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You are here: Home / Archives for Wallace Nutting

The Dilemma

April 8, 2018 at 10:05 am by Claudia

Dear readers, it is sometimes hard to come up with yet another photograph for a blog post. I mean, how many photos of the interior of my house can I inundate you with until you begin to scream?

And the outside? Well, it isn’t all that attractive at the moment. We’re in that pocket between winter and spring. The daffodils are coming up. I see some growth here and there, but taking a photo of it would require a kneeling position on the cold grass and/or gravel and that ain’t gonna happen today.

It’s too early to clean out the garden beds as there as been mild frost the past two nights, so the leaf mulch must stay in place for a while longer. So no pretty pictures from the garden.

And really, do you want to see pictures of all the debris from the wind and falling limbs and that sort of thing that I raked up yesterday afternoon? I thought not. Actually, raking wore me out. I realize that I have to get back into gardening shape after a fairly sedentary winter. But it was so lovely to be outside on a cold, but sunny, day.

And certainly you don’t want to see pictures of me vacuuming every corner of the house, which is what I did after raking? No, of course you don’t.

This is the dilemma of the every-day-of-the-year blogger. Sometimes, life isn’t all that interesting. Or photogenic.

But I do have one little photo for you, snapped this morning in a moment of desperation.

This is where my tiny Wallace Nutting ended up. I couldn’t find the perfect place to hang it, at least not until I get a few more smallish Nuttings for the wall in the office. Then I’ll be able to insert it into a larger display. But I quite like it here on the shelf in the den, in front of the Nancy Drews. It works.

That copy of Anne of Green Gables  was my mother’s. I was lamenting the loss of some of my mother’s childhood books that were also a part of our childhood one day on the blog. They had lived on a shelf in our bedroom. Our estranged sister somehow ended up with a lot of them. When Meredith read the post, she remembered that she had some of Mom’s books, so she secretly sent them off in the mail and completely surprised me. I opened the package to find Anne, along with Mom’s copy of Daddy Long Legs, and one of my dad’s books. I’ll freely say that I cried. It was like a reunion with dearly loved friends.

I have the best sister.

Happy Sunday.

 

Filed Under: blogging, books, Meredith, photography, Wallace Nutting 58 Comments

Always Collecting

March 31, 2018 at 11:04 am by Claudia

Glory be, the sun is shining. It’s been a ‘gray’ situation around here for a number of days, so this is most welcome. Just the kind of day to recycle! (Kidding.)

Actually, I do have to recycle today, but you know I like doing that kind of thing. It’s very satisfying to sort things and toss them into large dumpsters.

Don and I are still trying to figure out which one of us will be traveling. He might come here. I might go there. We’ll see. I’m doing much better – still coughing, but not nearly as much as I was.

I found two more egg cups (I know there are more, but I took a couple out of the rotation for a bit and now I don’t know where I put them.)

On the left, a vintage Hankscraft double egg cup, which I love because it reminds me of Art Deco, and on the right, a pretty little egg cup in beautiful spring colors. Both of them were sent to me by Judy, a reader of this blog. The blue and green egg cup normally sits on a table in the den and holds a yarn needle that I use from time to time.

I went to a local antique shop and ended up buying some ironstone butterpats. Why, you ask? I’m not quite sure. I don’t collect ironstone, but butterpats have long intrigued me. They’re sort of the perfect collectible if you are short on space – in the same vein as egg cups and miniature pottery. They’re old and have lots of crazing.

This is the clearest of the Grindley markings. Some are very faint.

Also discovered yesterday – a small Wallace Nutting. I was taken by its size and the lovely autumn scene, hand tinted by one of Nutting’s staff artists.

Isn’t it sweet?

Written on the back:

Dec 22 – 193? It’s either a five or a seven.

I’m not sure where I’m going to hang it. It should be part of the wall of Nuttings that is gradually taking shape here in the office. There are three Nuttings there at the moment. The other is downstairs, hanging on the big white cabinet in the living room.

The collecting gene is strong in me.

Don told me that all the musicals on Broadway are singing something from Oklahoma!  tonight during their curtain calls. Today is the 75th Anniversary of the day that groundbreaking musical opened on Broadway – March 31, 1943. I love that musical. I coached the National Tour several years back. It’s extraordinary.

The cast is singing The Surrey with the Fringe on Top. What a lovely tribute. The American Musical wouldn’t be in the form it is without Oklahoma!  It changed the shape of American Musical Theater.

Happy Saturday.

 

Filed Under: butterpats, collecting, Don, egg cups, Escape to Margaritaville, Wallace Nutting 30 Comments

Crazy February

February 18, 2018 at 8:48 am by Claudia

Hello. Everything – I mean everything – had melted. Then this. There’s at least 3, maybe 4 inches of snow on the ground.

On Wednesday, it’s going to be 70°. What the ????

Nevertheless, I have to go out and shovel. Because it’s Sunday, not Wednesday.

Plus, I need to get this cleaned up before I head into the city around noon. Rick and Doug are going in for a few days, so I’m hitching a ride with them. Don has a day off today, so he can rest the first half of the day and then entertain me for the rest of the day. (Joking.)

I forgot to show you a little something. I brought this home a few days ago.

It’s another Wallace Nutting, this time, with sheep. And you know I love sheep. I don’t often see animals in Nutting’s work and it was on sale, so I had to. Right?

It’s in the original frame and it is now hanging in the office, along with two other Nuttings. When and if I can get a good photo, I’ll share it with you.

Thank you so much for your comments yesterday! I would be lying if I said I didn’t cry. I did. They were lovely and moved me beyond words. Bless you.

Okay, my friends. I have to finish this second cup of coffee, pull on my snow shoveling duds and do some work. More tomorrow from NYC.

Happy Sunday.

Filed Under: collecting, snow, Wallace Nutting, winter 57 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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