February 6, 2014

Yarn

 Vibrant, variegated skeins of yarn in baskets, 
bins and on poles available in Germany.





Where yarn bombing and graffiti knitting decorate 
the towns lamppost, tree trunks, and even lamps.




Chilly today, snow Saturday, cold front coming in Sunday...


Photobucket

February 3, 2014

Thrift Share Monday

I love EPHEMERA! When I saw four boxes of 1958 Flash Cards made by the Gelles-Widmer Company, I swiftly placed all of them in my cart.

These vintage cards will flash pre-primmer and primmer words for the emergent readers. In the 50's, these words were called primer words, in the 70's and 80's they were called dolch word, and today they are called sight words. Yet these words, no matter what you call them have remained the same.


Vintage 1958 Primer and Pre-Primmer Flash Cards
Back in 1958 phonics was taught, but today we have the debate of phonics or whole word instruction. I remember telling students this little phrase:
When two vowels go walking the first does the talking. If the word ends in the letter E, most often, the vowel has a long sound.

Some of the illustrations on these flash cards are dated. When was the last time you saw a fuse?


While the alphabet has remained the same. . .


We certainly would not use these illustrations in today's society. 


I admire all handy work, such as knitting, crocheting, and embroidery. My mother did needlepoint and embroidery work, and I know how much work goes into some of these pieces. While walking by the art work at the thrift store, I spotted an embroidered piece in a cheap frame.

This rectangle tone on tone piece caught my eye. 


Satin stitches fill the letters, with french knots, or maybe bullion knots, add definition to the letters.


Cross stitches, french knots, with running stitches, and back stitches complete Jesus.


I'm thinking it will make a lovely pillow for my bedroom. I was not blessed with a  DIY gene so I will ask my sweet sister to make this into a pillow for me.


I hope to be linking up with:

Sir-Thrift-A Lot:  Thriftasaurus
A Living Space: The Nifty Thrifty
Me and My Shadow: Magpie Monday
We Call It Junkin: We Call It Olde Link Up
ColoradoLady: Vintage Thing Thursday
Thrifty Groove: Thrifty Things Friday
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson: Share Your Cup Thursday
Photobucket

February 2, 2014

It's Not Yet Spring, But I Have Springs

I am getting a new box spring and matters for my guest room. I pulled the mattress off, leaned it against the wall; next the box spring was placed against the wall.

Lo and behold, what do my eyes spy, but bed springs, 45 of them all coiled up waiting to be removed.


I grabbed my needle nose pliers and clipped the wires holding the springs I then turned the spring counter clockwise to remove it from the wire attached to the boards. Easy peasy. 


So easy, in fact, I removed five more in less than five minutes.


Wondering if I should remove all of them?


I have seen candle holders, wreaths, Christmas decorations, and photo holders made from these cute coils. 

What the heck it will only take a little while to remove the rest, and it has to make the box spring lighter when I move it to the curb for pick up. 
Photobucket

February 1, 2014

Traditional Swiss Dining Experience And A Missing Plug

Our tour guide Roos was a wealth of information, Grand Circle Tour guides, are from the general area where your tour is taking place, so they are knowledgeable of the history, culture, folklore, and politics. Roos, age thirty, she willingly told us her age, was from the Netherlands had a pleasant and bubbly personality, with a booming voice that could be heard even if you were standing in the back of the group.

I was determined to experience the foods from different countries, I am known to be a picky eater. While I was in Switzerland, I wanted to dine in a traditional Swiss restaurant. Roos recommended Walliser Kanne, which was located, in the Gebergasse pedestrian area, in the heart of Basel's old city, and within walking distance from our hotel.


The restaurant was small, perhaps intimate, would describe it better with accommodations for fifty diners. A banquet hall was located upstairs.

Tables were placed close to each other, which I imagine didn't allow for private conversations. Roos explained to us that when you made a reservation at a restaurant, you booked the table for the entire evening. No waiter/waitress to rush you along so the next patron could be seated. Nope, eating at a Swiss restaurant was a social event that often lasted late into the night, it was an event filled with eating, drinking, and socializing.


This is the tiny kitchen area, where you were able to watch the chef prepare the food.

Something very interesting to me about tipping. The waiters/waitress in Switzerland make a good wage, not like in our restaurants, in the United States, so tipping is a little different. They don't go by the rule of 15 - 20%  of your bill for a tip. If you have received good service during your meal, you round up your bill.  For example, your bill was $19.37 you leave $20.00.  Poor service, just pay the bill.

A group of twenty-one people participated in the optional land tour visiting Switzerland before we boarded the boat for our river cruise. We were a small friendly group and friendships were formed quickly. We became friendly with a group of four women who were from Virginia, and from the first day to the last day we ate, toured and laughed together.  A friendship was formed with these four amazing women, but I will have more about these ladies in a different post.


Our friends from Virginia seated next to the wall, with my friend of forty three years Joyce, whom I was traveling with, and I am in the bright green fleece.

The menu was in written, in many different languages, thank goodness English was one of them. 

 
The first dish we ordered was a cheese fondue, this cheese was smooth, salty, and coated the bread chunks to make a small bite of goodness. I am not a big cheese lover, but I did enjoy this fondue.



That whole piece of goodness, all of it, went right into my mouth. Yummy!



Raclette is indigenous to parts of Switzerland, the Raclette cheese is heated in front of a fire, or a special machine, and scraped onto a plate, toasted side up. It is accompanied with small potatoes, gherkins, and baby pickled onions. 

A bite of Raclette, cheese, potaot, pickled onion, and gherkin, very tasty mouthful.


After the fact, which is when I always learn new lessons, I was told that you should drink white wine while eating your Raclette, other drinks, for example, water will cause the cheese to harden in your tummy causing indigestion. Yep, I drank water, but I was fortunate that no tummy issues occurred.

My Swiss dining experience wouldn't be complete without dessert, and so we all ordered Crepes Suzette that was prepared table side.

A beautiful tray filled with the crepes along with the burner were brought out near our table so we could watch as our dessert was being made. 
It's a miracle that our waiter didn't go blind from our cameras flash as he cooked our crepes. Here, he is pouring sugar into the pan.

The liqueur is poured on top of sugar, and the flame is ignited.

The waiters step back as the flame burns off the alcohol.

Preparing our desserts plates.

I must admit this was my favorite part of the meal.


And just so you know I was a member of the clean plate club!

On the wall, just above my friend Joyce's head, was this picture. I looked at this picture of a curvaceous woman in a reclining position with food draped on various parts. Oh how I wish I knew what the words under the picture were! 


Remember I told you earlier, that I seem to learn lessons after the fact, well here is a great example. When you are told to bring a converter for your American electronics. That means to bring all of the plugs included in the pouch.

If you don't you will have to go to the front desk and see if they have any converter parts so you can charge your electronics.

I just brought the red and black part, but I needed the correct plug for Switzerland, this is what the front desk came up with so I could charge my iPad and iPhone. A whole lot of plugs to get some power, but it worked!

Photobucket