Anne, a reader of this blog, wrote me to tell me that a shop not far from me had some Nancy Drew books that I might want to check out. She wasn’t sure if the books were the ones I collect, but wanted to pass that information on to me. It’s just about 15 minutes south of me in a neighboring town and I had no idea it existed.
What a lovely shop! I was amazed. It’s not big, but the quality is wonderful. Very interesting displays and lots of wonderful vintage items, many of which I wanted! The Nancy Drews were not the editions I collect, but no matter! I discovered a new-to-me shop, so thank you Anne.
I fell in love with this children’s version of a French bistro chair:
It was so lovely – and reasonably priced – that I couldn’t resist. Apparently, neither could Monty! He promptly climbed up and settled in. That look on his face says it all: “Are you going to make me get down, Mom? You wouldn’t do that.”
No, I wouldn’t, darling boy.
After the little jaunt in my car, I came home to the massive chore that is mowing. I didn’t tackle the back forty, or the lilac side of the lawn, but I did do the main part of the front yard, as well as the corral. And frankly, I was pooped afterward.
But it’s done and it won’t be so out of control after the rain that is in the forecast for today and tomorrow. I woke up to it and it’s fairly constant. I have yet to go out and rescue the New York Times, probably because I don’t want to read the headline. Crowing and celebrating over taking away health insurance for millions doesn’t sit right with yours truly. And that’s all I’ll say about that today. I’m doing my best to remain calm.
There are the daffodils in the garden, peeking out from the grasses. The barrel that is furthest away is falling apart, hence the rope holding it together. We put that rope there last year and this year it is increasingly clear to me that it’s time to ditch that particular barrel. Another chore to tackle! I think I can recycle those wood slats – or is it staves? – somehow.
I love this time of year for the wild violets that appear everywhere on the property. My favorites are the larger ones that are tucked under the shade of the bushes. They’re so beautiful! I was going to get a photo of a particularly lovely violet when my neighbor waylaid me. I’ll try to get it this weekend.
If it ever stops raining.
Happy Friday.
nice of anne to tell you about that shop … and that you found such a sweet little chair! am sure the rest of your books will show up sooner or later. :)
congratulations on all that hard mowing you did, too. hope you can get in a rest on that pretty porch!
kathy in iowa
When it stops raining! I brought the cushions in because I didn’t know how windy it might get.
Violets are heavenly! Now I’m missing the ones that cropped up through the cracks in the parking lot behind our NY brownstone. Such little troopers! Monty’s chair is adorable. My two little old french dolls would love sitting there, too.
Right now we’re in full closing-up/packing-up mode. This is my least favorite part…next to un-packing up. Oh dear, what to take? What to leave? Ugh! But, (Yay!) Friday!
You must be leaving soon, Shanna! Hard to leave, but you’ll be happy when you arrive in NY.
Love the little bistro chair (and Monty). How fun to find a cute new shop nearby. It rained a lot yesterday and we should get more today. My few plants are looking good but I’m ready for some sunshine. I have yet to pack up the Easter bunnies but think it’s going to happen today! Time for more spring planters and birds. Hugs!
I guess I’m trying to forget what ‘they’ are doing to our Health Care. Just so sad and mad!
Me too.
Something they’re doing also, not health care…but agriculture-wise…was in our county newspaper today. I’m in an area of SoCalifornia where there’s a citrus industry, lemons more now than oranges. “Local growers are reeling after Monday’s announcement by the US Dept of Food & Ag that it will not extend the stay of the final regulation on importation of fresh lemons from Argentina into the U.S. ” … “The announcement comes only days after Trump’s meeting with Argentinian president Macri and preempts scheduled meetings between U.S. citrus reps and senior officials at the Dept of Food & Ag and the U.S. Trade Rep this week” … “…extremely disappointed by the Admin’s complete disregard for domestic citrus producers and the impact of this rule to the Calif fresh lemon industry…” One of our local growers was quoted as saying, “It was pretty obvious that Argentinian president Macri walked into the White House wanting lemon access and walked out with a deal in his pocket to start importing them.”
