Our Tiny Teapot

Today I am going to join Kelli in Show and Tell Friday. I have found reading and viewing other show and tell items very interesting.

This is an item that we have had in our home for some time. It is a tiny teapot made from a penny. The story that we have heard about it's beginnings have been passed on to us so I am not absolutely certain of the validity in it.

My husband's grandfather was a Swedish immigrant arriving at Ellis Island. After all of the health inspections, he managed to make his way to Stillwater, Minnesota. He eventually secured a job at the state prison located along the banks of the St. Croix river. Apparently the inmates were quite creative and this is a product of someone's talents. I had always heard that they made license plates but this metal work is really quite spectacular.

As you can see, the lid is removable and the handle swings both ways.

The imprint on the bottom of it tells us that it is constructed from an old penny. The "one" and "cent" are faintly visible.

I hope that you enjoy the pictures of our tiny teapot. I am sure that it would probably not hold enough tea for something larger than an ant but it is a treasure to us.

This and That

It was my full intent to post yesterday and the day did not pan out as expected. I am always so impressed by the bloggers who do such wonderful posts so often. I suppose that as time goes on, it gets easier, but I still seem to spend so much time trying to make things work for me.

My DIL had called Sunday evening to ask if I could help her with carpooling the children to school yesterday. My son normally has the job but it was a "brother bonding" day. Each year our sons plan a day of golf followed by opening day at Dodger stadium.


I felt like the official school bus driver. They have a twelve passenger van and every seat was filled with members from three families. I have to tell you, it was the nicest group of school children that I have ever met. They ranged from fourth to twelfth grade and every one was so polite. Each one greeted me upon entry into the van and said "thank you" upon exiting. It was a great way to start off the week. It was so nice to see parents raising children with such respect.

Upon returning home I had a message waiting from my mother. Her handicap van was having an issue with the ramp door not opening. She had booked an appointment to have it checked out for 11:00 a.m. Unfortunately the repair shop for this speciality is about an hours drive from us. The majority of my day was spent waiting around in the customer service area while they replaced some pulley mechanism inside the door. Thankfully, it was able to be repaired without having to order parts. The van is a vital lifeline for her. Once she became paralyzed she realized that she needed a way to get around on her own. She learned how to drive with hand controls and eventually purchased a rampvan. It has made life so much easier for her and for us.

Monday evenings are weekly dinner dates with my FIL and his caretaker at our house. On my drive home from the repair shop I was trying to imagine what I could whip up for dinner. You can imagine my delight when I arrived home after 5 p.m. to the news that dinner would be postponed until this evening. Bless my husband for changing the plans. All I really wanted to do was to soak in the tub.

Now I have to admit that we Californians are not really happy when our weather turns cold after being warm for a few weeks. Yesterday was one of those days. The temperature only climbed into the low 60s. It was definitely time for a warm fire. I admit that I am usually the one who cannot get close enough to the fireplace. Last night it was my husband and daughter, who had stopped in on her way home, who were monopolizing the warmth.

The roses are starting to bloom and I could not be happier. I really miss the flowers in the house after I prune them back. This is a nice time in the garden with all the color. I just love to have fresh flower arrangements in the house.

The weekend allowed me a little time in my sewing room for playing. I did a lot of stacked up mending and then made a fabric postcard for a friend's birthday. I am working on two summer dresses for our granddaughter's birthday next week. This was her request as she loves the flowery, longer dresses. I also want to get started on some Christmas (!!!) quilts for the kids. I did these last year and the kids all loved them so thought I would try to get some done for them.

The Four Season's Quilt Swap spring quilt has arrived at it's destination. Tracey notified me that it had arrived in her post all the way to Australia. It actually arrived much quicker than I had expected. For all of you quilters out there, this was a really fun project to be involved in. Now that it has arrived, I can share a photo with you.

Now I will be off to accomplish the chores that needed to be done yesterday. I hope everyone has a great week.

Playing in the Dirt

Yep....I have spent the day out playing in the dirt. It was such a gorgeous day and the outdoor chores were calling my name. The hollyhocks had taken over the flower bed and were choking out everything else. I left two stalks with flowers on them as the grandchildren would be so disappointed if I had removed all of them. They love to make hollyhock dolls when they come to visit. Does anyone remember making them as children? My grandmother always had beautiful hollyhocks along the garage wall and my sister and I played dolls by the hours. I suppose that is why I grow them to this day. The flower bed looks a little bare without the overgrown hollyhocks.

