Christmas Porch 2013...a Little Bit Country!

Cozy Country Cabin Christmas!

My most enduring Christmas fantasy is the Country Cabin Christmas...a crackling fire, flickering candlelight and sleigh bells in the snow.  In my fantasy I am sitting in a cozy chair by the window, drinking hot cocoa and watching lazy snowflakes twirl in a Christmas ballet.  Have you noticed that Christmas must be experienced with all the senses?  I need only add the scent of fresh pine for my fantasy to be complete.  I may never get my country cabin...we own a lot in the mountains above Mount Pleasant, Utah...but it seems that life keeps getting in the way.  So I have to make my home as cozy and welcoming as possible.

My Home...Christmas Porch 2013

I was playing with Fotoflexer to get the antique look for the picture...it seems cozier somehow...at least a bit more interesting.  Last year I decided to look for sale items and thrift store finds that I could use to change my theme from Candy Land to Country Cabin.  It's still a work in progress, but I will keep on the lookout for more fun things for the porch.  I would like to find some old skis and ice skates some day.

Front Door...

Pic doesn't show my favorite blow mold Santa head to the left of the door.

Darling Burlap Owl Wreath...

Walmart last Christmas...they have some really cute ones.

The "paper chains" are metal...I've had them for years.

I want to find some skis to hang where the sign is now.

Burlap Porch Pillows...

I printed postcard images on printable fabric.

The pillows have ties to secure them to the bench in case of blizzards.

Tomato Cage Tree...

Wrapped with lights, burlap, garland and ribbon.

Noel Wreaths...

Redesigned my old candy wreaths for my four front porch windows.

The large letters were chipboard from Michaels bargain bins.

First Crafts of Christmas...

Santa's (messy) Workshop...

I made some ornaments after the wreaths were done.

Little House Shadow Box...

The little house was from Michaels.

A box lid left over from another project.

Tiny Owl in a Christmas Cone.

Hobby Lobby had a package of three small glitter owls.

Another Box Lid Scene...only 3"sq.

Cozy Country Cabin Collection...lol!

Small Rosette with Christmas Card Image...

Rusty Rustic Santa...

Had some rusty wide mouth lids and a bunch of 

made-in-Japan Santa heads.

Another for the CCC tree in the hall.

This little fella was a Pinterest Pin...

Lowes has 69 cent yardsticks.

Scrabble tile letters...Target Snowman (last year)

That's it for now...

More to come!

Tea Sets and Violets...Memories of Mother

Memories of Mother
"Sweet Violets
Sweeter than the Roses
Covered all over from head to toe
Covered all over with Sweet Violets"

I cannot hear this song, or smell the sweet scent of violets without thinking of my mother.  Violets were her special symbol, chosen when she was a young girl.  They were her Young Women's flower and painted on delicate china cups and saucers stored lovingly in her cedar chest with her wedding gown and treasures.

She was like a violet herself then, small and delicate with the dark eyes of a fawn.  I can see in my mind the sepia photograph of her as a lovely young girl of 12, gazing serenely into the camera's lens.

She was a pretty child and the darling of her family; the lone girl in a pack of boisterous brothers who alternately spoiled her or teased her mercilessly.  And boy could they tease!

When I was very small, Mother gave into my care the remaining plates of a green Depression Glass tea set.  This tea set had been her most cherished possession when she was pre-school age.  One day, as she carefully carried her little dishes into the living room, one of her brothers sneaked up behind her and yelled in her ear.  With an earsplitting crash, the little tea set was dashed to the floor.  Tearfully, she gathered up the plates that remained unbroken.  Somehow through the years, those plates survived.  How they survived my childhood is another miracle.

I was about five years old when she gave them to me and told me how special they were to her.  I am still amazed that she trusted me to care for them.  True to my stewardship, I kept the little plates carefully wrapped in newspaper and stored in a small box.  It was such a treat to occasionally unwrapped those treasures and imagine playing "tea party" with the pretty little girl from the Depression.

When Mother was a girl, Grandma and Grandpa made for her a wooden treasure box covered in pretty wallpaper that matched her bedroom.  As the oldest granddaughter, I inherited that box.  Inside were special dolls and toys that I kept at Grandma Patta's, safe from my boisterous brothers and sisters. Only I could play with the things in that box. 

When I visited my grandparents I spent many sunny hours playing under a tree in the backyard, or on the upstairs landing on rainy days. My favorite game at the time was to imagine that my mother was still a little girl, just my age, and that we were friends.  We played for hours, her in an old-fashioned dress from the 30's and me in shorts and a tee-shirt, reading old issues of Children's Friend and designing our dream houses with pictures cut from Better Homes and Gardens. Sometimes she watched me make Barbie clothes from the bag of sewing scraps that Grandma saved for me.  She only watched...because Mom could not sew worth a lick!

My grown-up mom was not on friendly terms with her old sewing machine.  Any sewing project made her so stressed-out that we kids used to hide whenever she put in a zipper!  It's kind of funny, because her mother made beautiful gowns for antique porcelain dolls and I've made quilts most of my life.  I guess some things skip a generation.

But she loved collecting dolls almost as much as Grandma Patta did.  And the countless gifts of dolls from her children and grandchildren gave her a lot of pleasure.  Especially during those last years...that endless stretch of time when she couldn't go out, but could only sit in her doll room surrounded by memories.

I have many warm memories of my mother, but I always like to think of her as the small girl whose unsteady little legs carried her and her tea set into Grandma's living room.  And that memory is always accompanied by the scent of violets.

In Memory of Rhea Lee Gray Devey

April 7, 1935-November 6, 2006

I wish to acknowledge my sister Lisa, who designed the little memory pages.  She made each of the sisters a beautiful miniature scrapbook.  So much love and effort was put into them.  I will always treasure mine.

I am grateful today for the love of my Father in Heaven.

"I am a child of God

And he has sent me here

Has given me an earthly home

With parents kind and dear..."

Note:  This is a repost from November 6, 2011...the fifth anniversary.

Vintage Vacations...Oatman, AZ on Route 66!

Vintage Vacation...Oatman, Arizona!

Arizona's desert landscape...

My dad and his wife Geri love to spend the winters in Bullhead Arizona...along with everyone from "Beautiful British Columbia" and other cold states and provinces.  He knows of my love of mining towns and told me about Oatman, located in the hills outside Bullhead.  He never mentioned that it was at the end of a 14 mile dirt road...but that's another story.  He also never mentioned that we could also access this town on Route 66 out of Kingman...so we drove from Vegas to Laughlin and across the river to Bullhead.  Actually, it was more fun to take the scenic route...bumping along through the desert.

Roadside Memorial..."Thumper!"

Arizona seems to have more of these than any other state I've visited.

Shopping for Souvenirs...lol!

On our drives, George likes to collect large rocks for his flower beds.  He also purchased a large rusty water pump...from the "Mantiques" department of a local Oatman shop.

The first sign of "Danger!"

Rush Hour...

When we finally reached the junction with Route 66...mercifully paved...we got caught in noon rush hour traffic.  The town is full of burros...descendants of the miners' animals.  When the mines closed the animals were left to their own devices. The local burros are "wild"...but you wouldn't know it.  They all have names and are petted and fed by locals and tourists.  The town wouldn't exist without them.  Every store sells Burro Chow...some kind of hay cookies.  Several smaller burros had stickers on their foreheads...saying something like "I am a baby...do not feed me."

Welcoming Committee!

What happens if you open your window to take a picture...lol!



Oatman is proud of its connection to the "Mother Road."

Sign at the entrance to town tells of its mining history and the burros' place in that history.

They are protected by Federal law as "Living Symbols of the Old West."

My new friend took a bite out of my little brown bag containing vintage cookie cutters.

I didn't know that Burro Chow was sold in identical little brown bags

Random Oatman Architecture...

Inside the Oatman Hotel

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard slept here on their honeymoon.

They were married in Kingman.

The Oatman Hotel Restaurant...

The walls  and ceilings are completely covered with thousands of signed $1 bills!

Lunch! 

Yummiest patty melt and their special "Burros Ears" giant potato chips.

Seriously...some were about a foot long!

A little after-lunch exploration.

The sign says it all...he's mine!

George is losing a lot of weight...but still wears his "fat pants"...lol!

Random rusty artifacts.

On our way back to Vegas via 66 to Kingman.

One more cool sighting on the Mother Road.

In some ways, Oatman reminded me of Radiator Springs in the movie "Cars"...before the characters took renewed pride in their little town. 

Thank you for joining me

on this Vintage Vacation

PS...here are some vintage Route 66 graphics...enjoy!