My Recent Obsession

I've spent way too many hours working on these things lately, but I'm pleased with the way they've turned out.

I used the same pattern I used to make Elijah's blue crocheted sweater and hat for the bodice of this pink set. I improvised on the bottom in order to make it more girlie and to match the hat. Then I inserted the ribbon so that it can fit the baby as a newborn, but expand as she grows. I used a free pattern I found on the internet for the hat, but added the lace stitch and flower for a sweeter look.

If you are wondering, my daughter, Rachel is having a girl in November. I also have another grandchild due this week, but we don't know the sex yet because the parents opted to be surprised. The wait is almost over!

Wildflower Review

On my way to do some errands yesterday, I stopped to take photos of wildflowers that have sprung up in an ugly dirt field nearby. I find it amazing that wildflowers will grow in the most inhospitable spots, but almost never in your own tended garden.

Daucus carota - Queen Anne's Lace It was a surprise to me to discover that this common wildflower is a part of the carrot family.

Can you see the surrounding bare dirt spots? That black line is builder's plastic that was put down to keep dirt from washing onto the road when it rains.

When they are beginning to open, these delicate flowers look like snowflakes to me.

I love the rolled-up bird's nest look as they have right before they begin to unfold.

Hippocrates prescribed a teaspoon of the crushed seeds of this wildflower as a contraceptive. Research has shown that wild carrot impedes the implantation process and offers some confirmation of the plant's effectiveness as a birth control. But, I wouldn't run out and test that on myself because the plant closely resembles hemlock, which is highly poisonous.


Passiflora incarnata - Purple passionflower This is the Tennessee state wildflower. Legend is that the Cherokee Indians called this flower Ocoee, which is where the Ocoee River got it's name.

Close by, growing in the same barren soil, was this pretty passionflower. One of the websites I used to identify this flower said that it likes clay soil and tolerates full sun and heat...which is just what it found in this spot.



Coreopsis tinctoria - common name, golden tickseed The fact that it's part of the aster family is about all the info I could find on this little beauty.

Notice that this flower is growing out of the pavement next to the edge of the road. Why, oh why don't they pop up in my garden like this?

Remember This?

When bathing suits looked like this?

And everyone wore a bathing cap?

When elegant really meant EL-E-GANT?

When everyone smoked?

When hats were everyday attire?

When wearing animal fur was not criminalized?

When women shaped their nails like this?

When being in vogue had nothing to do with Madonna or Sue Sylvester?

These fabulous photos are from the Flickr set of Tom Palumbo. An America photographer and theater director, he took many of these photos of one of his wives, fashion model Anne St Marie. He worked for Harper's Bazaar and Vogue magazines from 1953 to 1962.

Sidenote:

My mother always shaped her fingernails like those in the photo. They still look the same today, although her fingers are not as long and pretty as they used to be due to arthritis.

I had a fake fur leopard skin coat when I was eleven. I have photos of the night my girlfriends and I put on makeup and took glamor shots of each other.

I hated bathing caps.

Did you see the Sue Sylvester/Jane Lynch Madonna video on Glee last week? If not check this out. Sorry, you will have to watch the commercial first.

BTW, notice the corset shot in the video and compare it to this photo taken by Horst P. Horst in 1939 of the Mainbocher Corset.


I hope you enjoyed this little trip back to a time when the ideal woman was elegant and beautiful. When they all had necks like swans and looked fabulous in pencil skirts. Good thing I was just a little kid back then...I never would have fit in. : )

Gramma's Brag Book

Last Sunday I traveled north to spend the day with my grandkids, oldest son and DIL. It was a nice mild day outside. We started out for the park, the 2 1/2 year old skating, the 7 year old riding her scooter and the 10 year old running ahead. Gramma found it impossible to take the infinitesimal baby steps needed to match the skater's snail pace without her back beginning to ache. Oldest sister and I finally each had to take one hand each and pull little brother back home at an adult sized gait.

Little brother wasn't too happy at being told which direction to skate.

I took the crocheted hats I've been working on while watching TV this winter. I know it's almost Spring, but better late than never, eh?

Avery is the hat lover. Here she's modeling a headband, which she wore for the rest of the day.

Granny square hat with big flower on the side.

I got his head size a little wrong. Oldest sister said she will wear it until he grows in to it.

I came home with a request for a granny square hat from my DIL in a more subdued color scheme and my oldest granddaughter ordered a hat with ear flaps in purples, greens and blues. I'm happy to oblige. I've got the yarn so I better get started. They'll be ready just in time for next year.

Taking Time Out From Winter

One of the advantages of living in the South is what happened to us this weekend. The temperature warmed up considerably and we've had 3 days of sun and nice weather.

Inviting

I was off work Friday and Rachel, Elijah and I went out for a few hours. Our first stop was a favorite middle eastern restaurant where we decided to take advantage of the warm sunshine and sit outside.

Relaxing

I don't want to gloat, but man was it nice!!!

Precious

Don't be too jealous. I'm sure it won't last long.

Delicious

I've hit the road today traveling north a couple of hours to visit with my oldest son and his family. Have a great Sunday everyone.

Blue Tablecloth Week: Day Four

I'm just gonna lay it all out on the table....I have a potential problem. I have a favorite brand of ballpoint pen. I love this pen. I love to write with this pen. I love to draw with this pen. I just went shopping for more of these pens. When I got ready to write this post, I gathered up all of this brand of pen in the house. I have more than a few.