Lemons are a big deal in California; we grow nearly 100% of the domestic lemon market. We don’t need lemons from Argentina! How is that helping American growers??? The paper goes on to say, “It’s ironic that the announcement comes less than a week after Trump signed an exec order on promoting ag and rural prosperity in America. Trump and his Admin have turned their backs on the Calif lemon industry and the many family farmers who work tirelessly to deliver a safe and quality product to consumers.”
One expert was quoted as saying, “Allowing the importation of lemons from Argentina is a complete departure by the Admin from its self-proclaimed stance against trade policies that place American businesses at a disadvantage. This is going to open the floodgates to pests and diseases known to be in Argentina that could threaten our domestic lemon supply … it appears that to the Trump Admin, the prosperity of the Calif citrus industry, which is one of the only fresh citrus industries in the world to have not been ravished by the devastaing Huang disease, is not ‘critical to America’s national security, stability and prosperity'” … “Elected reps…said, ‘Yesterday, Trump threw the U.S. citrus industry – American growers and American workers – under the bus in order to deliver a favor to a personal friend.'”
Since January, just one thing, after another thing, after another thing…to what end? How can we not be filled with despair? Why undo everything that was good?
It’s all quid quo pro with him. You do me a favor and I’ll do you a favor – very Mafia-like. Everything we have worked for is being systematically undone.
Imagine the previous administration(s), seeing all the hard work down the drain. All the people behind the scenes who worked tirelessly over years for reform/good change/progress. And we ALL suffer.
I can’t even begin to imagine how heartsick they must be!
It’s raining a lot here today. The grass looks so green!
It appears that Monty is really enjoying himself…he looks so content! My sympathies on the rain…especially when it prevents you from taking pics. I got some more yard work done yesterday…little things. Still too early to plant….frost possibly this weekend again in low areas, which is us. I’m trying to ignore what happened yesterday. I’m hoping in the Senate there are more rational minds. Enjoy the pitter patter of the raindrops! ;)
I’m hoping they pay for it in 2018.
Me too!! ;)
xo
Such a cute little chair!! And that cow is darling, love him! Oh, this rain. Oh my. And I see on Monday we are dipping down into the mid 20’s. My pansies won’t be happy. I just hope I don’t lose all those lilacs that are getting ready to flower!
I know we’re dipping into the high to mid thirties – I can tell you live at a higher altitude, Debbie!
Such a cute chair, nice to find a new shop for poking around. I have tons of the white violets in my gardens, sounds like an oxymoron though! All I have to say is I am putting my faith in the upper chamber, fingers crossed. No rain her in RI yet just waiting . I miss my old house ( 2O years ago now ) but I do not miss the mowing of an acre + even though it was fun on a riding mower. It still took half a day. Have a restful rainy day you should make a pot of tea read ,all day long.
I have white violets, too. They’re so pretty, aren’t they?
We don’t even have a rider mower! I was fantasizing about having one yesterday.
You know what, Claudia? That rider mower is a great idea. It would be a huge help for the aging-in-place thing. We have to think of all the things to help so that we can stay in our homes for as long as we can.
We’d had Mom and Dad put in handrails going up and down the front and back porches of the house, years ago, so those are already in place for us at this/our/their house. And handrails/grab bars in the shower stall. At our other home, because we figured one or both parents would live with us, which then never happened, although it also helped my husband and I in the long run was installation of raised/taller toilets (easier on the back; easier to transfer from a wheelchair, too). When we’d had that house renovated, we even had the architect design (on his drawings/blueprints) outdoor ramps into the house which could be easily constructed as needed down the line (this was something the people who bought our house were very interested in…those extremely-expensive drawings we did at the beginning…as the man and his wife are actually older than my husband and me; they liked the universal design ideas, and were very interested in making sure they got our blueprints!). That house already had a wide hallway and large interior doors (from the 1920s) to easily accommodate a wheelchair, but that’s something we have to think about with our current bathrooms in the house we’re in now, as it was becoming an issue with my folks (as it happened, they both died before actually ‘living’ in wheelchairs…at the end, could still walk, haltingly, through those narrow bathroom doors although the step-up-and-over into the shower stall was NOT easy, and it would have eventually become impossible).
