Ivy Covered Cottage

I took this photo of my friend's outbuilding last year. The ivy had gotten a little out of control and was completely covering two windows on one side. The next time you see a beautiful ivy-covered house with all the windows in plain view you can rest assured that lots of clipping and trimming was involved. Isn't maintenance never ending? I've been washing windows for the past three days and the fun is beginning to wear off. Now it is seeming more like work . . . but the end result is going to be spectacular.



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Fly-Off-The-Plate Pancakes | Illustrated Recipe

[click image to enlarge]
THEY DRAW AND COOK
Daily postings of illustrated recipes by artists from around the world.

They Draw & Cook is such a cool website. Each day an illustrated recipe is posted that was submitted by an artist or illustrator. They are having a contest too. These posts are being turned into a published book and all illustrated recipes submitted by October 10th will be considered for publication. If you have a great recipe and artistic talent as well, you should enter. Let me know if you do.

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Cats Love A Good Back Scratch

I've had a request for more cat posts. I scanned this photo from one of my books. I'm always open to suggestions from my readers.



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Chestnuts

My chestnuts are falling but most are still covered with their extremely prickly shells. I've been waiting until after the rain to rake them off my driveway. Poor Webster must have stepped on one and yesterday he was limping. He seems fine today after a "puppy feet" treatment before bed last night. I rubbed his paws with A&D ointment and they got so nice and soft. We won't go near those dangerous things today. I'll probably rake them up when I get home from my weekly office meeting. See you later.

Image from Pixdaus.



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Somewhere There Are Hollyhocks

A friend gave me some of her hollyhock seeds. Should I plant them now? Please advise. They are such wonderful old-fashioned flowers. image from Flickr



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Goodbye Cathy (comic strip) | Ack!!!

"Cathy is a comic strip drawn by Cathy Guisewite" Her last strip was published yesterday after a 34-year run. The real Cathy is no longer single and she's going to be a mom. Hopefully she will want to entertain us with her new point of view once the dust settles. I think she will and hope she does. Fingers crossed.

While we're on this subject of the funny papers, did you know that on this day in 1931 the Dick Tracy comic strip, created by cartoonist Chester Gould, debuted in The Detroit Mirror?

The next week, The New York Daily News and hundreds of others newspapers picked up the syndicated series. Gould wrote and drew the strip until 1977 for a long run of 46 years.
Source: This Day in Geek History: October 4

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Handwriting Lessons for Children

Learning to write isn't easy. I have such admiration for the community of homeschooling parents facing this struggle now that the school year is well under way. Hopefully the following links will help.

Download these cursive flashcards here.

Online cursive lessons with animation.

I also found a site where you can download and print your own lined penmanship paper and regular notebook paper as well. Don't worry -- it's free.

Download lined penmanship paper here.

You can also download other things from this site. Look for the section that looks like the photo above at the top of the page under the large red title.

I have blogged about handwriting in the past and these links continue to attract viewers. I thought it was time to post them again so you don't have to dig so deep to find them.
First image ©Mary Engelbreit scanned from one of my books.



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Elaborate Shower Fixture Circa 1916

Everything old is new again. I photographed this from one of my architectural books. Caption reads: "At the Barrett House in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, a new bathing room was constructed shortly before 1916 to receive this elaborate shower bath with multiple controls that would have sent water all around the bather." What a wonderful classic beauty.

The Barrett House (circa 1800), also known as Forest Hall, is a Federal style American mansion located on Main Street. This nonprofit museum operated by Historic New England is open to the public several days a year. Read more. If you visit, ask to see the bathing room.

I washed the windows on one French door today inside and out; 15 panes x2 = 30 windows. I look at these windows and feel faint.

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