I've been tagged

I was tagged by knittingchick. The rules state I’m to list 6 (or 7?) quirky facts about myself. I did that once before and can’t think of 6 (or7?) new things to say, so instead I’m going to list 6 (or7) quirky things I collect. So here they are in random order.

1) Polish pottery. This is the traditional Bolesławiec pottery made in Silesia, southern Poland. The factory is not far from Wrocław, which I have visited several times, but I’ve never been to the factory. It’s abut 50 miles outside the town, I think. I used to buy the mugs one or two at a time from the department store on the square in Wrocław. The last time I was there, they didn't have much, but they are becoming popular in this country. The thing is now they are much more expensive.

2) Tin boxes. I just acquired these without really looking for them. A couple were gifts and some I picked up from my mother’s or grandmother’s stuff and I’m not even sure where the others are from. I keep sewing notions in some of them, but since there is no logical reason to keep any item in any particular box, I never know which one contains what and have to open several to find what I’m looking for. I use some in the kitchen too and for those I do know what they contain.

3) Art refrigerator magnets. We have been buying these in art museums. We only buy pictures of paintings we have seen in the museum. We have a bunch of VerMeers and lots of other artists too. They come from many different museums. They are mixed in with tile motif magnets as well. I’d separate them, but we only have one refrigerator.

4) Cups and saucers. The first ones of these (shown in the photo) were part of my grandmother’s collection. She had some lovely china cups and saucers. I picked out 4 of those that I liked. I have added blue and white ones, which I still use occasionally. They go with my collection of….

5) Blue and white porcelain. My mother-in-law got me started on this collection 37 years ago. She gave me a lovely flow blue platter. It is still my prized blue and white piece. Over the years I’ve added to the collection from almost every country we’ve been in. We have two long plate shelves in our family room that display much of this collection. This cupboard is between the kitchen and the eating area of the family room. I opened the glass doors to make it easier to see the contents of the cupboard. I see I need to realign the cups on the left.

6) Paintings by VerMeer, the 17^th century Dutch painter. We don’t have enough wall space to display all these, so have chosen to let them hang in the museums where we have seen them. This collection is almost complete. There are 35 or36 known paintings by VerMeer and we have seen all but one of them. This is really my husband’s collection and there are some he’s seen that I haven’t, but I’ve seen most of them with him. The one he hasn’t seen is the one that was recently discovered and authenticated (after 10 years of study.) It was purchased by Steve Wynn of Las Vegas. It hangs in his home and is not on display to the public. We keep hoping some day he’ll put it on display and we can go see it. We do have a poster of The Milk Maid in our family room.

7) Dolls. I have 5 of these dolls by Joan Rydberg. She calls them the Wise Women and Men from Wadsworth. Each one is sculpted by hand and is unique. I also have 2 American Girl dolls, and a baby doll, that I played with when I was a child, a Raggedy Andy doll that my grandmother made and a Raggedy Ann that I found and bought to keep him company. She only came with underwear, so I made her a dress and apron. I’m not sure these all count as a collection. Probably only the 5 Wadsworth dolls count, but I thought I’d just list the others anyway.

Now for the tags: I'm to tag 6 more people, so here you go:

My sister, Kathy is building a house near Olympia, WA.

My friend Kathleen is remodeling a house near Olympia, WA.

Lisa has gone a little crazy making jewelry and decorating in Texas.

Carol in Iowa and I share an interest in painting stuff and decorating.

Mary Ruth in Virginia has an amazing talent for beautifying her home.

And Janet in NC has already voted! She and I share an interest in knitting, among other things.

So here are the rules again:

Link to me in your blog

List 6 quirky things about yourself OR

List 6 things you collect

Link to 6 more blogs and pass on the tag.

And remember playing is always optional. And you can change the rules if you want to.

Fall Colors

I've been so busy I haven't had time to update this blog in ages. Well, it just hasn't reached the top of my list of priorities. I've been knitting, rosemaling, traveling, and all the other stuff I do when I'm home. But today I went out and snapped some photos of the fall colors in my yard.

I love how these shrubs turn red in the fall, so here are a few colorful photos I thought I'd share. I pass these shrubs every day on the way in and out of the house, so I do get to see them every day and appreciate them.

 

Here is the pot I planted with painted daisies and petunias in the spring. They have done well all summer. We've had sufficient rain this summer, so I have only had to water these a few times.

 

And here is the corner just below the steps, where I have 3 different Heuchera planted at the base of this shrub. The shrub is Viburnum Alfredo. I think that's the right name. It turns red every year in the fall and has red berries.

  In the summer it has white flowers, which are also pretty. These shrubs have done very well for me. It's funny to see the pictures I took of them the year I planted them, 2002. They were so tiny!