Leland Little Winter Estate Catalogued Auction

On  Friday night my friend Virginia from Greensboro and I attended the Leland Little Auction in Hillsborough. The sale featured the personal collection of Joseph D. Rowand, founder of Somerhill Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC and a large collection of rare and fine wine.
There were a number of Maude Gatewood pieces offered and one that I particularly liked.

Maude Gatewood oil on canvas abstract.

I was outbid on a wonderful still life by Lucy Spencer.  It sold for $1600.

Lucy Spencer still life.

 There was a  reception with wine and hors d'oeuvres prior to the auction.

Wine and cheese.

Virginia at the Friday night auction.

I went back on Saturday where the auction continued with over 700 lots of fine and decorative arts offered. This session featured multi-estate national and international level collections.  Art Deco items from James and Virginia Tucker's collection were among the items sold on Saturday. 

The auction in progress.

I was the successful bidder of one item on Saturday.  Check my blog tomorrow for a description of this.

Hot-Pepper Pecans (Spiced Pecans)

Pan of toasted pecans.

 Each year at Christmas I make batches of spiced pecans as gifts for neighbors and friends.  I usually make the savory variety rather than the sweet.  This recipe is super easy and the results are yummy.


Recipe:  2 cups pecan halves
             1 tablespoon butter
             2 tsp soy sauce (lite version with less salt)
             1/2 tsp salt (optional)
             1/8 tsp hot sauce (I use Texas Pete)*

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  In 8 or 9 inch cake pan, combine pecan halves and butter.  I usually melt the butter and then add the pecan halves.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter.

Add 2 cups of pecan halves to butter in pan.

Toast for 30 minutes in preheated 300 degree oven.

Toast in oven 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from oven and add other ingredients.  I usually mix the soy sauce and hot sauce together before adding to the pecans.  Toss to mix well.  Yields 2 cups.

Mix 2 tsp soy sauce and 1/8 tsp hot sauce and add to toasted pecans.

 * These are not actually very hot--just enough spice to be interesting.

Spiced pecans ready for friends and neighbors.

Look at That! Eyeglasses

For Christmas this year, Dan and I are giving daughter Chris Livingstone a donation to DonorsChoose in her honor. DonorsChoose is an online charity that makes it easy to help students in need through school donations. Chris teaches ESL at a high poverty middle school in Durham, NC.  She is an innovative, creative and dedicated teacher who uses DonorsChoose to get all kinds of materials for her students.  Currently she has had 92 projects funded (Chris' Projects).

Wow! I can see clearly now.

A recent project allowed three of her students to get eyeglasses.  In thanking her donors for funding this project Chris said:

"Thank you for providing me with one of the most gratifying experiences of my career! Last night, three of my students drove with me to an optical center in a drugstore for eye exams and eyeglasses. I used the "squint factor" to select these students from a larger group who have obvious difficulty with vision. All three, as expected, had a very clear need for corrective lenses and, ninety minutes later, after the incredible first experience of seeing clearly, we drove back to school with glasses for each student."

Let me check out these frames.

Chris almost always has some project in the pipeline at DonorsChoose, and we hope this Christmas gift will allow her to announce to her class "Merry Christmas, another project has been funded."



Photos for this post by Chris Livingstone.

What Do Roosters, Fresh Eggs, Pyrex and Corningware Have in Common?

Country Heritage Vintage and Farm Fresh Eggs

I was out at the NC State Fairgrounds Flea Market the other day, and I came upon a quirky, in a nice way, booth in the Education Building on the Hillsborough Street side.  Becky Jaber's Country Heritage Vintage and Farm Fresh Eggs has a potpourri of the most interesting "stuff".  Farm fresh eggs and her award-winning honey from her farm out in Wake Forest are for sale at reasonable prices.

Farm fresh eggs from Becky's farm.

 But the real attraction of Becky's booth is her extensive collection of vintage kitchen ware.

Corning ware from the 1970s when avocado was a popular color in the kitchen.

Corning ware in the cornflower blue pattern of the 1960s.

Colorful pyrex.

Rooster collection.

A customer happy with her vintage finds.

So roosters, fresh eggs, Pyrex and Corningware along with a lot of other vintage items can all be found at County Heritage Vintage and Farm Fresh Eggs at the NC State Fairground Flea Market.

ReTails Thrift Shop

Each Christmas as a gift to our grown children we make a contribution to a favorite charity of theirs.  We will be making a donation this year to ReTails Thrift Shop in honor of daughter Beth* and Joe. 

ReTails is located in north Raleigh at 1608 North Market Drive.

Manager, Betsy, at work hanging up clothes.

The shop is well-organized and has assorted items at great prices.

Donations are welcome.

The last Sunday of each month, everything is half price.

*Beth is executive director of AnimalKind, a nonprofit that administers the $20 Fix Program that enables low-income pet owners to spay or neuter their pets for $20 or less. All of net profits from ReTails Thrift Shop supports AnimalKind's pet spay/neuter programs, THE $20 FIX and SpayNC Helpline.  SpayNCHelpline (1-888-NC-FIX-EM) helps residents anywhere in North Carolina find pet spay/neuter resources in their area.


We are happy to wish Beth and Joe a very merry holiday season and to make a contribution to this worthwhile organization in their honor.