Happy Cottage Quilter

Thursday, April 30, 2020

Encourage

These days seem long and hard. Social distancing has taken a toll that most of us never realized could affect us so deeply. The whole month of April has pressed down and left us away from friends and loved ones. I know it was hard for me, as my birthday went by with no acknowledgement.

The truth is, we need people. My hubby and I love to have people over for dinner. But of course that has been put to the wayside. These are our people. The ones we love and lean on, walk along side with, in this journey called life. The people we trust with our darkest secrets and share our wildest dreams.

How many people really open up when they are hurting? Yes, we can send a text or email to someone to keep in touch, but sometimes it is nice to get a note or letter in the mail. It's like a little visit. We need to encourage one another and send a word of comfort. It makes it more personal to think that someone took the time to write a word of encouragement and support.

Perhaps you know someone who is home bound, even before the stay at home order. Or a widow or widower who is facing these times alone.. Do you know, many people in nursing homes never have a visit from family members or friends? How sad is that?

Can I challenge you to find someone to encourage? Take a few minutes out of your day to bring sunshine to someone else? You may find your friends need a little more encouragement on an average day than they do on their birthdays.

Grace at Home

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

The story of the egg scale

As we are sitting out these last days of Stay at Home, I thought I would share a story that I posted years ago on my Hospitality blog

--------------------------------------------------------------------

On a trip to South Carolina my daughter and I went to several antique shops. Between the two of us, we found several vintage thingies that we added to our collection of old stuff.

But for today, I wanted to share about something that I had never seen before. It was a vintage Farm Master Egg scale from Sears Roebuck & Co.

We first saw this scale in a little shop in Florence. I thought it was so interesting, but passed it up. At $12, it was more then my usual thrifty spending habits.

We picked up a few business cards at this particular shop, and headed out in search of more bargains. We landed at the Thieves Market, which was a huge warehouse, packed to the gills with stuff! And guess what? They also had a vintage Farm Master Egg scale. But the price was not $12. Oh No!! It was marked.......... $48! Whoa!

Now here was something that I had never seen before, and now I've run into it twice, with a $36 price difference. Boy, now I was wishing I had picked up this little gem.

With our prizes in hand, we headed back to the hotel for a night of rest, so we could venture out again the next day.

Georgetown SC is a historical landmark town. We've never visited there before, so we thought we would take a buzz through this little town. And low and behold, there was an Antique mall. Guess it wouldn't hurt to take a browse through.

And yes, of course you know what I am going to tell you. Here it was again! The Farm Master Egg scale. But wait! What's this?? What did you say the price was?? But it is in such poor condition!!

I called my daughter over to take a look. Surely my eyes were not seeing the price right. Oh, it is?? You mean to tell me this egg scale is..... it is.......

$78!!!!!

Auugghhhhhh!!!!!

Now I have been thrift hunting for a lonnngggg time, but I cannot ever remember finding something with such a huge (scalping) I mean difference. A difference of $66 from the first one that we saw!

So you know what we did?? Yep, we jumped in the car, and we drove back to Florence! We not only found the egg scale for $12.00, but my daughter found several other items while we were there.

So what is the moral of this story?

Buy it when you see it the first time :-)

Monday, April 27, 2020

A Gilded Lady

Elizabeth Camden has done it again. A Gilded Lady is the second book in the Hope and Glory series. And what an interesting story she has written.

The White House. Who doesn't become enthralled with the inner workings of the Presidents home. And in this story, Caroline Delacroix is secretary to First Lady Ida McKinley. She is classy, efficient, out spoken and strong. She is able to handle the irritability of Mrs. McKinley, and yet walks by her side as a calming voice to the anxious First Lady.

Nathaniel Trask is a most interesting character. He reluctantly hires on to protect the President, and his sense of duty carries him to provide security in the most dangerous situations. As we follow along with the President's tour of the country, and the tragedy that followed, I found it difficult to put the book down.

The blossoming of their relationship was a beautiful tale in itself. Camden has a way of using words and mind pictures that draw you into the story. She is a master story teller, with thorough research of history. Although Caroline and Nathaniel are fictional characters, you could almost imagine there certainly were some people that filled these positions.

I received a complimentary ebook copy from the publisher, through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.