Vintage photos are intriguing

Do you have a fascination with photos from times long gone by, before everything was instant gratification when it comes to a camera? I do. I study old photographs with the intensity of a chemist who seeks the answer to an elusive formula, like a botanist who located the rare flora surrounding him that no one knew grew where he now stood. You get the picture, yep, pun intended!!

 I have marveled over the faces of people never met. Often hundreds of years separate their life from my own. I wish their images could speak to me and tell the story of their name, what they did for happiness, where they lived and worked, their talents and interests, things they survived when they felt fearful, and all their successes. What is unknown to us today behind their moment in time that the camera shutter captured their life so that it could be a time-stand-still-for-eternity treasure.
Old photos are artifacts of society. Proof of existing. Endless fascination for me.

 I have been a seamstress since a young age, thanks to my grandma on my mom's side of the family tree teaching me and inspiring the fabric bug to spread its wings inside of my curiosity. She was the queen of mend and make do and save everything that can upcycle into new greater items. She was a creative homemaker before her time and would have been a social media sensation with her reinventing one ready to toss thing into another far better keeper, had she not lived in an orphanage as a child and on a farm as an adult and learned her ways and skills from the trenches of the depression era.

My other grandmother was from more privilege and opportunity and was busy from college age thru retirement birthing babies as a nurse, hundreds of them. She had two of her very own, one of them turned out to be my dad. She did some sewing in her busy life. In fact, I own a childhood photo of my dad and his older brother wearing corduroy fabric suits with knicker pants or knee britches (like what the mystery boy in the pictures below is wearing) and matching jackets. It must have been expensive fabric for the era and I am sure they were not allowed to play and be rough and tumble in the outfits. I am also sure by looking at the photo that the fabric was not easy to sew upon.

 When I look at these photos on this post I study the clothing and the people. I know what it took to make the design details on the dresses. Many of today's fashions have retained the same elements and we incorporate them into our modern day attire. Some sewing techniques are ageless. I find the patches on the girl's dress skirt to be interesting since they look to be not of the mended type patches, but instead a true accent which is unusual for the time period. The footwear, especially high button style shoes, are a source of interest to me as well but I would not want to be struggling in a hurry to get them on to be out the door for an appointment time deadline or other schedule necessity...yes, modern day friends, flip-flops are a person's salvation when in a hurry to 'hit the road'. I doubt people were in such a rush a hundred years ago to join the hamster wheel non-stop days' schedule like we have. Though, life of factory working before child labor laws and working a family farm for your livelihood came with its own pressures and deadlines.

 I'll bet this family was well to do as their clothing seems to give clue. Don't you often think about body language as well, with studying old photos? I do. This woman and young man seem to hold themselves with an air of confidence. The studio photographer was skilled at posing people but the people in front of the camera lens still give us clues as to how they felt being put into poses. Some people seem at ease and others seem out of their element and extremely uncomfortable. That comes through with body language and expressions on faces, whether photo developing was done in black and white, sepia, or color, regardless of the time period from which we observe the people.

 This vintage photo below is very tiny (as the wooden ruler shows for a comparison) and has foreign writing stamped on the backside. I believe it is German, though the writing is cut off a bit. I am not sure what their clothing indicates. Is it a religious order, a regional or cultural standard of dress, teachers, nurses? I am sure the standard uniform type repetition means something, without any doubt.

I continue to find photos that peak my curiosity and make me ponder many aspects of my own life and of theirs in comparing so much about the world and how each of us make a mark upon those around us. I wonder how this digital, password protected era will affect generations ahead of us when it comes to moments of ordinary days in pictures kept and pictures lost.

All of these photos are listed in my Etsy shop and you can visit them by clicking the photo Etsy area in the right margin of this blog.

Christmas is past

This is what it looked like a few weeks back, before I decorated the hutch with vintage Christmas stuff. My kitty was inspecting the area for me. This is also what it looked like again last night, after all the vintage Christmas was packed away for another year.
How 'bout a look around at what it was like for the holiday here when all the vintage nostalgia was in full force.

