A Blessed Thanksgiving To You and Yours!

Wishing all my friends and family a very Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for you all and pray that you will all be blessed with a lovely and meaningful day and holiday season ahead. 

Sunday Thoughts

Ah, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. A quiet time to pause and really think about being thankful.
So much has happened in my life this year. I am just so thankful to even be here and thankful that I will be with my family on Thursday. I am so blessed to have this second chance and I think about it everyday. I don't like all the meds and tests and doctor appointments, but I do love my family and my friends. I won't take this Thanksgiving lightly. I know God is healing me, sometimes much slower than I like, but healing is the important word here. I believe He has more work for me to do and I am thankful for that! It's not a bad thing to have to slow down and relax and get your priorities straight! It's not bad thing to be able to help others, even with a comforting word or a cheerful email or text. It's a good thing to have a peaceful home that welcomes friends.
So, I am thankful for all of this and am looking forward to the holiday season to "be of good cheer"!
Enjoy the day and find peace in some quiet time with the Lord. Enjoy the week ahead with a thankful heart. 

Dolly Time for Thursday Treasures

One week from today will be celebrating Thanksgiving with friends and family! It is hard to believe! I just chatted with my daughter Gina in Seattle and she is excited to come home for the holiday. We were planning some fun times....we will watch Little Women and snuggle up by the woodstove and drink tea and be lazy. We will decorate my dad's apartment for Christmas on Saturday, so that will be fun!

I haven't posted anything for Thursday Treasures for quite some time, so thought it might be fun to so so today. I don't have any Thanksgiving dolls, but do love this little wooden beaded Pilgrim couple that I found a few years ago. They are only 3-4" tall and charming.

A few weeks ago, I discovered this charming book on dolls from the 1950's at the all city garage sale. It was too sweet to leave there. The graphics are wonderful.

Awhile back, I found this charming china head at our flea market from the man who we purchased many Tasha Tudor prints. His wife was such a doll collector and their children have no desire to keep her dolls. Lucky me! He wasn't sure who made the doll but thought it was by someone who also did china painting and he thought she bought it in the 1950's.

I found a name on the back of the doll so I know it was made by Grace Lathrop. She was a doll maker in Oregon. I haven't been able to find much information about her.

I did find this beautiful painted lady on Etsy also by Grace Lathrop and added it to my collection. It is lovely.

Grace Elizabeth, as I named her, is 22 inches tall and is in very nice condition. I just love her and she is very happy living in her new home with the other dolls.

Jimmy found this interesting doll at another sale. She isn't in great condition, but she is so different.
She is a mechanical wind up doll. Most of her body is metal and she does walk when wound up.
The poor thing doesn't have a very sweet face, but she is fascinating.

I think I have dolly fever or maybe I should admit, it's chronic! I do love dolls. It's so fun to share the dolls with my Tasha Tudor group on Thursdays. We all get to play dolls once a week!

Tea Time Tuesday

I really miss having tea time goodies! Being on a low sodium diet and having to watch baked goods and sweets, I haven't figured out how to have or go to tea yet. It takes a lot of time right now to plan out my weekly menu, eat at home and learn how to cook more healthy meals. I am feeling better and getting better and loosing weight, so it's all working. This afternoon, I had a cup of tea in my new teacup and thumbed through a favorite tea time book....A Year of Teas at the Elmwood Inn. I had to peek at the November Afternoon Tea just for fun. Ahhhh.

I fell in love with this fall teacup at a sale recently. I find the shape really interesting and of course, I like the handle.

It's English and a Royal Stafford bone china teacup, trimmed in gold. The colors are just lovely for autumn.

Last week I hinted that I would share some of my vintage paper place cards and other paper goods. I just love ephemera. This one has a great little turkey theme.

This one is homemade and has the person's name on a piece of yarn around the turkey's neck.

I love the colors in this little set with names nicely written on each card!

I only found 3 of these handmade little cards. Each has a turkey sticker and a little saying on each card.

Here we have two different bridge tally cards for fall. I think I have some more somewhere.

I've had this little vintage Thanksgiving card for year. I always liked the heading...Thanksgiving Joy!

My daughter found these little turkey nut cups for me a few years ago. I often wonder how these things survive.

I love this small box with bright graphics! I found it last summer at an outdoor antique show. I was happy to find that it had some of the stickers inside.

