tomorrow's weather

how fitting is it that i found this vintage sign today.

tomorrow we could wake up to a little snow on the ground.

1st snow of the season.

yesterday it was a record 70, today 66 and tomorrow a high of 37.

it's been a beautiful fall!

happy valentines day from wisconsin!

winter inside and out

 snow today, freezing cold tomorrow.

good day to watch green bay.

go pack!

mornin' from wisconsin

backyard winter wonderland!

you break it..........

i've always wanted one of these :)

pretty fitting ending to a not so fun weekend.

trying to make the best of the weekend we

went for a drive in the country to see color and stop

at a lunch spot we use to go to when the boys were little.

not much color left but countryside was beautiful nontheless. 
lunch was ok.

the nice waitress did give us an extra large malt to share which was a nice surprise.

after lunch we stopped at an antique shop down the street and the above happened.

i took it off the wall to get a better look at it,  i put it back on the wall and walked 

around the corner and craaaash. down went the clock.

the antique shop folks were so nice, they weren't really going to charge me much at all,

but the price was good to begin with i just paid the full price. 

i think i can fix it.
time will tell.......

home

i stopped in at the ironstone nest

with my son's girlfriend today.

erin has really gotten into chalk painting and has painted some great pieces 

and wanted to pick-up some more

annie sloans chalk paint to keep the fun going.

as usual laura's shop always amazes me.

so much inspiration in one place.

every piece painted to perfection.

and there's exciting news,

miss mustard seed  herself is coming to the shop!

check out the ironstone nest or miss mustard seed

for info.

laura's pieces are so great while we were there

 i texted a few photos of a 

dresser to my friend and she 

bought it over the phone!

i picked up some paint and this pillow.

love it.

it fits right at home.

welcome fall

hints of fall on lake eau claire.

we'll i tried

back in the day when my family lived in california

we would take road trips to wisconsin
to visit my mom's side of the family.

(one trip was in a red vw bug - all 4 of us - 
thru the desert 
over the mountains, farmlands etc. to wisconsin) 

one of my favorite memories 

was eating watermelon pickles at the family picnics. 
i wrote down my grandma's recipe many many years ago
and this year i finally tried it!
and guess what - they tasted terrible!
not sure what i did but they did not taste like the
watermelon pickles i remember.

oh well, at least the jars sealed and no explosions happened. 

it was a good learning experience.
 hopefully i won't wait as long to try again. 

wonderful wisconsin - up north

hello!

we have been away up north on vacation, 

enjoying nature in the northwoods of wisconsin,

well part of the time......

alot of time was also spent indoors,

enjoying vintage treasures of the northwoods.

below are snapshots of the trip.

oh look, lou and margaret came along for the trip.

time for nature photos, and be sure to 

make it to the end, no fish story here.

yup, kyle caught a 42 inch muskie,

it's was a beaut!

what does the bear say

found this little feller at a church rumage sale.

haven't had a ton of luck at garage sales this spring,

but was happy to pick up this

little vintage souvenir ceramic bobblehead bear

 for 25 cents.

he was dusty and dirty when i found him and

he has a crack along his face.

 we'll pretend its from a little tussle 

with his brother or sister when they were bear cubs.

i hadn't heard of danbury wisconsin 

before i found the little fellow.

i looked it up on the map and it's up north 

close to the minnesota boarder.

not sure what is was known for (bears?) as a destination place

 back in the day,

but it must have been something to afford having it's own 

bobblehead bear.  

bobble, 

bobble.

vintage bulldog

what a cutie!

we stopped at the 

"on the square antique mall"

in walworth, wisconsin and was greated by

this little sweetie.

she alone is worth the stop.

 her owner is actually going to be at 

junk bonanza in shakopee, minnesota 

on april 10th and 11th

and at the elkhorn flea market

sunday may 18th.

their biz is

"treasured nest antiques & uniques".

tell them sophie sent you.

boys of winter

i happened to look out the window to the backyard just before dusk and saw the neighbor boys

having some winter fun.

they were shoveling the

snow off the frozen creek to make way

for some ice hockey.

if you look close you can see 2 little pumpkins - how cute is that for a 

a makeshift goal.

or were they using the pumpkins as "stones" for a curling game? 

 future winter olympians?

also if you look close you can see

the small fire that is just getting going

on the ice.

my camera lost battery power as the fire 

was getting bigger so i don't have a better photo of the fire.

the creek rarely freezes over.

guess spontaneous hockey on the frozen creek

is one of the perks of this coooooold winter.

the neighbor boys playing on the frozen creek

 reminded me of the sleding scene in 

the movie "it's a wonderful life" 

so picturesque.

it also brought back memories of our boys exploring the woods,

building forts, canoing down the creek.

it was a wonderful life.

snow year 2014

happy snow year!

the farmers almanac has been correct -

 bitter cold and snow......

hope you are all off to a wonderful new year,

we are starting it off right with

kyle and julie's wedding in a few weeks 

eek!

found one!

on our way to mackinac island we stopped at the

washington street antique mall in 
manitowoc, wisconsin.

what is that blaring light in the back?

a pink aluminum christmas tree!

and not for sale......but i found one....

not that i could afford it.......

most aluminum christmas trees were produced in manitowoc, wisconsin 

by the aluminum specialty company

 back in the day.

the owner of the antique stores said you'd think it would be easy to find aluminum christmas trees in town, but they aren't. 

 she did have 15 trees at one time,

now she buys them on ebay.  

i just saw a pink tree listed on ebay for $2,999!

needless to say this one was not for sale either.

i have never heard/seen of this type of tree -

a peacock tree.  

it is flat, just branches on 2 sides. 

crazy.