But, I have a problem.

Pentel might be discontinuing production of my favorite ballpoint pen. At the very least, stores hardly stock them anymore. Everyone wants the gel pen or the roller ball. Not me. I want the Pentel R.S.V.P. ballpoint pen. It's ink glides on smoothly rarely depositing glops of ink on the paper. It doesn't smear. It's fine point draws a fine line. I know it's probably not archival ink, but my sketches aren't archival quality either.

Speaking of archival and quality, my Moleskine is filled with mostly blank pages. And I've carried it in my purse for over a year now. The paper in it is smooth to the touch. The little notebook is so nice...I can't make myself put Pentel to paper. I might mess it up. This is stupid I know. But there you have it.

The truth is I am much more likely to draw on my worksheets at work than I am on my nice Moleskine.

I have more than one very nice hard bound watercolor tablet. I even have a small Moleskine watercolor notebook. Have I made more than one or two watercolors in them? No, instead I use highlighters and magic markers and Sharpies to make pseudo paintings.

I really planned to paint my Valentine tulips. Instead, I did this.

It's like Rachel and her love of Lisa Frank products all over again. She had stickers, pads pencils...she had tons of product. She loved it. She still had tons of product...when she cleaned out her room before she got married. Tons of Lisa Frank products that she had never used because they were too nice.

I've instructed Rachel not to throw my (unused) paper products away when I die. Someone will use them. If you've drawn and painted and used your Moleskines up and need more, send me your name and I'll put you in my will.

Some Recommendations for You

Avenue Montaigne - charming French comedy

Enchanted April - it enchanted me

William and Mary - what happens when an undertaker falls in love with a midwife? watch this BBC series and see

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - adapted from a Anne Bronte novel

Mostly Martha - every foodie should see this one

Falling for a Dancer - set in remote Ireland

Her Majesty - delightful coming of age story

Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring - another set of French movies...very good

The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas - startling

The Chorus - first time teacher teaches delinquent boys to sing like angels

Arranged - two arranged marriages...one Muslim and one Jewish

Big Night - fantastic cast, fun movie

Bread and Tulips - unappreciated housewife makes a new life for herself

Lost in Austen - fun for all Jane Austenophiles

Miss Austen Regrets - based on her life and letters

Cranford - wonderful English period piece

Ladies #1 Detective Agency - you'll love it

Must see movies that I give 4 and 5 stars for being either heartwarming, thought provoking or just plain entertaining.

Eggrolls and Egg Foo Young

For this week's Postcard Friendship Friday I am recycling something I wrote about last summer. I hope you newcomers enjoy reading about a favorite restaurant and those who have read it before, I hope you will forgive me for not offering something new.

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If polled, I think my siblings and cousins would vote just like me on at least one issue...which restaurant would you consider your family's favorite while growing up. I imagine we would all answer at once without a second thought. Joy Young's, we would smile and shout in unison.


As a child I remember going there for many Sunday dinners. Once, the whole family celebrated granddaddy's birthday there, maybe his seventieth. It seems like we always ordered Chop Suey Chow Mein or Egg Foo Young. Thinking about that food has the power to make my mouth water still. Their eggrolls were the best I have ever eaten. One or two local restaurants have come close since, but no one has ever made them better.

Joy Young Restaurant was a downtown Birmingham institution beginning in 1919 and remaining there until it moved to another location sometime after 1973. I actually found a website dedicated to this culinary favorite. The site states the move happened sometime in the 60s, but I know for sure this is not true. How do I know? Because the downtown location was the site of my engagement and that was in 1973. We sat in a booth on the mezzanine. It was behind those brown curtains that he proposed to me. You can see the booths on the postcards. Look for the brown box looking things.

As I typed my memory of that engagement night, suddenly I pictured another family meal there. This one was on an Easter in 1978. Somewhere there is a picture of me and the boys at the table. I also remember taking my oldest son there when he was small enough to sit in a highchair. He probably wasn't much older than 1 yr. We gave him rice to feed himself. He made such a huge mess on the floor that we left the waiter a huge tip.

My boys, Easter 1978

Speaking of waiters, they had all been there for years and years. They wore red suits with big lapels (think bell hop in a luxury hotel) and their right arms draped with a white linen towel. The waiters were black men, no women, no Chinese, but the woman who sat in the box between the in and out doors at the front and took your money was Chinese. I remember she always wore her hair in a bun.

See the box thing by the window, the Chinese cashier
with a bun sat there and surveyed her domain.

Funny, the more I think about the restaurant the tinier the details I remember.

My ex husband had NEVER eaten Chinese food until I took him there when we were dating. He was so deprived. I felt it was my duty to introduce him to the good things in life.

When the restaurant moved, after 1978 it seems, we followed it. When I had my last son in 1984, my husband picked up egg rolls and brought them up to the hospital room. ( the new location was nearby) We continued to dine here with the family until it made it's final move.

So sad that good things don't stay the same forever. All that is left are the good memories and a few postcards.

The caption on the back of this 1930s circa postcard reads "Ole China wiseyman say: No can stand one foot on top two boat. Me, Joe and Loo sabe wiseyman wely good. Allo time take care me business lestland. No tly take notha man business. LOOK out good behind, take care, buy numba one good wegabel, meat any kind, take care cook, waita, dishwashy, no can foolem customa sasify, get plenty good flen." (the owner's American last name was Joe)

My, my, how times have changed.