Well, that was fun! I am always on the hunt for fun seasonal paper.
Are you getting ready for Turkey Day? We will be going out to Salty's overlooking the beautiful Columbia River for their annual buffet and then over to my sister's for dessert in the evening. It will be a challenge to eat healthy. They always have salmon and turkey and salad, so I will be ok. My dietician said I could have a little pumpkin pie...skip the crust and eat a small amount. I can do that! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I love Thanksgiving, I love the smells, the sounds, the colors, the food, the weather and being with family. My life is full and very busy...sometimes too busy.... but I am blessed. I wish you a very special day and I hope that you feel blessed too.

I wanted to share this little spice cabinet before I take down my fall decorations. Actually, fall is gone and Christmas is up, except for the tree.

I made this little grouping on top of my spice cabinet with some of my miniatures. If you are a Tasha Tudor fan, you will see lot several illustrations with a spice cabinet and similar items. The more you read and study her work, the more you will see many item from her own home or collections.

The miniature cabinet was made by Seth Tudor, Tasha's son. He built her home, by hand and he is quite a woodworker. When we were back in Vermont last summer, I really wanted to get a piece made by Seth for my collection. Jimmy and I were looking at the spice cabinets and he told us he only made 3 as they were pretty hard. Jim asked him if he would be willing to sign it if we bought one. He graciously agreed. It will be treasured .

This is a photo of the Rockery where all the Tasha Tudor goodies are kept. When you finish the home and garden tour, you are invited to browse the gift shoppe!

It was soooo crowded after the tour! I'm not sure how Jimmy got this serene photo of the part of the shoppe?

This is my sweet friend Melinda...quitetly enjoying the shoppe. She was so happy to have time to just look and read. Melinda works at the Tasha Tudor Museum and she is a sweetheart.

 Time to leave! The rain stopped and everyone was just enjoying some time to chat outside.

Yes, I did some shopping. One of my favorite things is my little wooden spice cabinet.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Radical Linda....Day I

Today I did something I have NEVER done! I took down all of my fall and Thanksgiving decorations in preparation for Christmas! It's not even Thanksgiving. I had retail stores for years and year and years and I always had to get that next holiday "up" so far in advance. When we sold our store and I was out of retail, it was a pleasure to celebrate the holidays as they happened. So, what is going on here, you ask?

With Thanksgiving late again this year and a very busy Thanksgiving weekend with responsibilities to other family members. I just didn't know how to get it all done. I will be having Ava overnight, I will need to decorate my dad's apartment and put up his tree, and we will be making a trip to Seattle to visit with my SIL's mom. Susan is coming down from Alaska for a few days and we would like to see her. My birthday is Dec 8th and I usually celebrate it on St Nicholas Day, so I like to have our home all done for Christmas.

This year we are going to a Thanksgiving brunch/dinner at a restaurant with our family, so no one will be here for Thanksgiving. Some of us will go over to my sister's after dinner for dessert and a visit.

I did get all the fall packed up and tomorrow I will start decorating for Christmas. I do have to admit, it took my stress away, but it does feel strange. 

Tea Time Thursday #54~HAPPY THANKSGIVING

A quick note to wish all my blogger friends a Happy Tea Time Thursday and Happy Thanksgiving!
I love this holiday and I am looking forward to the day with my little family. I am so thankful that God has given us this time to be together and of course, I am especially thankful for our little grandchildren...Ava and Otto. Ava will be with her mommy this Thanksgiving and we will miss her.
I'm sure her mother will be so happy to have her for this holiday. We all have to share her! My friend called her a bonus grandchild and that really is so true! It will be hard to get my hands on Otto today!

When we were in Ilinois for Jim's mother's funeral, we stopped in a thrift store to look for an extra suitcase to bring back home some items. I found this night light for $2. It is so cute....a teapot shape with a turkey. I have a Christmas Spode on that is similar. I just love the gentle light.

We also had some good news last night! We have a new great niece that was born in Illinois. She's a tiny little thing. Welcome dear Audrey.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

It's almost Thanksgiving and I always get a little sad to say goodbye to autumn. We are going to take the kids to The Black Rabbit at Edgefiled this year. It's a sentimental place for our family and we are looking forward to it. Eric and Gina will be coming from Seattle.

Tomorrow is grandma's day with little Otto. I haven't seen him for awhile and I am looking forward to playing with the little guy. He's really at a fun stage right now.

Today I finished all my Tasha Tudor exchange gifts for St Nicholas Day~December 6th. I was in charge of it this year and it really was fun. I will post pictures after the 6th. Jimmy was very sweet and took all of my packages to the Post Office for me.

It's time for this old grandma to get some sleep! Otto will be waiting for me!