Sunday Morning Coffee

We had terrible storms on Saturday again, so next morning early---between 4-5am I went outside to survey the damage. I dumped out all the excess water from the flower pots. We had no major wind, just extremely heavy downpours.

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Seeing the casualties were our Iris beaten down to the ground full of blooms and buds, I cut the broken stems and had quite a bundle of flowers. Not much else was blooming except some purple columbine and some wild flowers (Dames Rocket--or money plant) in the back yard. 

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The Iris had already twisted up and I wrangled them into a bouquet and used my granny's  enameled coffeepot for a vase. Adding some long lime green Barberry stems helped to relieve the purple for a color accent. The bushes  needed to be trimmed anyway.

The sun came quickly around the corner full blast, so I brought them inside and readjusted the blooms.

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Placed on the table. 

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It is seldom that I'm up before my husband. He turns the television on first thing. This morning was silence. I just sat and enjoyed the eastern sun on the blooms and the peace and quiet.

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As the morning light grew more intense the colors changed. The green of the Barberry took on a chartreuse hue, the purples lightened, some to lavender.

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 I grabbed the camera and took more pictures in the changing light while my coffee and muffins got cold.

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I thought of Monet and his many sketches and paintings of the same subjects in different light at different times of day.

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Now, it so easy a to push a button of an automatic camera and we capture life as it happens, even the wrinkles on my tablecloth, I'm allergic to ironing, but love the soft vintage textures of old linens.

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The darkness of the background, the patterns in the tablecloth and cup, the shine of the enamel all are a slice of life.

The muffins are Oatmeal Pumpkin Cranberry Walnut with flaxseed, super healthy and tasty. 

My basic recipe is Pumpkin Apple Muffins to which I tweaked and added more nuts and cranberries and applesauce instead of apples. They freeze well and are very healthy.

And the light changed again....as each moment of life does. Each day that passes is different, if we only take the time to see.

Thanks always for stopping by, I appreciate all your comments and suggestions and will try to answer all. 

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

I'll be sharing at these fine parties: 

Amaze Me Monday

Tweak it Tuesday

Talk of the Town

Share Your Cup Thursday

BTTCG Party

Let's Talk Vintage

Share Your Style

Wow Us Wednesdays

Work It Wednesday

Sandi

Vintage Table and Drawer REDO

REDO an Old Table for the Basement

 

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 I've had this OLD table forever---I had picked it up for my original antique/craft shop way back in 1998 or so, for $10.00 at a garage sale. Then it had very rickety cross supports underneath. The wood is some kind of  poplar or other lightweight tight-grained wood with an original old dark brown stain. From the markings and construction, might have been from the early 1940's or so. But a solid wood, skinny light-weight table is perfect for REDO displays in a shop.

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The the OLD shelf you see on it now---my husband put on for use in our kitchen after the shop closed. I kept all my canning kettles and supplies underneath. I draped it with vintage table cloths and it was a great way to store the extras big things in the kitchen.

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The curve on the bottom  shelf left room for sliding our chairs back from the table...the kitchen space was that tight. We replaced this with an NEW IKEA white cabinet...shown on my CoffeePot post that was shallower and lower for the new windows.

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The REDO is the rebuild of the shelf and slotted to give the legs better support. The original railings are still underneath and everything was pre-drilled, wood-glued, and screwed together.

This is the final repair for this table, LOL. Knowing the finish was old and full of scratch cover, I  sanded, washed the surface and then did two coats of primer.

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The final NEW color was custom mixed at our TrueValue to match our other furnishings in the basement. The color is a putty beige/gray and works well with our nautical furnishings and the IKEA brown/grey furniture tables, shelves, and bar/service cart.

The two large canvas baskets hold toys and warm throws for curling up on the sofa with. The OLD 1956 Marx dollhouse is a match to the beat-up one I had as a kid. The Granddaughter has great fun with the mish-mosh of furniture we have added (some NEW from the Dollar Store). It's usually on top of the table along with a fleet of wooden trucks made by my dad and lots of dollies and bunnies.

Another REDO project from the same time is this OLD silverware drawer.

