The Chickadee Feeder

MY HAT COLLECTION

the kind lady over at TobyBo asked if I have a hat collection, hoping that I would write a post about it.  Alas, unlike Dr. Seuss who had a hat collection covering an entire wall, I do not collect hats.  You’ve pretty much seen them all.

My Older Son LOVED hats when he was little. 

And when I was younger, I could sometimes get away with broader-brimmed hats.  This Easter outfit was accentuated by a bridesmaid hat from my friend’s wedding.

 

I often wore a Mickey Mouse hat in my college years.  Here my friend and I had promised each other to study instead of chat.

This one is from the time I visited friends in Texas.  Down there, even JC Penney had a very large selection of cowboy hats to choose from.

The most important hats in my life today are the ones I wear to English Country Dance balls.  To be truly authentic, we should seriously consider wearing a turban*, which makes a lot of us moderns shudder.

I guess the movie folks think the same, because you don’t see many turbans in the Jane Austen movies.  So I made myself a toned-down bandeaux similar to what Mrs. Bennett wears in the BBC production of Pride & Prejudice.

I now have two of these.  We moderns don’t have hat boxes either, which makes them rather difficult to store.  I keep them in a box together, and when I came home from a recent ball, I was rather surprised to see the condition of the hat that had stayed home.

“Gosh, the feather looks like a cat ate it or something!”  I said.

As the British might say, “SPOT-ON!”

 

*Turban photo is from Doris Langley Moore’s The Gallery of Fashion 1790-1822 from Plates by Heideloff and Ackermann found on Catherine H. Decker’s website.

I’M MOVING

I’m moving over to a new address, in case you would like to follow me! That’s at xanga.com/thechickadeefeeder

Hope to see you there!

GARAGE SALE TIPS

Because I used to be such a pro at yard sale shopping, I thought I should share some of my experience with you:

1.  If you have never found anything good at a yard sale and you wonder what all the fuss is about, perhaps you haven’t gone early enough.  It’s the general custom for owners to expect buyers an hour before the posted time, and really, that’s the time to get good items.

2.  Plan your escape BEFORE you get out of the car.  Park where you can get out and/or turn around–or better yet, turn around and park facing out so that you don’t have to worry about crashing into trees or pedestrians.

3.  Be careful about pulling too far off the road.  It might LOOK like grass, but it could be a deep bog that swallows the front end of the car, requiring the owner to get his tractor to pull you out.  (If you’re a woman, you can garner pity rather than disgust when you act tearful.  And besides–remember this is great entertainment for the hosts and all the relatives who have come to hang out for the day)

4.  Just let that crazy pushy maniac of an antique dealer do whatever he wants.  I’ve heard people say they don’t put out the good stuff till he’s gone anyway.

5.  Keep your ears open.  You can learn of other yard sales this way, along with juicy details about the new Super Walmart coming to town, Sophinia’s health, Percy’s divorce, and the ripeness of the fruit over at so-and-so’s orchard.

6.  If it’s crowded, don’t take too long to decide whether or not you want to buy something.  Or at least put your hands on it while you think!  This will prevent you from going home with three lovely wooden child chairs (one painted yellow, one green, and one blue) while a rather rude person goes home with the red one.

7.  And of course, always follow the de-clutter rule:  If you buy something new for your house, something old has to go.

GRADUAL GRANDMA

This morning I was strongly remembering through the years I’ve spent of buying other people’s stuff from their yard sales.  I started going to yard sales after my first child was born, stopping at each house, putting on the baby “front” pack, placing the baby inside it, and going off to see what bargains we could find.

It being a university town, it was a bonanza!

I think half of what we own here came from thrift stores and yard sales–and it’s not in disrepair, either!

During the child years, it was easy to rise very early and to get onto the road.  We had a “family bed” for a long time, so I never needed an alarm clock.  I quickly dressed, put on my special Garage Sale hat (to hide my messy hair), and started driving.

I was serious.  I was often one of the first arrivals.

Since my boys are teens now, and I don’t have that special alarm OR that need to buy toys and child clothing, it’s been a while since I’ve even bothered to go out.  Today I wasn’t one of the first ones to arrive, and I often found myself musing about the homeowners, the house, and the yard instead of looking at what I was SUPPOSED to be doing:  choosing stuff before others got to it!

I bought a lot of things.  It was very hard not to buy more.  BUT:  none of it was for me.

I have a friend who works at a reform school.  The students aren’t allowed to remove books from the library, and so they’re eager to devour any books she brings to her classroom.

One gentleman had everything at his place for FREE.  Well, surely someone I know can use this battery-operated clock.

I found a Victorio Food Strainer for $4!!!  These things are absolutely fantastic.  Since I already have one, I called a friend.  But she already has one, so she called her mom.  I am soooo glad I found someone for whom I could buy this bargain.

And a tractor for 10 cents.  Yes, it’s true, only 10 cents.  Surely I will find an opportunity and a boy for whom I can just whip out this gem as a gift, right?

If you want me to look out for one for yourself, let me know.

GRADUALLY  GRANDMA

This morning I was strongly remembering through the years I’ve spent of buying other people’s stuff from their yard sales.  I started going to yard sales after my first child was born, stopping at each house, putting on the baby “front” pack, placing the baby inside it, and going off to see what bargains we could find.

It being a university town, it was a bonanza!

