Toy Train Mania.....

 

Toy trains are magical.  I brought my light booth out and gave all of my train engines a proper photograph. This train is a replica of the one that is in the first "Narnia" movie. The scene of the train taking the children away from the war torn bombed big city and into the beautiful countryside, It is a marvelous sight as it curves through the trees and over the bridges of an English countryside.  

This locomotives was included in a train set that was given to me and my late brother Dwight. Santa wrote on the box to be sure that there was no doubt that it belonged to the two of us. It was probably Christmas of 1957 and we played with it for years. 

My very first train that I received from Santa was this thin metal one.  It had a key to use to wind up the spring mechanism.  It was probably four years old then and I still remember that one winding of the engine only took it around the small circle track one time around. I have only two cars left with that set.  I don't remember what other cars that it might have had.

One Christmas my second to oldest brother, Rex, sent to my then older dad two train sets as a gift.  They were made to that smaller scale of models and came with many cars and two cabooses. Each set has a time difference in style as you can see one is an old locomotive and the other is the modern Santa Fe. My dad didn't play with them but he enjoyed seeing his two grandsons playing with them when they came to visit.

The antique engine came from a bucket of toys that sit right next to John and Iva's refrigerator and the wall.  The were an older couple we visited who were related to my Grandmother by marriage.  The history of it is unknown other than there were four boys. The youngest is still living at 90 years old. One of the sons who probably played with it was killed on the Normandy Beach during the invasion. I knew a librarian friend that said she had a whole set of this train set but this one is all that I have.  I painted it when I was in high school. 

My last train to share is this glass one. It is one that was sold in the 1930's to children.  It originally held small candy bits in its hollow body.  We were in my wife's farm home attic, which also had been her grandparents house and I discovered it.  I was walking around in a very trashed up attic and stepped on this and looked down seeing I was standing on it. I had a collection of them already from my mom so I knew exactly what I had. I didn't break anything by standing on it but it did have a broken part on the back side of the square cabin. 

I did take pictures of all of my coal cars and also the cabooses of all other the trains.  I won't share them for a while as this is too much.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Springing Up....

 The crocus always surprise me but they are here at early spring. They have to struggle through the creeping phlox foliage but the do poke through. 

The mini daffodils are also blooming.  They are small splashes of color but they do seem wonderful this time of the year. 

By the time one thinks about planting them the season has already started. I guess one should just grab the bulbs in spring when one sees them and plant them for the next year. 

I took many images of my toy train engines yesterday. They were just haphazard shots with bad lighting. This morning I trashed all of them and dug out my light box.  I did it right and was pleased with the results. I was going to start blogging them today but the crocus came to the front of the line. The light box put me back on track as a better photographer. 

We are warmer today at low 60's but the breeze makes it feel colder.  We look like spring but the afternoon clouds have moved in making it look gray. We didn't get a rain that changed anything but maybe the rains north of us will empty into our rivers. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Springing....

 The daffodils and tulips are shooting up now. It will be great to see some of the newly planted bulbs planted last fall. 

The iris are perking up also. These are ones that have been newly planted here so I will be curious to see if they will bloom this summer.

My smallest variety of daffodils are blooming now as well as my crocus.  I was surprised to see them but the timing is probably right.

The temperatures are cooler and the birds were busy at the feeders.  I refilled them this morning and they came.

I had to relive my framing skills to put together a frame job. My wife had a painting that was done by her late close friend and I wanted to get it framed. We ran a frame shop for 26 years in our home and it was nice to move away from the business. I did pull off the framing with my wife helping me with the assembling at the last. Maybe I will share a shot of it on the wall another day.  I am having trouble keeping up with the shooting of things for blogs these days. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Moody Monday with a Dash of Moisture.....

 

 Rain is such a rarity around here that I take photos of the wet deck. I don't think we got much but we did get something.

The shot through the screen wire shows the neighbor's downspout putting out some water.  If it rains north of us we will get the benefit of some water in the rivers. We at least won't have grass fires all over the state like we did yesterday. 

