A Few Good Finds

Wanted to show you, very quickly, a couple of things I bought at last week's Bluff Antique Show. Once a month they have a wonderful open air antique show on the bluff, overlooking Lake Michigan. It is a walk in the park, and always has lovely breezes, and look what neat things I found for a couple bucks! I have this plate holder that holds large plates, and so far, all I keep finding are pretty little ones. But these were a good start tho! Isn't the one with the bluebirds beautiful? And the Dutch one is neat too -it says it is an autumn scene, I wonder if there are the other seasons out there too somewhere? Some day, if I ever get caught up, I will show you lots of other finds I have collected over the months, thrifting/antiquing is so much fun!!!

This glass dish was only $1.00 (I haggled!) and my friend who was with me, and knows her antiques, says it is crystal, but I don't know - I thought it was pressed glass, but the edges are a little sharp, and I couldn't see a mold line, oh well, whatever, it is very pretty!

Ahhh, Fall or Pumpkins & Grapes

I love Fall - I love living in a place that has four distinct seasons - I love each one, and each season has its own part that I love! I love the cooler temperatures, the crunch of the leaves when you walk, the earthy oranges and browns and golds. I went out last weekend, and took pictures of grapes and pumpkins that are both right down our street here in Michigan. The pumpkin farm is always so much fun, we took the kids there every year, and took a yearly photo (or two or three or four!) of them picking out their pumpkins, and posing with the scary pumpkin creatures. Dad and I still have to go every year, and it always brings back fond memories. And once again, I just couldn't decide which pictures to include, and which to leave out, so believe it or not, I did leave a lot out - but the price was right to include lots too, so hope you enjoy them. And don't forget to click on them if you want a closer view.


Rows and rows of pumpkins!









Then there are also the grapes that are near to being picked. It was hard getting a good shot of these, because they seemed to all be hanging out in the shade! So I am putting a lot of grape pictures on here, but maybe tomorrow or the next day I can decide on which ones to delete..... oh well...

But what is great about living in Michigan - is at this time of year when you go driving down the country roads of grape fields it just smells HEAVENLY! It smells like grape juice, with every breath you take! Welch's buys a lot of these grapes I hear, but boy does it ever smell good there for a couple of weeks.






Look at all those grapes!


Well, hope you enjoyed your little drive down the country road here in Michigan!

Hugs - Diane

Garden Walk

Well it is going to be "feast or famine" here. I know it has been a long time, but boy do I have pictures to share today. A couple of weeks ago we had a Garden Walk tour in town. We usually try and go to those every year, we really enjoy them. And seeing as we have been spending a fair amount of time doing funeral things, I thought it would be a nice break. So.... lots of neat flower pictures - and this is only a small portion of what I took! It was kind of a late Garden Walk this year, so was wondering what kind of flowers would be blooming, but sure enough, there were plenty!

Most of the gardens were at homes that were huge, beautiful homes, many of them by Lake Michigan. They were lovely to see. I took some pictures of them too, but thought pictures of flowers might be more enjoyable to look at.

The first garden we stopped at was at Tosi's, an Italian Restaurant in town. We were able to see their Herb Garden out back, that I am sure they must use in the cooking. And then we were able to walk through the garden area in front where you can sit when you are at the restaurant. I highly recommend the restaurant!





We also ran into some friends from South Haven that we made several years ago at the same Garden Walk. We got to talking, and realized we had a lot in common. We had them over to our house afterwards for iced tea those several years ago, and in return they later left a gift to us of some grasses that they were dividing, and sharing. Anyway, it was nice to see them again and catch up. One of these years we have to get up to their house to see their gardens.


This is some kind of bugs on a Milkweed Pod - isn't that interesting? This particular garden was more of a walk in the woods. They had a neat firepit in the woods, and a lovely path going all around their property.






This particular garden was my favorite, because it showed how you can do lovely things with just a "regular" type home and yard. I wish I had taken more pictures of the gazebo though, but hope you can get the feel of what they did.


Anemone

And then look at this house - notice the pretty pink and white border everywhere. Some places it was begonias, and other places it was petunias. And the pond was great too - and the birds were really striking too.




This was a water garden that had lovely water lilies.




Also included on the tour is a local grade school classes garden that they tend. We had a lovely tour of all the flowers and fruit they are growing, and have one area where they are growing flowers according to the alphabet. A different flower for each letter of the alphabet. You could tell the kids were very proud of what they were showing us, and knew a lot about the different plants.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the little garden tour here in Michigan. And don't forget to click on the pictures for a much closer view!

Be Back Soon

Tomorrow is Friday, and this is our first week back to school. It is always a tiring week for everyone I think, and especially after our week before last. And we also brought Emily up to school, where she is living in a house full of girls (5 of them) on Tuesday night. We left after work, but dad had to put her bed together and assemble her computer desk when we got there, so it was a very late night again. So just wanna put one or two pictures up, okay? The first one is our (nearly all) family picture. And then I am going to try and find my neat rainbow picture - something that offers hope, and tells of God's promises, and all those wonderful good things. Have a good Friday!

See the faint double rainbow?

And did you notice I now have frames around my pictures? When Ben came home for the funeral he was able to do that - thanks Ben!!!

Jesus Loves Me This I Know!

The funeral/homegoing was wonderful - will write more later, but thought I would quickly add this to the post for all the family members that might be reading this. I also hope you will add a comment or two, would love to know who is able to see this!