Ordering Bruschetta

I just read a funny little article that I wish would be printed in all waiter/waitress handbooks. It was about being annoyed about being "corrected" by wait staff when one orders bruschetta, which is pronounced broo-SKet-uh, not broo-SHet-uh (ch is almost always a hard K sound in Italian, cc is usually the CH sound--I don't know Italian, except the important things--how to order food!). The waiters ALWAYS say it the wrong way, which I don't mind, but they do insist on telling me I'm saying it wrong. I never argue, as it is always a bad idea to make someone angry who has the opportunity to spit in your food. Still, I do wish they would stop telling me I'm wrong!

Still working away at my antiques, starting to think fall, here in the midst of the horrible heat wave. Cool breezes and pumpkins sound pretty good already and I haven't even had my fireworks and 4th of July hot dog yet!

Goodbye to Carolyn Appleby

We are devoted I Love Lucy fans in this house, Grace and I especially can quote from the show and answer trivia questions without a problem. Everyone loves the Chocolate Factory, but my favorite is when Lucy and Ethel play Martians to advertise a movie. At the end when Fred and Ricky dress up as Martians to scare them, Lucy's scream is the funniest darn thing I've ever seen. We rewind it and watch it over and over. Just saw the news that Doris Singleton, aka Carolyn Appleby has passed on, she was a favorite character, sad day.

I am still antiquing and listing and waiting for everyone to get done with vacations and start looking at ebay again, it sure has been slow, but kind of a nice break at that, just hope it doesn't last too much longer! I don't know why I'm in such a laundry mood, maybe because laundry happens every day, I really should take the time to decorate my own laundry room, but having fun making up these fun items. I just got an 1890s cutter quilt that I've been using, pretty pretty blues.

Homage to the Fruit Cellar

Grandma Hawhee really had a fruit cellar, just like in the Wizard of Oz, you went out the back kitchen door and the old wood door right there in a little hill in the back yard, stone steps down to the cold cellar where burlap bags of potatoes and onions and the jars of canned goods awaited. This is my little homage to grandma, love when something needed was still pretty. My foods are fake, but look pretty darn real, so you can have the pretty forever and not worry about spoilage! These will be $24 to $28 each (the faux foods were a bit pricey!)

Artistic Vision Found, Out of Control Crafting Commences

Car lag from driving to Clarinda lasts forever, I was so tired last week couldn't get a thing done, looked at Gatherings and saw the fall wonders arriving and had a panic--I'm not even done with summer and 4th of July stuff, which is just around the corner! Not an idea in my head of what to do.... then inspiration and just couldn't stop, think I have about 100 new items ready!

These are my Shaker garden goods; dry blue and white bowls and bread boards that were supposed to have red companions, but time to admit it is not going to happen...; a few black milk paint goods that turned out lovely; and up above lots of just plain prairie prims!

The True Gentlemen or Is Chivalry Dead?

Yesterday was just kind of awful, mostly due to encountering a rather horrible man at the post office. My day starts well, I have sales, woohoo! Then starts the hectic trying to find boxes, get things packed securely enough so the postal workers don't break them, but not so securely that the customer can't get them unwrapped. It takes a couple hours. I take a minute to water my flowers and CRASH! The statue you see behind the flag falls over, smashing the blue luminaria to bits and her head goes rolling down the driveway. It is hot, I have to pick up the heavy pieces and get them in the trash, then back to loading the packages. We drive to the post office. Grace goes in ahead of me, she is carrying 2 boxes, Anna has 2 and I have 3, all very large boxes. A man walks in after Grace, ahead of me. I peer over my stack of boxes to find my way to Grace and join her in line. This guy actually yells at me "Hey, what do you think you are doing?" Sweat pouring down my face, I try to point to Grace who is standing in line in front of him (not an easy feat when you are laden with large boxes) and say "this is my daughter". He keeps yelling that he would excuse me if I only had one thing to mail, but it was really rude of me to expect to hold him up while I mailed everything I had. I told him to please go ahead of us and the jerk refused, like a pouty 2 year old. So, I guess one is not allowed to be with one's family now when you are waiting in line and being a gentleman and actually helping a woman and her children is out of the question. What really gets me is I am sure he has not a clue of what a nasty mean person he is, and totally sees me as the one in the wrong here. One more mean man story, wondering if this is an Iowa City phenomenon. The girls and I are standing in line in a very crowded coffee shop. We are by the door and someone is trying to leave so I step back to make room for them, not realizing someone is behind me trying to get to the door and I bump into him and he spills his coffee (in a to go cup with no lid....) I say "I'm so sorry.." and start to say I didn't realize he was behind me, but he actually screams at me that he's sure I am sorry in a very sarcastic mean loud voice. I was so shaken I got the girls and left, I mean, honestly, how is this acceptable behavior? I'm really not a rude person, I hold doors open for people and say please and thank you and excuse me and I'm sorry, and this is what I get back. I really do know that these guys are the exception and not the rule, just wondering why I'm the one meeting them!

Away From Civilization

In Clarinda, my only connection to the outside world is this 1930s am radio that my father in law restored for me, you have to turn it on and wait for it to warm up, just like the old days. No tv except for I Love Lucy tapes, real pioneer living! I took some pictures around the house, my radio with my Huntsman fruit crate label and Caffe Greco canister, a souvenir from Rome, a long long ago trip. The thing I love about Rome is how things are there forever. I read Goethe's Italian Journey before I went and he hung out at the Caffe Greco, as later did Buffalo Bill. Can't beat a clientele like that. The brass plaque hangs on my back door, it's history is it is from a shop on the Via Margutta, which is where Gregory Peck was supposed to have his apartment in "Roman Holiday". From Goethe to Buffalo Bill to Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, that's the kind of history I like.

I love my kitchen, lots of light and room to move even though I don't have a work triangle, more like a work maze, but good cooking gets done there nonetheless. We had a heck of a week there, lovely to have the girls, but everything else just went wrong wrong wrong. Front porch post was rotted, took it out to replace and find the staircase is all rotted behind it, must be torn out and replaced. Lumber yard cut steps wrong, had to return and my husband backed into his car with my car while trying to do so. Lots of damage to both cars, say goodbye to savings...Lawn mower crapped out, new weed sprayer broke, paint peeling on the house, plans for horseback riding cancelled, go to my sister's to swim, she's sick (on her birthday no less, trooper that she is, she had the girls in anyway to swim), other friends have other plans. Good day was my other sister came to visit and we had a really nice time. Always a spare sister at my house!

Travel Photos

These are a few pictures I took on a day we drove through Missouri. This is how good we are at planning. Friday, I said I wanted to go to Omaha. James said he didn't want to go, was going to paint the back porch. I decided to stay home and rest. Saturday, I take Saeri and Suzuka to the Big Band breakfast, come home, James says let's go to Omaha after all. We get in the car, drive half way there and say "We really don't want to deal with Omaha traffic" and turned south instead of north and drove almost to Kansas City before we stopped, lots of little antique shops to see, car full of goods that will get added to the giant bread board extravaganza in the basement. Oh, if you love roller coasters, I suggest a drive on Missouri back roads, up you go and down you go and hope a cow isn't sitting over the next hill that you can't see the other side of until you get to the top. It was fun!