This week and last down Henny Penny Lane

 Well, this week has started off wrong. I have a doctor's appointment at 3:00 today so it's hard to get into anything. That comes from my dear mama...

"I just despise to have to go anywhere on Monday", she would say, "it ruins the whole week. "How Monday starts off is how the whole week will be".

No doubt, mama had been cleaning here, or maybe she had rolled her hair and tied a scarf around the bobby pins.  This was taken back in the 1940s in Summerville, SC.  I can see the moss hanging from the trees in the background. 

Anyhow, last week I went into a cleaning frenzy starting in the living room which lasted three days...

Oh my gosh! It's the bottles and deer heads and turkey tails and the ruffled valences, so many things to collect dust...

Couldn't help but remember the old Country Living Magazines and Jo Northrup who wrote "Simple Country Pleasures", a one page feature each month. 

In one issue she wrote about spring cleaning where she carried all the baskets down to the pond for a washing then putting them in the sun to dry...

I carried my baskets in the wheelbarrow to the water facet, gave them a good washing then into the sun to dry...

So, here it is Tuesday morning already. Didn't get to finish this post yesterday. A 3:00 appointment in Wake Forest is too late in the day. I was dark getting home...thanks to the time change it gets dark right after lunch now!

One of our neighbors, over the river and through the woods, actually, across the path and through the woods, stopped by with her two granddaughters, Abbie, and Evie, to see the bunnies...

They are such sweet girls. Abbie is holding the white bunny, Daisy, and Evie is holding the gray bunny, Sage. 

Poppy and I got busy and finally put a new top on the rabbit lot...it has a new 10' x 10' tight fitting top covered with the new green tarp on top. It's a warm, safe, and cozy home...

It's amazing how many places won't let you adopt a rabbit now unless you agree to keep it inside. Rabbits love being outside! Daisy and Sage seem so happy running and playing. Randall Rabbit, Daisy, and Sage all have cozy houses inside the lot. The wire and shadows make the 10' x 10' lot look crowded but actually they have lots of room to move around. 

and this time of the year it's so pretty around the bunny lot. Like this tree in front of their lot. I was looking up...

Poppy has a chair next to the bunny lot where he sits with his gun waiting for a trophy buck to walk past. Don't worry, he won't shoot a deer there. :) but he did get this good shot of the house from down there...

I get started on a post and don't know when to quit so I will hush now. Thank you for visiting, if you're still here. 

Love, Henny 

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