Friday, December 26, 2014

Thursday, December 25, 2014

More Gifts

Rosemary gave me a magnetic pad for the fridge and The Book of General Ignorance.


It has longish entries on misconceptions that include interesting tangential data.  For instance, the entry "What shouldn't you do twenty minutes after eating?" not only assures you that swimming is O.K.--"Even if you overeat before swimming, the most likely result is a stitch in the side or a touch of nausea."--but they also list several strange causes of accidents in the U.K.

It's a fun book.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Some Bonny Bookplates

Upstairs Chris (or, as he prefers, "Penthouse Chris") made me these wonderful bookplates.


He got the image from FromOldBooks.org.

Thank you Chris!

Monday, December 08, 2014

Early Christmas Gifts

My brother and my sister-in-law sent me a bag of Hawaiian goodies.


Thursday, November 27, 2014

Thanksgiving Lunch 2014

This year we go to the Harvest.


Appetizer    
Main course
Key Lime Tart
Pecan Tart

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

The Daily Telegraph and Morning Post

I had to get a bunch of 1944 Daily Telegraphs from the Depository for a patron.  I took some photos, because I can.


To see them all in all sizes go to the Picasa Album.

Wednesday, November 05, 2014

Friday, October 31, 2014

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Sweet Memories

I've told my office-mates this story many times: in my childhood my mother got pieces of sugar cane from the grocery store, so my brother and I could suck on them the way the kids in the C&H commercial did.  You could actually get pieces of sugar cane in New Mexico.  Certainly the C&H people knew that children everywhere would demand it.

Finally it occurs to me to look for it on Youtube.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

South End Historical Society House Tour

Rosemary and I went on the South End H.S. House tour.  We saw six row houses all built in the 19th century.  One was completely modern inside; the others were less renovated.  These houses are tall and thin; from 3 to 5 stories.  You get developed calf muscles living in one of these.

Since Photographing the insides of the house was not allowed, I only took a few outside shots of the beautiful South End.



 Poor Steve!  He fell.


"On the parlor level stairs, notice only one cast-iron Rinceau handrail.  The second was sold to neighbors at 146 West Newton Street many decades ago."

 We thought the black screen made this look like the Chrysler Building--sort of.


I like this bike!


The Children's Art Center was a bathroom stop for house tourists.

Tuesday, September 02, 2014

My Forever Dress

I have been working on this dress FOREVER.  I have hand-basted the slippery jersey knit pieces together before machine stitching.  I have pushed my aging eyes to the limit as I threaded needles.  I will never make it again, so make sure to take a look at this one.










Thursday, August 28, 2014

Sixties in Sight

Since I'm scheduled to turn 60 in a few months, and I believe in doing my advanced pre-planning ahead of time, I decided to start a series of sixty-centric posts.

First I want to deal with worries:  What will 60 be like?   Will my life force drain away?  Will I look like a hag?  Will I be poor?  Some research is in order.

One advantage of being born at the end of the Baby Boom is seeing one's age-related concerns chewed over in the media long before one reaches the age in question.  For instance, we frequently read that "60 is the new 40."  That being the case, I can get an idea of what to expect by examining some old 40s.  Below are some women who turned 40 in the 50s or 60s.


Here is actress Patricia Jessel at 40 in The City of the Dead.  She appears to be pretty tough, and she'll feel even better after drinking the blood of the young woman she's about to stab.


 Here is Coleen Gray (39) next to Dolores Faith (19) in The Phantom Planet.  Coleen is holding up pretty well. (The hero still preferred the younger one, though.)

Here is Lady Bird Johnson.  When she was 40, in 1952, she used some of her inheritance to buy a TV station, KTBC-TV/7, a move that would eventually make the Johnsons millionaires.

OK, this is what I can expect at 60.  What's next?

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

The Evolution of Slang

Here's a passage from a 1930's British crime novel*:

"I had made no arrangements as to where I was going to stay, so I took a taxi out to Hampstead.  Some years ago I had rooms there in Fellows Road and I knew the landlady was an obliging sort--so I knocked her up and got her to take me in."

Obliging indeed!




*Bude, John The Cornish Coast Murder. London: The British Library, 2014 p. 225.( First published in 1935.)

Saturday, June 28, 2014

My Roses are Blooming



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This year I got a tomato plant, even though I only get light half the day.  I hope I get a tomato.




It's a nice day to relax.