A cup of Crayola Crayons...

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A cup of Crayola Crayons... This time of year, I buy a pack of Crayola Crayons. Not to use. For the smell! For the aroma! Which says "Autumn" to me.

I bet many remember being a kid and getting a new pack of Crayola Crayons, when it was time to start school again. All the brand new school supplies. They looked so perfect, the first day. They even smelled perfect. And actually, every time I got a new pack of Crayola Crayons, there was that delicious opening-for-the-first-time smell. :-)

I was a kid who loved to draw and copy and keep all sorts of decorating things for the different Seasons. I had a special box for keeping all these cherished pieces of paper. I think it was an old Whitman's Sampler candy box.


Some people may remember those... The box came with a diagram, inside the top cover, showing where each type of candy was placed in the box. No need to "push" on them, to "see" what was inside. ,-) I guess they are still being made, today.

I spent many a happy hour at the dining room table, copying wonderful illustrations of Holiday themes, which I'd managed to collect over time. From things teachers gave us in school and various places. I guarded them 'with my life.' :-)))) Maybe this fascination was a basis for my later love of noting the Changing of The Seasons...

I certainly still love to see how people decorate seasonally, in blogs in "My Pretty Blog Land." And to see how it's done in beautiful magazines. Like my old and new 'Victoria's'......


And so Dear Reader, I guess this is the extent of my rambling for today. I hope you'll want to stop by again some time. And visit a bit, in a quiet place, which I hope this is...

And I will repeat once more {but won't keep repeating} that I'm still sorry that I have to try out these changes, for myself... That I'm not finding time to visit with all, whom I formerly visited with. And make the usual comments. And because of all these things, I've turned off Comments here.

I hope you'll not be irked with me, for having had to do this.

I wish for myself, what I wish for everyone in Blog Land... A personally happy way of going about this amazing thing called blogging or on-line-journaling. And thus giving ourselves lots of 'Smiles,' and not making any more 'Sighs.' Life gives us all, plenty of 'Sighs.' We don't need to add to them. :-)

Gentle hugs,
Miss Mari-Nanci

{Please remember that click-able links are in Green. And that you can click on any picture, to enlarge it}

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On another wintry day...

Yes, we have snow and some ice cover today. It's still snowing at present and it's rather icky out. But later, I hope to go over and have my frames fixed. Should have gone yesterday afternoon, but I didn't know this weather was coming. Duhhh me, for not looking closer at weather forecast, I know. And didn't know that granddaughter was going to still be sick and be here today. Nor that husband would have to pinch-hit as pharmacist in charge, this morning, at the store. All in all, I should have zipped right over to eye place, when they called yesterday. But... no use crying over spill't milk, as the old saying goes...

Source

Not many days left, till Valentine's Day. I have to keep putting these cute vintage Valentines up. :-) You can click on all my pics... to see larger versions, of course.

Since there is a post mark on the one above, I suppose it's a real vintage Valentine post card, which is in the person's collection. How cute. And don't you wonder who sent it, and to whom, way back when? :-)))) Did they eventually marry and have a family? Did their little boys look something like the little boy on the post card? Did their little girls look something like the little girl, on the post card?

^_^

Source

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Life in 'Lumby'...

Amazon
Once in a while, I peek at the area newspapers, which my husband reads daily. An article called 'Life In Lumby' caught my eye. The writer is a 50-ish woman who lives outside a small town, to the east of here. Her name is Gail Fraser and there was a quote by her, in the Side Bar. It reads; "Lumby was partly a knee-jerk reaction to 9-11. I wanted a nice place to go to every morning..." This caught my eye. Life after 9-11, was why I found "Pretty Blog Land" and made a place for myself, in it. I had read and read and read, concerning the 'why's' of 9-11. Got immersed in Net discussion, of what we should do now. Got burned out. Needed a place of refuge.
{I know, I've said the last, a million times now.}



No, I haven't read any of these books. Will I? I'm not even sure of this. I have 2 books waiting for me in the library now. Which I want to pick up today. But... Since this woman lives not too far from me... And since what she writes sounds warm and small-town-ish.... I thought I'd mention the books...

An especially since, like other bloggers, my 'inspiration-for-writing-well'
has gone pretty dry, of late! ,-)))

One more time...

I seem a bit stuck on the topic of ladies of older films.