Another problem with this current house is that I lost indoor laundry…the stupid SoCalif thing of ’50s ranch-style homes (well, mini ranch ones; no second story; patio homes where you live more in the rear of your property than the front, with no emphasis much on a front porch at all)…where some ‘bright’ designer decided a ’50s housewife wouldn’t mind doing her laundry in a dirty old, uninsulated garage. There were only two models available in our subdivision and one would accommodate a washing machine in the galley kitchen but not a clothes dryer; actually, in those models, every house came with a dedicated outside clothes line on a concrete pad. I guess people still didn’t have the luxury of a clothes dryer back then, not in that type of very-very middle class neighborhood. But, my folks chose the other model that had neither clothes line or a kitchen that would take a washing machine…so, my equipment is on a lower level of the house, in that attached garage and, I’m telling you, even right now, it is HARD for me to carry a heavy load of laundry up and down steps to the main part of the house (we’re on a raised foundation), so it’s just gonna be a bigger problem down the road and we’re trying to figure out right now how we can get laundry equipment into the kitchen area, somehow, without it costing a whole lotta money. (We have the model with the much-larger kitchen. It SHOULD be do-able; I hope. Cannot believe how much I miss indoor laundry.) My sister-in-law (in the Midwest) has to go down VERY steep steps to her basement to do laundry and, now that they’re in their 70s, it is proving pretty difficult for her and her husband to be going up and down that narrow stairway while carrying things (which of course didn’t bother them at all when they were first in that house, in their 20s!).
I recently read that remodeling is a big business for certified contractors right now (and like the last five years or so, as the boomers hit retirement age) because a big wave of us ‘seniors’ would rather stay in our homes, knowing that in order to do that, some modifications to the home may need to be made as time goes by. Remodeling is just so, so expensive, though, in my experience. Sigh.
I remember those homes in CA where the washer and dryer was in the garage or outside under a covered porch. Oy! We have a stacked washer and dryer in the bathroom – that’s the only place for it, and I’m grateful it’s on the main floor. But I still have to cart clothes up and down the stairs.
Fun to find a new shop to wander about! That chair looks as if it was meant to meet Monty one day. A perfect fit.
Can’t even talk about yesterday. Not watching or listening to any of it. I still don’t think a lot of the people who are on those health plans understand what is happening. They voted for the idiot to get rid of “Obamacare”. But when people interview them at the clinics, they say that they don’t have to worry because THEY have the Affordable Care insurance. Smoke and mirrors….. he takes his traveling “magic” show on the road to his minions and they are entranced with the hate and the nonsense he spews.
On a much more fun note, my daughter and I are heading a bit North tomorrow to visit 4 Amish greenhouses. Their plants are beyond amazing and their prices are truly wonderful. I feel like there is joy in the air when we meander through their greenhouses. The bad part is when we bring it all home it will have to go into the garage as we have frost warnings tomorrow night. ugh. But, we are enjoying sunny days, so there is that! Have a great day, Claudia!!
I’m not watching any of it today, either! Need my sanity, thank you!
I wish I could visit those greenhouses! I bet they are just a treasure trove for the senses! Hang in there. Soon the frost will be a distant memory!
I like your new chair, Claudia. Monty has a nice seat. How lovely to discover a new shop nearby! I love shops like the one you described.
I do, too. This one is particularly lovely – not too big, but full of interesting stuff!
I love Monty anywhere he decides to sit, but he is especially charming on the new chair.
Idiot that I am I read all about it yesterday, and again this morning. It must be why my coffee didn’t taste very good. One thing I am confused about is the charging more to older adults, and to those with preexisting conditions. Isn’t that age discrimination and discrimination against people with disabilities?
Yes, it is. I’m assuming that’s why it will be challenged legally. I’ve already read of a few groups that have said they will sue if it becomes law.
The little bistro chair is so perfect for your house and for Monty!
Hope you have a great weekend, Claudia; thanks for all the nice posts all week long!
You’re welcome! Hoping for some dry weather come Sunday!
Always exciting to find a new interesting place. I love to periodically visit a consignment shop downtown that is always getting new things. It’s in an old house with two floors and so much fun to wander from room to room discovering treasures. Children’s chairs make neat “plant stands” too.
I’ve already thought of that! We’ll see what happens when I overwinter my plants. I’m betting one ends up on the chair.
