Tuesday's Treasures

By now you probably all know that Tuesday is my day to go to the thrift store. I almost didn't go today because on Saturday both my favourite thrift stores had 50% off everything. ( I avoid those days because I don't like crowds). I thought the shelves would be quite empty today but was pleasantly surprised. I found a number of treasures... this cute little pillow with a cord to hang it was .50. I couldn't resist.
I was tired of the table decoration that had been there for 2 months so I "shopped in my pretties closet" and came up with this.

This garden flag was also .50. Come next Fall I'll ask DH to make something that I can hang it on outside. Kind of late for this year.

I love organizing and of course one needs nice boxes to do so. This one is unique in that one can put tall things in it. I love the red plaid design.

A cute cutting board also .50. Once I am tired of it it will go right back to the thrift store,
I do try to take back as much as I bring home or we'd soon be over run with 'stuff'!

 Too bad this picture of my 'new' teapot is so overexposed. It's Corelle and those are Irises on it.
I make myself a pot of  double bergamot earl grey tea every day and often make another pot in the evening but that one has to be herbal.

I saved my best treasure for last. It's a very sturdy wooden box, obviously home made ( DH looked inside and pronounced it to be Mahogany). My most costly buy it was three dollars.

So those are today's purchases. I didn't even look at tea cups or books. By the time I had found all these I just wanted to go home and make that tea I was talking about. I hope you are having a delightful week!

Thanks for coming by,


          Granny Marigold

Blustery Day

We have had a day of strong gusty wind. When we went walking this morning the air was full of leaves and heaps of dry leaves were blowing around our feet. Quite exhilarating!

After lunch I planted another ten tulip/ daffodil bulbs that I keep seeing in Superstore marked down to .79 . I  wish they'd put that price on the display because it was by coincidence that I discovered that they were marked down. I know others would snap them up if only they knew. I should have some nice clumps of colour next Spring.

Isn't it amazing that October is almost over?  Next weekend will bring the time change back to Standard Time. No one seems fond of that change and yet we continue to have it.I know that within a week we'll be used to the change but to me it seems unnecessary.

                    Have a wonderful last-Monday-in-October!!
 

                   As always,   
                              Granny Marigold

An Autumn Drive

We decided to take advantage of the sunny day and take a drive out in the country. Lots of yellow and orange leaves to admire.

                   We stopped here to enjoy the tea and muffins we'd brought.
 

Each time we drive this road we see this unusual private home built with the crenelated top of a castle. We speculate that the part on the left must be a staircase.  The house appears to be built of concrete.
 

As we were driving along we saw a ' Welcome' sign  so we drove up to this house and a lovely young woman came to tell us that this was a house built in 1910 ( too bad we couldn't tour it) and the farm was being worked as an organic farm. They wanted people to be aware that they gave ecotours and encouraged people to walk around the many paths past various gardens etc.

                          This was the farthest we walked. We had no wish to meet a bear!!

Later we came to this rather junky old store. We went inside and had a peek but no one seemed to be around.

That was our pleasant day. I hope you had a pleasant one too.

Thanks for coming by,


      Granny Marigold

A Sweet Deal

Friday morning is my usual shopping day. I was in Save-on Foods looking around the Bulk department seeing if by chance they had the glaced fruit in yet. You know the kind I mean, over-sugared tiny cubes of fruit and  cherries. It only is available in the pre Christmas season and there have been years when I missed out. Not this year. I had decided I was going to buy enough for the next year and that's what I did... 12 containers should be about right. This is my favourite thing to put in scones, also  DH and I, my daughters and even a DIL love fruit cake. To make this an even sweeter deal :) , it was on sale and I saved $12 .

It's another wet and windy day out there. I am going to bake later then make pizza for supper ( trying always to use the oven for more than one thing to save hydro). I found a scone recipe that calls for cream cheese and since I have a block of it needing to be used very soon I'll try it. If it's a success I'll have to post the recipe.

I hope you're having a great day. Thanks for stopping by,



        Granny Marigold

An Unexpected Visitor

Look who I spotted sitting in a nearby tree this morning. I had just come home from Walmart and noticed a number of crows making a big fuss. I looked up and there it was, seemingly unperturbed by the crows. I ran in to get my camera hoping it would still be there. It was, and it stayed there until I had to let Bracken out then the owl flew away. If I'm right this is a Barred Owl.

It has rained incessantly for the past 24 hours and the forecast is for another "rain event" overnight and tomorrow. Good thing our soil is as sandy as it is or we'd be in big trouble.
Due to the rain I didn't walk this morning nor did I putter outside. Couldn't even get on my computer because it wasn't working. Only once my son got home from work and worked his magic was I able to access the internet again. I'm off  now to see what you've been doing today.

Thanks for coming by,

      Granny Marigold

                         art by Susan Wheeler ( I think)

Recipe

It's rainy Monday. Being a creature of habit I do my laundry on Mondays. That done I had to bake. Tomorrow is my youngest son's birthday and the day after that is my eldest daughter's so tomorrow we will celebrate them both. As my children get older they buy whatever they want/need so unless I find something that I think they'll really like I  just bake for them. Usually I make Terribly Terrific Toffee only at Christmas but I decided to make some for them as one of their gifts. I took pictures as I was making it and I'll give you the recipe in case you think you might like to make it.

