Blitzen the Unhappy Reindeer

(Please join Suzanne at Colorado Lady blog for more Vintage Thingie Thursday fun!)

Hah! The things I've found in my parents stuff! I'm sharing this holiday recording today, Blitzen the Unhappy Reindeer, for Vintage Thingie Thursday. Uncle Archie, whoever he may be???, has even autographed the record sleeve. It was my brothers, so it must be circa the late forties, early fifties. The record is in pristine shape - sure wish I had a turn table to play it on. What fun that would be!

Wishing everyone a fun Vintage Thingie Thursday and
a very Happy New Year to you and those dear to you!

fa la la la FUN!

(hahahaha - we are becoming old hands now at surreptitious photos of empty theaters!)

Last night we went to the Judith Owen and Harry Shearer Holiday Sing-A-Long and it was so much fun!

We didn't begin the evening in the best of shape - I had a splitting headache and my husband had been to the opthamologist and had had his eyes dilated for his exam and his pupils were HUGE! Which if you've had the experience is not fun, thankfully the house lights were low until nearly the end of the show.

As if that wasn't enough to put a holiday damper on the evening - the first two singers did Christmas songs that had been rearranged as jazz songs and I thought, UH OH, this is going to be a long night! Thankfully that changed immediately after and we never looked back into the strenuously slow and somber phrasing of holiday tunes again the rest of the evening.

Oh you guys! I wish you could have been there! For everyone who loves Christopher Guest's movies and Glee, Jane Lynch was there and she was wonderful and hysterical. For folk music lovers, Richard Thompson was there. For Spinal Tap lovers, Michael McKean was there with his actress wife, Annette O'Toole, who I've always loved and who knew she could sing and be so animated?! Julia Fordham (who I always remember of the song "Happy Ever After" with her gorgeous voice) and Julianna Raye were the jazzy ladies - lovely, just not what I expected when I thought of a holiday sing-a-long and all was well in the end teehee.

Harry Shearer did several funny songs and I swore I'd remember the titles so I could tell you all but they've left my silly old brain. Judith Owen (Harry Shearer's wife) wasn't able to be there but they showed a video of her and her singing was lovely and I want to find out all about her now.

So the first half of the show was the individual performers and after the intermission was the sing-a-long. SO MUCH FUN! Unlike the Beauty and the Beast sing-a-long we went to last year, where no one sang, I think everyone joined in this time.

The last song was the Twelve Days of Christmas and they divided us up into groups for each of the twelve days (except for Five Golden Rings, which we all did) and we were told to not only sing but to act out our Day AND that there would be prizes for the best. What a hoot! I wish I could describe the acting out of "Six geese a-laying" and "Eight maids a-milking"!!! bwahahhaha

The prizes were duly given out and of course they were kitschy and krazy and irreverant- reindeer poop chocolates, meshuguna mints and religious action figures etc.

So a wonderful evening was had by all, especially by the lady with a headache and her husband with the big eyeball thing going on.

Thinking of you all and wishing you lots of holiday joy!

sort of merry and bright

(apologies to the unknown gentleman whose noggin is in the forefront of this photo!)

Last weekend we saw a stage play of "It's A Wonderful Life" - so very charming! It was staged as a radio show, with a sound effects guy and everything. So much fun. My husband took this photo of the stage with his phone before they announced none were allowed. Wuh oh. You can kind of make out the sound effects mans area on the left hand corner, he had lots of fun things to play with.

The whole experience was lovely - as we approached the theater, there was an a capella group singing Christmas carols and inside there were free dessert stations, to fill ourselves up on. I enjoyed the truffles. very much.

We're also looking forward to warbling along at Harry Shearer and his wife's Annual Holiday Singalong event - we've never been before but I'm sure it'll be a hoot.

Wishing you lots of holiday merry making fun!

Happy Rednesday!

Please visit Sue at It's A Very Cherry World for more Rednesday fun!

Waving Hello to my Rednesday friends!

Oh good gosh, my parents had a lot of stuff. While going through all of it (!), I found lots of things that I remembered from my childhood.

I'm sharing two wooden decorative figurines that I can remember playing with as a child and also a paper crane. So these are kind of "vintage" as I am older than dirt, at least that's how I am feeling these days at any rate teehee!

My mother had a wonderful side job that brought her lots of friends worldwide. Things of wonderment would arrive, sent from far far away as gifts of friendship. Letters from Japan quite often contained charming origami cranes, of varying sizes. A Japanese pen friend also sent these fun wooden figurines - there are pencil scribbles on the back of the smaller one's head, my younger self apparently wanted to give her a new coif!