The roses are about ready to burst. The warm weather that we have had for the last two weeks has really accelerated their first bloom of the year. I try to avoid spraying them as a routine in their care, but there are certain times when they really need it. In June we will generally have what we call our "June Gloom." Being only about seven miles from the beach, we get the ocean influence. As the deserts heat up they spill their heat over and it collides with the cool beach temperatures. This all makes for foggy, cool mornings which tend to make the roses develop mildew. Spraying keeps it somewhat at bay.

While puttering around in the flower bed I spotted a very interesting snail. It is the shell of a decollate snail. Our snails are more rounded while these carry a pointed type of shell. They sell them at the nurseries around us. They are purchased because their diet consists of eating the type of snails that are native to us. I was glad to see this little guy as we have so much damage from snails. Hopefully he (or she) has brought his whole family with him because he has a big job to do here. He also has to have a LARGE appetite to consume a medium sized snail.

I was kept company by a male quail sitting on top of the fence and calling out to his mate. I just love their calls. They nest in our jasmine bank. Their young are so cute when they grow big enough to follow their parents. This is a great time of the year to be watching the birds. The male orioles have also returned and will be followed next week by the females. The males are busy making nests in the banana and palm trees. I often wonder what happens if she returns and finds that his nest is not up to her standards. They, too, have a very distinct call.

Our hills around us have been so green this year with all of the rain that we have had. It would be nice to get a few more showers before we enter into our dry season. It would be unlikely for us to get much after March but we can always hope. After that we will not get any rain until October or November. Meanwhile we will enjoy the hills covered with lupine and wild mustard.

The sunsets have also been beautiful. Since the evenings have been so pleasant we have enjoyed sitting outside and catching up on our days events as we watch the sun get lower on the horizon.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Easter Weekend

I am trusting that everyone had a delightful Easter celebration. From reading different blogs and receiving an e-mail from my cousin, it sounds like some people celebrated with weather that was not too "spring-like." The Easter bonnets were replaced with something that provided a bit more warmth. Our weather was quite warm and broke all time records of heat for the entire weekend. Easter Sunday it was actually 91* here.

Friday morning I actually picked my first rose of the season. It was a red rose, Mon Cheri, and I thought that my first rose, a red rose, was very appropriate for Good Friday. Of course the first roses of the season will have shorter stems but it is so thrilling to actually be able to pick roses for the house again.

The weekend was busy with family and friends. Our youngest son, his wife and baby were house guests for the weekend. As always, it was fun to have them home for a visit. The baby seems to grow each week and is getting more fun by the day.

After Easter services, we went to another son's home for brunch and an egg hunt. Everyone brings food and everything was delicious. Although it was warm, we all managed to find a shady spot to watch the kids have a great time with each other. The cousins all live close by and it is so interesting to watch the interaction between the children as they grow up. The girls will all be doing their thing while the boys are more into the physical sports. One thing for sure was that all of the children had fun taking rides on Rudy. Our eldest granddaughters took turns walking him around the ring until everyone had enough turns to satisfy themselves. I'm sure that Rudy was positively thrilled to be the center of attention for so long.

Another big hit was the baby chicks. Talk about growing fast!!!! They have grown lots of feathers and are no longer fluffy looking. They are now outside all day and move in under the heat lamp at night. That should be the routine for about one more week when they will then be outside all of the time. With the cost of eggs these days, we need these chicks to grow up in a big hurry.

Today is Monday and a day for cleaning up after the weekend. It is another beautiful day and a perfect for drying the sheets out on the clothesline. I use my dryer for almost everything else but I love the way the sheets smell when they are dried on the line. I am so glad to live somewhere where I can use my line all year around. I remember growing up in the Midwest and having sheets freeze into boards only to have to be draped over the radiators when we brought them inside.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful week ahead of them.

A Nursery Adventure

Earlier this week my husband had taken the day off of work. Since we both love to garden and enjoy looking at beautiful nursery displays, we decided to drive to one of our favorite spots. This is a place where you could spend days and never see everything that they have. One of the best signs tucked away within the plants states, "We buy junk and sell antiques." Of course springtime is an exceptional time to visit any nursery as all of the flowers look so refreshing after the winter blues. The greens tend to be so vibrant as the new leaves start to bud out on the trees and the flowers just seem to scream "look at me."

Don't you just love the display of succulents?

We grabbed a bite to eat at a darling cafe and then headed home along the coast. The wildflowers covered the hillsides. It would be such fun to view it from a plane as it must look like painter's palette. The blue lupine was dotted in with yellow mustard, orange gazania and golden poppies - our state flower. All of this was against a backdrop of lush green hills and crystal blue waters of the Pacific.

