So it’s coming into my favorite time of the year, the time for festivals and flea markets. Yesterday we hit a flea market/tailgate sale at my old college. You all know that among the mostly junky stuff are buried treasures. Not that we get to them at the crack of dawn, but if you go later in the day, the sellers would rather lose a few dollars then wrap the item up and load it back into their vehicle. I got a few treasures-one of which was a Royal Copley cat planter (the photo is one like mine and it looks like my cat). Before I go into details, make sure you wear dark sunglasses and haggle a bit. After many years of going to these kinds of sales, you know the good stuff. I would do so well on the BBC America show ‘Bargain Hunt’! So the guy wanted $15 for this. I pretended I thought it was a pitcher (so lame) and he corrected me and said ‘no it’s a planter’. So I said how about $10, and he said how about $12 and I said ok. He didn’t have change for a $20 and Brian came up with $4 for me to add to my $7. All the time this guy is telling me it’s a Shawnee pottery item. He didn’t know he was actually being helpful.
So after I got home, I hopped on eBay and first did a ‘Shawnee cat planter’ search-nothing. But, there were items that were designed and painted like mine and they were Royal Copleys! I did a search again using ‘Royal Copley cat planter’ and someone was selling the same item for $9.99. I was a bit bummed, but did a google search and Ruby Lane antiques came up. They were selling the same cat planter-two of them for $45 and $55. Yeah! Even at half price, I did well paying $12.
I also got a cute Children’s book (lithographs)from 1893, a cobalt
blue Bicentennial bell, a Hallmark ornament of a bunny cross stitching and an old chef salt shaker.
We went up to my hometown and hit Super Sunday. More vendors! I found a table where they were selling Precious Moments and Charming Tails items are great prices. Unfortunately getting there late, they were pushing the last of what they had, but what I bought I was happy with.

The banner next to the fairly new clock tower in downtown Kennett Square, PA

Where’s Sean? Actually I didn’t see him when I took this photo of the masses. See the flood of people behind the rock climbing wall? Sean is in the light yellow plaid shirt and sunglasses.

All I brought home-a free guide (all ads) and 3 locally made bars of soap. The one thing I wanted to see, a cooking demo was all ready over.

I cross stitched a square for the WTC (World Trade Center) quilt project back in 2002. I was looking at this site as the woman who made the three for the above project is starting up another project for Hurricane Katrina victims. She had also done one for the Columbine tragedy. My square ended up on the Pennsylvania quilt as I hoped it would. Kathi (the seamstress and organizer) tried to put people in order of where they lived. I did the apple pie square. The plane went down in Somerset County about 4 squares away from mine on the quilt. It is outlined in red. Very scary and such a sad anniversary.

Incidently, Shanksville is 3 hours and 46 minutes away from where we live. See the purple line and go right to left. Geez, my friend Melanie from suburban Pitts lives a lot closer!

We practically live in Kennett Square, PA. They changed our mailing addy to another town, yet we live a hop, skip and a jump away from KS. We have lived here for 19 years. The Mushroom Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. We plan to try to get up there before the crowds hit. They say they had 100,000 in attendance last year. This may be due in part to the fact that the festival was on Food Network in 2003. I believe I mentioned this last September. And I recognized half the people they filmed for the show (including one of Sean’s kindergarten teachers)!
Sean is writing an English paper on the festival. He emailed two local mushroom farms and one of the managers from Phillips took time from his busy pre-festival schedule to answer Sean’s 5 questions (part of the assignment). Very nice.
So I may be doing a follow-up to this post. I can’t even imagine 5K people in KS let alone 100,000, but that was over the course of the two day event. The imagine is from a t-shirt going for $25-ouch!

