Lovejoy's Tea Room in Florence Oregon

So this is an overdue post. I went to Florence in November and intended to share this with you in early December. Lets just say I will get better at blogging in 2009. This tea room is everything you hope for in an English Tea Room. Fabulous food, atmosphere is great and the people are wonderful!

Here are some view of the inside. Many locals as well as tourist eat here. Now that is a good sign.

This is a scan of their business card and menu

A few views of the harbor. I didn't get a picture of the famous Gothic bridge which alone is worth the trip to Florence.

If you have a chance to go to Florence on the Oregon coast you should take it. The views, restaurants and people will be forever in my memories as one of the top on my list.

Until Next Time. . . . .

Kathleen

Brittnee's Chairs

Just a little post to show you some chairs I did for my niece Brittnee. Brittnee moved to Ashland with her boyfriend Angleo to go to college. She is fond of white and black so I took this old ugly (sorry I don't have a before picture) directors chair and covered the seat and back with black and white fabric. The chair had been a very ugly (stained) brown color. I purchased it at the thrift store for $4.99

I started out on this chair painting it white for myself with a sponge brush. Never again will I use a sponge brush as I ended up with lots of drips. I had to sand the drips down to the wood and start over with black paint. Once again I used the black and white fabric. Looks much better.

Here is a before shot although you can't really see the awful drips on the chair. Before I tried painting it white it was a very ugly brown. I have nothing against brown but these two chairs were not the best of browns.

Until Next Time. . . . .

Kathleen

Snowflake Lights and A Little Snow

I kept saying I wasn't going to do snowflake lites this year because they always seem to break on me and I have to replace them each year. Well - I found four sets of them at the Goodwill Store in White City for $2.99 each and I couldn't resist. I'm really fond of Snowflake Lights and have had them for the past three years.

We also got a little dusting of snow this weekend. Since Friday we have had snow each day. I've heard it is suppose to snow all week but we will see. I had to call my niece and let her know that it snowed the day after she went home (L.A. for a weeks visit.) She was so bummed about missing the the snow but I'm sure she will get to see lots more before the winter is over.

So how is the weather at your place???

Until Next Time. . . .

Kathleen

Happy Birthday Joe

Happy Birthday Joe - you would have been 35 years old today. My nephew Joe passed away November 29, 1986 it was three days before his 13th birthday. Sometimes I still really miss him. I like to remember good things though. I think it was his fourth birthday that fell on a Saturday. The city of Victorville (California) had a Christmas parade and we took Joe to see the parade. I remember he watched the whole parade go by with a big smile on his face. One of the last floats had a big birthday cake with the words "Happy Birthday Jesus" written on it. Joe turned to my mother and said, "Look Grandma they made me a cake!" That was when we realised he thought the whole parade was for his birthday.



Joe's first fish. He wanted it cleaned but he didn't want anyone to kill it.

Joe spent hours riding this old tricycle around my parents carport. My mom tied a waggon onto the back so he could pull his brother Quaid around in the waggon. I have a tape of Joe and I singing Donny and Marie's song "I'm a little bit country and I'm a little bit rock and roll." I of course sang Marie's part and Joe would sing Donny's part and he would really get into it. He told me once he wanted to be an actor.

Joe on the left and another nephew Denny (Dennis) on the right. Joe was my brother Kenneth and his wife Virginia's child. Denny (he goes by Dennis now) is my brother Dennis and his wife Linda's child. Joe and Denny were very close.

Quaid on the left with his big brother Joe.

One of my favorite poems that I have written is dedicated to Joe. And here it goes....

4:00 in the morning

Sometimes the horror will wake me at 4:00 in the morning

Or it can hit while standing in the grocery line

Memories pulled from the mind of a sweet, blond curly headed boy with pale eyes

Grasping at threads of the past which slip like sand from a clutched hand

Leaving a tortured heart in the midst of sadness

I've struggled for a while wondering if I should share any of my poetry on this site. I decided I would share back ground about my poems. Though traditionally poetics don't share I always want to know the back ground and not just guess for myself. Since this is my favorite poem I decided this would be the time for sharing.

Until Next Time. . . .

Kathleen

The Shamrock Flowers & Gifts - Eugene Oregon

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving for those celebrating here in the states. This time my delay in posting is due to mechanical problems with my new computer and my camera communicating. I finally just downloaded to my old computer and copied the photos onto a memory stick. I'll get it figured out eventually.



I've been wanting to share pictures from trip to Eugene and Florence the weekend before Thanksgiving so finally here a few. Below is The Shamrock Flowers & Gifts located at 1520 Coburg Road in Eugene, Oregon. Their toll free number is 866.807.4983 and their website is http://www.shamrockflowersandgifts.com/ I'm crazy about Eiffel towers and boy did I hit the mother load when someone told me about this place. I've already started planning another trip back.

Here was their beautiful Thanksgiving display right in the front door.

This place is huge and had lots of vignettes setup through out the store. Just breath taking!

Here we go with the Eiffel towers. I've never seen so many different kinds in one spot. I bought the little guy on the right. It is a clip.

More Paris stuff.

And more Paris stuff...

And a whole tree decorated with a Paris theme.

