Vailed Ghosts

Vailed Ghosts, watching
Transient Life, at warp speed,
passing Grace blindly.

~haiku- c. collins~

"Out with the Old, in with the New"

This cute pink bicycle represents more fun than a corral full of baby goats. It's the reason I usually plan my trips to the bay area on certain days every month. This is the antique/ vintage/ creative art store owned by Susan Goodman called ROOM WITH A PAST. They are only open 4 days a month and each month is a new adventure, with amazing bargains..., and it's just down right fun to visit.
See that green chair in the top left photo? See the color? Does it look familiar? Yes, it's exactly the same color of the little, half size, green chair I have here in my home. That's because Jan Ely(the blond in the jammies and slippers) likes to paint cute little chairs in my favorite color. I bought one here last year. THIS cute chair did not(sigh) come home with me. I practiced some restraint on this trip, but if it's still there next month I may not have the control that I did last week. Of course I could just NOT GO to this sale and make my life easier, but that's "not an option", as they say. I might miss something wonderful!..., something with my name on it..., something I can't live without. See, how easy it is to rationize this obsession.

Last Thursday, before the unexpected dinner for 8, Sis and I took a run by R.W.A.P. It was their Christmas sale and , of course, we had to take a quick look. It's only about a mile from Mom's rest home, so there was just no reason not to go before I picked up Mom for dinner. (More rationalizing). Sis got home, afterwards, and found out she was having 4 extra people coming for dinner and the panic set in..., but it was still worth the stop at our favorite store.
These are the wonderful ladies who run R.W.A.P. This is the only time you will ever see them IN PUBLIC wearing their pajamas and slippers, and I did get their permission to put this photo on my blog. They are a very nice bunch of woman, who work hard to make this store a charming place. They enjoy what they do and they all seem to get along well. This was New Years Day and we were invited to wear our jammies and slippers too, but we opted for street clothing because we didn't want someone with a camera/phone to immortalize us in Trader Joe's. All customers were invited to partake of a huge table of goodies(and I mean HUGE) to celebrate the New Year and, of course, the amazing sale. Sis found a big drop-leaf table to do crafts and sewing on. I added a beautiful vintage pressed metal tray to my kitchen collection and one of Jan's handmade ornaments.

Thank you ladies. It was fun, as always. It was nice to see you, Marcia. Glad you are doing so well. See you next month.

Room With a Past ~ 1557A Third Ave., Walnut Creek CA 94597
(925) 933-1903

Jan Ely's "Little Pink Houses" blog can be found at pinkhousepages.blogspot.com. Check it out. She loves "vintage", painting and decorating. She also makes wonderful, artful things. We grew up in the same town and her Dad and my Mom went to school together in Napa, Ca. We found each other through our blogs. Small world isn't it?

Vintage Thursday

This is a 1932 Better Homes & Garden magazine that I gave my sister for Christmas tucked into an antique planter. I think this magazine is so beautiful with it's muted colors and frayed edges.

The ads are so much fun to read....,
and this Westinghouse stove is just the kind of stove I would love to buy for my kitchen, only it would be a zillion times more expensive, now, if I could even find one in good shape.

Then there is the article about HOW AND WHERE TO KEEP YOUR CLOTHES. I guess they had to be organized back then because look at the size of the closets.
I still have this fantasy about owning an old house, but I don't know about those closets. I thought I had small closets in this house, but mine are twice as big as these in the magazine. Our closets are jammed full. I don't know why? I think we need a lot more space in this house for clothes and storage. Either that or we need to read this article and get organized.

Pacifica, Ca. , from a safe distance.

Just a few miles south of San Francisco, on the Pacific Coast Highway is a little town called Pacifica. It's amazing to me that it's still so small compared to other towns in the Bay Area. It's a very easy commute to San Francisco and has some charming areas to live in, although it is expensive.
A couple of years ago my sister bought a condominium in the hills overlooking the town and it has become her sanctuary from the busy suburbs. From her home in Lafayette she can get to Pacifica in a half hour, so it's very convenient and it's near her "beloved" Ocean. This also means that her "beloved" sister and family get to use it too. What a lovely arrangement. The  ocean and her  sister don't really have a lot in common because I happen to be mightily afraid of the big, gigantic Pacific, but I love the weather, especially when the foothills are roasting in the 100 degree plus oven of a central Sierra summer. I love her wonderful new ocean home because it's beautiful, relaxing and quite a distance from the beach, with a view to die for. We have so much fun when just the two of us go over there, that I almost forget about that big endless, rolling sea lapping at the land to the west.

From the upper left clockwise in the picture above are: The entrance, "My" bedroom (That valance is a swag of greenery and small lights with a wreath in the center. Beautiful isn't it?), The mantel, over the fireplace, and a set of six calendar prints that Sis framed and hung over her couch in the livingroom.

This is just about as close as I get to the big water, but I wanted you to see what your missing if you love THE OCEAN. These photos are for all of you out there who have no idea how very beautiful California is and for the rest of you who think that we are all going to break off, in a large earthquake, and disappear into the jaws of the Pacific. It's not true. It will only happen when.., and if I walk out to the end of that pier in the bottom left photo. As I told a friend, who asked if I walked out there this weekend...., "ARE YOU CRAZY? I did that one time and there is no earthly reason to do it again." I do not believe that it's wise to tempt the earthquake/tsunami gods and I don't believe in that "Face your fears" baloney, either. But it is beautiful from the walkway or bike path and even more beautiful from my sisters place in the sunset photo. Now that's a "safe" distance.

Going and Coming Back in the New Year.

I'm back home and so glad to be here. My visit to the bay area was a day longer than I had planned but that was ok because I packed a lot of coming and going into five days.
My sister ended up having eight people for dinner on New Years Day. It was kind of unexpected but we got enough food together, set a pretty table, and had a great time. She said it was almost more relaxing this way because she didn't have time to WORRY about what she was going to do.
I brought Mom over to Sis's house for dinner. She had a good time and enjoyed being there but she had a cough.
Sis and I had planned to go over to the ocean for two days. Mom said she was ok and just wanted to rest for the weekend, so the next day, we took off. We stopped in Berkeley for lunch and looked at some of the stores on 4th street. Then we drove over to Pacifica and snuggled into the condo for the night. The wind blew and it rained all night. It was the first time I'd been there in a storm. It was wonderful, cold and wild.
The next day we went to a couple of antique stores down in the old part of Pacifica, walked on the shoreline, took pictures( did you think I wouldn't have my camera?), ate lunch, cruised through Ross( our favorite store for bargains), and picked up food for dinner. On Sunday we came home. It was a quick, fun trip that we enjoyed throughly.
Mom went to see her doctor on Sunday because the cough was getting worse. He said she had a virus, but not anything worse, and gave her some medicine. We went to see her yesterday and she was feeling better. Today I stopped by and she was feeling much better. Thank goodness for modern medicine. I left Mom's and got home in about 2 and 1/2 hrs. The traffic was kind of heavy but the weather was good so the trip home was , all in all, not bad.

It's foggy and cold and the Prospector is happy that I have returned; so are the dogs (and the goats). Tonight it's very cold. Jo (in Pennsylvania) and Donna (in Montana)..., I hear you laughing, but we will be freezing by morning. 32 degrees is cold for us and requires comment here in the foothills and maybe an extra blanket or two.

I will post some photos tomarrow. I have some good ones.
I'm still praying for snow, but know that this may be a fruitless effort.
I'm going to change into my jammies and go cuddle with my husband, now.
Goodnight and sweet dreams.