I don’t want Kasmira from Cincinnati Cape Cod coming over here and thinking I just plant all annuals. I have tons of perennials. The following list is off the top of my head and may not be the correct name for the plant, but I’ll give it a shot:
I have several ground covers-one a pretty yellow and one a green with a silvery trim
Mums
Columbine
Coreopsis
Sweet Peas
Wild begonias
Yucca
grasses-variegated and another
Japanese iris and bearded iris
day lily and Asiatic lilies
Hostas
Trumpet vine
Autumn Joy Sedum
some bulbs-a few tulips, daffodils and grape hyacinth
Baby’s breath
Hollyhock
a few varieties of ferns
roses
Peony
a pretty heart-shaped leaf with little pinkish bells-‘something’ wort
Bleeding Heart
and many flowering bushes
I find that more perennials will not make it and then I have to replace them and they can be pricey. I think it’s great anytime you can share with neighbors or friends. But I will continue to plant my beloved annuals in all their festive colors. The perennials make a nice backdrop for them!

I like some bugs, but spiders bother me. It has to do with an article I read years ago about the brown recluse spider and Brian’s dad. A lady had been cleaning her stylist chair in the basement of her house (she cut hair down there) and a brown recluse was hiding under it and bit her on the arm. Her arm got painful and swollen and she got a fever. I believe she ended up getting a hunk of her arm cut out. My father-in-law also had some weird craters on his legs and they wouldn’t heal. The doctors at the wound center were perplexed and guessed the sores were caused by spider bites. So you see where my fear came from.
Yesterday I was in our bedroom getting dressed and a large spider was walking along the edge of Brian’s armoire. I decided to brush it off and squoosh it with my sneaker. After I brushed it off, it disappeared! Shoot!
It took me forever to settle down last night. I had to look in every corner of the ceiling and shake the pillows. I’m hoping the spider took a hike out of there.
Yesterday I found a small, lifeless black swallowtail near the mailbox. His little antenneas were straight, but his feet were curled under. Probably got in the way of a car, though his wings were undamaged. I rested him gently on a flower in the front garden.

This is a similar butterfly.

I was getting my ‘Bravo fix’ tonight and after the season finale of Kathy Griffin’s D-list show, an Improv show came on. I love Improv. It really shows the creativity of the performer. There were mostly Saturday Night Live people on tonight. Amy Pollard is a regular. Tina Fey was one of the guests. Tina Fey grew up about 10 miles from me. What they do on this show is pick the guests to do a monologue from a word shouted out in the audience. So Tina kept saying ‘I grew up outside of Philadelphia’ and mentioned a local tv show called ‘Al Alberts Showcase’. My brother happened to be on this show at one time with the school choir and we were in the audience at WPVI. She mentioned the Bicentennial when everyone was painting everything red, white and blue and wearing flags on pants. She mentioned the Phila Art museum and Rocky. That was pretty neat to be able to relate to that. I believe Tina is about to give birth to her first baby, so I wish her well.
Update-thanks to Celebrity Baby Blog:
Live from New York, it’s Tina Fey’s baby!
Saturday Night Live head writer and Weekend Update co-anchor Tina Fey and her husband Jeff Richmond welcomed a daughter this past Saturday (9-10), who they have named Alice. An NBC rep reveals that the new baby weighed in at a (little!) 5 lbs, 5oz, and that “everyone is safe, home, happy, and thrilled to death.” This is the first child for the couple, who have been together for 11 years!

…gotten out of New Orleans as they were warned on the impending danger. This isn’t me talking it’s someone very close to me. It was in reply to how this person felt about seeing all the people living in the sports arenas. I can hardly ever see eye to eye on subjects like that with this person and it’s so frustrating. In fact, so many people I know aren’t even talking that much about the horrific events of this past week. One of them is more concerned about getting his stock quotes. Where’s the empathy people?
I hope you caught Oprah yesterday Did you see her look at what the ‘survivors’ (not ‘refugees’ we are ALL Americans) had to put up with at living in a dark and stinky sports arena? Dr. Oz was examining a few dead people just laying in front of the arena and near a bridge-this is America-leaving the dead laying around for days (they were on high ground) is like a war zone story. The first victim had been shot.
Nate, the designer rescued two dogs so the people would get on the bus out of NOLA. The man was so grateful and hugged Nate. The man and dog were reunited the next day. I have never seen Oprah shed so many tears.
On a personal level, I have not heard from my friend Terri from Jasper, Alabama and Michele from Saucier, MS for a week. Michele wrote, I believe, last Monday a week ago and said she was taking her family to Florida. I hope my pals and their families are well and doing ok.
I am planning to donate some money from my eBay sales to the Red Cross or other orgs. Every little bit helps.
PS-I wanted to add a little something. I have a great friend out west who sent me an email about ‘not blaming the government’ (in so many words) and that the people should have had emergency kits set up like she does in case there is an earthquake where she lives. I think that’s a good idea, but when you are facing winds of 140 mph, I don’t know how you can hold on to a kit or whatever when you are trying to save your own life. Plus, the EKs do eventually run out.
Oprah was touching yet again. Good to see some celebs lending a hand. Wonder if Bill Gates has donated anything?