                      Terribly Terrific Toffee

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips
about 40 saltine (soda) crackers

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper, spray with
non-stick spray. ( I always forget this step and they've never stuck on).
Lay a flat layer of crackers on the foil.
Heat the butter and sugar until it reaches a boil then lower the heat and simmer uncovered
for 5 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Pour this mixture over the crackers and spread carefully ( don't worry too much about getting every bit covered).
Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until toffee becomes bubbly.
Remove from oven and sprinkle choc. chips over and let them soften enough so you can gently spread them around with the back of a spoon. Let cool and if desired for expediting purposes ( recipe said this, I'm just sayin') refrigerate until hardened. Break into pieces the size of your choice.

                                        Before I put it in the oven...

                                         and after I took the cookie sheet out. Some crackers shifted but that's okay.

                        

It looks a little strange but this stuff is irresistible to anyone with a sweet tooth.

Now that that's done I'll move on to the chocolate cake that will end up as an easy-to-put-together  Black Forest cake.

I hope you've had a great beginning to your week!


Thanks for coming by,



          Granny Marigold

This and That

Such an imaginative name for this post, huh?
I thought of calling it the bad and the good since I'm going to start with a rant and get it over with. Blogger or G mail has been messing around again. As I think I mentioned a while back blogs will for no reason that I can figure out suddenly be gone from my list of blogs I visit. Now I've discovered a number of comments that have gone directly to Spam. Now these are commenters that previously had their comments posted so Why? I am sorry if recently you posted a comment and then didn't see it displayed. I will be checking Spam from now on. ( and marking them as 'not Spam'.

On to the good things....Youngest son came to help DH extend the roof they built earlier in Summer. Too many dried bits of that huge Clematis were falling on everything below. It's hard to keep the area reasonably clean as it is!  That big bundle of blooms on the left is no longer attached to the mother plant so no doubt it will dry up in a few days. You can see where they took out a section so they could build the extension.

 I rearranged the window sill in the sun room. DH and I sit at the little table here and this is our view.
My false Cypress ( on the right) is doing so well. I'll need to transplant it in Spring. Why do I grow it indoors when it would survive just fine outside?  I like it right where it is.  My African Violets are thriving but NOT blooming.

When I did my grocery shopping I picked up these bulbs which I thought were a fair price. When I went through the check out they were only .79 . If only I'd have known I would have bought all that were still there!  Maybe I'll go back tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting,

Granny Marigold


The poster below is one my grands worked on for our gathering. Most of it was done by the littlest.

                                          Don't you love Mary Englebreit's art?

More Journal Pages

I worked on my Fall journal pages today. Some of the pics I may have posted before and maybe added a few touches.  I'm not too pleased with the first pages here. I meant to show the tea pot representing all the tea I drink ( with honey)  but it's hardly noticeable  . Oh well.

             These pages also will need something more. I'll wait and see what I find.

That is mainly what I did today. What did you keep yourself occupied with?

Thanks for taking the time to visit,

I always appreciate your comments even though I don't often respond to them here.

Granny Marigold

Chestnuts and some Thrift Store Treasures

As I've mentioned in other years the kind of Chestnuts that grow around here are not edible and are known commonly as Horse Chestnuts. I have no idea if horses actually eat them, or for that matter if squirrels do. I like their glossiness and the little hedgehoglike exteriors. My eldest daughter  gathered
a lot of them for me. Enough for this wooden bowl.....

    ..... and for this flat dish as well. A few pine cones seem to have slipped in.

I went to browse at the thrift store this morning and found this heavy, made in Italy, bowl. The green goes well in my kitchen.  Under the pears, hidden from view by a napkin there is a Christmas design but I intend to keep it covered and use it all year round.

I also picked up this pretty Christmas mug and Royal Albert cup. The mug was ten cents, the cup was a dollar. Oh yes, that bowl was also a dollar.

Now the day is almost  done and I have a pot of Pea Soup gently simmering away. It rained most of the day but now the sun has peeked through the clouds. Hopefully tomoorrow will be fair.


Thanks for visiting,



                           Granny Marigold

This and That

Getting ready for our Thanksgiving meal ( for those who are not aware, Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend). I'm not happy with putting anyone WAAAYYY out at the end of the second table but I couldn't think of any other solution. I should add that 4  members of the family couldn't make it and still I was at a loss how to fit everyone in.)

My  Pumpkin pies tasted better than they look. A certain young man who shall remain nameless went for thirds!!

After looking various stores I finally found the bulbs I was searching for:  Winter Aconites.   I used to grow them but it was under a hedge of Rugosa Roses and gradually the Aconites disappeared.
 These pretty little flowers grow super early in Spring , grow only 4 inches high, and self-seed if they're happy. I'll try to keep them very happy!

The other bulbs I wanted was the kind of Tulip that is not hybrid and apparently more apt to last years and years. They also are quite short and bloom early but not as early as the Aconites.

Last of all is a mini rant. I detest the gruessome aspects of Halloween.  All the fake grave markers, horrible witches and giant spiders turn me off.  This family goes all out every year with more than what you can see in this pic. There are inflatable  monsters etc.. and all this is along the street where I walk to go to the park. I think I'll take a different route for the next month!!

Thanks for popping by. I hope you're enjoying a lovely Sunday!

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian followers!!


Granny Marigold