It's Been a Long Long Time

 Wow!  It looks like three years have passed since my last blog entry! 

I'm not even sure I remember how to make a blog post haha!

I'm more into journaling, stationery, and pens now than embroidery and handiwork.

Children's picture books are still a hobby, and I spend many winter evenings in our home library. My husband even installed hidden lighting across the top three shelves for my birthday!

I still enjoy decorating with vintage items, but I have not been purchasing much vintage.  

That's all for today.  It's a beautiful day outside and time for a walk.  

Have a colorful day!--Jen

Caldecott 2020

It's that time of year again!  Tomorrow is Caldecott day and I'm very excited!  This year I have three favorite books that I'd love to see win.  The first is The Scarecrow written by Beth Ferry and illustrated by the Fan Brothers.

I was actually lucky enough to come across a signed copy at my local independent bookstore, Main Street Books!  The story is very sweet and the illustrations are beautiful.  As a girl who grew up in a rural area, I especially liked the two page spreads of the fields as they went from being covered with snow, to green, to gold as we roll through the seasons.

Another favorite for the year is Home in the Woods by Eliza Wheeler.  This is another book that takes us through the seasons.  We follow a widowed mother and her children as they turn an old abandoned shack into their home.  

The illustrations are full of detail and expression.  I'm not a gifted enough writer to fully explain all of my reasons for loving this book.  All I can think to say is that there seems to be a sense of hope throughout the whole story, a hope that circumstances will be better as the seasons progress, a sense of hope that the cold little shack will become a warm home, with a pantry full of good food from the garden, and a table surrounded by a family that works and plays together.  It reminded me much of the TV show The Waltons, (especially when they are "playing store" out in the yard.  This book is on my wish list to own!

There is one more book I'd like to mention, and that's Spot and Dot by Henry Cole, which, I think, is a sequel to Cole's Spot the Cat book. 

I kid you not, I sat down at my kitchen table to look this book and became totally immersed in the detailed drawings until twenty minutes had gone by!  There is so much to see on each page, and kids like finding Spot and Dot as their adventure unfolds.

I would love to see any of these win the Caldecott.  Tune in tomorrow (or Tuesday) for an update!  Until then, have a happy vintage day! 

UPDATE!!  I can't believe it is 2022 and I forgot to update you on the winner of the Caldecott.  No excuse, I just lost my desire to blog.  

The winner of the Caldecott and Honors were:

Winner---The Undefeated, By Kwame Alexander and illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

Honor--Bear Came Along, By Richard T. Morris and illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Honor--Double Bass Blues, By Andrea J. Loney and illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez

Honor--Going Down Home With Daddy, By Kelly Starling Lyons and illustrated by Daniel Minter

Congratulations to all of the winners!

New Brooch and Earrings

Daughter and I always find fun goodies at Vintage City.

  Back in the spring of 2019 I purchased this roadrunner brooch and these two sets earrings I'd had my eye on for weeks.

I've liked the roadrunner brooch for quite some time (at least I think it's a roadrunner) , and was tickled it was still there!   I've also had my eye on the red earrings for some time and was pleasantly surprised to see the white ones as well.  My daughter is slowly getting into the vintage look and will borrow them to go with her modern-but-vintage-looking pink dress we picked up at a local consignment shop.

I know it has seemed like an age since I've written a post, and I'll try to do MUCH better in 2020.  Until another time, have a happy vintage day!

June 1947 Life Magazine

After spending a little time arranging items at my Uncle Stan's collectables booth at a local market, last October, (he calls it fluffing things up a bit), he let me have a couple of swell Life Magazines! Thanks Uncle Stan!  I'm not real good at arranging things, but am getting better with practice.

 

This particular Life is from June 2, 1947 and has Jane Greer on the cover.  Greer was an actress.

 

 

Apparently silverware was a big deal in the '40s and '50s because I see and hear advertisements for them in print and on OTR quite often.

 

 

There were ads for fabric.  And the mom's sundress is adorable!

 

 

This is an interesting story, below.  Apparently, a boy was trying to break a flat piece of cement himself but couldn't, so he set it on the railroad track to let the train break it for him.  The train derailed injuring 4 people.  The police were unable to punish him, but "hope that parents of other clever children keep a close eye on them."----Now-a-days, that kid would've been in deep **** and the parents would've been sued.   

 

Here is a beautiful two-page spread for Max Factor make-up.  I think it would be fun to find some of those vintage make-up containers (possibly at a vintage shop or garage sale) and refill them with modern makeup.

 



 

 

Ah, Prell.  I heard a few years ago that Prell wasn't the best for hair,but I love her hair style.

 

 

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer!  I just watched that on TCM earlier this spring.  It was a fun movie.  Cary Grant and Myrna Loy are a couple of my favorites from that era. If I had been a teen I would've cut out Myrna Loy's photo from this mag. and pasted it in my scrapbook.

 

 

Oh look, more silverware.  And some SHELLS!  I never noticed that article before, I'll have to go back and read that one.

 



 

White Dresses mark life's major occasions.

 



I love old radios and these are portables!  I wonder if the sound quality was any good.

 



 

Another radio advertisement, this one for Bendix with the cast of Duffy's Tavern.

 



 

9 favorite artists in one great album.  Includes North Dakota's own Peggy Lee.  Also, Martha Tilton with Johnny Mercer, and the Pied Pipers.---I'll have to look up some of these artists and songs.  I enjoy Martha Tilton and Johnny Mercer quite a bit and have some of their songs. 

 



 

I'm just love summer time BBQs and picnics like this one, below.

