Wooden Boxes

I love boxes made of wood, and I have collected them for years. Today, I am just showing you a few that are particular favorites of mine.
This first one belonged to Mother. I'm not sure if you can make it out - the top says "Compliments of The Season". It's a cigar box from 1901:
Inside , there is a picture of my niece and me, and the opened box is sitting there behind us. I love the gorgeous lithograph inside the lid of a lovely Victorian lass with Santa:
I've had this one so long I don't remember when or where I got it! I think it may be walnut, but I'm not sure.I believe it's an humidor:
You may not be able to see it in the picture, but the inside is completely lined with glass:

I love this one, too. Completely covered with roses done in pyrography - designs burned into the wood:
And lined inside with red silk:
This one is solid oak with a nice design detail on the top. I didn't take a picture of the inside. Just oak, not lined or anything; simply heavy, sturdy and practical:
All of these would be among my most treasured of my wooden boxes, if I had to choose.
But, I don't.

Brach's Candy Corn

I love this great two-page advertisement for Brach's that I found in one of my old magazines:
I know other companies make candy corn, but I always buy Brach's.
I mean, come on! "Goblin Approved" - it doesn't get any better than that!
Although this kind of candy is far from my favorite, for some reason, I am unable to resist it. But I only have it in October. I shouldn't buy it at all, (because I eat too much) - but, as you can see, I did.
And I decided to use some of them to decorate my peanut butter cookies for the season!
Some of these are already in the freezer:
They are for the Open House at Mountain Treasures on the 24th.
Yum.

What's Penny Wearing? #16

Today, Penny models another one of my favorite vintage dresses. I have had it for so long that I have no idea where or when I got it:
I love the colors in the print, the rickrack, the ruffles at the neckline:
Believe it or not, I actually wear it backwards. It looks better that way. Penny thinks so, too:
I am all ready to go to a Barn Dance, go on a hayride, and sit near a bonfire with this great dress on. Anybody up for it?? (Oh - and do you have a barn and a hay wagon?)
I might need at least a little sweater for that.

More Of My Finds

It's rather an oddball assortment of things today. First up: this great little Disneyland souvenir plate. I know it's vintage from the mark on the back. Our Salvation Army is notorious for ridiculous prices, but not on this little item! $1.50 - sweet!
I'm not sure whether you can tell from my photo how great-looking this large ceramic turkey is. Love it:
This nice little vase/planter with an aqua glaze inside and black with squiggles on the outside was free, and I call the little guy my "Crazed Chick":
I assume this is Atlas, with the weight of the world on his shoulders? Sort of a statue in chrome, almost like a trophy top or a hood ornament - except it's flat on the back. No idea how it was used originally, but he was just quirky enough for me to want to bring him home!

Like I said - rather an odd assortment.

My Favorite Framed Prints #28

I suppose it might be cheating just a little bit to call these "framed prints", but, for lack of a better title or category...
This first one is a lovely little original that I purchased many years ago at an antiques shop in downtown Modesto. It was probably one of my first vintage art deco frames, and such a plus that it held this little beauty!
My most recently framed postcard. In silver glitter, it says Greetings from (I think) Lacona?
Just two more examples of my obsession with the deco frames, and roses, and postcards, and framing things, and - well, you get the idea.

Scrabble

Don'tcha just love Scrabble, the iconic word game from Parker Brothers?
Does every family have this game in their collection? It seems likely to me. Love these little ScrabbleCats!
The games are becoming harder to find in thrift stores, because everybody (including me) is buying them up to use the wooden tiles in crafting projects. I see all kinds of great ideas all the time in the crafty blogs. The other day I made magnets to use on the huge tray I found at a thrift store. (I showed it to you in this post, where I also utilized some Scrabble tiles!):

I got one of those games with the rotating turntable (similar to the one in the ad, below) 30 years ago. Yes, I still have it.
PlayWithYourWords.com . Looks like fun. But guess what? It's also fun to play with your food!
And, thanks to the new Scrabble crackers from Cheez-It, you can!
What a great idea! And I already loved Cheez-Its, anyway, letters or no letters.
(My apologies to any of you who may have seen this post previously when I accidentally published it in it's unfinished state! Embarrassing.)

Our Booth at Mountain Treasures

I just wanted to show you some recent pictures of our booth at Mountain Treasures in Sonora. We were thinking about moving to a slightly larger space, but we changed our minds at the last minute. Luckily for us, the owner, Lana was fine with our decision:

We have a fairly eclectic assortment of (mostly) vintage stuff:

We are looking forward to decorating it for Christmas, and we will have some holiday merchandise to add. We're really having fun with it!

