Curiouser and Curiouser

And for a week that ended up going in all kinds of directions ... the first picture at least is pretty typical.  I found this beautiful small quilt with an appliqued design and made from civil war era reproduction fabric when I worked at the Grove last week. So here it is on our bed. 

From there it got curiouser and curiouser ... here I am with Shirley at Treasures on Monday,  

she brought in some very fun crafts she'd made for Halloween. The proceeds from which will go to Trevor and Nell's Christmas charity in Mexico.  Isn't she curiously adorable?  She loves crafting so much that last year's crafts need a new home.  This is the second time she has donated them to be sold for the Feliz Navidad project. 

She also found a Navajo doll to take home.  She grew up with an Indian Placement sister and learned to love the culture. 

I just love this, 'back in the day' picture of Ashley and Kim, that Ashley shared with me, from when they were first working together after Kim got out of high school, about 5 years ago, 

And while I was slaving away at the antique mall Dad was hanging out with the other missionaries at Mosida, where they sprayed on a heavy-duty varnish on the carts.

Here we see Ron spraying the upended cards, sort of a curious sight, don't you think?

 

And here the owner of Moons Rare Books, Ried meets with the actor who plays Judas in the Chosen in his store in Provo.

He shows him a piece of silver from the time when the real Judas received 30 of these for betraying Jesus. I thought that was pretty curious. 

And here's a picture of what happened to one dog ... My English Staffordshire Spaniel has found a new home.

Back at work on Wednesday, I got some pictures of many of Shirley's items ...

as I had brought in the cabinet of curiosities that I made on Tuesday night while watching TV with Dad.

Here is Shirley's steam punk owl grater.

a sweet little Halloween item. 

and speaking of curious ... I've always wondered about this photo ....

and speaking of curiosities, weren't we? I love the Halloween goodies that this small craft and antique shop in California produces.  The shop is called the Theater of Dreams.

She calls these her curiosity kits. 

And these are reliquaries that their small workshop produces.  

and speaking of curiouser and curiouser ... Brittany worked her magic again, putting together an Alice in Wonderland event at Charlies Dance school ...

With none other than the Mad Hatter himself ...

Of course, Charley was bound to have more fun than anyone.

and speaking of curious, I'm sure we were, I took in some zucchini babies to work on Thursday to help them find new homes ... meet Zoey, Zach and Zane Zuch ...  and they did find new homes. 

and while at work, I produced another curiosity, with this haunted house cloche to sell at the mall. 

And it's not curious at all, that between Monday and Thursday all but 2 or 3 of Shirley's items had sold.  This is two piles for two different customers, who were buying her goodies at the same time.  Of course, I was able to score of couple of goodies as well.

I also worked on my book booth, which is sort of my project du jour. I am having a blast collecting and inspecting and sorting them all. 

Here's another shot. Me obsessing about books, nothing curious, about that. 

Then it was back to Salem Pond for some Kayaking ...  These ducks had taken over the beach where we launch the kayaks ... that was a first.

Then Ann brought a new friend, nothing new or curious about that either. 

It was curious, however, when we were out on

 the pond, a big chunk of the shoreline broke off and was floating in the pond.  I guess it had been undercut by water movement, but it seems strange to see this little island in the pond that was about 6 ft  by 2 feet floating along. We named it Ann's Island.  Here I am behind the 'island'.

We also saw a bird I had never seen before, a Belted King Fisher, the first photo shows him flying the second is an identifying picture from a web site.  How fun is that.

Here another fun Halloween curiosity, I found online.

Another curious thing happened at work this week.  On Thursday a dealer was moving out of one of his booths and was helter-skelter tossing stuff in the dumpster. So, after he left Nikki and I went out and fished out the things that he hadn't broken.  There were 3 carts full.  I came into the shop, after kayaking on Friday to play dibs on the goods with Nikki.  We ended up with a cartload for Nikki, one for me and one for DI.  She called me later to say that several of her claimed items had other dealer's number on them, including her own.  Yikes. 

The picture above is of Craig and Clint helping Gretchen put a cast iron sink into its stand while I was there.   I love how these two guys do so much to help us all. 

Later I had a toenail art appointment with the artist, Eleanor. 

Me and you and a puppy too ... thanks Eleanor. 

That evening Dad and I met Trevor and Nell at the J Kirk Richards studio for the business card size art show.  This is the first painting I admired, so Dad, knowing that we had each bought a painting of hers in the past, her name is Courtney Lunt, he chose it as a keeper.

I loved these little renaissances-esque  paintings, and bought the one on the right. 

Last of all, from the little lady portrait category, I bought this one.  I think I got one of this artist's works last year, I'm not sure if you can tell but it has gold leaf on the top of the work. 

Here are the collectors themselves ...

These are the numbers of our purchases. 

So much fun, I love my little savings account to buy original art, it never seems like an extravagance. 

Then it was time to head to SLC and hang out with some pretty girls.  Here we are with Darby, our daughter, and Kim, our granddaughter at Market Street grill. 

Where Ashley and Kim were working.  Sitting at the bar was a lot of fun.

Oh, how I love this girl!!

Thanks for a fabulous idea, Darby, and for a delicious dinner. 

After some garaging on Saturday, I got out my Halloween goodies from Shirley and added them to the mantel.

Then I ran over to Walmart and when I came out, I saw a curious site, this funny crow with a big piece of red candy.  He was so pleased with himself.  I wish I had been able to get a better picture, but he was just sure I was going to steal his treat and kept hopping away. 

I printed and laminated a fleaology poster for all the parade comers to see tomorrow. 

While Dad worked on the final section of the north wall of the lodge framing. He put up three sections this week and the other one last Saturday.  I'm sure he found the structure of our 20-year-old twisted wisteria vine to be dauntingly curious in its formation, as he clipped and cut and unwound the thing to make room for the new wall. 

Wow, what a guy!  The goal is to have it done for Thanksgiving dinner. 

But he was rewarded for all the hard work he put in this week with a little Penny and Daddy date to the BYU game with Sam Housten University. 

Look how much fun they packed in, especially Penny. 

And again, in the category of curious, as I was sorting through the estate I bought last week, I found a postmortem tin type.  The little girl was probably 8 to 10 when she passed away.  These are pretty rare and go for a lot on Ebay, but I am thinking I will use it in the cabinet of curiosities that I plan to make for me. 

And speaking of cabinets, I worked my head off on this cabinet this week, and last week, and the week before.  My gosh, I have never seen varnish that was so hard to get off.  Here it is in place and ready to be waxed.  Since it is going to be the show case for seasonal decor, I decided to move in my curiosities from Shirley, as well as a few other things ... it's not complete, but here's a start. 

And that does it for our fun and curious week.  We hope you did and saw some things that made you wonder at the world we live in too.  We love you all and hope for the best for you and your families.