Where In The World Have We Been?

It's been almost two weeks since my last blog post.
Howard and I have been among the missing.

Where?  Here are some clues.

We went here:

 And visited here:

 Took a look at this:

 Visited in a land where things . . . 

 . . . are not always what they seem to be!

 Braved fiery explosions:

 And the jaws of a shark!

Witnessed some guy named Norman stuff a body in the trunk of his car:

 Howard made a new friend.

 Howard also got snapped buying Cinnabon sticks.  Evidence.

 He redeemed himself by rescuing his daughter from a fake shark.

Now that's a Dad.

 So I'm thinking you are probably guessing where we have been.

California!

Including Los Angeles.

 Santa Barbara.

And the odd little town of Solvang, which seems to be mostly owned by

Scandinavians, and the Chumash Indian tribe.  

 "Mom, it's a tourist trap," said our daughter Alida.

"Perfect," said I.  "I am a tourist."

Note the bag, full of cheesy souvenirs.

So what about those first pictures in this post?

We spent a Saturday afternoon at the Santa Anita Racetrack.

The first horse Howard placed a $2 bet on crossed the finish line riderless.

The jockey fell off.

True story.

You are allowed to laugh, as the jockey was not hurt.

 Santa Anita is a beautiful Art Deco-designed track, built in the 1930s.

The new HBO series "Luck" is being filmed there.

Our daughter Alida and son-in-law Josh, studying the racing form.

They came out ahead with their $2 bets.  Smart-aleck grad students.

Santa Anita, in Arcadia, is not far from Pasadena, where we had spent the morning.

At the Greene & Greene designed Gamble House.

Yes, I stole this shot from the Gamble House website ...  click here.

Pasadena is Mecca if you love Arts & Crafts style homes, from sprawling houses

designed by famous architects, to modest bungalows.  Wonderful town.

If you visit the Gamble House, ask the docent to let you walk

into the butler's pantry off the kitchen.  It is perfection.

Now what does it say about me, that I loved the butler's pantry with its walls of cupboards,

so beautiful in their simplicity and usefulness, 

more than I loved the living room, or the moody stained glass panels around the front door?

I may not want to answer that one. . . .

***********************************

We visited California primarily to visit these two people:

Alida and Josh.  You may remember them from the 47-thousand pictures

of their June 2011 wedding that I posted.  All. Summer. Long.

They live in Los Angeles, and are excellent tour guides.

Here they are at the La Brea Tar Pits museum complex.

Did you recognize the 3rd picture from the top?  The fragrant Tar Pit!

We timed the trip to coincide with Howard's birthday, and Alida's.

Our daughter may be officially a grownup, now 26 and married, but she still does things like this:

That's a Giant Sloth, friends.  The one not wearing green pants and a yellow shirt.

Did you know that camels once roamed Los Angeles?

The things you learn at the Tar Pits . . . amazing.

Universal Studios was way more fun than I thought it would be.

Sometimes, it's just good to be a tourist, and do the tourist-y things.

Santa Barbara, where we met up with friends, was gorgeous and all you have to do

is park me by salt water, and I am a happy camper.

Solvang, where we stayed for a couple of nights, was a hoot.

But with all the things we did, I think the most pictures

we took were of the things we ate!

Really.

I'm going to save some of those for another post,

because this one has gotten to be like your boring neighbor's vacation slides presentation.

But food?  Who could be bored by food?

Next time, our California food, plus stories of how we broke into a closed restaurant,

the sailing trip that may or may not have been with a homicidal maniac,

and -- the apple fritter that got away.  Sigh.

It's good to be home again at That Old House, and New Jersey greeted us
with a dusting of snow when we got home, but our trip was a blast.

Back to reality! . . . Cass

What A Difference A Year Makes

Today, as I sat in my windowed nook at the computer, 
with the blinds tilted against the morning sun,

I heard the unmistakable pitter-patter
of raindrops on our conservatory roof. 

A sun shower!

I ventured outside for proof:

The weather forecast here in northern New Jersey is for an afternoon high of 63 degrees today.

