I apologize...

I really do, for not replying to your nice comments on my last post. Lately, my posts have been few and far between and hardly worth reading. So, I'm giving myself one more chance...either blog with your heart into it or say goodbye. 

and I don't want to say goodbye. You've all been so kind to me and my silly blog, mistakes and all...best friends I've ever had, and I mean that, so it would be hard to say goodbye. I would miss you...

like Eli and Ellie miss us when we're away...

all I said was, "it's time for Dan"

Would you believe, I haven't raked up the first leaf! The fallen leave are so so pretty...

but I know the longer I wait, the deeper the leaves.

It was around this same time in October 1989 that I sat on these very steps, dreaming about moving into the cabin. The steps were newly built then.  Mama used to say, "Melba, please don't go out there by yourself".

The cabin was in the woods, no other homes around. I was off work on Saturdays so would come out and help finish staining inside. But that Saturday in October was the most beautiful one ever, with the leaves falling and the sun shining through the trees, warming those back steps. Didn't get much staining done that day.

Speaking of getting things done! How long has it been now since I climbed the ladder and washed that hard to reach bottle collection...three, four years? Look at the dust...

I know, I should be ashamed of myself for showing this, and I am!

It took me three day, climbing up and down that tall wooden ladder, carrying two bottle at the time, washing them in hot soapy water, rinsing, drying, and putting them back. Plus, the shelf and wall had to be washed.

Poppy gets out of all this work by saying, "I like the dust and cobwebs. That makes them look old". Well, Henny likes them sparkling clean and shiny...

What a job! Just got to show off my hard work...

Clean! from one end to the other. But, that shelf continues on, into the kitchen and the antique canning jar collection. I'm bound and determined to finish up before the holidays. 

Thank you for stopping by, and for putting up with me. Planning on being back here real soon!

Love, Henny

A Bit of Fall

We got just a sprinkle of rain, not even enough to settle the dust, before the much anticipated cold front began blowing through around 3:30 today. What a relief! The temperatures were in the mid 90s today and reached 98 degrees at Raleigh Durham Airport!

These next few days should feel a lot like fall so, I've gone crazy with fall colors, especially in the old cupboard...

Isn't it amazing what rag and bottle of Old English furniture polish will do!

a little closer look...I found the large dinner plates at Goodwill this week...

That's hickory nuts in the bowl...

Have you ever tried to crack open and eat a hickory nut? What a job! Poppy did crack one with the hammer and we both got a tiny taste.

Anyhow, fall of the year makes me want to work outside, clean up, and move things around. 

Wish you could have seen the junk we hauled out from under this old shed. It hasn't been this neat and clean in years. Poppy used to park his four-wheeler here...

Hay is stored in the old freezer covered with a tarp. Nailed a strip of wood across the back of the shed to stand garden tool and my bamboo poles.

Pulled out the old wooden tool box too and filled it with kindling wood. Good for starting fires this winter.

The kindking is kinda dusty from being stored in a cardboard box for too long.

Can't go without a word about sweetie pie rabbit...

I really believe he loves the wide open space in his big ole dog lot, and the ramp up to his box...

and! I'm building a little garden room just outside his pen. There was a mess of old cinder blocks stacked there so I've just re-arranged them a bit...

not exactly pretty yet but I've only just begun...

There is really nothing pretty about a cinder block so I need to come up with some pretty ideas. Any suggestions??

Well, The TV just cut off. Poppy must be headed this way so I will stop here. This is probably way too much anyhow. 

Oh, Smokey wants to say goodnight...

Thanks for looking!

Love, Henny

Cleaning

Here I'm starting a new post and really need to be catching up with yours.  I'll be there over there in a minute.

Wanted to thank you for the comments on my last post and say I did go back and reply to those of  you without blogs. See, my reasoning is, we can visit each other's blogs, but replying is the only way to visit the rest of you. I know you all must be glad I figured this out, and on my own too. :)

Anyhow, I've been busy cleaning...really cleaning...we have, hopefully, lots of family coming for Thanksgiving...

I am polishing the old silver...sounds kinda fancy, doesn't it? 

We may actually need to use some of this old silverware, so it will be sparkling clean and in the drawer with the other, just in case...

Oh, anything fancy like putting out the good china and crystal and silver, for me, went out the window back in the 1950's. I mean, we don't eat peas with a knife or anything like that; wouldn't surprise to see that, but for the most part we don't. :)

I really do like my collection of mixed silver patterns...all collected from thrift stores...

there's some fancy stuff here. Poppy said, "let's take it all to a pawn shop and see what we can get for it'?  Absolutely not!!

Polishing silver makes me happy. Makes me think of mama and remember the good old days. 

It's kinda like drinking hot tea. I've always wanted to be a tea drinker...one who has an afternoon cup of tea from a pretty teapot served in pretty teacup and saucer.

Oh, I've grown to like green tea. Hot green tea. Decaffeinated hot green tea, with honey. Must be decaffeinated. I don't how the Queen ever gets a wink of sleep, drinking tea in the late afternoon. But I'm enjoying my hot tea in late afternoon, in a pretty cup. Gosh. It is fun. 

Back to my housework...know what else I've tackled? Remember that darn bottle collection on that high shelf in the living room that runs the length of the house, surrounded with deer heads and antlers and fish...

don't tell anyone I'm showing you how dusty and dirty this deer head is...

Had to bring the tall ladder for this job. I must have climbed up and down that ladder twenty five times. The muscles in my legs are sore but once again... 

we have clean!

I've simply got to get away from this computer and get busy. Poppy gets off work at 1:00. Need to at least get the floors vacuumed.

