Wednesday Fab Finds

Franco Farms Berries

     Welcome to the first Wednesday Fab Finds! Wednesday posts will be about anything I find during the week that I think is fabulous in some way, shape or form. I love to go to flea markets, estate sales, garage/yard sales, thrift stores and resale shops. I also love to take back roads and try new restaurants. And I have a thing for books, novels, historical, sci-fi/fantasy and culinary. Anyway, I feel like I am finding wonderful things all the time and want to share my treasures with you.
Starting with today, we found a new place to pick strawberries not too far from home. We normally love to pick at Gunzvillers in Elk Rapids, but that is a 45 minute drive. We took a risk and went to "Franco's," which is about 5 miles out of Traverse City heading south on US 31. Great berries, beautiful flavor and sweet! Check out the Taste the Local Difference website for places in MI to pick.

Perseus Jackson "PJ" our new Lion Head bunny

     The next find is our new Lion Head bunny, Perseus Jackson, or PJ for short. We found him at the Pet Supplies Plus store thanks to a family we met at the TC Balloon Classic two weeks ago. They brought their Lion Head bunny to the open space and we just happened to sit down behind them. We fell in love with their little bunny, so fluffy and social. Also, weighed less than 2.5 lbs, the size of bunny we have been looking for. Anyway, we are all madly in love with our new pet!
     Find numero tres (3) is something I found at Cali's, a local shop in downtown TC. "Haikubes," a box of dice that have words on each side that you use to create haikus. I love these, they are so cool!!! Now I just have to find a

Haikubes

really sweet transparent container to keep them in and also on display in the living room so anyone can just dump them out, have some fun and easily put them away.
And just so you know, I paid $25 for my set, should have known I could find a better deal online! At least I did support a locally owned business that I am very fond of, that is a good thing.

Tri Oreshki Dlya Zollushki

     My last find this week is a movie on YouTube, "Tri Oreshki Dlya Zollushki," or "Three Nuts for Cinderella," or "Three Gifts for Cinderella." I saw this movie on a PBS station, I think, a long, long time ago, and loved it. I finally found it on YouTube and enjoyed it all over again with my daughter. It is a Czech film that I think was very well done for the time it was produced, over 30 years ago at least. Click here to watch the six part film.
     Hope you are finding wonderful treasures of your own like a perfect peach, an old photo or a new china cup and saucer for your collection!

Flowers and Mini Tiles

     My daughter Sophie and I took a break while doing dishes last night to pick flowers from our garden for the house. Since so many of the perennials are new, we didn't have as much to choose from, even though we have lots and lots of flowers now. This bouquet is made up of pink cosmos, a daisy with shredded looking leaves and whose name I cannot recall, baby's breath and some rose mallow. The Baby's Breath was so small last year and almost dead when I got it on clearance at Menards, but it came back this year and is quite big, I love it. I try to buy a couple sad looking perennials near the end of the season each year since they are so reasonable and if they don't take I won't cry about it. But they seem to do well if I work the soil well, add some compost and then get a wonderful surprise the following year. I almost pulled the Baby's Breath out this spring, to be honest, I couldn't remember if that is what it was. Thank goodness I followed my instincts and left it alone.

     I also took a photo of the mini tiles I collect that are peeking out from behind the flowers. They are waiting to be rehung on the wall since we took them all down when we painted, LAST year, lol! I have at least as many as you see here that are packed up. When I get them all back up on the wall, hopefully in our new "reading room," I'll take another photo. I collect mini tiles from places we visit if I can find them in the local galleries. Sometimes I don't find anything, so have to settle for shoes, beads or postcards. But love when I find a tile made by a local artist. I also buy some tiles I find on Etsy, since there are so many talented artists there too.  I'm going to Cleveland in mid-July and hope to find a new tile to add to the collection. I am particularly fond of rabbits, mermaids, flora and fauna, but I also like inspiring things and unique shapes.
     And did I mention that my 10 year old daughter beat the pants off myself, her father and her 16 year old brother at Monopoly tonight? No cheating and no helping at all!