Bountiful Birds

When I lived in the country, I often saw numerous wild turkeys.  They would stroll by the window with their offspring (chicks?) and be essentially unfazed by the other critters - horses, cats.  In fact, I'm sure they came by often because of the cornfield behind the house and would pick through the droppings in the horse paddock, looking for undigested remnants of corn in the sweet feed in the horses' grain mix.  I also think one of the "guest" horses, a dear, half-blind, chestnut gelding that I'd known for years, was quite intrigued by, and enamored of, the turkeys.  So much so, that one day, when the snow had weakened the already questionable board fence, he leaned over it, straining, I'm sure, to see the turkeys that were wandering nearby, that the rail dropped on one end, leaving just enough from for him (and my own horse - his accomplice) to literally step out of the paddock and go for a bit of a jaunt.  Of course, they chose that moment because I had just left for the post office and wasn't there to interrupt their hiatus from confinement.  I blame the turkeys, but I still liked them.

I love scenic turkey images, especially vintage ones, perhaps because they remind me of that idyllic life on the farm (when I wasn't chasing after errant equines)...like this cheerful holiday post card I picked up on eBay a few years back. 

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Bye Bye, Birdies

I sold the last of my turkey plates today.  I bought eight plates and a large matching platter at a country auction about 10 years ago, I think.  I used them on a few Thanksgivings, but, over time, I lost my fondness for them.  They were made in Japan and probably dated from the 1940s or 50s.  The pattern, by a maker known as L & M, is called Country Fair.  They have a kind of retro, rustic holiday charm about them.

But my taste really leans toward the more traditional decorative wares of England, with finer details and a more elegant, less casual appeal.

So I've sold the last of the plates on eBay, along with the platter and they're off to points across the USA - to Colorado and California, Ohio and Oklahoma - to grace other Thanksgiving and holiday tables.

They were fun while I had them, but I'll use the proceeds to purchase plates that I really love...maybe of different patterns, but I think there will be turkeys on all of them.

More Falling Leaves...

And more Monday morning embarrassment from this corner of the globe.  I'm just flat out busy, so I regret the lack of time to add pithy comments or interesting insights into the state of the universe, or at least my backyard.  So, since I haven't got much else to share today, I thought I'd provide just that - more from my literal backyard.  One of the two great maple trees in the back yard seemed to think it was supposed to be the last hold-out of the fall, clinging desperately, and belatedly to its bright yellow (turned from green) leaves.  They finally have started to give up the ghost over the past week, and now there are more on the ground than on the tree, but I've captured a bit of their evolution, so here's a view of the changing scene.  What was a beautiful golden canopy over the yard is now a yellow carpet on the ground...sigh.

Playing Catch-Up

Now I understand how other bloggers feel when they've missed many days of posting!  (I also sympathize with the followers of selected blogs - I know I'm always eager to read the latest posts of those blogs I enjoy, as well.)  I have a few excuses, one not so fun (being under the weather for a bit), and one much more fun (traveling), but I promise I'll play catch-up as much as I can over the next few weeks, but with one caveat. 

I have much work to do here at home that has been delayed because of the aforementioned reasons, so I have to jump-start the tasks at hand before much more time passes.  Perhaps I'll post some photos of befores and afters, since the time has come to spruce up the city home and make it a shing jewel of modern design.  We'll see if I can pull it off with little time and even less money!

In the meantime, I've continued with my homage to autumn - added another tune to the playlist, removed a couple of others, but I'll be working on that in the weeks ahead, too.  And, to entertain you visually, here are a few more autumnal images taken in the 'hood over the past week or two.

Thanks for hanging in...I'll try to make it worth your while for sticking around!

The falling leaves drift by my window...

Autumn leaves, a wonderful ballad originally written in 1945 by two Frenchmen, Joseph Kosma (music) and Jacques Prevert (lyrics), with English lyrics by the great Johnny Mercer.  My neighborhood is now a sea of golden, orange and russet leaves.  On my way home from errands this afternoon, I spotted this stand of maples that I pass routinely, but today they were so striking in their autumn attire, all golden with dark trunks soaked from the day's rains.

