My girl friend around the corner called this morning and asked if I could come over for a minute and maybe have some coffee. This is what she presented me with. Isn’t it adorable???????????

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Yesterday was our anniversary and we stole away for the day and roamed the back roads, visited a great Flea Market in St Germain (you know the old kind with all the junk) and antique stores in Eagle River. We had dinner at the Riverstone Restaurant & Tavern which we thought was adequate, but not worth all the hype for the price, view or service*. We did find the Chanticleer Inn & several others for future special events, all of which came highly recommended after the fact! *After MANY years in the food service industry, I am a hard person to please, I know this about myself. But, I also know from experience that there are certain minimum standards for a restaurant that claims this level of quality. First and foremost is that as a server, you not serve a plate that is not as ordered. You can blame it on the cook, but ultimately it is your responsibility if it is a visible flaw. Secondly, as a server expecting a hefty tip in a higher class restaurant, check back with your table fairly soon after they first take a bite – MAKE SURE the meal is as it was ordered. Thirdly, don’t serve fresh baked warm bread and rock hard butter – it just isn’t that complicated to coordinate this!

At the flea market and antique stores we found all of this and for really (An anniversary gift from hubby) is my favorite find. They are cream testers from a local dairy farmer and each bottle had the cow’s name on it. (Rosemary, Nyoka, Martha, Bonnie, Thelma, Raggie, Beulah, Charity, Beverly, Marygold, Sharon, Beachie, Rogella, Reva, Stella, Hetta & Laverl). I’ve washed them all and am using them as spice bottles. Th antique coffee jars were probably the biggest value find. She must have not wanted to pack up glass at the end of the day as it was all priced very much below it’s actual value!

I also found 6 great new cook books, all for only $1 each. I love taking these old recipe books and adapting the recipes to current day! My favorite find in an antique store is an old beat up recipe box full of handwritten recipes. I almost always find several recipes that will become family favorites in nothing flat.

This doesn’t look like much now, but it was the rummage sale find of the weekend ($25). It is metal and is actually a bar. Hubby is taking off the netting for me and we’re going to paint it to match our other metal furniture (which it matches PERFECTLY) and then put on the deck next summer, after the deck is done! There are 2 sets of lower shelves behind the netting and we’ll use those for flower pots. The top is out of “dog” range and will be perfect for food at BBQ’s.