Another view of the Paris tree.

And another view - I purchased one of the silver glitter 3-D Eiffel Towers.

And a tree which is a Ocean theme. I think I'm going to do something similar to this on a much smaller scale though.

And yet another tree. As I said I was completely enchanted by this place. I recommend checking out their website and if you happen to be in Eugene Oregon drop by you will love it!

I also have other things to share from my trip - An incredible restaurant in Eugene; a trip for Bento shopping supplies; more shopping; and a small look at the Oregon coastal town of Florence where you can get a great cup of tea. So stay tuned and . . .

Until Next Time. . . .

Kathleen

Bandon Claw Foot Tub

Here is the long awaited shots of the Bandon Claw Foot Tub.



I think it is the soooo beautiful! It was a happy, happy day to take a bath in this tub on my last visit to the coast. My husband likes to say I bought the house for the tub. I'm very fond of old tubs. Don't you like the Kiwi paint by Devine Paints. The first time I went to purchase the paint the guy at the paint store told me he wasn't going to sell it to me because "I wouldn't be happy with it." Well, he was wrong - because I love it and have two walls painted this color in the bathroom. The other two are the Ash by Devine paints (the color behind the tub.) Just love it! Love it!!

I was surprised to get the fancy faucet.

Look at those beautiful new pipes. He did a good job don't you think?

The bathroom before shot. It was so small that if you sneezed while sitting on the toilet you would hit your head on the sink. And yes folks the bathroom really was Lavender.

The tub in the prep stage. Damian did so much work on the tub. Actually, it was a group effort. I painted the outside and the feet. I also did the masking for the painting and lets don't forget I gave up my parking space in the garage for over a year. Yes, well we won't talk about how long it took to finish the tub okay.

Lovely masking job don't you think?

And here you have it - lots of elbow grease later.

One of the feet after I had already painted them silver and had the silver go weird on me when I put a clear top coat on them. The test one was fine but then the others got strange blotches so I stripped them down and painted them white.

This is the epoxy paint we purchased at Lowe's to do the job. For around $45.00 we got two cans, steel wool, rubber gloves and some cleaning solution. The trick was letting the tub cure for one month after painting. The guy I spoke with at the bath shop who came and repaired some other stuff long, long time ago told me that was the trick.

So there you have it.

Until Next Time. . . .

Kathleen

Lithia Park - Ashland, Oregon

Lithia Park is considered one of the most beautiful areas of Ashland. Many people fall in love with Ashland while walking through Lithia Park. The park is a wonderful way to experience each season in Ashland. My recent walk through the park was a wonderful way to get into the Fall spirit.

The duck pond. You can also see a small part of the Oregon Shakespeare Theatre poking up behind the trees. I use to travel to Ashland when I lived in California just to see plays at the Theatre.

It was wonderful listening to classical music while enjoying the beautiful landscape.

A little peak at the creek.

The bridge.

More Fall colors.

The play ground. I hope you enjoyed the little walk through Lithia Park.

Until Next Time. . . . .

Kathleen

For The Love of Snoopy

Just a quick little post to show you the Fall napkins I made. I'm a big Snoopy (Peanuts Gang) fan. I was so happy when I found this material at the local JoAnn Fabrics store. I figure I can get away with using them the month of October and November since they are all about Fall. Anyway, they make me smile. I really like Snoopy but I also like Lucy and Linus. In fact I met the real Linus once as he was the political cartoonist for the Sonoma (California) newspaper that my husband worked for. After Charles Schulz passed away my husband found out what Linus' connection was to Peanuts. One day I got to meet with Linus and you could completely see Linus the cartoon in this old man (Linus Maurer.) He had the same eyes, mouth, shape of head and nose. He was a nice sweet man and it was certainly a moment I will never forget.

Another sign of Fall in my house my little centerpiece for the table.

Until Next Time. . . . .

Kathleen

Go Ahead and Vote!

I've found myself caught up in the voting frenzy. This is the first time ever I have felt my emotions so high over the candidates. I'm not going to tell you who I voted for - I just want to encourage everyone to vote. Here in Oregon all voting is done by mail - no voting booths. I must say it is a wonderful way to vote. So whether you are going to the polls or dropping a ballot off - Go ahead and vote - It really does make a difference.

Until Next Time.....

Kathleen

Free Bandon Chair

I completed this chair over the weekend for the Bandon Cottage. I got the Fabric at JoAnn's in Medford. It seems most of the fabric stores have gone out of business in my area. I sure miss Brytex in San Francisco (Union Square area.) It took me forever to make up my mind. I kept looking for something that looked real beachy but I wasn't happy with what I found. I do like this floral print though. I've decided to cover another chair for the coast in the same fabric. That will probably be next month though as I've already started on a rocking chair (pictures will be on a later post.)

Here is the before shot. The chair was on the side of the road with a big "Free" sign next to it. I actually left the chair and drove past the first time and then started thinking about it later. I just into the car at 10 pm and headed back to see if it was still there. It was so I brought it home. Once again everyone thought I was nuts for taking the chair. I had to replace most of the padding. Damian did some gluing to make it stronger. So what do you think? Did it turn out alright?

Until Next Time...

Kathleen