AND SEW IT GOES

I drove out to Hillsboro today to return the glass shades that didn't work for the light fixture. From my house there are two ways to get to Hillsboro. One is by way of the TV Highway, which I try to avoid if possible. The other is the back road, through farmland. That's my preference.

It is beautiful year round, but especially in the spring. The green fields are so green! This time of year I need little excuse to drive out that way, so I was almost glad to have to return the shades, especially since it is not raining today. Not raining is big. In fact at this moment the sun is shining.  Anyway it is a beautiful drive. In March the daffodils out this way are incredible. They seem to grow wild in huge swaths along the roadsides and on the ditch banks. You see clumps of them even out in the fields. I especially like this old wagon planted with daffodils in a farmyard alongside the road.

When I first saw all the daffodils out here a couple springs ago it inspired me to plant daffodils at home. The past two falls Ray and I have planted probably several hundred daffodil bulbs along the street and up the driveway at our house. They look great this year and I imagine more and more every year.

I appreciated the comments left about the light fixture. Gerrie and Ginny—the first places I looked were at Rejuvenation and Hippo Hardware. It was at Hippo that the woman showed me the similar fixtures they had for sale (pricey) and said that if they did not have the set screws for shades, then they were hung with bare bulbs. I may have convinced myself that bare bulbs will be the way to go with this one. I found this rejuvenated antique , which is similar, on Rejuvenation's web site.The description says it was always intended to have bare bulbs. The ones shown in their photo are hand-painted bulbs that they sell for $9 each. Note the price of the fixture as well. I paid $32, including shipping from eBay and have added another $20 or so with rewiring and paint stripping supplies. Maybe the new owners will want to buy some of the pretty hand-painted bulbs for this fixture, but I am using much less expensive ones. I liked the statement on the Rejuvenation fixture description that says that the dents on that fixture lend it "extra authenticity."  Mine also has that extra authenticity!