Sunday, December 20, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Choose Civility
Tired of all the mean-spiritedness in the political arena? You might find this a refreshing read.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Cutest Cottage in Puyallup
I have long-adored this little cottage at 410 7th Avenue NW in Puyallup, Washington. Now it is for sale. Since I am not in a position to buy it myself, my hope is that it will be snatched up by someone who will appreciate its unique charms.
It is all vintage, built in 1936, with a Dutch door, pine paneling, hardwood floors, and casement windows. It's 948 square feet with a basement.
Please buy it and write and tell me that you did!
(The listing is MLS#29134029 and is being sold by Jennifer Dunaway of Alliance Real Estate. There are more pictures on the web. Check it out.)
Friday, October 9, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
A Minnie Winnie to Love
Matt and Sara of the Live Lightly Tour have remodeled yet another motor home. They never cease to amaze me with their creativity and eye for beauty. See a before and after photo slide show here.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Rural Garden
"Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity."
--John Ruskin (Precious Thoughts: Moral and Religious).
A thank you to Linda6769 for sharing this photo on flickr.
Friday, June 12, 2009
More Lemon Magic
I happily volunteered to wash some white baptismal clothes, but was dismayed when they were delivered to me for laundering with brown stains in several places. I pretreated with a commercial stain remover spray and laundered the clothes, then, when that was not completely successful, repeated the process. The stains were only about half gone by this point.
Assuming that the stains were from rust from the zippers in the items, I searched online and found this tip guide. Following the advice there, I then doused the stains in pure lemon juice and let that soak for 15 minutes and washed the clothes again. The stains disappeared.
I love the Internet. And I love those lemons.
A thank you to terriseesthings for sharing this beautiful photo on flickr.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
This Made Me Smile
I wish smiles for you today, too.
Sorry that the video is off-center. I don't know how to fix it.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Lentils
I love my Zojirushi Rice Cooker and today I used it to cook lentils. I just put one cup dried lentils, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 2 cups water into the rice cooker, and one hour later I had lentils ready to eat or add to soup or sprinkle on salads.
Lentils are one of my favorite legumes and are very high in fiber, as well as lots of other good things.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
"The Magic Hour": a Short Film by Ray Paunovich
The Magic Hour from Ray Paunovich on Vimeo.
"A visual look at nature in the last rays of sunlight."
Monday, May 4, 2009
Lemony Fresh
Today I saw a clip from the British television show How Clean is Your House which included a tip about cleaning a toilet bowl. The nice lady suggested using a paste of borax and lemon juice. I tried it. It worked. You might like to try it, too.
(Remember that borax, while a completely natural substance, mined directly out of the earth, is still potentially dangerous. Wear gloves while you use it, and keep it away from little children.)
Friday, May 1, 2009
May Day!
When I was a little girl, my sister and I would rush home from school on May 1 each year to make paper cones for flower vases. We grabbed handfuls of lilacs and dandelions and filled the cones, then ran through the neighborhood placing the bouquets on each doorstep, knocking on the door and running away to hide.
It was great fun, but I for one always wished that our celebrations included a Maypole dance, like the magical one pictured here. All those colors being woven together! That seemed like heaven.
A thank you to Pete Ashton for the maypole photograph, to van swearingen for the lilacs and Bob Aubuchon for the dandelions, all shared in Creative Commons on flickr.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Queen Sized Crazy Quilt: The Backstory
Click here to see hundreds more quilts via the Bloggers Quilt Festival being hosted by Amy at Park City Girl.I was nineteen years old and visiting a cousin who was a student at the University of Washington. She lived with seven other young women in an enormous U-District house built in the 1800's. The house was spacious and charming and I--coming as I was from an upbringing in a less-than-1000-square foot 1960's rambler--was enchanted, but never so much awestruck as when, for a fleeting moment, I saw a flash of multicolored beauty among the blankets atop my cousin's bed. Hidden in the pile was a crazy quilt and when I glimpsed it I gasped and asked, "what is that?!" She was surprised by my excitement and casually replied that it was a quilt made by our great grandmother, and returned it to its place under the covers.
I never saw the quilt again, but I never forgot that moment of discovery. Making this one has fulfilled a goal that I had not realized I had. I feel very satisfied to have it done. Maybe there will be a great-granddaughter of mine who will be delighted at its discovery. I hope so. In the meantime, it is very practical and warm, and will get much use in this house, for many years to come.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Done and On the Bed
After some five months of nearly daily labor, I have finished a queen sized quilt for our bed. It is crazy-patched, hand-quilted and ready to keep us warm until we die.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Katrina Cottages: Exterior and Interior Views
Every now and then I do another online search to see if I can find more pictures of the interiors of the Lowe's Katrina Cottages. Today I had success. You can see some nice interior and exterior photos of these lovely little cottages at the Cusato Cottages site here. Lowe's has some photos, too, although I was not as fond of the furniture choices displayed there. See them here.
