice storm. It was a beautiful scene......... but.......... a lot of work to get life back to normal.

This was not an experiment I wish to repeat.

Fun at the Farm Show

The Pennsylvania Farm Show is one event we like to attend every January. We go mostly to see the draft horses but enjoy many other things as well. The show is varied and there is really something for everyone to enjoy. The Farm Show is a full week of interesting events.
Our favorite thing at the show is the Draft Horse Hitch Competition. Those beautiful draft horses put on quite a show. The Percherons, Belgians and Clydesdales are beautiful, strong and proud horses. Here are a couple of pictures from the event.




Some of the teams are sitting here
awaiting judging


















Before we watched the horses we headed to the chicken displays to take some pictures for a friend of ours. There were some amazing looking chickens and roosters. Some of them are beautiful and quite photogenic. Here is a beauty of a rooster. I don't know the name of the type.















And a final surprise was this Miniature Country Store. I was not expecting to find any miniatures at the show but I was wrong. The detail is amazing I thought.

Oh and I can't forget the FOOD. Many of the various agricultural associations offer food in the food court. We both thought the mushroom items were outstanding.

Now we are looking forward to next year.

Snow can be beautiful

We woke up this morning to a lovely snow covered world. Now, I enjoy looking at snow, just don't like it to last too long. Today it was beautiful.
The sun is out and has started the melting process but I am enjoying it at the moment.
Here are a few shots I took earlier.
From the back porch:
The side of my garden shed:
I took a quick pic of the Atlas Cedar. It is quite pretty but I must knock the snow off soon before the branches get too heavy and break.

Happy New Year to all my friends and family.