Bella Rustica Barn Sale and a Tea Party for the Birds
This is normally where we spend our Saturday mornings...
Drinking our coffee, dreaming and planning gardens for the Spring, projects for the house, and watching the birds enjoying their breakfast.....even Scout enjoys sniffing the morning air, on a day that is feeling very much like Autumn...
The perfect temperature...
But on this particular Saturday morning, we were informed (by dear sister-in-law Bonnie) of a wonderful event taking place at a large farm not far from us... The Bella Rustica Barn Sale (An event to benefit Agape Christian Services...and the first of its kind in Nashville...)
So, I grabbed my boots...
...and we were off.
This was the entrance... (Husband purchased tickets while I struggled to tear myself away...only after a few snapshots..)
If this was just the entrance...I wasn't sure I'd be able to contain my squeals...something I work very, very hard to control. Sometimes, it's just pointless....like today...
Walking through this first tent was total euphoria! I went one direction, Husband went another...for he had searches of his own, to conduct...
As we exited the tent this is what we fell in love with, at first sight...her name was....
A while back, I saw a show on T.V. about the "Sisters on the Fly," a group of fly-fishing-lovin'-women who each had their own little trailer, decorated in every style and theme you could imagine. The trailers were numbered, identifying club members. The owners of "Hazel" were inspired by this club, and acquired this trailer. Wife did the decorating, husband did the painting, and they now rent it out for children's parties, sleepovers, campouts, etc.
Isn't this the cutest thing?
Moving on... We ran into our dear friends from the 3 French Hens...the little shop I mentioned several posts ago, where we found so many treasures for the house.... These 3 pretty ladies were dressed in the cutest outfits...
Everyone was in a festive mood... pumpkins, bales of hay, antiques, and lots and lots of chippy paint decor.... how could we not be in a festive mood?
Look at this incredible galvanized French tub, trimmed in wood... I don't know what I would do with it ...but I just thought is was wonderful...
We found so many treasures... Husband found this hand-forged, one-of-a-kind bird cage...
...and I discovered Cowgirl Bloomers... the most comfortable things to wear....feels like pajamas...but are the most comfortable Grammy-wear (allows one to sit in the middle of the kitchen floor with grandson and still look feminine and girly)
I also found this darling little dish towel...bark cloth tea cups on a flour sackcloth with crocheted trim...I struck gold....
Upon our arrival home, I slipped on the Bloomers and snuggled up under the darling old feedsack quilt, purchased for a song... and commenced to knitting.... Autumn on my mind...
Husband and I snacked on the most delicious Kettle Corn I have ever tasted... another recommendation from sister-in-law, so we purchased the largest bag from the endearing vendor.
I had recently received this charming book in the mail, Autumn by Susan Branch...
Perusal of the book revealed the most wonderful recipe for homemade brownies....I honestly believed the only decent ones came from a box. When these came out of the oven, and I placed them on a doily in my pretty cake stand, as instructed....
...and served them with 2 scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream ... and Husband could only nod his head, savoring every morsel... I vowed to never, ever go back to the "box." Thank you dearest Susan.
*************
On Sunday, after church and a delicious meal at a downtown restaurant, our sweet little Xavier traveled home with us to the Franklin House...I'm supposing he will call it this forever:)
He loves to sit with us out on the back porch, or, rather...we sit...he runs up and down the steps, hops on and off the swing, begs for Grammy to make "bideos" (videos) of him and his stuffed birds and puppets...providing much entertainment. He has picked up some of the names of the birds, but since his visit weekend before last, he apparently combined two of the names, so that it came out, "Look, Grammy! There's a Chipta-chick mouse!"...chickadee combined with tufted titmouse....all these little things I promptly log into a journal entitled "Xavierisms" for I know they will be forgotten at some point, and we don't ever want to forget these precious little terms.
On Monday, Husband stayed home with us, and then left for a bit to do some grocery shopping. Xavier and I had much play to attend to. He called me from the kitchen, saying, "Grammy, you wanna come have a tea party?" I was in the middle of something, not terribly important, that had my attention..and I responded with an "okay"...a few minutes later, he came up to me and said, in such a sweet, inviting tone, "You can do that in there..." taking the journal I was writing in. This was obviously very important to him, so I retrieved the journal, closed it, placed it on the sofa, and followed him into the kitchen. He had arranged ...
