How I Missed Two Vintage Shows, But Had a Great Weekend Anyway...

 I couldn't wait to go to the Vintage Show at The Grove.  Last year we went and never got into the show.  We were directed to go to a parking lot a 1/4 mile away, to wait for a shuttle, which turned out to be a school bus.  There was no way we were getting on a school bus.  This year we left early and were waved into the Grove.  Relief, we were in at 9:07!  Then the parking attendant told us to leave and park at a local hotel parking lot,this lot was for handicapped parking only.  The show started at 9:00!  We left.  We headed back towards home but stopped at a garage sale on the way.  I found the great tablecloth pictured above,  Linen... (and met a wonderful woman named Sue who is moving to Arizona and has to lighten her load.)

 The little canvas,

 which matches my vignette in our foyer perfectly.

 This tablecloth, vintage, cotton with some wear and tear but beautiful,

... and the cross stitch kit that I may never do, but hubby said I had to have it.  It's our thing, the seasons!
I spent less than the admission price we would have spent on the show.  The crate came from a sweet woman's garage sale closer to home named Nancy.  I fell in love with this old crate, and my dearest found this cool drying rack.

 Two really great picks at bargain prices.

 Later we tried to go to the Pepper Road vintage show.  Close enough, and a totally different venue than the Grove sale, but with the same parking problem.  No signage, cars we parked along the roads and all around the industrial park it was located in.  Maybe we are just too old to hike a mile, or too cautious to park illegally.  Anyway we got back on Northwest Highway and headed for home.

We had company coming for a Mother's Day barbecue.  I had prepared almost everything ahead of time, and son Jon took over the grill.  We had a great evening, a bonfire with smores.  All the kids were able to come and linger.  We stayed outside still the stars were out.  We saw bats flying and a very bright star.  Our resident astronomer told us it was too bright to be a star, it must be a planet.  I looked it up, Penny was right, it was Jupiter! Penny called me the best Grandmother in the universe as we strapped her into her car seat.  SIGH...  Having all my kids laughing and hanging out together is the best gift. I posted on Kristen's facebook page that I love being her Mom and Jon's Mom and Mike's Mom, but being a Grandmother is the best job in the world. (and no parent teacher conferences!)

I found this frame at a thrift store for a couple of bucks.  A project piece.  More on that at a later date.

 Sunday was a visit to the cemetery.  I cleaned up my Buscia's gravestone.  I wanted to bring a knife and a brush but forgot.  We cleaned it with a snow brush and ice scraper we had in the car.  We owe everything to my Buscia.  She came alone to the US, so brave.  She started our family with our grandfather and with her 4 children.  I promised to return in August for her birthday to complete the job. (I once swore to my Mom that I would never be hanging around a cemetery, but there I was, sitting on the grass, tearing away sod with my bare hands.  When my Mom was young they brought picnic lunches as they decorated the graves.)
We of course stopped by my Mom and Dad's resting places.  (graves is SO final) We always fall into this one sided dialog, telling Mom and Dad the family news and how much they are missed.  The tears always come, but my honey is there to comfort me.  It's a bittersweet day.  So grateful for my Mom, so grateful for my children and now my granddaughter.

The rest of Sunday was a beautiful ride, way up Milwaukee Avenue all the way to Wisconsin.

So much has changed in the 40 some years since we've been headed up north this way.  There are still familiar spots, but not much open space like when we were young. We've been having Sunday drives since we were dating.  Still my favorite thing to do with my favorite guy.

Kristen a wonderful Mother, spent the day with Doug and Penny.  Jon and Charlotte enjoyed a day with absolutely nothing to do and Mike and Amanda went out for breakfast and visited friends in the evening.  I really liked this Mother's Day Eve thing we did.  Maybe it will become a tradition.

Thanks so very much for stopping by and for your friendship.

Enjoy this beautiful day.

Love, Penny

Weekend Update

A little crafty project, with a little thrifted bouquet. A metal ring, also picked up for a few cents.

 I wrapped the wire ring with grapevine wire, and then wired on a few faux ferns I already had.

 I wired in a few tiny ivy leaves.

 This is the after, what was left of the thrifty flowers.

Hung against my Wyeth Blue walls...just pretty.

Working on saving these precious little flower embroideries

.  

 Four of them hung in oval plastic frames hung on a ribbon.  First I soaked them and let them air dry.
Oh the work involved!  Those tiny bleeding hearts just about broke my heart.

 Daisies and asters...

 The buds,

The blooms!  Pockets?  Pouches?   An addition to a quilt I've been contemplating?  So many orphan embroideries in my collection need a home,  A cold weather project, certainly not for the spring.

Even with allergies, or a cold, or whatever I have,

the outdoors calls me.

Penny's photo of us

A kind stranger's photo

Friday, we had to go to the city to pick up our son Mike who was helping his brother on the first ever weekend in recent memory that they both had three days off.  We also picked up our favorite almost five year old.  We pretended out in the yard.  Our girl was a rich and famous rock star.  Her band "Rock Me Again and Again and Again" lives in a mansion (our house) and she showed me around "her" garden.  I weeded as we walked and she thanked me for keeping "her" gardens looking so nice.  The imagination this girl possesses is epic.  I remember things if I write them down, but in six months she will say, "remember Grandma, when we pretended that my rock band had a mansion"... I love playing along and pretending.  Mike who was asleep in the couch inside was a band member, our house was a mansion.  So much fun, the sweetest work ever, being a Grandma.

