Of Mirror, Delft, an Oil Painting, Bird Feeder, and More

This winter has been a long one and I don't know what I would have done, without my being able to go thrifting for bargains?! Now the sun is out, and tho it is still nippy, I have been ranging about the countryside enjoying the wildlife and scenery. Spring is in the air and the wildlife has been amazing to see. I snapped a few good shots right from my yard.

This pair of Bald Eagles were just up the hill from my house, and thanks to my brother in-law who spotted them, we were able to get some nice pictures. They were certainly enjoying themselves, and canoodling in the treetops. They were watching the sunset as were we.

Also in residence are several turkeys, my son snapped this one, and also took some video of it with the new camera. It was busily eating the seeds from the grass. He took this right from the window of my new studio and I must say it is a delightful place to watch the local wildlife.

I snapped this quick pic of a Western Tanager from our back stoop, using the new camera. It was a bit far away for the lens attached, so zoomed in the bird is a tiny bit out of focus. I am sure to improve as I go along, as this new camera is amazing.

Just in time for spring, I found this lovely hand painted wood framed mirror, painted by Shirley E. in December of 1992. Thank you Shirley, for surely you have talent. I love your design of rose petals and rose hips in delicate pink, with the lovely ribbon of blue. This mirror is such fun, but man a livin' did I have a time trying to take a picture of it while keeping reflections out of the mirror. It was worth the effort tho and I hope it inspires those of you with this type of talent to get out your paint boxes and go for it. I paid $6.99 and felt it was worth every penny.

 My son was with me on this day and he found this lovely oil painting by Yarlekovich painted in 2008. You would think with a rare name like Yarlekovich this painter would be easy to figure out. No such luck. So Yarlekovich, whoever you are, we thank you for your talent in painting. We love the colors and the subject, and thought it looked like a Bob Ross study in seascapes. I paid $2.99 for this painting and it was well worth it. It would have cost me more for the blank canvas.

 I picked out this lovely pottery piece for my son, as I loved the cedar sprig on the lid, the color blue, and the clever spoon holder on its side. Now I don't know what these things are called, or even if they have a special name for them?! I just thought it well done and beautiful. For some reason I feel like I have seen this type of pottery design before, at one of our local festivals?! But can't seem to place it. The cedar sprig on the lid, is what makes me think it is local. I could not track down that vague mark, but whoever made it, I know we will enjoy it. I paid $6.99 for the lidded mug/honey pot/ jam jar?!

Into every life a little Delft should fall. When I saw this cute little doll house sized Delft bathtub it so reminded me of the Doll House my mother in-law used to have. It was all decked out and even had little lights that lit up. She let the grandchildren play with it carefully and was so proud of it and all of its tiny furnishings. She even made tiny little woven rugs to put on its floors. I know she would have loved this little bathtub, even if it is a bit larger scale than her house could use. I know this is just vintage Delft and not really that old, but it makes up for it on the cuteness scale and so I took it home with me. It was just $2.99 and was worth it for the pleasant memories it invoked alone. Those were such lovely times.

Here is a durable bird feeder by Wild Birds Unlimited. By all accounts on Foogle, it is a good feeder for tough conditions. They are still sold by the Wild Birds Unlimited and are known as the EcoTough® Classic Too Feeder. The fact they are made of recycled plastic, like the Trex deck on our old house in Hood River, means it won’t crack, fade, or rot. It has a capacity of 1.25 quarts of seed, which is just the right amount for my space. 
I will probably have to sweep up the hulls every day until I can figure out a better way to catch them tho. It gets tricky here on how to feed just the songbirds, because of the deer, raccoons, squirrels, and wild turkeys. Just to name a few marauding animals. I think this feeder is pretty expensive, tho I couldn't find a price for one on any of the store sites for this product. Seems the company has these stores as franchises and doesn't have a standard price, (at least that is what I gather), because I tried to look at them on several sites, but they wanted me to log in, (or give practically a dna sample), before I could go to the order page and see a price. I am not into doing that, so no go on the real price. I paid $6.99 and can highly recommend you keep an eye out for one at your local thrift store, as they look very well made. Maybe you too will get lucky?!

There is something about a quilt book that just hits all the right buttons. I want to sit down immediately upon seeing one and devour its contents. The potential for creative beauty just leaps to my mind and I can't wait to get to a quiet place where I can contemplate its many delights. This was just such a book and tho it cost $3.99 it had a yellow matching day tag,which made it just $1.99. To make my day even happier it was Wednesday, so I got another $2.00 off for my senior discount. Not only could I delight in its pages I could delight in its low cost. A thing my Scots blood is always happy with.