Der Cucker ~ Cuckoo for Clocks

I confess....I have an affinity for clocks.....I have always wanted the 'family clock' that my grandmother had to sell when she had to leave the family farm in Tennessee and move to Arizona...being a widow with 2 sons serving in WWII and one son all the way in Arizona she had no choice but to have a farm sale and move.  She told me this story often and her beloved Seth Thomas Clock was sold for $1.00.....it broke her heart and that made me sad....

 

 

Once when my mom and dad invested in some silver stock for each of us kids and sold it at a profit they gave us each the proceeds!  I was so excited and bought this Grand Daughter Clock in LA....I showed my dad and he gave it a long southern Tennessee look and with his drawl said.....'well, I hope you did not spend it all on that"  (I loved my dad's dry sense of humor and way of getting his point across)

 

 When Steve and I took our first trip to Big Bear together I bought this Seth Thomas Clock.....

 My most recent purchase was this French Flea Market clock with the faded colors.....

 And once when I got a big bonus at work I bought this Seth Thomas Mantle Clock....

 In Germany I wanted to get my mom and dad a cuckoo clock however the areas we were in no one spoke English and I could not see any in the shops....so I found a really nice guy and tried to translate what I was looking for....in a last ditch attempt I made the sound "Cuckoo Cuckoo" and he said Aye, Der Cuckor!  Then he rushed in the back and brought out several for us to choose from.....

 I bought this Carriage Clock in Belgium....

 But I was always looking for a worn out, broke down cuckoo clock for a craft project.  Kristen took me to the perfect place to find this beauty....it was missing lots of pieces and needed some love....

 I gave it a base coat of white primer by hand......

 Many coats of primer - that old wood soaked it up!

 Steve then took the spray paint to it for several coats....

 And Voila!  Der Cuckor - weiß (translation: white)

 I put it in the guest room as I thought the white arrangement looked good and popped on the moss green wall.....plus it serves as a bit of a headboard....

Does anyone really know what time it is?  Does anybody care?

November Gratitudes

It's no secret that I love November.....instead of being reflective on Thanksgiving....I attempt to take the whole month to be grateful and thankful....I am not perfect in my attempt and complain way too much, however, I am so blessed with my lot in life I need to be more focused on what I have and not focused on what I don't have....I am a work in progress....

 

 

I am so very grateful that my grandsons love to be active and outdoors and love nature as much as I do....

 

 I am grateful that there is a lake and a pond less than 1 mile from our house that we can frequent with them.....

 I am grateful that one of my dearest friends ever who moved to Florida over 10 years ago keeps our promise that we will not go more than a year to meet up and catch up.  She is the kind of friend that lives time zones away and you think of calling here at 9 pm which is midnight her time so you wait, days go by and you can't call but when you do it is just like she never left 10 years ago.....she is my kindred spirit (shopping, eating, driving, watching girlie movies, staying in hotels, olives, cracker and champagne for dinner, pjs on at 4 pm)....we have enjoyed trips all over the world together and also in the U.S.   We always have an adventure and I was so so so excited when we decided this year on meeting up in Scottsdale and Sedona so I could share with her some of my childhood memories.....

 Years ago my extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins) would head to Oak Creek for summer escapes from the Phoenix heat.  Oak Creek and Sedona were nothing back then....we stayed at Indian Garden Trailer Park (long gone) and we would walk into town which was a gas station and an ice cream parlor.  It was a big deal for all of us to go into 'town' and get a bottle of pop and look around....well I found where the park was and we walked down to the creek....

 This was my playground for summers and summers when I was young....the only rule was to be home before dark.  We walked up and down the creek playing cowboys and Indians and slipped on mossy rocks, fell in, went barefoot, took a bag lunch and just played and played and played.  Our dads would come by with their fly fishing poles and waders going up and down the creek to catch rainbow trout for dinner and they were excellent fishermen....we had trout every night for dinner and sometimes for breakfast and lunch too if they caught their limit :)

 Of course I had to take her to the church in the Red Rocks.....it is still spectacular....

 But the view out the cross had changed!  It used to be all natural landscape to the Red Rocks....but look at this monster house that lies right below it.  From the humble cross to the over the top compound with waterfalls, putting greens, 7 fireplaces and cascading views....

 There was never a place like Telaquepaque....it was this house where this mean woman lived that we were convinced was a witch....when we walked to town she would come out and yell at us.....we ran like the wind when we saw her coming!  It is nice to see the scary place turned into a place of beauty....

 I am grateful for these inspiring natural displays of fall......

 Really grateful when we made the wrong turn and found this treasure...'Hummingbird House'....right up our alley!

 I could not be more happy for Tracy when she found the mother lode of S&P's...she has quite the collection and the owner of HH had just bought out an estate sale with a huge collection of some she had never seen!  Just look at that beautiful smile!

 I am grateful for our time together to shop and eat and drink and catch sunsets on those amazing red rocks....

