Jug

If I were a member of a Jug band this would be my instrument. I walked into TJ Maxx the other day to browse (as if). I approached this oversized recycled glass jug and spent the rest of my time in the store trying not to drop it.

Treasure Find Tuesday: Helen Marie

"It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things."

— Lemony Snicket

I am blogging while drinking Red Rose black tea. This is the tea I grew up drinking during tea parties with my grandma. In May, my grandma passed away peacefully five days after my last visit. I needed to take a pause from blogging in order to spare you my unfiltered emotions. I hope that you are still eager to hear more as I am eager to share!

Todays treasure is a salute to Helen Marie. You will undoubtedly learn more about her as this blog goes on. Not only was she quite a character, I wouldn't be at all who I am today if she hadn't shared so much of her love with me.

She read me many poems as a child, but this one was our favorite. I even looked it up on my i phone and read it to her on my last visit. Please enjoy.

The Sugar-Plum Tree

By: Eugene Field

AVE you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?

'T is a marvel of great renown!

It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea

In the garden of Shut-Eye Town;

The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet

(As those who have tasted it say)

That good little children have only to eat

Of that fruit to be happy next day.

When you 've got to the tree, you would have a hard time

To capture the fruit which I sing;

The tree is so tall that no person could climb

To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing!

But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat,

And a gingerbread dog prowls below--

And this is the way you contrive to get at

Those sugar-plums tempting you so:

You say but the word to that gingerbread dog

And he barks with such terrible zest

That the chocolate cat is at once all agog,

As her swelling proportions attest.

And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around

From this leafy limb unto that,

And the sugar-plums tumble, of course, to the ground--

Hurrah for that chocolate cat!

There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes,

With stripings of scarlet or gold,

And you carry away of the treasure that rains

As much as your apron can hold!

So come, little child, cuddle closer to me

In your dainty white nightcap and gown,

And I 'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree

In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.