Craft Fair

                            It was the day for the annual craft fair at the plant shop.

One had to walk through a good part of the main store before coming to the area where the crafters had set up their tables.

                       There were so many lovely blooms to admire.

..including these Sunflowers. I realized that I've never had a sunflower and just like that one jumped into my hands!

                      It looks a little lonely here in my sunroom,  away from all the others.

DH's niece is so talented; she makes a variety of crafts, all of them beautiful.
I especially like the rag quilts she makes with the exposed seams.  She uses the softest fabrics and you just want to hold the quilts up to your face.

On the way out I bought another bunch of Mums, white ones this week. I mixed them with last week's yellow ones. ( I have no idea why this background is black. My camera battery was dying so maybe that's why).

                               Thanks for visiting today.
         

                                            Granny M.

My Day

This being Tuesday I went to look around at the thrift store. As usual I found some little treasures.
The cup and saucer have bluebells on them and look so sweet ( also they were half price so only $4), the other items were .50 each. The Christmas plate with cut out edges is hand painted.

These may look like saucers but they're actually deeper. My Mom would have called these "fruit nappies". Is anyone else familiar with that term?

We had a big box of very hard  nectarines given to us. I doubted they would  ripen properly but they are slowly softening a bit. For jam they are fine. DH sliced an orange and included that in the jam. It has a nice colour ( and hopefully, good taste).

With his help I made a dozen and a half Bran muffins and a recipe of cheese biscuits. In the next 2 hours a son, a daughter, and a granddaughter are coming by after work. Can't have them go away hungry now, can I?

While putting something away this morning I discovered some Autumn candles that I must have bought after Thanksgiving last year and tucked away. This one is called Heirloom Pumpkin, Caramel and Spice. It does smell lovely.

Hope you're having a good day!

Thanks for visiting,


       Granny Marigold   

This Brambly Hedge picture is especially for Henny Penny who is a big fan.

First Day of Fall

 To celebrate this first official day of Autumn we dropped in on a Fall Festival at the plant shop we have  visited several times throughout the Spring and Summer.

 

                           They had lots of plants on sale especially for this occasion.

                I don't understand the fascination people have with the "warty" pumpkins!

I treated myself to some new plants. This Helichrysum 'silver threads' intrigues me. My son said it reminded him of Coral and it sort of does.  I hope I can keep it looking this good through the Winter.
It needs good light and our winters tend to be dreary.

                                            DH chose this pretty Gerbera Daisy.

                                                        A cheerful bouquet 

                                            How did you spend this first day of Fall? 

                                                  Thanks for stopping by,

                                                   Granny Marigold

This and That

Most of you think up catchy titles for your posts.  I keep going back to the same ones over and over.

M came up before school to show us the T-shirt his Mom found at the thrift store. 
I suspect you know that 'pain' is the French word for bread. ( M is in French Immersion at school).

He also wanted to show us the sailboat/ship he built using no pattern, just his imagination.
The black piece in front is the sail and it is adjustable . He has a lot of fun with his Lego..
 

In the kitchen it was time to use up 3 very ripe bananas.  Banana bread ( or loaf, if you prefer) is so fast and easy to make.
 

 It was also time to dry some apples..  I do not like finding hard bits in my apple slices so the slices got a bit mangled as I meticulously cut out every bit of the core.

I wanted to show the difference between a coffee cup and a tea cup for those who are interested. 
The coffee cup is on the left and as you can see it has a very plain handle and straighter sides.
The tea cup is more shapely and the handle is quite curved. 
By the way, did you know that the tea cup shape is called Montrose?  If you want to know more about the names of the various shapes go to Royal Albert Cup Shapes. It's worth a peek.
 

We had another lovely day here and besides my work in the kitchen I got a lot of cleaning up done in the garden with the help of my DH and after school M also helped. Still lots to do though.

Thanks for stopping by,


        Granny Marigold

Teacup Tuesday

It's a lovely sunny day ( that's TWO in a row!!) and I went out and about this morning looking for small treasures.
First I just had to show you the sunshine pouring onto the porch. After a week of rain I had missed the sun.

       My pictures didn't load in the order I wanted but nevertheless here we go:

       I'm using 2 picnic baskets to display my cups-with-no-saucers.

I found these 3 at a garage sale 2 weeks ago and forgot to post them. All 3 are made in Japan.

These are 2 that I found just this morning. I had an empty spot just waiting for them.

I also found these pretty little pitchers. The one on the left has the words Teleflora underneath so must have been part of someone's floral arrangement. Can't imagine why they didn't keep the pitcher.

The lemon plate was so cheap I thought I'd buy it and instead of having a bouquet of flowers on the table I can buy some lemons and have that as a centerpiece.  Maybe for Thanksgiving which is not that far away.. ( remember, we in Canada celebrate much earlier than in the U.S.)

Now I'm going back to enjoying the sunshine. I hope you're having a lovely day too!

Thanks for visiting today.

 Granny Marigold

National Teddy Bear Day

Did you know that National Teddy Bear Day is observed every September 9th?
Whether or not you have an old teddy from days gone by or just the memory
of one, celebrate these lovable stuffed animals today.

Here are some pictures of some of mine. ( You just knew that was coming!)

                                           Have a wonderful day!!

My Week

At last our hot days seem to have come to an end and although the clouds this morning looked more like the white fluffy summertime clouds they changed and by noon it was quite cloudy. Not long after it began to rain. I sat on the porch and listened to the sound of the rain on the skylight and enjoyed the cool fresh air.
Cool days make me want to bake so I made a couple of individual-size apple crisps and some  raisin/fruit bread ( using the breadmaker on the dough cycle).

Earlier this week I made a big pot of Borscht (Mennonite cabbage soup).  What we didn't eat at supper I put in jars in the fridge. It's nice to have it on hand for a quick lunch or light supper.

We were given some most delicious plums . They were very ripe and needed dealing with that day so what we couldn't eat we froze. 

My DH is away visiting his family for a week. I will have lots of time to do some much needed sorting through 'stuff' and organizing the rest which I actually enjoy doing. I won't bother with making meals and I plan on getting a lot of reading done too.

One last thing to share is this female Black-headed Grosbeak that visited the birdbath today.  I don't think I've seen one in this area before so I was quite excited to see her. I hope she comes back and brings her much more colourful mate with her.

                                        picture from the internet


Thanks for stopping by,

               Granny Marigold

Decorating for Fall

The mornings are so chilly these days that I'm really feeling like Fall is here. ( 11C this morning...about 50F I think).
So I thought I'd show you what I've done so far.

I started with my Mom's old Singer sewing machine....

                                      ..on to the sideboard

                 even the dollhouse got a few pumpkins and a tiny basket of apples.

            Teddy bear corner got a Fall-ish banner and an orange table topper.

And that, my friends,  is how far I got before the porch called me to come sit in what is by afternoon a warm and cozy spot. I hope your day is a fine one.


Granny Marigold