Oh, I am so excited about tomorrow. Andee is picking me up at 9:00. We are going to something called "Vintage Market Days" in Raleigh. Should be lots and lots of pretty things to look at, and lots of Christmas stuff. 

Thank you friends.

Love,

Henny

  

   

Washing jars

At last! Clean, dust free jars!

Did you ever wonder what thirty years of dust looks like?

Well, maybe it hasn't been quite thirty years, but I can't remember the last time these jar (in the back) were washed. I should be ashamed of myself for showing you this. 

Poppy says the dust and cob webs make the place look older. It looks older alright...like the owners have died and gone on!

This collection of canning jars and old milk bottles sits way up high on a shelf in the kitchen. It's a job, bringing in the tall ladder and climbing up and down, over and over...

but I did, and got it done, bringing down four at a time and washing them in hot soapy water.

Sparkling clean! What a good feeling it was when that last jar was dried and put back on that shelf.

One old milk bottle still had the cardboard cap. "Tuberculin Tested". Maybe I should be tested, after breathing in all that dust!

I'm a counter you know, and there were 63 bottles and jars, that row is four deep! 

I was going to show you my scary Halloween decorations...such as it is, but no, I'll wait until Tuesday!

Thank you, if you're still here. Who wants to look at dust and dirt. :)

Love,
Henny

The painted bathroom

Guess I'll go ahead and post about the painted bathroom and get that over with. You see, the color I had in mind was a bright white with just a hint, a hint! of pink. But colors change inside the cabin.

As soon as the paint touched the wall, it became light lavender. I added half a can of white to the paint which lightened it a little more. 

Why, back many years ago when we bought new carpet for the cabin, the color we picked out was the color of a fawn. It was a shock when one of the installers said something about the carpet being a mauve color. It's crazy! 

The new (thrift store) Toile shower curtain.

Our friend Nellie stopped by. When I mentioned to her that I was painting the bathroom light pink, she stuck her head in, looked around and said, "It looks like white to me". 

Funny, the bathroom is so small I can only show you a little at the time.

anyhow, it is a new coat of paint, and clean. 

that out of style border around the back of the sink was my idea. The old vinyl had come unglued in places and was stained. 

When we win the lottery, I am going straight out and buy a beautiful new vanity cabinet and mirror. Trouble is, you can't win the lottery if you don't play. Last time I stopped for gas, for the first time ever, I bought a three dollar scratch-off lottery card, went back to my car and scratched it off. I won three dollars. With that, I decided to hang on to my three dollars. 

It's about bedtime again. They sure roll around quick, don't they. Thank you, friends. 

Love,

Henny

Country Living

Don't know what struck me, but I am still in the throws of fall cleaning.  

Everything has been moved out of the little hall bathroom, the walls and woodwork cleaned and taped, and made ready to paint...brought the paint home yesterday, and plan to do that first thing this morning!

There were two basket sitting on top of the mirrored cabinet that held, probably every tiny seashell that Poppy and I have ever picked up on the beach. Talk about dust!! Anyhow, carrying the two baskets, plus a few more, outside to wash and let dry in the sun, I remembered my old "Country Living" magazine collection starting from the early 1980's.

Oh my goodness friends, I practically lived for each new issue. A regular feature was, "Simple Country Pleasures" written by Jo Northrop. Jo Northrop grew up on a farm in North Carolina. I remember once she wrote about cleaning and how she carried all the baskets down to the pond to wash them and leave them in the sun to dry.

If only I had a farm and a pond to wash baskets in, and a log cabin in the country! It was the early 80's. I was a secretary, living in a two bedroom apartment with two teenage daughters. Far from any kind of country living.

This issue, I just pulled from the stack, happened to be about the changing season, from summer to fall.

"Country Living" magazine was full of everything I dreamed about having. They featured log homes and...

look at these colors. This was 1985. Poppy would move out! Hey?? Just kidding.

I did get the log cabin, with the french doors, and a pond for washing baskets, and in the country. 

so...

here's the dull dreary bathroom I'm fixing to paint...

really dull, with everything moved out. :(

not a lot I can do in such a small room. As Poppy says, you have to back out to turn around. 

I'm getting busy now. Thank you for listening again.

Love,
Henny

Busy as a bee!

We picked these wildflowers along the dirt road..I picked the Goldenrod flowers, and Poppy went through the deep, snaky looking grass for the purple and yellow ones. The two zinnias look pretty bad. 

All summer I've wanted a vase of zinnias for the house, but simply can't bear to cut them. What's wrong with me?? 

These last few days, I've actually been doing some fall cleaning. Remember that dreadful bottle collection in the living room? "Dreadful" because it's me who does the dusting...

the "before" picture from the last cleaning frenzy.

and "after"!

All summer we've had the curtains down. But for fall and winter, with the windows and screens washed and clean, I like the coziness of curtains.

Oh, you can still find dust, I'm not finished yet, but mostly I'm proud of the shiny clean windows and screens...and bottles!

looking out onto the back porch.

and, I washed all the old pots and oil lamps on the porches, and added a clean tablecloth.

have you ever seen anybody as proud of doing a little cleaning?

got the kitchen window washed too and hung the clean curtains. Gosh, didn't see all the wrinkles until now. Maybe the wrinkles will fall out after a few nights of washing dishes in hot water just below them. If not, the ironing board is in the sewing room.

Big ruffled curtains are probably out of style but I still love them.

the old cupboard sure looks better with the dust wiped off.

Still have lots of cleaning to do, but for now I'm off the the grocery store. The kitties finished the last can of food first thing this morning. There will be a lot of meowing before long. 

Thank you, if you're still here. Who wants to hear about cleaning house, anyhow. :)

Love,
Henny