Nostalgia at its best...Plant Containers

I like healthy houseplants but it seems all that I can grow is Pathos. So I try to display plants in unusual containers. An example is an old potty chair. I have one that I think was   just made from a child's chair. I put an old flower pot in the hole and added a green plant and it looks great on top of our entertainment center. 

I also took an old black purse like my Grandmother carried and inserted a plant into it. The plant has grown so much that you can hardly see the purse. I tried to turn the plant so you get the idea.     

Old cookie jars, mixing bowls, granite pieces, elegant glass containers all work. Use your imagination.  There are lots of choices at the Green Awning Gallery so stop in this week and I will help you find the perfect container! Until then.... 

Nostalgia at is best...Cider, Pumpkins, Fall

It is beginning to feel like Fall and the mornings and evenings are definitely cooler. Time for backyard fires and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Our children were home recently and we enjoyed sitting around the fire on those cool evenings.

Fall brings to mind the making of cider at my Uncle Ray and Aunt Annie's home just up the hill from where we lived. I remember my Mom did not drink any as she said there were still worms in the apples when they pressed them! But we had fun with relatives making the cider. I am not a fan of cider unless it is hot with some good spices added. 

Dad would get some corn stalks and make a shock around a pole or a tree and Mom would set pumpkins and gourds around it. Instead of pumpkin pie she always made squash pie. Yummmm!!!! I still prefer squash pie over pumpkin pie, seems to be sweeter. She would make small squash pies and we would sell them in the front yard along with gourds and squash.

We made Jack-O-Lanterns and lined them up on the front porch like sentries marching in a row guarding our house. We had to keep relighting them as the wind would constantly blow them out. Mom often would hollow out a pumpkin, set a container inside and fill it with mums in all the beautiful Fall colors.

I do not carve pumpkins anymore but I do like a few somewhere in my yard. Since orange does not fit into my decor, I spray them burgundy and cream so they match my house. A friend asked me once where I got my burgundy pumpkins. She had gone to several places and asked for burgundy pumpkins but of course they did not have them!

The Green Awning Gallery has a couple of Fall displays. If they remind you of Pottery Barn it is because my son Jordan manages a Pottery Barn and also does the visuals and he helped me do some displays. What fun we had!





All our summer items are 50% Off at the Green Awning Gallery so stop in to see our Fall displays and get some summer bargains! Until then...

Nostalgia at its best...Flower Frogs

 I have an obsession for flower frogs. Maybe because  I am reminded of the beautiful arrangements my Mom made with the gladiolas that she grew in our garden.  She   kept the long stems  upright in a shallow vase by using a flower frog. I think I have   more customers ask me what   flower frogs are used for than any other item in the store.

I use one at home to display photos of my granddaughters, Honey and Maggie. They also work to display  old family  photos, old postcards, or some of those beautiful old greeting cards your Mother saved. You know the ones made with parchment paper and glitter.

This is an unusual green one that I have put old brooches in to display in my living room. I set it on a candle stand that I painted white. I have an amber frog that I paired with an amber figurine that was my Aunt's. It is just fun to see what display ideas you can come up with.

I have an old wooden bowl that I keep the glass ones in of all sizes. These also make excellent pen and pencil holders on your desk. You would be surprised how heavy this bowl full of frogs is!

I have some reproductions at the Green Awning Gallery that are fun to use for jewelry  or again, to hold pens and pencils. Be creative and come up with your own uses.

And here are some more unusual ones that I have at home. I just put them all together for a picture. I have some of these on the window sills on my back porch. They might hold an item or just be for decoration or used as a prop to hold up an old souvenir plate. By the way, if you ever come across old Ohio Caverns souvenirs, I collect them and would be thrilled to add to my collection.

Nostalgia at its best...Cookie Jars

I don't remember a cookie jar in our kitchen when I was young. Maybe it was because it got broken or it could have been because cookies got eaten so fast we did not need a cookie jar. I do know we never had anything stale at our house. It was fun for me to get into the cookie jar at a friend's home.    

I think Mom baked every day. Besides the dozens of cookies that she made, many evening meals ended with pie for dessert. Mom got up at 4:00 or 4:30 each day and had the baking done before we rolled out of bed. We were always greeted with the aroma of something baking when we made it to the breakfast table and we knew we would have something delicious for supper that night.

