Mosaic Monday: A Few Old Photos

Here are a few vintage photos from my collection for Mosaic Monday.

 (Click on any photo to enlarge)

 These are old family photos

I love these little children photos from my archives

Thank you for spending a bit of your time with me today.

Your comments are always appreciated!

Mary is having a Mosaic Monday party...please join her at Little Red House.

Mosaic Monday: Just Another Day at the Beach

Last week our son and DIL rented a house at Newport Beach for the week and we joined them for 2 days...here are some of the photos I took...

 (Click on any photos to enlarge...you'll be amazed!)

 I've possibly seen star fish in a marine world type setting, but not in their natural habitat

 These guys don't look like star fish to me

 I've never seen this color of star fish either

Okay, so taking a photo on top of a yellow sand bucket isn't exactly photographic genius...lol

Lots of mollusks right where we found the star fish

I must tell you that while taking these photos, I was still wearing my jean shorts and a blouse because it was cloudy and a bit chilly for me...I stepped backwards to avoid getting hit by a wave and stepped into a huge hole and fell down on my backside...not a pretty sight!

Mr AVO said "Oh, that was the hole I told the kids to avoid"...well, you get my train of thought here I'm sure!!!  And of course, there were plenty of spectators watching the entire episode.

The great part of this was that I SAVED my camera from getting wet!!!

Oh, and a disclaimer here...NO star fish were injured in the taking of these photos!

The kids took those 2 on the bucket back to where they found them...hopefully no worse for the wear.

Thanks for the visit today...your comments are always appreciated.

I'm joining Mary's fun Mosaic Monday party today...please give her a visit at Little Red House

Show & Tell Friday: The Amazing Hummingbird

After several attempts to lure some hummingbirds to our yard, we finally hit the jackpot!

Mr AVO read an article about these lovely creatures online and decided to make his own 

sugar water for our feeders.  

On the first attempt, the ants got into the mixture so quickly, they clogged up the entire feeder.  We were reluctant to use any chemicals around these little guys as it would be toxic for them.  He sprayed the fence post with ant spray and soaked the bottom of it where they would start their trek upward and then waited a day or so for the chemicals to dissipate.

This is an amazing shot for me...couldn't believe I got it.

Those tiny little feet are used only for perching...not for walking.

I know that the feeder doesn't make for a great shot but wanted to show him up close

Well, now that these little creatures have found the sugar water, they pretty much ignore the flowers we planted to attract them!!!

They are coming in droves...hubby says that they must have alerted all the hummingbirds in our area.  One would think by looking at them that they would be delicate little things...they swoop and swerve and knock each other off the feeders and squawk the entire time...I never realized that they were such noisy little guys.  If I look out in the early AM, I sometimes see as many as 12-15 of them flying and squawking and feeding.

I've also read that our birds here on the west coast come from Mexico City...they are migratory.  The round trip is about 6,000 miles...amazing!  Also read that they have the largest brain for their size in the bird world.

Thank you for visiting with me today and I hope you enjoyed yourself.

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here.

I'm joining Cindy's lovely Show &Tell party today...please take a peek at all the other posts over at My Romantic Home.

Mosaic Monday: Birthday Flowers & Blueberry Buckle

Last week I celebrated a big birthday and we went to the Palm Desert area to spend the day.  

The next day we spent at Newport Beach in a house that my son and DIL rented for the week.

We have been having a VERY cool summer so I wanted to visit the desert for some warmth and the beach house was great too except for the overcast mornings.

The orchids are  flowers I received from Mr AVO...I like to receive plants as they last much longer than a bouquet and of course, I'm partial to orchids.

 I also decided to bake a blueberry buckle as my birthday cake and here is the result...

This buckle came out just great...I meant to cut and photograph it artfully, but it got eaten before I had a chance to do so.

If you are interested in the recipe, you can find it here...

I would be interested in knowing if you tried this recipe and how you like it.

Please drop by Mary's Little Red House to view all the other participants in this Mosaic Monday party.

Thank you for visiting...your comments make me smile.

Show & Tell Friday: Flea Market Treasures

Okay, I know how most of us love a great antique flea market, estate sales and even garage sales, so I thought I would show a few of the items we've picked up at these places.

Lots of old watches and watch parts here

A closer look at these vintage pieces

Who ever though that grungy old silver plated spoons could be a treasure?

Some rusty old French keys

And if you're thinking that maybe just MAYBE some of these pieces will show up in my etsy shop.....you would be absolutely right...it all depends on which items I can bear to part with.

Thanks for joining me for a little while today and please be sure to hop on over to Cindy's My Romantic Home for all the other Show &Tell loveliness!

Your comments make me smile.

Mosaic Monday: Covered Bridges

With my great interest in genealogy and history I've also come to love all the old covered bridges that can still be seen, particularly on the east coast where we visited a few months back.

