Gathered Whites

Whites gathered in a corner by the hearth. 

That chippy wood piece is brimming with texture.

Stacked American pottery. 

The large piece is an unmarked McCoy 

found at a church sale for three dollars. 

I bought it and gleefully ran. 

Those little marks on the surface of the pot are often

 called flea bites and might detract from the value.

I am not selling it any time soon. 

Or ever.

I am traveling to our old house today where the Internet

 is as slow as the house is old. 

For my new followers(bless you), we have a tumble down antebellum home,  

in Middle Georgia, that appears seldom on the blog.  

I likely will visit friends, get my thirty three hairs cut, and rearrange some dust.

Thank you for you kind comments about the funeral. 

Writing alleviates my inner turmoil.

linking@Be Inspired

joy and peace

Olive

Collections

Collections

Joe and I have a few.

We have collected pottery and dough bowls for years. 

I recently started collecting cloches.
I wonder why?

Here is a cloche with an urn in it {I collect urns too} and vintage planters from a previous post.
I like to think the AC stands for air conditioning because we certainly can use it right now.

Most of our collections turn up in the living and dining room of our yellow house at one time or another. Nothing is too precious or valuable. It is just something that strikes our fancy.

In this image you can see more urns, and conch shells. All are small collections and fun to move around.

Here are some of our bowls, wooden and otherwise.
I can think of about a thousand things I am better at rather than making a collage. 

I have posted this image before so forgive me for doing it again but we love these conch shells and right now I am soaking another one in the sink.

I am joining the marvelous and multi-talented Suzanne at Privet and Holley. 
Do visit her for more Collections!

grace surrounds us

Olive

Wisteria and Old Brick

Wisteria and the old brick of two chimneys from an old house.

I drove by this glorious sight yesterday on a rural Georgia highway and whipped my Mini around very fast to take these photos.

Wisteria is beautiful but will climb over everything in it's path and needs ruthless pruning. We had one near the porch of the old house but it is gone now because it was so invasive.

Clovis, the C-Cat, was in his carrier in the Mini with me and he does not like to stop from point A to point B. He travels very well from house to house and I try not to stop but I had to this time.

I am so glad I did.

I am linking with Tracie at Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursdays.

grace surrounds us

Olive

Embroidered State Flowers

We went to garage sales Saturday.

Joe is a riot at them.

He loves to haggle and is very good at it.

I found something so beautiful and well made by hand that I do not think I could have haggled.

It turns out I did not need to.

Look at what I found:

A map of the United States with each state flower named and embroidered on it.

The detail is remarkable.

Look at the North Carolina dogwood tree.

We have a dogwood theme going on right now at Olive Out.

In the next post I will share a pink dogwood in bloom now.

I bought this from an older couple and the man said his mother did it and it took her a very long time to complete.

I can imagine it did.

I told him I would take very good care of it as I handed him the three dollars.

Yes, just three dollars.

Remember I said no haggling was required this time.

It was not easy to photograph and is much more pretty in person.

My walls are freakishly blue above when in fact they are yellow.

But do you see how cool this piece of embroidery is?

I am linking for the very first time with Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays.

Do visit for more thrifty finds.

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

Do visit for vintage inspiration.

grace surrounds us

Olive

Silly Rabbit In a Cloche

Silly rabbit.

Under glass.

Goofing around.

It is time for Marty's Spring Cloche Party.

The window of light is lacking just that these cloudy days.

I put the blue and white collection in the window just for fun.

The egg is a recent estate sale find.

I should have put it in a cloche.

I am joining Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for the Spring Cloche Party.

Do visit her and the others for more objects under glass. Everything looks better under glass.

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



Cold, Homesick, Glass

It is bitterly cold here for our part of the south and our heat pump is having a difficult time keeping up with the frigid temps. The water stopped flowing this morning after I had been using it for hours. Curious yes? A street pipe had burst and now I am boiling water. It may be contaminated. Woot.

The happy, happy good news is CC will have finished her exams by tomorrow and I am fetching her from college and she will be home for a month! We will snuggle and boil water, no matter she will be HOME.

We have big plans. Baking gingerbread cookies, pound cake, toffee bars, and making fudge just for starters. Most to give away. Plus a tiny bit of shopping for her. She is homesick. She tells me on the phone every day she wants to come home.

I am frankly dizzied by all the blog parties. All of your homes are gorgeous. I am inspired every minute I read a blog. I am trying to catch up or maybe I will give up and just watch all of you and enjoy my kiddo. That sounds wonderful to me.

I do have two cloches photographed for Marty's cloche party and some snow globes.

The dining table vignette is kind of growing. No room for actual china. Who needs to sit down and eat? We have baking to do!

I have snow globes in the window seat. They have objects under glass. Not a cloche but I am overly fond of them.

Most of the snow globes play music. Did you you see Jack from "A Nightmare Before Christmas?" We love that movie and all of Tim Burton's movies.

Do visit Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for far more beautiful cloches than mine. I am posting one day early because tomorrow is sheer craziness that should last until about Saturday.

grace surrounds us

Olive

Estate Sales Will Be My Undoing

Estate sales will be my undoing.

The past two estate sales have been exceptional.

On day two the seller discounts every item fifty percent except for very large items.

It might have been better if I had not learned this fact.

Delft.

Reproduction bunny pottery which is adorable.

An original colored and signed pencil drawing of a lovely European town.

Nikko china from Japan.  The pattern is Dena.

I got twenty three pieces and of those eight are salad plates which I will use for dessert plates.

Price $15.00

 

I also swung by a garage sale on the way home and bought two really nice vintage pieces.

Joe cannot believe I bought another lamp but I did!

Lamps and urns make me weak.

Very very weak.

The pitcher is old ironstone and is cracked and chipped but was $2.00 as was the lamp!

Debbie of  Talking Trash discussed with ya’ll that I have a closet full of lampshades just in case I need one.

My spare shades come from garage sales.

I am linking with the fabulous Debbie of Debbiedoos for her Garage Salen Party.

grace surrounds us

Olive

Pass the Tater’s Please

Party in the kitchen anyone?

Shelia at Note Songs is having a Heart of the Home Party.

This is our kitchen at the yellow house.

It is small but has a huge bar on one end.

Both of us love to cook in this efficient kitchen with our glass stovetop.

I have taken photos of some of the details I like best and the art work we have in the kitchen.

It has lovely views to the backyard where we feed birds.

The large bar needed a commanding piece of art and this oil painting, found at an estate sale, is our favorite painting.

This is a vintage print, probably from the 1940’s, found at a thrift store. It has some damage but I adore the flowers and the soft colors. The frame has tiny pink scallops.

This tiny oil painting is leaning on the top of the stove and was found at a garage sale. All the people in it have on hats.

Corbels are underneath the massive bar. I call it the “autopsy table” sometimes. Which is sick nurse’s humor. It measures 49 inches across.

This makes  it difficult to pass the taters across!

grace surrounds us

Olive