Beautiful Bungalow Homes

My sister let me borrow some of her postcard collection so I could show you examples of some of these gorgeous homes. Bungalow homes are another of my favorite architectural styles, right up there with Victorian and farmhouse. (Lately, I'm finding it simply impossible to choose a favorite among the three. Can't do it.)
I can't even think of enough descriptive prose to explain how fabulous I think these homes are!
Whether they are smaller:
or large:
I love them all. And the three books shown below are a delight to peruse - perchance to dream? "Bungalow Style" by April Halberstadt:
The beautiful kitchens in all their glory inside "Bungalow Kitchens" by Jane Powell and Linda Svendsen:
And the bathrooms!! Tile and color and style, a visual feast in "Bungalow Bathrooms" by the same authors:
Powell and Svendsen have another tome, as well, "Bungalow The Ultimate Arts And Crafts home" - I NEED that one. I think these are all available at Amazon - in case you need them, too!

The Walt Disney Stamp

Forty years ago on this date, the U.S. Postal Service issued this stamp honoring the legendary, fabulous, visionary, wonderful (I'll stop, but I could go on and on with the superlatives. You already KNOW I love him) Walter Elias Disney, who was born in Marceline, Missouri.
I found the great envelopes (below, and at bottom, above) on Ebay a few years ago. I don't really know anything about them - only that I had to have them.
I have really been enjoying the more recent series of Disney stamps (some shown below), but I do wish and hope that they might some day issue another stamp honoring Walt himself. He deserves it.

Captain Kangaroo

I don't know about you, but I grew up watching The Captain. (Lucky little Betsy McCall got to go meet him!) His show was on long enough that it spanned a couple of generations. You know, he came into our homes almost daily - and he seemed like such a nice man. You couldn't help but love him, like he was an extra Grandpa or favorite uncle! Mr. Green Jeans was equally nice. I think my favorite "character" was Bunny Rabbit, but we also got to enjoy Mr. Moose, Dancing Bear, the Grandfather Clock and more, all of them there for our amusement and education.
Sadly, we lost Bob Keeshan in 2004, but I have managed to find a few books to keep his memory alive.
And there's always YouTube!
Thank you for all the years of enjoyment, Captain and friends.

Belated Thank You(s) And My 300th Post

I have some rather belated thanks to send out to a few of my favorite bloggers. First of all, to Twyla and Lindsey of Two Crazy Crafters who gave me my an "I Love Your Blog" award on August 22nd. I really appreciate the award, and especially the fact that you love my blog. That means a lot to me.
Next, a special thank you, too, goes out to Emily at Livin' Vintage, who also named me among her list of favorite bloggers, and presented me with another "I Love Your Blog" award on August 30th. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Emily. It makes me happier than you know to think that some of you out there are reading and enjoying my blog on a regular basis.
And third, I want to say thank you to Kim from Camp Whimsy, who tagged me on Sept. 2nd to write seven random things about myself. Those random thoughts on other blogs are so much fun to read! And it's always nice to learn a little more about a favorite blogger. (I'm not sure whether or not it would be right to list 7 of my own due to my reasons below.)
Now, for an explanation of sorts: While I truly do appreciate these honors, I simply can't participate, for a variety of reasons. I hope you all will understand. I'm not good with "Rules". I don't know how to do links. And I'm just not comfortable with tagging 7 of my own favorite bloggers, who then are supposed to follow the rules, as well. Please don't be offended, these are just my personal feelings about it all, and I felt like I should explain so that you three wouldn't feel that I was ignoring you. I tried to do what I was "supposed" to one time, and it's just too much for me. I just can't. I don't think my blog has many readers, and each of you is very important to me! I sincerely hope this doesn't upset anyone, and that you will continue to read my little blog. It's fun for me, and I enjoy every comment.
So, please let me say again, as written on my vintage greeting cards - Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!
Oh - and yes, this is my 300th post. I can hardly believe it.

Doggie Books

Just for fun -some books about dogs. This little book was here in the house. It has 57 full-color illustrations of different breeds inside - but alas, no Corgis.
Rinty, below, belonged to my husband. Inside, he wrote his name and "Mrs. West, 4th Grade".Puppy And Me is full of adorable photographs of children and their dogs. So cute.
And the Little Golden Book of Dogs does include a Corgi!
And the book below,"Flea Market Fidos" is filled with wonderful vintage finds for dog-lovers. I don't collect dog stuff, but I absolutely LOVE this book!
The same authors wrote "Flea Market Baby", which is also a fabulous book. More than a year ago, it was announced in Country Living Magazine that they would publish a third in this series "Flea Market Flowers", but I've heard nothing more about it since. I even contacted the authors (Marie Moss and Barrie Leiner) twice by e-mail to inquire, and, although they responded both times, I'm sorry to say I never did get a straight answer as to when or if this new volume would be forthcoming. There must have been a problem of some sort - but I am still hopeful!

Then And Now #10 - Underwood Deviled Ham

The booklet I've shown below gives a list of all of Underwood's products:
I had no idea they once made all of these food items!
I'm sorry there is no date to be found on this vintage book, but I am guessing 1940's. (Nice dishes!)
Now,shown below is an advertisement from 1957 where you see the same scary devil logo:
But, apparently, sometime between then and the time this ad appeared in December of 1963, the company and/or ad executives had decided to go with the friendlier looking happy, smiling, waving devil instead of the frightening, threatening arms-outstretched devil of the past. Would you be more likely to purchase his ham?And then here is the Deviled Ham Spread label as it appears now, shown with a vintage Soft Shell Clams label. As you can see, they tweaked his look even a bit more, making his horns shorter, and opening up his mouth so that he looks like he is - dare I say it -laughing?Ah, the changing face(s) of advertising through the years!

