Carole’s Country Store Blog

Today I am remembering my Uncle Robert. A bright and handsome young man with everything to live for. He was only 22, purchase and just married when he was drafted into the Navy during World War 2. A year later his ship was hit with a torpedo. He was killed and his body was never recovered.

My dad never talked that much about Robert, illness but when I asked about him,  I could still see the sadness in his eyes.

I honor Robert  each Memorial Day by displaying his photo in my home. Sometimes when I look at it,  I  get a lump in my throat, and I always get tears in my eyes.

Let’s not ever forget our brave men and woman who risk their lives every day so that we can enjoy the freedoms we most times take for granted.

Enjoy this Memorial Day with your family and friends. Be safe.

Carole

I have had such a hard time this morning downloading my photos into this post. The internet was so slow.I hope you enjoy the photos.

The third baby bird finally made his debut. I can’t believe how quickly they grow and get their feathers. I love watching their progress. I have never been lucky enough to be able to look directly into a nest.

Can you believe how quickly their feathers grow?

Soon they’ll be ready to fly away. I just hope old Mr. Cat is not roaming around.

HAPPY DAY

Carole

I want to welcome today a wonderful new artisan to my American Artisan Store. Her name is Kristi Baker. Kristi lives in the northern part of Virginia, hospital and was raised in Mississippi. Yes, view she is a Southern Belle. Kristi has always been a lover of  early books, and writes in her journal every day. Her love of early books was her inspiration for making these small journals, using old leather, giving them an early look.

They are the perfect size for your purse or pocket. Teenagers love them too, as well as younger children. Each little book has been hand sewn using waxed linen, and each page is hand torn to give it a rustic look. There is a total of seven “signatures”, or sections. Each signature has 8 pages, or 16 if counting both sides. It just a unique way to jot down important information while on the go. Look for them in my American Artisan Store this week!

WELCOME KRISTI!

HAPPY DAY

Carole

Remember the early Amish ledger pages with the folk art animals I offered for sale on my website?  The dealer I bought them from told me that he has a piece of the original ledger book’s cover somewhere. I asked him to let me know if he ever comes found it, nurse not really believing that he ever would. He did, drugstore and here it is, and it couldn’t be more wonderful.  The eagle drawing is amazing and the name Caleb Brown signature is so fabulous, not to mention the date 1816. There is a lot of writing on it, but it’s hard to make it out.

I have an early leather book that has a signature inside. The owner signed his name, and dated the book. He spelled the word book as bok. I’ll have to show you the book, it’s really neat.

This is the front of the ledger cover. It’s covered 18th century wallpaper. Isn’t it just fabulous!!

Hope you enjoyed seeing it.

HAPPY DAY

Carole

We had a few pretty bad storms last night. Buckets of rain poured  down. It’s foggy this morning. I can hear the fog horns in the distance, generic coming from the ships on the Delaware river. I love that sound, it just feels comforting. When I went outside to get the Sunday paper, I couldn’t resist stopping  by my little apple tree. I wanted to take a peak at the bird’s nest. To my surprise one of the eggs hatched overnight. That storm must have scared the dear little soul out of his shell! Is that en eyeball I see? Looks like another one is pecking it’s shell trying to make his entrance into the world.

A few hours later I went out again. #2 has hatched!

This Spring when I began working on my garden, healing I noticed a robin kept hanging around. Then I noticed she would fly out of my little apple tree.

She really gets upset when I’m out there working. I feel bad that I make her so nervous, malady but hey, viagra this is my garden and this soon to be momma, made a BIG mistake building her nest where she did. I can just bend over and peek right inside, and when I did, this is what I saw. What happened to her natural instincts? Why would she do that?

I have one or two cats that come into my yard. We also have raccoons. This is just too dangerous for baby birds to survive. I thought about taking the nest out of the tree, but I just couldn’t bring myself to so it, it seemed so cruel, but I just can’t bare to see anything happen to those baby birds. once they hatch. I don’t see how they can survive. I don’t want to come out some morning and see 3 little dead babies on my walkway. I don’t know what to do. I guess I’ll just have to let mother nature take it’s course. Who knows, maybe everything will be alright, but I’m not feeling good about it. A miracle is in order here.

Happy Day

Carole

I just received the new Summer issue of The Simple Life magazine today and will have it available in the store. shortly. It’s wonderful as always!! Gosh I love this magazine.

