8/29/12

The Cure for Pyrexia? More Pyrex!

RARE Pyrex Napkin Rings...Take Six and call it a PyrexFix!
 Okay, so you would have a hard time Swallowing Six of these.
But you know as well as I do that they are the just what the doctor ordered for a Perfect Pyrex Fix. 
 And LOOK!!! They are Compatables!
That means they go with EVERY PIECE of PYREX ever made.
Well, at least the Old Town Blue pieces.
Why am I letting them GO?  I'm glad you asked!
I don't don't do Old Town Blue!
I do the Pyrex Turquoise Blue!
 Are you as excited as I was to find these Napkin Rings in their ORIGINAL box?
Well, at least most of the original box....it's missing the lid!
If you suffer from NoNapkinFoldin' Disorder....here's your 'FoldFIX' on the box bottom.
To TopOff your Pyrexia Meds...a pair of Pyrex Salt and Pepper Shakers.
This set has seen a day or two of the Shakes, but still can SetUp
with their compatable Pyrex Pattern 'Snowflake'.
There now!  Don't you feel better just seeing these Pyrex Pieces?
Yep...The Cure for Pyrexia IS More Pyrex!
 
 

8/27/12

Barbara Willis SIGNED Pot...Who Knew?

 Once upon a time, I was a Potter!
The kind that played in clay all day!
I discovered clay in college as a requirement to get a degree in Art Education.
Before I knew it...Clay REQUIRED a Pottery Studio for Sue!
So, I imersed myself in the world of Clay, Glaze, Kiln, Wheel, Tools, and ALL things POTTERY!
Including Collecting Pottery!
That's how I came to have this 'Funky Pot' in my collection! 
I found it at a 'Thrift Shop' before Thrift Shopping was Cool...
sounds like a Country Song, huh?
It kind of 'Spoke' to me, although I wasn't into the color YELLOW, I was into Handmade,
Crackle/Raku Glaze, Underglaze Design and SIGNED.

Barbara Willis!  Never heard of her!  But, I liked the pot and bought it for a 'Song'...seriously...I wailed a tune about being a 'Starving Artist' and walked away with this cracked glazed, scratched bottom, puke yellow pot for under FiveBucks!

It sat around the house and collected dust for years.  I even tried to sell it in one of my Juntique Booths...touting it as a SIGNED piece.  Noooobooody bought it!  I guess I'm the only person who liked cracked glaze, scratched bottom, puke yellow pots!!!

So, back to gathering dust....until last year!!!  While surfing TheNet I saw this same 'Bird' on another Pot in a much more pleasing 'White Crackle' color being touted as SIGNED by Barbara Willis, 'Mother of Modern Ceramics'.

Here are a few Links about Barbara Willis Abbott.
Surely, my 'Puke Yellow Pot' is PRICELESS!!!!

8/19/12

Dishin' With Metlox On The Poppy Trail

It's been way too long since I 'Dish Blogged'.
Before you know it, summer will be over and past time for 'Summery Table Settings'.
Not that the end of August is a good time to have a 'Sit Out and Dine Time'.
At least not in Texas....in August....in three digit temps.
Regardless of the heat, it is time for 'Dishin' and when I make up my mind to drag out the dishes, iron a table cloth, and pretty much go through closets and hutches for just the 'Right Stuff' to put on a TableScape Show...by golly I'm going to do it up right.  
So, here's  the 'Dishin' With Metlox Show.
The California company that eventually developed into Metlox Pottery was actually started around 1920
by the Prouty family who sold their wares as ProutyLine Products.
 Combining parts of the words “metal” and “oxide,” the substance that gives pottery its vibrant colors,
eventually resulted in the Metlox moniker.
More Metlox History and Collecting Info HERE.
Even though it was a bit warm for an 'Outside Under the Lattice Patio Party' thanks for stopping by!
Now, how about a Texas Size Glass of Sweet Tea?
Let's go in 'Under the AC Vented Patio'!
Linking To

8/17/12

Deep In The Heart of Texas

The Stars at night are big and bright....Deep in the heart of Texas.
The Prarie Sky is wide and high....Deep in the heart of Texas.

The Sage in bloom is like perfume....Deep in the heart of Texas.
Reminds me of the one I love....Deep in the heart of Texas.
The cowboys cry ki-yip-pie-yi....Deep in the heart of Texas.
The rabbits rush around the brush....Deep in the heart of Texas.
The coyotes wail along the trail....Deep in the heart of Texas.
The doggies bawl and bawl and bawl....Deep in the heart of Texas.
Linking To
 
As Always, Thanks Beverly for making Saturday's Pink!!!!