Saturday we went to local garage sales.  Shopping with Penny is a trip.  She found Cinderella's glass slippers,(clear plastic princess shoes) sat on the driveway and put them on.  They were a perfect fit!  Who does that happen to?  Then the kind neighbors insisted that she have them, no cost.  She had five dollars to spend and she spent those dollars wisely.  She bought two dresses for herself, a small locker, a golf club and bag, a ball at another sale. A doll, a sister for her American girl doll, three dinosaurs that she knew the names of.  I didn't find much, since I have to have an eagle eye on her at all times, and she moves fast!  Grandpa was the bag carrier.  

 We were headed to the Lake later in the afternoon, but it was cold...anyway Grandma was cold.  Instead we stopped at the Botanic Garden.  There we followed Penny as she took us down paths we would never attempt on our own.  All the while she assured us we were not lost, she knew exactly where we were.

 We followed her until our knees told us it was time to follow the even path.

 What a treasure the gardens are, and we are enjoying my Christmas gift almost every week.

 Such inspiration.

Beauty where ever you look.

On Sunday, back to the city to pick up son Jon and return Penny to her rested parents.  Jon took engagement photos of Mike and Amanda.  I snapped a few photos myself, but we will have to wait for Jon's amazing work. Charlotte came by later after a day with her Mom and sisters.

Sunday dinner with our sons and their lovely ladies with a little TV watching, laughs and love.  Having my kids all close has been life changing in the best possible way.

I am facing the allergy season with plenty of Kleenex and the refusal to medicate myself.

This year seems particularly bad for me, and there also is the challenge of having two very dear people in our family, being close and visiting often, but they have three cats.  Another of the triggers for my symptoms.   I would rather be snotty, and see them as often as they like. 

Once the air conditioner is used later, things will be much better. Which reminds me, time to change the furnace filter. (Yes it's May 8th and we still have the heat on.)

Some birthday treat bags for our girl's birthday party for her classmates is my job.  Anyway I made it my job.  I got hints from the birthday girl herself. Looking for cool stuff to please her guests. Then,  the garden calls.  We in Chicagoland always start planting on or after Mother's Day.  We have yet to find an arbor to replace the one our bittersweet vine broke to pieces.  The vine was cut to the ground, but it has sprouted, along with our kiwi vine and climbing rose. Busy yes, but I will try to savor each day.  The days fly by fast, especially in spring and summer. I don't want to miss one beautiful minute. 

 Take care my friends and thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy this beautiful day.

Love, Penny

   

A Rainy Day Visit to Blumen Gardens, Sycamore, IL

When you get a rainy weekend in Spring, it's hard to stay inside when everything outside is calling.
We headed to Blumen Gardens in beautiful Sycamore, IL.  I've posted about them before.  We first visited back when Jonathan and Charlotte were looking for a wedding venue.  The beautiful gardens,
and amazing displays keep drawing us back.  Even though it was raining, we enjoyed walking through the endless varieties of flowering plants, the vintage artifacts hidden among the trees and displays.

 The cobblestone courtyard draws you in.

 There was a  small show with maybe 20 vendors.

 The show outside, well, it dazzled

 Food trucks were parked on the street and tables set up for those grabbing lunch.

Inspired by this little shed, I so want to add some moss to the roof of our shed at home.  Hubby thinks the aging structure would not stand up to the weight of it.  I think, it is another way to charmingly hide our little barn. Getting on a ladder to plant moss on the roof might be the deterrent. Then dearest added we night need a goat to keep the roof neat, ;-) as at a Swedish restaurant we visit in Door County.

 The brick and the blossoms, a delicious combination.

 How about vines, brick and some old wooden doors.

 Weathered fences.

 Old windows.

 Oi that brick!

 Even their storage area was cool.

" I love trash, everything dirty or dingy or dusty, everything ragged or rotten or rusty, oh I love trash."  Oscar the Grouch used to sing this song when my kids were little, now it should be the theme song of vintage treasure hunters.

 Every kind of plant you can imagine.

 One tiny variety of Lilac was in bloom, but the fragrance packed a big punch.  Just beautiful.

 An old postal collection box hidden behind some shrubs.  I wonder if it was holding gardening tools?

 We are looking for a new arbor...this one might work, if we could pick up and move our neighbors house over a couple of feet. ;-)

 Inside those gorgeous brick walls is a gift shop.  Oh my, be still my heart.

 I think this is why I hung a little stained glass in our living room window...it looks so pretty.

 Clever ideas.  Inspiration galore!

 The shape of this urn is exactly like the terracotta urn I just found at the thrift.

 Moss umbrella anyone?

 I have used my wheelbarrow in so many decorative ways since I bought it from a neighbor who was moving.  Never once carried dirt, I have used it to hold wedding programs with pumpkins and bittersweet, a small Christmas tree and white twinkle lights. The more rusty mine gets, the more I like it.

 Watering cans!  I saw one for over $50 dollars at the little antique show, and then at another vendor, one for $15, without it's rose. I'm waiting to find one at the thrift.  

So many ideas, even as I post these photos I see things I missed.  

 I bought this  fern wreath...

 and this wire heart basket.

The wreath looks great in my large hurricane.  Ferns seem to be my spring thing.

We did go to one rummage sale in between the rain storms.

I scored this round beveled mirror. ( I just put it on the bench to photograph.)

Every house seemed to have a large mirror like this when I was growing up.  Ours was rectangular, but with the same kind of beveled flowers.  I am always looking for mirrors, a thing I'm sure I got from my Mom who loved them too.  We walked into this rummage sale, one that I have found some great stuff in the past. The first room marked tools, had this mirror propped up under a table.  We were in 5 seconds and I had my find of the day, maybe the year!  

I should have been looking for a canoe, we've had so much heavy rain in the last three days.  Hoping for some dry weather, and a little sunshine wouldn't hurt.

Have a great week my friends and enjoy this beautiful day!

Love,  Penny

P.S. Happy Birthday Jean! I remembered;-)