Indulge Your Shelf

I know I've mentioned this over the past year and a half, and it's finally arrived: my son Ben is in Virginia right now, along with about 45,000 other Boy Scouts, at the 100th Anniversary of Scouting Jamboree. It's something he's worked hard for, from the extra meetings required as a part of a second Troop put together to represent our Pikes Peak Council... to the extra fund raisers, which included delivering phone books one frigid weekend (which took 3 miserable days!)   That's him in the back of the truck, wearing the red/white/blue jacket. Along the way, he had to earn a certain rank - First Class - which he did and then surpassed.  He's going to Jamboree as a Star Scout. We had to get him outfitted with a ton of extra uniforms and gear: We had to pack it up so it could be trucked separately to VA a few weeks ago.  The worst part for me?  Sewing on all those patches! Why such a big truck?  Well, about 120 kids from this region are traveling ...

I put my homegrown raspberries to good use yesterday! Raspberry Almond Squares.  Click here for the recipe, which I found online.  Thank you, Domestic Sensualist!

A few nights ago I received a surprise phone call from beloved Aunt Delores saying she was in town visiting her sister-in-law.  We went to pick her up and take her out to dinner, and passed by a favorite thrift store on the way.  I was happy she wanted to stop in! I found some great stuff on our short tramp through the store, but most memorable was this piece that literally took my breath away: It's about 14"x14" -- cigarette (or cigar) silks stitched onto a piece of cotton fabric.  I think it's about 80 years old. The silks haven't shattered yet. The stitching is well done. The flowers are just beautiful, aren't they? The most fantastic thing, though, was the price! I was in heaven, seriously. Can you take a little more linen love?  Okay: then I want to show you these lovely scarves that I found at an estate sale a while back.  This first one was tattered but had such great design I had to get it anyway: It's silk; I loved the hand roll...

I have the BEST friends, online (you!) and in real life. When Jenni came to visit over 4th of July, look what she brought me: It's a Taste of Oklahoma -- different BBQ sauces made there, honey, and two kinds of syrup!  Best of all: it was all nestled in a basket lined with this amazing little quilt that Jenni made herself !  She is a great seamstress, too. The other day, another friend, Michelle stopped by and brought... flowers -- for no reason!  (The best kind, right?) She also shared with me some of the wacky fun she and her family have been having with a toad who visits them each evening. She says they make him pose for photos...this one is called "Wrangler Toad." Michelle says they are surprised when he keeps coming back for more!  I told her he must be a Broadway-show loving toad, or a wanna be runway model, looking for his break. It makes me laugh so hard! And I think we're having our best raspberry crop, ever!  They just keep coming!...

This past Sunday afternoon I went to my local button club meeting -- and it was fun, hands on, and informative.  The topic this month was black glass buttons . Many of the black glass buttons you see in antique stores were made pre-1918; as a result of Queen Victoria's mourning attire, black was very in vogue.  Although you might hear black glass buttons referred to as "jet", jet is a different kind of coal glass, and is much rarer.  I'm told you can tell the difference between black glass and jet in that jet will float in water. After we went over the different classifications for black glass through the National Button Society , we had a chance to dig through some little tubs of buttons (called "poke boxes" by buttoners) to see if we could find examples of all the types we'd covered. Each poke box was full to the brim of just black glass buttons.  We were having a contest -- the one who found the most examples won a button prize. Here's a b...