in clover: S is for....

S is for Simplicity 

This year little c asked to celebrate her birthday with a more intimate gathering than in years past. She suggested a day out with her mom and dad and one school friend and we were happy to oblige.  Big brother is off on a church mission trip and as no family happens to be visiting this year,  we thought she might be disappointed when there was only Michael and me to sing Happy Birthday to her.   So we decided to invite neighborhood friends with children to stroll by....in that sweet spot, after supper but just before summer bedtimes...to sing with us and have a piece of cake.  Easy for everyone!

There were still a few simple preparations.


S is for Straws, made of brightly colored paper. 

While shopping for plates and napkins, I spotted these irresistible packages of brightly colored paper straws.   The empty jam jars,  piled at the bottom of the basement stairs,  seemed like a perfectly simple companion for the old fashioned paper straws.  Who knew straws and jam jars could be so inspiring?

S is for Steal

I picked up this vintage metal tray on a recent junk store junket.  I love the colors, the pattern and the shape and with a price tag of $2...it was indeed a steal!  And I was excited to have an opportunity to put it to use.

And guess what?  The jelly jars fit PERFECTLY on the tray: 

But what to serve our guests?  Pink lemonade bags seemed the safest (organic, no glass and no added sugar!) as well as the most simple solution for our young guests....

but for their parents?  

S is for Sangria, the summer variety...

I have never made sangria so I googled recipes and figured I could not go wrong with this Martha Stewart recipe.  This recipe is light and not too sweet.  It calls for basil and sliced ginger which I thought sounded interesting.  I made a few "secret recipe" adjustments and voila....

I let it sit overnight and crossed my fingers! 

After the morning thunderstorms rolled on past, we tidied up the garden just a bit, set out our simple spread and soon, neighbors came strolling down the street.

S is for Sesame Honey Almonds from Trader Joe's.  

Everyone loves them and they were a nice nibble with the sangria.  The green bowl is a piece of 50's refrigerator glass that belonged to Michael's grandmother.

S is for Spiritual practice opportunities! 

Just before our guests arrived, I noticed that Atticus the cat had jumped on top of the cake box!  Tinker Belle had nearly disappeared in devil's food cake and the garden of yellow icing flowers was now stuck to the top of the box.  Michael volunteered to run it back to the bakery, hopeful they could "fix it" but in the end, we kept it simple....I smeared around what icing was left and let it go.  Sweet Michael said, "Good job, honey!  You made it look like clouds."  

I vented on FaceBook...my status read: 

"My &*^#$%$ cat just jumped on top of Caroline's cake...Tinker Belle is toast!"  And then there was some mention of my sampling the sangria immediately.

I am glad I vented as one friend reminded me that it's our mishaps that most often lodge in our memories.  For years to come, we remember them and laugh.  This is so true!  I am sure that we will always remember this as the year the cat jumped on top of the cake. The realization made me (almost) glad it happened! 

Another friend made me giggle when she commented, "In my world there is almost nothing more holy than a spiritual director who says "&*^#$%$ cat" publicly. Except maybe one who heads for sangria next. You're in the spiritual big leagues now, my friend. Watch out world!"

I am so thankful for those who accept and affirm me, exactly as I am! What a gift.
 

S is for Sweet Voices and Sweet Smiling, Sticky Faces...

c was excited when it was time for singing...she didn't mind that the breeze put out the candles before she could blow them out and she sure didn't mind the smooshed bits. 

S is for Summer Birthdays and Sweet Daughters turning eight! 

Namaste, 

Lisa 

   
   

in clover: re-vision

I can't see.  

I have contracted a stubborn virus that has temporarily injured my eyes and significantly impaired my vision.   I cannot wear the contact lenses that I have worn nearly every day of my life since ninth grade.  My distance vision with glasses is ok but not great...kind of like opening your eyes under water...but I can't see a thing up close with my glasses on, so to read or use the computer I must remove the , which means everything else is a blur.  Needless to say, the idea of vision has been the focus of my contemplative life lately.

Many of the old things I sell are at their "vintage chic-est" when re-purposed for something other than their intended use....a cast iron gutter hopper as a wall sconce....a rusty wire basket as a moss lined planter....an enamel farm bucket as a wine bucket for a party...galvanized wash tub as raised garden bed...old iron grate as art...all re-purposed or RE-Visioned.  It's fun to re-vision vintage items.  LOTS of fun! 

