Hi Girlfriends!  I probably have six things of equal importance, that is to say, minutia, that I could write about today.  What to do? What to do? Which one first?  My main problem these days, is whether or not I can get on the blog! I couldn’t yesterday, and it has not been easy today.  Something isn’t going well with my server and I don’t know what it is . . . bear with me, those of you who manage to get through!  I’m helping us cope with these dulcet tones . . . (another word for Musica.)

Every once in a while I need to wash and iron the dresser scarves and table toppers.  Which I did before my girlfriends came from California to visit last week; part of the continuing quest for a fall cleanup … but, as you know, there’s  nothing like company to get a person going!

I can’t say that ironing is my favorite thing in life to do, but in this case, with these vintage linens, I do love it; the smell of it too, hot steamy iron, lightly fragranced washed things . . . I turn on the radio, and listen to Car Talk (90.1 WCAI radio),  and laugh myself silly, and iron, and it’s a nice day.

Vintage linens are the hardest thing for me to find . . . I have to force myself to dig through piles (and refold them!), where 99% of the things in it, I don’t want — in order to find the little wonderful thing at the bottom.  Maybe once a year I will go to antique stores or flea markets and focus just on linens, to keep my collection replenished.

As usual, I am not willing to pay a huge amount of money for these things when I know for a fact that if I am patient I will find them at a price that seems SO good, I am proud all day because I waited.

Look at the little rick rack on the edge of the red-trimmed cloth.  Embroidery, lace, applique, all so original and special and hardly being made anymore.

Some of the embroidery is just too wonderful for words.

I love the cat, I love the apples, but most of all, I love the . . .

gnome in the window. ♥ And the moon.  And I love the person who made this, whoever she was.  And now, the bathroom bears . . .

These linens are hanging on a quilt rack — so handy for everything, from quilts, to drying towels in guest rooms, so if you see one, you might want to get it … I found a green one on our New England trip for $35.  Oh yes!

This quilt rack sits in our dining room and holds tablecloths and runners.  Hi Girl Kitty!

I love linens so much I even paint them!  I like my rick-rack headed chicken pocket.

They make everything prettier, softer, including Joe’s breakfast.

They add a certain romantic charm.

When I find the round, linen coasters, I buy them, then use them as jar toppers for my canned things, jams and applesauce.

Of course you all know what a nut I am for dishtowels.  But if you don’t, just click on DISHTOWELS, and I will be happy to tell you!

This is my dishtowel display unit . . . did I buy this stove just for the handles?  Maybe.

I wrote and watercolored this card to keep in front of me when I write books, to remind me every day what it is I am trying to do.  But it works just as well for decorating the house.  I don’t think I finally figured out the actual meaning of the word “charm” until I was in my early 40’s!  Now I might like to write a book about it!

So, then, after doing the ironing, I wanted to bleach my vintage potholders because they were starting to look like something the cat dragged in.  I put them in a bowl with warm water, a little laundry soap, and about a quarter cup of liquid bleach and let them sit and soak.

And I washed the towels for the guest bathrooms . . . and took everything outside . . .

Something you know I love to do . . .

Towels dried in the open air get scratchy; I never used to dry them on the line, because I didn’t think I’d like scratchy towels — but one of the houses we stayed in when we were in England had line-dried towels, and I loved it!  My new discovery!  Scratchy towels are wonderful, invigorating, they scratch your back, and they seem more absorbent.

It took about two seconds after I brought the basket in before my shadow was in it!

Such a decorative kitty!

So then I made Cranberry Apple Crisp!  Made Corn Pudding too!

The girls who came to visit, but not ever for long enough! I asked if I could show this photo, and got a yes, so here we go, from left to right, that’s Diana (Elizabeth’s cousin), then Daisy (the daughter of) → Mimi, then Elizabeth (the kitchen-paint-chooser and sweetheart who just bought the house down the street from me), then Cathy.  Elizabeth and Cathy saw Beatrix Potter’s House together. Daisy goes to Harvard, she is beauty plus brains; the other adorable girls live in Palo Alto California and are pretty smart too.  Creative, funny, hardworking, generous girlfriends, all of them.  Joe was in heaven.  Jack got so many kisses he was sick of it and started running away from us!  (Joe stuck around and took it like a man. 🙂 )

While they were here, Mr. Wonderful kept up with his newest project.  This porch was so old, it was disintegrating; he’s been rebuilding it — what do you think Dad?  He finished yesterday . . . Here’s the final product:

♫ Oh my man I love him so ♪ . . .  I sort of want to move this to the front of the house, where all the world can see it, it looks so nice!

We are having a Halloween Party next week, I’ve started getting ready … we do it every year, friends just pop in, we have Chili and Corn bread and all the fixins!  Our neighborhood is wild at Halloween, we get hundreds of kids!  It’s very exciting!

And I also have a little present for you . . .

I asked Kellee to put this Pumpkin bookmark up on our FOSB site (Facebook) today; if you go there and click on it, you can get it as a pdf file, print it out on heavy paper (even laminate it if you want), and put it in your Halloween stockings!  Some good pumpkin facial expression examples for carving!

OK, Girls, back to work I go.  I have a job for you:  please let me know when you are so sick of this post you can’t bear to look at it anymore — when you have clicked on all the links, and have taken your first trip to an antique store to look for linens to decorate for the holidays.  And then, I will stop everything and change it ASAP!

Until then, I’ll be working on our book, which, I have to say, is SO wonderful, I can’t stop thinking about it . . . I don’t mean it’s the most wonderful thing that ever lived, I mean I LOVE it and love doing it, and only want to do it!  I worked on it the whole time the girls were here, while they were still asleep; I’m up to Page 84 right now!

It’s one thing to know what something is going to look like (in your mind), and another thing to see it being born in real life! ♥

OK, off I go!  I hope you’re all enjoying your WILLARDS . . . the last batch goes out this afternoon!  Have a wonderful day everyone!