Set in his/her/their ways

I am sure you have heard this phrase used to describe someone. I never thought it would apply to me but it does. And it applies to Jack and it applies to us. It is getting worse. My son wanted us to go home a different route so that we could see what he has been working on. We don't ever go that way. We only go a certain route.

Sunday nights we have homemade pizza. This means we do not go out nor do we entertain and there are almost no exceptions to this.

We don't drive anywhere on a holiday weekend in the summer in Maine. We only shop at certain stores.

They used to say that Gram Potter was set in her ways. She couldn't come home from shopping without buying something. Grampa Lane didn't like to travel far from home. Gram Lane did not share her fudge. My mother did all her work in the morning - nothing after lunch except maybe a bridge game. I do nothing after lunch and if I had fudge, I probably wouldn't tell you!

Christmas is our favorite holiday. We decorate early and enjoy the way our home looks. Because we both missed some Christmases when our spouses were so ill and after they died, we treasure our holidays.

I shall order the live tree for delivery as soon as we are back in Florida. It will be delivered the day after Thanksgiving.

The creche will be unpacked and arranged.

The ornaments shall be "hooked" and ready to be hung.

The coffee table will be decorated. I usually have one or two different ones throughout the holidays.
I am looking forward to all of this. No rush - no disorganization - just enjoyment.

Are you set in your ways?

Second time around....

I love this phrase "the second time around". It is open to all sorts of interpretations. Normally, I would think a new love. I can check that one off for sure. My life with Jack is contentment and partnering. It works. Neither one of us planned for the cancer that took our first spouses. We are so fortunate to have found this second chance.

Those of you who read my blog and perhaps follow me (and even leave a comment here and there) know that internet in the summer is costly and slow and inefficient. It is much easier for me to post on Facebook from my phone. I have learned that making albums to add my pictures to my blog is a Gigabyte demolisher. I have decided to let my pink pictures have a "second time around".

My doll house is a second time around effort (or second childhood). I had this very same one as a child. I have no idea what ever became of it but I found one in Florida and it lives in my studio. The bathroom is pink! I found some more furniture this week. Another box will be sent back to Florida!

Another second childhood time around is my Madame Alexander doll. She has lived in the original box for many years and many moves. I felt she needed and deserved a new outfit.

She is now sitting near my Featherweight in my studio. It has been a long summer for her but I shall be back soon and she is not in a box anymore.

I love vintage pottery. Things made with pride in our country deserve a second chance - one of the reasons I love this pattern Blossom Flite made by Hull Pottery in Crooksville, Ohio in the early 20th century. 

So, this is just a taste of second time around in my life and times.

I am joining Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday. It has been a while. Stop in if you have a chance.

Fall in the air and I am approaching 400 posts!

It seems like we just got here and now it is almost time to go back. Walking into the cabin the grass is speckled with little leaves in all the autumn colors. There is a touch of fall in the air. I see it on the lake.

Soon there will be pumpkins and berries.

And pretty leaves...

We shall make green tomato relish.

I will use my grandmothers food grinder.

The cabin will smell wonderful and we shall sit and wait for the jars to ping as they seal. The jars will be carefully packed and shipped back to Florida. A few will stay here for my sons.

The marigolds are flourishing now. I think they make a nice still life.

The cabin will be winterized in October as the nights get longer.

I did not accomplish all I wanted to this summer. I think maybe I try to accomplish too much. I am spoiled in Florida with unlimited internet. In Maine I have a "hotspot" which eats those Gigabytes rather quickly.

This post is number 394. Seems hard to believe. I shall have to think of something celebratory!
'Til then.....

The sisters.....

I am on the left and my sister is on the right. She has a lollypop and I have ugly brown shoes. 

This has been a most unusual year for our family. My mother was one of four sisters. She grew up in Massachusetts. After she graduated from college, she headed off to NYC to work in the children's library of the NY Public Library (the one with the Lions). She met my father and they courted. They were married in 1941. I came along in 1944 and my sister in 1947. We moved to New Jersey and the family in Massachusetts was a destination once or twice a year.

I was the oldest of the nine cousins. Too old to be with the "babies" that the my grandmother favored. And I was too young to be with the grownups.

I loved my aunts. Their humor was pure entertainment. I would listen from the top of the stairs. My giggles would give me away and I would be sent back to bed! 

In 1957 one of my aunts died tragically. Her husband moved away with their two girls. All contact was lost. I have always wondered what happened to the little girl cousins.

 The years have flown by. This spring I received an email from one of my other cousins. One of the missing cousins had contacted her. I was thrilled. We have been in contact.

I have struggled with this post. Questions and emotions are bouncing back and forth. Looking back I have to wonder why they were missing for so long and no attempt was made to love and include them. Their mother was a wonderful woman who loved them very much.

Their story is not mine to tell. I am so glad that they found us. It should have been the other way around.

Welcome Fran and Iris.

Settling in......

Each year it seems to take a little longer to unpack and settle into the cabin. If the weather is not great we spend some time at Jack's house up the road a piece. This year Jack's house has some new appliances in the kitchen!

The gas stove is wonderful. We have been enjoyed cooking on it on rainy nights. I have set up my office in the downstairs bedroom. The sewing machine, computer and printer live there.

I needed roses on the counter. I love the way they look with the vintage Fenton lamp. The calendar for June finally got printed!

I like to take my pictures and use the templates from Shutter Sisters to make calendars. I will try to be much more organized next year. I was unable to find a direct link while writing this. I shall try later.

A fellow blogger Claudia from Mockingbird Hill Cottage made a rabbit called Maggie. You can read about Claudia's Maggie here. I was enthralled - must have been the Liberty fabric for her dress.....

So off I went to Alicia Paulson's site Posie and my kit for Miss Maggie Rabbit arrived last week. I had to wait for some supplies to arrive so I started her wardrobe. I like the concept of the quality kit. I no longer have the "stash" I used to have so to be able to get everything from one source is a blessing.

The knitted garments are blocked and I shall weave the ends in soon.

I chose the kit with the fabric called Betsy. The dress is cut out and ready to stitch.

Hopefully my Maggie will look like this one!

So, that is all for today! We will go back to the little cabin in the woods and I shall knit and read and look at the lake.

Hope you are having a wonderful week.