Spending quite a few hours in the dark, reflecting, I am even more mindful that just like the old things that I always seem to find their way to me, I can re-vision the everyday happenings of my life, recognizing them as the important spiritual learnings I believe they are.  I can look for the Sacred in the ordinary,  moments of my life...even the uncomfortable ones.  Or maybe that should be, especially the uncomfortable ones.   I've tried to stay open to Spirit.   I've asked myself what this dis-ease has to teach me?  Is there something I don't want to see?  Is there something I need to see?  I don't have any answers yet but I will keep sitting with it.

Meanwhile, since I haven't gone out into the light of day much at all, I've been busy re-visioning the things that have been languishing in my basement since I closed my shop. It's nice and dark in the basement!  :)

One of the items I listed on ebay this week is a vintage french fishing creel.   I wanted to include some inspiring photos in my listing so I tried to come up with creative ways to use the creel.  First, I photographed it in the garden....

Then I tried it in the breakfast nook with some faux lavender...

And then I tried it in my ever so tiny downstairs half bath.  I filled it with vintage looking dishtowels.  My towels are not vintage but are precious, as they were embroidered by Michael's mom and grandmother.  I think I liked the basket best here.

And speaking of re-visioning...when you are a cottage dweller, as we are, you need to make the most of every inch of space.  Michael and I both enjoy photography but wall space for displaying our efforts is limited, so we turned a wall in this tiny half bath into our version of an art gallery...

The squarish basket in the corner is an English fishing basket....much different style than the French one and I believe would not be referred to as a proper "creel."  The French basket is designed to be slung around the body.  The square English basket also has a carrying strap but it is designed to be a little stool for sitting, while you fish.  Charming.   I tucked this smallish one in the corner to hold spare tp rolls. 

So that's what I've been doing lately....sitting in the dark...my temporary loss of sight led me to a space just perfect for re-visioning.  The movement of Spirit never ceases to amaze me.

peace and all good, 

Lisa

in clover: everything old is new again...

My dad commented, "Back to the future!" 

After much soul searching and internal debate, I have decided to return to ebay as a seller, keeping the id Michael and I created in 1998.  I seem to recall that it was Michael's suggestion to call me "lextique"...as we struggled to hastily establish my new ebay account.  My friend was having some success on the new and novel site, selling vintage items over the internet. It had a weird name, ebay, and we didn't have a clue how it worked but we thought we'd give it a try.


My first ebay sale was a first edition Tasha Tudor children's book.  I bought it for $1 at a local thrift shop.  I had no ebay feedback and no photo in my listing.  It took Michael and me the entire weekend to figure out how to list that one item. It was NOT pretty!  After all that work,  I quickly became bored with the listing when after several days, it still had no bids.  And then, in the last minutes of the auction, a exciting flurry of bidding took place...eventually driving the price to $56! 

I was hooked.  The scanner I bought so that I could include photos in my auction listings  was rapidly replaced by a digital camera, capable of holding up to a dozen photos at a time...it was all quite high tech!  I listed auctions until  very late at night and almost every lunch break from my bank job was spent in line at the post office.  For years, I had longed to quit that corporate job for something more creative. 

I took up selling vintage items while still in college.  When Michael and I met for our very first date, he was a bit shocked to see my entire car piled high with all sorts of "junk" destined for the booth I had just rented at a new antique mall. He was game, though, once we married, to help me scour yard sales, thrift stores and flea markets for fabulous finds we could use in our own home and bargains we could sell at a local antique mall or fair.   



When Big C was an infant, we teamed up with my father and uncle who had begun importing antique furniture from England...sight unseen! Both Michael and I were working 50 hours a week or more at our "real" jobs so with the birth of Big C, we had little time for antiquing.  When my Dad told me I could consign a few pieces of the English furniture in Lexington, we jumped at the chance to rent space in a new antique mall.  This time we had quality furniture to go with our well priced yard sale finds. Maybe I could quit my job....


Sales were up and down and the best we seemed to do over time was break even. Although I wished I could quit my "real" job, I knew that the business as such was not genuinely viable.  


And then I sold that book....and I began to imagine the possibilities.  That one ebay sale changed everything.   I loved my ebay clients.  I still get Christmas cards from some of them. I mailed things all over the country and sometimes I mailed things across the big pond right back to the country they came from.   I sold items to celebrities (like a member of the band Matchbox 20) and to folks who lived just across town.  Aside from my young family, being an Ebay seller became ithe focus in my life.   


