Maxfield Parrish

Seen While Antiquing on a Sunday Afternoon

November 23, 2015 at 9:09 am by Claudia

11-21 sunrise

Sunrise.

11-23 sunset

Sunset.

That sounds like a good title for a song. (I sang it many times at many weddings back in the days when I did a lot of that sort of thing.)

The cupcakes are gone, thank goodness. No more temptation.

It’s a very cold morning but we managed to avoid all the snow you midwesterners got. I trust that it’s melting away rather quickly?

I’ve got lots of things to do, like cleaning up outside and storing everything on the porch that needs to be stored. We haven’t even taken the air conditioners out of the windows yet. Inertia seems to be part of this grieving process. I’m not a complete sloth, but it is definitely hard to get motivated. Crochet? Yes. I’m just about to complete another scarf and I’ll be listing it tomorrow. More yarn is on the way. I’m reading the latest Michael Connelly, but slowly.

We took a drive across the Hudson River yesterday afternoon to visit some antique shops. Just to look, mind you. One of the things I wanted to do on my birthday was to go antiquing and the day got away from us and now that it gets dark so much earlier, we decided to wait until Sunday.

We went into the antique shop where we purchased the one Maxfield Parrish that I own. There were about five of them on the wall – gorgeous, every one of them. (No Dinkey Bird.) But this guy prices his Parrishes a bit too high, I think. Heck, maybe the one we bought was a little pricey. I can’t remember now. After searching on eBay and Etsy, I’m realizing that a good Parrish can be found for less money.

In that same shop I saw these and I posted them on Instagram:

11-23 roseville bookends

The most beautiful Roseville bookends – in the shape of an open book. They were in flawless condition, not a mark on them. This is the Snowberry pattern. They were priced at $195. I gave a little gasp when I saw them.

A conversation ensued on Instagram. Everyone agreed they were beautiful, but too pricey. I had never seen them before and said that if I had lots of money, I would buy them at that price. Linda loved them and promptly went to eBay, where she saw some listed. I then went to eBay when I got home and saw some listed at a significantly lower price, but often there was a chip or repair. Or only one was available. But there were some pairs that were in pristine condition and they were priced at $140-150 at the most. So, rather than obey an impulse, it pays to shop around. (Although, if you had handed me $200, I just might have bought the two in the photo.)

And I’m not one to pass up a deal if there’s been a repair. I don’t buy for investment purposes but for the pure pleasure of collecting something beautiful that I love.

Linda said she liked Snowberry best in blue. I have one piece in that blue, so Linda, here’s a photo of it:

11-23 bluesnowberry

Roseville’s blue is really beautiful.

I’m such a nut for pottery and china. I can’t resist. Well, I can and do resist, but I’m attracted to it wherever I go, like a moth to a flame. I wouldn’t sell my Roseville or McCoy or my egg cups, but I sometimes look around the cottage at all the china I have amassed and seriously think about selling some on Etsy. The shop is subtitled ‘Vintage and Handmade’ and so far, it’s just been handmade.

I’m thinking about it. But it’s still in the thinking stages.

Happy Monday.

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Finds Lost & Instagram

November 18, 2015 at 9:53 am by Claudia

11-18 coffee table

Life at the moment.

Chapped lips need Carmex.

Reading glasses.

Michael Connelly’s newest, The Crossing, which I’ve just started.

The newest scarf in its very beginning stages.

In a rare reversal, Don was up and about much earlier than I. I slept in, partly because I had trouble getting to sleep last night. I rarely sleep in and when I do, I find I’m groggy for a good while. Still groggy and it’s 9:40 am.

11-18 parrish

Oh, yesterday. Yesterday, I decided to go to the antique barn and see if that Maxfield Parrish was still there. It was about three weeks ago that I first saw it. It was gorgeous and a good price. But I couldn’t afford it at the time, so I passed, thinking I might buy it in a week or so.

Well, of course, I left for Florida suddenly and was gone ten days and then I came back and it wasn’t until yesterday that I roused myself enough to go back to the antique barn. I was thinking that it would make a good birthday present – either from me to me, or from Don to me.

If you follow me on Instagram, you already know what happened.

It was gone.

I searched every inch of that barn. Twice.

Someone wiser than me snapped it up.