Little chairs are hard to resist! I have not watched any news,but I do know that even if we can’t afford or qualify for heath insurance we can still buy guns. Am I still dreaming?
Yes and health insurance for those who are suffering from mental illness will be harder to get, but the GOP made it easier for them to get guns. What kind of madness is this?
I’m feeling very uneasy about the pre-existing condition thing. To my understanding, this is one of the things that made Obamacare very attractive; that you couldn’t be penalized for it, right? My husband covers me through his employer right now and is resigned to have to work longer than he wanted to, to keep that coverage for me til I hit Medicare…but, if something happened to change that scenario, and I find myself in a gap, I’m afraid I’ll be without health insurance since I’m a somewhat-recent cancer survivor … clearly a pre-existing condition.
My parents were self-employed and had private health care insurance in the years before Medicare but I can remember when my mother had a benign breast lump which had to be surgically removed, the insurance carrier just automatically wiped out their coverage for anything further to do with the breast…like, if she’d developed breast cancer, she wouldn’t have been covered for any surgery/treatment. Dad fought it and fought it to no avail. And when they were just about to change over to something else, she became even more uninsurable due to development of auto-immune disease, so they had to instead sit tight, keep the insurance they had…and just pray for Medicare soonest.
It’s terribly wrong. I’d go so far as to say it’s discriminatory. I wonder if some sort of legal action could be taken if this goes through. Mere and I were talking about it last night: to take something everyone had – insurance that Obama made sure insured everyone with a preexisting condition – and then say you can’t have it? If someone dies as a result of this, could they sue the Republicans in the House? Food for thought.
Your violets and child’s chair are equally darling! My comment on the whole health insurance issue is not suitable to print on your blog…but, I will say totally tongue and cheek, wonder if cosmetic surgery will be readily available under the grand one’s plan???? If we can’t be healthy, maybe at least we can be beautiful to please him.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was covered…one would think he’d go for breast enhancement. Ahem.
I like that chair,it is a great buy. The violets are lovely. The rain here has let up for the time being. Have a great week end and relax!
Marilyn
It’s let up here as well, but I think we’re going to get a bit more today.
Oh Claudia,
How beautiful! Do the wild violets climb at all?
I see them around here and I have been in my new place (it is old but new for me)
I am way too upset after having a couple of posts in response to my feelings today…
I am gonna just leave it there. Color me sad and ashamed of mean Representatives, and troubledtubbytrump
love liberally,
Katheryn
I don’t think they climb, Katheryn. I am with you: sad and ashamed.
Monty is going nowhere. He’s a lucky boy.
Finding a new place to shop for odds & ends is a good find in itself!
Get some rest.
Monica
It is. I always love finding a new place to explore!
Cute bistro chair! Monty looks quite at home there. I think I’ll take a little jaunt up to an antique shop tomorrow myself. They’re having an antique garden event this weekend. I have violets all over my back yard, too. I know some people consider them weeds, but I don’t care. I think they’re pretty. Same with dandelions. :-)
An antique garden event sounds wonderful! Dandelions and violets are short-lived and we should enjoy them while we can!
Pouring rain here too…my extra large yard is full of violets and grape hyacinth too…they look pretty with the yellow dandelions that are still here!
Purple and yellow is such a beautiful combination!
That little bistro chair is just perfect for MHC, but I suspect it is going to be practically impossible to get Monty to move! Perhaps you can find another one that may not be a perfect match but will give you one to use for a plant. Love children’s chairs and have several; always favorites with sooooo many uses. they are great for holding a stack of books.
The evil Trump buffoon and his equally evil cohorts have pushed every rage button I have; wander around befuddled as we witness this unforgivable path of destruction. Are there any Republicans who have ethics, morals and a basic sense of right and wrong? Have only heard of one who spoke out against this hate filled travesty. Sickening is the only word to describe this ; sickening to anyone who sees the injustice and cruelty of it. Can only live with hope this nightmare will be corrected in the future.
Wishing you and all your family many moments of loving good times while we remember that caring and concern for others will prevail. Dianne
Monty looks very happy with his new perch!
It seems as if the Republicans have lost any sense of what is morally right. They’ve sold out. I think there will be blowback in the 2018 elections. I’m sure hoping so.