Art is Like...

I once worked with a nurse who had an interesting career path.

She was a licensed cosmetologist.

She had a music degree.

In her mid-forties she became a RN.

I was one of her nurse preceptors.

I taught her how to swim not sink in the hospital unit we worked on and she taught me about art.

She was a member of a community theatre group and I loved to attend the plays she acted in.

She once told me that art is like flowers on the table.

She said we may not need or always have flowers on the table but flowers fill out and complete the table just like art enriches our lives.

I have never forgotten her analogy.

Hi V. where ever you are!

 

{This is the forsythia hedge at the yellow house blooming now}

I am linking to Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday.

grace surrounds us

Olive

Sweet Gum With A Twist

In the South Sweet Gum trees are plentiful.

I shot these photos off a very high deck that is almost in the tree canopy.

I had to play with the oddly almost alien like sweet gum balls on my editing program.

The edited version.

The original.

The edited version.  Neon baby!

The original.

I am linking with A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.

grace surrounds us

Olive



Vintage Fan

Thanks bunches for all of your well wishes on my last blog where I was still in the midst  of the bug from the depths of some place terrible.

Now I am back to my somewhat regular posting.

That is if the seventy-seven degree weather like we had today does not distract me.

Joe and I are easily led astray by  the sun and we worked in our yard for about seven hours.

I went to three estate sales with my sister-in-law this weekend and look what I found!

Mercy!

A small vintage fan from McGraw Electric.

It works too.

It has no on/off switch and is in such good conditon I almost thought it was a reproduction but the cord is very old and worn and the screws underneath are rusted.

I am smitten.

For now it is on the stone hearth. One day it will go in the office {if we ever set it up}.

I hope the hearth qualifies for a suitable surface for Marty's party because I am linking with A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday.

I am also linking with Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday.

Do visit both these lovely ladies.

grace surrounds us

Olive



~missing you~

I have been missing YOU.

 I have had an upper respiratory infection for the past week.

Plans did not happen.

Posts did not get published.

Photographs zilch.

I found a single cell phone image of an ice cream shop that is amusing.

I took this last year in another little Georgia town.

I hope to resume my regularly scheduled irregular schedule soon.

I will never catch up on my visits so forgive me darling ones.

grace surrounds us

Olive



Garden Party

Sarah at Modern Country Style is having an English Garden Party.

I have revisited our garden at the yellow house in July last summer when we had roses and tiger lilies in bloom.

This makes me long for summer, the heat, the grass cutting, and the hedge trimming.

I cut our grass with a push mower.

 I need the exercise.

February is the month to trim monkey grass and prune roses in the South.

Climbing roses should be pruned after they bloom.

I started those tasks yesterday and we have a vast amount of monkey grass...monkeys went wild in our yard.

I am terrible with roses and will not plant anymore. I give up :(

Please visit Sarah to see her English Garden.

grace surrounds us

Olive



Do Not Be Shocked, I Painted a Table!

Do not be shocked but I have been painting a coffee table for the past three days.

Unlike many bloggers I do not paint much furniture.

I want to paint and I plan to but somehow I never do.

This time I carried the plan through outside of my head!

Remember we embrace imperfection here at Olive Out.

That's good because I have a long way to go and much to learn.

The table does look better.

What do you think?

This is NOW.

You may recall  I always covered the table with some sort of table scarf.

This glazed white paint is a better fit with the vintage rattan furniture.

This is the naked table BEFORE.

I used white oops paint, Valspar Mocha Glaze, and Min Wax Furniture Paste Wax.

The table was given to me years ago by a friend and originally came from a garage sale.

I am joining the bonified expert at glazing, Kim from Savvy Southern Style for her Wow Us Wednesdays link party.

Do join her for more wow projects.

grace surrounds us

Olive



Talking to Myself About Spring

Picture this: me laying on my abdomen in wet pine straw in my scrubby paint clothes with fuzzy bedroom shoes on.

Then taking a photograph of a little green thing sprouting out of the earth.

I say to myself "That won't be much of a photograph."

Then I say "It's all about spring, it's on the way!"

We planted fifty daffodil bulbs in November and they are getting ready to bloom , I think, in early March.

I look at those green daffodil leaves and realise warm weather is coming soon.

The daffodils know.

Now if they bloom and get killed by frost I just will not tell you.

Okay?

grace surrounds us

Olive

The Barn

A reader asked if my header photo was taken by me.

Yes it was.

We were staying at a Bed & Breakfast in October and I was meandering down a gravel road behind the Inn at sunrise and much to my delight I found this barn.

The sun was hitting the field grasses just right.

I am ready to photograph barns, churches, and old buildings again.

Spring please get here.

grace surrounds us

Olive



~foodies and chicken salad~

This is not a food blog and I am not a foodie.

The definition of which is a person who has a refined interest in food.

It is the "refined" part that eliminates me from the foodie category.

That, and the inclination to eat at Chick-Fil-a and have Snickers bars on occasion.

I do have a very inquisitive interest in food, recipes, and especially chicken salad.

I love chicken salad and will try it on most menus.

This is the recipe I make most often of the three I do make.

Curried Chicken Salad

4 cups cooked chopped cubed chicken ♣ 2 cups dark seedless grapes halved ♣ 1 clove garlic finely minced ♣ 1 cup chopped pecans or slivered almonds ♣ the zest of one lime ♣ the juice of one lime ♣ 1or 2 tablespoons very good quality curry powder ♣ 1 cup mayonnaise

Mix  together and chill for at least 4 hours to let the curry and flavors fully get together.

Serve with an assortment of sliced fruit, sliced cucumber, and sliced tomato.

There are many curried salad recipes on the Internets if you wish for one more detailed.

I visited a restaurant in the north Georgia mountains about twenty years ago and I begged a server to give me a list of ingredients for this chicken salad and I have been making it ever since.

People either love it or not. No shades of grey here. Just curry and purple!

The curry is a large amount and frankly I hardly ever measure but I want it to show up and contrast with the grapes.

When it chills the curry gets darker in color...oh yeah!

So tell me are you a FOODIE?

What food or dish are you passionate about?

grace surrounds us

Olive