 I enjoy finding cookie jars to sell at The Green Awning Gallery. The McCoy bucket jar is large and will hold a lot of cookies.  The apple jar is smaller  so you don't have to make as many cookies to fill it. The cookies pictured are my wax tarts. They look real and have a nice scent even if you just place them on a plate for decoration and don't melt them.

The grape jar is unique and the Fresh Baked Cookies jar is a fun jar. You don't have to use these for cookies, they can be a catch all jar to hide things so your counter does not get cluttered with things that need your attention.






 Come to the Green Awning Gallery Fri. night and enjoy some cookies and meet Jackie who has a pottery display in the store.  Until then....

Nostalgia at its best...Tablecloths

My picnic basket blog last week kind of leads into tablecloths, at least it makes sense to me! Mom always took tablecloths on a picnic to cover the picnic tables that were available at the roadside rest areas, State Parks, Ohio Caverns or wherever we found a picnic spot.  I think there may have been some type of plastic tablecloths available but of course they were not of the throwaway variety that we use today.  And why buy something when you had tablecloths that you received on your wedding day.

You did not want to put food on a "who knows what had been on it previously" picnic table so Mom covered it with a tablecloth. We collected rocks to put on the corners so the wind wouldn't blow the cloth over our food. Now that I think about it, how sanitary were the rocks?

I enjoy using old cloths to set my table for company and I even enjoy ironing them. I have some pretty ones at the Green Awning Gallery for sale. Here is one I especially like that I incorporated into a display using the greens and blues of the fabric.

Stop in at the Green Awning Gallery August 23 to August 31 and mention this blog and receive 25% off any old linens including doilies and runners. Until then....

Nostalgia at its best...Board Games

Yesterday I set up a display of old games at the Green Awning Gallery. Some I played as a child, remember pick up sticks? I have a vintage set complete with instructions. I am fascinated by a game displayed called Mr. Ree. We played Clue by the hour and this is the forerunner of Clue I think. The game pieces and cards are fun as they are probably from the 1950's.

We played Touring, Flinch, Rook, Authors and I Doubt It. And of course Monopoly. Mom let us keep a game going on the card table for days. I enjoyed that game as a child but for some reason I do not like it as an adult. We did not have TV so the evenings were spent playing games. We had some disagreements but we learned how to be gracious losers for the most part. It was a healthy way to learn that we do not win at all we attempt in life. 
 

We played Bingo but not for prizes or money like they do now! Also, I have a metal Weaving Loom in the box with some cotton loops. My sisters and I made a lot of pot holders. And who didn't play Table Tennis on the dining room table on those cold winter evenings? 



I played hours of Snap and Old Maid with my younger siblings. We did not have TV or all the high tech games children have now. I think we were just as happy and probably more contented.
  

Games included in the display that I did not play are Parcheesi, I've Got a Secret, and Name That Tune.



I would love to hear your childhood memories about the games you played so stop in at the Green Awning Gallery and tell me about them. Until then....

Nostalgia at its best...Picnic Baskets

 Hot summer days remind me of picnics and wonderful food that my Mom prepared for our family and placed in her picnic basket. Homemade buns filled with succulent slabs of ham, potato salad that can never be equaled  by anyone but my sisters  , baked beans, watermelon (I still do not like melon but when I was a child you ate what was served!),layered chocolate cake and other delectable treats were pulled from the basket.

Seems we do not picnic so much anymore but I keep memories near by using my Mom's picnic basket for storage.  It is the one on the right and I treasure it.  It was a wedding gift to her and Dad over 70 years ago. I got the bookcase at a garage sale and it is in the entry of our house. The baskets are filled with things I just can't part with.

The picnic basket Tom and I received when we got married 43 years ago is among these that are on my back porch. They store craft items and things that I  might need some day.

I have a couple of metal picnic baskets on top of my fridge and keep extra paper products etc. in them.  A small house means you have to be creative with storage options. I counted 17 baskets in use throughout my house! Several are filled with toys for my granddaughters and are easy to carry wherever they want to play. 

I attach tea dyed shipping tags to list what is in each basket. I am sure you can come up with some good uses for picnic baskets.  Share them on my blog.  Until then....