Monday Musing . . . Country Girl at Heart

Okay, so . . . I've been pondering and pondering on what I will share with you this week . . . so much so, that I'm a day late with my Monday Musing. My photos won't upload, but I'll muse anyway.

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I am a country girl at heart. I'm not sure if I'd survive in a big city.

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We moved here almost nine years ago. It's a small city where everyone sits on their front porches in the evening and chats. The traffic here is non-existent after 8 pm. Everywhere you go, you see someone you know. It's a quiet, peaceful, sleepy little town.

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We live on the edge of town inside the city limits. On a quiet street. On a hair over 2/3 of an acre. We grow a 1200+ square foot organic garden every year. When we were looking to buy a house, I knew this was the one because it had a clothesline out back.

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Even living within the city limits, I feel, in a way, that we live in the country.

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We've got two outdoor cats, and at one time had two ducks. We wanted egg-laying chickens awhile back . . . but were informed that we hadn't enough land to own chickens. Instead, we buy eggs from local farmers whose chickens run around eating bugs and grains in the warm sunshine.

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Life is fairly simple for us. When we have warm days, I always hang the laundry. My hubby, kids and I all work at the garden every summer. We grill out, eat homemade strawberry shortcake {with beautiful strawberries from our garden}, and picnic at least once a week in summer. Our kids build forts, explore the adjoining woods together, collect bugs and play "ghosts in the graveyard" at night {a night-time version of tag}.

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We take walks around the neighborhood and through parks and on country dirt roads. My kids bring me bouquets of wildflowers, flowers from the garden, and many, many dandelions. :)

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We read together, laugh together, play games together, lie on our backs and look at clouds together, and drive through Amish countryside together.

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I can't imagine a more perfect place to be and a more pleasant way to live.

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Well, even though I haven't been able to upload my photos, I hope I've painted enough of a lovely picture for you. Living here has taught me that the simple things in life are worth more than gold.

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Sunshine and happiness to you all! {Especially now that spring is here!}

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Fondly, Kate

Monday Musing

I'm not much of a candy girl. I do have some favorite candies . . . Lindt truffles, Mini-eggs, and Haribo's raspberries & blackberries {the ones with crunchy outsides and jelly insides}. But mostly, I could take it or leave it. My hubby however, loves a good chocolate bar!!!

I'm more of a "baked yummies" type of gal. Strawberry shortcake is one of my ultimate favorites! Give me a good lemon bar, slice of homemade strawberry rhubarb pie, a fudgy brownie, or an earthy oatmeal raisin cookie, and I'm in heaven!

In fact, after this holiday, and Christmas, and Thanksgiving, I've been a bit TOO much in heaven!! Time to lace up the walking shoes and work off a bit of this heaven!!! {Which, by the way, I've been doing lately}.

I LOVE to walk! If I had the time, I think I would walk all over town for 4 hours a day. In good weather, I walk between 3 and 4 miles a day. In winter, I'm quite a bit less faithful. Not because it's cold, but because it's dark most times I can walk {early morning, before anyone is awake, or late evening when my kids are in bed}.

In pondering, I'm not quite certain which I love more, baked yummies, or walking. All this considering is making me hungry! I better have another piece of pumpkin cake!!!

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL Easter!

Fondly, Kate

Monday Musing . . .

I like old things.

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I think I always have. I remember the first old thing I bought. It was a small, rusty old metal plant stand. I was between 10 and 12. I begged my mom to advance my allowance so I could buy it at a kind-of-a flea market at Whitefish Bay in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. My mom probably thought I was crazy! I took it home from vacation and spray-painted it . . . GOLD. Okay, I was 12 {at the oldest}! It was pretty gaudy. But I loved it! And I used it as a nightstand, a catch-all, a display tower, and it is now currently serving in the bathroom as a clothes-catcher while we bathe. It is no longer gold, but a much more pleasant and calm white.

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Good thing I like old things! Our house is over 100 years old. Whenever something breaks, I head first, not to the local superstore, but just down the road to Allen, Michigan {the self-proclaimed antique capital of Michigan}. There, several buildings, crammed with all things old, antique and dusty, hold treasures galore! If I still come up short, I hit the thrift stores {not necessarily in that order}. I also can't drive by a yard sale without slowing down considerably, and most of the time, stopping!! I really need one of those bumper stickers that say: "I brake for junk" . . . really and truly, I should warn the poor, unsuspecting drivers who happen to get stuck behind me on a lovely, sunny summer day!! I also love free items. I'm drawn to old doors {not quite sure at this moment how many I actually have in my garage}. I also have WAY TOO MANY linens and old china pieces {my poor, straining china cabinet! If it could talk, it would probably just wheeze (it's old too!) under the burdensome weight of my mis-matched collection of teacups, plates, soup tureens and salt cellars.

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I love things with a history. I like to muse about where items have been, who has loved them, what their story is, and occasionally, what in the world they were used for {I've seen some pretty funky things in all my thrifting days!}

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We buy most of our clothes used too. I am in love with the idea of reusing things, giving them a new life, becoming a less throw-away family; and I truly ascribe to the adage coined in the Depression: Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

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Well, spring is coming and that means that any day, I'll see those beloved signs, dotting the city, scrawled by hands too excited to clean out their nests and maybe, if they're like me, make room for more treasures. The signs that read "YARD SALE -->".

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Sigh . . . old things! :)

Fondly, Kate