Memories Everywhere

Just a few pictures....I hope your days are festive and peaceful.....

just a few things that belonged to my Grandmother Lewis on my dressing table..real life, not staged..

Decorations are minimal this year and I really like it that way..the little dolls that my Mama made years ago for her Christmas tree, angels from Goodwill, this lovely cream and gold nativity, and a dawn sky that got me out very early..and a silverplate pickle dish with bokeh from the Christmas tree.

This time of year there are so many memories of Christmases past.  I could sink into nostalgia if I allowed myself to do that. Instead I entertain the memories for a little while as I go about creating new memories for this year..  Living very much in the present, but knowing that my past has led me up to this point in life.

Merry Christmas y'all....maybe I'll be back before the end of the week with more pictures...

Love, Mona

Autumn Leaves Little 'Pea Bowls'

I keep this little stack of bowls because there are so many memories surrounding them...When I look at them I can almost hear my granddaddy... Pappa...asking my grandmother...Mamama..to hand him a little bowl for his peas.. and she would hand him one of these little bowls..  This is the pattern she used most often when we ate at her house.....so, this is the story of a stack of 'pea bowls'...

I was beginning an annual fall purge of all my china yesterday...Then I ran across this little stack of dishes way back in the corner of my china closet...Every year, it is the same..do I keep them or do I toss them?
I never use them.  They are only for the memory of Pappa and his peas...

The jury is still out on this decision.....  But I thought what a nice way to preserve the memory if I do decide to give them away this year...a tablescape featuring the few pieces I have of this Franciscan china.  The name is perfect for this time of year.  Autumn Leaves ...

It does have great autumn colors, the green, gold, brown, and teal on a creamy background...

I used some teal rattan chargers..another purge..one last photograph.....I am needing to make room for other great finds..and these take up a lot of room....

The brown and green glasses...no more room..say goodbye......but they are pretty with these dishes....

One thing I am surely keeping ...this monogram pattern..It was a practice run but it is really nice...How do you like it?  I am thinking some linen napkins with this G would be pretty...

Yes, the stack of 'pea bowls'......Maybe you will be happy to know that after all of this writing, I decided to keep these little bowls....after all, they don't really take up that much room....maybe I will keep these brown plates too...but the chargers and the glasses can go...There, I feel better now that I have made some good decisions about what to purge.  LOL

Do any of you do this too?  I mean go through your dishes and decide to donate some that you are tired of or never use anymore?  I believe that this keeps the tablescaping and thrifting fluid....That if I want to keep finding good things at the thrift stores, I must give into that pool sometimes....I used to be in the habit of donating much more often than I do now.. So, I encourage you..for every set of dishes you find, donate back something...anything...There is no way I could ever keep all of the dishes and glasses that I buy from the thrift stores...It is a good hobby...See what you can find, do a tablescape, take some beautiful pictures, then give it away..or at least some of it...

Now I am going to eat lunch...I have some leftover peas from last night and I know just the perfect little bowl to use....

Thank you for stopping by today...

Love, Mona


This weeks parties..come and see what is going on around blogland....I am so excited we are entering November....

Let's Dish

Tablescape Thursday

Home and Garden Thursday

Seasonal Sundays

Inspire Me Tuesday

Vintage NOEL figurines

My very favorite Christmas decorations come from my childhood......I can vividly remember them then...

and I can vividly remember them here......

under a cloche......2012

there is no telling where they will show up when I get them out of their box....

 As you can see, the cloche is really an old battery jar that came from my Grandmother's house....perfect for housing little NOEL this year......

on the dining table...2011

That was fun since I got to see them every time we sat down to eat.......

on the mantle...2010

This picture is also my most popular pin on Pinterest...

seems like vintage Christmas things really invoke sweet memories of our past Christmases....

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these sweet remembrances from the 50's...

and thanks for stopping by..

please come again soon.....

Mona

I am joining the vintage party at Common Ground

come and visit...

When memories surprise us

The other day I decided for some unknown reason to make myself a cup of instant decaf coffee.  I had ordered this instant coffee during one of my online orders of our favorite coffee..Community Coffee....we always drink the dark roast but I saw this new item..decaf instant and thought it might be nice to have if I needed a quick coffee taste to something I was cooking......well, that was more info than you needed..grin..