Rember this divider drawer from one of my Junkin' posts? It had an uneven front and some real grime on it. I ripped off the moldy felt...gave it a good scrubbing and then pondered what to do. I trimmed off the front uneven bottom edge so it sits flat now. I gave it a heavy sanding all over...the inserts slid out...so I could sand every surface with my pointed front-orbital sander.

Here you can see the dirt and bits of felt still on this piece.

I primed two coats and then two coats of the paint matching the table. The old silverware drawer is now a desk organizer. I slide it onto the keyboard shelf of my basement office desk. One less item in the dump to keep our world, GREEN. I'm still thinking about putting rope handles on it, but may wait until I find something unique and nautical to go with the room.

 Thanks for stopping by, I will be happy to respond to comments or questions.

 All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

 I will be sharing at the following parties: 
Inspire Me Tuesday 
Something to Talk About 
No Place Like Home 
Tuesdays At Home
Thrifty&Vintage Finds
Talk of the Town   
Vintage Bliss 
DIY Sunday Showcase 
Sundays At Home 
Amaze Me Monday 

Sandi

 

Elkhorn Antique Flea Market~~What a Day in Wisconsin!

Great Finds at HUGE Flea Market in Elkhorn, Wisconsin

This is the first time we had been to this ONE DAY show. Elkhorn's located in southeastern Wisconsin, just north of the popular summer destinations of Lake Geneva and Lake Delavan. Nestled at the western edge of the Kettle Morraine area in rolling hills is the lovely town of Elkhorn. This huge Antique Flea Market is held at the Walworth County Fairgrounds four times a year.

The picture below is only about one-fifth of the exhibitors. Oodles of Fair buildings held indoor exhibits, and really not any questionable exhibits anywhere. Quality was great, prices were great, food stands were everywhere, and even benches to take a rest. The Restrooms were clean and convenient. 

The Walworth County Fairgrounds were packed

We arrived around 9 AM, it opens at 7 AM 

and runs only until 3PM, for ONLY one day???

Very professionally run, excellent attendance, and I did art shows for over thirty years and know when something is well organized and staffed. 

NL Promotions runs this great show and another in Milwaukee area. 

Their website is: http://www.nlpromotionsllc.com/index.html

Some great furniture among the never ending booths.

Check out this great cabinet, love the yellow, it was---SOLD. There was gorgeous 

furniture of every style, metal cabinets, light fixtures, oak, wicker and more.

Guys Stuff!

Great guys' stuff indoors and out, lots of original vintage signs.

 Heres a KOOLS sign with the penguin, certainly from the 50's -60's.

Primitives and Farm items, it is Wisconsin after all.

I have never seen so much reasonably priced enamelware, and BLUE Jars 

ready for GOING GREEN and be reused for something special.

 Antique Farmer in the Dairy Shed.

Jenny Pinnow from Antique Farmer was more than happy to chat about her business, and her great items. This was late in the day, and she said many items were gone. 

She does appraisals online and is located in the area of Delevan.

www.antiquefarmer.com

Another Booth 

Cute children's garden wheelbarrow

FUNKY 

There was FUNKYstuff too, just look at this OLD weird chair with the 

sunken picture frame in the back,

 it looked original,…but now with the REDO the seat has a flower pot to match. 

The turquoise stools were awesome, too.

Glassware and pottery for any taste

This booth had nice color-coordinated displays of Jadeite, and OLD colored glass. 

The owner was too busy selling and wrapping to chat.

The great booth that led us to Elkhorn was Jeanine Burkhardt's, Chippy Shabby booth which despite her fab directions on her blog, had us wandering through the labyrinth of the unfamiliar layout of the fairgrounds.

This CocaCola sign was sold, about an hour after we saw it. Awesome color and in great condition.

Her booth was packed with customers, and it was hard to get pictures 

without someone jumping in front.

See her at her blog…here

Jeanine has great stuff at her Chippy Shabby booth

That's her sign on the lower right.

She does great REDO's on vintage items.

I really love her look, she has primitives also! Her displays are always charming

 and make you want to buy the entire vignette.

I really wanted this chandelier, I hope it wasn't sold, so I can get it next time.

So want to REDO it into something NEW.

What we did get!

I got a gift, I can't show****, you know how that goes.

