Peasant Silver Buttons

I recently bought some interesting silver link buttons and was hoping to find out more about them, when I came across this superb book on the subject: "A Collector's Guide to Peasant Silver Buttons" By Jane Perry. It has opened up a whole new field of interest in button collecting and knowledge for me.

The book is a large paperback, illustrated throughout with clear black & white photographs of buttons. The author has divided the book into sections about:-

• Flat and other one-piece buttons
• Domed buttons
• Filigree buttons
• Round or contoured buttons
• Appendices (covering terminology, silver marks and dating etc)

The buttons are grouped by country or geographical region, covering Europe, Asia and the Americas, which made it simple to identify the origin of the buttons I had purchased. The buttons were normally used to fasten men's jackets and waistcoats.

This one is from Dalmatia.

The next two are Spanish.

And this one is Croatian.

The book is very clearly written and will certainly help me to better describe these buttons if and when I decide to sell them. Jane also keeps a useful up-to-date guide to prices for these buttons, (which she will email to purchasers of the book on request). The guide prices are reached by keeping an average of prices achieved at auctions and sales during the previous year.

Knitted Hats and Matinee Sets From Stella Parkinson

 

Here is a set of photos from one of my lovely customers, Stella Parkinson of Handmade4Angels on Misi.

Stella loves making handmade items for babies and will make up items in the colours of your choice. Her prices are very reasonable: £2.00 for headbands, £2.50 for baby pumpkin hats and £6.50 for matinee sets. They are the perfect gift for newborn babies!

Autumn Colour

Rob, Henry and I had a day out in Hawick. Here are some photos we took of the beautiful trees in the park.

Holiday in Gairloch: Day 6: Journey Home Via Fort William

We awoke at 6.00 am, when Henry wanted to go out, and we decided to stay up, pack the car, have breakfast and clean and hoover the apartment before leaving. The manageress commiserated with us about the bad weather as we handed in the keys. We said 'Cheerio' to Mr McCloud, the resident cat, and headed off down the west coast, for Fort William. The drive took us past Kyle of Lochalsh on a mixture of rough, single-track roads and better 'A' roads.

 

Ready for our lunch when we arrived, we headed straight for the French-style bakery/cafe that we have visited often in the past, only to find out that it had closed down :(

We plumped instead for a rather nice-looking bistro/restaurant called No 4. It was horrible. Read my scathing review here! We headed straight for another cafe for a consolatory cappuccino. The rain was coming down in buckets by now, so it was nice to be in the dry.

As we headed back to the car park, we saw a flock of beautiful swans heading silently along Lochbroom, flying low to the surface - a wonderful sight.

The rest of the journey was fairly straightforward, except for a brief interlude when Henry had a tantrum. He was annoyed at being kept in the car for so long (despite two walks!). Rob took him into the front seat, where he kicked and yelped until we stopped at a service station. We finally arrived home at 7 pm - all relieved to be back.

Holiday in Gairloch: Day 5: Gairloch Beach, Ullapool, Corrieshalloch Gorge

5 October 2011. Henry had his walk and ride on the beach at Gairloch before we drove on to Ullapool.

Lunch was in The Gallery Cafe above a mountain gear shop. The picture below was taken in March of this year, on our last visit. Rob had the cooked veggie breakfast, I had baked potato, cheese and beans. The food was good, but the waitress was a bit miserable.

The photo below (also taken in March) shows the harbour at Ullapool on rather a grey day. We had a walk round the town and found a lovely bookshop with lively cafe attached, and rather wished we had eaten there.

We stopped off at Corrieshalloch Gorge on the way back. It was a fairly steep run down to the wobbly suspension bridge, and viewing platform, but we managed it with Henry in his buggy. The views were a bit terrifying. The gorge was deep, with steep sides and rushing waterfalls of dark, peaty water - quite spectacular.

A nice man at a vending stall in the layby gave Henry a couple of sausages; one for now and one for his breakfast. He gulped one down in two bites and seemed very keen on having the second one straight away, so we had to hide it.

The weather was sunshine and showers - some rather heavy - luckily while we were driving, rather than walking. The proprietor told us there was snow due tomorrow, so we decided to head home a couple of days early. The photo above shows the view from the front of the hotel.

Holiday in Gairloch: Day 4: Kyleakin, Kyle of Lochalsh, Plockton

The weather was grey and overcast today (4 October 2011) and it was still windy. We drove off to Kyle of Lochalsh, but got onto the Skye bridge by mistake and ended up in Kyleakin. We stopped to have a look at the port and had a very welcome coffee and cake/ice cream in Harry's Coffee Shop. The ruined castle below is Castle Moil, an ancient fortress. The Castle was once known as Dunakin, and dates back to the 10th century.

We had a curry for lunch at Spice Tandoori in Kyle of Lochalsh, back on the mainland. I had onion bhaji, followed by vegetable shatkora with pilau rice and a Cobra beer. Rob ate vegetable samosa, followed by vegetable jalfrezie with steamed rice, and a coke. The staff were friendly and they generously gave us an extra starter of vegetable pakora. Unfortunately, we were so full up after all that deep-fried fayre, that we couldn't finish our (somewhat tastier) main courses. The shatkora contained the fruit of that name that come from Bangladesh. They had a pleasant, sharp, citrus flavour. Quite a nice meal (except that we ate too much!), it cost £26.95.

We drove on to the pretty village of Plockton and walked around it for half an hour or so, with Henry in his stroller. There were lovely views over Loch Carron, and it felt like being at the seaside with the palm trees that grow here with the relatively warm climate.

We had a hot drink in the Plockton Hotel (above) while browsing websites for property in Plockton. It is obviously a desirable location judging by the prices!

After that we took a scenic drive home, taking in the long village of Lochcarron, spread out along the side of the loch.

Holiday in Gairloch: Day 3: Rogie Falls and Inverness

The weather on the west coast was horrendous today - wet, with gale force winds. We decided to beat the rain by heading for the east coast. We stopped at the Rogie Falls and gave Henry a walk, and ride in his stroller, as far as the first waterfall view point.

We had lunch in the Pizza Express in Inverness, where Rob ate the Fiorentina pizza (with egg and spinach) with a coke, followed by coffee. I had the Warm Vegetable and Goat's Cheese Salad, Peroni to drink, with a small portion of Semi Freddo Reale (gelato dessert with nougat, praline, marsala wine) and coffee. It was a good meal and I liked being able to have a small version of the dessert. Rob thought that the furniture and furnishings looked a bit scruffy compared to our last visit. The staff were good, though, and service was quite fast. The meal cost just over £30.00.

Inverness Museum and Art Gallery was our next stop. It has free entry with an optional donation box. We were just in time to watch a strange movement/music/light show of automata called "Sharmanka: Gothic Kinetic". There were lots of weird sculptures with moving parts. Some had a rather sinister edge to them, with strange creatures and skulls peeping out of little doors that opened and shut. Quite entertaining!

After a quick look round the shops, it was on to the River Ness Islands walk. This is a lovely circular walk along the banks of the Ness, passing over picturesque bridges and islands in the water, with distant views of the city. The weather was warm and sunny and it was very enjoyable.

Rob pushing Henry in this buggy.

A fisherman with a beautiful, turreted house in the background.

View of Inverness from the walk.