27°f/-2.7C, light snow that ended around 9am. More expected later today, but no real accumulation.
Pip peeping in the door window. He'd already been in and out three times. We need a revolving door!
Not a lot of news from here. It has been a running week: we got home Sunday evening from our weekend trip to see our oldest son, then Monday we drove over to Logan, Ohio to pick up 4 very nice vintage dinette chairs. I didn’t really want to get back on the road, but those chairs were in such good shape, and the price was great. It is hard to find these old chairs with the vinyl in good condition. We already have a table but needed to find chairs to go with it.
The seller had a lot of other stuff too. Her parents had passed away, and she has been selling their stuff, which is mostly stuffed into totes in her outbuildings. It was a cold, snowy day over there in Ohio, with strong winds, so we like to froze looking through all that, but we came away with the van loaded with good things for our booth---well, they will be, once we clean them up. So I have that to look forward to!
Yesterday was milk pickup day, and we also went to our booths just to tidy up. It was a good thing we did, because as we walked into our Ripley booth the staff were unloading one of our cabinets that had just sold. I hadn't really wanted to sell that one, as I used it for quilt display and for keeping my supplies in a drawer. But I was asked about it a while back, so I hung a price tag on it, thinking no one would pay thst much for it. Oops. So I had to find places for everything I had in there, in addition to just putting the booth back in order. Sales have been great, which means people have moved things, left other vendors' items in our booth, unfolded linens, etc.
It didn’t take long to get things back to rights, then we went to Shari's for lunch, where we met up with our friend Bill and several other folks. Our son Derek stopped in to show us the hickory syrup he made---from hickory bark! I had never heard of such a thing, but the syrup is delicious. He made more last evening. This first batch was quite dark, but his second batch was much lighter in both color and flavor. He later mixed the two together, and then the last batch he made he was able to get the color he was looking for. Personally, I liked the dark syrup's flavor best, but the lighter had the consistency and color of honey. Where did he learn to do this? YouTube, of course.
We stopped at Walmart to pick up potting soil, and I had a look around at the marked down Christmas stuff. Boy oh boy! Pre-lit trees were marked down to 75% off, so I bought one--- my first ever brand new tree. I usually buy used ones at auctions or thrift, but for $25 I got a 7.5 foot thin profile tree. Next year I should have room for all of my ornaments. I bought other things too, to resell in our booths next Christmas: glass trees for $2.50, a couple blow molds for $6.25, and some lights to replace whatever won't work next year. It was well worth the stop.
Today we are staying home. And tomorrow and probably Friday too. We will go up to our son Aaron's on the weekend, as we haven't had gift exchange with them yet, and his daughter Beth who is in the Navy is in for a visit. But I am looking forward to a few days here, just catching up with ourselves.
Yesterday's mail brought my Christmas gift to myself:
Face cream from The Burren Perfumery in Ireland. I bought some when we visited this place in 2017, and loved it. My daughter-in-law Sandy gave me some for Christmas a few years ago and I used it so sparingly to make it last! But I have been out of it for a couple years now, so I decided to gift it to myself. Two jars, with free shipping, was still $70, but i will get every bit that much pleasure just from its aroma. Mmm.....lavender and lemon.
A few randoms from around the house this morning:
The old brass bugles that I keep meaning to sell,but then can't bring myself to do so. One on the right came from my parents' things. The stockings were made by my friend Suzy, the top woodcut picture was made by a local artist, the bottom one was in a box from an auction. I treasure them both.
The painting on it is in excellent condition, considering that this pitcher was made around
1909.
This was another gift from the group last year, and look! My name on it!
A vignette in the kitchen. My old butter churn and coffee grinder, both well- used in our non-electric farming days.
I just picked up this little syrup pitcher last Friday, from a lady in town. Research shows it to be a fairly valuable little thing, which i will be selling on ebay.
Enough for today! I didn't think I had anything to talk about, but I guess I was wrong, again. Enjoy this last day of 2025, friends, and here's to a better year upcoming!
