Gisele by Jon Whitcomb

I did a post back in September of 2011 about the wonderfully talented Jon Whitcomb. (Click here to revisit it.)

I was delighted to happen upon this Gisele MacKenzie LP at a thrift store, which just happens to have gorgeous cover art by Jon Whitcomb.

I was happy to add it to my record collection!

Happy Birthday To Our Mother

Our beautiful mom was born on this date in 1931.

Wish you were here, Mother, so we could make you a cake and sing happy birthday to you once again!
Miss you.

Patterns From The Past: Simplicity 9626 & 9627, From 1971

Is it cold where you live?
Stay warm and cozy in a nightgown and robe  - preferably next to a cozy fireplace!
How about whipping one up from a vintage pattern like one of these?
Featured here in an issue of Simplicity Fashion News from 1971, here is the nightgown modeled by the lovely Susan Dey, and the robe trimmed with eyelet:

Pajamas trimmed in rick rack look pretty cute, or make the little gown in red calico!

And how about making the bathrobe to match?

Cute!

Surely, You Jest

"Ah, but alas, my good people,
I jest not when I say that I am most pleased
to be the handsome little jester that I am!"

            "And, don't call me Shirley."

What's Penny Wearing? #99 Sparkle Aplenty

Penny has on a bit of bling for you today. This pendant is one of my favorites, and I found it an estate sale a few years ago. I think I may have shown it to you back then, but today Penny is wearing it with a new jacket.

Luxe, golden velvet - Penny looks like she's ready to go out for a night on the town!

She has a black velvet mock neck top on underneath, which was a thrift shop find. Add a simple skirt with tights and boots, or a simple pair of black slacks, and you're ready for a party!

Once Upon a Time in Placerville No.13: Some More Trains

Good morning. Tina here. 

I am going to share a few vintage photos of trains in and around Placerville. 

I like this photo from the fifties because it is located on Mosquito Road where I once worked.  Just about where this Southern Pacific Excursion 2728 is sitting is where the little bus depot sits now, at the Clay Street extension.

 An older postcard from the sixties showing our beloved 1771.

Above is our 1771 at work before it came to Placerville for its extended visit.

The caption to this photo dates this Southern Pacific Excursion to 1957. This is the Bedford Street walkway overpass to Highway 50.

This photo shows "newer" Placerville Depot at Mosquito Road, where the bus depot is now at the Clay Street extension.

This photo from 1967 was shared by a facebook friend who grew up in Smith Flat. A decade later I lived in a small cabin in Smith Flat just below the tracks, just a bit East of here.

 This photo above was shared on facebook. This couple and their son are inspecting the inside of 1771.

 Another facebook friend shared photos of our dear friend Southern Pacific 1771 leaving Placerville. It was going to Sacramento to the railroad museum to be reconditioned.  And there it still sits, rusty and in pieces.

I had always heard that 1771 did not work in Placerville, so I went to my brother-in-law to find out if that was true. His answer gave some hope that it may have actually been here on the job: Tina, I would imagine that 1771 got up to Placerville, on occasion in freight service. The 1771 saw a lot of use on local trains to Lodi and Tracy via Lathrop. Also used a lot on the Walnut Grove branch which ran down to Isleton from Sacramento.

Found: Vintage Earrings

 I found all three pairs of vintage earrings shown below at one of my local thrift shops last week:

'

"...you said that we made such a pretty pair..." 

A Find Of The "Deerest" Sort

It is very unusual for me to find one of the California pottery deer that I love so much at a thrift shop.
So perhaps you can imagine my delight when I spotted this little yellow guy:

For some reason, the pose of this deer with it's one bent leg is my favorite. I just happen to like it's stance  (by happenstance !)
You can see he found a few friends here when I got him home.

Not to mention the few bazillion other friends I have in my collection!
(I've shown them to you before - I will try to add a link to this post later if you want to see them, or you could search my blog for "deer", if you're interested.)
Another deer find, indeed.

A Christmas Gift Of Cozy Comfort

One of my favorite Christmas gifts that I was lucky enough to receive was this comfy and cozy fleece front-zip jacket from Old Navy, which was from my daughter-in-law:

 It fits perfectly, and it just happens to go very well with my Vera Bradley "Canyon" print knit scarf and bag, (which were gifts from "Santa").

 I love it.

