Entries to Win Afghan

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Friday, November 13, 2026

Still Life with Plates and Breakfasts

 I got my act together and made some baked goods this morning. One was some bagels- they got a little browner than intended, but they are fine. The other is a low-calorie cranberry bread I wanted to try for the holiday season. Omer really likes it, so half is stowed in the freezer for either T-Day or Christmas breakfast.
plates of bagels and quick bread


But the other half of the news is the two plates. I still have some single pieces of tableware to show you that have family connections. This cake plate is also Limoges Haviland, although I can't find the name of the particular pattern. I didn't find a picture of an exact match, although I did find matches to the unpainted shape of the plate.

Text Rollover Image

It's even older than the green Limoges Popup Preview I showed you before. This was made between 1891 and 1914. This is a cake plate.

Limoges Cake Plate


Now, here's the part that may need more research. Mom has this marked as belonging to "Aunt Maggie." I heard that name a lot while I was growing up, but I don't really know who it actually is. The only Margaret I can find in the family line (except Mom's baby sister who died the day she was born) is Margaret Antoinette Hall Dubois who would have been Mom's great-great aunt. And she died in 1901, so Mom would not have known her, although she might have heard a lot about her. And the date of production for this plate seems a little late for when she would have been buying china, but who knows?

If this is indeed "Aunt Maggie" - here she is.
Margaret Antoinette Hall Dubois
The other plate is even older. This is marked "Hall family." That is only moderately helpful because there are Halls on both sides, although I'm 99% sure this is from Mom's side. And in fact, the time period fits better with Margaret Antionette HALL than the dates of production of the Limoges plate. (I can't find a single Margaret in the next generation down, nor a Margaret on Mom's father's side.)

This is transferware made by W. Adams & Sons of Staffordshire, England. The pattern name is "Columbia" which featured romanticized or picturesque landscapes with architectural views, with 12 sides. These were made from about 1819–1864.
Adams Columbia plate


Margaret Antoinette had seven siblings, one of which was my great-great-great grandfather, and one of which was Susan Hall Barry, of some fame. So there are a lot of possible Halls to choose from.

In other news- I got all the book stuff ready for tomorrow and loaded in the car. I have to leave at 6:30 in the morning. I packed away the glassware I showed you yesterday, baked, and did some financial stuff.

See Davy Crockett and Hervey Smith Hall

Thursday, November 12, 2026

Cambridge Rose Glassware

 I have a number of pieces of Cambridge Rose glassware that also belonged to Granny. This stuff is so delicate, I'm practically afraid to touch it.

I like the shadows that they cast. This is one goblet and one sherbet glass. Again. with the cutwork tablecloth, which really fits the time period.
Cambridge Rose glassware


I tried to enhance the contrast so you could see the pattern better.
cambridge rose pattern


There are 7 goblets, but 1 has a small chips, and 8 sherbet glasses, 2 of which have a small chip. The perfect ones are worth at least $30 each. I'm working on packing boxes that can eventually go to Replacements, Ltd. They also take silverware. I have 2 complete sets of family silver!
Cambridge Rose glassware


In other news: I had a Zoom meeting, did some volunteer stuff, went shopping and did errands (including getting one box of the not-important stuff to a resale shop).

I'm thinking that we might do Thanksgiving dinner with a table set with Granny's stuff just once for the heck of it. But I'd have to trust all of us to touch these things. Poor Granny- she really wanted me to be much more highbrow instead of the inveterate tomboy who just really doesn't care about this stuff.

See Granny's China

Wednesday, November 11, 2026

Lunch and a Veteran

  Whenever we are both home, Om and I like to take advantage of one of the free meals for veterans in the area. There are several places that offer them now, be we like Applebee's. Om always has their small steak, and I usually have the Festival Lime Chicken.
person in a restaurant


Appelbee's always has a full line of flags, from the various services and US flags, lining their curb.
line of flags


Omer was in the Army in the 1960's but just missed going to VietNam. He was stationed in Germany.

