What goes around comes around

 Years ago, when my friend Karen and I spent another of our days of thrifting in and around Spokane where I live, we found a sweet little book which was a bit over our cheapo budgeting.  So ... we decided we would go together on it and trade it back and forth.  Loved the illustrations in "The Teenie Weeniees" 1917 children's book and had to have it!

Well, it's been sitting on a shelf in my craft room for years.  I finally came across it while looking at my collection of old children's books.  Still love the artwork in the pages (here are a few examples) ~

Not that I would ever sell it, but thought I'd do some research.  Found it to have been published in 1917, but to my amazement the inside front cover was stamped "Crosby-Ironton Public Schools TEXT BOOK LIBRARY"!

I grew up in Crosby-Ironton and went all the way from kindergarten through graduation in the schools there.  Spent a lot of time in the libraries, and it's possible I could have read this.  Looks like a lot of little fingers went through this beatup, stained, torn and taped tome.

Made my day

I hardly ever recommend a book

 because everyone has their own preferences in what subjects interest them.  

When I go to the library for some good reading, I always pick up two books (in case one of them doesn't thrill me).  Usually I choose a novel by an author I know, and then there is a back corner of the room where I seem to always find a book from an author I've never heard of.  In that corner are real life, historical books and biographies.  "Miracle in the Andes" was a favorite as well as early American history about Native Americans.

Just finished a book that really drew me in about a woman who speaks of herself in such a raw honest way before and during an ill-planned hike through the Pacific Crest Trail.  Cheryl Strayed lost her mother and divorced a man she loved, got into heroin before she decided to test herself on the trail.  I loved this book from beginning to end.  Don't usually endorse a book, but this one is well worth the read.  

My favorite movies and books are all about survival and revival.

Found a little gem

 at the Thrift Store a couple months ago.  It's been sitting on my drafting table ever since waiting for some collage inspiration.

just 4" x 5 1/4"

some pages have old photos mounted in them

edges of all pages are gilded

inside flypage

sepia photos are faded but I will save them in their places

inserted was this pattern for cutting size to fit in frames

I love this little clasp

This is going to be FUN!  

 

Paring Down!

 We have given up on lots of collectibles (hoarding) since moving to a smaller more efficient home. So now, with limited space, I'm only collecting mini pieces, such as these small books ~

The largest of these is only 3 1/4" x 4" and the tiniest is 1 7/8" x 2 1/4".

My favorite is "Quotable Women".

A woman's life can really be a succession of lives, each revolving around some emotionally compelling situation or challenge and each marked off by some intense experience.

~Wallis Simpson (1896-1986)

I have given away several of these little gems as gifts ~ usually added to a larger gift as an extra bit fitting to the person's interests.

Four Pin Friday ~ Old Books

Old books have a beauty all their own whether they have leather covers, yellowed pages or those soft deckle~edged pages.

I found a few decorating ideas on Pinterest of ways to arrange them artistically to show them off at their antique best.

I Opened a Book

By Julia Donaldson

I opened a book and in I strode.

Now nobody can find me.

I’ve left my chair, my house, my road,

My town and my world behind me.

I’m wearing the cloak, I’ve slipped on the ring,

I’ve swallowed the magic potion.

I’ve fought with a dragon, dined with a king

And dived in a bottomless ocean.

I opened a book and made some friends.

I shared their tears and laughter

And followed their road with its bumps and bends

To the happily ever after.

I finished my book and out I came.

The cloak can no longer hide me.

My chair and my house are just the same,

But I have a book inside me.

Lazy Hog

Here is where I'll be parking my arse this summer to read, stitch,

to drink a lemonade (or spot of merlot, marguerita??)  . . .

Sign complements of t.o.b.'s yard sale purchase!

and this is the first book I'm reading.  It's an autobiography authored by the husband of an old friend.  She and I were school mates from kindergarten all the way to graduation.

Can't wait to get into it Judi!

A day trip to the Silver Valley

80 acres that was swampy and covered with large cedar trees became Wallace, Idaho in 1885 when Lucy Wallace took up the position of postmistress for the population of 14 people.

After 1900, Wallace became the hub of one of the world's richest mining districts and was eventually named the "Silver Capital of the World".