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Circa 1959, Times Square, Manhattan, NY: Macy Day Parade. Photo shows the “Turkey” one of the helium filled balloons on it’s way through Times Square. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS",
per the blog, Black Watch, here.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving,
filled with family and friends and lots of pie!

Vintage GE Refrigerator

Calling all my vintage loving friends!

My parents had their old GE fridge on their service porch for soda, fruit, whatever, that didn't fit in their regular refrigerator.

It's in great condition, still works - was running until we unplugged it in July and moved it to the garage during the remodel.

It must be from the forties or fifties - anyone know how I research it? I would like to sell it but would like to know something about it first.

Thanks for any help you can give!

Tarra and Bella

Have you followed the wonderful story of rescued elephant Tarra and her best friend, doggie Bella over the years? I was heartbroken to hear over the weekend on CBS Sunday Morning that dear Bella had passed away (in tragic circumstances) a couple of weeks ago. SOB SOB SOB!

Here are is the heartbreaking news from The Elephant Sanctuary.

the guest house

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

~ Rumi

oh gosh, I've got quite a case of the blues today. I am trying to treat these visitors honorably as Rumi suggests but I am flailing and woebegone.

Time passes at an aching snails pace. No matter how many boxes I go through, no matter how much I give away or toss, there is the same mountain in it's place. The estate paperwork is confusing, without end and enough to denude a forest. GEEZ.

I hate the constant activity. I long to just sit and BE with my grief. I long to be creative.

Thank you for hanging in there with me.

Do you Pinterest too? If you enjoy Pinterest, you can find my Pinterest boards here. Yes, I have enjoyed it a bit too much bwahhahahhahaha!

forever

to lose someone you love
is to alter your life forever
~ Jeanette Winterson

Some can walk through grief on their own, others cannot. Some have lasting support from their friends and family, sadly most do not. For some reason, those outside have a very short interest span regarding others grief. Those outside, wish the grieving to buck up and get over it very quickly. So most of us that are grieving, are not only suffering a tremendous loss of a loved one, but also the loss of a caring circle around us.

I found a wonderful grief support group a couple of months after my father passed away. A place where I could cry and sob and talk with other women sharing the same painful journey.

Tomorrow night is our last meeting. I am so grateful to have had their support and friendship the past six months. We are having a pot luck and we were asked to bring a favorite of our loved ones. I'm making ginger cookies, my dad's favorite cookies. Well that is if I'm not sick tomorrow - not feeling good today. WAH!

Today I made a little card to attach to their goodie bags. This is only the second time I made something since my father died and my gosh, it felt good to do something a wee bit creative.

I can no other answer make, but,
thanks and thanks.
~ William Shakespeare

So thank you so very much to our group of eight (+ one, our lovely and loving facilitator) for all of your listening and hand holding and sharing of resources and of late, lots of giggles. We are moving forward together. Thanks and thanks!

Modern Screen

November and December 1936 issues of Modern Screen.
The advertisements are especially hilarious, so much fun!
Will try to share some of the inside down the road.

Happy Friday!

vintage stufferoonie

I've found such funny stuff at my parents house! Here's a keeper, "New Easy-Way Conditioner" booklet from Jack La Lanne. Look at how young he is!

Barbie Magazine from 1965 with Skipper and Skooter and Ricky - I don't remember poor Ricky at all but I did have both Skipper and Skooter!

Sorry, I'm a techno-know-nothing and I don't know how to "stitch" or whatever it's called so I couldn't get a complete scan of this darling children's book from 1950 (which means it was my brother's book). Darling illustrations and some of the cut outs are still left inside the book.

A program from a screening of "The Greatest Show on Earth" - I don't know if this was for the premier of the movie or if you were able to purchase programs for other showings long ago???

EGBOK

Yoo hoo! It's me ... over here ... yes, you aren't imaging things, I am actually posting to my blog!

First off, thank you to everyone who has continued to think of me and send their best wishes to me during this difficult time. I so appreciate your care and friendship, it buoys my sagging spirit to no end.

For the longest time I was too sad to post and too busy to post and now that life is beginning to weigh a teeny tiny bit less heavy on me, I'm not sure what to write. At all.

I guess the first order of business is to explain my post title, huh?!

I have been in the doldrums of late over our remodel project of my dad's house - the road has been bumpy and long and fraught with missteps. Our contractor is a nincompoop par excellence and his less than great workmanship has brought me to tears several times. WAH!

Anyway, so EGBOK came into my mind yesterday. It was a promotional tag line for a radio program here in Los Angeles many years ago and it means "Everything's gonna be OK" - a motto and reminder I need to tape to my mirror and everywhere else these days and take to heart.

Origin of EGBOK

My second (equally odd) choice teehee was TOAS-TITE. Has anyone else ever had a Toas-tite?