So much of this stuff takes me back to the days of visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house. I have great memories of those times.... visual reminders and certain scents-- like ham baking in the oven, or fruitcake in a tin, can make me feel like a kid in their house like it was yesterday.

Some of these items will be sold off and new (or old) things will come in to replace them. The circle of collections and thrifting.

We had a good Christmas together as a family. Good food, good memories made, the warmth of a crackling fire in the fireplace and the promise of what our faith brings us.

I love the photo above and am thinking I will offer it for sale as a print. Don't you love those old Christmas bulbs?

We did end up having a real tree once again this year, vs. an artificial one, after a lapse of several years. Boy did I miss a real tree. Love the scent! Our tradition each year was to go to a tree farm the second weekend of December and cut one as a family outing. I miss that tradition, but the tree farms all became more pricey than our budget would easily allow, so sadly there have been no recent trips to the tree farm. This year we headed to the big box home store to buy a tree that was probably cut back in Sept. or something crazy like that. Anyway, we could afford it as it was cheap enough, with the help of our rebate coupon we were redeeming from a previous purchase for a much needed home repair- (adventures in home ownership, as we like to refer to it)-and it really was a cute, tiny tree, after all.... even if it had been cut months ago and struggled to hold its needles.

On top of the table by the window it looked like a tall proud tree from outside. We did fool the neighbors, until they came inside and our secret was revealed. Look closer and you will see one of our traditions...

We always put my stuffed animal squirrel from my childhood tucked in among the branches.
Some of you may know of a movie that has a squirrel in the Christmas tree!!

We ended up having to take down the tree early as it was very dry and we did not want to burn down the house. You know, since it was probably cut back in Sept. or something and all the drinks we gave it were not enough to refresh it for long. We would ordinarily leave it up until Epiphany. Since I had to take the tree down I disassembled the rest of the decor while I was on a roll. On to the new year!!

featured photos

Cemetery art is very unappreciated. I love to drive through the cemeteries and look for the art that may be seen by others but quickly dismissed and viewed as gloomy.

It's in my blood, shall I say, since my great grandfather was a sexton (grave digger) in a Catholic cemetery in the dawn of the 20th century. Remember that those were the days of a shovel and sweat and blisters- before heavy equipment like a backhoe or Bobcat!!

You can read his amazing story here

My son, N., is named for him.

Also, a cemetery employee had the advantage of job security and they were usually very appreciated, as most people were glad to have them do a very essential job that they themselves knew they were not born for.

Iron workers (blacksmiths) and stone carvers were essential employees of the old cemeteries as well- all done with sweat and blisters- no modern technology and machines.

The Visit

(Living creatures explore an ancient headstone. There were many different symbolic images carved into cemetery markers. This one meant "heaven bound".)

" They're coming to get you Barbara"

( Now for any of you who have seen the movie this may strike a shiver in your soul.

"They're coming to get you Barbara." But this photo would be fun to use as a background for an altered art project about ghosts...

they could be friendly ghosts, right!!?As I stood in this spot I was reminded of the beginning of the movie ...and that quote, although being in a cemetery does not scare me.

I actually do not think that cemeteries are that spooky. I know that's weird. I have two cousins that have worked in one for lots of years. I have a very distant relative that owned some funeral homes until they sold to someone else. My late father in law used to drive an ambulance for a funeral home when he was a young man. My favorite link to the whole cemetery scene is my great grandfather.)

Weeping

(Wonderful craftsmanship and countless hours of work withstanding the test of time and hundreds of years of moss and such clinging to the stone. This statue is fascinating and surreal and thought provoking. It must have cost a lot all those ages ago. It stands out because the other monuments are more plain and traditional. Someone must have been loved very much and missed an awful lot! Many of the markers are so old that you can no longer read the info (even if you do a rubbing with paper and crayon over top of the engravings). Many of the ones you can slightly read are in German. Some are whole families and a great number are infants. Imagine the harsh Michigan winters and other seasonal elements weathering these markers for a hundred years and more! It is high on a hill and the wind whistles through the trees and across the old weathered tombstones. In between the wind's sounds there is nothing but "dead silence", sorry couldn't resist.)

