A slice of January
Posted on February 3, 2010
Filed Under christmas, collections, family, friends, me and my brain | 1 Comment
Most people probably agree that the cold months following Christmas and New Year’s can be a little bit of a letdown. But there are always good little moments. Here are some of mine so far in 2010.
One long weekend I finished up the Santa puzzle my mom gave me for Christmas in 2008. It was a lot of fun… a really good cozy winter activity. I think it looked better put together than it did in the picture on the box.
During our holiday visit to the farm, Ezra’s sister Abby introduced us to Bananagrams. It’s so completely up my alley–a word game, sort of like Scrabble and Boggle put together, but better (well, definitely better than Scrabble anyway). So on that long weekend I mentioned we gave Bananagrams to Amy and Doug for Christmas. Of course, we played several rounds.
Amy’s fabulous creation with the Bananagrams tiles… not a part of the actual game
And, of course, we had to get it for ourselves shortly after that.
I’m still going through my Christmas postcards. I promise to share more about them soon (take that as a “coming attractions” or a warning, as you wish).
And finally… My Collections: Vintage Christmas Ornaments–Miscellaneous
Posted on January 18, 2010
Filed Under christmas, collections, nostalgia | Leave a Comment
I’ll finish up with some favorite odds and ends.
Red and yellow with flowers
This one looks (to me) like a round grenade.
Red with blue dots
Gold with pink dots
Flowers
Tree
Silver, Red, and Green
Unsilvered lantern with pink and mica
This one is stamped West Germany.
Blue-green lantern
Pink and white with mica
Candles
Silver striped lantern
I really love these last two.
Plaid with red and blue
Plaid with red and white
And even more… My Collections: Vintage Christmas ornaments–Flocked and painted words and images
Posted on January 18, 2010
Filed Under christmas, collections, nostalgia | 2 Comments
I found this one at an antique shop in Montreal.
I have a larger one very similar to this but in worse condition.
Joyous Christmas
Silent Night
Merry Christmas
Santa on skis
Merry Christmas w/holly
Red Merry Christmas
Santa and stars
Now Dasher!
My Collections: Vintage Christmas Ornaments–Bells
Posted on January 15, 2010
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I promised the ornaments would keep on coming! I’m wishing now that I’d taken better photos of them. Ah well… maybe next year.
So! Onto the bells! My guess is that these are from the 40s or 50s.
This one looks a little older.
It has a clapper inside it, so it rings.
My Collections: Vintage Christmas Ornaments–Hand-painted leaf and feather shapes
Posted on January 13, 2010
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I am especially drawn to these ornaments, many of which I believe are from the 1930s, though some are probably newer.
1. Probably 30s
2. One side
2. Another side
3. Probably 30s. This is a recent addition to my collection.
4. Probably 30s.
5. 30s or 40s
6.
7. Probably 30s
8.
9. Most likely from the 1930s, this is one of my absolute favorite ornaments.
10. This one looks a bit newer.
11.
12. Probably from the 1930s.
13. I love the translucent red glass of this one.
14.
15.
My Collections: Vintage Christmas Ornaments–Fruits, Seeds, Flowers, etc.
Posted on January 12, 2010
Filed Under christmas, collections, nostalgia | 4 Comments
Most of these ornaments are much older–probably from the 1930s, possibly 1920s.
Pine cones
I just got another lovely silver pine cone ornament, but I haven’t photographed it yet. I like the lightly frosted pine cones a lot.
Acorn
Grapes, berries, fruits
This next one might be a little newer. Note that the top is not as narrow as some of the others.
I’m not sure about this one. Cluster of berries?
Flowers, baskets of flowers, etc.
The rose
The top on this next one has definitely been replaced.
This one is tiny and would have likely been used on a feather tree.
My Collections: Vintage Christmas Ornaments–The Stripes
Posted on January 11, 2010
Filed Under christmas, collections, me and my brain, nostalgia, photography | 1 Comment
While taking down our Christmas tree this past weekend, I decided to take pictures of my vintage ornaments before putting them away. Over the next several days (weeks?) I’ll be posting pictures and any info I feel like adding about my collection of vintage Christmas ornaments. I won’t post every single ornament, but I’ll include quite a few of them. I also hope to post more about my much bigger collection of vintage Christmas postcards, and I may get into some of my other collections and treasures as well (socks, books, music). But I’m starting off with what gave me the idea–the ornaments.
In general, I collect what I like. I’m not looking for the most valuable items or necessarily for a particular manufacturer or artist. Instead, I’m looking for what appeals to me–and in the case of vintage ornaments, they have to be genuinely old, not reproductions. I think most of my vintage ornaments are from the 1930s-1950s. Perhaps someone with a lot of knowledge in this area will come upon these posts and tell me more about what I’ve got (and also let me know if I have any misinformation).
Just because, I’ll start with the stripes. Some of these are a bit newer–50s and 60s. I’ll share some older ones in future posts. The clear–or unsilvered–ones may be from the 40s. The story goes that during WWII metals were needed for the war effort, so Christmas ornaments produced during this time were made with unsilvered glass.
This next one seems older. The glass is heavier and sort of frosted and it shows a different sort of wear.
This next one also seems older to me. It’s a bit smaller than many, and something about the glass and the way it’s worn makes me think it’s older.
I love the colors of the one below.