The falling leaves drift by my window,

The autumn leaves of red and gold.

I see your lips, the summer kisses,

The sun-burned hands I used to hold.

Since you went away, the days grow long

And soon I'll hear old winter's song,

But I'll miss you most of all, my darling

When autumn leaves start to fall.

My little neighborhood street kind of looks like a boulevard in Paris, doesn't it?  I love autumn.

A Chill in the Air

Autumn has surely arrived - the colors on the trees are brilliant - and the weather has been unseasonably cold.  It's gorgeous, but I've paid the price for the weather and the season, I fear.  I came down with a typical cold myself, so I've been out of commission, I'm afraid, or I'd have done an autumn tablescape for Tablescape Thursday, and tried to write a bit about some other things.  Instead, it's mostly been five days of sneezing, sniffling, aches, coughing, and all that nasty stuff.  I promise I'll get back to posting more often as soon as I catch up on life in and around the house, but in the meantime, just enjoy the music I added to the blog a week or two ago.  It's some of my favorite music, musicians, and composers.  In fact, I think I'll pour myself a little glass of sherry and have a sip while I enjoy the sounds, too. 

Cheers!

Tally Ho! Tablescape

Taking a cue from yesterday's post about my trip to Kansas and chance encounter with a majestic grey horse in the heart of the hunt countryside, I pulled a few things together to mark the start of autumn with an equestrian themed tablescape for Tablescape Thursday (see Susan's Between Naps on the Porch - linked here and also found in my list of links - for more of the Tablescape Thursday tradition she started, along with links to lots more that other bloggers have submitted this week).

I've pulled together a red and black buffalo plaid placemat, which always makes me think "hunting," over a red/black woven mat (sources unknown) and a Royal Worcester bone china English teacup and saucer with horses and hounds and inscribed on the inside of the cup with "To A Very Important Person." I found it several years ago at a horse event trade fair from a Vermont antique dealer, I think.  It's always fun to celebrate and honor a special dinner guest by serving them with this unique teacup.

 

To the left of the cup is a lovely crimson cotton napkin with a contrasting beige cotton binding from Martha Stewart Everyday for K-Mart that I picked up at a tag sale (!).  Holding the napkin is the piece I initially thought of when envisioning this tablescape vignette.  (I know it's not quite a full-blown tablescape, but I'm gradually working my way up to that, while trying to do something applicable while squeezing in myriad other demands on my time.)  It's a bone china foxhunter napkin holder, one of a set of four greys and four bays (brown) horses, each with a red-coated rider, by RPA (Phillipines).  I know I mail-ordered them some years ago, but I can't recall who the retailer was - probably one of the equestrian gift shops in the mid-South.  These rings are such fun and always inspire comments at dinner parties when I set the table with them.

Beyond the napkin holder is a crystal decanter that I inherited from an aunt who also was an avid horsewoman.  The decanter label, a wonderful little Coalport bone china piece made in England and purchased from Thomas Goode & Company in London, indicates the vessel is filled with sherry, so I think of this setting as an afternoon tea - a bit of tea to warm weary bones and a sip of sherry to warm the soul and ease the transition to evening as the sun sets on a long day of riding to hounds in pursuit of "reynard" (the wily fox).  To the right of the teacup is a beautiful etched sherry glass, one of my grandmother's glasses.  She was the original horsewoman in the family, having ridden in Ireland as a child - the tradition continues!

The small, wrought iron candle holders were a housewarming gift many years ago and the fanciful hunting print with a charming little verse shown in the right corner used to hang in my bathroom (!) when I lived in the country.  (It already had some water damage when I bought it, so I had it framed and matted to mask the damage and withstand the intrusion of moisture.)  Fortunately, it didn't suffer from the exposure and it's now out of the bath and awaiting a decision on where to re-hang it.

 

The verse reads:

See the hounds begin to feather:

There's a touch by all that's good!

Hark! they're getting fast together;

Now they thunder down the wood.

Leap oe'r the brook; don't stay to look!

Ride at the gate; you'll be too late.

Cheers!  And tally ho!