I quit my job and sold happily on ebay full-time for ten years.  I took charge of selecting the inventory we imported from England and added French pieces as well. I managed the W. Ky store from afar and sold my wares at numerous antique venues in Central Ky, eventually opening my own brick and mortar store here. 


Ebay grew and grew until it became less of the community I loved and more of a hassle. With the addition of thousands and thousands of new sellers, fraud became an issue.  The economy began to suffer and sales in general began to wane.  The events of September 11th forever altered the import business, making it much more difficult and expensive to bring containers to the US. Big C was very busy with sports and I hated to miss even one game and then Little c was born with health issues. Michael took a traveling job. Eventually it just all became too much.  I closed the doors to the brick and mortar stores and allowed my ebay id to go dormant. 

For years people have been asking what I'm going to do with all that inventory...tucked away in storage....I've never really had an answer.  When I started this blog, I thought I might set up a shop on Etsy, in the vintage category.  But I never did anything about it.   



And then one day this summer,  the universe began whispering in my ear. "Put your toe in the water..." 

So I looked into Etsy again but learning from scratch seemed very daunting.  Old dog / new tricks, and all...


So the universe whispered, "Why don't you dance with the one that brung you?"

I worked through a bunch of reasons why I should not.  I was actually kind of mad at ebay....for changing.   But after arguing with myself, eventually I arrived at, "well, why not?"

This poem, from Rumi, kept coming to me:

Keep walking, though there’s no place to get to.
Don’t try to see through the distances.
That’s not for human beings.
Move within, but don’t move the way fear makes you move.

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty & frightened.
Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading.
Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

-- Rumi

Well, ok...so why not? 

Here's a few of the items I chose to begin with.  If you'd like to see all my listings, just click here: 

 lextique

  
a french fishing creel....

several pieces of french enamelware....

 

  
a french wire market basket....

old english gardening tools...

a french ag award placque...

Same as it never was....

Although my devoted ebay clients have given up following me by now, my (perfect!) feedback picked right up where I left off.  A few hours spent getting up to speed on listing practices, image hosting, USPS fee schedules and bringing my PayPal account up to date and just like that, I'd shaken a good deal of  rustiness off. 

And while my inventory remains the same, I am not the same.  Becoming more contemplative in life is sure to change me as an ebayer.

I hope there is more balance in my life...last time around Ebay often took over....my time, my energy...the buyers, rather than my family,  received my patience....sometimes I was so stressed that I was ugly and angry with Michael who was only trying to help me.  I hope that is different, this time around. 

This time around I'd like to be mindful of the process rather than only excited about the result.  I'd like to remember why I chose each of these old things, to relish cleaning and polishing them...to slow down and enjoy being creative while photographing them and while writing the words that describe them.  

This time around I'd like to keep the excitement but lose the fear.  There was always some amount of fear....fear of making a mistake....and lots of fear of the future.  What if I don't make a profit this month?  This year?  What will happen?

I'd like to let that go.

Apparently even ebay selling can be my spiritual practice.  Who knew? Everything old is indeed new, again.    

Back to the future! 

peace and all good, 

Lisa

in clover: happy halloween

I love Halloween.  I have wonderfully fuzzy memories of trick or treating with friends and cousins.  It was so exciting to be outside after dark. I loved wearing what my grandmother called a "false face." 

I remember coming home and my mother taking a break from watching scary movies in order to "inspect" my candy...I still think some of that candy was not so much suspect as it was tasty! 

When I moved into my own apartment, I planned my first Trick or Treat night with great anticipation.  Unfortunately, the large apartment complex (mostly young singles) didn't attract even a single trick or treater.

By the next year I had moved to an older home in a well established, charmingly shabby neighborhood.  I don't know how many bags of candy I went through! So jealous were my friends who were still living in apartment complexes, that they began to join me.  We'd share a pizza and hand out candy until we ran out.  When I started dating Michael, I knew he had real spouse potential when he enthusiastically helped me carve multiple jack o' lanterns. 

Over the years, our Halloween tradition grew to include friends and their children, food and drink and eery Halloween decor.

Our style is "Vintage Spooky" rather than gory.

This morning, I took a walk down memory lane...here are some images from Halloweens past....

Big C at the pumpkin patch when he wasn't so big...



Candy corn centerpiece...french bread trays are so versatile for display!



That candy corn is hard for little fingers to resist!

For entertainment we have had treasure hunts, pumpkin carving, apple bobbing but this particular year a mysterious fortune teller showed up at the door!


Toddler c and pumpkins...

Michael still enjoys pumpkin carving...