I can’t explain the sadness I felt, except to say I cried. And then I cried again when I told Don about it. I had been thinking about it all this time, and though I knew the chances of it still being there were slim, I held a secret little hope that it would be. I could see it hanging above my desk in the new office/studio space that is yet-to-be.

I’m still sad. You know that feeling when you are absolutely sure something was meant just for you? That’s how I felt. Silly, but real, nonetheless.

As I said on Instagram, it’s a lesson learned, or rather re-learned. If you see something you want at an antique store or a flea market, grab it. We all know this, don’t we? I certainly do. But I didn’t follow my own advice. At the time, several of you suggested trying to put it on layaway. I didn’t follow through, but to be fair to myself, I flew off to Florida a few days later.

Still….

If you see it and want it and can afford it, get it.

This is one I’ll regret for a long, long time.

By the way, do you do Instagram? I reluctantly got on board a while ago, and I really love it. I don’t post all the time, but I post fairly regularly. I’ve found lots of interesting accounts to follow – everything from animal rescue organizations to farmers with gorgeous sheep to McCoy collectors to fellow bloggers to readers and friends of this blog. It’s visually stimulating and fun. I often pull out my phone when I’m waiting somewhere and scroll through my feed.

A lot of people seem to be using Instagram as a blog nowadays and sometimes the captions under the photos are rather long. If they’re too long, I usually move on to the next one. I like short and sweet. Longer is for blogs, in my humble opinion. But I’m getting used to reading longer captions (yes, even I can change) and do my best to comment when I can. I tend to use my iPhone for my photos instead of anything shot by my big girl camera, though lots of Instagrammers use professional, styled photos.

It’s a wonderful way to connect with all sorts of people who don’t blog and who are incredibly creative and interesting and with bloggers who share moments of their day that might not necessarily be covered in a blog post. If you want to follow me, you can click here or you can click on the camera icon at the top of my sidebar.

I like it a lot.

Happy Wednesday.

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The Moon, Maxfield Parrish & The Good Wife

October 26, 2015 at 8:25 am by Claudia

10-26 moon first try

I don’t know why, but I can never get a good picture of the moon. I’m sure it’s something to do with my settings, and I’ve never made an effort to figure it out. I think I’ll do a little googling today on that subject. But the moon was huge last night, big and fat, and this is a shot of it over the back forty.

As Don said, “It’s never as good as what you’re actually seeing.”

Yep.

Here’s the other try:

10-26 moon second try

Interesting, but…

I needed to get out of the house yesterday so, while Don was running an errand, I stopped at our local Antique Barn. I had the vague idea that I might find some McCoy for $10 or so. I didn’t. There was some McCoy, but nothing I was interested in. I did see something I want very much indeed, but I can’t justify buying it when we’re trying to make ends meet.

10-26 Dinky Bird

A Maxfield Parrish in its original frame. It’s one of his more famous illustrations, Dinky Bird. I suppose I should research that and find out why it’s called Dinky (or Dinkey, depending on who’s talking about it) Bird. I love it. Look at those blues and those golden tinged clouds! It was priced at $79.00, which is actually a very good deal. Maybe no one will buy it and I can save up my pennies. Or maybe it will still be there in time for my birthday next month.

A girl can dream.

I checked on the title – it’s an illustration for a poem by Eugene Field, The Dinkey Bird.

Yes, to all of you who thought you spotted Don on The Good Wife last night. He was in a scene right at the top with Michael J. Fox. Brief, but fun. And a fancy suit, to boot! I would have alerted you in yesterday’s post, but we didn’t know about it until around 6:30 or 7:00 pm, so I posted the information on Instagram (a good reason to follow my account)!

Not that I often have important late breaking news. And, unlike CNN, I don’t call every little thing “Breaking News.”

Don’t get me started.

It’s a very cold and frosty morning around these parts. In fact, when I saw the frost, which I had not expected, I panicked about the porch plants. But they seem to be okay. Whew!

Dad’s doing well at the Rehab facility. He is known by everyone there. He’s been a patient there before and, of course, he was a daily visitor (sometimes 3 times a day) when my mom was there during her extended stay at the end of her life. So, people keep stopping in to see him and he basks in the attention. He’s still in pain, but is getting physical and occupational therapy.

New post on Just Let Me Finish This Page: The Library Book Due Date Game.

Happy Monday.

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Seen While Antiquing on a Sunday Afternoon

Finds Lost & Instagram

The Moon, Maxfield Parrish & The Good Wife

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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