Heidi, Jan and Spunky?

When I went to visit my friend Heidi on her birthday, she gave me this little case cover for the "Spunky" doll by Remco.
I was not familiar with Spunky!
You see, I knew about the Heidi doll, of course (how could you not, with a name like Heidi, and the "Hi, Heidi" commercials on TV constantly?).
 I don't think I had that doll back then, oddly enough.
But I bought one on eBay ( I wrote about her back in in this post).
And I also got Heidi's friend Jan, pictured below in Spunky's case:

Here's Heidi, again:

I found this catalog page for the dolls online:

"From the Teeny World of Heidi".
And here's Spunky!

I am actually not sure whether Spunky is a boy or a girl.
Doesn't matter, really.
The one pictured above is for sale on eBay.
 Too high for me - not that I "need" to have it, anyway!
And here are my two again:

(Heidi also gave me the "flower power" file folders you see in the background. She got them on Amazon.Com, and I love them!)

A "Round-Up" Of Gifts For My Friend Heidi

It was my friend Heidi's birthday yesterday, so I rounded up - and wrapped - her gifts and headed on over to her house to say howdy.
The horseshoe puzzle was made by an old boyfriend of mine back in the late 1970's, when he was a blacksmith at Columbia State Historic Park.
The coaster (or whatever it's supposed to be) goes with another, different one I had given her previously, and the little black colt and the black bandanna - well,  they were just because....

I found her a cute sort-of-western-style plaid shirt in pretty colors, and I made the cowboy boot pin for her.
Oh - and I found her a perfect card, too:

She collects vintage (and newer) souvenirs from Yosemite, so I was tickled when I found her this tile trivet.
It has a hanger on the back and she's going hang it up on the wall:

And this is how the gifts looked all wrapped up - that Origami-like fish that looks like a kite thing is actually a handkerchief ...
 (I just thought it was cool). I even had a small sheet of wrapping paper that had a southwestern style design on it. The bandanna wrapped up the Yosemite trivet perfectly and the little plastic horse got "tied up" with it, as you can see:

The shirt fits her perfectly, (she put it on and was wearing it when I left), the horseshoes got hung up on the wall with their other horseshoe friends, the colt got parked on the side of a planter pot in the dining room - you get the idea....
She loved everything, and I was so glad!
Don't you just love it when you find the perfect things for somebody special?

Disneyland Ashtrays by Eleanore Welborn

I love vintage Disneyland souvenirs, but, in general, they are nearly always too expensive to ever be something I could truly hope to collect. (Although I have been lucky a couple of times at thrift stores,
when I found the items I wrote about in this post .)
Today, I'm writing specifically about vintage ashtrays from Disneyland  made by Eleanore Welborn.
This wonderful example of a larger-sized one recently sold for $214.45 on eBay:

The smaller sizes seen in the next photo are a bit more common, measuring approx. four inches square or less:

There were different ones for every "Land" at the park, and also for Main Street, USA:

 Here are two examples of back stamps from some of the ceramic items produced for Walt Disney Productions - I believe these ashtrays, plates and other similar souvenirs were offered for sale only at Disneyland, and most likely back in the late 1950's.

They're pretty cool, and - you know - small collectibles don't take up too much space!
Speaking of space - we have Tomorrowland (I want to see that movie, by the way!):

And we have Fantasyland, in pink:

The last one I'm showing you, below  is the only one I actually own.
I felt VERY lucky, indeed when I found it years ago at Dandelion Days in Jackson, California ....

.... for three dollars.
Score!
I may never find another, but I treasure this one - and you never know what you might find, right?
That's what "the thrill of the hunt" is all about, after all.

More Finds, Because I'm Always Out There Looking

First up is this pretty pottery vase with a yellow goose:

More mats for my collection:

My friend Jamie found this little guy when we were shopping together at an estate sale - cute vintage wooden  "push-up" toy:

I picked up this gorgeous sailboat pin:

 And this wall hanging is the mate for one I found a while back:

I also discovered quite a few wonderful books at one of our newest thrift stores, including vintage Joan Walsh Anglund:

And Tasha Tudor books, too (and one written by her daughter):

Sweet little books:

And I found a very nice unused vintage linen tea towel, lovely in aqua and brown with Pennsylvania Dutch designs:

Last of all today is this sweet little gal - a vase that I'm pretty sure was made in the 1970's:

 More to come - as soon as I get a chance to take more photos!

Once Upon a Time in Placerville No. 18: The Old Big Oak

Good morning. Tina here.

Once upon a time, on the south side of Big Oak Road, .6 of a mile from Oak Hill Road, an 800 year old Canyon Live Oak (aka Maul Oak, Gold Oak, Gold Cup Oak) grew. Towering majestically 88 feet high, with a circumference of eighteen feet, four inches, and an average crown spread of 127 feet, 6 inches, it stood like a cathedral, sheltering man, plants, and animals alike over the centuries. One branch measured 40 feet long horizontally, and 154 inches around.

At one time there was a stagecoach stop here, passengers and supplies for mines traveled to and from Grizzly Flat and Diamond Springs, stopping here for a short while on the stage's journey to and fro. The old stage stop later served as a cabin for a native american farmhand.  A gentleman named David William Gipe built a home at its north edge in 1880.