HAPPY DAY

Carole

Today I would like to welcome a new artisan to my American Artisan Store. Her name is Kim Klingaman. Kim lives in Zoar, treat Ohio, prescription with her husband and a variety of critters. Her exquisite penny table rugs caught my eye. I love finding new artisans, and I have to say I am pretty particular, I want to find art that is wonderful and appropriate for display in a country home. Kim has been making 100% wool penny rugs for over 5 years. Her work has been seen in Early American Life magazine. Her historical reproductions have become popular with collectors nationwide.

This is a triple stack penny rug, meaning it has three “pennies”, in graduated sizes, one on top of the other. The colors are muted shades of black, green, mustard and walnut. Each color is hand dyed on 100% recycled or new wool. So much work goes into these hand made table rugs, and the end result is a wonderful piece of American Folk art.

The appliqued chair pad below got it’s influence from Fraktur done by the Pennsylvania Germans, sometime referred to as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

Fraktur got is start in 1740 in southeast Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Germans used it to decorate personal family records, such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, and important documents, all done in ink pen and watercolors.

This close up shows Kim’s meticulous work. Kim lives in Zoar, Ohio, with her husband Tom, and several of her favorite critters. Be sure to check out more of her items in the American Artisan Store. I’m thrilled and honored to have her as a participating artist in my American Artisan Store.

WELCOME KIM!

I don’t know why this is so difficult for me to write about my mother this morning. Maybe it’s because I have been looking though photo albums, shop looking for photos to put in my Mother’s Day post. I have not had tears for a while, but this morning there are many.

I know I am so blessed to still have her, and it seems like only yesterday that we were talking on the phone. Some years seem to be missing though. Where did they all go? The dementia has taken most of her personality away. Her beautiful spirit has gone, but her love remains. I’ll miss not being able to have her at my house tomorrow, with all the family around the dinner table, so much has changed over the years. I miss preparing a Mother’s Day dinner for her, and for my mother-in-law too, who passed away 3 years ago from Alzheimer’s at the age of 88.

When you’re young you never think about not having your parents around. You take for granted that they’re just there, you can see them whenever you want. You can pick up the phone and give them a call whenever you feel like it.

I miss my mother’s beautiful spirit, her love of life. I miss the way she used to hug me, and how she would always say, “you’re my little, girl”, and I would always say, “you’re my little mommy”. She is so petite. I am much taller, taking after my dad’s side of the family.

I always appreciate hearing from those of you, asking how she is, and sharing your stories of your mother with me. She is still doing the best she can, bless her heart. She’s not ready to give up yet, she is something else, that mother of mine. There still seems to be some of that beautiful spirit left, and God willing, she’ll celebrate her 93rd birthday June 29th.

I can’t wait to see her tomorrow, to give her a big hug and say, “you’re my little mommy, Happy Mother’s Day. I love you”.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
Carole

I am hoping to get more yard work done today while the sun is still shining, sick but I wanted to tell you about my weekend of antiquing. This past Saturday, ampoule I went to a show in Maryland. I was a little disappointed that there weren’t more dealers this time but it was still a good show. I think the price of gas is keeping a lot of people home, and I have to admit when I fill my gas tank, $65., yikes, it takes a lot of the pleasure out of driving and searching for antiques. I have always enjoyed posting about my little jaunts through Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, searching for treasure, and I know how much my readers enjoyed hearing about it and seeing the photos. I would take. I still want to do that, I enjoy it so much and I will continue to find the best primitives I can to offer on my website.

My favorite find at the show, was this early hand carved spoon rack. Spoon racks like this are such treasures.

It is hand carved with the initials E G in the center. It was probably made by a husband for his wife. Each scallop along the back has a carved flower. Lots of small nails, making me think it could be 18th century. I have a collection of old presidents spoons that belonged to my parents. They look wonderful displayed this way. It’s so tempting to keep it.

One of my other favorite finds is this very early round bread board. I love the dry bleached surface. A knife came with it but the breadboard is much earlier then the knife. I think it looks wonderful displayed with stone fruit, but wouldn’t it be perfect to use as a cake plate or a great way to serve cheese and fruit.

Of course I couldn’t resist this huge very early rye basket, always a favorite and perfect in a country home. This one is yummy. Not perfect but so charming, and would fabulous on a large farm table.

Well, it’s getting late and I need to go buy some flower seeds and get to work in my garden. I hope the sun stays out.
Happy day everyone
Carole