....a tea party for the birds...
I reached into the cupboard for the Strawberry Kiwi Fruit "Tea" and brewed a tiny tea pot full for us, as he served "bird food" to his collection of birds, in tiny resin teacups.
And since Mr. "Squarel" (not squirrel...squarel..as in the shape...square...one more Xavierism) likes bird food, as well, he was served a tiny cupful, too....
These little tea sets were gifts from former students, treasured and displayed in my classroom when I was a teacher for all those years.
Mr. Owl, who is known for saving the day, received a cup of his own...
(Mr. Squarel and Mr. Owl are wonderful puppets Xavier loves for us to play with...Wood Pecker was most likely sitting in time out, as he always seems to be getting into mischief of some sort. Guess which puppet Xavier plays with the most....oh, you are so clever...yes! The woodpecker. Grammy always has to be Squarel and Owl:)
But this little boy has the sweetest heart. He didn't want to leave anyone out of the festivities.....
Mrs. Rabbit, Ewiza, Chicky-Chick, and Teeny Bear enjoy a hamper full of treats...not sure why the tiny clothespins are there...but I'm sure, if I had inquired, Xavier would have a legitimate explanation...he always does..
************
This arrived last week...on Grandparent's Day...and my heart melted into a puddle....
...Yes, even on this rainy Monday, we were having fun!
That busy little hand...matching the other busy little hand...gets Grammy's kisses, even when they've been clumsy and spilled milk, or silly and knocked over a tea cup.... it does not matter anymore (the way it used to when it was my own child, and I was a tired, young mommy) Grandchildren give us a chance to make up for the harshness of parenthood....a chance to redeem ourselves. I wondered why all the rules changed when I had children...my parents no longer believed in spankings or fussing so much. What had happened to them...they had grown soft... Now I know. It has happened to me.
Love on those little ones as much as you can.
Little doesn't last long enough.
Blessings,
Christie
Drinking our coffee, dreaming and planning gardens for the Spring, projects for the house, and watching the birds enjoying their breakfast.....even Scout enjoys sniffing the morning air, on a day that is feeling very much like Autumn...
The perfect temperature...
But on this particular Saturday morning, we were informed (by dear sister-in-law Bonnie) of a wonderful event taking place at a large farm not far from us... The Bella Rustica Barn Sale (An event to benefit Agape Christian Services...and the first of its kind in Nashville...)
So, I grabbed my boots...
This was the entrance... (Husband purchased tickets while I struggled to tear myself away...only after a few snapshots..)
If this was just the entrance...I wasn't sure I'd be able to contain my squeals...something I work very, very hard to control. Sometimes, it's just pointless....like today...
Walking through this first tent was total euphoria! I went one direction, Husband went another...for he had searches of his own, to conduct...
As we exited the tent this is what we fell in love with, at first sight...her name was....
A while back, I saw a show on T.V. about the "Sisters on the Fly," a group of fly-fishing-lovin'-women who each had their own little trailer, decorated in every style and theme you could imagine. The trailers were numbered, identifying club members. The owners of "Hazel" were inspired by this club, and acquired this trailer. Wife did the decorating, husband did the painting, and they now rent it out for children's parties, sleepovers, campouts, etc.
Isn't this the cutest thing?
Moving on... We ran into our dear friends from the 3 French Hens...the little shop I mentioned several posts ago, where we found so many treasures for the house.... These 3 pretty ladies were dressed in the cutest outfits...
Everyone was in a festive mood... pumpkins, bales of hay, antiques, and lots and lots of chippy paint decor.... how could we not be in a festive mood?
Look at this incredible galvanized French tub, trimmed in wood... I don't know what I would do with it ...but I just thought is was wonderful...
We found so many treasures... Husband found this hand-forged, one-of-a-kind bird cage...