When you can walk your dog with just a sweater for warmth, that is a sweet February 1st.

One year ago, in 2011, our landscape looked like this:

And we were having ice storms on top of the snow.

Two years ago, in 2010, our landscape looked like this:

This year, along with many of you in the USA, we are having an almost-eerily mild winter,

with January's temperatures way above normal, and only one minor snowfall,

quickly melted, in what should have been the coldest and snowiest month of the year.

February's off to a good start if today is any indicator.

Did you know that we are adding 15 minutes of daylight, every week, now until the end of June?

It's already past 5:30 before it gets dark.  I love to see the days get longer.

************************************

There are other changes from last year to this.

A year ago Howard and I, and my sister and her husband,

sat at my father's hospital bedside.  Waiting.

We were not ready.  But he was.

In the very early morning of the next day, our wait ended.

Pop, you were our go-to guy, our Oracle, the true center of the family.

It's strange and still surprising to be without you.

I guess we never would have been ready, huh?

I love you.  Cass

Tea With The Johnson Boys

Blue and White.
Classic.
And nothing's more classic than blue and white china
from England's Johnson Brothers pottery.

About 30 years ago, I fell in love with a Johnson Bros. pattern called Indies Blue,

and bought a service for 8 at Macy's in New York, and added to it over the years.  

It's moved from house to house with us,

and now lives the good life on Jabba The Hutch, in our kitchen. . .

. . .where lots of my blue and white dishes cohabit.

Last week, in a thrift shop a bit south of here, I found an Indies Blue

coffee pot -- a small one -- for a really small price.  Six dollars.  Now it lives here, too.

On this Tuesday, it's come out to pose with its blue-and-white buddies, in a tea time setting.

My $6 coffee pot, come to play at tea time.

Care for a cuppa?

That's it!

Now I can go back to doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and put the Indies Blue back on the hutch.

I've said it before; you're never to old to play with dolls, or dishes. -- Cass

LINK PARTIES!

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage, and Tea Time Tuesday.  Click here!

And ... it's also Tea Cup Tuesday at Artful Affirmations with Terri.  Click here!

It's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday with Linda at Coastal Charm.  Click here!

And I Say To Myself . . .

. . . What a Wonderful World.

We live on a marvelous marble, we Earthlings.

How beautiful is this?

NASA has released this high-resolution image of our planet,

taken by its most recent Earth-observing satellite. 

Click here to see it full size, in clearer detail.

Click on the image twice for full resolution.

Whether you believe that this beautiful orb was formed in a Big Bang, 

or molded by a Creator's hands, or fashioned by some

cosmic combination of means, I'm pretty sure

you can't look at this image and not be awestruck.

NASA has nicknamed this picture The Blue Marble 2012,

honoring the 1972 Blue Marble image of earth photographed by

the crew of Apollo 17, on their flight toward the moon:

Yes, Columbus.  Proof that the world really is round.

I am enthralled by this latest image of our complex and stunning

planet, and I just wanted to share it with you.

Have a wonderful week!  -- Cass

Color Of The Year

Not to be thought old-fashioned and out of date,
That Old House has requested that she be snazzed up
with the 2012 Color Of The Year.


According to Pantone, the self-proclaimed color dictators
the company that makes millions selling, well, colors (how do
they do that?), the 2012 Color Of The Year is Tangerine Tango.

Oh dear.

That Old House is 180 years old.

Orange is harsh on an aging complexion.

Does deep orange belong in an old farmhouse?

I made a quick loop around That Old House, checking

if there are already some trendy Tangerine-colored bits and bobs here and there.  

There's this, on the walnut cupboard in the kitchen:

Also in the kitchen, atop Jabba the Hutch, two pumpkin tureens:

I found a hard, dry navel orange, a refugee from the toe of a Christmas stocking.

I guess I can snazz that up for a little orange zzziiiing.

Orange is not an easy color to live with, in large scale.

Especially when it's not Halloween.

In packets of takeout duck sauce, not so hard:

In its defense, as an accent or in accessories, strong orange is striking.

