Signs for Anglophile Friday

I was hoping for this to be a slightly more substantial post, but unfortunately, I ran out of time because of glitches with a security scan for an order blah blah blah. I don't know if it's my printer or what the problem is, but it's always annoying when something that should take 3 seconds takes 3 minutes or 30 minutes or 3 hours. Still waiting.  Anyway...

The first five photos were all taken in England.

The first is of the wrought iron fence in front of St. Mary's Church (good guess, huh) in Cambridge and it was so eye catching. The fence was full of notes, signs, bicycles, etc. It made a colorful setting.

EC4, Fleet Street, 1

Pepys and Johnson are both known to have drunk here.
(That bit of info: Londonremembers.com)

Also in London, where everything is quaint and interesting!
(In the right part of town)

WC2, The Strand, 229-230

Formerly the "Wig and Pen", in December 2007 this building was vacant, with an application pending for it to be converted into the "Thai Square".  More information about the history of this building. (Again, that bit of info: Londonremembers.com)

Cute little shop in Windsor

Those were five photos for Anglophile Friday and also for Five on Friday, but I have another set of five that I hope I'm allowed to show you. If not, well, I'm not sure how to handle that.

The following five signs are here in Wisconsin.

Road signs in the Kickapoo Valley
near Westby, Wisconsin
A favorite intersection
Actually, all the roads and intersections in the Kickapoo River Valley are favorites. Now that Eric's no longer with us, we're actually having to learn those crazy, winding roads ourselves. I've zoomed in on a portion of my Kickapoo Valley map and printed that out so that helps enormously in finding our way around. More work at Eric's house next week, and I hope there will be a few minutes' reprieve to go visit the neighbors and sheep.

Sign on the back of bleachers in either Leon or Melvina,
but I think it was Leon, Wisconsin...

...just across the road from these two barns.

(This picture doesn't count as one of the five.

It's just a reminder.)

Signs in our neighborhood here in NW Wisconsin
Amish neighborhood
And if you're looking for a beautiful log cabin, Schrock's makes it.

A pretty sign on Salem Ridge Road, Westby

I still can't figure out why anyone would want to live in a town called
AVALANCHE!
At the least the snow is now gone and
they won't have to worry about that again until November.

Linking to Amy's Five on Friday
Also linking to Debbie's Friday Foto Friends

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Have a great weekend, everyone!

Dodge, Lodge, Hodge Podge

 Village parking lot

Westby, WI

Join Joyce and the Gang

for

She writes the questions;

we write the answers.

Plug them into your own blog

and join in!

(thanks, Joyce!)

1. This is the last Hodgepodge in April. Share something you learned this month. 

A home without a dog is lonely and empty!  (and clean)

(We won't ask Mr. C. his opinion on this subject.)

 Jazzie is currently visiting her Minnesota home.

See those eyes? I know she's missing me! ;-)

2.  It's National Poetry Month, and we all know you can't escape an April Hodgepodge without a little poetry. Keeping the first line as is, change the rest of the wording in this familiar rhyme to make it your own - 'Hickory Dickory Dock...

Hickory Dickory Dock

I'm listening now to Bach.

The clock'll strike one

And I'll be gone

To slither back under my rock.

(Don't blame me. I'm not a poet.)

3. What were one or two rules in the home you grew up in? Growing up, did you feel your parents were strict? Looking back do you still see it that way?

I can't think of any rules in our home, although we were expected to pick up after ourselves, do our chores, be honest, go to church, love Jesus. I don't think that I thought my parents were particularly strict, because they were pretty much like everyone else's parents that I knew. I had good parents. I always knew they loved me.

My parents (left) as teenagers.

4. Tell us about a kitchen or cooking disaster or mishap you've experienced. Do you have many from which to choose?

The cooking disaster was probably when I baked a cake in my 1913 Home Comfort cookstove. The batter took up about a half inch in the pan - before and after.  There's a real skill to actually baking with a wood-burning stove, and I've not yet acquired it, mostly because it's hard to find wood that's reliably dry enough to know how fast it will burn. And no, I really don't have many kitchen disasters. 

Firebox on my cookstove

5. Plant a kiss, plant doubt, plant a tree, plant yourself somewhere...which on the list have you most recently planted?

Probably plant a kiss on a grandchild.

Who could resist those sweet little cheeks!

6. What's your most worn item of clothing this time of year? Are you tired of it?

Soft cotton, long-sleeved t-shirt. I never tire of them. 

This obviously isn't a long-sleeved shirt, nor is it mine, but when I was searching my photo files for 'shirt,' this one came up and I love this photo. :-) One of the grandkids, taken a few years ago. I think he looks like the Campbell's Soup Kid in this photo. 

7. I'm wrapping up the A-Z Blog Challenge this month and our Hodgepodge lands on letter W. What's one word beginning with W that describes you in some way? How about a word to describe your home, also beginning with W?

Me: Wondering;  Home: Wisconsin 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

 This is a photo that I don't think I posted before. It's from late March in the Kickapoo Valley area of Wisconsin. Horses waiting patiently for the [maple] sap wagon to be filled.

***

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Wisconsin Barns, Treasures, and Good Fences

We had lots of family here over the weekend, which was great fun, and it was Mr. C.'s birthday yesterday. He's now much older, but still younger than I am. I suspect that's a permanent condition. And as usual when we have company, I neglected to take pictures of them. It's a little difficult to host and take pictures, particularly because no one really wants to cooperate with having their picture taken. Ever experienced that? I figure there's no need to deliberately annoy them. I can do that easily enough without trying.