E made a haul!

I waited in the pick up area while E had to wander and try to find the three booths she had bought things from. The huge horses apparently attached themselves to her,

 as she was wheeling back.

The two rocking horses, sans their handles and spring holders, a REDO ready for crafting?

~ Garden horse anyone?~Mosaic horse anyone?~

~Planter?~ Carousel?~

This OLD, hand-carved, oak, 1910-20's reclining woman with a cheetah was probably

 an insert on a piece of furniture, and was only $8 -ready for a REDO and recycle.

The chalk ware Art Deco lady is missing her cigarette,

 but then smoking is bad for your health. 

She has a black marble base and was heavier then heck. 

Also in E's bag was a sweet embroidery, we both had our hands on.

Last, but not least, a 3' x 4' painting of St. Francis of Assisi from a convent.

Yes, E has an eclectic sensibility, but what fun to find so many unusual items.

Like I said, what a DAY the best kind of JUNKING! 

I'm saving my pennies for the September Show, 

and we will go fortified with coffee and with two carts, 

 room in our tummies for cream puffs, and a large map of the Fairgrounds,

 so we can actually find where we are.

Linking to:

Let's Talk Vintage

Thanks for stopping by

Sandi

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

DIY Roasting Tomatoes

DIY Roasting Tomatoes

The last three weeks have been warm and hot, with little rain after drowning most of June and July in the upper Midwest. Every other day, we have this amount of smaller tomatoes to eat. Impossible for two people. Normally I will fill bags of large tomatoes and throw them in the freezer for canning later. 

But with these small ones, I roast them, as the ripen. 

My grandmother's Father Tuck cookie jar stands guard, as the small tomatoes await their demise.

You can use parchment paper lined trays or foil. I reuse the foil several times because it seems like I'm doing this everyday. I put the foil in the refrigerator after use. Spray your lined empty trays with oil.

First, sort your tomatoes according to size. Wash thoroughly and slice tomatoes in half sideways, through the stem, this helps to reduce seeping of the juices through the stem. 

Place them close together, cut side up on the lined trays.  

Then, I spray them lightly again so they brown nicely. You can choose to season or not season, here. I find the fresh herbs char and lose some of their taste if roasted too long, 

but flavored salts and seasonings work great.

Place your larger tomatoes on the top shelf.

I use a 375 degree oven and set the timer for 30 min.

Depending on the size, they will begin to get some good caramelizing at this time. 

Reset the timer for every 15 minutes, to check on them. 

When they have shrunk to half their size and have a wrinkled appearance and are caramelized, 

they are done. Remove from oven and cool.

This tray of the smaller took approximately 45-60 minutes at 375 degrees. If you like charred tomatoes a few minutes under the broiler will do that. Cool completely. See what lovely color you get on the tomatoes.

Continue roasting the larger size tomatoes.

The larger tomatoes took 1 hour 15-30 minutes and then began to brown. This all depends on their sugar content. We grow twelve types of tomatoes, and they all will cook different. How long it takes also depends on the water content, ours were very firm and not watery at all this time.

Remove from the oven and cool.

After cooling, I bagged those I couldn't use in three days into 1 quart freezer bags and label. 

Roasted tomatoes in the store are expensive. These are so sweet and rich in flavor, 

and pre-done--they are a quick time saver. ts amazing that two trays of tomatoes only produce about 2 cups, but that is a lot of fresh flavor in a bag.

 Here are a few suggestions for using your roasted tomatoes.

Using Roasted Tomatoes

• Add a few roasted tomatoes to boost flavor in your jars when canning tomatoes or sauces 
• Quick roasted tomato bruschetta-just spread on toast with chopped onions, olive oil, garlic, basil and cilantro
• Chop and add to store bought fresh salsa for a new kick
• Add to canned or boxed pre-made tomato soup, garnish with fresh herbs--Wonderful!
• Excellent on grilled fish or chicken
• Use in wraps or as open-faced sandwich toppings
• Make a Caprese panini with herbs, fresh mozarella, roasted tomatoes, olive oil and don't forget the olives. 
• Add to pasta sauces, or to a simple oil and herb sauce.
• Special treat, roasted tomato flatbread pizza--excellent with left-over chicken

Have a great weekend and roast all those bitty tomatoes, nummy!