Anyway, I had a sore throat and wanted something hot to drink so I thought this might taste good.....

As I poured the boiling water into the cup and the smell of that instant coffee filled my senses..I am telling you I was transported back instantly to a time of simpleness....a time when all my mama drank was Sanka coffee......and this memory became bigger than life.  I hope I can do it justice in sharing it with you......I was sitting at a table in a restaurant in Atlanta with my Mama and Mamama and she had ordered coffee..I am sure my grandmother did too...and I can remember them bringing her a cup and saucer, a pot of hot water, and a little orange packet of Sanka coffee....and oh, the dramatics of opening that little packet of instant coffee and then pouring that hot water in that cup...and then....THE SMELL of instant Sanka......yep..it was right there with me just like it was when I was a little girl...........just the simple memory triggered by a simple smell of hot water being poured over instant coffee.......

well, here I am ...my own self...Mama and Mamama are long gone.....and I find myself doing the things they did...without even a thought of where this came from....yes, generational lines are powerful things......I just proved this to myself.....drinking instant decaf coffee is absolutely something I NEVER thought I would be doing as a grown woman in the day of fresh brewed coffee with big expensive home brewing systems...but ..........
there I was...making a cuppa joe.....and it was of the instant decaf kind.......

the memory of those times are sweet....like a little gift... the good times of admiring my glamorous mama as she sipped her Sanka.........

cherish your good memories..they are fleeting and wonderful....don't live in them...just visit with them and send them on their way..until the next sweet unexpected gift of a memory comes floating into your life.....

and live a life of making memories with those in your life........it is the simple things that I find I remember the most..the everyday stuff.....like a hot cup of instant coffee in a restaurant in Atlanta....and we were all dressed up in our finest too...because that is what you did in those days when we ate lunch in  the Magnolia Room at Rich's.

thank you for coming along today...I am so thankful for all of you that read my words.....and follow my blog....I hope a good memory comes your way today as you absolutely live this life fully in the present and pressing on toward the future....see you again soon...

Hidden Treasure

Most of the things in my house have a story behind them....so that means there are a lot of stories in this house ....
because there are a lot of things....these things do not hold my heart but there are lots of memories and sometimes just a glance at an inanimate object brings back the memory of a special someone and their smile or their touch..and that usually brings a smile to my lips....so most of this stuff serves a purpose...to trigger a memory.. and cause me to pause and think of them...and what they have meant to me......
so, this is just such a story....I hope you enjoy it......

After my mama died, there was the dividing of her rings and giving them to me and my sister...my brother had already gotten his ring from daddy on his 30th birthday...but I digress...anyway....there were 2 rings and 2 girls..I had always wanted the ring that had belonged to my Grandmother Lewis but the question arose and instead of causing an argument over it, I said I would take either one...and then I prayed....I wanted Grandmother's ring..
When my Daddy handed me the ring much later...it was the very one I had prayed for....my Grandmother's ring..there was a lot of history and heritage that came along with it...she was the oldest daughter and I am the oldest daughter..and my daughter is the oldest granddaughter.. I think of her whenever I look at the ring that she wore on her hand for so many years...and then my mama wore it too until her death...

Imagine the surprise when I was visiting with daddy and he said I have something I might as well give to you because it was your Grandmother's rings.....he handed me a little box and inside were these absolutely exquisite rings.....her wedding band and the original wedding ring.....

this is a picture of the carved engagement ring from around 1910  or so....
mand here is the prat of the story I just love..after all I am a romantic at heart and I love a good romance story..especially if it is true and I know the people involved...

Grandmother's daddy gave her a diamond and she had a new ring made..she took the diamond from her engagement ring , along with an additional matching diamond and the one her daddy gave her and had a new ring made..the one I always saw her wearing...

my grandmother's engagement ring

heirloom rings

her platinum wedding band

to know the story behind something makes it so much more valuable than the thing itself.....
Here is a family heirloom that I had no idea even existed until a few years ago....it is one of my favorite pieces along with my very own wedding band......

the new set

Here is the moral of this story..there are some things in life that we have no idea about...there are gifts beyond our imagination....surprises too good to be true but they are TRUE........


