Ladies (and Gents), Start Your Engines!

These shoes, and the bracelet are all I want for Christmas, Santa...really...I've been very good (okay, I haven't been good, but may I have them anyway?)..They are from Vivre, and on-line, totally out of my financial grasp catalog...wow! It's the day after Thanksgiving, and I know that many of us have already started unraveling Christmas lights, and are rummaging through the totes in the garage (okay, that would be me), "fixen" to "Deck the Heck out of the Halls". In fact, my husband looked like one of those poor, tired ponies, that walk round-and-round with a large child on it's back..looking tired and haggard...but, he had volunteered yesterday to help me wrap our trees in the front with lights..Big mistake on his part, but they turned out lovely.

These are some photos of holidays past...I try to make things fresh every year, but I've fallen in love with this wreath I did last year, and other than replacing some burnt-out lights, I don't want to change it...It's so lovely, that it will remain the same.

After I had glazed the niche over her stove, my client asked me to decorate her kitchen for Christmas. I got the sleighs at good ol' Hobby Lobby, and the rest I pieced together from what she had, and what I had...

You may have heard of "Hertz Rent a Car"; well, this is my angel ("Jessica's Rent an Angel") , and I can't part with her...she did preside over the party she had, and then, I brought her home, where she is as we speak, guarding my kitchen.

Don't worry, this isn't one of my mantles, nor one of my designs...This poor creature presides over the bar in the Driscol Hotel, in Austin, Texas. Poor thing....The legend is Driscol won the hotel in a poker game back in the 1800's. I don't like dead animal heads, but you sure see alot of them hanging about in Texas.

This was our tree (blurry, of course) from last year, and again, I am pleased with it, and probably will add some ornaments that I plan on making (remember the angels - gold-leafed)?

I woke up this morning, trying to figure out how to make the corner work, since I did the window treatments, added the chair and side table...I moved the chair to the other side of our ugly tv, and the side table to the end of the sofa. The new lamp is in the dining room. We have a giant ficus, that we have to roll inside around this time of year, so it get's lit up in the dining room.

This was two years ago, when we had our first Christmas in our new home. I always put our tree in this urn...(which served me well in my garden in Wisconsin), which makes a five-foot tree an eight-foot tree, and keeps cats from knocking off ornaments, and occasionally, climbing into the tree...plus, I just like it. I put a large, plastic bag in the urn, put a large stew pot (which my husband then searches for in the kitchen in vain) in, add lots of water, pop in the tree, and "viola", no crawling around under the tree on my belly, trying to straigten it!

This is another wreath I made, and will always pull out of storage...it resides in the dining room, even as I write this. I did go to a wonderful, little town on Wed. called Salado, and bought three, beautiful silk and velvet pointsettias for $1.00 each!!! I will make another wreath today.

My poor bottle brush trees are a bit worse for wear, and I've glued the white elk's horns back on several times, but they are also a tradition...I have a lovely cake stand, and I use powdered sugar for the snow...if you don't have powdered sugar around, try cornstarch..they both work.

The day after Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times; I get to "play"....I can't wait to see what ya'll out there in blogger world do to decorate your homes.......

I know I throw those Texas phrases and words around; like "fixen" and ya'll (I was actually brought up in Oklahoma and Kansas), and as my friend, Juannell, who is a Texas gal through-and-through sent me a wonderful "Grits" - "Girls Raised in Texas" thingy, reminded me...you can't move to Texas, and become a "Texas Gal"..in fact, it says, "Just because a cat has kittens and moves them to the oven, that don't make them biscuits"! So true, and so funny, but I still am going to talk like that! (You should have heard me when I lived in Boston)...

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is a day of Thanksgiving....we all have our very own lists of things for which to be thankful, and I especially am thankful to the people in our Armed Forces and their families...many will have an empty seat at the table this year.

I encourage all of us to embrace one another and give thanks....

Once I Had A Gallery In Paoli

Isaac Denison (also known as Karen Blixen), wrote in "Out of Africa"; "Once, I had a farm in Africa". I had a Gallery in Wisconsin - I also had a farm, but I'll talk about that later. I mentioned the gallery yesterday, and became nostalgic for it...so, I've pulled out the photos, and decided to give us both a tour of yesteryear.

I shot so many Civil War reinactments, and I also became familiar with hand-colored-black-and-white photography, that I learned the technique, and opened a gallery in an 1853 Schoolhouse, in a little town, called Paoli, in Wisconsin.

I couldn't afford to rent, let alone fill the entire space, so I convinced my friend Debbie to open Cottage Gardens, and brought in two other shops. She now owns the schoolhouse, and it is known as the Paoli Schoolhouse Shops. Here is the link to her website.....paolischoolhouseshops.com . (for some reason, if it doesn't come up..."Google her"..shoot)

My space was small, but people referred to it as, "the little jewelbox", and it was chock-full of photographs, handmade vinegars, gifts, floorcloths, jewelry, etc. My life has been one, big ETC..

If you double-click on the image, you can see the photographs clearly. That was when I was using my Nikon 35mm, and the images were crisp. I took the photographs, developed them in my darkroom, printed the images, sepia-toned them, then, hand-painted them with special oil paints. I did all my own matting and framing. That was back when I had energy!

To get to my gallery in the back, one had to pass through "Cottage Gardens" (Now, Debbie owns the entire schoolhouse, and it is so different...but, wonderful. You must visit her on-line.

I did her merchandising for her, and many of the wreaths and florals. We shared much of the space during the holiday season.

These are my "Widow's Weeds, the grieving attire of a Civil War Widow on a dress form in the corner. Sometimes, I would "suit up", but I had worn them so much when I was doing reinacting, they are pretty much retired. I do still have them.

We did have wonderful holidays in the School House; with a giant tree (16ft ceilings), which only fell over once, and nothing was broken! A true miracle.

Whoops, twice posted...oh well




I have sold all my photographs of those days except this one, entitled "Grace", I just can't part with her. I also made the hat box and the dried florals

When I lived in North Carolina, I contributed photos to a book, entitled, "Out on The Porch", which I believe is still in publication.
This darling bunny is resting under a topiary I created...She's made of panty hose..really.

The first photograph in this line of photos was perchased by the actor, Tom Beringer (Platoon), and given to his wife. I still haven't washed the spot on my cheek, where he kissed me! Again, if you double-click, you can see some of the details (if you wish, that is)

I sold a great deal of my herbal vinegars, and the pansys on the labels were from my garden...Also, more of the hand-painted glass.

This was my beloved garden....I loved it so, and hope that, one day, to have another. However, here in Texas, I think I have to rethink my methods.An antique carriage seat holds two of my pillows, along with one of the hats I would "dress" and sell. If the cherry fabric looks familiar, it's because I just made the last of it into "shoe sachets"...I never throw anything that might be used later away, which can be a problem...

So, that was my life for four years...I then became too busy as a designer to make the photos, and all that went in the gallery. It lives on fondly in my heart.