How do you like them apples?

No, I haven’t gone apple picking.  I’ll wait and buy a sackful of MacIntoshes at the store.  Do you know, the cute little paper bags with a handle?  I’ll make an apple pie and serve it hot with vanilla ice cream.  Another time, I’ll make apple crisp, and again serve it hot with vanilla ice cream.  And maybe, I’ll try making apple turnovers, too.  (Notice I said maybe.)
No, the apples I’m talking about are the decorative items in my happy red kitchen.  I had just taken the screens down from the casement windows, brushed away the cobwebs and dust, rubbed all the wood with lemon oil, washed the windows and created a little arrangement that made me smile.  Then I realized how pretty it looked in the late afternoon light, so out came my camera.  Do you like shortbread cookies with your tea?  I’ve only made it once.  It’s pretty decadent as I recall.  Mostly butter creamed with vanilla and powdered sugar, and a little flour thrown in to hold it together I guess.  I used the mold on top in the picture below.  It’s one I bought about 20 years ago, and has 9 flower and fruit motifs.  The round one below it I thrifted recently; both by Brown Bag Cookie Art.
The large apple cookie jar is a recent thrift store score, and the Bread-and-Butter pickles in the Mason jar were a generous gift from a co-worker who has been sharing his garden bounty.  The dishtowel is a calendar towel that I crocheted an edging for, and now it’s my fave.
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On another leaf,  I found the most adorable book (for only a quarter).  Do you know the book Wind in the Willows?  Of course you do.  Well, anyway my little happy discovery is another book by the same author, Kenneth Grahame.  It is a collection of short(er) stories, and was published before WITW. 

Many of the illustrations are by E.H. Shepard, and I believ he also immortalized the WITW characters.  But another treat is that some of the art is by Maxfield Parrish!  If you don’t recognize the name, you can click on it and see who he is.  I’ll bet you’ll recognize his early 20th century art.I love the italicized font with the flourishes. 
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This is just a gratuitous picture of a vintage saucer I found last week.  I love the colors.  Absolutely smitten.  And the images:  birds, a ship, cherry blossoms and a windmill.  What’s not to love?
Just found the little squirrel covered candy dish.  Very a propos to keep one’s treats and treasures hidden.  Do you remember those old penny candies in the yellow and red wax paper?  The Squirrel-Nut-Something caramels?  If I can find them, I’m going to stash some in this dish.  In the meantime, it has acorns.  Those acorns around the candle are huuuge.  I picked them up after a football game in Kennebunk on Thursday.  I have never seen them this big.  I wonder if next summer’s squirrels will be bigger than usual.

The 3-footed dish is also a new thrifting find.  No cover.  Too bad, but too pretty to leave behind.
What treasures are you squirrelling away this weekend?