And not in a "strike me over the head with a baseball bat" kind of way.  Striking in a good way.

For instance, this, from Pantone's very own website:

A bergere chair upholstered in that Tangerine Tango color,

which is a very red orange, against a soft blue wall.

Why, hush my puppies, if that blue wall don't look a whole lot like

the color that is Benjamin Moore's 2012 Color Of The Year.

Wythe Blue.

This, from Benny Moore's website: Wythe Blue walls in a dining room:

As luck would have it, we are already on trend with this trendy color.

It's all over the walls of our second-floor hall bath.

 Wythe Blue is easy on the eyes, easy to live with, and while it's been named

2012 Color of the Year by its maker, it's one of their Historic Colors.  Interesting. 

 I have my plan in place.

I will just tell That Old House that she'll have to be content with

wearing at least one of the 2012 Colors of the Year.

What about you?
Do color trends and fads influence your choices in your home?
Do you have plans to incorporate Tangerine Tango in your decor?

There's no right or wrong answer to that; whatever pleases, works.

Have a marvelous weekend!  I'm hoping we are almost done with rain for a few days.

But right now, I'm going to take care of that rapidly drying orange before it's too late.  -- Cass

LINK PARTIES!

At My Romantic Home, it's Show And Tell Friday.  Click here!

Feathered Nest Friday makes its home at French Country Cottage.  Click here!

The Charm of Home features Home Sweet Home on Fridays.  Click here!

It's Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground.  Click here!

LaurieAnna's Vintage Home is the place for Farmhouse Friday.  Click here!

A Thrifting Find, and a Van Full of Furniture!

On this drizzly Thursday, my friend Emily and I
skipped happily off into the Land of Thrifting.  And lunch.


But first, we tootled down to my antiques booth, to replenish it.
Some larger pieces of furniture were sold, making room for new things.

We brought down the tool chest I got last week:

We still don't know everything about this chest, but I'm pretty sure it's a machinist's
or carpenter's chest, possibly made by the carpenter himself, or at least custom made.
It was not made in a factory.  The inside lid may have once held two small mirrors,
to facilitate removing filings or shavings from eyes.  We are kind of sad to see it go.
The lock is missing, but you can see where a rod went through all the drawers and
locked everything up nice and securely.  What was in those drawers was valued.

Also the little washstand or telephone table or whatever it is:

And we brought down a chair I picked up awhile ago,

that my sister's been storing on her sunporch.

Here it is, happily reclining on its back in my minivan:

Through the wonders of computer fiddling,

I rotated another shot, to make it look almost as if it's

standing upright.  The fabric is tapestry, in perfect condition.

The old Craigslist picture is the best.

The chair is big, it's comfy, it's in perfect shape, and if you squint

it looks like it's rustic French Empire or Directoire style.

Don't forget to squint.

Now . . . did these things end up in the booth?

They did not.  The sold furniture is still there, not yet picked up.  No room.

(Le sigh.)

**********************************

So, Emily and I, with the furniture still in the van, hightailed it to

a great little thrift shop, off the beaten path, and it did not disappoint.

Ah, the beautiful Johnson Brothers pattern called Indies Blue.

I have scads of it.  So does Martha at Linderhof blog.

And now I have this:

A pot.  Coffee?  Tea?  Not sure, don't care.

In gorgeous condition, not a mark on it.

It cost me $6.  Six American greenbacks.  Six stinkin' bucks!

Oh, be still my heart.

*****************************

I picked up a few more things at this thrift shop.

A glass candleholder.  3 orphaned saucers.  A book.

And this:

A painted plate, blue and white, and just right for hanging in my kitchen. 

I like its corny scene, windmill and tulips and all.

That's all, Folks!  -- Cass

Linky Parties for Thursday:

At Tales From Bloggeritaville, it's Leigh's Thrifty Thursday.  Click here!

At From My Front Porch To Yours, it is Treasure Hunt Thursday.  Click here and visit!

No Minimalist Here hosts Open House Party Thursdays.  Click here!

At Coloradolady, Suzanne hosts Vintage Thingies Thursday.  Click here!