Of Teensy Old Cups and a Wise New Owl

Sometimes the postman doesn't even ring at all,
but just stands on our front steps,
slides a box across our porch floor,
and watches it come to rest against the front door.  Slam.

Note to self:  Take down the hanging asparagus fern before Irene does it for me.

Then he leaves.  And I get to bring the box in, and open it.

I love that part.

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Last week I shared my plan for gluing innocent, unsuspecting

demitasse cups to their saucers, and making Christmas tree ornaments out of them.

See?  Like this:

I still need to add ribbon and a little bling, because what is a

Christmas tree ornament without some bling, but what I need

even more are more demitasse sets to glue!  So far, I have 11.

What should show up outside my front door yesterday, but a box.

In the box -- yes you guessed it! -- more demitasse cups and saucers.

Are these pretty, or what?

There are four sets in the box, but I'm not unpacking them all yet

because today I'm busy with house things.

But I had to show you the two cups I unwrapped.

What dust?  I don't see no stinkin' dust.

 My keyboard is a different color than my computer;

I wore the letters off the matching keyboard.

 This was an eBay auction with an opening bid of 99-cents.

I was the only bidder.

 The saucers are buried in the bottom of the box, and there they will stay until I get my glue out

and begin to transform these old demitasse cups into ornaments for our dining room tree.  

Meanwhile, back in the box!

A quick Google of Schwarzburg porcelain marks tells me they date from between 1904 and 1924.

Except for that one crack in the one cup, they are in excellent condition.

They have asked that they spend their retirement years hanging on a Christmas tree

in our dining room, with time out for good behavior, napping in the attic.

I wonder where they've been all these years?

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Now I know all about our next box buddy!

Earlier this month, my friend Carol, who has a lovely

blog called Serendipity, had a giveaway.

And I won one of the prizes!

Whooooo is in the box?

 He is, that's Who!

 I have always loved owls and collected a gajillion of them in my youth.

Now, I still love them but have pared down my collection, and am

delighted to add this little fella to the bunch!

Carol said she thought his colors would be good for our beach house.  And they are.

When Anne and I went out this week to Irene-proof the house, we brought him with.

 Here he is, lolling in the Master bedroom.

He looks quite at home, don't you think?

I told him he was in charge of the house, and that we expected

to find it all intact and as normal after the Hurricane.

I suspect he may find his way upstairs, to the twin room that

was once the sewing room; that room is even more his color!

Thank you, Carol, for this adorable owl pillow -- he makes me smile!

My daughter Anne covets him, so I need to be vigilant that he doesn't end up in her apartment. 

And if you haven't visited Carol at Serendipity, you should!

She has beautiful photographs, and gorgeous quilts to share.

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One last thing for me to share:  A Farmhouse Chore.

Ahead of the threat of Hurricane Irene, we are taking down the shutters on the first floor.

 These old shutters don't have secure ties to the house to keep them from flapping, and they are too

old and rickety to actually close them anymore to protect the windows.  So while it's lovely to have an old house with a big front porch and big old shutters, it also means that when a big storm is looming, there's a little bit of work to do!  Out at the beach house we cleared the decks.  Here, we clear the porch!  -- Cass

Link Parties!

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