This is the story about a ring, well, two rings that were meant for me but I didn't even know that they existed....all I had to do was be receptive...and in the presence of my father and hold out my hand and receive what he was giving to me...it was his choice to give it to me....and then I was so very thankful....we have gifts for us that our Father wants to give to us....it is by grace that we get them..the key is being in His presence and receiving what He is so willing to give to us..

I think of my Grandmother often...I think I am a lot like her....I can sometimes sense her smiling at me..and can still remember like it was yesterday..driving over to her house and going in to see her...all by myself......

The impact she had on me is far reaching...she didn't really care about following the crowd..she was an original..

Seasons do end

We rode up to the mountains yesterday to see a little beauty and to get away for a day...It is only 2 hours to get there so as often as we can, we do.... I had particularly wanted to see the dahlias that we had seen earlier in the summer right after they were planted..they bloom in the late summer and the cool nights make them even prettier...so here they are. My Grandmother used to grow them and I remember them so well...she had to use a shade house because of the intense south Georgia heat and sun..these are right out in an open field....enjoy....

Here is another slice of life that we saw...they are harvesting tomatoes and other vegetables like beans and eggplant.....All of the green was absolutely beautiful...

and here is the evidence that seasons do absolutely, without a doubt, positively come to an end...no matter how beautiful and amazing the season has been in your life...here is the proof that you need....things DO change....they do come to an end..this is the same field that I wrote about earlier in the summer in this post
All the beauty of these dahlias and the harvesting that was going on of the ripe vegetables was right next to this brown and ugly field of spent zinnias...they had served their purpose and they were finished..their season was over....are there seasons in your life that are over and you hesitate to let them go?

Don't miss the wonderfulness of the new season in your life and mine because we are hanging on to the season that has past.and is full of dead things ...Today I am thankful for the new season  and all of the beauty that it contains.  I choose to embrace the season I am in right now....I am not going to hang onto old, spent things that will cause me to miss the beauty and peace of where I am right now....

thank you for stopping by today....hope to see you again soon....

My Bonnie

Today is my dog, Bonnie's birthday.  she is 9 years old..that is 63 yrs old in dog years....she was a most wonderful gift from my sweet husband almost 6 years ago.  I had always had small dogs and just was not sure I would like a dog that was this big.  LOL   He assured me that I would like her.  well, he was right.  I love this dog.  she has been my constant companion....but just one thing...she STILL barks at Bryan EVERY time he comes home....NOTHING, I mean NOTHING has worked to make her stop...I have just accepted it!  a small price to pay for such a good dog.  we have bred her 2 times.  the first time we only got one puppy.Tula.........the next time, we had 8...One little puppy didn't make it but the other 7 are stars...  2 have gone on to be in the show ring.  one is agility expert and 3 of them live with us...so we have ended up with 5 dogs....all because of this gift from my husband....

I hope you enjoy looking back over her life.  she has taught me many things...mainly about being still and KNOWING that my Master loves me...and wants to be with me.......

she is a good companion..thank you Bonnie for all of the fun and the memories...I hope you live many, many more years...

Bonnis with Daisy..sorry for the blurriness

Bonnie and Will

Easter finery

first litter...Tula and Bonnie

Second litter...

my girl

our crew....

spitting image of Bonnie in red..this is Bo

here is where she stays most days now..in the AC..LOL

Thank you for reading about my dog..she means a lot to me...I have always had a dog except for a very short few years....I don't ever plan to be without a dog again...she is truly this woman's best friend..  I am glad you stopped by today.....

strawberry fields forever.....birthing traditions..

Every spring my daughter and I go strawberry picking..it seems like every year or so , we add another little boy to the outing.....I love digital photos because they are so easy to sort through on the computer..here is what I found this morning....traditions are made just one thing at a time and before you know it ..it has become a tradition...I think that traditions are important..they give history to a family and something to make a memory and to pass it on to the next generation...
so, I thought I would show you how to get from this

to this

in about 4 years time...enjoy our trips to the strawberry farm..

 Here is Will from the time we started going until this year....

this is Mac's first trip..in the backpack...

and this year..he is loving the strawberries..

and we added another one this year...Marshall and well, you can see by the picture..he had fun....

so another family tradition is made... me, my daughter and three little boys..some buckets and some strawberries and a LOT of fun....a good time was had by all...

I am so glad you came along with us to pick strawberries...thank you for reading ...until next time...make your day a good one..