I took these photos in late March or April of this year in the Westby, Viroqua, Cashton area of Wisconsin. I know, I keep posting photos of that area, but when May arrives, our area will be more photogenic. Right now, in NW Wisconsin we're in that not-so-pretty time of the year. It's the mud and pollen season. Soon those tiny leaves will be much bigger and more flowers will be in bloom.

The church at the top right is St. Mary's, east of Cashton. It's on a ridge, and the road down to the valley is steep, as you can see by the sign.

I think these are Herefords. You can correct me.

Near Avalanche

(SE of Westby)

 But we do have daffodils in full bloom right now, for which I am so grateful!

Judith's Mosaic Monday will now be the last Monday of each month, rather than weekly. Thank you, Judith, for the opportunity to link to Mosaic Monday!

Also linked to Tom's Tuesday's Treasures, The Barn Collective

and Theresa's Good Fences

Instagram: @cranberrymorning

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Windsor Favorites - Anglophile Friday

 'Hello, Judy? Why don't these people just go away and leave me alone.'
quoting Robert E. Lee

Even though she must have been horribly busy with her 90th birthday celebration and all, I was so pleased to get a phone call yesterday from one of my favorites - Her Majesty the Queen! I've always admired Queen Elizabeth's steadfast commitment to duty, honor, and country, and all done with such class. She will be a tough act to follow. Long live the Queen!

And just so you know, it's all so confusing as to how to address royalty, so I am including this link to proper etiquette. I'm sure we'll all have a chance to use it, next time we're invited to tea.

 Getting there: Waterloo to Windsor
via South West
(It's such a pretty train and train station!
Then again, it would be, wouldn't it.)

 So close and yet so far:
Windsor Castle

 England is full of cute pubs
I didn't crop the photo because I wanted you to see the adjacent buildings, including the rack of clothes trotted out to the sidewalk for all the [tourist] passersby.

 Coat of arms, high above the street
My guess: God give us virtue and industry?
Any Latin scholars out there?

For the first time ever, I am linking to Amy's Five on Friday. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and today I actually have five things to contribute. Happily joining the party. Thank you, Amy!

Also linking to Debbie's Friday Foto Friends

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Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Instagram: @cranberrymorning

Wisconsin Barns, Good Fences, Heifers, and Scottish Blackface Sheep

When we're in the area, we love to take drives out to the countryside around Westby, WI. It is my favorite part of Wisconsin.

As we were driving those winding, hilly roads, I spotted Scottish Blackface sheep (my favorite!!), so we stopped to gawk, and the young, friendly farmer came out and was more than willing to show us his new flock. Just last year he had purchased a starter flock, 4 ewes and 1 ram. This year, as predicted, he has several bouncing (really, they do bounce!) baby lambs. Both the shepherd and his little boy were so proud of their sheep. The 8 year old brought over a darling little Scottish Blackface lamb for me to pet. So woolly, so CUTE!!

 Some of this year's lambs, standing next to the huge hay bales.

They're the regular size huge hay bales, which show how small the lambs are.

 This heifer was dying to get closer to me.

 She begged me to scratch her ears - so I did. :-)

 A couple barns that probably won't be standing much longer.
The one on the left is an old tobacco barn. The boards were spaced for air flow, for drying the tobacco.

Back in the day - Some of my husband's ancestors c. 1910
working in their Wisconsin tobacco fields.
They would have hung their tobacco leaves to dry in a barn like the one pictured above.

 Tobacco warehouse est. early 20th century

Viroqua, WI

Linking to Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

and Theresa's Good Fences 

and Tom's Barn Collective

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The Great Reveal

Okay, it might be a bit of a letdown, but the great reveal is...

my DVD collection. Do any of these look familiar to you?

 The ones that don't show a title (right side) are all 'Frost' (Inspector Jack Frost)

So this is my DVD collection. I have so many favorites, and if I ever get another DVD, it will most likely be Inspector George Gently. I just noticed that one of the shelves was photographed twice. 

Do you have a favorite movie? TV show?

You'll notice that 'Call the Midwife' is not on my shelves. I even tried another time to watch it (that would be three times in all) just for Suzan (SimplyVintageous blog), but I just can't get into it... Too much labor and delivery. It's all so exhausting! I'm sure many of you are fans, for I hear it's a huge hit. Perhaps I'm just not looking at it right and you can explain it to me.

Sorry the first photo is blurry and that my snowmen are still sitting on top of the cabinet. Not really too sorry that they're still there, because after all, we just stepped out of winter into glorious spring. (Stay tuned, that could change any minute.)

A few of my favorite sleuths!

As you know, I'm way behind in visiting blogs. We've been making  treks to the southern part of the state to work on the cousin's estate. Huge job, and when I get back, the last thing I want to do is sit at the computer. I can't seem to write a blog post from my phone. What I can do is post photos to Instagram. So if you're interested, see the button on my sidebar, 'View on Instagram.'

Other than that, I will be posting as frequently as I can and hopefully getting around to other blogs as well.  You're all a great group of blogging friends and I do appreciate you!  xo


P.S. Update:  I also just noticed that I didn't take photos of the bottom two shelves. But they're mostly Foyle's War, Winds of War, War and Remembrance, and Inspector Campion.

 ***

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***

One more reveal:

I just made a new header for both my Etsy shop

and HomemadeSoapnSuch.com

What do you think? (If you hate it, you don't have to let me know. LOL  Well, actually, you probably should, so I can do something about it.)

Instagram: @cranberrymorning

Linking to: Mosaic Monday,  Cooking & Crafting With JJ, You're Gonna Love it Tuesday, Treasure Box Tuesday, Roses of Inspiration, A Creative Princess,  Ivy and Elephants, Thoughts on Home, Freedom Fridays

Have a wonderful day, friends!