I never plan ahead on what my Christmas mantle will look like, I just go with the flow and see how it turns out. Seems this year is turning out silver. V
intage blue beads added a touch of color. A variety of silver balls and silver spires nestled in antique silver tinsel garland. The lights add a bit of warmth and a little touch of gold. I acquired so many decorations throughout the years that I never need to buy anything to decorate. Everything can be used in different ways to give a different effect. In the daylight without the lights on, it has a totally different look. A little history on the snowflake panels on the mantel. I acquired these decades ago, a whole bin full of blue glitter, mirror and frosted snowflakes along with the cutouts from a store in a mall in Atlanta. It's just one of the crazy things I would do. I loved the decorated windows and would ask the managers if no one wanted the decorations after Christmas would I be able to come get them, and most of the time the answer was yes! The cutouts. All have a small hole to hang them. In the garden: A good year for berries! I planted these nandinas when we moved here, and they are now mature and loaded with bunches of berries. They line the front porch and fence at the Tiny Farmhouse. Bittersweet is woven through all the trees. These bushes line the driveway. These trees are throughout our property. With the leaves down, I now have a view of the mountains from our bedroom. In Rescue: Cookie was an unexpected guest this weekend. Bob drove her to the SC/GA line on Saturday. Only 6 months old and a LOT of energy! TinTin came to NC from TN after being in the shelter for almost a year. It's a long story, but he was not doing well with his rescue and went back with one of the shelter girls that fell in love with him. They drove 4 1/2 hours to get him here and stayed at the boathouse only to come back last weekend to pick him up and take him back! Hopefully a little quieter this week (except for our anniversary tomorrow) and back to finishing the tree, glittering my cards, wrapping, packing and mailing the gifts!
Starting to feel like a new holiday tradition is some household emergency. Remember last year when we had five trees taken down on Thanksgiving day? The year before the septic backed up and pipes needed to be replaced the day before Thanksgiving? This year a main water pipe burst and the meter was spinning like crazy. This is the first time we have not had a well, but looking into bringing the original well back to life. I was having a heart attack thinking the brick courtyard would have to be dug up, it was only inches away, so that was one thing I was THANKFUL for on Thanksgiving! It ended up being in an area where I have plans to put flag stones because it is just mud, we can't get grass to grow there. So this is one time where procrastination paid off! Although all this was going on, I managed to get a small turkey breast in the oven for Bob. And a pan of homemade stuffing, cranberry sauce with amaretto and marmalade jam. I put the most energy into dessert, so brought out my pretty thistle cake stand. Pumpkin cheesecake, a California Pizza Kitchen recipe. Paired with a good bottle of wine. The tree I had picked out grew to be too big for the living room, so it has been offered to Mindy. Geisha picked the tree we would use. It is up and almost ready for the reveal! We still have morning glories blooming! Ageratum and roses! I did squeeze in some time to go get some ferns from the old house, but have not found a place to put them yet. I was busy last week with Pumpkin, a senior that had a very hard life. I met Darryll and drove him to the SC/GA line to meet up with his rescue. He didn't walk very well, had mats as big as boulders and probably lived his life on a chain. This is Mike of Chap's Rescue in Atlanta meeting Pumpkin for the first time. Pumpkin was groomed by Amy, and she thought he had passed away twice on the grooming table. I raised close to $1000 for him, so he was immediately taken to the vet, only to find out he had a mass in his stomach that was huge and had to be in pain. Sadly, he had to be let go. The hard part of rescue. This week Catrina of Chow Charmer Rescue called, she needed funds ASAP. Snow was just brought into the shelter and would die if not given a blood transfusion. Catrina is a vet tech, so she worked on getting him to her clinic and I worked on raising funds. The transfusion alone would cost $800. The chow community stepped up, and here he is at the clinic getting the medical care he needed. Today he is standing up and coming to Catrina! I think Snow is going to make it! Worked on getting Cookie out of shelter this morning, I have a driver on the way. She will make her way to Atlanta in honor or Pumpkin. I'm on my way out the door to rake leaves, it's a much warmer, sunny day and I need to be outside. It looks like the rentals are slowing down, our next group of girls coming is next weekend. We had people all Thanksgiving weekend from Florida. We had a contract, but it fell through, so back to trying to sell to move onto something new!
Bob had a birthday weekend. Up the mountain in the fog, always scary to me, to get to lunch at the White Duck. Cleared up at the gorge. Birthday lunch at the White Duck. A gift waiting at home. Cards from the family. Shahab made a loaf of bread and a Persian dish he grew up with in Iran called Ash E. Nutrient rich with herbs, beans and greens. Almost like eating wheat grass. I made labneh to go along with it. It is definitely an acquired taste. As requested, dinner was from Taqueria del Sol's cookbook, took four hours of cooking and cleanup almost the same amount of time. For Bob, chicken fried steak with srirachi gravy, ancho chile mashed potatoes, cabbage and carrots with lemon pepper sauce and mint jalepeno drizzle. The cabbage and carrots just melt in your mouth! So good. The best part, a Bee Sting! Variation of the Bee's Knees with a spicy kick from Ancho Reyes liquor. Here's hoping he makes it to 65. Back to urologist 1/8 for biopsy.
Mom, wanted you to see the santas I was telling you about. Made a wrong turn on Saturday and ended up in the town above us at a yard sale that had these santa light covers for only $1. I listed them that night, they sold that night and are now on their way to California. I rarely find vintage Christmas. These I did not want to keep. They look like little kids with Bob's beard . . . creepy! Now, these would be keepers!
Just in case you ever come across a box of these!