This Max costume, from Where The Wild Things Are, was a gift from my sister.  Both C's...big and little...had a ball wearing it!  

It was exciting, the year Big C chose a Spiderman costume, as I myself had masqueraded as Spiderman, many moons ago....I added the spider garlands that year...

This year little c chose a pink and white kitty cat costume and we added the Happy Haunting banner to the front door...

For adults we've had several versions of haunted bars.  One year we served "Boos" in a large vintage French jug and paid homage to the movie, The Shining.

Another year's version featured Poison Pomegranate cocktails.  I made the sign from a piece of cardboard and a fine tipped sharpie...did my best to make my handwriting look "spidery."  My favorite part was singing the edges of the cardboard with a lighter. Don't bother polishing the silver!  It looks much more spooky to leave it tarnished.

This year we had a ladybug and a knight in shining armor...

Big C made this paperbag pumpkin when he was three...and it is one of my most prized possessions!

Cinderella on the move....

For Halloween 2011, circumstances did not allow us to throw a big bash but both c's told me that they really wanted me to "haunt our house" so out came the cheese cloth, the bats, the rats, the ravens....and candy corn, the spooky candles and the spider web table cloths. 

New this year was an owl with real feathers and amber colored glass eyes....

A witch's work table....

And a garland I made from old skeleton keys and black velvet ribbon...

The poison pomegranate martinis magically reappeared!

With less than two hours to go before Trick or Treating begins, I have to whip up a little Halloween supper...time to google recipes using zombie eyeballs and spider parts!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Be safe.  Have fun!

Namaste,

Lisa

in clover: funnel of love

Girl's Day!  My mother-in-law was visiting AND it was her birthday, so she and I took off with our little c for a girl's only lunch except we let Michael join us (just for lunch) because she is HIS mama and he doesn't get to see her near as often as he'd like. 

Crepes at the The Six Friends Cafe was a birthday treat.  I LOVE crepes.  Sweet crepes, savory crepes...I never met a crepe I didn't like. I had the "Tanner" and MIL had the "Erica" and they kindly let little c make up her own...ham and cheddar. 

But the best part was the antiquing after lunch. MIL found a 70's McCoy smiley face cookie jar.  She told me she had one in the 70's and that one of her three boys broke it throwing a ball or "something" in the house.  She did not buy it for herself but I was able to send my FIL and Big C on a super secret mission to retrieve it.  She loved her birthday surprise!  Little c was very good.  Wish I had a nickel for every time she exclaimed, "Mommy!  Isn't this beautiful?"  So much fun.  I found several treasures at Feather Your Nest...

I especially love this great old funnel I found in a booth in the back.  The metal has a fabulous patina and well, call me crazy but I love funnels in general. I had a bunch of old funnels once upon time, in my shop, but they all sold long ago.  When I saw this one, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.  And I was pretty sure where I wanted to put it.

First, sweet Michael drilled two holes in the side for me...

and then I rounded up some leftover wire from a beading project.

I hoped for the best with the wire but just in case I had trouble with the wire, I had a spool of hemp cord for back up.

The spout of a funnel makes for perfect drainage...

so I strung the wire through the holes, added some compost and voila...a hanging basket or technically, a hanging funnel.  Whatever.  I hung it on the aviary.  So CUTE!  I knew I was going to like it but I didn't know I was going to like it this much. 

I planted it with rose purslane and bright green veronica sunshine. Neither  require much water or much room so they should be very happy in their new "funnel of love" home.

I think it looks perfect, hanging on the aviary.  I'm sure my hens like it too.  

And best of all...my funnel cost a whopping $5.  The purslane and veronica were on sale for about $9.  And that, my friends, is a whole lot of fun for under $15.  I love container gardening.  It's a lot of fun to look for interesting containers at junk and antique shops and estate sales.  You should try it. 

Just for fun, I searched etsy for "vintage funnel."  I found this cutie pie hanging lamp made from an old funnel.  (Click the link or the image to buy it!) 

On ebay, I found this darling french copper funnel.  (Click the link or image to buy it!)  

I bet you could find an interesting and unique garden container, if you kept an eye out.

As for finding any eggs in my coop nesting boxes...still nada. Perhaps the hanging basket will assure the girls of my devotion and inspire them to get busy. Or perhaps not.  My chicken keeping neighbor said to me, "Lisa, if I was living in a fancy French hotel, I wouldn't want to go to work either." 

*Smile*

I'll keep you posted.

Peace,

Lisa