my life in color: July 2010

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Tidbits

* My daylilies are blooming...

I love them.. easy to take care of and fabulous blooms.

* Ooohhh.. I'm smitten.. ;)
Have you been to the Smitten Kitchen yet?
Take your time to browse.. just don't do it hungry.. so many fantastic recipes. I'm making several for Saara's party.

I made this Scalloped tomatoes with croutons the other day and it was d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s beyond words.

* Over the summer I've visited a few flea markets and thrift shops searching for treasures. One is this aluminum cake pan. I have one just like it, that was my grandma's but someone put it in the dishwasher..!! Aluminum and dishwashers DO NOT mix. I can't use it for baking anymore. Luckily I found a replacement for 20 cents :D My grandma used to bake banana bread and a spicy cake in this one, it is the only pan to use for banana bread in my house.

* Speaking of the dishwasher.. it broke. Hmmpphh..
I bet it heard us talking about replacing it...

* It's still hot.. and even hotter...

* Luckily raspberries are in season.. food of gods..

* The kids were really impressed with my silver polishing skills... technically the two big items are not silver but something we call "new silver" which is a mix of copper, nickel and zinc, looks very much like silver, it was widely used in my grandparents' time. It also tarnishes like something crazy.. so I gave them the old aluminum foil, salt and hot water bath.. it really works like a charm. Very good to impress kids with. The bowl is a thrift shop find.

I love the mix of spoons....

Third prize from what , I wonder?

My great-grandmother's sugar spoon.

Her name was Fanny Tunturi.

This was my grandma's. I still need to find a glass that fits inside, that's broken over the years. Such a pretty little vase .

The silver will be used at Saara's party, it'll be a tea party of the Wonderland kind.

* Other decorations for the party involve doilies and lace.

One of the doilies I've made into a bowl for sweets.

I've also finally found use for this lovely stash of vintage lace, most of it crocheted by my grandma and her sisters.

They are the base for this garland.

My mom's initials from an old pillow case.

Saara's old turqoise skirt, my old lace shirt, and that gold fabric.. well I remember my grandma had a skirt and a vest out of it in the 70's ;)

And these amazing beaded bits were a gift from my Friend Suzanne in Oregon.

Yes, we have teacups. And coffee cups. And no two are alike!

I glued some of my thrift finds together.

And made use of some odds and ends I've had stashed away for far too long. This will be a bohemian thrifty party.

Today I got a great idea involving frames... keep tuned in.

* I have lovely lovely flowers waiting for in the basement. I'll be turning them into something wonderful for a Saturday wedding! I'll show you on Sunday, not a minute before. I promised the bride :)

Friday, July 23, 2010

Inspiroidu #117 - a summer memory

-Brunette-

Many a summer were spent on Brunette in my childhood, our beautiful mahogany sailboat my Dad built.
People remembered us by our spinacle sail that was the ugliest ever.. black and orange :) I promise you there has never been an uglier color combo sailing on the Baltic Sea, LOL!

Day 6- Visiting history

The plan was, that before we turn the car towards Paris, we'd find a nice spot by the sea for lunch.
Looking at the map I started recognizing names of small villages... and then realized we were right where D-Day action took place in 1944.
Vicious battles were fought on these fields...

That is the town of Carentan, a place I remember from watching the tv-series Band of Brothers.. if you haven't seen that series, do. I highly recommend it as a great history lesson.

(I only realized a couple photos later that my light metering was waaaaaayyyy off... still in last night's settings LOL)

We ended up by the sea.

On the westernmost of the landing beaches, Utah Beach.

A lovely, breezy, fairly quiet place on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean.

Five kilometers of beach.
On June 6th 1944 nearly 24 00 American troops landed here with only about 200 casualties. Far far less than some miles east on Omaha Beach...

Still.. eating a picnic lunch on the rocks I couldn't but wonder...

How difficult it must have been with those high banks to conquer...

The tide was going out and what happened was this...

The longer you stood in one spot, the deeper in the sand you went :)

It was a good place to stop and ponder, but it was time to hop back in the car.

And after seeing one sign, we decided there was still time for one detour.

As Saara will be studying WWII next semester, I thought it was a good time to give her an idea of the proportion of casualties in just that one place.

This amazing view is right above Omaha Beach where 3000 American soldiers were killed on D-day.

The Normandy American Cemetery and memorial contains the remains of 9,387 American military dead, most of whom were killed during the invasion of Normandy and the following military operations in World War II.

There's a path from the cemetery down to the beach...
Certainly a place that makes you quiet.

The inscription on the graves of the unknown soldiers read: Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God.

The rows of marble crosses with occasional stars of David.

I have never visited a cemetery more immaculately kept.

Not one blade of grass in the wrong place.

(there weren't that many visitors right then, so I was able to take photos with no people in them.. just the way I wanted)

I'm so glad we stopped.

There are some things you need to see to understand.

So you can appreciate what the past generations have endured.

If you are ever in Normandy, don't drive past this place.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Day 5, part II - Saint-Malô

On the scenic route...
I kept smelling the sweet scent of this rose that I took along from the parking lot..

Driving finally by the sea we saw something cool.

Looked like a perfect spot to park and go sea shell hunting anyway :)

There's the rental..

The beach in this small town of Hirel was very very windy..

The sea had gone somewhere far far away...

..and left behind sea shells and more sea shells.

Saara and Mika wanted to try the beach sailing while Niina and I opted to walk towards the sea.

We decided to turn back when the finer than fine silt mud started getting stuck in between our toes LOL!

So we found a good spot to watch these two cart around the beach.

They had a blast!

After the hour and then some on the beach I understood why the shoreline was filled with these old windmills.. it never stopped blowing.. it was soo nice..

But back to the car and towards Saint-Malô, and especially the old town surrounded by tall stone walls (this is where our GPS would have had us drive through a few..)

We walked up the wall and started walking and what did we discover?

A beach!

Back to the car we went and the girls changed into their swimsuits and grabbed the towels.

They were loving it!

Aaahh yes... something very necessary.

At this point someone mentioned my back was really red.. When I had applied (and reapplied) the spray, I had forgotten I was wearing a shirt that is open in the back. Ouch. I burnt it good.. couldn't sleep on my back for two days...

Did I tell her the wave would come over her head?

No.. that would have spoilt the fun.. ;)

Now this pic was taken up from the wall before we went down. They've built this "pool" of sorts so some water is retained during low tide. The photo was taken at 16:39.

Now look at that tower... the tide was coming in.

These pics were taken at 17:19, 17:23 and 17:53.
By the the 1st pic in this trio the girls were unable to find the wall...

The beach kept getting smaller and smaller...

The girls dried up, changed and de-sanded. We then opted to drive back to Dinan for dinner, so we never did have the chance to look around the old town.

But the beach was worth it, just ask the girls!