A Saturday in Canton

In yet another attempt to enjoy the slightly cooler weather, we joined up with our friends, Josh and Valerie for a road trip to Canton, TX for its First Monday Trade Days. Canton, TX (about an hour west of us) is home to the world's largest outdoor trade days. These day's it's huge (and not all of it is outdoor), but there have been trade days in Canton since the 1850s! Anyway, it's a flea market like none other.

This was one of my favorite stops. This man had tables and tables of glassware all laid out sparkling in the sun! A booth full of artificial food...I had to take a picture!You really need several days to see it all, but all we had to give it was one. As usual, we looked at a lot, sifted through tons of stuff, but came home with little. It's always difficult to decide about buying something at Canton because once you do, you have to tote it around. Plus, we had Gatsby in tow already. Glass and linens, which I love, are all always in vast supply. I was disappointed not to find a tablecloth which was one of the few things I was on the look out for, but I had a blast looking through piles and piles of old aprons. I ended up with (and this is a bit embarassing)...5. They were just all so cute! And they were all only $2 except for one which only set me back $1. Four are for everyday, one is Christmas. This first one is my absolute favorite! So I included close ups of this adorable fabric...(which, if anyone recognizes it and knows where I could get some, please let me know!) It was also the one that only cost a dollar. What a find!

And this is where they all live in my kitchen...

I'm hoping to post some pictures of new creations in the next couple of days. I have about five things going at once!

Happy Monday!

sweetly, happily, and artfully yours,

randi

Happy October and Montage the Third

It's hard to believe it's October already, but fall and all that comes with it is greatly welcomed around our house! We've finally reached the time of year when the temperature doesn't get above 85 in the afternoons...and for us that's really nice!! In celebration of the beautiful weather we drove to a vineyard and winery we recently discovered not far from our house (about a twent minute drive, I'd say). It's called Enoch's Stomp (you should read their story if you plan to visit) and it was really beautiful out there. And the wine was good too! Wine tasting times are on their website. They're also going to start having monthly events there. Here are a couple of pictures of the vineyard: Second in the montage is a picture of a collection I recently finished (I do acknowledge that not all collections are ones which can be "completed", but in this case, I was limited by space to only needing a dozen). It's a collection of vintage jello molds! I kept running into them on my thrifting escapades and one day it clicked that these might be great wall art for the space above my breakfast room windows! Ta-da! I love them! I set a rule of no more than a dollar apiece. Though I think the fish one was almost $2, there were others that were 25 cents or 50 cents so it all evens out. A $12 collection!In my kitchen this week: Chili with hot water cornbread and pumpkin cookies:And, of course, since it's officially October, the pumpkin people are out in full force. I've still got a box of Halloween stuff not yet displayed...but I think this may be the extent of my decorating this year!





This is yet another tea-towel from Anthropologie...a souvenir from the Cincinnati trip. I just love it...food, crepes, french...the trifecta! :) These (I have three in this style now) have inspired me to try some applique on my own. We'll see how that goes...

And, finally, I included this picture Josh took of this albino lizard that lives on our front porch because he's just so unusual looking and I'd never seen one like him. He's out every night.

And now, I'm off again- with a quick apology for the hastiness of this post. I'll be back tomorrow...or Sunday. Happy October! Happy Fall!

sweetly, happily, and artfully yours,

randi

Cincinnati In Pictures

We arrived at our hotel on Day #1 to find ourselves right in the midst of America's Oktoberfest! The festivities were literally set up all around our hotel and the plaza on which it sits. So, of course, Night #1 was spent enjoying it! (And, of course, I documented all the fabulous food we tried!) The whole event, despite being a sea of people and virtual river of beer, was really charming and we had a very good (and tasty) time!

Hot Dog with Sauerkraut: Pretzel:Beer and a Brat (oh, and Josh, too!):Streudels:Berry-Go-Round:Me on a sculpture outside the Museum of Art:Cupcakes at Whole Foods. Adorable, no?: Sewn Mural at the Underground Railroad Museum and Freedom Center:"Cookies" we brought Gatsby as a surprise from a really cute pet boutique called Dog About Town:View #1 from Mt. Adams:View #2 from Mt. Adams:Dinner on the Ohio River, Night #4:Just us one night before dinner:Courtyard at Proctor and Gamble:Pedestrian walkway we crossed on way to Mount Adams...it's higher than it looks:Just us again...Park Downtown:Fountain at the Library:
Well, those are just a few of the highlights! A good time was had by all...even in regards to the conference! Even I made some new friends! Well, I'm off to bake cookies.
Thanks for visiting- "see" you soon!

Happy Tuesday :)

sweetly, happily, and artfully yours,

randi