Altar

It's ever changing reflections of items that are near and dear to me. Mostly of cats. The fisherman was something my dad had.. It used to be that he smoked when you put these tiny cigarettes in his mouth.. he could even blow smoke rings.  I have never been a smoker, but I loved to see the little guy light up. Of course the cigs are long gone.  The rock is something I got from a family friend  when I was a girl. You can't see it but there is a flower painted on and then varnished.

Hooligan

Cheese =  Semi Soft  with crow spreader= Will get back with more details.

This cheese is  Cato Corner Farm is a small family farm in Colchester, Connecticut, where the mother-son team of Elizabeth and Mark raises 40 free-range Jersey cows without the use of hormones or subtherapeutic antibiotics. 

  Hooligan
AWARD WINNER! Hooligan is our signature "stinky" cheese that many food lovers consider to be our best variety. Hooligan was awarded the top prize in the Outstanding Dairy category from Gallo Family Vineyards Gold Medal Awards (April 2006), and it was selected by both Saveur magazine and Slow Food USA as one of the top American cheeses. Made in 1.5 lb wheels, Hooligan is a ripe washed-rind cheese with a soft creamy interior and a gorgeous orange rind. Hooligans are bathed twice a week in brine to encourage the growth of pungent, surface-ripening bacteria. The Hooligan melts beautifully for a fabulously stinky toasted cheese (a bit like raclette). Sold whole in small wheels with basket lines on the rind. Aged 2 months

I also triedWestcombe Cheddar

The Bird in my apple tree - by Alice

The Bird in my apple tree by Alice

There was a bird in my apple tree
All day long
And it's the funniest thing to me
It did not sing a song.

It sat there in the sunshine
In the tree that called mine
It didn't even begin to sing
It didn't move or anything

I went to bed on that dark night
I went upstairs by candlelight
I  wondered what it could be
For such things as that always..


Hmmm this is where it ends.. The poems are quite bad  that is why I love them.

Found nature

On my walk by the bay I found these things- the large round leaves are a sea grape tree, you can eat the fruit. People would write on them.  The small ones are from the live oak tree.  The medium one is from the Buddha tree ( will explain more later)  I found the stone- and not sure what tree the nut was from.

Below is an old notebook I found at a thrift shop called Alice Nammsen English notes- A book of poems by Alice.. I am not sure what year she wrote her poems-The pages are old and musty.  On the first page she put a newspaper clipping of a hippo.

I will share some Alice poems soon...

Art in Bradenton

Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.'

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 

'When we approach with reverence, great things decide to approach us. Our real life comes to the surface and it's light awakens the concealed beauty in things. When we walk on the earth with reverence, beauty will decide to trust us. The rushed heart lacks the gentleness and patience to enter that embrace.

~ John O'Donohue ~



These are some thing I saw at Riverwalk- I am not sure who the artists are, If I find out I will let you know. 

Cards !

Some cards  for someone  Let me know if anyone would like one.

Flying Fish

 Flying Fish

 

My mom ( Of Blessed Memory)  loved fish both as decor and to eat so whenever I see fish I think of her.

Save a little post office in VT

You can save a sweet little post office and a job by sending a postcard.

For more information:
Save A Post Office



Check out the free range chickens too :)

Though it is not the smallest P.O. in the USA - that distinction is 
The P.O. in Ochopee Florida- More info here Ochopee Post Office

mail from me

These are 3 note cards I bought because I knew someone would love them- Here's the deal I will send one to anyone who wants one- Just send your address to my e-mail blumacheese @ yahoo.com Please put "Mail from me" in the subject line. Or you can post your e-mail ( or u2u me if you are a postcrosser- I am Lori there)  You can have them sent unused to be used by you or with my writing on them.

Malaysia Mail

Ni-San sent  vintage stamps, Cat card with Kuala Lumpur stamp week postmarks, A llama card from Peru written to someone in Germany - She always makes me smile with her envelopes -http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/8/30/nation/11934806&sec=nation

 From Nurul - 2 stamps from the Malaysian Unity Serieshttp://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/8/30/nation/11934806&sec=nation    and from Aileen   Traditional livelihood stamp featuring a fortune teller and an Elephant stamp.  Below is her artwork - a sweet snow person !

Malaysia

Simple things

A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.  ~Doug Larson

Camera love

I have always loved film photography.  This is my favorite book about the art, written by Jan Phillips a former nun http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/260212.God_Is_at_Eye_Level

“For those of us bent on self-discovery and the revelation of our own inward journeys, I can think of few better tools than a camera and film.  For in that process of looking out to reveal our inner selves, we are on the edge of both, on that thin curved line between yin and yang, blending the known with the greater unknown.”  Jan Phillips

Russian leaves and old cards :)

   Alina from Chelyabinsk Russia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk sent me a wonderful envelope filled with leaves from her area and vintage cards last November-she said the leaves were oak, rhamnus, frangula, birch.  I also loved besides the postcards, the little vintage memo paper.