The Flamingo In The Penguin Body!

Another great Christmas with my beautiful children and family.  Watching the grandchildren open their gifts and seeing their reaction - I wonder what memories they will have when they grow up and have children of their own?  It had snowed the night before and continued through the morning so after we ate and opened presents, the kids spent the afternoon having a snowball fight in the front yard.  Why do they think it is fun putting ice cold snow down the back of each others pants?  Well, at least they used the snow off my car so I didn't have to clean it off this morning.  Some of the kids didn't have gloves, but that didn't stop them.  I probably should have some extra gloves on hand just in case it snows again on our family Christmas get-together.  Also, boots or extra shoes might be a good idea.  Besides the kids, there were several of the older guys out there playing in the snow, too.  But, not Grandma.  No, I'll just watch from the warmth of the house, thank you.

Looking around the living room and kitchen after everyone left, you could see that it was a good day for all.  Small scraps of wrapping paper under the chairs, cookie crumbs on the couch, leaves, dirt and puddles of melted snow on the floor, moved chairs, ornaments in different places on the tree and a dirty glass here and there were the signs of a very happy family Christmas.  After picking up a few things and getting the last of the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, I sat down in my rocking chair.  As my hound dog, Bronx, climbed onto the couch (he thinks it's his), he laid down, yawned and let out a loud sigh.  Yep, we were both just too tired to do anything else.  His job is to follow the little ones with food in their hands and clean up if dropped on the floor and he is quite good at his job.   

So, you ask, what does the title have to do with this blog?  Well, you know, I am never too tired to get on the computer and think about my  online stores. 

It's time to think about the new year (I can clean up later).  Time to remove the "Merry Christmas" pictures.  Need to find a winter picture.  Burrrrr - oh, I dislike the cold.  The snow is pretty, but give me the warm sand on the beach, palm trees and flamingos.  Then I came across this picture.  Oooh, yes!  I'm sure he is feeling exactly how I feel and is lamenting to whoever will listen.  Looking toward the heavens he wails "I am a flamingo in a penguin body."   

The Search for the Perfect Christmas Tree

Yesterday, my daughter, son-in-law and newest grandson, Jascha, went in search for my Christmas tree.  I have to have a real tree - it is just important to me.  As a young child, we didn't have a Christmas tree on Christmas.  At times we decorated the fireplace at my Grandmother's house and then a little later, my Grandmother did get one of those artificial silver trees with the revolving color light that changes the silver to green, blue, red and yellow.  Oh, I enjoyed rocking in my rocking chair watching the colors change on the shimmering tree.  It was pretty, but, in my heart I always wished we had a real tree.  

The first year I was married, my husband and I bought a tree for my Grandmother.  We picked it out, took it over to her house, set it up and decorated it.  I don't believe we told her we were going to before we did it - it was like my surprise to her - I was giving her something that I just knew she had always wanted.  Looking back I'm not sure she was all that excited about it.  Oh, she smiled and let us put it up.  But come to think it, her expression was probably more of an "OMG, what am I going to do" expression.  (she would have used the term "goodness" not "God").  By the next Christmas, my Grandmother had moved to a different town and my oldest daughter was born so no more surprise Christmas trees for my Grandmother.  

How we pick out my Christmas tree has changed over the years.  There were a few years that we had an artificial tree back in the late 1970s and early 1980s but, since then it has been back to the real trees.  Jascha is my youngest grandson and he is now the Christmas tree approver for me.  Yesterday was his second year for this most important duty.  You see it must be the most beautiful tree in the lot with something that sets it apart from all the rest.  Most important, it must be a hugable tree.  As you can see, Jascha has the process down pat.  It must past the smell test,  then he makes sure that there are no missing needles and then of course, the taste test.

 It is obvious, he is a perfectionist when it comes to Christmas trees and understands how important picking out the perfect Christmas tree is for Grandma.  After running between the rows of trees, some short and some tall, he finally finds the Christmas tree that is worthy.  Once we get the tree to Grandma's house, we put it in its stand and feed it some water, making sure the best side faces the front for all to admire.  Also want to make sure there is plenty of room around the tree for presents from Santa.  We'll let it sit for a day before decorating so the branches can fall into place.  Ah, looks perfect.  

