March Enters Like a Lion…

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~ Charles Dickens

Washington, DC's "Snowmeggadon 2010" from Cassandra's dining room window...

Lovely Silver



Antique silverplate flatware and servingware can be a beautiful addition to a table setting. Affordable examples can be found at estate sales, flea markets and antique malls. In the late 19th century, silversmiths, especially in the U.S., began fashioning fancy flatware to fit a particular dish. There are special pieces for serving olives, tomatoes, asparagus, fish, bonbons, jello, mustard, salt, nuts, and gravy and for eating fish, ice cream, pastries, and even berries! To identify patterns, click on this helpful website.



Paneled Thistle EAPG

Another love of mine is Early American Pressed Glass (EAPG), especially "Paneled Thistle", a.k.a. "Delta" and "Canadian Thistle". This pattern was produced from 1900 through 1915 by the John B. Higbee Glass Company of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. When the company closed in 1918, the molds were sold to the Jefferson Glass Company of Toronto, Ontario. The pattern was reproduced by the L.G. Wright company in the 1940s and 1970s. As Americans moved away from the simple utensils of pioneer times, the American invention in the 1820s of a mechanical pressing machine helped the American glass manufacturers successfully compete against the inexpensive glass being produced at the time by English and Irish companies. Pressed glass was made by forcing melted glass into iron molds which had the various patterns cut right into them.

My Photography

I love photography! Enjoy my favorite photos, which I have taken with my digital camera while traveling through my own backyard and throughout the United States and the world.

Sheep!

Sheep - what sweet, innocent creatures! When I see a few scattered on a hillside, I'm immediately reminded of Jesus, our Good Shepherd (John 10: 1-18). This photo was taken by my sister at the White House one recent Christmas.

Judging a Book by its Cover

One of my passions is collecting late antique 19th and early 20th century books with decorative "publishers" or "trade" bindings. In this digital age of television, internet, iPod, iPhone, and e-book, there are those of us who believe that the art of the book matters more than ever - that reading actually has a physical and creative dimension and that one can derive sensory pleasure in the look, the feel, the weight, and even the fragrance of a real book. Most readers, whether via digital or print, are not aware of this physical dimension to reading - that reading can be more than simply ingesting print. I am one who genuinely believes in real books as graceful companions and as works of art. I will be blogging frequently about this topic and my collection and latest acquisitions.

Lilias Trotter, Illustrator and Missionary

Born in the mid-19th century in England, Lilias Trotter, was predicted by the noted artist, John Ruskin, to become the greatest artist of the century. Instead, Lilia's became a missionary to Muslims in Algiers for 38 years. The illustration above is from her 1899 self-illustrated book, "Parables of the Christ-Life." For more interesting information about Lilias, go to www.liliastrotter.net