The 70s Called and They Want Their Décor Back : Thanksgiving Display
Hello! It's Thanksgiving here in Canada this weekend, so I put together a little display to represent an abundant harvest, using vintage, thrifted, handmade and new items.
In the video, I show you what I used and where things came from, and then I filmed as I placed all the items, to create the vignette. It wasn't intentional, but it kind of looks like decorating from the 70s. For some reason, my autumn decor often looks like something that was pulled together during that era, but I don't mind! I think it's the colour palette that gives it that look because only one, maybe two, pieces actually came from the 70s.
Dinner on the Patio with Friends : Vintage Tableware and a Pie to Write Home About
Hi. I hope you're doing well.
We had the pleasure of having our friends Niall and Leslie over for dinner on the Saturday of the Labour Day Weekend. Thanks to you-know-what we haven't had more than one person over at a time to eat in 2 years and 8 months, so it was fun to pull out the good dishes -- vintage Corelle, Pyrex and Oneida Community Cutlery -- all made at least 50 years ago.
The pattern on the dinner plates, platter and Pyrex refrigerator dish (which we used for serving) is "Spring Blossom", and on the dessert plates is "Butterfly Gold". The cutlery pattern is called "Shadow Rose" and I was given the set of them from Leslie herself, who received them from the estate of her friend and neighbour who had passed. I'm honoured to have them and glad to be able to serve Leslie with a lovely reminder of her friend.
These were set on the table clad in a thrifted tablecloth (from this thrifting trip) and cotton napkins.
The napkin rings are adorned with little tea and coffee pots, each one different. I have 8 of those, which I got as a gift to myself many moons ago, shortly after first getting my own home. There were so many more important and necessary things I needed at the time, but dang, I wanted those napkin rings. They were so cute! They came from a boutique and I was (supposed to be) only browsing. Anyway, now I'm glad I spent unwisely in my youth because they still make me happy today.
The wooden placemats are ones that Nick gave me for my birthday a few years ago.
An Interesting Walk in Toronto – Part 2 : Including a Market Within Shipping Containers
Hello again! Here is Part 2 of "An Interesting Walk in Toronto". Part 1 is found here.
In a nutshell, this approximately 45 minute walk begins at Bathurst Street and King Street West and ends back where you began, after taking you by many noteworthy Toronto sites, some brand new and some historic, along the way.
(I don't want to repeat myself with the whole intro here, so if you'd like to know more about where this walk takes you, please see Part 1.)
An Interesting Walk in Toronto – Part 1 : Including an Un-Mapped Path Near Fort York
Hello! In a nutshell, here is an interesting walk in Toronto, that begins at Bathurst Street and King Street West and ends back where you began. This is close to the TIFF Headquarters, worth mentioning as the festival begins tomorrow.
The walk takes about 45 minutes and has you travel through one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, over a newly built award winning bridge, along a mystery path surrounded by nature, over another bridge, this one historic and one of Toronto's oldest, through an innovative and fun marketplace literally made up of shipping containers, and past a historic building that used to be where originally all of the city's caskets were built but which is now being incorporated into a new condo development.
From King Street West, you go south on Bathurst Street to Wellington Street, where you turn right (westward). Walk along that until you hit the path that goes to the bridge, on your left hand side, past a green field/park. Turn left (southward) and take the path across the bridges. Go down the stairs and then go behind/under them, where you’ll find the entrance for the “Little Known” path, which will head eastward (toward the CN Tower).
Part of the walk is over ground that would be mucky when wet, with some uneven terrain, so, think about what shoes to wear. Also, I don't believe there are lights along the un-mapped part, so you'd only want to go during daylight.
Thrift Store Finds and a Visit With a Friend
Hi! We took a daytime drive to the countryside last week, stopping in Orangeville where I went to The Salvation Army Thrift Store and found a few treasures.
Also, I recently picked up a grab bag chock full of stationery at the Toronto Value Village recently. All I could see was what was on the top of the stack and a bunch of vintage looking envelopes, but, aside from that, I had no idea what the bag contained. For fun, I saved it to open in a video, so viewers saw what was inside at the same time that I did.
The main reason we went north was to go to some farm stands and pick up freshly picked produce for my mister, Nick, to can and to freeze. We now have a bunch of tidy jars of tomatoes on a shelf and some corn niblets in the freezer.
On the way up and then back down again, we passed through the charming town of Orangeville. We used to have family living there, so had been quite a few times before, but they've moved away now, so we were on our own. One of those relatives showed me The Salvation Army Thrift Store a few years ago, where I found one of my favourite thrifting finds ever (the acorn shaped cookie jar in this post), so I was excited to go again.
I found four nice items, that are discussed in this short Youtube video, where you'll also see me opening the mystery bag of vintage stationery. I hope you'll watch it!