I changed out the display of colored glass vases yesterday for something different. Antique clear glass is the new thing for now.  I have been watching videos of people getting finds at garage sales and thrift shops.It inspired me to pull out some samples of what I have in storage. Family pieces as well as theings I have picked up at sales or auctions. 

It is cooler again with us having normal temperautures for early March. We had a very windy start with peoples garbage bins flying down the street or is some places down their hills behind their houses. One never know what you will find in you yard with two days of strong winds. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Life is a Journey.....Plan B.

 The name of the painting is "A Brave New Journey" that I painted when I first stopped being an art teacher. I have better photos of this but I was in a hurry to just snap this one from off the wall. Sometimes the less planned paintings can end up looking like they were very planned. Life can get to be that way too when you plan and some days it is best to cooperate with what is happening. 

 

 

So it is late at night and I changed my plans. It shows how artwork can be so misrepresented if you don't take a photo under proper lighting. Change of plans is the theme!

Flowers and Things....

 

The bouquet had a lot of different kinds of flowers in it.  The yellow roses are small ones ut have a good strong color.

 

 My wife's painting hangs in our sun room year round.  The painting reminds me of the wonderful iris blooms will be coming in four or five months.  That iris is one that blooms in the middle of the iris blooming season. 

My wife's dad would go to auctions near us on Saturday's.  He would find a box of many things from an estate and bid on it.  He would bid on it for just one item and then give the rest to us. In one of those boxes were five or six of these plates. It's pattern is called Indian Tree.  MYOTT, Fine Staffordshire Ware, Indian Tree ia written on the back. Some of these were made with a pattern on the outside rim and the plate was a different shape. I read that they were made in large quantities in the late 1800"s. through the 1940s. We were surprised to see the pattern of dishes in a house museum that we visited in Denver years ago. It was a similar pattern and said to be an everyday dish. We use ours often whenever we have Chinese food or sometime just because they are pretty. I am amused as to how the factory works blotted the glaze colors onto the flowers with out much artistic flare. 

My first experience of buying antique dishes started back in 1973. I had an old walnut antique table and was collecting old things of all kinds.  I was at an auction at a house in Coin, Iowa.  I spotted this box full of the family china.  I got it for six dollar and the pattern is call Mildred. A few years later I was at an antique store in Osceola, Iowa and found another batch of them that were in better shape.  Ironically, I ran across a site that is based on people who collect this dinnerware. The Love of Mildred is active with people sharing all of their finds at flea markets and such places. We don't use ours so much as we have acquired newer sets as the years go by. We have the Blue Willow dishes and a couple different patterns of Pfaitzgraff dishes. My wife also has her late mother's plates and sauces that we use often.  We rotate our patterns in relation to how we are feeling for the meal. 

We are having a warm 60's day today. It is nice to have sunshine and yet the wind does cool it off a bit. Thanks for stopping by today.

Birdhouse Follies...

 This birdhouse has become a permanent display item in the sun room.  It moves around on end tables or table. It is more sculpture/art for me and like to appreciate it for its great design. If I would turn it the opposite side has a different design.

 This is the other end view of the house.  It looks a little more like a Swiss alps chalet. In reality a birdhouse has only one opening but when you are being creative one just makes two different ends.

This one also is a piece that will never go outside.  It is in the basement and also is on display as art/sculpture. 

This outside sculpture is a restored cupola.  I had it on my garden shed at the old place and it was there so long that the base started to rot.  I built this in the winter inside our art studio and then put it up on the newly built garden shed at that time.  Before selling the place I took it down and brought it to the new place. Much rebuilding  it in my basement shop brought it back to be a garden piece. I was glad I didn't loose the shingles and roof so it was just left as it. 

Another spring report with this view of holly hocks coming up already. It took me a few years to get these to grow and it is a happy sight to see the leaves. Some rodents took out my entire crop of holly hocks one winter as they ate up all of the roots.

We are having warmer weather, 54°F., and will cool down to 35°F. in the night. We were out this morning but I worked inside all the rest of the day.  Worked on a framing job in the shop and I didn't have to go outside except for the mail box duty.  Thanks for stopping by today.