Even More Cats

More cats today - just 'cause I love 'em! This is such a cute book, "Those Cats", published by Whitman in 1947. The story is by Virginia Cunningham and the illustrations by Veronica Reed. The tale of Miss Simpson, who didn't want any cats, but falls in love with the kittens given to her by her mailman Mr. Tooks despite their mischievous ways.
Mr. Tooks even has to rescue them from a tree for her at one point! She names them Marmalade and Pinafore - Pinnie for short because the black one looks like she is wearing a white pinafore apron.
This little cutie is from the book "The Silent Miaow" by Paul Gallico. I've mentioned before that I collect his books.
And his story about Thomasina was made into this wonderful Disney film that I love:
Shown below are just some of the cats I have had in my life. The black one in the center was Spookatrina, or Spooky for short. And the others, clockwise from the black and white picture at top left are: Trinka with one of her litters - she is the earliest cat I remember, Billy Jo, who was a beautiful tortoise shell, Tanya whom we called Tawny - another beloved cat with that lovely tortoise shell coloring, Chessie, one of my sister's cats, peering out from a vintage vegetable bin, my current love - my Dizzy Kitty, and Tasha, my other sister's pretty kitty who is, sadly, no longer with us. And there have been a number of others, but I couldn't lay my hands on pictures of all of them today for this post. (Edited on 9/7 to add: My sister reminded me in her comment that I left out Dinah. He (that's right, he - there's a story there) is the grey and white cat pictured with me at the top of the right-hand column above my profile information! HE is the earliest cat I remember from my childhood! Duh.)

Dizzy, who is sleeping there on his red vintage Cosco stool, celebrated his 10th birthday earlier this week. Happy Birthday, my sweet little WonderCat - I love you so.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Newhart!

Today is Bob Newhart's 79th birthday. I couldn't let the day go by without good wishes for one of my favorite comedians of all time!
I was happy to find this album from 1960 earlier this year at a thrift shop. In my opinion, he is one the funniest men ever to grace the stage, TV screen, movie screen, radio, phonograph - whichever and wherever! I thoroughly enjoyed his sitcoms, as well. When "Newhart" was on in the 80's, I recorded MANY episodes so that I could keep them always. This was well before the advent of entire seasons available on DVD, of course! That's all right; I still have them - and they didn't cost me a thing. (Well, just the price of the video tapes.) I only knew that I loved the show, and I wanted to keep them.
A very happy birthday to you, Mr. Newhart - and thank you!

A Few Finds From The Weekend

My sisters were here for a visit this past weekend, and we went out to a few yard sales and the flea market. I picked up a few photographs from one vendor that I thought were either cute or interesting or both:
These pencil pocket clips may be my favorite find:
A box of Anagrams to use like Scrabble tiles:
I thought this linen tablecloth would look great on my table for fall:
A cute salt and pepper set, a small paperweight, and another pair of Anchor Hocking shakers - or they will be if I can find lids that fit!
Marx Bros. sheet music, another with pretty lilacs, Chinese health balls - I love the sound these make when you roll them around in your hand. And I bought the vintage sprinkles bottle because I like to use old ones - they are cuter than new ones!
We had fun!

My Favorite Framed Prints #17

The lovely framed vintage swan print, below, resides in our main bath. Swans have taken over in there because of the etched swans on the original glass shower door. It's the door's fault - yeah, that's it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. (Including the door and this print, along with vintage pottery and ceramic swans and vintage textiles with swans, there are almost 40 swans in there!)
And then this one isn't actually a print. It's a postcard framed within another one of my vintage reverse-painted frames that I collect and love.
That's it today - just a couple of pretty vintage images!

Beauty And The Beast

This post isn't about the Disney version, although I love that film. (I'll have to devote an entire post to that movie another day!) This is about a beautifully illustrated book.
The illustrations are by the wonderful Hilary Knight. You may be familiar with his work from the Eloise books. This edition of Beauty And The Beast was printed in 1963.
My oldest sister gave this book to her two "little sisters" for Christmas that year. I ADORE these gorgeous illustrations in all of their Art Nouveau-style glory. If you think these are nice, you should see the double-page spreads!
I truly feel that this is one of the most beautifully illustrated books I own - and I have a lot of favorite artists!
This book has a foreword by Jean Cocteau, who himself made a wonderful version of the film in France in 1946. Aren't these illustrations fantastic?

I Love Art Linkletter

Well, I do. I grew up watching his friendly face on TV.
I think it's so neat that this book has an introduction by Walt Disney, and a cover and inside illustrations by Charles Schulz!
I think I must have been almost happy to be home from school sick - if I was well enough to be able to lie on the couch, I'd get to watch his show in the afternoon.
He is brilliant, funny, entertaining, and a very savvy business man, as well.
I admire him so much that I have been collecting his books for years. Somewhere I have a list of all the titles I've found.
You probably know that he was at the opening day of Disneyland. He was the owner of the photo concession at the park at that time. This man knows what he's doing! He turned 96 in July, and it is my hope that he still is feeling great! I love you, Mr. Linkletter! Thank you for all the laughs!