Billie Burke

Perhaps she is most remembered for her role of The Good Witch
in 'The Wizard of Oz.'
.But I love her best in films like Dinner At Eight, Topper, Merrily We Live, etc. In which she plays the parts of dizzy society matrons, to the hilt.
.A couple of quotes attributed to this lovely lady...
~*~*~*~
"A woman past forty should make up her mind to be young; not her face."
~~~
"Age is of no importance unless you are a cheese. "
~~~
"But if people will laugh at my work and keep a sound roof over my head,
who am I to complain? "
~~~
Gotta' love her! :-)
~*~*~*~

In the mood???

These 2 mantle ideas are from Better Homes & Gardens

{RED words are click-able links}
{To enlarge pictures, please click on them}

The Pink Sugar Plum Theme above isn't for me, but I'm sure it would be for lots of gals who really, really LUV pink. The White Candles theme below, resonates more with me. To each her own! :-)


When was the last time you saw an old fashioned Penny scale? One which you stand on, deposit your penny, and get your weight? Long time ago, hu?
You can still do it, here.

"How much is that bunny, in the window?" :-)))) Of the toy store, on Broadway.

Or that "Peppermint Pig" for after Christmas dinner? This is in our family drug store window.

Look at those candy canes and tiny white bears.

^_^

There!!! Are we in the mood yet? :-)))

Fall back!!!

In the Northern Hemisphere...

Don't forget... "Fall back."

Turn your clocks back one hour, before going to bed tonight!

Which always reminds me of my Great Aunt Josie. Who, when she had to turn her clocks ahead in the Spring ~ Would lament that she "would never be right again," until the clocks were turned back again, in the Fall. ^_^

The older I get, the more I agree with her. At least to the extent that I prefer to live on Nature's Time. It was good enough for humans for centuries, and it's good enough for me.

I like 'the old ways.'

^_^

Last 4 beautiful clocks can be found here

Gladys Taber, on 'Fashion' :-)))

From "Stillmeadow Daybook" by Gladys Taber.
First published in 1946.

"I really think it is a fine art to be a well-dressed woman. The ones in the fashion plates don't affect me much, for I can't imagine anyone with no mid-section at all, just a long neck and a pair of lovely long legs. Most women do have a different frame, even the shad-thin ones. And I am not proud of the way women follow the lead, like sheep after the bell-wether. Even Connie, who is an individualist in many ways, says she never did want to wear those skirts to the floor and found herself doing it. Currently she deplores the return to the ugly long-waisted packaged look but she expects to follow it although it won't, as the saying goes, "do anything" for her size nine, tiny-waisted shape. Ed Shenton says she looks like something out of the Renaissance and certainly her delicate coloring, and fine slim hands and oval face do suggest it. However, she must dress in the moment, although she advised me firmly, "Mama, you better hurry fast and buy all the clothes you need for the next three years because these new styles are just not for you."

Summer is the time for picnics...

Summer is the time for picnics, and every picnic has its own magic, though none can ever quite match up to the glorious feast enjoyed by Mole and Rat as they mess about in a boat at the beginning of that idyll to the English country side, "The Wind In The Willows":
.
"The Mole waggled his toes from sheer happiness, spread his chest with a sigh of full contentment, and leaned back blissfully into the soft cushions. 'What a day I'm having!' he said. 'Let us start at once!'

'Hold hard a minute, then!' said the Rat. He looped the painter through a ring in his landing-stage, climbed up into his hole above, and after a short interval reappeared staggering under a fat, wicker luncheon-basket.
.
'Shove that under your feet,' he observed to the Mole, as he passed it down into the boat. Then he untied the painter and took the sculls again.

'What's inside it?' asked the Mole, wriggling with curiosity.


'There's cold chicken inside it,' replied the Rat briefly, 'coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrollscressandwichesspottedmeatgingerbeer leomonadesodawater-'

'O stop, stop,' cried the Mole in ecstasies: 'This is too much!'


'Do you really think so?' inquired the Rat seriously. 'It's only what I always take on these little excursions, and the other animals are always telling me that I'm a mean beast and cut it very fine!'
~~Kenneth Grahame~~

"Summer afternoon -- summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." ~~Henry James

Another page from "An English Cottage Year"

Down Memory Lane... The 1920's

Before the 20's, women NEVER cut their hair. A woman with short hair was assumed to be either 1) ill with a fever, or 2) a member of one of
those radical "dress reform" cults.

Ladies who bobbed their hair were taking a big step...
they were getting their hair cut for the very first time. The first young lady below seems to be thinking; "What have I DONE?"

But bobbed hair didn't mean that all ladies were tomboys. The feminine look was still popular in the 20's, complete with flowing summer dresses, large picture hats, and floral prints. Even though the dresses had straight,
boyish silhouettes and drop waists.


But look at that last picture!!! -gigggles-
"Heavens!!! That hussy ought to be ashamed of herself!"
In the past,
beach attire consisted of heavy wool suits with bloomers and stockings!
In the 20's.
the new tank top bathing suits were made of stretchy, lightweight knits, which made them extremely form-fitting. And they revealed a good portion of the wearer's arms and legs.
~~~
Mmmmm, let's remember this, when we *pine for* the even older Good Old Days. :-) Wool suits to 'cool off'! And showing arms and legs, was a no-no! Mmm, the Good Old Days in the Good Old Summertime must have been HOT. Eeeeeek!!!


1920's Illustrations from Lisa's Nostalgia Cafe