Farewell to a Good... (Well Most of the Time...) Dog

Tina here. A bit late. I didn't want to write this. We had to say goodbye to our thirteen year old Welsh Corgi Robbi (Duke Robin Hood of Kelsey) this past Saturday.

I really hate it that I am outliving my pets.

Oh Robbi, I hope where you are, over the Rainbow Bridge, there is plenty of room for your tongue!

One of Robbi's favorite things was riding shotgun on the ATV with Rich to the mailbox or just around the yard.

Robbi and Ishi were pals, and until Robbi grew ill they would wrestle, and Ishi would end up rather damp-mop-like. I think he misses that. Heck, I miss that.

Goodbye little swift cattle herder.

More From Calico Critters

I have actually been looking for a little lap desk for a while.
I wanted a vintage one, rather than new, I wanted it to be nice, and I was hoping to find one at a thrift store.
And of course I didn't really want to pay much for it, which is always the case!
I had seen two or three but I didn't like them, or they were dirty, or unattractive in some other way.
I finally got lucky, and came upon a very nice one.
It happens to be a "Lap-Eze"; you can see the original label in the photo below:

What I did NOT know when I found it was that it was made by Calico Critters.
I have written about Calico Critters before.
(Click here to go back and read just one of my previous posts about them, if you're interested.)
Here is an advertisement for the Lap-Eze portable desks.

When I found this one at a local thrift store, it was the green calico that caught my eye:

I didn't even read the label that tells me who made it, not until I got it home.
 Normally, I'd have wanted to remove this annoying label, but not this time.
 It's lasted on my little lap desk for more than 30 years, and it's going to stay.

Apparently, they also made a version that had compartments to hold your paper and/or stationery:

It has a handy little handle for carrying, too.
If the label had been removed by the previous owner, I'd never had known that it was made by the same company as my cute calico "Puss In Boots" vintage boot stuffers:

They're just so darned cute, and they do their job as intended:

I did sell one of them whose eyes I had replaced, but I still have this trio:

The original tag tells us that this cute calico cat cost $12.00 new at Lord & Taylor back in the early 1980's.

I also discovered that they even made notes cards (among other things)!
Here's an ad for those:

 And, as it happens, I had found one of those, too - at a thrift store - quite a while back.
I didn't know it was made by them, of course, but I remembered it, and so I had to go find it and take a picture so I could include it in this post.

 And that, my friends, concludes your "Calico Critters" history lesson for today, LOL!

Just Popping (Or Hopping?) In To Say Happy Easter!

I'm busy today as I imagine most of you are, but I did just want to pop in and wish you all a Happy Easter, with the decoration above (which was part of the stash of them I found in my last post), and a couple of the dearest illustrations from one of my "thrifted" books.
"The Easter Rabbit", a little story from "Folk Tales Children Love", edited by Watty Piper, printed by the Platt And Munk Co., Inc., in 1932:

 And beautiful "Spring", seen below:

(My book is incomplete and I did not find any other names.)

This Bunny Cake was in a vintage cookbook Lori found at a thrift store last week:

And I'll end with one more decoration, this one in pretty pastels:

Happy Easter to all and to all a good day!

Adorable Vintage Decorations For Easter And Springtime

I have been finding some adorable vintage die-cut decorations lately for Easter and springtime, so I thought I should share them with you.
A lovely little basket of eggs with a dear little chick:

 These chicks are lookin' good in their Easter bonnets, alongside more beautifully decorated eggs:

 Not painting the town red, but just painting some eggs in pastel colors:

 Betsey Clark is welcoming springtime with flowers and birdsong:

 And so are these cute-as-can-be dancing bunnies and chicks:

 Another sweet little chick with a happy message:

And a gorgeous bouquet of flowers for you:

 I've saved the best , (or at least MY favorite), for last - these bright and beautiful eggs:

Easter is nearly here!

Poppies are a Sign it's Spring in California

Tina here.

Here at our home in Kelsey we have been waiting for our poppies to bloom. A couple of weeks ago we could see color starting, but then horrendous storms with pounding rain have hit a couple of times, winds at 50 miles per hour, even hail visited. The poppies retreated and it seems they may not come back. This is our 20th spring, and I think there was only one when we had no poppies.



These photos from March are of the rolling hills that surround Interstate 5, along the Ridge Route in Southern California. It is so unbelievably beautiful I can hardly stand it. I want to be there!

Two gorgeous examples of my two favorite colors, orange and green, with a such-a-perfect-blue-it-must-be-magic sky thrown in.



Honk, honk! Hey you drivers! Look up! You don't want to miss this! California Gold at its best! The Golden State is dressing herself up for Easter!

If you have a place nearby you where poppies bloom, such as off Highway 49 in the Gold Country, go for a drive, take a picnic along perhaps, and go looking for a florescent glowing hillside. One hint of how to find good places: they are usually south facing and very often will be near rivers or a body of water.



April Has Arrived, And So Have My Last Illustrations From "The Year Around Book"

All right, so no (April) foolin' around here - this post marks my last installment of my monthly posting from my vintage find "The Year Around Book", written by Helen Jill Fletcher and illustrated by the fabulous Jerry Pinkney.

 What an adorable Easter Bunny, and his eggs are the absolute best, too! I would like some eggs like those, please.
 April got a two-page spread in this delightful vintage book (not every month did!), and deservedly so:

 The page below is, I simply must say, my favorite one in the entire book, so perhaps it is fitting that it should wind up being the last one I'm sharing with you:

Because I love everything about it.
Happy April, everyone!!