i don't have to exist outside this place

wanted to share pictures of two gorgeous books i picked up recently at an estate sale. the first one is the ladies' complete guide to crochet, fancy knitting, and needlework. by mrs. ann s. stephens, dated 1854. it has one of the prettiest embossed covers i've ever seen, plus some beautiful patterns and illustrations inside.

the second is barnes's complete geography by james monteith, dated 1885. it has the most amazingly detailed engravings. that last image is titled "rotundity of the earth - atlantic ocean from north america to ireland, irish sea, england, and north sea". those tiny ships and whales! too cute.

both of these books will eventually be for sale at mushroom & moss vintage, after i've had a little more time to stare at them and flip through the pages some more ;)

i have a few days off this week, so i'm busy busy busy cleaning and organizing shop stuff so i can do another update soon. hope your monday is going well!

now my feet won't touch the ground

this past weekend was so beautiful we just had to get out of the house, but we were pretty sore from tennis and canoeing and tired of our usual hiking spots, so we decided to try something new: the crystal springs rhododendron garden in southeast portland. and holy crap i'm so glad we did!

i'd avoided it because of the whopping $3 to get in (it's free on tuesdays and wednesdays), even though i've paid more for the japanese and chinese gardens... and it was amazing!! huge and gorgeous (especially this time of year), full of ponds, bridges, waterfalls, gorgeous ducks and geese, and the flowers - wow! not just rhododendrons either (even though there was literally a rainbow of those), they had pretty much everything you can think of! seriously i was blown away. i can't wait to go back!!

no matter how i try i can't seem to think of anything better to say

i haven't been to estate sales in a few weeks (been doing other fun things like hiking, camping in yurts, canoeing, playing tennis... just enjoying the gorgeous spring weather) but this morning i decided to stop by a few on the way to a friend's house, even though i knew since it's sunday all the good stuff would probably be taken. so my expectations were extremely low when i spotted this beauty under a pile of christmas decorations. then i opened the lid... ohmygosh! can you believe how freaking cute it is?!?! and the price? five dollars. oh yes. and no, i don't have room for it. but i will make room for it. because i love it. and it was $5. and it's beautiful.

hope you had a wonderful weekend!