collecting — Page 51

Around the Cottage

November 30, 2011 at 9:49 am by Claudia

Well, the big news here at Mockingbird Hill Cottage is….hang on to your hats…the septic tank was emptied yesterday!

I know. Take a moment to collect yourself. If I had been a bit more on top of things, I would have taken pictures. I could have devoted a whole post to the process.

Let me tell you, the guy who drives that truck and empties the tank deserves to be paid very well.

I keep forgetting to share this little gem with you. I discovered it in a local shop and was planning to sell it in my future Etsy shop. But Don claimed it. It’s about 2 inches high and says:

I’ll hold your rings
For you;
While dishes or
Washing you do.

Souvenir of Lake George, NY

Lake George is quite a bit north of us, in the Adirondacks.

The little lid comes off and there is a little well with a piece of wood in the center, just like a ring holder. I used this on Thanksgiving when I took my wedding ring off in order to make biscuits. It lives on the window ledge by the sink. I love these little wooden souvenirs. They look handmade and are so gosh darned charming.

Can you find Scout in the background of the photo?

By the way, I’ve actually signed up for my Etsy shop! Someone already had the name Mockingbird Hill – I couldn’t add ‘Cottage’ because there were too many characters. So it will be under my user name of ScoutHarper. I have no idea when it will open, but I’m aiming for the first of the year. I will carry vintage finds and some handmade things, as well. I’m getting excited.

Playing with the Necco Candy Jar:

Filled with the fabric Easter eggs I made a couple of years ago. The pastel colors remind me of yummy candy.

I’ll eventually fill it with something Christmas-y but I refuse to start Christmas decorating this early. I’m adamant about the subject. Hey, I love Christmas decorations as much as anyone else, but for me, the season loses its sense of wonder if I rush into decorating the minute Thanksgiving has ended. We always get a real tree – usually around December 10th or so. Then the decorating will begin.

They’re in the jar temporarily. In fact, I’ve already removed them. The inside of the jar still smells musty. I’ve used coffee grounds in the past to remove mustiness. I have some ready to go. Any other suggestions?

I must thank you for the wonderful and moving comments on the “Blogging Etiquette: Mean Girls” post. Wow. I read them all more than once. I was touched and in some cases, moved to tears. This clearly resonates with all of us. Whether we’ve witnessed someone being bullied or suffered through the bullying of one of our children or have been bullied ourselves – this kind of behavior leaves lasting scars. I feel passionately about the subject and it’s clear that you do, too. Thank you.

Vintage Find: Necco Candy Jar

November 27, 2011 at 10:43 am by Claudia

Don and I drove to a favorite antique shop yesterday. The day was so beautiful that we had to get out of the house and pretend it was spring! Anyway, my plan was to look, not buy.

But then I saw this:

This is a vintage Necco Candies display jar. It’s about 11 inches tall.

Look at the Art Deco-style graduated glass sides. It reminds me of the Chrysler Building. I’m a sucker for this style.

Swoon-worthy Deco graphics. Well, swoon-worthy for me.

I saw a vintage jar lot (4 or 5 fabulous designs) at auction last year. I bid on them, but they quickly went out of my price range. I’m fairly sure this jar was part of that lot. Since the auction is local, the buyers are usually local dealers. Several months ago, I saw an Art Deco-style jar with ridges in the design that I recognized from the auction lot in this very shop. I didn’t buy it and I kicked myself for it later. But, wonder of wonders, I got another chance.

I still hemmed and hawed. Could I justify the purchase?

Don started to list all the treasures I could display in the jar. (He gets us, ladies.) He suggested that I use it for a rotating display.

Okay, you talked me into it.

I’m not putting this in my studio. It will live in the living room and kitchen.

Would you leave some suggestions for treasures to display in the jar? Obviously, with Christmas coming, my first thought is vintage ornaments. Or pine cones (I have a slew of them, gathered from all the places I’ve lived.)

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

By the way, I used to live fairly close to a Necco factory in Cambridge, MA. And I love Neccos. So, it’s rather perfect, isn’t it?

Vintage Books

September 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm by Claudia

Greetings from the water-logged Northeast. The rain keeps on coming. I do spy a bit of sun at the moment, so fingers are crossed. It’s been so bad here for the past 2 months that there is a patch of our front lawn that I still haven’t been able to mow. Because it is at the bottom of our little hill, all the moisture seems to collect there. It has yet to dry out from the hurricane, much less our most recent rains.

I seem to be featuring the den lately. This little vignette sits atop my music cabinet just to the left of the stairs. Before we go any further, say hello to Monty:

How could you not love that face?

But this post is about books. To the left, you will see some vintage books.

I’ve found a few well-loved vintage books that I treasure. I don’t buy them just to buy them. I know many of you buy them for crafting purposes or for display. Try as I might, I simply cannot take a book apart and use it’s pages for something else. I’ve done it with sheet music, but that’s as far as I can go. Books are living things to me and I just can’t do it. Must be genetic.

If I buy a vintage book, it is because I love the author and it has meaning to me. That book on the left, Lyrics and Love, is full of beautiful poetry about house and home and is in near perfect condition. A Girl of the Limberlost is a favorite from childhood; I have two copies and this particular one is the oldest. Claudia has obvious meaning and was given to me by my friend Spencer. And the Jeeves books are favorites of ours – Don has played Jeeves onstage. If you have never read Wodehouse, you are missing out on some of the funniest characters ever written. You will laugh out loud.

This vintage book is priceless to me because my grandmother gave it to my great-aunt Rhoda for Christmas in 1912. Rhoda died a few short years later, a victim of the flu epidemic. The pages are so fragile that I rarely open this book. This is the color illustration inside the front cover:

And this book, equally dear, was presented to my grandmother in 1904 as a prize. She had memorized the most bible verses of anyone in her class.

I have some first editions that I love, a signed copy of To Kill a Mockingbird that I keep in a safe place and others that are dear because I’ve read and re-read them so many times.

Oh, and I have this book:

We bought it on our honeymoon. It’s been well-thumbed because it was formerly the property of Grass Valley High School

I pressed some wedding flowers in it.

And a four-leaf clover or two.

And it has some beautiful illustrations:

But I do accumulate more books than I have room for in our tiny cottage. The other day, I was in purge mode. I attacked the bookshelves that are on my side of the bed, ruthlessly pulling out books I knew I would never read and/or consult again.

Our little library has need of books for its shelves and also has a book sale every year. I will be donating these to the cause so that someone else will have the pleasure of reading them.

Long live books! And by that I mean the 3 dimensional kind.

For those of you who participated in my modest little meme, Reality Shot Thursday, my thanks. I loved your posts. I’d like to keep this going for a while and I’d be most appreciative if you’d spread the word. I don’t know about you, but I love shooting a no-pressure-real-life photo. It’s refreshing!

Beverly suggested I link with Pink Saturday since the cover of Alice in Wonderland is pink!

Around the Cottage

Vintage Find: Necco Candy Jar

Vintage Books

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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