Road Trip to Lake City

Last weekend eight of us took a road trip to southern Minnesota to visit our sister and brother-in-law and to celebrate their beautiful new home.  Nancy got us hooked on Redwing pottery __  (Yeesh!  too many to admit) years ago. One of their kitchen cupboards is dedicated to commemoratives.

This antique railing frames the stairway on the second level.  It was rescued by Jim's mom when a local building was being renovated 30+ years ago. The railing has been in her basement ever since, just waiting for a new home.  It's spectacular.

Nancy inherited our grandmother's silver vanity set.  The monogram actually does not have our grandmother's own initials.  The story goes that she received this set as an engagement gift, but decided later not to marry the gent.  Oops.  Wrong monogram.  Lucky for us!

We asked Nancy about the lock hanging from a sconce in the bedroom.  She said, "Oh, that's Jimmy's from when he was a kid.  He doesn't remember much about it, so I decided it's the key to my heart."

Another favorite piece is the shaker cupboard.  Vintage family photos as well as our grandma's porcelain basket line the top.  The long narrow photo shows Jim's grandfather in a group at a logging camp.  They were a rugged bunch.  Only their huge horses and the stacks of lumber dwarfed the men.