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Category Archives: antiques

Porcelain, Dumbbells and A Word

I have two beautiful little porcelain boxes. They were given to my parents on their Ruby wedding anniversary by the man who was their Best Man and who became my Godfather, Maurice Oldfield. These little boxes became mine in due course and I love them.

In November last year I joined an online exercise class designed for women over 60 and I am loving it! Feeling stronger and fitter and far less arthritic pain. We have just graduated from using cans of beans as weights to little dumbbells weighing twice as much and mine arrived in the post today!

We have rain again today, a soft mizzle and I turned to my beautiful book , Ninety-Nine Words for Rain and this one describes today’s drizzly stuff. I just wish I knew how to say these lovely words.

Jigsaw, Cathedral and A Film

11 Feb

We finished the streets of London jigsaw. It was hard but was lovely to remember walking those streets in the early days of our being together . We even found the street where we came upon a junk shop and there in the window was a painting of Truro Cathedral! How serendipitous was that, it being my home city? We had met at the end of October, found the painting while I was with my lovely Mr S in early January and then we agreed to be married on January 4th, just ten weeks after meeting!

We are just home from watching a fascinating film, The Lost Boys of Carbis Bay, about a group of men who explore and climb around in the old tin mines of Cornwall, incredibly dangerous but obviously very fulfilling for those involved.

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on February 11, 2026 in antiques, art, Cornwall, Happiness, painting, Postaday 2026, Uncategorized

Tags: F. Robson

The Call of the Sea

14 Jan

For some reason today, I remembered a beautiful little book, The Call of the Sea, and found it. It was printed in 1907 and is in a very delicate state. It fell open at the page, Night in a Cornish Port so I’m thinking, since this book was my Mum’s, she must have loved this excerpt about Newlyn from Eden Philpotts.

Leather cover

Painted frontispiece

End leaf

I love the thought that my hands are touching something loved and touched by my beloved Mum.

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on January 14, 2026 in antiques, art, books, Cornwall, nature, Newlyn, painting, Postaday 2026, Uncategorized

Tags: Fishing in Newlyn text

Roots, A Gift and Flames

20 Dec

The hyacinths I planted in the Victorian glass just a month ago have developed roots and I have brought them out of the dark and put them on a windowsill.I’m hoping, perhaps rather optimistically, that they will be in flower for my birthday in two weeks! I love the pattern made by the roots swirling round the glass.

We took a small gift to Sara at Make A Mends today, a small and curious object which I inherited but don’t know anything about.I knew Sara would love it and she did. It turns out, on googling, that it is a hairbrush albeit only 3 cms diameter.!

Tony Benn is one of my heroes and features in my quotations book several times. Here are more of his wise words.

We need to keep those flames alive. I wrote about Tony Benn here if you’d like to read it.

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 20, 2025 in antiques

Tags: Fantail, Tony Benn

Returning

12 Nov

Mary Oliver always has the words one needs.

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on November 12, 2025 in antiques, poetry, Postaday2025, Uncategorized

Tags: Mary Oliver

Cabbages, Waves and Thimble Cases

28 Oct

Another busy day for Roots with lots of volunteers working in the field. Cabbages are looking good.

Forgetting it is half term, we went down to Porthtowan to go to the Blue Bar but it was absolutely stuffed. The sea looked good though, of course.

Porthtowan

I inherited thimbles and thimble cases from my Mum. The thimbles have mostly gone to family but I kept the cases. Somehow they no longer give me joy so I’m thinking they need to move on too.

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 28, 2025 in antiques, Cornwall, environment, growing, nature, Porthtowan, Postaday2025

Old Books, Cuttings and A Film

06 Oct

I’ve been sorting through books we inherited from my parents, some real beauties there, many picked up at auctions in Truro many years ago. I was charmed to find some personal notes in the margins and cuttings from the Manchester Guardian of 1887.

Published 1870

Here’s the opening of one essay, The Guillemot, containing the wonderful word, ‘nidification’ which I take to mean the nesting habits of the birds.

Page 62

Rather gruesome cat’s head on his desk!

Just been to see the film, Downton Abbey, The Grand Finale , thoroughly feel good!

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 6, 2025 in antiques, birds, nature, Postaday2025, Uncategorized, Words

Tags: Charles Waterton, Natural History Essays, new words

Buttons, Knitting and Some Advice

20 Aug

I found both the patience and the time this afternoon to sew up another of the little jackets I am knitting for babies in Ukraine. I have three more knitted and all in pieces but so dislike sewing up that they’ve been waiting a while. Happily the truck going to Ukraine isn’t going for a while. I am using the mother-of-pearl buttons that were my Grandfather’s sample ones when he was a button salesman in the 1920s so they are 100 years old! It gives me enormous pleasure to handle them, to sew them on and to make every little jacket extra special.

Note to self from Sallie G – she’s right!

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 20, 2025 in antiques, family, family history, Postaday2025, sewing, Uncategorized

Tags: Slava Ukraine, Ukraine

Stitchery, Old and New

14 Sep

There were some beautiful examples of stitchery at Trerice where we were with friends on Wednesday. I hadn’t heard of Stumpwork before and loved this old example.

There was also a beautiful curtain where crewel work was the decoration.

The reverse appliqué circles that I made a few weeks ago (bottom two on the right) are being sewn onto the Redruth Story coat ready for Pasty Day in our town at the end of the month.

Sea Air and Winslow, Arizona

23 Sep

We needed sea air today and went to Godrevy for ice creams and a stroll breathing in the wonderful fresh air.

On our trip, we stopped off in Winslow, Arizona for a break. I love spotting murals in the small towns and also found a butterfly. The hotel, La Posada, is such a lovely spot, full of beautiful things. Enjoy the gallery.