My things

I miss my things.

I love old things.  Nothing fancy.  Nothing really old.  I love stuff from the 1930s through the 1950s, and especially kitchen things - dishes, crockery, pitchers, pots, rolling pins, cookie cutters.  I like things that are careworn, and seem to have a story to tell.  Things that were used.

My baba and gido (my mom's mom and dad) moved to "town" (Prud'homme, Saskatchewan) when I was about four years old.  My memories of going to visit them on the farm are pretty dim, but what I remember best was my baba's kitchen.  This was in the early 70s, and she was still using a wood and coal stove to cook on.  I remember the kitchen itself pretty clearly, and especially some of the dishes.  She has this beautiful carnival glass sugar bowl and creamer, that I assume she brought out for company.  She also had yellow plaid dishes - what I've learned as an adult were made by Hycroft, and were the Calico pattern.

When my baba passed away, I was asked if there was anything that I wanted from her house.  I asked for any of the yellow plaid dishes that might be left.  There was one dinner plate and one soup bowl.  My aunts laughed at me, thinking it was a silly thing to ask for. Apparently these dishes were given out for free at grocery stores - if you spent $X this week, you got a dinner plate; next week it was the coffee cup.

I don't really understand why I love these dishes so much, but I do.  Over the years, I've been lucky to stumble on more at thrift shops and have spent a pretty penny buying them on eBay.  Once I was at a church rummage sale, and found four teacup and saucer sets in a different Hycroft pattern - and knowing their value, left a hefty donation in addition to the 10 cents per set they charged me.

I have a fair collection now.  I don't have a full set in any one colour, but I like mixing and matching the colours anyway - it looks so pretty on the table.  I've been amazed to find out that there are huge serving platters, serving bowls, cream and sugar sets, and coffee mugs in addition to all the other dishes in the set.  I've also picked up other patterns when I can, and have a soft spot for Dolly Dots.

When I lived upstairs, my dad hung plate rails for me, so that I could display my plates - and I had lots of space to diplay my other motley collections too.  Downstairs, there isn't any place to "display" things. 

A few weeks ago, I had a lightbulb moment.  What if I turned this:

Into this:

It's maybe a little crazy.  But I love it.  And it's me.

This is why I don't blog in the winter

There isn't much going on at the School of Yard Knocks in the winter other than a whole lot of shoveling.  I do have some indoor projects going on.  I changed my kitchen faucet in November; sewed kitchen curtains (finally!) in December.  I have an idea for decorating one bare wall in my kitchen.  I just never seem to remember to take pictures of the indoor projects.  I'll try and do a before-and-after of my wall decor attempts.

Happy winter!

Save the Bees!

I can see that there there aren't enough bees in my veggie garden.  I have to hand pollinate my squashes because the bees just can't do it.  According to Avaaz.org:

Quietly, globally, billions of bees are dying, threatening our crops and food. But a global ban of one group of pesticides could save bees from extinction.


Four European countries have begun banning these poisons, and some bee populations are recovering. But chemical companies are lobbying hard to keep all killer pesticides on the market. A global outcry now for a ban in the US and EU, where debate is raging, could provoke a total ban and a ripple effect around the world.


Let’s build a giant global buzz calling for these dangerous chemicals to be outlawed in the US and EU until and unless they are proved to be safe. Sign the petition to save bees and our crops and send this to everyone.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees/?copy

Yup, it's fall!

Cooking up Patty Pan Squash

I cooked up my first patty pan (or scallop or sunburst) squash today. I've never grown them before.  I posted a picture of a baby one on August 1; three weeks later, it was about 4" across.  I had no idea how big they were supposed to get before you pick them, so I finally googled today.  The one I picked was on the big side of the scale - apparently, you want them no more than 3-4" across, preferably smaller.  Who knew?

I've never cooked patty pan squash before either, so I also googled that while I was at it.  Apparently, the easiest way is simply to prick the skin and then steam them for 5-6 minutes.  We all know that "easy" has no appeal for me, so I went with a different recipe - chop up the squash, dot with butter, sprinkle with parmesan and whatever spices your heart desires, and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.

The parmesan had a Mediterranean feel to it, so my heart decided to desire an Italian seasoning mix plus a dash of salt.

