Lucky

This past weekend was a quiet one here at Low Tide High Style.  On Saturday we ventured out to run errands and took Misty Belle and Mr. Quinn to a local boardwalk for some fun and socialization.  It felt good to be feeling well enough to venture out of my house and to be among people again.  I'm a people person through and through, so being cooped up for too long is never a good thing for me.

We also managed to watch two movies this weekend.  One was a recommendation from Kate at Chronicles of a Country Girl.  The movie was called A Very Long Engagement starring one of my favorite actresses, Audrey Tautou.  This movie was beautifully done and had quite a powerful story line, parts of it are not for the faint of heart, but it's well worth seeing.  The other movie, Stone of Destiny, was also a foreign film, but without subtitles.  It is the story about the Scottish Stone of Destiny that was taken by the British centuries ago, and how in the 1950s a group of university students attempted to return it to Scotland.  This film was wonderful, and I highly recommend it as well.

On a totally different note, I thought I would show you this pretty teacup.  I love this china pattern, it's called Bianca and it's made by Wedgwood.  It is one of the china patterns Wedgwood created exclusively for Colonial Williamsburg and it's only on loan to me.  It actually belongs to my daughter, she inherited it from my mother and one day when she has her own home I know it will have a happy home with her.  My mother had a bit of a dish addiction, though she actually did use everything she owned since she and my father loved to entertain, so they had 24 place settings of this particular china.  The set was split in two, and now my daughter and my niece each have 12 place settings.

Speaking of entertaining or having friends over, sometimes we luck out and have wonderful neighbors.  We have been fortunate to have had great neighbors in every house we've lived in so far.  When we moved into this house almost 4 years ago we weren't that sad about leaving our old house, but we were very sad to leave our next door neighbors "A" & "C".  Thankfully we didn't move that far, and we still get together with them for dinner.  They are both retired now and they take the most amazing vacations, so we love having them over to our house, or when we go to theirs to see the photos from their latest adventure.  So far they've been to Africa, Australia, Antarctica,  the Galapagos, China, Europe, and more.  Their next big trip was supposed to take them to Egypt, but I think they will wait a bit until things have settled down over in that part of the world.

When we bought our house we quickly realized that we were once again blessed with wonderful neighbors, especially our closest neighbor "J".  She is a wonderful woman who has raised 6 great children and she has a heart of gold, gives sound advice, and has a work ethic like no one I've ever met.  She has worked hard all of her life, first as a nurse, and now by giving back to the community delivering Meals on Wheels, cooking at our Hospice House, and as a docent at a local historic property.

And she always has whatever I need...eggs, milk, tomato paste, or whatever I'm out of midway through making something!  When you live a long way from the closest grocery store, it's nice to have well stocked neighbors!

Today, when Mr. Tide was out with the dogs, our neighbor "J" met him at the gate and handed him something she said was for me.  It was a lovely bunch of tulips, in the most beautiful shade of lipstick pink!  When I called to thank her she said they were because I had made her dinner recently when she underwent knee surgery.  She is just so thoughtful like that, and we feel so lucky to have her living next door.  That's how neighbors should be, doing things for one another...just because.

It was actually serendipitous that she gave me a bunch of tulips today.  You see, yesterday I wandered around a few big box stores and eyed their tulips before talking myself out of them.  I don't know why I did, normally I jump at the chance to pick up a bouquet of fresh flowers, but I convinced myself that every spare penny I have needs to be put aside to go towards a new camera, so I didn't buy any.

Also, as luck would have it, when we stopped by to check on a few things at my parent's house I wandered into the laundry room and spied this vase sitting on a shelf.  It was full of spiderwebs and not looking particularly lovely, but I didn't want it to end up being taken to the thrift store, so I grabbed it.

It's not a valuable vase, it's actually carnival glass made by a company called Northwood, which was quite a big name in carnival glass once upon a time.  It is done in the feather pattern and the color is called amethyst.  I love its luminescence and the rainbow effect it has when the light hits it just right.  I read online last night that the Victorians often collected this type of glass and grouped it together atop mirrors positioning it under the gas lamps in their homes as a way of adding shine and beauty to their centerpieces.  I haven't seen this vase against candlelight, but I can imagine that it would be beautiful under that sort of lighting.

So not only did I luck into finding this vase, which has been in my family for years...maybe since the early 1900s when this pattern first appeared, but I also received a beautiful bouquet of flowers to fill it with...lucky me!

I also have these old flower frogs which I inherited from my mother, and a few I've found.  I love these heavy lead frogs and I prefer to look at them rather than put them in a vase to hold flowers.

Often times I use them to display vintage cards or old photographs.  They are great for that purpose.  They weight a ton though, so if you drop one on your bare feet you will likely have a nasty wound or a broken toe.  I've had a few near misses over time, so now I try not to carry too many at one time...lesson learned!

When I created my little tulip vignette which is just in time for Valentine's Day, I decided to add my little embroidered heart pillow.  I've had this pillow for years and I don't even know where I originally purchased it, but I still love it and pull it out around this time each year.  It is made of a beautiful cream colored linen and has a delicate vine and floral pattern embroidered along the edge to accentuate the heart shape.

And speaking of lucky, I want to announce the winner of my note card Giveaway.  I also want to thank those of you who have ordered from my new Etsy Store and to let you all know that I am now also selling sets of cards that feature 4 cards all in the same pattern in addition to the 4 card assortment.  You can click HERE to see more.  I hope to be placing an order for more cards with different photos in the near future.

The winner of the gift card giveaway is Pondside!  Pondside is a long time follower and as you might have guessed she lives along side a beautiful pond in Canada with her family and a darling Cairn Terrier!  Congratulations, just drop me a quick email with your address and I'll pop the cards in the mail to you this week!

I hope each of you have had a little unexpected luck lately, and I wish all of you a very Happy Valentine's Day!