Now, Grandma, what about those flamingos?      

I Love That Pottery!

I'll have to be honest - there aren't too many pieces of pottery that I don't like. I'm not even sure that I could tell you the styles that I prefer. When I lived in Indiana, there were the potteries located in the Nashville (Brown County) area that we use to visit quite often. When my daughter lived in Tennessee, we visited the Sevierville and Pigeon Forge areas - great pottery places in the artisan areas. I was always fascinated watching the people spin the pottery using their hands to shape and mold the pieces. 

Now that I live in North Carolina, I find the Seagrove, NC area is one of the largest communities of potters consisting of over 100 potteries in a 20 miles radius. Having the longest continual history of pottery making in the United States, the Seagrove area was settled in the late 1700s of mostly English and German decent. The Seagrove Pottery area is located in central North Carolina and includes Randolph, Moore, Montgomery and Lee counties. Untouched by urban growth, the area is simple beautiful and is located just east of the Uwharrie National Forest. It is like going back in time driving along the back roads to reach the different pottery shops. In fact, a lot of the pottery shops have picnic tables for visitors to picnic and just enjoy the serenity of the area. 

While the tradition of Seagrove pottery began more than 200 years ago, there is a unique blend of potters - some are the eighth and ninth generations of potter families, some settled in the area from the 1960s and 1970s “hippie” generation and some are new potters. What brings them together is their love for making some of the most beautiful and unique pottery in the world. Here are two pieces of North Carolina pottery that I have for sale at Carolinabluelady Vintage Collectibles. These aren't vintage pieces. 

The Piney Woods Pottery Electric Candle Chip Warmer at the left hand side has beautiful applied pink roses. 

Piney Woods Electric Candle Holder 

And, an egg separator by Fat Beagle Pottery is just so cute. 

Fat Beagle Egg Separator

These two great NC pottery pieces are at my eCrater store.  I'm sure you will find something that will catch your eye.

Lunch At The Five & Dime With My Grandmother

I loved spending time with my Grandmother when I was little.  When we didn't live with her, I would still visit her on weekends or a week here and there.  I loved watching her sew.  When I was really little around 3 and 4 years of age (early 1950s), she would let me sit on the sewing machine extension and watch her.  I loved seeing how fast she could get that needle going and listening to the whining hum of the machine - it always whined higher the faster she would go.  She was a dressmaker by trade and had her own business.  She not only did alterations, but also made clothes for others.  I loved watching her customers trying on their clothes and her pinning and marking the alterations to be made.  She would let me play with scraps of material so that I could make clothes for my dolls.  There was a card table next to her sewing machine for handwork and I had a chair across from her so I could work too.  She always had a radio on - we would work, listen to music and talk.  And, when I got tired of sitting, I could dance in front of the floor length mirror and pretend I was a ballerina.  Every once in a while I would check to see if she was watching me (it would embarrass me if she did) and she was always working on her sewing project not paying any attention to me so my freedom of dancing could continue.  She never called me a princess, but I was definitely her princess just like my oldest granddaughter is to me.

Every Saturday morning, she would go downtown to get her notions, supplies and materials needed for the next week.  If I was staying with her, I would get to go downtown to shop with her.  We got dressed up and would catch the Delaware-Central 19 bus to go downtown.  I loved her holding my hand when we walked up those big steps of the bus and the bus driver smiling at us.  She always bought most of her notions at J.C. Penney's.  This store was located on the Circle in Indianapolis and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument was in the middle.  Here is a picture of it (Photo by Ruth Reichmann) - copied this off the Internet so hopefully, I'm not in too much trouble. 

