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Welcome to American Homestead. I'm happy you have found my blog. Make yourself comfy and see what's been happening around here. I write about the things that interest me ~ creativity, travel, food, nature and a happy life. I'd love to read your comments.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

The Little Fox


Every time I visit my family in Grand Haven, Michigan
I buy one of these etched wooden utensils.  I do this for
a variety of reasons:

1. I like wooden utensils.
2. I like to support small businesses.
3. I love the folky, funky designs.



The reason I purchased this particular utensil was based
on something that had happened to me the day before I
was in Grand Haven.  I was driving along a road near the
area where I hike and I thought I saw a baby kitten in the
grass on someone's lawn.  Then I realized, that wasn't a 
cat!  It was a baby fox!  I reversed the car and went back 
to the spot but I could only see the spot in the lawn that
must be the "foxhole".  The baby was no longer sticking 
its head out.  I figured I better not go investigate because
Mommy or Daddy fox might not like that.

Now I will think of that little fox whenever I use this
wooden utensil.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Silver Haul!


It's that time of year when the garage sales start up and 
I'm always ready to go treasure hunting.  A church near 
my house was having a rummage sale and I stopped in to
look around.  I saw this bag of silverware marked $5.


The first thing I noticed was this server that was
sitting on top of all the other items.  I thought the
rest of the bag was probably filled with assorted
forks, knives and spoons but I was interested in the
server.  In an antique store this item alone would 
probably cost at least $15 so I figured $5 was a 
good deal.


When I got to the car I looked in the bag and laughed.
I guess someone else likes butter knives as much as
I do!  I use butter knives often and not just for butter,
when I serve triple cream brie or other soft cheeses
or dips, I like to give each person their own knife.
When I was a little girl I always liked to use the butter
knife from my Mum's silver set ~ it just made the meal
more special.

While watching a movie this afternoon I got them all
polished and looking beautiful.


They are mostly silverplate but I did find some 
sterling.  There are even a few that match
 ~ not that that matters...


I love the little shields on this set of 6, perhaps I
should have them engraved with our initial.


These two will go to someone I know with the
initial B.


There was even one M ~ made just for us!

Friday, May 6, 2016

Mid-Century Atomic Snowflake


While I was out treasure hunting recently, I came
across this Mid-Century Meat Platter by Inland Glass.
I took a photo and sent it to Kate saying, "too bad you 
are a vegetarian, this would have been perfect for you."
She asked, "would I have to use it for meat?"  I figured,
no, you could serve anything on it so I got it for her.
This is not just a perfect find because she likes this sort
of style but also if you notice the edging is in black and
gold and Kate is a proud Purdue graduate and those
Boilmakers are wild about their school colors.  This
pattern is known as the Atomic Snowflake which I
find wildly amusing.  It is so Mid-Century.  I'm (luckily)
too young to have had A Bomb drills in my childhood
classrooms, we only had firedrills.  But I remember my
siblings talking about air raid drills where they were 
told to get under their desks.  Ah ~ the good old days!


It also came with a stand so you could keep your
dinner warm with candles under the platter.  I guess
it's good Kate is a vegetarian since our modern tea 
light candles don't fit...