Favorite Apron #2

A few weeks ago I posted about my favorite cooking apron passed down from my Mom. This is my 2nd favorite, and I get it out right after Thanksgiving to use for my Christmas baking and cooking. In 1989 I was fortunate enough to go on a trip with my parents to England and Scotland. My Dad's family is from England and my Mom's originally from Scotland. She is from the clan Erskine, and I found this apron in the Erskine formal tartan. (The casual tartan is in a black and white) Since it is a lovely red and green, I decided to keep it for Christmas. It is only a half apron tied at the waist, but is made from the nicest wool blend. So far, after using it these many years, I have never needed to wash it, only spot cleaned it. On the pocket it says "Frae Scotland', with a bit of the celtic there. The flower is the national flower of Scotland, the thistle, with a purple bloom. It is not only a great apron, but a wonderful memory as well.

Antique Booth Finds

While we were gone for Thanksgiving week-end, our shopping consisted of visiting the town of Snohomish, Washington. They were all decked out for Christmas and we had fun visiting a few Christmas stores and a large antique mall. I found these beautiful pillowslips in one of the antique mall booths.

I have certain criteria for choosing pillowslips: they have to have that soft cotton feel of age, they have to have embroidery AND crocheted edging, and be of a pleasing color (to me) which is usually white edging and an embroidery pattern where the colors match the motif. In the case of two of the above pillowcases the embroidery is leaves and the colors are beautiful for fall. An added bonus, one rarely found, is that there were two matching slips. I had to search through several piles before finding the mate...but what a treasure!

The other slip I purchased was only a single, the 'Mrs' was there but the 'Mr' was missing....hmm. Probably worn out... It is a very soft cotton, with cute baskets, lavender flowers and ribbons and a variegated lavender/purple crocheted edging. Since my favorite color is purple and variations thereof, the colored edging was acceptable to me. I have one other set of slips where the edging is a variegated pink, but it matches nicely with the embroidery.
These lovely pillowslips are so much cheaper than the modern varieties sported in the big box stores and these were even an additional 20% off. There is something very comforting to me in putting my head on a soft beautiful pillow at night.

I found two other items in the antique mall....one is a Christmas present (shh) for someone special, and the other was this little 1950's bed for my doll house. Not that it is MY dollhouse you understand, but I confess to loving putting the furniture and people away after my granddaughters and visitors have had fun with it. Lately the parents bed had broken beyond repair, and here was a perfect substitute for under a $1.

This was my happy version of holiday shopping!

My All-time Favorite Vinaigrette

I have been making a lot of salads lately, and made up my favorite salad dressing yesterday. It's called Vermont Country Salad Dressing, and I got the recipe a few years ago from my good friend Nancy. It's just scrumptious, and makes a good salad even better. Here is the recipe, and it is so simple!

3 T. (real) maple syrup
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1 t. dijon mustard (or regular works too)
1/2 c. good oil (I use safflower)
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper, freshly ground is best
1 t. minced garlic
Shake all together and serve...that's all there is to it. Soooo much better than store-bought. It is on the sweet side (but I like sweet) so for you folks who like a dressing on the bitter side stick with oil and vinegar. Enjoy!

Together

The first time to have the whole family together in 2 years. Thankful we were!

2nd Fall

It's been 2 years since we last visited the homeland of my husband, the southern United States of Mississippi and Tennessee. I had forgotten how perfect is this time of year for visiting that area. Here in West Virginia, fall is over. The leaves are gone and snow is here. As we drove south, we saw fall reborn! It was like we went back in time one month. We spent our first night outside of Nashville and the next day drove down the Natchez Trace Parkway to Alabama and then headed west into Mississippi. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the Natchez Trace. The fall color was outstanding! I did take one picture of a tree at the home of my parents-in-law. The leaves were falling there, but not all gone and there was ivy on everything. Moderate temperatures meant no coats were needed and we enjoyed a week of fall all over again!

Hay

At the far end of the lake in Mississippi, there is a hay field. The day after Thanksgiving we took a walk down there and entered into another world....surrounded by hay. When it is as tall as you are, you can get entirely lost!



Running in it is just magnificent!

Some of the hay had been rolled into bales.

running and jumping

A big leap for a 3 year old!

Lint Trap of all things...

We are safely returned from our Thanksgiving trip thanks to God's loving care. We had a good time and enjoyed a wonderful, traditional Thanksgiving. We returned tired however, and are playing catch-up with just about everything. After a few days we will probably get back to 'normal' and continue on December's busy pace.

This morning as I was attempting to catch up on the laundry a few things caught my attention. I pulled the lint trap out from the dryer to clean it, and it struck me how like our souls this is. We get grimy and dirty from sin, confess our dirt and ask God to allow his forgiveness to cleanse us. He reaches into our hearts with his Spirit and removes the build-up so that we can 'breathe' right again, free from the lint and dirt and clean in His presence. Of course the lint trap is never completely clean, and neither will we be this side of heaven, but oh, the joy of His cleansing. Sometimes it seems the Holy Spirit points us towards spiritual truths in the most mundane of tasks. This morning He wanted to talk with me while I was tiredly doing laundry. I was glad to be lint-free to hear his still small voice, and the instructing of my soul.