Crabby with the Blues!

 I thought I'd set the table for the two of us and since I've been feeling blue and a bit crabby lately I chose my blue crab dish and expanded on that color a bit. 

I rummaged through my dish stash for more blues.  The dishes with the seashells were bought from the same place as the blue crab piece but they have absolutely no brand name on them or anything to trace back to.  I chose the red charger because there is a bit of red in the tablecloth even though it's not easily seen.

 I layered my paisley tablecloth underneath just to even out the whole look and it goes with the yellow dining chairs.

The placemats are from One King's Lane (last year). I thought they looked good with the tablecloth.

The bowl and coffee cup are from Bombay and they help carry the blues for me and add a little Asian influence.  I think the square shaped chargers add to the Asian feel and I fashioned the napkins to keep it minimalistic. 

A full view of the seashell dinner plates

The tablescape felt a bit nautical so I added these bread plates with pieces of old world maps on them.

~Sailing sailing over the ocean blue~

I used these pieces in a previous tablescape as seen "here"

with my Tribute to the Edmund Fitzgerald

The centerpiece sits on a wood charger with a carved rope edge from Pottery Barn 2 yrs ago that added to the nautical feel.  To play into the Asian influence a bit more I added the bird and a touch of dogwood.  The feathers were used (thinking about birds) for color and texture.

  I like the mercury glass mixed with the cool blue tones and it feels watery to me too.  Ooh speaking of water I forgot water glasses!!

I wanted some color and a distraction from the outside winter weather we're saddled with up here!

 Compared to the last week's weather (-5 with a windchill of -25) it's warm today (34)!

Time for a hot dinner wouldn't you say!

I'm joining
Between Naps on the Porch
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Tablescape Thursday 

The Dedicated House
for
Anything Blue Friday  

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Yay the Polar Vortex is gone!

 Hooray the sun is out!
I thought I'd pop in and see how everyone is doing.  We survived last week's "arctic vortex" without any real problems. Goodness it sure got cold!  We were waking up to -5 with a windchill of -25 for a week.  I tell you there was a chill in the house even though the furnace was running.  In the evenings we had the fireplace going to cozy up the living room.
All I can say is I'm glad it's passed.

Last week during the deep freeze my Christmas Cactus was loaded with buds but they wouldn't open.  As soon as that deep chill broke they started to bloom.  It's nice to see some color with all that white background we have!

Sure looks different in the winter around here!!
We've had a total of 89" of snow so far this winter.  It melted down a bit in December and then round two came.  The snow is pretty much knee high in the yard.  Today the sun is out and a welcome sight!  It's been way too gray for too long!
I hope you all survived that deep freeze without any big problems.

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My Little Home and Garden
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Sunlit Sundays 

The Old Farm, A Shadow Of What It Was

Come take a small tour with me of my husband's family's farm.  

Back at Thanksgiving I took a walk outside and captured a few pictures.  It's very basic, no frills, and just a shadow of what it was.

A gate opening to the west field

 His sister Clara created this gate and added some garden art

His Mom always joked and called it "green acres" after the tv show because of the cobbled way things were put together.  It's a little home all of about 800 square feet.  Can you imagine raising 4 kids in this tiny home!  They did finish the attic and made extra sleeping room up there.

 She's always had some kind of flower gardens around the place.  These days they are scaled back to manageable areas that she can maintain. 

 The old work shop in the background. Off in the distance there was an apple orchard and there was fencing for the cows.

Free post World War II materials were acquired to build it (definitely not glamorous but as you see it's stood the test of time).  A lot of hours were spent in there fixing broken farm equipment and repairing cars. 

It's a quiet space now and a bit dilapidated on the interior.  After his father passed it was gutted and it now represents only a fading memory of all that took place in there.

 This old door had a lot of time put on it.  I told my husband I want to bring it home with us.  It would be a piece of the old farm to hold on to for nostalgia.

  

This used to have doors covering it up and an old 53' packard sat quietly in there for years and years.

The big John Deere farm tractor always resided in this spot.  Now his brother uses it on his property nearby.  This old Massey Ferguson still runs.

The old barn is tired but the roof is still good. 

His sister Clara created this barn art along time ago.

The 1950 date represents when his parents bought the farm.  "Old Doc Smith" as they always called him helped them get their start.  He owned the property and rented it to them in the beginning.  

The milk house.  I can still remember the big shiny milk tanker truck backing in to collect milk.

They haven't been active as a dairy farm since 1985.

I can still see the black and white Holsteins standing there.  Holsteins yield the highest production of milk.

 His brother sells a bit of hay to locals and stores it in the barn.  He's the only one who stuck nearby and has tried to keep some farming in his blood.

  There used to be a silo at this end but it's long gone.

This was the grain room.  The silo would have been full of silage that they fed the cows through the winter along with the feed grain that was stored in here.

This is inside the milk house where the big stainless steel milk tank sat.  

When they first moved here there was a very old farmhouse that stood closer to the road.  Doc Smith decided a new home should be built for them and the old place was demolished.

When I was dating Dan we spent a lot of time here. He always had a motorcycle or car that had some work that needed to be done.  Someone was always dropping in and visiting his parents.  A tractor could usually be heard in the distance somehwere, music played on an old radio from the barn, farm cats and a dog ran about and on occasion they even had a pet raccoon. The fields were full of corn, hay and oats.  A vegetable garden was always planted and his mom canned lots of tomatoes, cucumbers and more.

 

These days it's only a shadow of what it was, but I like think of it like it used to be. 

When you drive by an old farm try to imagine all that might have gone on there before....running a farm is a life in itself.  

I'm joining 

Have A Cup of Mrs. Olson 

for

Share Your Cup Thursday 

The Art of Sleeping Bear Dunes

My husband's sister Celia is an artist.  

  With no formal training I've always been impressed with her abilities and so proud for her for this recent accomplishment.

250 artists from around the country submitted their art and after being juried 108 were chosen and hers was one of them!  There was also a book created called "Art of Sleeping Bear Dunes" .  It is published by The Leelanau Press which is dedicated to publishing books about the art and history of the Leelanau County area of northern Michigan.

"Her picture is titled "Imaginary Trail"

All of the artists that were included in this book have their work on display at the Dennos Museum, located here in Traverse City, Michigan. We took a walk through the museum over the Christmas holiday with our daughter and I took a few pictures.

Her picture

This one was at least 8 ft. wide

Some are whimsical

The one on the left looked like melted candle wax

This picture created with quilted fabrics

A closer view of the sky from the quilted picture

It was very interesting to see all the different art work and various techniques and materials each artist uses to create their vision.

This is a link to the Sleeping Bear Dunes visitors bureau in case you'd like to know more about the area. 

I'm joining
The Tablescaper
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Oh the Places I've Been

and
The Dedicated House
for
Anything Blue Friday