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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Old Jars and Grandma's House

Remember the citron melon that had grown half inside and half outside the garden fence? With a long sharp kitchen knife I sliced it off the fence...



When I walked inside with more melons, Poppy said to me, "I will be glad when the citron melons are all gone!  Now what are you fixing to do"?   "Make preserves, why? Why would it bother you that I want to make more preserves", said I.  "Oh, it doesn't bother me. I just wondered why you would want to make more preserves",  said Poppy. So, I made more preserves. We have these conversations a lot. :[



Oh, every time I look up I see the dust and cobwebs on these old jars and bottles...




I've brought the ladder inside but keep putting off this big job of dusting. Collections are fun but not when it comes times to dust! I dare not show you the entire collection...well maybe a small picture at the bottom.

These old blue canning jars remind me of Grandma Comer. I distinctly remember seeing her open a jar of pickled beets and I remember blackberries canned in jars like these. 


This is my Grandma and Grandpa Comer. Grandpa died ten days before I was born. 



My Niece Vicki lives near my grandparents old home place. Since we were in Robbins last week and having lunch with Vicki, she suggested we drive by. How sad to see the house and barn so run down. Still very beautiful to me...



The house was beautifully built...hard to explain, but a covered porch was across the back of the house, which went across a center section where there were bedrooms, then turned and extended across the front of the kitchen. The kitchen is the roof section you can see in the back. Like a box with one side cut out.

Some of the small out buildings...



The barn. The paved road used to be a dirt path separating the house from the barn. If I were fortunate enough to own this place, I would live here. 



Okay, enough for today! As mama used to say, "I have simply got to get busy"! Thank you for visiting.

Love,
Henny Penny



It is Poppy's turn to dust!






28 comments:

  1. Love reading your blog....you speak right from the heart!

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    1. Meggie, thank you. Sometimes I worry about things I've said. :)

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  2. Ooh dear Henny, I am smitten with your grandparents old homestead, I could live there in a heartbeat.
    How sad to see it now in ruins, it deserves a second chance.
    I have the same blue canning jars above my kitchen cabinets, inside a galley-rail, and the older I get the more I put off dusting and washing them. It's such a huge job, the dust seems to be my mortal enemy :)
    Love your collections, and I just bet those preserves taste simply delicious, especially on a winters day.
    Hugs,
    ~Jo

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    1. Oh, dust drives me crazy and I hate to dust! Hugs to you too!

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  3. No one ever died from dust,but they did from starvation! So, go ahead, make your preserves,and leave the dusting for another day.
    Jane x

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    1. Well thank you. I just may tell that to Poppy! :)

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  4. I appreciate your showing your collection, dust and all. Makes one feel they're not alone.

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    1. Hey! I had not seen that cobweb draped over the logs until I saw the picture.

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  5. Loved the old jars, a great collection and the old property was a delight to see.

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  6. It's a shame your grandparents home is empty and nature is taking over. It looks like a beautiful place to live. I have a collection of old canning jars, too. I find lots of uses for them.

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    1. Don't you just love those old jars and things that were used back then! Bet you had lots of this stuff when you lived in the NC mountains.

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  7. I like your old blue canning jars, dust and all! Have you seen the modern ones that they are now making in blue? My sister has a freind who gave her some pickled beets in the new blue jars, but you can't even tell that they are blue when the beets are in them, so I wonder why people would pay twice as much to buy those.
    I know someone that collects the old blue jars, and she uses them to display her flower bouquets at the farmers market. At least with just water and flower stems in them, you can see the blue colour:)
    So sad about your grandparents place, looks like it was lovely at one time.

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    1. PS Glad this batch of citron preserves turned out so well!

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    2. I haven't seen the new blue jars. I wanted to buy a few new jelly canning jars but the price of $9.99 for a box of 4 or 6 (I can't remember) changed my mind. I dug through the cabinets and found the four in the picture. Flowers in the old blue jars sounds pretty. Makes me want to grow flowers to cut next summer. Your flowers are beautiful! I made sure I didn't walk away from the stove and leave these last preserves boiling! :)

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  8. Love the pictures they turned out great! I love the medicine bottles I have a few of the blue canning jars. I hate to dust !

    Love you

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    1. I hate dusting too. I do love the pictures of Grandma house. Thank you for taking us to see it. That was a fun day! Love you!

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  9. Dust is exactly why most of my antique collections are put up in the closet in boxes. I don't like to dust.

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    1. Oh, it does make me want to box everything up too! That would cut out a lot of work! :)

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  10. And now they say what our grandparents canned in and how they canned isn't safe. I wonder how much is true and how much is commercialism.
    Your grandparent's old house looks a lot like the one we live in.
    Good luck with your canning!

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    1. I know! All my grandma ever had was wood stove. And canned all kinds of fruits and vegetables. I would love to live in that house. Thank you!

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  11. It's rather sad to see something abandoned that used to be so alive.

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  12. Your preserves look great this time around you must have glued yourself to that stove. A little dust never killed anyone:)

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  13. I have a couple of those old blue jars from my grandmother.

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    1. Wish these we have used to belong to my grandma. We have collected these over the years from flea markets and yard sales.

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  14. What a funny melon :-).

    Love your tours!

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