Under a Blue Moon

 

Just so you know ~ not only do I talk the talk….

 

I also walk the walk. 

All of things things have been mentioned in my Friday's Favorites and I've purchased them myself.  You know, for blog research.

 

Glitzy ribbon here.  Tape and papers here.

 

When I was at the Remnants of the Past show last weekend one of the things I was keeping my eye out for was milkglass.  I'm starting to amass a nice little collection of it (amass? little collection?  Is that an oxymoron?).

I love white and I think groupings of anything that are the same color look nice and clean. 

Please ignore the plaid chairs in the background.  They are fabulously comfortable Bergere chairs and I was over the plaid about 30 minutes after we got them home.  They would look nice in a creamy white too…

 

For some reason every single picture I took in a five minute timespan turned out a different color.  I think my camera hates me.

Those stacked dishes are small clam shell plates.  I think they would be fabulous as a salad plate.  They are also nice if you have an assortment of toppings for a dish – like if you are serving tacos or maybe even ice cream sundaes. 

 

That small, footed, fluted vase on the left is what I picked up this weekend.  What is nice about milkglass is that the pieces are easy to find and are reasonable.  They also incorporate nicely with just about any look, in my opinion. 

Now that I have a decent sized collection of it I need to figure out a way to display it.  Right now I have it various cupboards or sitting out on various surfaces.  I think it has a better impact when they are all grouped together.  And I don't want to leave it out in my living room.  That was just for photographic purposes.  Poor Rick comes home and thinks I've lost my mind.  "Why are all our dishes in the living room?"

The very first piece of milkglass I ever got was the hobnail pitcher.  When I was moving out of my parents' house at the tender age of 20 my mother pulled it out of her linen closet, just as I was loading my final load of belongings into my car, and said "Here.  You'll need a vase."  It was almost like an afterthought yet it has become one of my favorite things.  Who knew 31 years later I would be scouring flea markets and antique fairs for more pieces to add to my collection.

 

 

One nice thing about all the rain we had this Spring is the absolute explosion of flowers it brought.  They weren't kidding about that whole April showers/May flowers business. 

Azaleas and Rhododendrons do especially well on our property.  Just the right combination of shade and benign neglect.  This year is the best they have ever looked.

And those Iris – they came from my sister Kate.  When we moved here ten years ago she divided hers and gave me a bunch of them to plant in our new garden.

I think it might be time to divide mine.

 
 

 

 

 

First off excuse the number and quality of the pictures in the post.  I took them with my cellphone and the quality is not great.  And there are a lot of them.

I had a delightful weekend.  My sister Kate and I drove down to Carmel on Friday morning and met up with our sister Nicki for lunch and a little shopping.  We had lunch at my favorite restaurant, The Corkscrew, in Carmel Valley. 

We all returned to Nicki's house where we were joined by our sister Trish.  Nicki prepared us a fabulous dinner of shrimp served over fettucine and a lovely salad with toasted goat cheese crostini.   There is Nicki, slaving away in the kitchen.  I put my wine down just long enough to take her picture. 

 

In the morning we all piled into my car and headed for Nipomo which is two and a half hours south of Nicki's.  We, along with eight million other like-minded souls, were headed for Remnants of the Past. 

I wish I could say it was a fabulous experience but because it was reported in Country Living magazine the crowds were overwhelming.  I don't think the organizers had any idea the turnout would be so high and weren't prepared for it.  We had to park about two miles away in a sheep field and be shuttled to the event.  The shuttle only held 40 people and we had to wait over an hour for our turn.  Once we got to the event it was so packed you couldn't even get into the booths to see any of the wares.

 

(I don't know who that random woman is – it was the only shot I could get).  We only stayed for about an hour and then got back in line and took the return shuttle to our car. 

I hope the vendors did well.  Even though the crowds were there I'm not sure anyone got a good enough look at anything to do any purchasing.  I ended up with one small milkglass vase.  I have a feeling there was a lot of treasures to be found – if only one could get near them.

 

So while that part of the weekend was certainly disappointing it still was great fun to be with most of my sisters.  We do have a good time when we get together. 

Gorgeous rose garden, no?

 

Since it was still fairly early in the day we decided to drive into San Luis Obispo and have lunch at Novo's.  Lovely restaurant and great food.  We wandered up and down the main street and poked our heads into a couple of shops but we were all worn out from the morning's activities so we piled into the car and headed back to Nicki's.

Kate & Trish headed back home but I stayed over one more night.  In the morning I decided to head to the coast and check out a couple of antique stores in Soquel.

 

I got there a little bit early so I sat on a bench and watched the seagulls until the shops opened. 

I went to one of my favorite shops – Wisteria Antiques.  I found a beautiful tiered serving tray made out of wire and pressed glass plates.  I don't think it is old – but it has a lovely vintage patina and you know how I feel about pressed glass. 

I'm really sorry about the quality of these pictures but here it is:

 

I can see it in the kitchen of a French farmhouse, piled with fresh fruit or pastries. 

I'm thinking every weekend should be a three day weekend, don't you?  Who do I speak to about that?