I think half of what we own here came from thrift stores and yard sales–and it’s not in disrepair, either!

During the child years, it was easy to rise very early and to get onto the road.  We had a “family bed” for a long time, so I never needed an alarm clock.  I quickly dressed, put on my special Garage Sale hat (to hide my messy hair), and started driving. 

I was serious.  I was often one of the first arrivals. 

Since my boys are teens now, and I don’t have that special alarm OR that need to buy toys and child clothing, it’s been a while since I’ve even bothered to go out.  Today I wasn’t one of the first ones to arrive, and I often found myself musing about the homeowners, the house, and the yard instead of looking at what I was SUPPOSED to be doing:  choosing stuff before others got to it!

I bought a lot of things.  It was very hard not to buy more.  BUT:  none of it was for me.

 

WHICH STUFF–MINE OR YOURS?

A friend told me that she is having a huge clean-out. She is tired of having too many things and having so much clutter.  She went to the sanctuary of her church and thought about this sincerely, praying that God would give her the ability to let go of Things.

I think it’s great. I agree with her very very much, and I wish for this in my life too.

But I’m still going to her yard sale to see if there’s any of her stuff that could become MY stuff.

WHICH STUFF–MINE OR YOURS?

A friend told me that she is having a huge clean-out.  She is tired of having too many things and having so much clutter.  She went to the sanctuary of her church and thought about this sincerely, praying that God would give her the ability to let go of Things.

I think it’s great.  I agree with her very very much, and I wish for this in my life too.

But I’m still going to her yard sale to see if there’s any of her stuff that could become MY stuff.

LADIES’ NIGHT OUT

Last weekend I went with five of my friends to one of the largest homeschool conventions in the world.  The drive to Harrisburg, PA, took us about 4 1/2 hours; we stayed in a motel for two nights.  It’s a great annual Mother’s Day present!

This being my 15th year, we have a routine.  On Thursday night we stop for supper at a pleasant little town and eat at a very good hole-in-the-wall place called Brothers Pizza.  On Friday evening, we eat either at Old Country Buffet or at Outback Steakhouse, and then we show-and-tell each other what purchases we made and what bargains we found.

There are always so many excellent speakers at the workshops that it’s difficult to choose; I heard Little Bear Wheeler (of Mantle Ministries), Jay Wile (of Apologia), Doug Phillips (of Vision Forum), and many others.

Because my homeschooling years are winding down, I volunteer to work for 3 hours.  This allows me to have my registration fee refunded so that I can spend it on things I don’t really need.

I was a security guard.   I got to carry a radio.  I even got to talk on it once. This being the 3rd time I’ve done this job, I am SO good at it that the gentleman in charge asked me to come again next year (even though I have no need to attend because my Younger Son will be finished with high school). I am considering it!

LADIES’ NIGHT OUT

Last weekend I went with five of my friends to one of the largest homeschool conventions in the world.  The drive to Harrisburg, PA, took us about 4 1/2 hours; we stayed in a motel for two nights.  It’s a great annual Mother’s Day present!

This being my 15th year, we have a routine.  On Thursday night we stop for supper at a pleasant little town and eat at a very good hole-in-the-wall place called Brothers Pizza.  On Friday evening, we eat either at Old Country Buffet or at Outback Steakhouse, and then we show-and-tell each other what purchases we made and what bargains we found.

There are always so many excellent speakers at the workshops that it’s difficult to choose; I heard Little Bear Wheeler (of Mantle Ministries), Jay Wile (of Apologia), Doug Phillips (of Vision Forum), and many others.

Because my homeschooling years are winding down, I volunteer to work for 3 hours.  This allows me to have my registration fee refunded so that I can spend it on things I don’t really need.

I was a security guard.  I got to carry a radio.  I even got to talk on it once.  This being the 3rd time I’ve done this job, I am SO good at it that the gentleman in charge asked me to come again next year (even though I have no need to attend because my Younger Son will be finished with high school).  I am considering it!

ANOTHER TWO

Last summer at a routine medical checkup, the doctor asked if I was sleeping well in the mornings.

“Well, we sleep with some windows open.  The birds often wake me up.”

“Oh yes,” replied the doctor.  “They can be noisy, can’t they?”

And my reply:  “Oh, it’s not really that.  I’ll be sleeping sound, don’t you know, and suddenly I’ll be sitting upright in bed with a sharp intake of breath:  ‘OHHH!!!  It’s a yellow-billed cuckoo, we have a yellow-billed cuckoo at our house!!  I didn’t even know we had one of those!'”

The penalties (and rewards) of learning bird song.

On Tuesday we went on another naturalist-guided walk.  We identified 37 different wildflowers in bloom at the Wildflower Reserve at Raccoon Creek State Park.  And again I added two birds to my Life List:  the Blue-winged Warbler and the Yellow-throated Warbler.

Blue-winged Warbler

The Virginia Bluebells are now fading away from blue to white.



But Jack-in-the-Pulpit is looking fantastic.  See him in there?  We learned that if you gently squeeze the flower, you can hear Jack squeak.



We also saw 4 or 5 kinds of Trillium (if you count the hybrid).



Here’s a Snowberry Clearwing moth.  He looks like a bumblebee, but isn’t.



If you ever get a chance to visit a Great Blue Heron rookery, please do–before the leaves come out on the trees.  We saw 40-50 nests here, with parents coming and going.  Truly an amazing thing to see (and hear).