Front Porch Vintage Livin'

Some days are irresistible. They call to me by blowing through the screens & making the wind chimes sing. The sun beckons me by splashing shadows across my office. I hear my children laughing madly as they run through the sprinkler and I cannot resist. 


Here's my front porch: antique jar filled with sun tea, cute baby romping around, a comfy place to lounge, egg baskets hanging for decoration & a relaxing view. Enjoy.

One end of our porch, all ready for a nap in the sun

My 2 year old dancing on the porch, note the tomatoes & beans growing behind her

Kid sized Adirondack chairs

View off the porch, our barn hidden behind the oak

Big antique malted milk jar I scored at the thrift store

Egg baskets hanging, Airstream birdhouse from Etsy & sun tea

Another view off the porch

Vintage Indoor Time, Snow Abounds

We had a bit of a surprise yesterday. We were expecting lots of rain. We got a a ton of rain and several inches of snow too! Today the rain has been washing it away. Sunday is the 1st day of Spring, but I'm not complaining. California needs a good snow pack to get us all through the long dry season.

(View of the barn above)
On days like this I love to cook, have a tea party with my family & stay warm (which involves lots of cuddling under the covers reading with my 3 little girls. We're currently into the Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe)

(Vintage embroidery hanging in my dining room)
I've got 3 pots of chicken broth bubbling away on my old Okeefe & Merritt stove. I'll freeze them for later use. Homemade soup made with some of it for supper tonight.

Tea today will be in the dining room. We'll use a 1930's era set for my girls tea. It's a children's miniature set that has nursery rhymes on each piece. My eldest daughter picked it out at the Alameda flea market when she was 6.

(Our 18th Century Hutch full of pottery. Tea set on the 3rd shelf)
Three members of our avian brood adore snow and slush. Calvin, Hobbes & Yip let us know by honking loudly with glee. How they can stand in a puddle of soft snow in 35 degree weather and have fun is beyond me. I guess it's due to their heavy down coats?

A Rare Estate Part 2

The best laid plans of mice and men-ah, we know how that goes! My day has gone awry again. Awry seems to be my vocabulary word of the month. First that estate up North that is the best ever, then the snowstorm, power outage and sick baby. Today I was heading up there again! But the Uhaul I rented died in my driveway. (I won't go into the quality rant I have building up inside me)

So instead of gathering up items, I'm back here at long last with some of the fabulous items from that magical estate, as well as some interior shots of their home. If you've looked at my shop you may have seen some of the items.

A view of a kitchen corner-look closely!

1920's Coffee Grinder & Brewer

Back side of same grinder

First of all, I've seen small coffee grinders. But I've never seen the huge ones that this estate has. The coolest one is in the shape of a coffee pot and is red & chrome. Wow!! I plugged it and it started grinding away. I wish I drank coffee.

Antique Hobart Coffee Grinder

This couple has all sorts of coffee grinders. Big ones. Found this little Hobart beauty sitting in the garage. FYI, each of these grinders are cast iron and weigh around 90 pounds. Handy to have that 300 pound postal scale on hand! I'm glad my hubby was here to help me lift. Thanks hon.

Random assortment of amazing antiques

Coming up next from this overflowing estate, dozens and dozens of 19th century flow blue china, all different patterns, more headlights, bicycle lights, railroad lights, military antiques, jewelry to die for, and more and more and more. I'm letting them set the pace. This estate could keep one seller busy for years. Here's a photo of just a bit of the flow blue china in one of the two dining rooms. 

Small portion of the massive 19th century Flow Blue China collection

Snowed In, Playing Vintage

In case you're wondering what happened to me and my fabulous estate, I'm back with an update. My co worker, Suuzi, is our guest blogger today. She lives up the hill from me and we tend to share the affects of Mother Nature. 

This past weekend, the worst storm in over 10 years blanketed my property in 2 feet of snow. Power was out for 3 days. No Internet... no radio... no Netflix. My husband was away on business, so I found myself shoveling mountains of snow, and trudging through the snow to carry water and food to my shell-shocked goats and chickens. 

I stayed with my father-in-law so that we could keep each other company. I felt grateful to have human companionship, not to mention gas heat and a gas range. The house was calm without my Ipod. The silence was broken by the calls of hawks, finches and blue-jays. 

During the silence after dark, we talked by the warm glow of a turn-of-the-century kerosene lamp. He told me stories about his grandparents, and family back in Norway and Poland. 

Stories from his boyhood in the orange groves of Southern California. I told him about the time my house burned down when I was a baby, and about my grandpa's dairy farm. 

We made lavish meals: fettuccine alfredo with home-made pasta, pizza with cornmeal crust and caramelized onions. We drank sweet, organic honey-blackberry wine. After a couple hours talking by lamp light, we turned in early. I boiled water on the stove for washing. Each morning I awoke feeling wonderfully refreshed after 10 hours of sleep.

When the power went back on, I was happy to hear the sounds of NPR, do a load of laundry, and feel hot water running out of the faucet. The snowy quiet time gave me a deeper appreciation for our vintage and antique treasures, and the times they come from. Times when the main power sources were elbow grease and imagination, and families gathered to enjoy each others company in the lamplight after dark.