Come Into my Parlour

Since I already have the parlour pretty much the way I want it, I like to do small things to make me happy; such as tie a burlap string around a stack of books. I'm easy!

This tea arrangement makes me happy, too. The books I tied up are under the teacart.

I bought two of these needlepoint pheasant pillows on e-bay.

I've posted this photo before but haven't shown it hanging on the wall. It's one of my favorites taken in Stratford-on-Avon. I made it into a black and white photo and then hand-colored it using transparent oil paints. Pretty cool, huh? Excuse the reflections of the curtains in the glass.

A bevy of family portraits on an end table. I threw in the turquoise frame to shake things up a little.

I have matches in this box which hangs to the left of the fireplace. There's a story that goes with this box.

I think I was college age and our family was at this bluegrass/craft festival up in the Smoky Mountains. I saw this box and really liked it. Daddy, being the sweetie he is, said, "I'll buy it for you." I only ever remember him buying two things for me; this box and a Sarah Coventry bracelet that I still wear forty years later. And he's taken my brother and me to the country store for many ice cream cones.

I remember one time he was taking us fishing, and we stopped at this same store for lunch supplies. As a special treat for dessert, he got little cups of pudding but failed to buy any spoons. Of course we didn't discover this until it was time to eat. We didn't know what we were going to do short of sticking our fingers into the pudding, but Daddy being ever resourceful, looked around and saw some reeds on the river bank. Walking over to them, he cut a long one. As he walked back to us he cut it into three pieces, each piece about the length of a straw, and handed one to me and then one to my younger brother.

We looked at each other and then over at Daddy who had stuck his reed into the pudding and was drinking it like a milkshake. We thought he was a genius for being so innovative. He was and is a genius still. He's one of the smartest men I know. And one of the kindest. I love my daddy!