Decorating the Cookstove

I'm trying to remember where all these things came from. The Beefeater (I think it's supposed to be) was from World Market one year, and it contained Walker shortbread. I think. The S&P post boxes were given to me by friends who know I love England, and the cast iron train and car have been sitting on top of this stove for years. They may have come from a little shop in Bird-in-Hand, PA.

The little hanging man was given to me by my cousin Bobby (bearer of all fun things), the grapevine wreath I made from vine that I actually think was Virginia creeper. And the license plate is an old Wisconsin plate.

The turkey feathers (left) were from a beautiful (but dead) turkey we found alongside the road near Chetek last year. Doesn't everyone keep turkey feathers?? Cast iron skillets flank the cookstove. They're wonderful pans and were handed down through the family, except for a couple I purchased at a flea market when we lived in Pennsylvania.

The bells were a collection that belonged to my mother, probably given to her by my nephew and his family who live in China. I couldn't resist the gorgeous chicken, probably the closest I'll get to keeping chickens. Every time I get the hankering for raising chickens, we get something like a. ten below zero day which slaps me back to reality. Who wants to go out in sub-zero temps and take care of chickens?  I suspect that Kevin would frown upon keeping them in the house. We do have the room, now that the kids have all left home, but...he's so unreasonable. ;-)

I'm pretty sure I swiped the Scottie dog from my oldest brother many years ago, when we were kids. Or maybe he just accused me and it was so traumatic that it was indelibly etched into my brain, making me live under a cloud of guilt all these years.

But not enough to risk asking.

My REAL Christmas decorations, the Nativity, will come in another post. They're my favorite!

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Travel

I'm not sure what it is I like about this wagon. It was about 1 PM so it was in bright light and hard to get a decent photo. Maybe I'm starting to like rust, like Sandra does. :-) I was going to say that rust is really growing on me, but that might be too close to the truth for comfort.

By train

My cousin is visiting from Montana. We don't get to see her very often, and it's a special treat that I get to spend time with her this week.  The map above shows, roughly, the route from her house to ours, in Wisconsin. It is 1048 miles, taking about 17 hours by car and approximately 20 hours by train. I have taken exactly one train trip ever, and that was from Minneapolis to Great Falls, MT. The train is far more comfortable than a plane (unless one is traveling first class, I suppose), but you also have the opportunity to look out the window and see the amazing scenery of the United States. Well, that is, unless you're traveling across the upper Plains, in which case it's mostly flat land with an occasional elk. So it's not particularly great for sight-seeing, but it's incredible for raising crops! And actually, the beauty of the vast cropland near harvest time is an awesome thing.

We have friends in England who took a train(s) tour of the United States. Like all of us, prior to traveling it, they had no idea of he enormity of this country.  For some of you who may not be aware of this fact, England (not to be confused with the UK) would fit inside Wisconsin.


I look at that map and wonder what's the greatest distance any of my blogging friends have traveled by train.

How about you?

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