Fall Back

I didn't grow up with Daylight Savings Time -- 

it happened after I graduated from high school.

I've never been a fan --

I hate to lose that hour of sleep in the spring

And in the fall, I'm still on summer time.

But what I hate the most is 

changing

the clocks.

Except for the one on the Smart TVs and the cell phone,

all the other clocks at Linderhof

have to be changed by hand!

In the spring it's easy, you just move them ahead one hour.

but in the fall . . . you can't move them back!

Each clock is a challenge

And on that first Sunday in November,

I'm sorry that I have a clock fetish

And we have way too many clocks!

The one on my bedside table.   It's a little oak clock

that I found here in Fort Scott --

I love it and it's a perfect bedside clock.

It's a battery so I just take the battery out for an hour

(or more if I forget and then I have to move the hands ahead)

My dressing table clock is a small Waterford clock and it's a battery one too.

So I take the battery out of that one as well.

The mantle clock that was a wedding present to my parents.

It's my most beloved clock

And it has Westminster chimes

(too loud chimes if you ask the grands -- it keeps them awake)

You stop the movement for an hour (you hope) and then restart

And viola -- it's the correct time!

Another wooden clock.   Another battery clock.  

 Found in a little shop in Minnesota when we were visiting our daughter and her family.   

The living room clock.   You stop the pendulum and hopefully remember to start it again in an hour!

ning 

The clock that's a sham. 

It's not a grandfather clock at all!

It's not old -- it's from Bombay Company!

And since it is -- it's a battery so you just take it out and put it back in after an hour.

 The clock on the dining room mantle.

You stop it and then restart it in an hour.

The clocks are all "on time" now and will be until next March.

And on time change Sunday, I always wish that we never switched to Daylight Savings Time!

Down It Comes

January 1 we woke to this . . . 

A hundred year old tree in our front yard which crunched our porch roof

We knew that it probably wasn't the healthiest tree but we figured it wasn't quite

ready to be taken down . . .

Were we mistaken!

And although it is pricey to have a tree taken down,

it's cheaper than the deductible on your insurance!

In back, we had an old tulip tree

Over the years we lived here, we've lost a lot of limbs from the tree

It also had ivy growing up it

Which wasn't good for the tree either!

And we made a decision in January

the tulip tree must come down on our terms

before it came down on our house!

Mr. Miller of Miller's Tree Service came today

Down came part of the fence so he could get his lift close to the tree

And he sawed and sawed away

From tall tree to stubby tree

From stubby tree to just a small part of a tree

And as the guys cleaned limbs and stumps from the back garden,

Mr. Miller worked on the final stage of the tree.

And it is down!

Not all the way down for we wanted a stump left

For we had a purpose for a tree stump

We thought it would make a great fairy house!

(like the one in the picture)

And we're working on getting that done!

Won't the grands be thrilled when they visit and see a big fairy house in the 

back garden?

A big thanks to Mr. Miller for he is a pro.

Trying to cut down that tree in our back garden

Was like walking through a mine field.

There were garden beds, fence, hot tubs, BBQ pavilions, ponds

to worry about.

Plus all of the things that they did move out of the way.

The garden looks different.

It's definitely went from a shady garden to a sunny one.

 

Spring Trees

The trees of Spring are so pretty.

Mother loved redbuds

But being careful with a dollar, she would never go out and buy one

No, we would stop and try to dig up a wild one.

After many attempts at digging one up and not succeeding

(they have roots down to China),

my brother and I finally bought her one as a Mother's Day gift

As because Mother loved redbuds, so do I.

In 1972, Jim and I, after all, moved to The Redbud City

Nevada, Missouri!

I love to look out on pretty things as I'm doing dishes so I like plants that I can see from the kitchen window.

I planted a redbud outside my kitchen window of our first house

but we moved before it grew very big

I didn't plant, but it grew, a redbud outside Linderhof's windows.

This from the upstairs window, directly over the kitchen one

It's grown and is a nice specimen.

Some years, I'll cut branches and bring inside.

On the south side of the house, we had a beautiful pink dogwood

Right outside the dining room window

But it was an old, pink dogwood, planted by Ruth I am sure.

By the time we came along it wasn't healthy and came down.

But when we first moved here in April, I loved to see the blooms outside the dining room window

We replaced it, but not in the same spot

It's till a little tree but today it is full of blooms.

I know you should not covet anything, but I do covet

my daughter's crab apple tree

It's an old tree

And a little mis-happen

because there was some street work done and she begged them not to cut the tree down

And they didn't!

But they did end up chopping off some of the branches on the left side.

It's a beautiful tree

And I did covet it.

Three years ago, we were up when the tree bloomed.

I was quite taken aback by it's beauty

And decided that there needed to be one at Linderhof.

I did my homework about pink blooming crab apples and what varieties there are

But I shouldn't have bothered.

Because by the time I got home, did my research and went out here to search

for a tree

there were few left

And this year, it is abloom!

It is the same variety as Sarah's.

The one tree that was left at Wal Mart that year!

It even leans right as does Sarah's tree.

That, believe me is not intentional,

but when you buy the only one left . . . 

And I can see it from the dining room window!

And it brings a smile to my face!

When you plant a tree, you're often planting it for those who come after you.

I'm sure that that is true of this tree.

And I hope they enjoy it as much as I.

 

The Spring Garden

My favorite garden is probably the Spring Garden

Winter is so brown here

We don't get much snow to cover the brownies

And the garden is really ugly in the winter

Because it's so BROWN!

But come April and the garden comes alive . . . 

Even the fairies have been tidying up their garden.

They planted lettuce and pansies and creeping thyme!

My favorite white daffodil -- Thalia

I simply adore their bloom!