End result - it takes much longer than 15 minutes, though maybe my pieces were too big (methinks not, 15 minutes seemed terribly optimistic right from the get go).  Plan for 30-45minutes, depending on the size of your pieces.  The smell is heavenly, and the squash is pretty darn tasty.  Might try this again down the road, but for the time being, I will likely try other ways, just to see if there's something better.

Anyone have a recipe for me?

Flash Photography at Dusk

I had no idea. I don't think I've ever tried using the flash at that time of day before - not quite light, not quite dark. Made for some beautiful pictures though!

Off to the Fair

I'm having a fabulous weekend.  Yesterday I went to the fair.  Today is Archie's adoption anniversary, which I also designated as his birthday.  Needless to say, I didn't do a lot of yardwork this weekend, which is just fine with me.  It's nice to have a break now and then.

You can't go to the fair without going on the rides.  My friend Tracy and I hit all our old favourites.  One I didn't get a picture of was the Tilt-a-Whirl, which was the favourite ride of both Tracy's mom and mine.  I think we both though of our moms when we were on that one.

And, of course, the Spider has been around longer than I have.

I think this is The Inverter and you couldn't pay me enough money to get on it.  But it made for a cool picture.

This is the Vertigo and I think I could do this one.  But Tracy isn't fond of heights, so we skipped.

The Ferris Wheel!  Does anyone NOT have a ferris wheel story?  I did this one by myself, once it got dark.  They stuck me in a bucket with four prepubescent girls, one of whom thought it was great fun to reach out to the support bars and use those to push the bucket, making it rock.  I was hanging on to the centre post with one hand, and the edge of the bucket with the other - even without the rocking.  I let her get away with it on one go-round, but on the next I asked her stop.

The Wave Swing.  My mom never let me go on this when I was a kid.  I rode it for the first time just a few years ago.  I love it!

This one we did not ride.  Thank goodness!  Just too much spinning for my comfort.

The Ring of Fire.  Tracy tells me that when they stop the cars at the top, you can hear the change from everyone's pockets dropping on the ground below.

The Zipper.  When I was kid, the amusement companies would come through and set up a small number of rides at shopping malls.  One year, when I was about 10, I went to one of the shopping mall mini-fairs with my cousin, who was also about 10.  We went on the Zipper together.  The lap bar didn't lock properly, and it was pretty scary hanging on inside the bucket.  I will never ride the Zipper again.

I've never attempted this ride - they don't make strong enough Gravol for me to attempt it.  Nice picture, though.

And, the Wave Swing at night.

The Ferris Wheel at night.

Just as important as the rides, of course, is the food.  My favourite fair food is the candy apple.  You just can't get the same kind anywhere but the fair.  I'm also partial to cotton candy and sno cones.  The three food groups of sugar, sugar, and sugar do not a balanced meal make, so I balanced things out with souvlaki and nachoes, lol

 Everyone raves about elephant ears, but I've never had them at the fair.  My mom made them at home, so she thought they were a waste of money (for the same reason, she never ate spaghetti at a restaurant).  I guess because they don't have the nostalgia factor for me, I'm fine skipping them. 

 I did get a sno cone though!

 Told ya!  I don't think I've ever had any flavour but lime.

Of course, there are always other activities at the fair.  We stopped to watch Dock Dogs for awhile.  It's a contest that anyone can enter her dog in.  The dog chases the lure off the dock, and whichever dog flies the furthest wins.

 Tracy also wanted to see SuperDogs, which was fine by me.  I've never seen them.  Definitely worth seeing.

And, then, the Showcase of the Arts.  Some years I do this, some years not.  Tracy wanted to go, so we did.  We mostly concentrated on the sketches/paintings, but the quilts were lined up right at the front.  I used to quilt a lot.  I love piecing them together.  Not so much the actual quilting process :P 

Showcase of the Arts entry.

And, last but not least, you've got to play at least a few games.  Tracy was surprised when I called this "gambling."  It's what my family always called it - and basically, it is - you pay money and you take your chances.  There's no skill involved and everything's fixed.  Sounds like a gamble to me!  Still, I'm a sucker for Whac-a-Mole.

  

And sometimes I even win ;-)