Of course, I never run out of topics for this date because it was also my mother's birthday.

I got my act together and worked on computer stuff this morning, but after we got home, I've pretty much disappeared into a book.

See Lunch with My Veteran

Tuesday, November 10, 2026

State Park Loop

 Today was non-stop busy.

I had laundry on the line by 8:30 in the morning. Had a Zoom meeting at 9 and then follow up stuff after that until lunch. Took down the laundry. Edited. Then I did errands and went for a walk. Usually, before bell practice, I just walk around the trails near the Mehodist Church. But the weather was gorgeous. I decided to drive a little farther and take a walk at Ludington State Park.

I really love the Island Trail, so I hiked out on that. This is looking out into Hamlin Lake from near the beginning of the trail.
Ludington State Park Island Trail


The trail connects a string of islands that form Lost Lake. All the lakes with that name- a lot in Michigan- didn't get lost. They were formed because a ridge of land separated them from a larger body of water, so this one is "lost" from Hamlin Lake. In this picture Lost Lake is on the left.
Ludington State Park Island Trail


I wasn't sure how much hiking time I'd have because of the errands. But I made it to the north end of the Island Trail, and this CCC cabin, in good time.
Ludington State Park Island Trail CCC cabin


So I decided to do a loop with some other trails. I headed inland on the Ridge Trail. That is a high trail with some topography. You get glimpses of Lake Michigan from up there.
view of Lake Michigan


The Ridge Trail is just what it says- on top of a ridge. You can sort of see how high a lot of it is in this picture.
Ludington State Park Ridge Trail


You can choose to return to the parking several ways. Today, I got off the Ridge Trail and returned via the Lost Lake Trail which goes on the west side of Lost Lake. But right at the junction, you can get a shot of how the Island Trail connects the eastern edges. See the bridge out there? I zoomed way in to get the picture.
Ludington State Park Island Trail


Then there was bell practice. The hard piece we are working on for Christmas is starting to come together. I think this day was packed full enough

Miles walked in 2026: 676.6
Ludington State Park: Island Trail, Ridge Trail, Lost Lake Trail loop. 4.6 miles

See My Favorite Ludington SP Loop

Monday, November 9, 2026

The Rest of Granny's Quilts

 I believe I have now collected into one place all the quilts I still have that Granny made, and they are all clean. I've previously shown you four of them (and a couple of comforters). All the quilts were made before 1950. Can't do better on timing than that.

This one is perhaps the most spectacular of these four. I believe the design is called "Pink Dahlia."
pink dahlia quilt


It's interesting, because the design seems to be very curvy, but notice that all the pieces are triangles with straight edges. This is piecework.
dahlia quilt


This one is a "Lily" design. Sometimes it's called "Tulips." Anyway, Again, it has a lot of pink- not my favorite as we all know. This is applique. The motif is upside down in the picture.
lily quilt


This closeup is right side up.
lily quilt


This one is perhaps less interesting, but it's yet another technique. The "Flower Basket" design is all embroidered. Some of the threads are worn, but if you like pink it's nice.
flower basket quilt


Here's a better look at the design.
flower basket quilt


These three quilts are mostly less spectacular than the ones I've shown you before (links at end), but it's just the order that I located them- no sort of ranking intended.

There is one other that I can't find at all. It's possible that this one got worn out and went by the wayside. This may be some variation on "Bear Claw." I have two books from which Granny took most of her patterns, so it's possible it's in one of those. The dog in the picture is Jeremiah who died in 1975, so this quilt hasn't been seen in quite a while.
bear claw quilt


In other news: I worked at cleaning up some of the mess I've created in unpacking all this stuff. There is yet more to share in the coming days. I brought up one more big box from the other building, cleaned and sorted it. Almost all of that is going to the resale store. I'll keep just a couple of things. There was nothing special at all in there. (And none of the missing cups!)

See Granny's Favorite Quilt?
See Lone Star Quilt
See Quilts