Now that we are about to join the ranks of the unemployed, I'm wondering if one of these might be a real option to consider. I'd like one complete with a garden spot, mature trees, and a clothesline, if you please. Anyone know of land for sale?
Photo Credit: www.cusatocottages.com
Thursday, April 2, 2009
For Sale: Tiny House
A craftsman named Derek has a tiny home on wheels for sale for 34,000 dollars.
Go and see it here, for the sake of enjoying the beauty of a well-organized space, if for nothing else. It really is a little gem.
Photograph from Tiny House Blog.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Oh, Come On
That Mother Nature. What a kidder. Snow on April First.
Ha. Ha. Good one.
(Not so much, really.)
A thank you to Photonburst for sharing this picture on flickr.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
I'm Wishing for a Clothesline. How about you?
A thank you to Lulu at Home for sharing this photo on flickr. Click here to see more of her nostalgic photographs.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Repost: From My First Blog, November 18, 2007
FarmBoy and I chatted a bit yesterday about memories of the best play times we had as children. The discussion was initiated by his witnessing my tossing away of three empty (plastic) thread spools. He related that some of his best memories of childhood play were of the imaginative sessions he and his playmates had with leftover wooden thread spools.
Today I saw Soulemama's post about similar play, and I was delighted. Her musings so reflect my own feelings about toys. See her blog here.
(By the way, my own favorite play memory is of a time my cousin Randy and I filled empty soda- pop cans with sand and raced them down makeshift tracks we created ourselves in the dunes along the coastline of Washington state. [Pop cans are not as nice as wood, aesthetically speaking, but we were deserving of points for recycling.] Nothing from my childhood kindles lovely memories like those of a day spent in soft gray sand with the ocean's rhythmic roar in the background.)
A thank you to coccinelle67 for sharing the above photograph on flickr.
Today I saw Soulemama's post about similar play, and I was delighted. Her musings so reflect my own feelings about toys. See her blog here.
(By the way, my own favorite play memory is of a time my cousin Randy and I filled empty soda- pop cans with sand and raced them down makeshift tracks we created ourselves in the dunes along the coastline of Washington state. [Pop cans are not as nice as wood, aesthetically speaking, but we were deserving of points for recycling.] Nothing from my childhood kindles lovely memories like those of a day spent in soft gray sand with the ocean's rhythmic roar in the background.)
A thank you to coccinelle67 for sharing the above photograph on flickr.
-
Emily Allan Wood said... I also think my fondest memories with toys are the toys that come from nature or from creative ideas like your pop cans on the beach. One of my best memories is jumping as high as I could off the sand dunes and flying several feet before landing. I am glad you guys took us to the beach when we were younger. Its a wonderful place.
- CouponAlbum said...
Interesting post!! Now a day, many amazing and wonderful toys are available in market for kids...
A Girl Called Dallan said...I agree about the availability of many wonderful toys for purchase these days. (It was not always so.) I like to invest in quality toys that can be passed down for generations. Inasmuch as manufactured toys encourage imaginative play, they are great supplements to the toys which children create for themselves.
Thanks for the comments.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
A Good, Good Lesson
This little video starts off slowly, but hang in there. You will be glad you did.
A thank you to Jess Gonacha for sharing this today on her blog, Treasuring.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Letting the Air Freely Dry the Laundry
A thank you to "meaghan" for sharing this photo on flickr.
I recently bought one of these and I love it. It has eleven drying racks and what works well for me is to wash nine or ten large items plus some assorted socks and washcloths every day (except Sunday). The damp laundry sits overnight on the rack next to my electric dryer. The next morning I do a new load of wash. When it is done washing, I remove the previous day's laundry from the rack and put it into the dryer to tumble on the lowest heat setting during the few minutes it takes me to put the new load of wet laundry onto the rack. This little bit of dryer time softens the laundry items and dries up any dampness still in them.
A nice side-effect of this method is that I have only a dozen or so things to put away each day, and that works very nicely for me. I'm looking forward to seeing the dip in energy usage in our next electric bill, as electric clothes dryers are one of the biggest consumers of electricity in a home.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Spectrum
A thank you to to01 for sharing this picture on flickr.
To see more simple, beautiful toys, visit oompa.com. We are big believers in investing in a few quality toys, rather that spending the same amount of money on more common playthings with less aesthetic value.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
An Upgrade for the Homeless
There are some inspiring pictures over here of some little, inexpensive houses which could be constructed for those who currently live in tent cities such as this one in Olympia, Washington. If the state could step forward and pay for them, I suspect that money would be saved on balance by reducing emergency room visits by these folks. The cottages are not necessarily larger than a tent, but they do provide more shelter from the weather, and, most importantly, a lock on a door.
A thank you to televiseus for sharing this photograph on flickr.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Lovely Daughters
A thank you to finsbry for sharing on flickr this illustration by Jessie Wilcox Smith.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)