8/15/12

Blog...Exactly What Is It?

It is alot about The M O U S E!!!
When I first started CollectInTexas Gal...three years ago to date...my friend and 1965 High School Classmate said, "Sue, exactly what is a Blog?"  She was clueless and I was one click ahead of her to knowing what a Blog was.  That one click was "Click here to Start Blogging".   So with my indepth knowledge of Blogger and my HiTechie Computer skills I set out to educate Anne, and ultimately the rest of my Classmates who were depending on me to set up a Blog for The MHS Class of 1965.

Dear Anne,
I was going to give you a proper definition for 'Blog, but the 1965 Edtion of Websters that my parents gave me for graduation doesn't have BLOG listed.  It should have been somewhere around blocky, bloke and blonde.
One Question..Started It AllSo, here's a SuDefinIshun...BLOG - a place on the InterNet or InnerNet or EnterNet or WorldWideWeb....really doesn't matter how you spell or misspell it...it's not in the 1965 Webster either.  Okay, back to SuDef of Blog...on the WWWeb where ANYBODY in the whole wide world via their Personal Computer (PC)...also NOT in Webster, but computer defined as:  one that computes; an automatic electronic machine for performing calculations.

Again, back to Blog...via personal computer, who share information mostly useless ramblings about themselves (speaking primarily of this blogger) with other people known as Bloggers, who also share their ramblings and then want lots more Bloggers who Blog to comment on their Blog. 

The Information is sent to somewhere in OuterSpace via WonderWhereWireless wires to this WonderWhereWeb which then spins it off to the intended Receivers PC via their Secret Code that only they and their InterNet Provider know.  Unfortuantely, we have learned that the Provider CANNOT keep a secret.


One confusing thing about setting up a PC in order to get on the www to Blog is this thing they call Wireless Connection.  I just can't figure how they get Wireless when there is a tangle of wires behind my PC that makes cooked spaghetti look straight.  And what's really confusing is that even my Webster defines wireless as having no wires.  I will say however, that when all the wireless wire connections are done...no easy feat...that it is a snap click to get on the www so you can Google and Yahoo.  Is that a hoot or what?  Yahoo.  I had to look that up too, since I couldn't figure what an uncouth and rowdy person had to do with the WorldWideWeb.  My mother used to call us kids 'You bunch of Yahoo's'...that's how I knew about the uncouth and rowdness.  And Google...closest thing I found was the word 'ooglist'...a collector of bird eggs.  That is so not right!

I must admit that The Googler People are certainly creative and seem to know what I mean when I type in that box...which is really not called a box but a window.   Weird!  Sometimes I give Google a Test to find words I make up or misspell.  It comes right back with "Did you mean ______?" and shows pages and pages of what I meant.  The WholeWideWeb is just MindBogoogling.  Ya know Anne, it's very important to know the terminology and names of  stuff on the  www and the PC.  Like Desktop, Tool Bars, Window, Twitter, Facebook, Blog, Email and especially Spellcheck (which I dare not ClickOn).  I did once...I was hours getting back to the document.  All those terms I can kind of see and relate to their functions, but the one that really throws me is The M O U S E...what's with that? 

I'm not sure I would have ever touched it except I got tired of moving the arrows up, down and side to side.  My Pre-PC mouse experiences were whacking them with a broom or enticing them with cheese for a quick strangulation.  Once caught I still wouldn't touch one...threw out the trap with the mouse and never used the broom in the house again.  Now, me and MY M O U S E  go Googleing...Blogging...Surfing and LOLing for hours and hours and hours.  It's ridiculous.

My M O U S E!!!

So, there ya are Anne and my Dear CollectInTexas Gal Readers.....How I started Blogging!
Mind BloGoogling, huh?

Thanks Ya'll for being CollectInTexas Gals Blogging Friends and Followers!
Sue
Linking To
The Letter M
is for M O U S E

8/13/12

The Memory Veil and Vanity

August 13, 1912
My Dearest Granddaughters,
As I gaze upon your lovely faces, I remember each of you as if it were just yesterday that we were all together.  I'm afraid that most of my days, these days, are veiled in yesterday.  It is as if my todays are fleeting moments of  going through the motions of daily abultions and care of this earthly vessel.

Oh, My Dears, do not fret, for I am content and happy to have my memories, for if not for them, I would be lost in time and place.  How odd, that those around me cannot see you as I do.  I feel your presence and see you sitting around me in the parlor as you stitch your trousseau samplers.