The Iron Gate
( A proud man crafted this ornate gate and fence.)
Gobbled Up
( Time and nature do not stand still. The tree needed room to flourish and grow. This is one of our absolute favorites- the tree has been slowly eating up the tombstone while life goes on as usual outside the gates of the cemetery, year after year after year.)

Life Goes On

(A busy modern day farm is a neighbor of a graveyard now home to many past centuries' farmers- a profound silent reminder of the circle of life.)


All photos are found here .

orange

We do not buy oranges on a regular basis at our house. I love oranges, I crave oranges.
It's because, here in northern-most Ohio, we do not always have such great prices for oranges. I just refuse to pay big dollars for a couple smallish size oranges--and try to feed a family of five on said oranges and have happy results. I know, you're saying, "Back in "Little Women" times they got an orange (yes that's 1 orange) for the year, given as a Christmas gift, and they were happy as larks.

Let me continue.
When we do have oranges available at a price that doesn't make one think, "Ok we can get oranges AND have electricity this week." (somewhat slight exaggeration for effect), they are usually a disappointment in flavor or texture.There. That's my rant for today.

At those times I bring to mind the saying, You get what you pay for, and wonder if those expensive oranges would at least reward us with better taste/texture .
In orange growing areas of the country there may be some quiet snickering, with hand over mouth.... It's ok. I know you're doing it... you can take your hand away and snicker right out in the open. When you live near The Great Lakes, you get all the Lake Perch and Walleye you want but no oranges.


Then one magical day I came home with a bag of oranges on sale at a great price. A bag, not just a single sample of one orange piece of fruit!  There was practically a line out the door and around the store, with people threatening bodily harm to one another at the
bag- of- oranges- at- a- great- price display area!!
Wait!
Hold the phone! (Does anyone ever say that any more? Maybe now it's, hold the iphone, or hold the Bluetooth.)
Ohhhh, I get it now....these are going to be the kind of oranges that look yummy and tempting and make you feel like you got the deal of the century but you cut into them, taste them and have buyer regret, no matter how cheap (sorry) inexpensive they were.

I'm here to tell ya, THEY WERE SOME OF THE BEST TASTING, JUICY ORANGES
I have had in a long while.
N. had been begging to make homemade squeezed orange juice with his great grandma's low tech kitchen gadget.
I let him.
He used all but 2 of those fab oranges.

Guess what? He put the juice away in the fridge... and promptly dumped it all over the floor the next time he opened the fridge door, and before anyone could drink any. We were both in the kitchen when it happened as if in slow motion, like some great movie special effect.
The whole time we were cleaning up the sticky mess, I was thinking, "I wish I was the kind of housekeeper--you know the kind--- where you could eat off the floor!"

another year

(My collection of vintage record album covers with wonderful happy idyllic family scenes)

Another year of Christmas hullabaloo is done. Don't get me wrong, I am sure many new memories were made and all had fun. It's just that since I have been a grown up, and even more so since I've been a mom, it is all so different at Christmas time. Now I am the one in charge of the magic making. The one behind the curtain, like the great Oz. I admit sometimes it's tough. I want to be the kid again, observing the magic and believing.

I long for the feeling of being a child at Christmas time to rush over me again. That feeling is worth more than gold. When you're a kid you take it for granted or you do not even know you have it. But you do!


Yes, I enjoy the process of making memories for my own kids. I just miss the old days. That's allowed. That is why I surround myself with things and images that make me feel comfort, like these silly record album covers. They just speak to me.