Pansies hold a special place in my heart 

Especially appropriate since one name for them is heart's ease

These are a new variety

a perennial variety

They are cold hardy to -30

But I'm wondering if our hot and dry summers will do them in.

It's a $40 experiment and I hope it works!

They are absolutely adorable!

I love the little grape hyacinths

And I've just ordered 50 more to plant this fall . . .

And am pondering if I should make that 100!

Violas in purple

They, like pansies are high on my list of spring flowers

And I spend too much money on them considering

that they last only until June when I have to replace with summer annuals!

The tulips this year are amazing!

I think there are tulips there that I've not seen before!

These come back every year unlike most hybrid tulips that are great for one season, passable for the second and then they're gone.

I rarely plant tulips because they are pricey and I think of them as one season of bloom!

But not these guys -- they've been here since the first time I planted bulbs!

But, however, since I'm not a garden cataloguer, I don't know what kind they are to reorder and plant!

Tulips and daffodils in the bed by the fence.

I'm thinking that I will turn this space over to all bulbs!

That would be amazing!

With the flowers in the spring garden, garden flowers once again grace my tables.

And I so love to have garden flowers indoors

Especially after a cold winter like this years.

 

The Crystal LAMPS of Linderhof

My last post was the prisms --

Now here are the lamps, sconces and my lone chandelier

 The living room --

Astral lamp on the table by the wing chair

(A true treasure)

the 1940s scones over the fireplace that were put up to "colonialize" Linderhof

And the wonderful candleholders with hurricane shades on the mantle

The dining room

A pair of Argand lamps on the mantle

And Fostoria double candlesticks dripping with prisms on the dining room table

The breakfast room

A pair of pressed glass candlesticks on the breakfast room sideboard

Rarely lit, but can be used on the breakfast room table if we decide to eat by candlelight

The guest room

One of the "twins" (a pair of old lamps that I got for the dining room mantle)

After numerous tries, it really is the perfect lamp for this room

The front bedroom

Prisms galore!

From the lamp on the dresser, to the chandelier, to the scones over the fireplace to the small Astral lamp by the chair by the fireplace

And we can't forget the other "twin" of the lamp that's beside the bed in the guest room

And, of course, what dressing table wouldn't be without a pair of lamps

These have prisms and hurricane shades!

The Crystals of Linderhof

I love crystals

Especially when they're hanging from a pretty lamp or sconce or candlestick

I love the color, too, when the sun shines directly on them.

It's a rainy day on the prairie

A good day to polish crystals!

(With a new method which seems to be the best I've tried so far!)

My crystals . . . from room to room

An Astral lamp with long prisms in the living room

 The scones over the living room  fireplace -- not original to the house but a 1946 addition

when the house was "colonialized"

Hurricane candle holders on the living room mantle -- crystal themselves with long plain prisms

A souvenir of a trip to Wisconsin

One of a pair of argand lamps on the dining room fireplace

They're plain prisms but rather short ones!

One of a pair of Fostoria double candleholders

Usually they take pride of place on the dining room table

A simple pair of pressed glass candleholders on the sideboard in the breakfast room

I'm sure the type of lamp has a name but I don't know what it is

but the prisms are fairly long and fairly plain

One of a pair that got separated at birth -- this one resides in the guest room --

it's twin in the front bedroom

A lamp from Buffalo, New York (and it has a much longer story)

that sheds light on the chest in the front bedroom

The other twin

In the front bedroom for nighttime reading

A smaller astral lamp with cut glass prism on a little table (from friend Sally)

in the front bedroom by the reading chair

A set of sconces that match the ones in the living room -- above the front bedroom fireplace

 

Every girl needs some light shed on her dressing table.    These prisms are on the pair of lamps that light up the dressing table.

And the only chandelier that has prisms.    In the front bedroom.

Prism cleaning is no fun!

I've dried the drip stuff but found that it left little dirty drips at the ends of the prisms.

It's a pain to take off each prism, wash in a sudsy Dawn bath, rinse, dry and put back on

But that's really the best method.

Which is why prism washing is a once a year affair!

But then I bought some Dawn Power Wash

I love it for certain things.

Today, I got the brilliant idea that it might be a great prism cleaner.

IT IS!!!!

Spray the prism (on the lamp or sconce), wipe the Dawn off with a wet cloth and follow up with a dry one.

They are sparkling and would be even more so if there was sunlight shining in today!

One Chicken Equals Many Meals

I'm not into rotisserie chicken

It's much easier and cheaper to get a whole bird and roast it yourself!

And whole it's roasting the whole house smells wonderful!!!!

For Sunday Lunch this week, I bought a whole chicken

A nice plump bird, it was

And I roasted it -- I'm of the school of low and slow

It took about 3 hours and perhaps it's not roasting but rather baking

But I still call it a "roast chicken"!

And while it's baking, the whole house smells amazing!

SUNDAY Lunch was Roast Chicken

Served with potatoes, whole small onions and carrots roasted with the chicken

MONDAY Dinner was Chicken Pot Pie

A favorite of both Jim and I . . . . 

And the pot pie provided Tuesday and Wednesday Lunch!

TUESDAY Dinner was "Hen" Soup

The bones were simmered slowly along with Sunday's leftover vegetables and gravy

This broth was strained and any meat was put back in the broth

For dinner, I added potatoes, carrots and onion and simmer till all was tender.

I garnished with parsley

It made a great dinner last night

And will make a great Thursday lunch

WEDNESDAY Dinner will be curried chicken salad

The breast made into chicken salad with Thea addition of celery and nuts and mayonnaise and curry powder.     The breast will be just enough for dinner for two tonight!

Tomorrow lunch will be the last bowls of soup.

Not bad for a $6 investment!