Ah yes,  how I treasure the memories of my own trousseau so many years past.  Your grandfather, God rest his loving soul, thought my dowry a kings ransom.  You see, he came from the humblest of beginnings, but was the richest man I ever knew with his humble heart of gold.  If not for him, I would not be me and you, my Angels, would not be you.

It has been so long ago that I touched his face and heard his voice.  How I have missed him and yearn for our reuniting.  Yes, my Sweets, I am ready, and pray beside my bed each night that I will awaken wrapped in his loving arms.  However, each day that I find myself still in your presence gives me another day to relive this earthly life's most precious moments. 

As, I draw this writing to a close, I want to remind you of my 'Vanity'.  By this I mean two things. 
Jane Austen“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.” Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice
One morning soon, I will awaken wrapped in my beloved's loving arms and together we will watch over you, our beautiful granddaughters and your children and their children for generations to come. I leave you 'My Two Vanities', both gifts from my Beloved.  

With love and vanity,
Grandmother

Dear Readers,
My own Great Grandmother spent the last years of her life behind the 'Memory Veil'.  She was lost in time and place in our Family History until recently.  How fortunate I am to have known her through her photo album and thankful to have laid her to rest in our Family Tree and History with her Beloved.

Linking To



8/11/12

Cliches From The Heart

Who says this, really!
Probably not many of us actually say this in conversation,
but probably not many of us haven't heard or thought
"Home is where the heart is"
Why, I bet some of YOU have this Saying posted somewhere in your home.
Mine, as you can see, is part of my 'Stitch Collection'.
Here's a group that have shared 'Home Is Where The Heart Is' with the Country Music World.

And here is 'Home Is Where The Heart Is' shared with the www ... WholeWideWorld.
If you are looking for a 'Feel Good Image/Saying' you will find it on this Facebook page.
My Heart Belongs To TEXAS!!!
I FEEL Better already...how bout you!!!
There's No Place Like Pink Saturday!
I know YOU will agree....Right Beverly?
As always, Thanks Beverly...for making Saturday Pink!!!

8/9/12

Saying Howdy and Adios, Ya'll

SuKnitWitty here..Howdy Blogland Friends!!!
How in the world are Ya'll?
I'm asking because I've been absent from CollectInTexas Gal, Tracks of My Texas Ancestors and Blogland in general for over a month!!!! Really, has it been that long??? It has, and I've missed everyone!!!

I bet your thinking, "Wow, when that Texas Gal decides to take a break, she must have had a 'BreakUp or Down or is just plain Ol BrokenDown!

  I have to admit to being a bit of the Ol BrokenDown...and I thought I was a 'Superwoman Senior' after havin' the 'Big 65'. Anyway, this 'SuperSixtyFive Senior' is back on track...albiet a bit slower one than the Olympians have been racing around in London.

 Aren't those SuperWomen Athletes amazing?  Have you ever played 'Beach Volleyball'? I have...and let me tell you it 'ain't no walk on the beach'! You'd think taking a dive in the sand would be a nice soft landing...HA!!!...it's like bouncing off concrete. Have you wondered why the Beach Volleyball players aren't covered in sand? I was wondering the same thing, because when I played on the beaches of California umpteen + umpfifty years ago I came up with a mouth full and was covered from head to toe. Well, I found out about that just this week....I'll tell you in a little while.
So stick around while I have a
'SuKnitWitty Show and Tell'.

Saying Adios to 'The Yarnsleuth' 
It's going to take alot of Chicken Soup and Tea steeped in comfort for The Wednesday Knitter's
to get over missing our Knittin' Friend Gretchen...aka The Yarnsleuth.
We 'Tea Toasted' and shared a special Wednesday together as
Gretchen is returning to her Old Kentucky Home.
Once you've been a Texas Gal.....Always a Texas Gal!
So it's just Adios and SoLong for now Gretchen!
We never say Goodbye Forever in Texas!!
We know you will be back!!
Until then...
When this you see...remember me and the other three!!
Oh...and have some Chicken Soup!
Now about that Beach Volleyball Court Sand...How do beach volleyball players manage to avoid the billions of granules of sand that cover their sport's playing surface? Because it's not the same sand that gets between your toes when you go on vacation. The sand used in competition is heavily regulated by the International Volleyball Federation. There are no pebbles or bits of shells. The shape ensures a smoother grain. The size is Goldilocks style: not too small or too big.
Why doesn't it stick?
Because it's designed not to. 
So there ya go....Designer Sand!!! 
Read more HERE.