My mother made us Toas-tite sandwiches when I was little - white bread and Velveeta bwahhahhaha, placed in the Toas-tite on the stove. I thought they were the yummiest sandwiches in the whole world.

Well I found my mom's Toas-tite, obviously very much used and so far, even though it's so sorrowful to look it, I can't seem to let go of it.

(geez, it looks like my mom never cleaned the thing, doesn't it?!)

I found a site about it (well of course! is there anything left out there that hasn't been written about on the internet?!):
Toas-tite recipes



I'm taking photos of all the things that were dear to me but have no room for in my tiny, already busting at the seams house. First up, cooking utensils for my vintage-loving friends.

AND, I have come down with a hefty Pinterest addiction bwahhahhaha. I've found a few of you, my blogging friends, out there, pinning too - so nice to see familiar names and faces.

Please leave your Pinterest address so I can visit you if you feel like it!

Looking forward to hearing what you've been up to!

Sally

It's all so Mickey Mouse

(please visit Suzanne at Colorado Lady for more Vintage Thingie Thursday fun!)

I saw Suzanne's post today for Vintage Thingie Thursday and although I should be doing (many!!!) other things, I just had to contribute some of the mickey mouse stuff that I've found up at my parents house recently.

Please forgive me, my dear VTT friends, I won't be able to visit all of you and make comments today as I have done in the past. I am so overloaded with my father's Estate and I hope you will understand. I did want to share these things with you though as I've had so much fun participating in VTT and enjoyed all of you so much and miss you.

If you're a child of the fifties and sixties, you may well remember these things ...

My mom saved (almost) everything and here are my brother's Mickey Mouse bath toys, which were handed down to me. Gosh, I loved these so much at bath time!



Boy my brother was a lucky kid! He also had this fun Mickey Mouse Club Newsreel Camera.



Sadly it's missing a leg and won't stand up anymore ... sniffle sniffle boo hoooooooo


I also found two issues of my brothers Walt Disney's Magazine (formerly the Mickey Mouse Club Magazine), which I'll share down the road but I wanted to share two merchandise ads with you today since they have MM in them.

(I came across my brothers Mickey Mouse Club membership card and have no idea where I put it among the gazillion of boxes - hopefully it will resurface soon!)

Who's the leader of the club
That's made for you and me
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
Hey! there, Hi! there, Ho! there
You're as welcome as can be
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Mickey Mouse!

Mickey Mouse!

Forever let us hold our banner
High! High! High! High!

Come along and sing a song
And join the jamboree!
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Mickey Mouse club
We'll have fun
We'll be new faces
High! High! High! High!

We'll do things and
We'll go places
All around the world
We'll go marching

Who's the leader of the club
That's made for you and me
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
Hey! there, Hi! there, Ho! there
You're as welcome as can be
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Mickey Mouse!

Mickey Mouse!

Forever let us hold our banner
High! High! High! High!

Come along and sing a song
And join the jamboree!
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday!

A belated Memorial Day remembrance

My maternal grandfather and his Swedish parents.

How do you like the length of my great grandmothers skirt?
And how about that mustache on my great grandfather?!
It's as big as a push broom!

Oh my gosh, the things I am finding!

I wish I had found these for a Memorial Day post ... my grandfather was in the Navy in WWI, on the USS Minnesota.

I found this on Wikipedia ...

On 6 April 1917, as the United States entered World War I, Minnesota rejoined the active fleet at Tangier Sound, Chesapeake Bay, and was assigned to Division 4, Battleship Force (BatDiv 4). During the war, she was assigned as a gunnery and engineering training ship, cruising off the middle Atlantic seaboard until 29 September 1918. On that date, 20 mi (30 km) from Fenwick Island Light, she struck a mine, apparently laid by U-117. Suffering serious damage to the starboard side, but with no loss of life, she managed to reach Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she underwent five months of repairs. On 11 March 1919, she put back to sea as a unit of the Cruiser and Transport Force. Assigned to that force until 23 July, she completed three round trips to Brest, France to return over 3,000 veterans to the United States.

I found these holiday menu cards my GF had kept from Thanksgiving and Christmas of 1918, holidays occurring after Armistice Day and I gather from the Wikipedia passage, the USS Minnesota was back at home in the States for those holidays, having struck a mine and returned for repair.

Those were days for celebration, we had won the war, the war to end all wars. WWI.

(Proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson)

(I chopped off my grandfather's name for privacy from the peeping Tom's
of the internet. I wonder who he was extending his compliments of the season to?)


(He even saved his cocktail napkin - yeah Grandpa!)

Later on, the USS Minnesota went to Europe and my Grandfather to Paris, specifically. I've found a ton of postcards from Paris that my GF brought home with him, showing the devastation in France.

