Friday Vintage Finds

Many of you know that my parents have had an antique store, Pollyanna's Antiques in Maine and an Ebay store since the mid 90's. My Dad was the major treasure hunter, my Mom took care of manning the store and running the Ebay auctions. Together they had more than 6,000 positive feedbacks on Ebay since their virtual shop opened.

A vintage paper doll with handmade outfits

Since my Mom passed away in February, my Dad has become the full-time proprietor of Pollyanna's. In February I don't think he would have even known how to turn on a computer, now he is running 50+ auctions a week on Ebay.

In late February my sister, my Uncle Ron and I all took a part in teaching Dad how to use the computer. At first he would take the item photos and write up the auction descriptions, my sister would e-mail them to me, and I would run the auctions. Now Dad has advanced so far that he has purchased a digital scale and is printing out postage at the house. He can navigate through Ebay better than I can. I am very, very proud of him.

A gorgeous vintage tied summer quilt

I have always admired my parent's love of vintage and turn of the century items--a visit to their house was never complete without a show-and-tell of their most recent and precious finds. Two years ago, my Dad sent me off to Antiques Roadshow with a veritable treasure trove of items. "You will DEFINITELY get on the show with any one of these antiques" I remember him telling me. He was right. Want to check me out on the show? Click here.

A Fourth of July parade hat from the turn of the century

I know that a number of you have a real appreciation for vintage items. I think I will try to post on Fridays things from Dad's shop that you may appreciate seeing. If you look on my sidebar, you can see a link for Pollyanna's, just click and it will take you straight to his current auctions. Or, you can click here.

A 1920s advertising sign

I am sure that if my Mom were still alive, things would be purring along as they always had. Dad would still be out "picking" as he called it, Mom would be called upon to get a first peek at estate sales in Bath, they would both be falling in love with little finds that they could not bear to sell, and instead would set aside to pass on to my sister and I. Every holiday would be and still is a surprise. I receive Victorian glass art pieces, Chris gets vintage license plates, and the kids get sweet vintage books and dolls.

Farmer's Almanac from 1958

I guess with Father's Day on my mind, I wanted to pay a little tribute to my Dad. Happy Father's Day, Dad. I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of his little treasures.

Needlecraft Magazine, 1929

I am headed to Maine tomorrow with my little family to see him, so I won't be back until Monday. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Airline Rail Trail -- South Section Part 4

Regular readers know that we have been exploring the Airline Rail Trail over the last few months. If the weather is nice, I try to get on the trail twice a week. It is a stone's throw from my house and the south section of the trail is about 20 miles long. There are several entry points that make it very interesting. We do between 2 and 6 miles at a time. We went yesterday and the quality of the sunlight was stunning the entire walk.















Walking the trail with the kids has been such a great experience. We sing songs, recite nursery rhymes, point our birds, and play "I Spy" the entire way.

After 4 miles, 1 snapping turtle, 3 red-winged blackbirds, 1 Great Blue Heron, and one deer that I thought was real that turned out to be a decoy, I was ready to call it in and head for home.

You can read about our adventures walking on the South section of the trail that runs from East Hampton to Windham with these links: first time walking the trail here, our 2nd section walk here, and our 3rd section walk here.

And the Sun Will Come Out . . .

Today the sun emerged for the afternoon after a week plus of straight rain! We got outside as quickly as we could. The sunlight, the green grass, the blue sky--all were very welcome after so much wet weather. And even as James says, "the rain is good because it helps things grow" we were ready for some sunshine, pure and simple.











Have a great week!

Good Stuff

Let the home grown, bountiful harvest begin!

Catching Up with Our Bird Friends

We continue to be visited by Hairy, Downy and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers. Their flight pattern is almost comical--fly up, then dip, fly up, then dip! We keep hearing a Pileated but no sightings yet!


We switched bird food about a month ago to a black sunflower mix that we got at an Ocean State Job Lot--but we immediately lost some of our regular visitors, including finches and Chickadees. When it ran out we went back to the mix we had been buying for a local bird store and they came back that very day!


We have a new sparrow--I have not looked him up yet but isn't he cute? I have only seen him a handful of times--the only other sparrow we get is a Chipping Sparrow.


Here is a Black Capped Chickadee that has been coming back around to see us.


And our faithful friends, the Cardinals are our favorites. I really love the female. Watching the pair together is touching--the way they seem to care for each other, the way the male brings her little pieces of corn.


I am not sure if we will see any new birds--we may have seen all of them in our backyard--except that elusive Pileated Woodpecker!

A is for Alligator

Here is a fun craft that we are going to do for our alphabet comprehension.
We did the letter A yesterday.

Materials:
scissors
markers
card stock
cardboard
colored or scrapbooking paper
googly eye
gluestick
tape

When we craft I try to reuse materials so that my out-of-pocket expenses are minimal.

James' grandpaw sent him a book in the mail the other day and
the cardboard that he packaged it in was perfect for this idea.

First I drew an A about 5" high on bright yellow cardstock and cut it out. I asked James if he thought the alligator should be eating the A and he said yes and got very excited.

Next I free handed an alligator shape on the cardboard.


I let James go to town on the alligator with a glue stick.
Next, he placed little triangles that I had cut out of scrapbook paper all over the alligator.


Then he glued on a googley eye, and pasted the A in the alligator's mouth.


A few final artistic flourishes,


and VOILA!

Hmmm . . what shall the B be for?

