Our Family Tree & Petrified Wood

My hubby came across these pieces and

more while cleaning out the garage and he said "this would be a great subject for your blog". So here it is...hope you enjoy and leave me some comments.

Also, do you LOVE this hat or what?
Well...........I thought this was a clever title for my blog and the people in this photo are his grandparents and his grandmother was the one responsible for collecting all these pieces of petrified wood. She was named the "rock hound" by a cousin.....she really collected rocks for her jewelry making projects...I have a couple of the rings that she made and will dig them out and show them at another time.
From the stories I've read about her, she was quite a character.!
FYI....I have not enhanced any of the colors at all!

This piece has a lot of glittery spots....I believe it is called phyrite or "fools gold" It is 9" wide and 5" tall and weighs 9 lbs.

You can really see the wood striations in this piece.....it is about 9" long and 5" tall and weighs 10 lbs.

This piece is about 5" wide and 4" tall and weighs 8 lbs.

I discovered that this piece makes a great display for some of my smaller etsy items.

How I decided to display some of the smaller rocks in our home.

Another Gorgeous Treasury

Here is a Fanciful & Feminine Treasury complied by Southernladysvintage.etsy.com.....my black beaded evening bag is included in this fabulous treasury.
Please take a look at all the great shops represented here.

Four Fabulous Treasuries

I've been so honored this weekend to be featured in four treasuries put together by my team mates on etsy.....Cottage Style Street Team.

Please stop by and check out all these fabulous shops.

This wonderful treasury was put together by Inspiration Cottage...my baby beanie is included in this treasury

This beautiful treasury was put together by Bailiwick Design Studio...my butterfly tags are in this treasury

This is a Treasury compiled by Bramble and Vine...my vintage pocket watch is included here

This lovely Treasury was compiled by Cottage in the Sun...my mohair bear is in this treasury

Did I Tell You I Loved Seashells

Of course, I may have mentioned it a few times that I LOVED seashells.....we collect them wherever we go. Some of the filler shells that you see on the bottom of some of the jars we picked up in Alaska along the seashore, others were collected by my grandchildren because they know I love shells so much, others I picked up in South Florida walking on the beach with my hubby. Most of the large conch shells we purchased when we were in the Bahamas and in the Caribbean and some were gifts from family members who were traveling in the Caribbean.

As you can see, I keep most of my shells in apothecary jars so that I don't have to dust them individually......the shells in the trays are more convenient to move and to dust under and around and of course, I love the shabby chic and vintage looking trays.

Simple Pleasures

Here are a few shots of some of the bird houses I collect. I love chippy painted and rustic looking things as they seem to go along with my passion for all things vintage. Hope you enjoy!






Now for a refreshing glass of perfectly brewed sun tea.......refreshing!

Another Etsy Treasury

This Etsy Treasury was compiled by Creeplings.etsy.com from the Etsy's Dark Side Street Team. Thanks, Rebecca.
My vintage pocket watch is included in this whimsical treasury.

An Etsy Treasury

Here is a Treasury from my Etsy team member Brambleandvine.etsy.com------the antique pocket watch is listed in my etsy shop. All the other shops are from our etsy team "Cottage Style Street Team".

The Passmore Cabin

Okay, so I'm totally involved in my family's genealogy---I've always been interested in history and so the genealogy part just seemed to evolve from that.

Our son talked us into purchasing a PC about 11 years ago and kept telling me it was easy to use----I wasn't interested until he said "Mom, you can do your ancestry stuff on the computer". Up until then, I didn't even know how to turn it on.

To make a very long story short, I got on a website that was all about ancestry and away I went. I did have some of my hubby's family info from his uncle who was the keeper of the family history at that time. I also had old photos and some info on the maternal side of my hubby's family.

I put in my hubby's maternal grandmother's name and holy cow!!!!! I couldn't believe all the info and all the links to other family trees that came up. I was so excited that I called my husband at work to tell him the news. He, of course, was rather uninterested about it and just said "Oh, honey that great" with a definite lack of enthusiasm.

Well, that didn't discourage me and I kept on working on it daily and building his tree and still am constantly working on the tree and putting info together for other members of the family.

As a part of the information, I found an historical landmark that was a log cabin built by my husband's maternal 4th great grandfather and that had been restored by the local historical society.

I contacted the historical society and we made arrangements to get a tour of the log cabin when we got into the area. We were going to visit my aunt a few states away and so decided to go to Ohio first and check out the cabin and the local ancient cemetery where many of the family were buried.

Here are some photos of the cabin and the cemetery.

The Historical Society placed the cabin in the same direction that is was built originally because the wood weathered according to it's original direction. The outside visible wood is all original as is the glass in the windows and most of the floor boards. The outside wooden shutters have gun holes in case of an Indian attack. Both the front and back doors were replaced with doors of the same vintage. The roof is all new but represents how the original roof might have looked. The ceiling beams are all from the original cabin.

The historical society tried to replicate how the cabin looked originally.

The local street named after the Passmores, who were quite prominent in the area.

This is the local Historical Cemetery where 5 of our family members are buried, including the builder of the log cabin, Henry Passmore Sr. and his wife Martha.

Christmas in July from the etsy Cottage Style Street Team

http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=all&search_query=Christmas+Cssteam&order=date_desc&ship_to=

More of my Orchids

Some years ago on vacation in Maui, I fell in love with these phalaenopsis orchids. I bought a few and took them home, but they didn't do well in San Diego---not nearly enough humidity.
Then we went to an orchid show here and purchased another couple of plants----these plants do better here because they were raised here.
These are some of the orchids blooming today.

The Las Vegas Sky

Here are some photos from our long 4th of July weekend that we spent in Las Vegas visiting family. It was quite hot but enjoyable for me as I like sunny and warm weather.
This is my first attempt at photographing fireworks!