He also brought home some books issued to him about Paris. I find this one rather odd in it's "up" attitude about our A.E.F. getting the most out of Paris in their short time there. Pointing out restaurants, theaters, etc., seems so very strange juxtaposed next to the heartbreak and ruin and rubble.

Forget me not

(I found this lovely book at my parents house. When I can figure
out how to take pictures of the illustrations inside, I will share them.)

I am of two minds - I curse the mountains of things I have to go through at my parents house but mostly, I celebrate.

My history is buried there and I feel as though I am meeting my own life for the first time. Precious photos of love and family, remembrances of friendship and loyalty, tug at my heart.

I am the keeper of the flame now, the passer on of stories. How I wish I had listened harder, had asked more questions, delved deeply into the lives of those who came before.



I found this really rather beat up photo of my great grandmother yesterday, taken in Redwood Falls, Minnesota (only the slightest evidence of this fact is left, the "alls, Min"). It is water stained and taped together and taped together again. Instead of being discarded, it was held onto dearly.

After my mother's mother passed away in the nineteen sixties, this charming and much beloved sampler below, came to live in our home. It was stitched by my great grandmother (pictured above), I was thinking as a young girl all this time but I just noticed that her initials are for her married name. She was married in 1892, so it could be as old as that, or more recent. Oh, how I wish there was a date on it!!!



It has the sweetest little verse ... probably seen on a bazillion samplers, but it was new to me.

dear little house
dear shabby street
dear books and beds
and food to eat
how feeble words
are to express
the facets of
your tenderness

nature or nurture

One of the fun items and treasures I've found at my Dad's house is this small cigar tin of recipes from my mother's family. It appears to have been begun by my great grandmother and then added to by my grandmother.

So it must be hereditary, the very tapestry of my being, this love of recipes and recipe collecting ... and some occasional cooking bwahahhahha!

The most fun was finding this Nestle's wrapper with a "new recipe" for Toll House Chocolate Cookies!!! OH! I love me some warm chocolate chip cookies ... mmmmmmmmm! I am guessing this wrapper is about seventy + years old ... since it says the recipe is "new" and the instructions state to chop the chocolate bar - chocolate chips had not been invented yet.

Imagine that, a world without chocolate chips. WOW!

Early American

I finally (well I should give credit where credit is due - the intrepid husband found them AND he also found my great grandmother's baby doll! More about that down the road - she's like a giant Frozen Charlotte or whatever the name of those china doll heads you see everywhere now.) found a box of my mother's recipe clippings up at the house. They used to be in a kitchen drawer but living in their former home, was now a huge quantity of kitchen towels (too funny! my mother must have had the worlds largest collection of those relentlessly teehee cheerful, kitchen towels with bunnies and teddy bears, etc.).

I have been searching high and low for her recipe clippings and EUREKA, found at last. I have been longing to find them, hoping that perhaps some of my fraternal grandmother's recipes might be amongst them. Please please please. Let my grandmother have granted her daughter-in-law, her favorite and most oft requested recipes!

(Don't you hate when people won't share a good recipe?! Especially when it's family! What's up with that?!)

I've only begun looking through the box and it's so much fun. I found an envelope marked "house ideas" in my mother's handwriting.

My mother had champagne taste on a beer budget as they used to say. Probably the most frequently uttered words in my childhood home were "We can't afford it" and "When my ship comes in".

Many spare moments were passed dreaming over home decor magazines, oohing and awing, and visits to fine stores to window shop and dream some more.

My second childhood home, (the first having only been for a couple of years and having left no mark on my memory), was where my mother lived out her Early American dream. Early American furniture was all the rage when I was a kid. I found these pages that my mother had saved and sniffled and weeped with joy.

We had a Dry Sink, like the one featured in two of the images below ... which is still at my father's house (my third childhood home), which I am hoping to find room for in my house. (Along with a piece my mother called a Dough Box - so wonderful!). There is also a table/desk and a coffee table but I don't see how I can fit four pieces into my house that is the size of a closet?!

For some reason my memory tells me that the pieces are "real" antiques, not reproductions - I seem to remember, my mother and I visiting a man who sold antiques here in the Valley in Southern California. Could that be true??? Surely my memory must be faulty?!

Any ideas on how I find out?

(The dry sink pictured in this photo to the left of the stove, is very much like my mom's,
except for the latch. The credit states that this one above was made by Lane.)

(Here's a better photo of the dry sink from another publication, isn't it CUTE?!)

(We had lots of chairs like the one in the forefront on the right,
my mother called them Captains Chairs.)

Thanks so much for hanging in there with me! You're the best!
Wishing you all a very Happy Monday!