...and I discovered Cowgirl Bloomers... the most comfortable things to wear....feels like pajamas...but are the most comfortable Grammy-wear (allows one to sit in the middle of the kitchen floor with grandson and still look feminine and girly)
I also found this darling little dish towel...bark cloth tea cups on a flour sackcloth with crocheted trim...I struck gold....
Upon our arrival home, I slipped on the Bloomers and snuggled up under the darling old feedsack quilt, purchased for a song... and commenced to knitting.... Autumn on my mind...
Husband and I snacked on the most delicious Kettle Corn I have ever tasted... another recommendation from sister-in-law, so we purchased the largest bag from the endearing vendor.
I had recently received this charming book in the mail, Autumn by Susan Branch...
Perusal of the book revealed the most wonderful recipe for homemade brownies....I honestly believed the only decent ones came from a box. When these came out of the oven, and I placed them on a doily in my pretty cake stand, as instructed....
...and served them with 2 scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream ... and Husband could only nod his head, savoring every morsel... I vowed to never, ever go back to the "box." Thank you dearest Susan.
*************
On Sunday, after church and a delicious meal at a downtown restaurant, our sweet little Xavier traveled home with us to the Franklin House...I'm supposing he will call it this forever:)
He loves to sit with us out on the back porch, or, rather...we sit...he runs up and down the steps, hops on and off the swing, begs for Grammy to make "bideos" (videos) of him and his stuffed birds and puppets...providing much entertainment. He has picked up some of the names of the birds, but since his visit weekend before last, he apparently combined two of the names, so that it came out, "Look, Grammy! There's a Chipta-chick mouse!"...chickadee combined with tufted titmouse....all these little things I promptly log into a journal entitled "Xavierisms" for I know they will be forgotten at some point, and we don't ever want to forget these precious little terms.
On Monday, Husband stayed home with us, and then left for a bit to do some grocery shopping. Xavier and I had much play to attend to. He called me from the kitchen, saying, "Grammy, you wanna come have a tea party?" I was in the middle of something, not terribly important, that had my attention..and I responded with an "okay"...a few minutes later, he came up to me and said, in such a sweet, inviting tone, "You can do that in there..." taking the journal I was writing in. This was obviously very important to him, so I retrieved the journal, closed it, placed it on the sofa, and followed him into the kitchen. He had arranged ...
....a tea party for the birds...
I reached into the cupboard for the Strawberry Kiwi Fruit "Tea" and brewed a tiny tea pot full for us, as he served "bird food" to his collection of birds, in tiny resin teacups.
And since Mr. "Squarel" (not squirrel...squarel..as in the shape...square...one more Xavierism) likes bird food, as well, he was served a tiny cupful, too....
These little tea sets were gifts from former students, treasured and displayed in my classroom when I was a teacher for all those years.
Mr. Owl, who is known for saving the day, received a cup of his own...
(Mr. Squarel and Mr. Owl are wonderful puppets Xavier loves for us to play with...Wood Pecker was most likely sitting in time out, as he always seems to be getting into mischief of some sort. Guess which puppet Xavier plays with the most....oh, you are so clever...yes! The woodpecker. Grammy always has to be Squarel and Owl:)
But this little boy has the sweetest heart. He didn't want to leave anyone out of the festivities.....
Mrs. Rabbit, Ewiza, Chicky-Chick, and Teeny Bear enjoy a hamper full of treats...not sure why the tiny clothespins are there...but I'm sure, if I had inquired, Xavier would have a legitimate explanation...he always does..
************
This arrived last week...on Grandparent's Day...and my heart melted into a puddle....
...Yes, even on this rainy Monday, we were having fun!
That busy little hand...matching the other busy little hand...gets Grammy's kisses, even when they've been clumsy and spilled milk, or silly and knocked over a tea cup.... it does not matter anymore (the way it used to when it was my own child, and I was a tired, young mommy) Grandchildren give us a chance to make up for the harshness of parenthood....a chance to redeem ourselves. I wondered why all the rules changed when I had children...my parents no longer believed in spankings or fussing so much. What had happened to them...they had grown soft... Now I know. It has happened to me.
Love on those little ones as much as you can.
Little doesn't last long enough.
Blessings,
Christie