On August 21st, 1910 Wallace suffered the largest forest fire in U. S. history.  It is chronicled in Timothy Eagan's book "The Big Burn".  Read it a few years ago, and it is a fascinating story.  I highly recommend it.

It's history has been preserved in its architecture and museums. Kim, Dawn and I had a wonderful day there last Friday.  Sadly not all the museums would open until May 1st.  Winters usually last longer in that area, but it was a perfect day for us . . . 60 degrees and sunny.

 One of the most famous museums in this little town features the bordello (closed until May 1st).  As you can imagine, it was a booming business back in the mining days.

The courthouse is situated at the site that once was the only stop light on the I-90 freeway between Seattle and the East Coast.

The original stop light rests in peace at the Mining Museum

as well as the original Pulaski prototype firefighting weapon developed during the 1910 blaze and still used today.

Four Pin Friday

Call me old~fashioned but I simply love art nouveau design and the beauty of the Victorian era in general.  The swirls, the harken back to nature in fauna and floral inspires me.  

These books (found on Pinterest) beg to be opened and read while sitting in the shade of a big oak tree with a babbling brook at the side and the aroma of blooming Oriental lilies wafting in the air.

A girl can dream, can't she?

What are you reading?

I have found a new favorite author! 

In reading my third novel by Jodi Picoult, "not being able to put it down" has new meaning for me.

"19 Minutes" was my introduction to this author ... gripping story.

"My Sister's Keeper" with it's surprise ending.

and now I'm deep into "The Pact".

Cannot say enough about this author's storytelling ability and now that the cool wet weather has engulfed the Pacific Northwest, I'm planning to load up on her other books (of which there are many)

 

If not for birds

nature would not sing

and my world would be a sadder place

Found these three postcards at an antique store. The chickadee is going to a good old friend as a Christmas card this year.

The Chickadee-Dee
author unknown

Little darling of the snow,
Careless how the winds may blow,
Happy as a bird can be,
Singing, oh, so cheerily,
Chickadee-dee! Chickadee-dee!


When the skies are cold and gray,
When he trills his happiest lay,
Through the clouds he seems to see
Hidden things to you and me.
Chickadee-dee! chickadee-dee!


Very likely little birds
Have their thoughts too deep for word,
But we know, and all agree,
That the world would dreary be
Without birds, dear chickadee!

This tiny tattered old book displays male birds in all their splendor with measurements being given from tip of bill to tip of tail. So much good information.

Birds are beautiful and graceful creatures. Not only do birds satisfy our esthetic sense through their handsome plumage and their sweet voices, but they are marvelously adapted to their respective fields of activity. They are a valuable asset because they depend largely for their food on insects which are injurious to plant life. No other creatures are so well fitted to capture flying insects as swallows swifts, and night hawks.

Two good reads

This past weekend I met my daughter at Barnes & Noble.  She agreed to help me spend the gift card she had given me for my birthday.  It's a store I can get lost in for hours and hours!!

I ended up picking out a beautiful packet of origami papers and paperbacks by two of my favorite authors . . . 

Carl Hiaasen.  This will be the fourth book of his that I have enjoyed.  AP described his writing as "Fast-moving...makes you laugh out loud..."  The first paragraph of "Star Island" absolutely did get me to laugh out loud!  NY Times book review ... "Outlandish lunatic farce".  If you like a great story with lots of humor, you will love Hiassen.

Greg Isles.  My daughter~in~law introduced us to his book by gifting us "24 Hours" at Christmas.  The Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote "The pace is frenetic, the fear and paranoia palpable, and the characters heartbreakingly honest".  Stayed up past midnight two nights in a row to finish this book!  So, gift card in hand, I chose Isles' "Third Degree" for my next read.  

When will I ever grow up?

Its a gloomy rainy Saturday morning and, to cheer myself up, I dug out some of my vintage children's books.

I enjoy them for the contents but most of all for the illustrations

Sweet and sentimental, the artwork takes you back to a more innocent time in your life

A time when children played together, shared their toys, and filled the neighborhood with laughter

When farmlife was a learning experience and you could track the life of your livestock from birth to the great beyond

Community, caring and wide~eyed to the experiences of the world around them.