Mom's Tootsie Roll

I have been working for the last week on trying to replicate an oil pie crust recipe that my Mom always used. It was flaky and a little chewy, and I never tasted it anywhere like she made it.

I am headed to Maine to see Dad on Father's Day weekend, and I am bringing him one of Mom's apple pies (well--as close as I can get to it). So of course I want to get her pie crust just right.

I have made several attempts over the last week and I think I got it today. Chris will be the happy recipient of a "test pie" when he gets home from Chicago this evening.

But back to the point of this post. Whenever Mom made a pie she always made a little extra dough to use for a special added treat--what she called a "Tootsie Roll." She rolled out the dough in a rectangle, put some butter on it and a generous amount of brown sugar and then rolled it up. It cooked in the oven alongside the main attraction.

It was always one of my favorite things that she baked.

I made one today. And it tastes just right.

Love you and miss you, Mom.

You Can Go Home Again

(Click on collage to enlarge)

I was talking with my Dad a few days ago about how great it is to live in New England. I was raised in Maine and came back to live in Connecticut after college. Six years ago my husband and I moved out West on a lark, and moved back last September. There were a number of reasons, mainly that we were new parents and wanted to raise our children back East, so that they could enjoy the many things that we believe make living in New England priceless. I also desperately missed my parents and my sister, and my Mom's health was failing and I just wasn't comfortable being 3,000 miles away.

We have been back nine months now and are still in awe as to how many things we missed about living in New England. There are so many wonderful destinations to explore, many of which are doable as day trips. Since moving back we have been hungry to get reconnected with the area. So many places are available to us that we are out pretty much every weekend. This past weekend's adventure was a drive to Newport, RI.

Chris and I are HUGE fans of clam cakes, and so we stopped at a favorite place of ours called the Country Chowder Shack in North Scituate on the way out. Have you ever had a clam cake? FANTASTIC. If they are done right, in my opinion they are hardly greasy at all, crispy on the outside and dense and chewy on the inside. The cakes at the Country Chowder Shack do NOT dissappoint!

We also had several RI Weiners--called such because they are truly different from a NY Dog, or a Chicago Dog. These are smaller, steamed, with natural casings. They are made with a coney-like sauce that has a secret ingredient (I swear it is Old Bay) and then served with mustard and onions. FABULOUS.

Next we hit a Del's Frozen Lemonade stand and James slurped away happily as we headed into Newport. First the Jamestown bridge, then the Newport Bridge--this kid is bridge crazy, so he loved going over them.

This past weekend was the Great Chowder Cook-Off, so the place was unusually busy. We headed straight for Bellevue Ave. to look at all the summer shacks (I mean mansions). Can I just say, these places are unbelieveable. Truly amazing.

Next out to the beach, where we got out for yet another Del's (I might have to look into getting a Del's truck of my very own) and watched the many kite enthusiasts that were out enjoying the windy weather. James has kites on the brain lately, so he was mesmerized watching all of the different kites sail up, down and around on the ocean breezes.

We headed back to Newport and walked up and down the main drag, enjoying people watching, looking out at the harbor and dodging tourists who were not very respectful of our stroller. We spent some time reminiscing about a vacation in Narragansett we took almost ten years ago during which we were not yet married and enjoyed the night life with friends in Newport. That is one of the things I love about being with Chris--he has always been adventurous, and that has provided us with many great memories that keep us laughing.

All in all it was a great day trip--we came home exhausted but happy, piled the kids into bed and and went to bed shortly after ourselves. Laying there going over the day's excursion, I was really thankful to be back in New England--BACK HOME.

I think it was Thomas Wolfe's novel, You Can't Go Home Again that started the saying "You can never go home again" but I think that you can. I know that when I fell asleep on Saturday night, I was smiling.

Grill A Summer Vegetable & Black Bean Salad!

I have been itching to put together a favorite recipe for my bloggy friend's Tasty Tuesday project. I'm a little early, but since the weekend is here, I though some of you might want to try it!

First, get your grill heating up. For my salad I start with a bunch of my favorite veggies--fresh corn on the cob is available here now (the corn I planted is just now peeking out of the ground, so that will be a long while before it makes it into this dish!) I also grab some Vidalia onions, a Pablano pepper. green peppers, cherry tomatoes and squash.

Slice them up and place on a tinfoil covered sheet (for easy clean up). Spray with cooking spray or brush with olive oil on both sides. Place on the grill, and be mindful of any pieces that you may have sliced really thin, as they could burn easily.


After everything starts to smell good (like one of those Sausage and Pepper vendors at the fair) and there is a decent char on the veggies, take them off the grill.


Next, I shave the corn off of the cob. This step always reminds me of when I was a kid and had braces. This is how my Dad had to prepare it for me! What an agonizing few summers, not being able to eat my corn on the cob with typical typewriter action!


Next, rough chop the rest of the veggies.


Throw everything in a bowl, and add black beans. Rinse them first (some people don't, but I always have.)


Next, I salt and pepper liberally, and add olive oil (a few turns around the bowl) and balsamic vinegar. This is a great step in the recipe to experiment: I have used Newman's Italian Dressing here and been very pleased with the result as well.


Voila! Isn't it beautiful? You could add chopped basil or cilantro, serve it as a topping for fish tacos, alongside steak, or mix it with pasta.



I scooped a little in my bowl for lunch, and then topped with Feta cheese.


Summer perfection in a bowl! Now, it will truly be perfect once my own basil, tomatoes and corn are in it!