 



 

The large, brick BBQ pit reminds me of the I Love Lucy episode where they build their own BBQ in the back yard.  Lucy thinks she lost her wedding ring in the cement, so she and Ethel tear it all apart, then puts it back together crooked.  

 



I guess super markets have always been crowded.  While I like our big grocery store here in the city, I miss the time when there were neighborhood markets.  In fact, for a short time, I lived a block away from one and loved it.  I preferred it for my "everyday" shopping.  Sure, the prices were probably higher, and they wouldn't always have specialty items (had to go to the big grocery store for those), but for staples like bread, cake frosting, milk, pasta, cake frosting, soups, cheese slices, cake frosting, hamburger, etc. they'd do fine.  (Yes, during my college years, cake frosting was a staple).  The store even had a butcher in back and some of the best meats in town.

 



 

And finally, a Coke advertisement.  I've collected a few magazines over the years and have noticed that Coke seemed to like having the back cover.  I like the girl's sweater.  You don't see too many short sleeved cardigans anymore.  Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places.

 



Well, that's all for today, I hope you enjoyed pursuing this Life magazine with me.  Until another time, have a happy vintage day!

Vintage Brach's Chocolate Covered Cherries Box

Woot!  Guess what I found at Vintage City!  A vintage box of Brach's Chocolate Covered Cherries in Fondant.  Well, it's not really a full box of them (cherries, chocolate, and all...that would be icky) It's an empty box, in good/great condition, and I'm so tickled that I own it now! (happy dance).
 

 

Here are the few things I know about the box.  Looking on Ebay, I found no other boxes exactly like it. 

But, I did find a couple of listings for two-page-spread magazine advertisements for Brach's featuring the same box.  One was from a 1950 magazine, the other from a February 1948 Life magazine.  Therefore, I believe it is safe to say that my box is from that same era.  I'm going to say the late '40s because I like that time period better *wink*. 

 

Next step--raid my 1948, 1949, and 1950 magazines trying to find a similar advertisement.  That'll be fun! (And no, I'm not being sarcastic).

Hawaii 2019

This is going to be a quick (or maybe not so quick) blog post about our trip to Maui, Hawaii for the 50th anniversary of the Taco Johns franchise and their conference.  A huge THANK YOU to Mike Sartwell and Preferred Restaurant Group for inviting their office staff and spouses to come along on this amazing adventure.  We love our TJs family!

This sign welcomed us the night of our ocean-side meet-n-greet.



 There was an open-air shopping mall next to our resort and we walked to it several times.  I got my photo taken by the big pineapple.  Photo bomb courtesy of Billy Sartwell Haha!  He then took a photo of Shannan and me together.

The grounds of the hotel are beautiful, with many different kinds of plants, and trees.  I enjoyed seeing birds, parrots, Koi fish and the waterfalls.  It's amazing to think that someone designed all of the landscaping.  Good job, whoever you are!



 There were many fresh water ponds that I think were somehow connected because one morning (the morning of the Taco Johns vendor show) the Koi fish all gathered at the pond next to the show.  Maybe they wanted to see the latest in food temp software, seating packages, or the new Hockenbergs catalog.  But no, they were there for food.  We were at the right place, at the right time, and I was able to help feed the Koi!  I know it was a "kids' activity" but I didn't care.  (It's the simple things in life, people). 

Their food looked like cat food, and the bits of corn were for the swan.

 

There were three birds in large cages that you could talk to and study.  A blue and gold macaw, and a  rainbow macaw, who wouldn't let you touch them, and a Cockatoo who seemed to really like Shannan.  He would let Shannan scratch the back of his neck.

We took a short bus ride to the small town of Lahaina for some shopping.  We spotted this Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant right on the ocean!  We never pass up a chance to eat at Bubba Gump and weren't disappointed.  Our waitress seated us right along the water, and the food was delicious as always.

This is a large tree that grows in Lahaina.  They have turned the area into a park.  The tree grows up through the ground in many places (it's hard to explain), the roots come up and form new trees.  It's HUGE! 

One of my goals this trip was to have a Pina Colada while lounging next to the pool. It was so yummy and I'd like to learn to make them at home so I can have one on the deck every once in awhile.  I didn't know if it was proper to eat the pineapple but I gobbled mine up! 

 We attended the awards banquet where our Taco Johns team took home some fancy hardware.  Good job managers and teams!

The tables were elegantly set with floral centerpieces, fancy drinking glasses and three forks.  Three!  We enjoyed chicken, asparagus, and a fancy dessert.

 No, I didn't eat the flower, but I did munch the chocolate straw. 



Every morning, Shannan would walk along the boardwalk (to get his steps in) and I would stroll along the shoreline hunting for shells.  I found many pieces of coral but very few shells, and the shells I did find were very small.  But I was happy just looking.  I caught this rainbow on one of the mornings. 

 

 There were Hibiscus flowers along some sidewalks.  A pretty sight for us to see in the middle of winter. 

Shannan and I on the beach.



The final event was an evening Luau with a buffet supper that was delicious.  I especially enjoyed the coconut cake for dessert and MUST learn to make it at home.  Apparently I have a fondness for coconut.



Hawaiian shave ice was delicious!  I had one made with Cherry, Pineapple, and of course, Coconut.



Here are some photos of the grounds.

And finally, here is a photo of me enjoying the beach!

Hope you enjoyed this quick little post of Hawaii. One of these days, when I have a few minutes to spare, I'll photograph my beach finds and the shells that I bought.

Until another time, have a happy vintage day!