It was  really tall and there were cascading water falls on two sides of it.  It was so beautiful.  The fabric department at J.C. Penney was on the second floor.  It was so much fun touching all of the fabrics and feeling the different textures - velvet, corduroy, flannel, satin, silk and organza.  I think my favorite fabric was polished cotton - it was so shiny and smooth.  I know, sounds weird, but I was a child.  And, yes, I still have to touch everything when I go shopping for clothes or material.  Now, if we were going to more than one store, it was hard keeping up with her - she walked fast.  And, there was no such thing as a mall.  We had to walk out in the weather, cross busy streets and it was noisy and so many people.  But it was all worth it because we always got to eat lunch at the five and dime.  We had a choice of Woolworth's, Kresge's or the G.C. Murphy dime store.  Sometimes she would let me choose.  Usually, we had to wait a few minutes so we could get two seats to open up together.  I loved watching all the people while we waited and the anticipation of a waitress asking me what I wanted to eat made me feel so special.  

After we ate, we would have to walk back to the Circle to the bus stop and catch the bus back home.  Did I tell you that my Grandmother was a fast walker?  My legs were always hurting by this time and I couldn't wait to get on the bus and sit down in those big seats.  But, once we arrived home and she was putting away her threads, zippers and seam binding, I was looking forward to going shopping with my Grandmother again and eating lunch at the five and dime.          

Midwest Memories from an ESN Blogger - Button Banter

This morning I was catching up on some blogs that I follow from some fellow eCrater sellers.  I thoroughly enjoy reading Button Banter.  Joyce also writes the blogs - Postscripts from The Postcard Emporium and Grandma Seidar's Recipes.  It only takes a few minutes, whether you are reading her blogs or reading her "About Me" pages on her eCrater stores, that you feel that you have just met your long lost best friend.  I don't know if it is because she is from the Midwest or grew up in the 1950s or was greatly influenced by her grandmother, but it's like I am looking in the mirror when reading her stories and sharing her memories.  Joyce also has three eCrater stores that you need to visit - Melodies Forgotten and The Postcard Emporium will take you back in time.  You might be able to find a postcard of a familiar place of your past.  I sure was. 

Here is a postcard of the Das Deutsche Haus in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Now called the Athenaeum, this building is located near downtown at 401 E. New York Street, not too far from where I grew up as a small child.  This building was built as two wings starting in 1893 and finishing in 1898.  One of the architects was Bernard Vonnegut, grandfather of novelist Kurt Vonnegut and a very prominent family of Indianapolis, In.  You really need to check out The Postcard Emporium as Joyce also includes names and addresses on the vintage postcards as a way for people to find geneology information.  I just find this fascinating.  

I know, got carried away again in memories.  Just can't help it.  Well, I'm off to look at some more postcards.  Why don't you check out my friend's blogs.  Joyce would love to share her memories with you, too.

      

Family Traditions Are For The Present

Thanksgiving will soon be here and for the past couple of years we have not had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the family members. With trips up to Indiana, our family traditions have sort of taken a back seat. 

Growing up, we lived with my grandmother off and on for much of my childhood.  She was the oldest of five children and grew up on a farm.  She taught me how to sew and cook and I was very close to her.  Family tradition was very important to her and that included birthdays.  We had quite a few birthdays in December.  My great-grandfather's birthday was on the 22nd and mine was on the 26th.  My youngest daughter was born on the 12th.  This picture was taken at my grandmother's house in celebration of our three birthdays.  My great-grandfather turned 90 years old.  I turned 24 and my daughter 2.  Yes, our birthdays were usually celebrated on Christmas.

As I was looking at some of these old pictures and thinking about earlier memories of our family - (this picture is my grandmother, mother, me and my brother), I was thinking how safe I felt as a child.  I had both my grandmother and mother to talk to about anything.  Sometimes I miss her so much.  Then the phone rang and it was my oldest daughter.  "What are you doing for Thanksgiving", she asked.  She was going to have to work part of Thanksgiving day (retail never sleeps) and then go in early Friday morning.  I hadn't had Thanksgiving dinner for two years.  I have 3 grown kids, 7 grandchildren and a great-grandson and they all live close to me.  That certainly isn't very common in this day and age.  So, our Thanksgiving tradition is returning this year.  Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on TV in the morning!  Football the rest of the day!  All the traditional foods including my grandmother's pumpkin pie.  Although I know the recipe by heart, I will get out her hand-written recipe and read it.  At the end of the recipe she wrote "Good pie" and that will make me feel safe.  I will feel her love and I will smile. 

"Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go"  

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone  

The Broken Cup

Going through my mother's things, we ran across a wrapped item in a box - felt kind of fragile.  We carefully unwrapped it and inside was a broken cup.  Just a plain white coffee cup that looked like millions of other restaurant-type cups.  Because of the other items in the box, we knew it had not been broken after it was packed.  At the time, my brother, sister and I thought this was pretty funny.  Our mother had wrapped it after it was broken - not able to throw it away.  Even though this cup wasn't worth anything and could not be fixed, that was just the way she was.  Even the most worthless object was special to her.

It's been over a year since we found that cup.  In my mind, I can see her wrapping that plain, white, broken coffee cup.  Gingerly, taking her time to make sure every piece of broken china was secure and carefully placing it in the box with some of her other pretties.

What did we do with the cup?  Well, after sharing some laughter and other memories, we carefully rewrapped the broken cup and place it back in the box to go through later.  I'm not sure that we will be able to throw that worthless, plain, white, broken coffee cup away.  Perhaps, we will leave that for the next generation.

Memories of Childhood

Picture taken in 1955 of my mother, baby sister, brother and I. I sometimes forget how pretty my mother was and how much she loved us kids. I love this picture of us!

This is my first attempt at blogging. I have been selling collectibles online for 3 years now and have decided that I really need to keep up with all the networking that one needs to do to get buyers to their store sites. With 3 1/2 years until retirement, I have finally found what I would like to do when I grow up - selling memories online. I love old carnival glass and being from Greentown, Indiana, I am also a collector of Greentown glass.

For now I am going to attach something I wrote on Mother's Day of this year about my Mother. Along with talking about the treasures we are finding, I will be sharing some of our memories that come with the treasures.

Mother's Day For A Special Mother

My mother is no longer with us but will live in my heart forever. She passed away September 9, 2008 at the age of 87. She had suffered from dementia with lewy bodies. Her happiness was her home, being surrounded by her "pretties" and her privacy. This disease took that away from her.
My mother's greatest gift was her unconditional love for my brother, sister and I. She raised us kids on her own, working in a factory until she retired. Growing up as young children in the early '50s, it's amazing what she accomplished through hard work and perseverance. Although, she had to work outside the home, the rest of her time was devoted to us kids. She loved us and talked to us about everything. She would buy records (45s) and play them on our record player. We'd sing and dance in the living room. She would read to us from the Bible, especially stories about how Jesus loved little children.

She was also very creative, making up her own stories and telling us - I loved listening to her stories when I was little. We could play with our toys in the living room - I don't think she ever told us not to mess anything up. We were poor, but we didn't know it because of her unconditional love for us. Did she ever get mad at us? Well, the only time she would get mad was if my brother and I would fight. She did not like fighting at all. Oh, and maybe the time I cut my sister's hair that had never been cut before ..... we'll just leave that for another story.

My mother enjoyed collecting things and going to auctions and never, never threw anything away. She had always saved newspapers even when we were little kids. She'd like to cut out recipes and fashion advertisements - well, just about anything that caught her attention. When grocery stores started selling dinnerware in the '50s and '60s, she started buying dinnerware - she liked every pattern! When she retired, that's when she started going to auctions and really started collecting. In her eyes, anything old, especially glass, was beautiful and special. I don't think any auctioneer had to put back a box due to no bidders if she was in the audience. Most items are still in the boxes that she brought home from the auctions, still carefully wrapped in the same newspapers. She also loved to read and belonged to about every book club there was. And, I would almost bet that her Avon rep received sales awards having my mother as her customer. She saved all of our clothes, our toys and school papers as we were growing up.

It is taking us quite a while going through all her things and to be honest, I don't know when we will be done. She had always said we would have fun going through her things. Wasn't convince at the time, but she was right. My brother, sister and I have found a new closeness that we had not shared in a long time. Not only are we finding our childhood memories, but we are also finding things including her written personal thoughts that bring awareness about how unique and wonderful our mother was.
At times there are tears, but then there is laughter, so, yes Mother, we are having fun going through your treasures. You see, these "things" are our memories, too.