(N.'s collection of nutcrackers, and E.'s hand made Mandela type snowflakes)

N. has always had a fascination with nutcrackers. He has received all these as gifts throughout the years. On Christmas day I took my Santas out of my red cupboard and put his collection and the little tree with his nutcracker ornaments on it up on top. He was so thrilled to see his collection displayed in a new place and the smile on his face as he stood there, and each time he walked by, said it all. I had just made a memory for him!! That's what it's all about.

(Japan elves, my hand quilled snowflakes, and a silk hankie with a perfect winter couple)

My Grandma had made in Japan elves like these. To look at them in my home makes me recall the cozy days at her house during the holidays. She did not decorate every inch of the house as many people seem to do in my generation. She decorated the living room. The room where it all happened. Everything. She had no family room or den. The living room was the place. It was decorated with an aluminum tree and color wheel, items along the fireplace mantle and on top of the big console TV cabinet. The cabinet was big, not the TV itself.

The decorations were perfect. Perfectly enough. I never thought to question, "Why isn't there more?"

(my kids decorate the doll house each year)

This December involves weeding out many of the decor items as we sort through it all --giving some away and donating some. I have decided to have the kids do more of the decorating next year, not just being in charge of the doll house. They will decide what is enough. The kids will make it their own and decide what to love.

( the kitchen window sill )

I also changed the window sill display on Christmas day. I do a lot of thinking at the sink in the kitchen in front of this window. I needed a change. I get bored with it quickly and easily. I was suddenly struck by the fact that I needed it to be Winter instead of Christmas in that spot. So some milk glass was moved here from another area. It feels better now. I can't explain why.

(vintage game boxes)

I am a big fan of games that families play together that require no batteries or electricity to enjoy, thus the fascination I have always held for vintage games. That and the fact that the color on the packaging and game boards is just different, bright and fun. The photo is a group that's sitting atop my corner cupboard. But I keep some of my kids' board games out of the game closet at all times, sitting ready for play, often rotating some out for new choices. A spontaneous game of Chutes and Ladders can bring a smile to me any time. I have found that if I open the box they will come!! They, meaning one of my kids or 2 or 3. More memory making and laughter.

( house ornaments)

My Mom was a collector of these house ornaments. Each one has the year marked somewhere on the house. On the back you can look inside to the 3 dimensional rooms. After she died I continued to buy one each year, often going without something in order to fit it's purchase into the budget. They are not horribly expensive but still a luxury, in my opinion. I did not buy one this year. Maybe someday I will be able to find one on line, since this is the first year I have missed one. N. looks forward to unpacking them and carefully taking the protective box inserts apart to reveal each one. He put them on the window sill in the living room this year. And yes, those are all my paper snowflakes I have cut by hand with no patterns. Some have been hung on the windows every year for 17 years!!

So another year of Christmas has come and gone. We have new memories and the comfort of decor from years before. We had a Christmas without spending money. B was off work for 8 weeks and we were without his regular pay. Every dollar I had squirreled away for emergency times like this had to be spent just before his surgery to put a new engine in my car. Talk about an unexpected expense! We make every penny count at our house and to be without regular pay you find ways to survive somehow. We were blessed to have many good friends and neighbors who helped to make the Christmas season one of fun for the kids. They brought gifts from Santa and seemingly unending deliveries of trays of home baked sweets and other food. We were even given a turkey for Christmas dinner.

Friends, family and memories. That's what it's all about.

Flash Back- really old TVs

Are you tired of the commercials and crawls along the bottom of your TV screen about The Big Switch happening in Feb to digital TV broadcast? Well take a break from the modern technology madness and lets visit a time when rabbit ears on the top of the TV was super high tech!!

This is a photo of me in front of a very modern TV, indeed!!

The post that includes this photo and a great vintage TV ad can be viewed by clicking here.

I have another photo of a different TV that came to live with us in our home after this one for many, many happy years of viewing-- everything from Bozo The Clown to the day that we all watched the first man step onto the moon to M*A*S*H!!

Taken Christmas Eve in the 1970s, that photo shows me in front of the huge console TV sitting on the floor, and I was playing the violin for the family.

