Sunday Market

My favorite thing to do on a Sunday is to take a stroll down to the Antique Market.
I arm myself with $20.
No more,
no less.

To see what treasures turn up.



Two weeks ago now, when the leaves were still on the ground, I spotted a ship.



Colorful blankets.



And a village tea set (on top of the white shelf).
I just came home with a pocket full of little trinkets for Christmas presents, but I am sure kicking myself for not asking how much that tea set was!

Recommended Reads: Light Boxes

This is probably not the best book to read as winter is on it's way, but I'm so glad I did. Light Boxes is about a war waged by a town full of balloonists against the month of February. It is written in prose poetry and a very quick read. The subject matter is as dark as the month of February (which in my own opinion is a pretty great month, but my birthday makes me biased...) and it is so good!

I would love to take submissions for this series.
Do you have a book to recommend?
Take a picture of the cover (library books are totally acceptable! drawings are acceptable!) and send along a paragraph or two describing what you loved about your book. What makes it special? Why would others enjoy it?
Send me an email erica.smithm(at)gmail(dot)com if you would like to recommend a book! :)

I also just found out that it is Book Week on Where the Lovely Things Are, so good.

Good Things.

My weeks have been long and hard lately.
So I thought I would take the time to point out some good things.

1. Murphy the dog. J and I met him in the park.
2. Ideas to put my new pom pom maker to good use.
3. A blog about an inside garden, Belle fleur de lis.
4. Nice emails.
5. A beautiful painting.
6. A little monster caught by Vic.
7. More triangles!
8. Gorgeous leaves.
9. Sample sales.
10. Cups of tea.
11. A moment of silence and a poem.
A reminder to be grateful for what I have.

Falling in Love with Fall. (oh so punny)

Some beautiful leaves in High Park.
Fall is nearing its end, I woke up to the first light snow of winter on Sunday morning, so I'm taking full advantage of it. I crunch leaves whenever I get the opportunity. On my way to work on Sunday, a couple was getting photos taken in the park; they would toss up handfuls of leaves then kiss. So much laughter, it was sweet.

On Saturday night, I had friends over for a dessert party in honor of Halloween. I was so busy baking and hosting that I forgot to take pictures. However, if you can picture it, I made homemade marshmallows from Martha's recipe in the shape of bones, chocolate whoopee pies with peanut butter filling, a cake from Nikole and Shanna's Wee Wedding Cakes recipe, pumpkin pie with a jack o'lantern face, and chocolate cupcakes. My friend Kylie bought over coffee cookies and shortbread cookies in the shape of severed fingers and Julie brought over mini quiches, of which I ate roughly 20. It was a great night, many thanks to all who came!

How I still ended up with pumpkin pie for breakfast is a delightful mystery.
(Oh, it's getting to be a bad habit.)







I just couldn't resist writing with the leaves I collected.
The first time I tried, a breeze blew the leaves away before I could snap a picture. The second time they stayed in place long enough for another gentlemen with a camera to stop and get in a few shots.