Souvenirs, Fall, and What's Next - For the Love of Old

I’ll confess the only outdoor decorations this year for fall are 4 pots with dead flowers in them. I’m so ashamed!!! The husband and I managed to get the dead stuff pulled from the pots last night in preparation for our first frost. It will make it easier for holiday decorating. I always wait to pull the stuff when the ground is frozen! Doesn’t work to well!!!

It occurred to me that a couple of posts ago I promised to show you my souvenir from my trip to MN over the summer. Can you guess what it is? If you’ve been with me for a while, you know how I feel about “souvenirs”. Hate Them!!! I prefer something to help me remember a place in time. An investment piece, that I know I will love forever.

I was sitting in the Parlor of the James J Hill house waiting for our tour, looking thru my photos, and decided yes, I had to have it. That meant fighting the terrible traffic thru MPLS again, but my sister was game and so was I. It’s an antique oil painting. I didn’t buy it right away because, I didn’t like the frame. Though I knew the frame to be original. It is a Big Girl Painting. A landscape. I have never owned a landscape! I think I have finally grown into it!!!

I thought it would go downstairs in the LL room but after trying it in a few places it just wasn’t the right vibe for down there. That frame again! So it ended up in the living room where my other painting rested, Approaching Calcutta. It is now downstairs. This painting is a bit small to hold the wall, and I’m not satisfied with the arrangement yet but, I’ll figure it out eventually. It does need to be cleaned but, there is something about the muddiness, that appeals to me. I took a piece of white bread to it and it did come away with a bit of residue without harming the painting. I have a picture light which it definitely needs but, I haven’t gotten to it yet.

The painting prompted a few changes in the kitchen and living room. A pair of antique poultry prints got moved into the living room on a small wall, and the Owl that was temporarily residing there got moved to where the poultry prints were.

This was a good switch. The size of these prints are more appropriate to the wall space in the living room.

This handsome owl I picked up at Monticello right after I had added the granite countertops. I loved the play. When we added the picture frame molding to the kitchen, he was a bit big for the space. Now I feel like it doesn’t matter, I still like him there.

That’s about the extent of the fall decorating. Now I am working down stairs trying to get things prepared for the Holiday’s. I am having a Nibbles and Sips open house in December. The cubby is currently trashed waiting for Holiday splendor as well as the table.