First of all, we all know you don't sit on the floor to play a concert quality performance-duh!

Second of all, I can't find the photo right this minute so you will just have to wait.

I know you will feel disappointment and probably some stress over the wait. I apologize.

Recently my brother came to my house to take this TV to his house for display and keeping. I suddenly realized, as it was out in the driveway waiting to be loaded for the transport, that I should take some snaps of it. The kids laughed, "Look at mom taking pictures of the TV, silly Mom!"
Many years ago when Grandpa went to assisted living (he lived to almost 100!) , our grandparent's (Dad's side of the family) home was closed. I became the caretaker of this so it would not end up in a stranger's home from the estate sale. I never had a perfect place to display it.
In the meantime my oldest brother, who will be 60 on Christmas day, built a giant log home along the historical Maumee River which he has filled with tons of vintage items. Lots of the treasures that fill it are family items, some are from here or there locally and from his travels. I love the cozy, everyday life feel of the collections that accent every floor of the 3 story log home and the 2 floors of wrap around porches. My dad, on the other hand, thinks it is only clutter, and he is not afraid to say so! "Who has a croquet set in their breakfast room?", asks my dad.
I think it is super cool. It is the family set of old wooden mallets and balls, with wickets in the original rack that has been played with by generations of our family.
Also on display is the cabinet maker's tool set in a very impressive wooden tiered tool box that belonged to our great grandpa (Mom's side of the family)-- He was told he needed to get a respectable job to marry my great grandma in 1903. He had been a trapeze artist with the Ringling Bros Circus. You can read about it here.

Anyway, My brother remembers watching TV

on this TV at our grandparent's house when he was a little boy.

My childhood memories of the TV are that it was always downstairs in their finished basement and was a different source of entertainment for me. I liked to open the doors over and over- the record player was just like the action of a pop up book and the other doors revealed things behind them like a lift the flaps picture book. I'm sure I was yelled at for doing that (the times I was caught, anyway!) On top sat a big snow globe with a dog inside of it (the RCA Victor  his Master's Voice dog) and a TV light that was a pair of horses side by side like a silhouette.

(Do you remember TV lights? They were novelty lights with low wattage bulbs.)

One of my brothers took the light and I don't know who got the snow globe.

You can see another fun vintage TV ad
I posted a while ago by clicking here.


These are original records from our grandparent's house, 78, 33 and 45 speed. The green book standing upright is a collection of 78 speed jazz records. Even the original receipts and warranties are still keep inside this area of the cabinet too!

I forgot to mention that in the photo above that shows the record player, one of the records on the turntable is a 45 speed record for training your Canary!

The paper is still on the back. I don't think it explains how to hook up cable vision, satellite dish, VCR, DVD, Blue Ray, high definition or digital compatibility!!

These are some of the things I also sent to my brothers house.
A 45 year old doll buggy, a mallard weather vane, a brass fireplace screen (he has several fireplaces)...
...a pottery Indian style lamp, Indian drum, mantel clock, brass and wrought iron wall brackets, a chrome leg chair that belongs to the enamel top table he already has that belonged to our grandparents, 2 willow branch mini chairs, wood and metal Bissel Sweeper made in Grand Rapids MI., and an RCA Victor radio/record player. ( the gas grill with rusty LP tank in the background was a sorry mistake in the aesthetics of this photo!

(this RCA VICTOR record player is a far cry from the modern ipod that everyone now takes for granted!)

All of these things will be a part of his home, which is a lesson in the history of how we have lived over the generations. My kids love to go to their uncle's house. They call it the museum! It is a kind of game to find new things or the placement of things we have given to him.
It is like a never ending I Spy Game!!