Shout Out To Pop Circus

This post is a salute of sorts to Anthony over at Pop Circus, to thank him for awarding our blog one of his Honest Scrap Awards. I am truly flattered, Anthony, and I thank you sincerely. In honor of you, today's post contains clowns and such- which are the first thing I think of when I think "circus". This is the cover of a book, published by Ideals in 1961. I found it at a yard sale:
I'm afraid I just can't handle doing the "pass it along" to other bloggers part, but I told Anthony I would at least make the attempt to do the "10 Honest Things" part. This clown is from a fabulous vintage book Lori found at a thrift store:
Hmmm...this should be interesting. Yeah....or not. All right, here goes...
#1 I am not a very good housekeeper. Our home is presentable, and comfortable, and maybe even pretty - but not necessarily what you might call deep down clean.
#2 Cats are my favorite animal in the whole wide world.
#3 I decided a while back that the most fun thing I EVER do is riding Space Mountain at Disneyland.
#4 I put as many things that I use every day (prescriptions, cosmetics, coffee, etc, etc.) as I possibly can into vintage containers that I consider to be more attractive, so that I can deem them acceptable to be "left out" where they will be handy.
#5 I truly am addicted to television. I watch WAY too much. Even though I realize this is true, I have no intention of stopping.

#6 Once I got started on reading blogs (for this, you may blame or thank Alicia Paulson at Posie Gets Cozy, whichever you feel is appropriate), I became addicted to them, as well. Then later, I began my own, and well, you know the rest - there's no turning back for me now!
#7 I have always loved the idea of owning my own restaurant or shop, and since having the booth with my sisters may be the closest I ever get, I am really enjoying it. It's a lot better than the single shelf I had for years at a different location.
#8 I feel kind of sorry for myself and my sisters that both of our parents died at a much-too-early age. I thank God that at least I still have my sisters.
#9 Unlike Toby Tyler, below, I have never had the desire to run away and join a circus. I simply enjoy being at home too much.
#10 I am such a huge Walt Disney fan that I started crying uncontrollably the first time I saw the film about him at Disneyland, and I felt compelled to put my sunglasses on as I left the building. Really, you'd have thought he was my grandfather or something. But he sort of felt like he was, you know?? ( The Toby Tyler books are from my collection of vintage Disney books.)

Again, Anthony, I thank you. And kudos to you and all of the other fabulous bloggers who inspire, enlighten, inform and entertain me (and all of us) on a daily basis.
Oh - and while I'm at it, a huge thank you is also in order for Richard, whose great blog is Viewliner Ltd. Shucks fellas, you really know how to make a girl (and I do use that term loosely )blush!

Day Trip to Leoni Meadows

Hi everybody! It's me, Lori. I've only posted once before. Tina and I went on an outing with a group a week or two ago to a place called Leoni Meadows. It was near the area of Grizzly Flats, not too far from our town of Placerville. They had the neatest train ride that we took!! It was so fun!!

We also were able to tour the Leoni House. Each room was filled with antiques just as it would have been like 75-100 years ago.

This is their Lodge where you can stay in the summer time. They also have Cabins and Campsites. We had a wonderful Lunch in the Dining Room. It was a Vegetable Lasagne which was delicious!!

In the photo above, the train had stopped and the Conductor and his wife showed us the Indian Grinding Rock. Look at how deep the holes are!

This tells the history of the great little train we rode.

There was even a little covered bridge for the train to pass through.

This is Tina and me with the conductor:

We had a wonderful day and it would be a great side trip if you are ever in this area.

What's Penny Wearing? #15

Penny is wearing another old-fashioned outfit today. What can I say? I'm just an old-fashioned kind of girl. Once again, this is a skirt I bought many years ago - and kept - because I like it so much. It is tiered muslin with tiny pink and blue flowers and stitching embroidered on.
I embroidered a little pink and blue heart on it to cover up a spot. The blouse is one that I showed in a previous post.
A little birdie (pin) told me that Penny is pleased and pretty proud.
Perfect!

Railtown 1897

We took a trip down to Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in Jamestown last weekend. Sierra No. 2 was running passenger trains:
Railtown is one of my husband's favorite places. He wanted to pick up this book at the gift shop:
And I guess we "played tourist" a bit, because we both got t-shirts, as well. Mine has the Harvey Girls on it!

And his has Sierra No. 3, and the famous water tower that has appeared on screen in numerous movies and television programs.
Perhaps you recall the girls in the water tower from the opening credits on Petticoat Junction?
I even remember the theme song. How could you forget it? "Petticoooaat Junction! Whoo whoo!"