I have been busy this week working on a couple of quilting projects. I have completed my spring quilt for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap and will share a photo of it once I know it has arrived at the recipient's home.

With the Easter weekend upon us, I wish all of you a blessed time celebrated with family and friends.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

A very happy St. Patrick's day to all. I hope that everyone will be sporting the green so that you don't get pinched. Does anyone have any idea where that tradition came from?

Again, our weekend was filled with family and fun times. We are tremendously blessed to have so much family living so close to us.

Our youngest son, his wife and the newest grandbaby came down for the weekend. The baby is just about three months old now and has grown so much. This, of course, is a period of such rapid growth. I would just like to slow the process down a little so we have a baby for a little longer. I must say, however, that he is at a really fun age now. He is trying so hard to talk and every moving part of his little body is going until he manages to emit a sound. We had some great discussions early each morning.

As a spur of the moment get together, we called our eldest son and DIL to see if they wanted to come for a BBQ last evening. They were thrilled to receive the invite and joined us with their four children. As I last wrote it was Rick's birthday and we had to have a "cake." Rick was never one to enjoy a cake. Even as a child he would want a pie or, his favorite, a chocolate cookie dessert. I surprised him with his favorite decorated with candles. He was even more thrilled when he found out that I had made two of the logs so he could have seconds. It is a very easy dessert to make as it is simply chocolate wafer cookies stacked with whipped cream in between, frosted with more whipped cream and chilled (or frozen) for about six hours. If you have never tried it....you should give it a go.

After church this morning we all went to visit my mother so she could see the baby. She loves them at this age because she can still hold them on her lap. As they grow it is much harder to try to manage them from the wheelchair.

The kids left late this afternoon and I quickly changed bedding and linens to prepare for the arrival tomorrow of friends from Texas for several days. This was my husband's college roommate and groomsman in our wedding. They, however, had to cancel just a few minutes ago. It would have been very nice to see them again as it has been several years, but perhaps the timing will be better at a later date.

I am still awaiting parts for both the oven and refrigerator as well as the whirlpool tub. This "making do" is getting a little old. Hopefully, everything will be in and repaired this week -- maybe tomorrow!!!! Trying to entertain is "iffy" at best.

I do hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe week.

Thursday's Happenings

Can you believe that the weekend is almost here? I really have not figured out where the weeks tend to go, but they are certainly going quickly these days. I must add that this week has been a much kinder week in regard to appliances than last week. Of course all of the "parts" had to be ordered so I am still awaiting the arrival of them to complete the repair work. In this day and age we expect things to be so quickly and I find myself getting a little impatient with the waiting periods. Guess that the parcels have not come up to the internet speed yet.

Since I have started with blogging, I have found that I am seldom without my camera just in case a good photo op happens. This was the case this week when I stopped over at my DIL's home to drop something off for her. They had recently ordered some new chicks and they had arrived in the mail. The parents had not told the children about the pending arrival and the wee ones were excited beyond belief. As you can see, there is quite a colorful batch of chicks. They also had the choice to have them sent in Easter colors. Can you imagine that? It will be awhile before there are any eggs to be enjoyed, but the anticipation of waiting for the first egg will keep everyone on the lookout.

Of course I also had to share this photo of the youngest one being swung in the tire swing by his siblings. Life is tough on the farm if you were to believe the facial expression. Are you getting tired of seeing the camera happy chicken yet???

And then there is this great game of hide and seek -- you can't see her, can you????

This weekend we will be celebrating our #1 son's birthday. I am sure that their day will be spent at the baseball diamonds with three boys playing ball this spring. Fortunately two are on the same team. So happy birthday to the guy sitting in the middle of this shot.

Where have the years gone? He has been a terrific firstborn and has been a wonderful role model for those who followed. Thanks, Rick, for being such a blessing to our family.

This afternoon I went to donate blood. My regular center was closed so they referred me to another one close to us. Well...... right next door to the center was a F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S needlework shop. I can't believe that I had never found that one before. I do think that I will have to make that a regular stop since I will be making sure that I donate my blood at that center from now on. Not only did I find that gem, but they also passed out a coupon for a free pie from a well known restaurant just for donating this month. How much better does it get? Ahhh, the happy accidents that we find in our lives.

Also this weekend our #4 son, his wife and their baby will be down to spend the weekend with us. We are all excited about seeing the newest little one again. They grow so quickly at this age so even a few weeks makes such a difference in their appearance. From the photos they send, he is a happy and smiling little boy now.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful, safe weekend.