Flash Back- memories of Grandma

My Baby Boomer memories of my Grandmas:

I remember my Grandma having both of these kinds of really neat-o things!!!Probably from the 1950- early 1960s era. Green plastic powder box from the time that powder was always bought loose and it came with a fluffy powder puff. Wow!... I can't tell you how many times I got in trouble for playing in that!!!! I always loved the cartoon- I think it was Bugs Bunny- when he kept yelling "Make-Up!" and the giant powder puff would deliver a huge cloud of whiteness. My Grandma had one of these on the back of her toilet tank and I could never resist opening it. Could I help it that my Mom could have easily gotten a job as a CSI and never failed to know I did it??!

Pink telescoping plastic travel type cup. Grandma always had one of these in her purse among the other Grandma goodies I was always curious about in her handbag or pocketbook as she called it. It holds water-or whatever liquid you choose- and then collapses so you can tuck it away with the lid. Ahhhh...What joys could be found in a Grandma purse. A soft hankie with dainty flowers that has been washed so many times it seems so thin you could see through it. When I kept on sniffling that always came out eventually, even though I always repeated "no" each of the five times I was asked if I needed to blow my nose. Sometimes Grandma would tuck one between her wrist and the band of her watch or the cuff of her sleeve. Grandmas are always good for a piece of gum. You know the stick of gum that has been in her purse since the Cuban Missile Crisis?

These items pictured are in my shop. UPDATE: These items have sold. THANKS!

Oh, and by the by (which is also one of my Grandma's

little ditties she was known for saying), the clock desk you may have noticed in my photos today, or previously at some point, may need some splainin' (as I Love Lucy used to say). It is an original creation of mine. It was years in the making!! I acquired this desk curbside and decided h-ll or high water (another Grandma saying) I was going to fit it in my car, even at the expense of needing to tie a kid to the bumper to get home (just kidding. Well not really. Ok yeah I am kidding). The desk (and all three kids) made it home safely INSIDE the car. The only thing wrong with the desk=missing one drawer handle and the top was pretty sad. I saved every watch and clock image I found in every magazine and catalog and anywhere else I could find them. Fast forward=I decoupaged them all on top and coated it with uber (my teenage daughters' word, not Grandma's) amounts of varnish. Then just to be extra safe I topped it with a rounded edge piece of glass that just happened to be the right size that I found (serendipity) somewhere along the line in my curbside travels. I get many comments on it-- not all nice or positive, some include the words therapy and crazy-- but I love my clock desk!!

my kind of blog

I ask myself often, "Just what kind of blog do I have anyway?"

I started my blog as a way to unleash some thoughts and give my far away family and friends somewhere to go to listen to my thoughts. I also share photos. Some current. Some from before.
I whine sometimes. I rant sometimes. I place my opinions on the table sometimes.

Most of all, I guess I like the way a blog lets you create a reality that seems any way you present it. I can seem happy, even if it's a day when I'm not. My house can pretend to be clean and magazine layout ready, even when it probably never will be. Is that dishonest? I don't mean for it to be. Maybe I am like The Great Oz hiding behind the curtain. I don't know for sure.

One thing I do know, is that since I have started this site, I have had many kinds of feelings each time I sit to write in front of this new technology -- a technology I don't ever hope to understand. I feel lucky to have this outlet. I am thrilled with making new friends. I smile at all the wonderful comments people leave for me. I am endlessly impressed with all the talented people out there in blogland.

There are people that read this site and know me. There are people that feel they have gotten to know me. There are people I know and long to see again. There are people I long to meet but will never have the chance.
Some people show art, some are talented writers, some have had great sadness enter their lives, some are successful business people...

I just don't know what kind of blog I have. Maybe it doesn't require a category or definition.

I think I would describe my blog as being like my Grandma's always yummy homemade cookies she gave me as a child. I called them her "Clean out the cupboard cookies". She would use some basic recipe and then make them unique by throwing into the mix what ever she happened to have on hand. Sometimes it was chocolate chips, sometimes raisins or nuts or candied fruit. It didn't matter because it was all presented to me with the same sincere enthusiasm. Something to enjoy; to create a lasting memory.

I hope my blog is like that.

This text was republished from it's original date of August 2007 on my blog.

PS- you can click on these images and enlarge them