Linking to: 

Show and Share

And thanks for stopping by, 

Sandi

 

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

What's NEW, OLD and GREEN? An unexpected Visitor and accidental Raspberries

Somethings: New, Old, Green and unexpected.

Hiya! I want to welcome you to our soggy part of the world, water-soaked Chicagoland, way, way out in the Northwest Suburbs.

Yesterday, between thunderstorms and the brutal HEAT, I ventured out to pull a few weeds. I saw this poor soggy little Toady. He lurked in the stones around the water trough pond and then escaped into the herb garden---or mushroom-weed garden depending on how you look at it.

Two things that love the record producing rains Chicagoland has suffered along with about one-third of the country, are mushrooms and weeds.  Now I don't mean those little scrape away weeds, I mean three-foot high thistles and tons of nasty looking stuff I have really never seen before. And the spearmint, OMG, it is like an alien scourge that will swallow our world, as we know it. (I have been pulling the same dang mint, since 1984.) Seems nothing besides poisoning the environment will rid us of it, either! NOT--We go GREEN!

So, with every clump of thistle, silver maple, or mint tangle and enthusiastic-alien-weed I pulled, this poor little Toady jumped into the next batch of weeds.  After I tickled his head, he finally disappeared into a mass of tarragon and I left him in peace. 

Today, Toady was hiding under the Saucers

Poor little guy---I had dumped five huge saucers of water right around this stump, and it wasn't until I moved the last one, did I see him. He finally jumped into the fenced garden, probably in totally paranoia from the water monster chasing him.

Then I moved my flower pots around into the less colorful areas, as I often do as the landscape changes. Everything is totally overgrown and green because of the weather.

Somethings: OLD

 While Junking, I found this OLD marvelous silver-plate shell bowl at a Goodwill--it's huge, and the plan is to add a new pump for my Nymph fountain, if I can figure out how to hide the tubing or maybe let the water spill over the silver edge into another container. 

We had a washtub under the Nymph's decking last year, but the frame has sunk so deep into the saturated soil, I can't get the tub back under there? 

I will have to see what is available to slide under the existing decking. 

Going GREEN

One of the great joys of gardening, besides the wonderful fresh food, exercise, 

and commiserating with nature is the experience (not always comfortable) of really never having

 ANY control. 

Be it weeds, bugs, weather, or cold temperatures, there are always 

the curses, joys and an occasional surprise of unexpected Gifts. 

The house behind us sold two years ago. The previous owner was a great guy and gardener. We shared our bounties back and forth over the fence. His rhubarb was divine and he had a raspberry patch that backed up to our fence. We got to pick what ever berries from the canes spilled onto our side.

The new owners, not quite as enthusiastic about gardening---dug up the rhubarb and gave us some, we have it growing now on our side. But, I was really disappointed in fall, to see all the raspberry bushes gone: cut, burned and dug out. 

This year, low and behold, raspberries invasive as they can be, traveled along their unwanted roots across into our welcoming yard and filled up the skinny boxes we have along our fence. Waalaa! Six-foot high canes full of huge cascading red raspberries! 

New Accidental Rasperries

Fighting the birds and mosquitos this morning, I picked about 3 quarts of really ripe raspberries.

After a very quick dip in fresh clean waterand a quick shake in the sieves (Granny's)

I drained them on paper toweling as they are very water-soaked and so ripe.

I think I will make a thick sauce we can pour over frozen yogurt tonight.

GOING GREEN

The raspberries, moldy or over ripe, under ripe and miscellany went into the compost bowl.

Yes, we compost almost everything. I buy GREEN paper products that decompose.

Our vegetable waste, eggshells, coffee grounds, and tea goes into the compost bin and eventually to the pile. In the bowl, you can see the rinds of the casaba melon we had this week, and the lemons from our tea, and eggshells from breakfast. Now out it goes to the turning bin with some compost starter. 

Sorry to end on the note of garbage, LOL. But that is the day in the life of a gardener, toad keeper, nymph enhancer and composter.

Thanks for stopping by, and please come back again.

Sandi

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle