Here are a few treasures that I picked up when I was in Ohio to add to my coastal themed home in the desert.

Click on the pic of the towels to see the close-up. They had a different hand towel for each day of the week...all with a beach theme. They were awesome! I wish I could have bought them all.

I found the towels and the "Sailing" sign at the same store, where I also ran into a woman that I went through school with. Her name was Sandy Lane and she remembered me after more than 30 years! How crazy is that! Talk about a small town! It was so strange.

I found the divided wooden box at the candle store where I also found these candles and votive holders. It's hard to tell from the picture how nice the blues are, but I love the colors.

We also found these vintage Ohio notecards at an antique shop and some old Vermilion postcards as well. I love the notecards with the sailboats on it and the one with the barn too. I may have to frame those and hang them up.

I'm looking forward to finding more "beachy" treasures when we go down the Oregon coast on vacation in July. Can't wait!!!

Happy Independence Day (a little early)

Vote for my photo at the Shutterfly Home Town Photo Contest here:

It says I'm from Amherst, Ohio, because that's where the photo was taken...oh well.

Actually, you don't have to vote for mine if you like others better, but it's posted there if you want to go look.

For those who haven't checked my blog in a while, (I know, I know, it's been pretty dormant lately) I've posted 3 times in two days, so be sure to scroll down and see more.

Lots of things to see.

Here are a few more favorite pics and a link to all my pictures from my trip to Vermilion.

Unfortunately, they're not in any kind of order and there are quite a few, but if you look at them in a slideshow you can set the speed so it goes pretty fast. Some have captions and some don't. I got tired of doing them and wanted to get these out before the end of the year. Some will probably seem kind of random...doorknobs and such, but these are little pieces of my aunt's cottage that are great memories for me. I hope you enjoy some of them!

There are some very cute ones of my niece and nephew (Sharon's grandkids). Kids are always so adorable!

I look forward to hearing from you too.

Left to right (youngest to oldest) me, Sharon, Pat, Diane.

This is a pretty cool video. What I want to know is where are all the women with blonde hair and blue eyes? There are only a couple of them in here.

Check this out (especially Kevin)

I'm researching places to stay and to visit on our vacation in July, near the border of California and Oregon. I was checking out the Mendocino area and came across some info about Boonville, California; one of the towns that we may be going thru on vacation.

Apparently it's known for its many wineries and breweries, but also their lingo...called Boontling. See more about it here. It's kinda sweet. Kinda makes you want to eavesdrop on an old local.

Anyway, off to do more research, so we can book a place to stay soon...

We're concentrating on the area around the Redwoods, so if anyone has any suggestions, we're definitely open to them.

Things I love about the Cottage:

The cottage is one of my favorite places. There's so much to know about it and so much to see that I'll have to do it in several installments. When we were back in Vermilion this time we made some new discoveries.

This watercolor below was painted by a neighbor in 1961 (when I was 3 years old). It depicts my grandmother's fruit and vegetable stand that was just down the road from the cottage. That's how their family made a living and probably why she had so many kids. She was an amazing gardener with a huge farm full of everything delicious...acres and acres of fresh sweet corn, watermelon, turnips, apples, peppers and dozens of other healthy treats. I used to stay with her and my cousin, Karen on the farm for a few weeks every summer. It was heaven! Even though this painting is far from professional, it brings back wonderful memories of her place.


But I digress...this is supposed to be about the cottage.

Here are just a few of the things that I love about the place:

LURES: My uncle has a boat and loves to fish on the lake. He used to take us out when we were kids. You can see that he has all of his lures hanging on the wall at the top of the stairs for anyone who comes to visit and wants to use them.

DOORKNOBS: The house is filled with working vintage doorknobs! This one is their front door. I have more pics of the knobs, but won't bore you with those. Once I get all my pics online, I'll link so you can see everything.

CHERRIES: My aunt & uncle's last name is Cherry, so the kitchen is filled with bunches of vintage cherry decor. This tray is just one example.


LOVE NOTES FROM OUR HOSTS: Over the years as my aunt & uncle having lovingly cared for and shared the cottage, they've discovered all the important do's and don'ts that keep it the special place that it's become. This bulletin board is a sampling of the loving notes from our hosts that ensure that we all have a grand time and keep the cottage in one piece.

LUCKY STONES: I showed you some of the beach glass collection in my last post and now you need to learn about lucky stones. The stones in the shot glass are called "Lucky Stones". They're not actually stones at all. (Click the link to find out more.) If you click on the photo you can see the "L" on each one. We spent many hours in our youth looking for these on the beach. The cottage guests have collected them over the years and we saw several cups full around the house. My aunt says that when you give them to someone else they are a gift of love and become "Lucky Love Stones". My sweet cousin, Elaine gave me a pair of earrings and a necklace that she made from these. Wow, did I feel loved!

Well, that's all for now...more to come.

Home again, home again jiggety jig...

Last night I arrived home after about 4 days in Ohio visiting my brother, Pat, with my two sisters. We realized that our last trip with our mom happened about the same time last year, so we're thinking that this needs to become an annual affair in early June. My mom didn't come along this time because this trip was kind of short notice and she wouldn't have had time to prepare. We'll plan another one with her in the coming months.

I'll post a few of my favorite pics tonight, then do more later. Look closer at the one with the "Gone to the Beach" sign. The lamp base is filled with beach glass! You can't really tell the size from the picture, but the globe is about the size of a basketball.

We stayed at my Aunt Eleanor's cottage just about 100 steps from Lake Erie and I took bunches of pics of the place trying to capture a bit of the feeling that I get when I'm there. Time seems to stand still in that little corner of the world and we all look forward to that. We enjoyed every minute including drives around town, thunderstorms every day, walks on the beach, finding shells and beach glass, visits from cousins and aunts, delicious strawberry shortcake, fresh Lake Erie Perch dinners, amazing beefsteak tomatoes sliced and eaten with just a little salt & pepper, running into old friends from high school, and helping our brother find a new place to live.

If you look closely at the picture of the beach stones that I took after one of the storms, you'll see dozens of tiny shells, a bit of beach glass, some sandstone (orange) and the black shale that we often used as natural blackboards for writing and drawing while lounging on the beach.

We also visited my nephew, Jason and his two adorable children Jaret & Justine.