Turkey and Tunes

Two things start the holiday season in our family. The first is the Thanksgiving meal. This year it included a smoked turkey done by my husband. It tasted wonderful and Jim was so proud of how it looked he took a picture as you can see here.

The second thing is that we play Christmas music as a background to the meal. Jim put up some speakers on the patio and we played the music with his itouch. That's right here in Arizona we were able to have Thanksgiving dinner outside on the patio. It is such a great way to feed a crowd and there are no worries about kids making a mess!

I found a shop on ArtFire that has a Christmas CD for sale. You might want to take a look if you are considering a new tradition like ours. Just click on the picture to find out more!

It's All About the Fireworks!

With the 4th of July coming soon I thought I would share my favorite thing about this holiday. No matter what else happens on this day I always look forward to fireworks that night. We are rather lucky where we live. The local display is done at the high school just a few blocks away. There is no need for us to go anywhere. All we have to do is wait until dark and look over the back fence and I love it that way.

I have tried many times to get some great fireworks photos and many times have failed. Last year I finally found a fireworks or night time button on my camera. Can you say duh with me? They would have been so much better with a tripod but I like how some of them came out anyway.

So on to my personal fireworks show!

Summertime

To me the best part of summer is the long evenings. The light fades gently and the heat of the day begins to fade. The activities that keep you busy during the day slow down. The perfect way to spend the warm end of day for me would be on a big front porch with a cool drink watching fireflies come out and children playing. Of course I don't live in a place where that happens but maybe I will some day. When I do I will need one of these beautiful fans to help cool me off. One of them is handmade and the other vintage and both are available on Artfire.

The fan above is from the shop Vintage Intent.

I remember getting fans like this when I was a kid.
The paper always seemed to tear after a few uses.
It is amazing to me that it is all in one piece.

The fan below is from Southern Charm Soap Company.
I love the colors in this piece.
The tassel with the charms is a lovely way to complete the fan.