Hope you enjoy a look at these lovely old pieces of history.

(click on any of the mosaic to enlarge)

Thanks for stopping by.....your comments are always greatly appreciated.

Please visit Mary over at Little Red House for lots more fun mosaics! 

Mosaic Monday: Southold, NY

I hope that all of you my wonderful blog readers out there don't get too tired of all the history and genealogy that I've been posting lately.

This is again from our recent trip to the east coast...

Old Burying Ground of 1st Presbyterian Church in Southold, NY.

(click on any photo to enlarge)

 This church was organized in 1640 and the burial grounds are kept in nice condition

This is a monument to the founders of Southold, NY and Mr AVO's 10th great grandfather, Philemon Dickerson and his son, Peter and grandson, Thomas are all named on the monument...

They are all my hubby's direct ancestors

Philemon Dickerson arrived in this country in 1637 aboard the ship "Mary Anne"

There are headstones here for 9 of hubby's ancestors.

I was really taken with this beautiful little church

A few different views on the burial ground

This is the area where the oldest stones are located

and close to the monument

When we made this trip we didn't realize the length of Long Island, NY....120 miles

This Church and burial grounds are almost to the tip of the island.

Thanks for stopping by today for Mosaic Monday and please don't forget to pop over to 

Mary's Little Red House for more party fun.

Your comments are wonderful!

Show & Tell Friday: Vintage Bottles Anyone?

Like many of us reading these blogs, I am a collector of lots of different vintage items..today I'd like to show you a small part of my vintage bottle collection.

(click on any photo to enlarge)

Love this beautiful aqua color....it reminds me of the Mediterannean and the ocean off the south Florida coast.

I've decorated a few of these bottles and they can be seen in my etsy shop.

Of all the bottles shown above beside the ones I've decorated and the vintage sea shell bottles, these are my favorites.

You might recognize the bottle on the right as I've used it for flowers cut from my garden

Thanks for coming on over to visit today...I always appreciate the visit and you kind comments.

Please visit Cindy over at My Romantic Home to view lots more of this lovely party.

Mosaic Monday: Historic Huguenot Street

Another of our outings on our recent trip to the east coast was to visit a small town located in Ulster County, Hudson Valley, New York....the historic town of New Paltz.

(Click on any photo to enlarge)
 

Huguenot Street, is a National Historic Landmark and the site of a collection of Colonial and early period stone houses owned and operated as historic house museums by the Huguenot Historical Society of New Paltz, NY.

The Dubois House shown above was built in 1705 and was originally a fort....there are gun port holes at the end which you can see in the middle photo of the mosaic.

 

This is the Jean Hasbrouck house built in 1712... one of the old stone houses we toured....and some of the period furnishings inside.

 

 A shot of the downtown town area of New Paltz...Huguenot Street is off to the right

  

This village of  New Paltz was founded 1677 by 12 French Huguenot (protestant) families who fled political and religious persecution in Northern France.  

Louis DuBois, Mr. AVO's  10th great grandfather, settled in Kingston and was caught up in the Esopus Indian wars with the Dutch in 1663.  The Esopus Indians captured women and children as hostages and took them off to the south.  Louis' wife and 3 children were among those taken hostage.

Louis joined a party of the Dutch who were out to rescue the captives and it was then that Louis saw the area that is now New Paltz that he determined to establish a Huguenot settlement on that land.

Louis became the acknowledged leader  of the Huguenots and headed the party in the negotiations with the Esopus Indians for the purchase of the land.  The DuBois family made up one fourth of the patentees as 2 of his sons were among those purchasing this land.

 Monument at the entrance to Huguenot Street.

Louis DuBois' name at the top of the list of patentees and his sons are farther down on the list.

Louis' great grand daughter Elizabeth Van Meter Shepherd was the wife of the founder of Shepherdstown that I posted about here.

Please join Mary's wonderful Mosaic Monday party at Little Red House and see more interesting posts.

I always appreciate you spending a bit of your time with me and anticipate your lovely comments.

It's a Cloche Party!

Well, it's time again for another cloche party over at Marty's A Stroll Through Life.

I always look forward to these parties as so many bloggers have so many interesting and unusual ideas.

Please enjoy!

I only own 2 "real" cloches so I'm showing a few different ideas with them

This vignette is sitting in my living room all the time

I love the red transfer ware plate with this one

As you can see, this is a summer arrangement

 More of my summer arrangements

 I keep seashells in jars all year around because I love them so much

One of my favorites as I love the vintage pocket watches

 I appreciate you spending some time with me today...thanks in advance for your kind comments.

I'm also linking with Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday....
please visit all the wonderful bloggers at both these parties.

Have an enjoyable weekend.

Just wanted you to know that Blogger is giving me fits so I couldn't add a few photos that I wanted to and lost my patience!