In 1980 Swift Dodge of Sacramento filmed a car commercial under the big oak tree.

In June 1981, due to the efforts of members of the home and garden club, a forester, an orinthologist, and a historian, the oak was named as the 6th largest Quericus Chrysolepis (Canyon Live Oak) in California by the American Forestry Association Big Trees Registry.

In the wee hours of January 5, 1982. after weeks of heavy rain, and in the midst of high winds and with snow weighing down the storm ravaged limbs, the weakened roots gave way and the tree came down. The owner of the tree, Kenneth Anderson, who lived 600 feet away heard no sound, but some of his neighbors reported they heard the fall.

A Pleasant Valley giant stood no more.

Loggers worked to clear and save the aged hard wood, and a slab from the stump is now located at the El Dorado County Historical Museum located on Placerville Drive at the Fairgrounds.

I remember standing under the tree about 1972, looking up and thinking a person could live on one of those large branches. I hope at least one couple got married underneath its immense cathedral dome. It was reported that three thousand persons could shelter under the tree, which was the size of a circus tent, half a football field long.

Farewell old friend.

A Life Magazine Cover By Lionel Kalish

I have lots of things to do this morning - so it's a quick little post:
 Lionel Kalish is another artist whose colorful and whimsical work I greatly admire.
Today, I just wanted to share this great cover illustration he did for Life Magazine, from August of 1970.
(Simply because I think it's fabulous!)

Patterns From The Past: McCall's 3090 - A Dress In Three Lengths

Today's pattern is a McCall's dress to make in a knit fabric, pattern number 3090.
The advertisement below for Montgomery Ward is from Seventeen Magazine:

Lori used to work at Montgomery Ward in downtown Placerville, and I believe we used to order fabrics from their catalog sometimes.
It's always nicer to see and feel fabric in person, though, in my opinion.
Three lengths - maxi, below-the-knee, and above the knee, as seen on the pattern front:

This pattern is from 1972, and I found two additional examples of dresses made from the same pattern in an issue of "McCall's Pattern Fashions" magazine.
On the left, below, in a pretty flowered print:

And this one:

(So make that four lengths, then - since that last one is more of a mini!)
One of McCall's "Make It Tonight Knits" for stretchable knits only:

It looks like a fairly simple, easy-to-wear dress - if you have the right figure for it!

A Birthday Surprise

Today is my husband's birthday. He is notoriously difficult to buy gifts for.
He seldom wants or needs anything, and I have learned that he often does not use things that I choose.
If he wants something, he gets it for himself.
But I had an idea this year.
He is retired from the Sierra Railroad.
Engine No. 38 was the biggest steam engine ever owned by the Sierra.

 He has had this George Mathis print for 53 years.
(We have written about George Mathis before here on the blog.
Please see Tina's post here to read some more about him.
You can also enter his name in the search box here on the blog, to see other posts where we have shown some of his work.)
This Sierra Railroad print is very special to my husband, as he purchased it on May 5th,1962 when it was being sold to the passengers on a special excursion train that weekend. That day marked the first time he had ever ridden on a Sierra RR train.
This was a VERY big deal for a boy who had loved trains ever since he could remember!
It cost $10 for the ticket (and extra for the print) and that may not sound like very much money - but for a kid?
 In 1962?
 It was.
No. 38 had been sold seven years before. It was actually Engine No. 28 which was leading the train for the excursion that day.
 Mr. Mathis' sketch was done from a photo taken by a gentleman named Glenn Beier.
 My husband knew Mr. Beier, and he also owns a framed copy of the very same photograph.
The print had been put into the frame you see below all those years ago, and it had no glass, and, therefore, no protection.
Unfortunately, because of that fact, it had gotten a little bit damaged and a little bit dirty in a couple of places over the years.
But honestly - and luckily - only a very little bit.

 The print had been glued down to a piece of cardboard that served as a backing, of sorts ...........

 ....and then it had been stapled into the wooden frame  which measured 18 by 24 inches.

 The print itself measures 16 by 22 inches, and I had been searching high and low for a frame to fit it - at a reasonable price.

 I finally found one just a couple of weeks ago at a thrift store that was just right!
Precisely what I needed - with glass, and it even had the wire hanger on the back already:

 So, what I needed to do was remove the stapled-on cardboard backing from the old frame, and then very carefully cut around the print through the cardboard, (removing it  from the backing was not a possibility, you see, as that would have only damaged it further) and then insert it into my "new" frame, which is exactly the same size as the print itself.

Perfect!
 I surprised him with it this morning , along with some of his favorite "Pine Nut Rolls" candies from the Columbia Candy Kitchen.

Since the picture had been relegated to a dark corner in the basement, he had not even laid eyes on it for years - and he was very happy to see it this morning, all nicely and newly framed.
 And that made me happy, too!

One Fish....

One fish....

 Two fish.....

 Many fish.......

  VERA fish!

And I also found this green beauty with the ladybug logo:

 Green, yellow, and white - all in an abstract design by Vera Neumann:

 Just two more lovely Vera scarves for my collection, both found on the same day.