Here is something I had nothing to do with, and only found because of the name, but I really like! Mel Morgan has written a mystery series featuring Jess Braun, a recently divorced woman who has returned to the small Minnesota town where her grandmother and eccentric aunt lived and opened a thrift shop. Her […]
It has been almost a year since I restarted this blog, so it’s high time for another Christmas ornament post. I wanted to showcase some of my most precious dough ornaments, which I understand to have been shaped from a salt dough, baked and sealed with a clear acrylic. This seems more accessible to a […]
Some of my favorite items to collect at secondhand shops are buttons. When I look back, I have been collecting them for decades. I love to sort them and display them, even if I don’t always find a “use” or way to wear them. The button cards featured above are from a trip to Brooklyn […]
I have been using the plant identification app PictureThis since 2020. It’s great when I can’t remember what I planted in that corner of the garden, or I’m on a garden walk and want to identify something I might want to purchase later. I know that Google lens is pretty accurate, but I appreciate some […]
I have collected embroidery for many decades. I remember shopping for vintage embroidered pillow cases with my mom, and I even tried embroidering my own with cross-stitch once. I do still have some embroidered linens, but my preference is for embroidered wall art. Since I was writing this post I moved a cross-stitch made by […]
As we visited Aunt Fran in the time of her final illness, she wanted to pass on some items to us that had meaning for her or that we might enjoy. She gave me this cast iron skillet which had been her mother’s, my grandma Mildred. I have used it a few times but am […]
Simon is now 15 and has taken up a hobby dear to my heart, used record shopping. He has a lot of music interests but I’d say he’s most focused on the late 60s and the 70s. He also plans to catalog our family’s collection, which includes not only my own Neil Young and John […]
About half of the books I’ve read and the TV shows I’ve watched in the past decade could be described as cozy historical series mysteries. It’s comforting to revisit familiar characters over and over. Often inserted into the chapters are descriptions of clothing ensembles and shoes, jewelry and guns inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
Our collection of holiday ornaments, like all of our possessions, are the combined hand-me-downs of my family, Jim’s family, and things we have acquired in our two decades (!) together. Among my favorites are the Santa and Mrs. Claus that I believe came from my Grandma Judy. I knew they were something she had made, […]