 I am grateful that I can laugh my head off when people that visit Sedona are all into the VORTEX - apparently there are 5 of them and there is a tour where you can visit them all and embrace their mystical powers!  Many many times people would stop us and ask us where the Vortex was and I could not contain my laughter....maybe I am just not 'enlightened' but when I was growing up all those summers around here there was no such thing....beautiful yes, God's Wonderful Creation yes....but Vortex? naaaaaaaa

 I am truly truly grateful for these strong men in my life...honest, hardworking, caring, loving, supporting and family oriented....what a blessing.....

I am also grateful for this beautiful daughter in law that made above and beyond sacrifices to care for her mom, including donating a truckload of material things so she and Adam could leave their home and be at her mothers side 24/7.  Included in those things to donate was her beautiful princess wedding dress that she looked fabulous in.  When the donations were dropped at my house to be picked up I just could not bear the fact that the wedding dress was part of the bundle. I struggled with what to do and at the last minute when the donation truck pulled in I plucked out the dress and put it in my closet.  Years passed and that dress has hung in my closet....they bought, built and settled in a huge beautiful home in Phoenix with lots of closet space.  Initially I thought I would take the dress to a dressmaker and have her made a Barbie doll dress as an exact replica and give that to her but I could not deface that dress.  So I packed it up and took it over to her when we went a few weeks ago.  It was a bit daunting as it could have not gone well, however, I am thankful that she was pleased to be reunited with her dress....she was shocked I tell you and I felt bad she cried so hard, but she assured me they were happy tears.......





I am also grateful that I have attended all but one of my cousins kids weddings....almost all of them have been out of town ....and it has been quite the challenge.  I was fortunate for this Arizona Cardinal Wedding to be the same time of the Phoenix/Scottsdale/Sedona trip.....love my Chargers but Big Red is pretty tweet.....



 I am grateful for my brother and all my cousins (all male) and the memories we share, the stories we tell and the memories we are making.....

 I am really grateful my boys love Batman and Camo gear.....I love to bring home little treasurers from my travels and put on their little table for when they come over and find them....

 

So Thankful and Grateful that these same boys are raised by a nuturing mother and father that let us have lots of time with them.  They love to read and go to the library and will spend hours and hours reading and drawing and I get to be observant of them as little sponges soaking up all kinds of new things....

 I am grateful that they love their Gramps and pick out special things for his November birthday!

 I am grateful for my Turkey and Pilgrim collection that I started in 1972.....this year I put it all on one table and as beautiful as it is I think it might be a bit much.....true test will be when I find the next treasure at an antique or thrift shop!

I am grateful that it is only mid November and have exciting plans for the rest of the month.  Woo Hoo!

Fall Fun

I am not 100 percent convinced, however, I think our fall weather might be here to stay.....of course, fall in San Diego is not the same as fall in the northeast....it just means we may be past fire season where we have dry Santa Ana winds and dry weather that makes you feel like your skin is three sizes too small and you could pop like a kernel of corn!

 

This was a week of lots of professional appointments, decisions to be made, forms to be completed and action to be taken.....I tried hard to balance it out with some fall fun....

 

I found these cute towels to wrap up for hostess gifts to take on a few things we have been invited too.....I just love the colors and the prints.....

 

 Kristen's sweet neighbor and friend went with us to The Barn for a shopping escape....when we picked her up she showed me this quilt her MIL made her and I just went crazy for it....the dogs ears are flaps....thought this was so darn cute.....

 We all found treasurers at The Barn.....Kristen found old blue Ball Jars with lids, her friend found a birdhouse shaped like their family church and some great egg baskets.....

 And I found this crusty old cuckoo clock.....I was looking for a crusty when I found my nice one and did not have the heart to do the project I have in mind on a good working clock....this crusty is just the ticket for my next project....

 We have friends in LA that own a trucking company and friends in Mexico that run a winery....since Steve is a bit better we invited them all for dinner....needless to say we had the best wine ever! 

 I made some Caprese Garlic Bread....

 Steve made a yummy tri tip marinated in teriyaki garlic combo for 48 hours....

 We grilled Romaine, topped with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and grated parmesan reggiano....

 And each course our wine sommelier picked the perfect wine to compliment.....

 Also forgot we had some appetizers so we could talk while Steve BBQ'd the meat....

 I set the table in fall colors with my suede leaf placemats and some glass scatters and my hand blown pumpkin centerpiece...

 Oh, and we had a yummy chocolate cake with fall sprinkles! 

 Rocky finally got groomed this week....we had to wait awhile after his surgery healed....they really trimmed him too short....they did the lion cut but instead of leaving some fur on his legs they shaved them down!

 His friend Bella has been with us a few days....our neighbors went to Vegas and asked us to dog sit....she is a puppy and very sweet.....just not quite potty trained - yikes!

 They get along really well, considering Rocky does not think he is a domesticated animal after all....

 Our other neighbors had a huge Halloween Party....we went as Eve and Wall E

 They really did it up right....full bar with bartender, DJ, loads of decorations....just too dark for my photo's to turn out well....here is my Pina Colada in front of the ghouls table...

 They had a life size figure that was in an electric chair and would light up all over....

 Hard to see but life size zombies and monsters that would jump out and howl....

 Steve and one of the zombies.....I missed getting pictures of all the other decorations, food, details....they did an excellent job!

 And a perfect fall morning to drive down to the lake and walk off the Pina Coladas!