And it’s only 9:00AM
Posted on March 17, 2008
Filed Under Blather, christmas, me and my brain, the pusses, this old house | 5 Comments
This morning I drove down to the post office to mail a package and to pick up my postcards. When I arrived home I found the cats in the kitchen batting around the tiniest little mouse you’ve ever seen. Eek. I am not the best for dealing with these things, but I couldn’t just let them bat it around all day. It’s under a box top, under a pile of phone books. Suki has given up but Edie is still going crazy. I know I shouldn’t leave it for Ezra to deal with, but…
The postcards… I’m just starting to look at them. The very first one I pulled out is colorful and in nice condition with a bell, holly (I love holly), and lots of gold. It’s in pretty nice condition, too. The kicker, though, is that it’s addressed to Spring Creek, PA, and it’s written in some other language that I can’t identify. This is gonna be fun.
Happy happy
Posted on March 13, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, christmas, me and my brain | 4 Comments
I just got a huge lot of Christmas postcards on ebay! I’ve decided that I’ll share any doubles or cards that I otherwise don’t want with Kim, but I think I’m still looking at increasing my collection by probably 60% or more with this one batch of cards. I’m so excited to receive them! They’re going in the mail today, so hopefully I’ll get them by Saturday.
Based on the photos, the lot includes numerous bells and a good deal of gold and silver. That’s right up my alley!
Here are a couple of pictures from the auction page.
Eurotrip 2007-2008: Berlin, Day Two
Posted on January 16, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, christmas, dining, wide world of vacation | 3 Comments
On our second day in Berlin, we discovered the full wonders of our lovely little hotel. I wish I’d taken more pictures of it because it was really very cute. They had little Christmas decorations here and there and it had a very warm but uncluttered feeling. The bed was super comfortable and had one of those lovely personal duvets that I’ve once or twice experienced elsewhere in Europe. The breakfast room there is bright and orderly. Gosh, writing about it I wish I was there! They had yummy yogurt and cheeses and rolls and cereals, tomatoes and fruit, and some meats for the carnivores. It was a fairly typical European spread–very nice.
Once we had enough caffeine to pull ourselves away from all that, we embarked on our first S/U-Bahn journey (I can’t remember which) to check out some antique markets at Friedrichstrasse. This was our first foray into the Eastern part of Berlin, and we did notice some subtle differences (though that might just be because of the nice section we were staying in–it’s hard to know how representative that is of the Western side of the city). There were a lot of lovely things at the antique markets, but much of it was more along the lines of fine antiques that we could probably neither afford nor fit in our suitcases. It was neat to see everything, though. We saw a lot of cool old furniture and lamps and clocks–arts and crafts things as well as sleeker stuff from the 1930s.
Antiques at Friedrichstrasse. These are actually some of the newer items we saw.
After cruising through the antique stalls, we ended up heading westward on the Unter den Linden, a wide avenue that cuts east to west through the city, crossing under the Brandenburg Gate and turning into the Strasse des 17 Juni., which bisects the Tiergarten. We stumbled upon Berlin on Ice, a public ice rink that’s open from the end of November through early January where, besides skating, they apparently hold a number of other holiday events. Here’s a picture from their site:
We followed the people wandering away from Berlin on Ice and found ourselves at another big Christmas market at Gendarmenmarkt. This one was very pretty. I don’t remember this one having rides, except maybe a carousel, so it was a little less carnival-like than some of the others, but it was still very nice. We wandered the stalls for quite a while and sampled some drinks and these yummy little spiced dough things that were really tasty. Though I just got a nice pair of slippers for Christmas, I was unable to resist the fluffy wool footies I found in one of the stalls. As soon as I saw them I had to try them on, and as soon as I tried them on I had to have them. It was hysterical, really. I sort of wish I had a picture of when I tried them on. I think the people running the booth thought I was a little nutty, but dang!–those things were fluffy! (They still are, though they’ve been smushed down a bit from wear.) So, these are my new “woolies.”
We shared a yummy little pizza at an Italian place inside the market, where we huddled under a heat lamp and grinned goonishly at each other across the tablecloth. I remember the place had these cute red felt drapes over the chairs–very Christmas-y.
Ezzie at the pizza place, under the heat lamp.
After lunch we wandered around a bit more and went into a little indoor tent that was full of more stalls. There were lots of artisans in there. One was selling loads of carved ornaments and decorations. That’s another thing that’s very big there, as far I could tell–hand-carved things made of wood. In the “it’s a small world” department, there were also a couple of people there making letterpressed business cards.
An indoor stall selling lots of things made of wood.
Then it was time to head over to The Filmmuseum at the Sony Center. Unfortunately, the guidebook I was using said that the museum was open until 8PM and closed on Mondays. When we got there, the museum was about to close, but the woman we spoke with told us that it IS in fact open on Mondays. So, we planned to return the next day. There was still time, though, to go to the museum shop, which was full of lots of interesting goodies, promising much fun in the museum. I bought the exhibition poster for the current exhibit titled Sound – Film – Music, 1929-1933. The poster was cheap–7 euros, or about $11. It’s based on this photograph. Doesn’t this actress look like Claudette Colbert?
The Sony Center is this big commercial complex at Potsdamer Platz, a huge commercial intersection that’s been totally rebuilt since the war. Ez wrote about it on his blog. There was a sort of little Christmas market at the Sony Center, too, with curling (I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before in person) and a big Christmas tree made of Legos.
The little Christmas markets at the Sony Center.
I think it was on this day that we wandered over to even more Christmas markets at Potsdamer Platz–they call it Winter World because there’s ice skating and a big toboggan run. It’s smaller and more touristy (due to it’s location) than some of the other markets we visited.
I think after that we headed back to our neighborhood in search of food and warmth–not necessarily in that order. We ended up going to a rather tasty Italian restaurant (Italian is an easy choice for the veggie traveler) in our neighborhood called Ristorante Tre. I’m fairly certain it was run by bona fide Italians and everything I had was very tasty. (If you check the menu at their site, I had the spaghetti mafioso. NUM!)
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