This is what I had for dinner last night. It’s so good. Guess you could alter it a bit, but try it this way first! Found the recipe here.

Sauce
2 oz. Pancetta (or bacon), diced
3 oz. Butter, cubed
1 tsp. Garlic, chopped
2 oz. Sun-dried tomatoes, diced
12 oz. Heavy cream
12 oz. Milk
1 oz. Cornstarch
2 oz. Grated Parmesan
3 oz. Smoked Gouda, chopped
3 oz. Mushrooms, sliced
8 1/2 oz. Can sliced artichokes, drained
1 Tbsp. Fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper

Chicken
1 1/2 lbs. Skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut in 1 to 1-1/2-inch pieces
6 oz. Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1 1/2 oz. Olive oil
2 oz. White wine
1 1/2 lbs. Cooked pasta
Fresh parsley, chopped

Sauce Preparation
In a 3-qt sauce pan or large pot, sauté pancetta (or bacon) over medium/high heat until crisp and golden (not dark).
Lower heat, add butter and melt.
Add garlic and sun-dried tomatoes.
Sauté for approximately one minute stirring frequently (do not brown).
Whisk in cream, milk and cornstarch. Raise heat to medium/high.
Whisk in Parmesan and Gouda.
Once cheese melts, add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil stirring continuously.
Remove from heat and let stand uncovered.
Chicken Preparation
Mix flour with salt and pepper. Coat chicken in seasoned flour, shake off excess flour.
Heat olive oil in large sauté pan.
Add chicken in a single layer and cook until golden brown on both sides (it should take approximately seven minutes). Using a meat thermometer, make sure the internal temperature of the thickest piece of chicken reaches 165° F.
Begin pasta in a separate pot according to package directions.
Add wine to chicken in pan (caution: there will be a low flame in pan). Toss gently until wine is evaporated.
Once reduced, add sauce and bring to a boil on medium/high heat
Place 6 oz of cooked pasta on each plate.
Evenly distribute chicken and sauce over pasta.
Garnish with chopped parsley.
Serves 4.

Ever feel like you stepped into a movie and all the main characters were stereotypes of what they looked like? Brian’s dad told us a restuarant (and bar) up the road from him sold huge cheesesteaks. I just couldn’t hack another KFC fix or Domino cardboard pizza. Since Brian worked so hard, Sean and I went up to the place since we didn’t have their takeout menu. We walked in and a bleach blonde woman about my age was standing there in what looked like a modified underwear top. Her white top must have came right out of the Frederick of Hollywood’s catalog. It was basically a bra with a little lacy piece hanging a bit over her stomach. The back was a criss cross of gold. And I swore she was wearing a g-string. I believe she was the waitress as I saw her carrying a tray of dirty dishes. My 18 yr old got an eye full! The guy making the food was a typical cute, right off the boat Italian. He reminded me of the John Belushi cheeseburger maker. ‘Fries, you whata two-ok.’ A little, old black man with a big grin and probably nice buzz and who was probably a regular, came in and said ‘hello, I’m Mr. Byrd’. What’s that? He pointed to his shirt-his name was embroidered on his shirt! Seeing Sean sitting there, he reintroduced himself and invited my boy to the bar. I said, ‘he’s only 18’. I guess Sean looked like a nice kid to chat to.
And the cheesesteaks were huge! Next time-delivery.