time to say goodbye

This will be my final blog entry for melathome. Tragedy struck our family on September 25, 2009. My beautiful, first-born son, Philip (pictured below, in the green and white striped shirt) passed away unexpectedly. My world, of course, has been shattered, and some of the "simple" things in my life that were once joyful - such as keeping up with this blog - now do not matter to me.

Perhaps, someday, I will feel like starting another blog. Thank you all for reading melathome the past few years.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF PHILIP THOMAS RILEY

JULY 21, 1988 - SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

autumn decor around my nest

I've been doing some puttering and redecorating in my home the past few days. Wanna sneak a peek?

Living room plants that are still enjoying the afternoon sunshine while it lasts...

Kitchen table arrangement (the wreath is from yesterday's Goodwill hunt & the chick is from an online friend)...

Log candles...

Side table arrangement...the To Believe book is another Goodwill treasure & the diary is one I found in an antique shop. It's a man's diary from the early 1900's. I love the little cloche in the background. My mom found it "somewhere" (I'm sure Goodwill or the likes - I get my bargain shopping finesse from her)...

Foyer...

This wooden "leaf" is holding treasures from the beaches of the Pacific ocean. There's some cool rocks, driftwood, and shell pieces. The little red doohickey things are just my colorful touch...

Chair in my kitchen...this is a Goodwill find that I painted awhile ago; the basket is also from yesterday's Goodwill trip, and the rooster napkins that are too cute to use are from the same online friend that sent me the chick...

Console table in my living room...

On a bistro chair in my living room...

Under a cloche in the living room...

Hope you enjoyed your visit!

goodwill finds & fun mail today

Some home treasures found at Goodwill today...an autumn "wreath" :


A stoneware & iron basket:

A small piece pottery vase:

A couple of inspirational books...Promises of Joy is brand-new so I will probably save it to put in a gift basket for a friend. To believe is a lovely older gift and I plan on using it as a decorative piece in my living room or kitchen. I like to stack little books and then put a candle or knick-knack on top:

And 4 darling Christmas dessert plates:

And then when I got home, the treasures continued. There was a package on my doorstep from an online friend. She sent me the cutest yellow tin bird (holds a votive candle), rooster napkins in my kitchen colors, a unique set of measuring spoons (more on that in the next photo), and an adorable notepad. Thanks for picking out these beautiful things just for me, Linda!

Check out these spoons...smidgen, pinch, dash. How cute is that?

Napa B&B

When we were in Napa Valley last week, we stayed at a lovely Victorian B&B:
http://www.hennesseyhouse.com/

We even had a pull-chain on the toilet in our little bathroom!

Living room at the B&B...

Sidewalk on the side of the house...

Our bedroom at the B&B - it was called The Paisley Room. The wallpaper really wasn't yellow; it just appears that way in the photo.

Backyard of the B&B...

I miss California...

Hubby & I spent 5 days in northern California last week, celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. I loved everything about this area including the beautiful beaches...

The "interesting" people and stores in the Haight Ashbury section of San Francisco...

The gorgeous houses (oh, and if you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can see the couple in the corner, making out, lol)...

The unexpected, gorgeous bursts of blooms growing everywhere...

wall space

Why not make a collage of pictures on the empty, lower part of a wall, right?

What do you think - do you like it?

mutant veggies?

So we planted carrots this spring. They look like they're ready...they're poking out of the ground:

I took a hand spade and dug down into the dirt. Here's what came up: short, knobby carrots. What the ???

Here's what they look like after the tops were cut off & I washed these mutated knobby..."things". Aren't they ugly? I did a google search to look for possible answers. Here's what I found out: If you have heavy clay soils or rocky ground with low fertility or if you planted your carrots too close together - less than 2 inches apart -- you may see this problem. Hot weather may also trigger root problems and, when followed by periods of wet weather, will cause roots to expand rapidly and develop cracks.

We certainly didn't have hot weather here in northern IL this summer. I think hubby planted the carrots too close together. Yep, I'm blaming him. :-) Oh well, now we know for next year!

yummy dinner

Baked rigatoni with tons of cheese (obviously!) and hot Italian sausage...

Sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic...

And because one cannot have enough garlic, you gotta have garlic bread, too...

my baby is going off to college!

OK, so he's not leaving-leaving. It's not like he's going to live in a dorm on campus or anything. He's going to be commuting every day. But still...it's a big step. It's college.

I can't believe he let me take his picture this morning. Maybe he was still half asleep. Notice the commuter mug of coffee in his hand. :-)

daytripper

Brian and I took a day trip to Evanston, the north shore town where he grew up. Evanston is right on Lake Michigan and is home to NorthWestern University, full of culture and diversity, restaurants, coffee shops, and unique stores. See the store to your right, The Spice House? The smells alone drew us into that shop. I ended up buying chai spice, pizza seasoning, organic bay leaves, and vanilla bean pods.



We stopped at The Brothers K Coffeehouse for tea (Brian) and a mocha (me)...

Drove down to the lakefront and enjoyed the sound of the crashing waves...

The white clouds on the horizon looked like mountains (click on pic to enlarge it for better viewing)...

Last stop on the way home - Kaufman's Deli. We simply had to load up on kosher corned beef (*choke*...$12.89/lb.), garlic bagels, and their awesome tuna salad. Here's Brian eating a corned beef sammy and dill pickle in the car (we couldn't wait until we got home) ...

girls just wanna have fun

My sweet nieces, Hannah and Sarah, spent the weekend with us before they start school later this week. Here they are with Uncle Brian in the backyard.


Sarah with Zippo.


Hannah playing a video game at Tony's Subs...

Cuteness and coolness...

Mmm...sub sandwiches at Tonys!