Pyrex Treasure

I headed out first thing this past Saturday morning to visit a yard sale I'd seen advertised in one of the groups I belong to on Facebook.  They had advertised that they would have lots of vintage goodies and they didn't lie.  There were four or five vendors, displaying their items in someone's driveway. Check out those turquoise chairs! If only I had room for them!!

I wasn't surprised to run into my friend Lorraine there, as I knew she lived just down the street (which I didn't realize until I got there, hadn't thought to suggest in advance that we meet there but we did anyway!). Nice to have a catch-up with her and her neighbour Jackie, while we admired all the treasures, most of which were of the Pyrex variety.

Most of the items were quite unique and/or kitschy, like this devilled egg tray:

 and this adorable spice set (I was very tempted by this piece but resisted! Now that I see the photo, I'm really regretting that I didn't get it but at $60, it was a little out of my price range.)

I did buy this pretty little mug holder.

Sadly, the handles on my new Fiesta mugs are too small to fit on the bars of the mug holder. :( I'll just have to find something else to do with it!

I also got this covered glass dish:

It's the perfect size to hold my Tim Holtz markers.  Score!

As you can see from the backgrounds of some of the photos above, the garden of the house where the sale was held was beautiful.  The lilies this summer have been stupendous!

All in all, a nice way to start a summer Saturday!

A Carton Of ...Water?!

Do you ever look at something and think, "gee, why didn't I think of that?!"  So it was for me the first time I saw a carton of water (which was a few months ago in an airport, although I can't quite remember where).

Such a simple idea. So practical and more environmentally friendly than plastic bottles. 

Pure genius. Hats off to whomever did come up with this!

Bastille Day 2014

July 14th is Bastille Day in France, a day that commemorates the storming of the Paris jail known as the Bastille back on this date in 1789.  It is a national holiday similar to Canada Day or the 4th of July in the U.S.

I was lucky to be able to spend this day in the city of Paris last year and enjoy the festivities first hand.  As you may recall, I had spent the week before taking a workshop with Jane Davenport and had purposely planned to stay a second week, knowing that one of those extra days would be Bastille Day, as I'd heard it was quite the celebration.

Traditionally, there is a huge military parade in the morning.  I caught just a glimpse of the beginning of the parade as I made my way to the Metro that day.  Security was high and there lots of uniformed military and police around, in addition to those marching in the parade.

My friend Susan and I had other plans, we were headed to the big flea market known as St. Ouen. Strangely enough, when I look back at my photos from that day, they are all of interesting graffiti and artwork we saw that day, rather than the flea market booths.

The best part of the festivities took place that evening, when I joined four of the ladies from the workshop (the others had already headed home or left town) for a dinner cruise along the Seine that culminated with a front seat waterfront view of the fireworks display at the Eiffel Tower.

What a special night we had - there was champagne and music, a delicious meal, a lovely cruise on the river on a summer's evening.  It felt more like New Year's Eve than July 14th!

Me, Susan G., Diana, Susan E and Pam

Seeing various sights of Paris from water level as the sun was setting and after dark was a real treat.

The fireworks were absolutely stunning, I've never seen anything like it. I was snapping away on my little camera, trying to capture the images.  None of them do justice to the performance but I am still pleased with the images I have and I enjoyed going through them all again today, a year later.

Missing my Paris pals tonight but enjoying all the wonderful memories of our fabulous 2014 visit to Paris!!

Stanley Cup 2.0

I had a great time this past Wednesday afternoon helping my friend Mike Kitchen, assistant coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, celebrate his day with the Stanley Cup.

You may recall my post from 2013, the first time I attended a Stanley Cup celebration.  That was certainly a magical night!

This time around, Mike and the Cup were set up in the hall of the local Legion and the invitation was open to anyone who wanted to attend to have their picture taken and/or meet Mike.  There was a lineup but it moved quickly and most of us were chitchatting with friends while standing in line, so it was quite the party atmosphere and before you knew it, it was time to pose!

I was able to get a picture of the names of the Blackhawks team members from 2013. What a thrill to see Mike's name carved into the silver and know that it will be there for the next several generations of hockey fans to see.

What an accomplishment for him and all of the players that make up each winning team. It takes a lot of sweat, hard work and sacrifice to play or coach a hockey team, it's not all glamourous and exciting, although there's plenty of that too at the NHL level.

It was an exciting couple of months of playoff hockey. Lots of late nights for us the viewers but it is certainly all worth every minute when your favourite team takes home the Cup.  It's even more special when you know someone on that team and can be there to help them celebrate such a monumental accomplishment. I consider myself to be very fortunate to call Mike and his family my friends and I am thrilled on their behalf that they were able to bring Lord Stanley's Cup back for a second time!

A Slow Process

I'm hard at work downloading my photos from Portland so I can blog about my adventures there but it's a very slow process. Partly because I took a whole bunch of photos but also because I already have so many photos saved to my hard drive, it's slowing down my laptop to a crawl. I really need to get in there and either move several gazillion photos to an external hard drive or just delete a bunch of older photos altogether. Probably a combination of the two!

In the meantime, let's think happy thoughts!

(Photo of a piece of artwork made by Monica Gill of You Shine Studio, Portland)

The City Of Roses

Also known as Portland, Oregon. Did you know it was called that? I didn't, until I visited there last week. 

I'm looking forward to telling you all about it, just as soon as I finish downloading my photos! Stay tuned!

A Visit With The Past

Attended a reunion yesterday with two families with whom my siblings and I grew up. It was so nice to see everyone again, it had been a long time since we had all been together. Not entirely sure we've ever had so many of us together in one spot before, it was quite a treat!

Also a treat was the cottage where it was held.  An old log cabin that has been standing for many years now.

There are stone fences in the area that are beautiful to behold.  Rocks piled on one another in a very pleasing fashion.

They don't build fences or buildings like that any more.  Glad to see they, like our friendships with these people, have stood the test of time.

Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July to all of my American friends who are celebrating today!!

Here are just some of the vintage goodies I brought home from Portland this week. These are the red, white and blue, star-spangled bits!

My best find was this paper American flag, which I found by the curb as we were heading into the You Shine Studio to start the journal making class (more on that later!). I immediately pasted that flag onto my book as soon as I finished making it. Love how the binding stitches ended up adorning it!

Glad To Be Home

I know my cats missed me while I was gone but that doesn't necessarily mean that Suzie is going to cut me any slack. She's still going to take over my favourite chair first chance she gets!

As soon as I stand up and leave the room, she jumps into place. I think she likes the fact that I've warmed up the seat 

Hard to get mad at her when she's so darned cute while she's doing it!

Left Behind

I spent the last six days in Portland, Oregon. As usual, I had many amazing adventures and took lots of pictures, which I hope to share here in the very near future. For now, here's a picture of one of the treasures I had to leave behind. 

It's a vintage paper cutter which I found at a Goodwill store for only $14.99. I really wanted to bring it home but it was quite heavy. Even before I got to the airport and learned my suitcase weighed 48.5 lbs, I knew I wouldn't be able to carry it home, the combination of the wooden body and metal handle was too just too much. 

Instead, I begged my friend Michelle to buy it and she did. I'm happy to know it found a good home and if I'm very lucky, I might be able to visit it again some day!