collecting — Page 32

Quite the Day

December 16, 2015 at 9:01 am by Claudia

We made the trip to IKEA yesterday, after I dug through my shoes (most of which are now too small for me) to find something I could wear that wouldn’t irritate or press on my still-tender ankle. The nearest IKEA is an hour and a half away from us, so we’re talking a total of three hours drive time. It’s an all day event, which for us is always a challenge because we have to consider Scout’s needs.

We walked through, I wrote down all the stock numbers/locations, and had lunch. Don had his favorite Swedish Meatballs and I had the Vegetarian option. And some chocolate cake for dessert. I was walking slowly and being very careful, but I have to tell you, by the end of the day my ankle was complaining loudly.

No reveals for a while. We have to paint the room and assemble everything.

It was quite the day. I came home and later that evening, the news that my parents’ ashes are being taken out to sea today coupled with Scout’s troubles and my worries about her – well, I simply lost it. A major cry. Then a bath, as prescribed by my husband, and bed.

Needless to say, I’m wiped out today.

We’ve lit a candle for my parents and it will burn all day long.

I want to share some gifts I’ve received recently over the course of the next couple of days. My longtime blogging friend Linda sent me a package which was a surprise and a delight. Linda and I share the collecting bug and both of us collect egg cups, McCoy, and miniature pottery. I guess you could say we happily enable each other. Inside the box were birthday and Christmas presents:

12-16 shawnee gift

Two Shawnee miniatures to add to my collection! Aren’t they lovely? Linda has the best luck finding these treasures! These beauties were my birthday present.

Then a sweet Christmas present:

12-16 sheep

This adorable sheep to add to my collection.

And, what’s this?

12-16 caroline'sgift

Caroline got a gift!

12-16 cupandsaucer

A beautiful Paris cup and saucer. She’s thrilled!

Thank you, Linda!

Linda’s beloved cat Charlie, who is the same age as Scout, had a scare yesterday, so send some prayers his way, okay?

Happy Wednesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Tuesday Bits

December 15, 2015 at 8:32 am by Claudia

12-15 sunrise

This morning’s sunrise. Purple and gold.

Yesterday was an time-suck of a day, trying and trying to get through to NY State of Health, which administers the Affordable Care Act here in New York state. The deadline for enrolling is today. Whether due to high demand or a faulty phone system or both, every time we tried to call, we would go through all the commands and be put on hold, terrible 70’s movie soundtrack music playing in the background, only to be cut off. Over and over again.

I was a wee bit panicked because we had to add some information – like the fact that I’m starting to get Social Security this month (Yikes!) and that Don will be changing the policy next June when he is eligible for Medicare (Double Yikes!) – and that had to be done with a person on the other end of the line. Finally (and take my advice – this often works) I tweeted them. As I looked down the list of tweets and replies, I saw that many, many, MANY people were having the same problem. They finally responded, asking me to leave a Direct Message with our phone number, etc. and they would have a Rep call. And lo and behold, they did.

I find the whole thing exhausting. (This is not a political discussion by the way. I know many people who are finally able to get health insurance after many years without it. And it’s the law of the land.) Anyway, it isn’t easy for freelancers like us, because they want to know where we’ll be working in 2016 and we have no idea. So whatever number they come up with isn’t accurate and then we’re supposed to keep them informed about changes in our income, and it’s a pain in the tush, because we forget to. We ended up having to pay a penalty on this year’s taxes because our income changed. And we’ll have to do it next year, as well.

I’m very happy one of us is getting Medicare next year. I never thought I would say I was looking forward to it, but I am. Even under the Affordable Health Care Act, we pay a lot of money every month for insurance – more than we can afford.

Enough of that.

This arrived in the mail yesterday.

12-15 rosevilleclematis2

I snagged it for $9.99 on eBay.

It’s the Clematis pattern. I really like it.

Interesting side note: Don really likes Roseville Pottery. He likes it even more than the McCoy. He likes it so much that he wants this piece on the coffee table in the living room, where he can see it from his chair.

12-15 rosevilleclematis

The other side.

I am in love with this stuff. But I have to back off from eBay for a while.

Thank you for all the comments yesterday on the magazine article. You guys have watched the dollhouse evolve over the years, step by step, piece by piece. You have an investment in the whole process. And to be perfectly honest, knowing you were out there, anxious to see updates and cheering me on, was often the push I needed.

So thank you.

Happy (IKEA) Tuesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Pottery: Intact and Not-So-Intact

December 12, 2015 at 8:35 am by Claudia

Yesterday I spoke of a surprise gift and today I’m sharing some more gifts.

My goodness, I am blessed by sweet and generous people in my life. And I’m very, very grateful.

Cathy, a longtime friend of this blog, wrote me to ask if she could send me a few pieces of pottery that had belonged to her mother. She and her sister have many pieces from their mother – all of them with a story that is meaningful to the sisters – but these three pieces didn’t have any particular sentiment attached to them, so Cathy generously sent them to me.

12-12 gifts

Oh my!

12-12 catalina1

On the left is a piece of Catalina Island Pottery – a candlestick. This pottery was made on Catalina Island off the coast of California, sometime between 1927 and 1947. It’s very collectible.

12-12 catalina2

One of the marks – there are other, fainter marks on the bottom as well.

12-12 bittersweet candleholder

This is Roseville Pottery – a candleholder in the Bleeding Heart pattern. Sigh. It’s beautiful.

12-12 hull pitcher

And this little pitcher is Hull Pottery. I have one other piece of Hull that is lovely, though it has a broken handle. Now, I’ve got two!

Thank you, dear Cathy! What a delight it was to open this package. As I told Cathy in my email, Don stood there and oohed and aahed right along with me. I will treasure these pieces and give them a good home.

From the sublime to the ridiculous: I seem to have a problem with receiving damaged items in the mail. First up was the broken glass on the Maxfield Parrish (the seller has sent me a check to cover the glass replacement, by the way.) Yesterday, I got a box in the mail containing a piece of Roseville that I won on eBay. This is what I found when I opened it:

12-12 the mess

I’m not kidding. I wanted to cry. I immediately contacted the seller, of course. It had been packed in a box that I think was too small. It did have bubble wrap around it but there wasn’t enough space in the box for any extra padding.It seems to me that there should be a lot of padding around fragile items. The seller contacted me and was clearly very sorry that it had happened and said the same thing the other seller said – that she never has problems with breakage. Well, now you do, and I seem to be the lucky recipient. I took photos and sent them to her so she could see the damage for herself. She is going to refund my money. So in both cases, the resolution has been a positive one.

Nevertheless….

So, I grabbed the glue I use for miniatures and I put it back together as best I could. It doesn’t look all that good, certainly not at all good if you look closely, but if I put it in the back of the china cabinet it should be okay until the day I can find a replacement.

12-12 glued together piece

There are chips missing – especially near the handle – but this is the best I could do.

12-12 glued together piece2

This shot really shows the patchwork of glued pieces. You can see why I loved this piece. It’s the Zephyr Lily pattern in a blue/green and it’s a planter/window box.

Hey, at least I was able to patch it back together, right?

Waaah.

The ankle is much better, though I was on it way too much yesterday because Don had to go into the city for an audition, so I was on Scout duty. Next week: IKEA! It doesn’t take much to get me excited these days.

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Quite the Day

Tuesday Bits

Pottery: Intact and Not-So-Intact

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives