The good, the beautiful, the what??

Little late on posting for this week. I unloaded four boxes on Tuesday, I know I said one or two a day, but I just couldn't help my self. So here are the treasures from earlier this week!

The first BIG box. What could it be??

Ahhh ...statuary!

This statue is from Italy!


Next is this heavy bubble wrapped item. What could it be??

This is St.Francis, Patron Saint of animals. Here is a little exerpt from Wikipedia on St.Francis ~ "It is said that, one day, while Francis was traveling with some companions, they happened upon a place in the road where birds filled the trees on either side. Francis told his companions to "wait for me while I go to preach to my sisters the birds". The birds surrounded him, drawn by the power of his voice, and not one of them flew away. Francis spoke to them:
My sister birds, you owe much to God, and you must always and in everyplace give praise to Him; for He has given you freedom to wing through the sky and He has clothed you... you neither sow nor reap, and God feeds you and gives you rivers and fountains for your thirst, and mountains and valleys for shelter, and tall trees for your nests. And although you neither know how to spin or weave, God dresses you and your children, for the Creator loves you greatly and He blesses you abundantly. Therefore... always seek to praise God."My family always had one or six somewhere in their yard and garden. I am SO glad that I finally have my own!


Funny little story ...the blue dot on St.Francis. When my uncle had passed away, two years ago, I flew back home to California for his funeral. While there I wanted to help my parents with his house. Fold clothes, pack up the kitchen, etc. While there my mom said "take these blue dots and place them on the items you would like to have". So as I am unpacking, I am starting to find some items with blue dots still on them. Again, kind of bitter sweet, but I am going to keep them to see how many I will collect by the time I'm done.


This is a lazy susan dish from Japan. I just love the color, and the size. The one I already have is pretty small, this will be great for parties.


I don't know the proper term for this item, but my uncle would have it on his dinning room table FULL of flowers. You can see the black "pot" where you can put in a florist sponge, and arrange a hardy flower arrangement. The brass body is very heavy, yet has delicate flowers on the side.


Next is this HUGE old hand painted tray. You can see the "large" fork below it to put it to scale. It really needs a good cleaning, but I think it would be lovely as a wall hanging.


This next box I call "the box of oddities". It had some mis-matched items that were from his kitchen. Some of the items were newer. Uncle Bill and I love shopping at the same places, particularly Pottery Barn, Bombay Co., and World Market (our favorite). The bowl and plate set were from World Market, the rest of the items were probably from the 60s-70s. All of these items will still be used none the less!




Now, I have saved the last two boxes (that I unpacked that day) for last. The first one is the box-o-lamps, now they are a little dusty, I just got too excited and snapped some pics. So please mind the dust!

This first one just needs a lamp shade. It will be perfect for Brint's library. I love the lamp toper (sitting in front of the lamp), very Roman-esc!

I love this next one. It's flower is shaped like a Lilly of the Valley, just with deep colors.


This is my second favorite. I love the lilly pad base, I love the deep carmel tube flowers, how warm it looks on, and how great it looks on my new chippendale desk.



Now onto the last box. The box-o-books. There was something for everyone.




We loved every book, but we did have our favorites. Brint's was the Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson books.

I loved the World cookbook from the 50s. It had amazing (mostly do-able) recipes from places like Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, France, UK, etc. My plan is to make some of the items from Austria, like strudel, turnovers, and items from France, like croissants. Since my Uncle Bill and Walter made them in their swiss bakery, I thought it would be fun to make them and serve them on the Blue Danube plates, I now have, that they use to serve to us.


Well that's it for last week, I will be working on a couple more boxes tomorrow. So stay tuned!!