Mosaic Monday: Red Transferware

I think most of you have already caught on by now -- I have a "thing" for red transferware. It doesn't necessarily have to be old. After all, I did spend almost an entire year hitting all the different HomeGoods, TJMaxx's and Marshalls in my state of New Jersey collecting a set of reproduction Spode dinnerware for my red dining room.

At the same time, I always have an eye out for vintage or antique pieces as well. I do sometimes use them in my table settings, although most of the time they sit on my hutch and in my corner cabinet. There is something about the older pieces that just speaks to me.

I wanted to show you two pieces I got recently. The top two pictures show an antique plate from the 1830's or 1840's. It is part of the Florentine China transferware series attributed to Samuel Alcock & Co., a major pottery manufacturer based in Burslem, Staffordshire. Don't you just love the maker's mark with the beehive? The pattern is called Pearl. The plate is not in great condition, but I still love it.

The saucer (bottom two images) is a much newer piece, made in the 1980's by J&G Meakin. The scene depicted is Holy Trinity Church in Stratford - on - Avon. The maker's mark for that plate is beautiful as well. Both plates are currently displayed on my dining room hutch.

If you are a transferware junkie like me, you must visit Nancy, at Nancy's Daily Dish. Her dishes are to die for! Tell her Mary sent you. :)

Now let's have some mosaic fun! Here are the instructions:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.

My Mess

You do this, right? Start to change out the dishes on your dining room hutch cabinet, and then get caught up with some other task... and pile the dishes on the dining room table, where they sit for the next week... you do this, right?

Please tell me I'm not the only messy one here.

But what is really pathetic (don't tell anyone!) is that I'll probably dust around the dishes at least once before I get my rear in gear and put them away.

*Sigh*

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Are you ready for another Mosaic Monday? Gosh, I am so not ready, and really late visiting you all! So if you don't mind, I may have to peek and run today. :)

Mr. Linky will be up by 8:30pm Eastern time Sunday night. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your beautiful mosaics with all of us!

Season of Mists

I was so excited to wake up to a beautiful misty morning yesterday. I just love a good mist! At this time of year, it always reminds me of the Keats poem, Ode to Autumn: "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness..."

These photos were taken at my favorite park, Natirar. I know I've shown you lots of other images from Natirar -- it's my favorite place to walk, and also one of my favorite places to take pictures.

I spent three hours walking the trails and stopping to take pictures every couple of minutes. I saw chickadees and spider's webs, and a whole flock of wild turkeys. As the mist burned off, the sun turned all the leaves golden. It was such a beautiful morning!

I'm linking this post to Cindy's Show & Tell Friday. Thank you so much, Cindy, for being such a gracious hostess. :)

I'm also linking to My Story/Fall at iheartfaces.

Renegade

Ah, October! When the days get cooler, we start to crave heartier fare -- soups, stews, roasts. And being the perverse renegade that I am, (I'll bet you didn't know that about me) I always make one final salute to the bounty of summer.

I read a story in the New York Times last week about whole wheat pasta. Now, I've always been a traditionalist where pasta is concerned. When I was little, I refused to eat any pasta except my mother's (renegade, remember?). I distinctly recall turning my nose up at a neighbor's spaghetti -- she used tomato soup instead of good homemade tomato sauce!

Even as a child, I knew that tomato soup was not meant to dress pasta.

So having read the story about the new, tastier versions of whole wheat pasta, I decided to give it a try. While I boiled the cooking water, I roasted some zucchini, onions and grape tomatoes in the oven with extra virgin olive oil and salt. When the pasta was al dente, I drained it and mixed it with the vegetables, and topped the dish with freshly grated Romano cheese.

Delicious!

So that was my salute to the end of summer vegetables, and the widening of my horizons to include whole wheat pasta. (And probably the widening of my waistline, too.)

But after all, keeping up my renegade reputation entails some sacrifice, no? ;)

Mosaic Monday: All the Leaves are Brown

I'm using a mosaic that you have already seen here sometime in the past. I'm having some computer and Photoshop problems that I'll have to try to resolve tomorrow, so bear with me this week.

Whenever I look at these images, that old song California Dreamin' goes through my mind... "All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray..." I guess I'm having a reaction against all the oranges and reds and golds that I've been posting for the past few weeks. :)

Now let's have some mosaic fun! Here are the instructions:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.

The Little Tole Tray

Once upon a time, there was a little rectangular tole tray. It had pretty roses and daylilies and daisies painted on it. It lived in a dusty old antiques shop.

But one day, a nice lady came in and oohed and ahhed over the tole tray. She said, "You should come home and live in my Little Red House!"

And it did. And it liked it!

The End.

I'm linking this post to Cindy's Show & Tell Friday. Thanks, Cindy, for being such a sweet host!

Artsy

No, don't adjust your monitor. Or reach for your reading glasses.

It's just me being artsy. :)

The colors on our maple tree have deepened in the last day or two.

And I just wanted to share the beauty with you. Happy Wednesday, dear bloggers!