Thank you, Alisha!

Going WAY Back With The Gold Country Girls

I would have posted this before Christmas, but I only just came across it the other day when I was going through some stuff.
Here are the Gold Country Girls  with our parents,many moons ago:

That's Lori on the left, Daddy, me (Heidi), Mother and Tina.
This little black and white photo was taped onto a newsletter that Mother had sent out as a Christmas card, and I just wanted to share little excerpts from it, because I thought my sisters would get a kick out of it - and that maybe you readers might, as well.
"Placerville is a delightful town in which to spend Christmas.
It has been quite cold lately, and the smell of wood smoke is everywhere. Many families use wood stoves as their only source of winter heat. {We have} our little stove on the back porch, and it is quite a novelty besides being very useful.
The oak trees around our place have all lost their leaves now after turning a beautiful gold.
The old timers are saying we will have a heavy rainfall and maybe snow for Christmas this winter. We need the rain badly as some folks' wells have gone down very low.
Our girls are growing really fast and Tina has really gotten quite tall. She has been taking piano for almost two years, now. This summer, She will be old enough to join the local 4-H group here, & plans to take cooking and maybe raise some rabbits. (We still raise our own chickens and rabbits and an occasional pig or calf.)
 Lori is in kindergarten. She likes to draw and play and all the little things that "past fives" enjoy. She is the little housekeeper of the bunch.
They all share the same small room and this has it's problems. If all goes smoothly, we will add on some rooms in the spring, then they can have more room for their things.
Heidi....is quite a character. She likes to sing, and once she gets an audience, it's hard to "turn her off".
{Daddy} is still working at Aerojet. He has been working Saturdays lately, and can't find the time on Sundays to do all he wants to do around here. He will be glad to have some time off if they ever let him!
We were spending too much for gas there for a while so we changed to Volkswagens. We have a  '58 Microbus and a little '55 sedan and have been quite pleased with their economy.
As to what the writer of this letter has been doing, that's along story! I certainly have no time to be bored! I take piano lessons, too as a hobby and I work for the P.T.A. when needed. We just passed an important bond issue for the school...."
A little glimpse into the past of the Gold Country Girls' childhood.
Ah, the memories!

A Few Bright Finds

Sharing a few of my favorite recent finds today, beginning with this orange Dansk enamelware pitcher:

A tray with colorful flowers - too bad somebody cut on it - but it's still pretty:

A little green vintage pottery vase, marked "USA":

And a nice big, bright tray, which happens to match two that I already had in different sizes and shapes:

Little shots of color on a winter's day!

Ann Thompson's Avon Lady

I love this whimsical illustration (by artist Ann Thompson) of an Avon lady skiing downhill to make her deliveries, which graced the cover of The Saturday Evening Post some thirty years ago:

She reminds me of Mary Poppins.
And speaking of Mary Poppins, I am going to see "Saving Mr. Banks" tomorrow with a friend I used to work with, and I am really looking forward to it!
 It's been quite awhile since I went to see a movie - way too long.

Happy New Year!

May all of our readers have a wonderful 2014.

Happy New Year!

A "New" Calendar Is Going Up

It's time to hang up a new calendar:

From 1986??
Yep, because I like it, and because it's the same as 2014.
I showed this to you when I found it, back in October of last year.
But I'm glad it's time to hang it up now, so I thought I would share it again.
Although I will kind of miss my 1963 calendar that is coming down.....
Yes, I am weird. And proud of it.
Happy New Year's Eve, everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all of you a wonderful and cozy kind of day, surrounded by family and friends.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas To All.....

....and to all a good (Christmas Eve) night!
Just popping in to wish you all a wonderful holiday and sharing some random photos - Christmas decor, vintage Christmas thrift finds, and the like.
Let's begin with Santas and a Santa boot, shall we? These were all found within the last month:

 Here's an example of inexpensive thrift finds at their best - one of my pillar candle holders (that I'm obsessed with) is the perfect thing to give height to this mirrored tree. These two were found on the same day at different thrift stores two weeks ago. For less than two dollars this pairing, when placed in a window,  reflects little stars of light all over the room when the sun shines through in the afternoon - it's magical!

 The cutest vintage invitations - too late for this year,  but maybe next year I could have a party!

 A big and fabulous unopened package of Doubl*Glo brand icicles:

 It even has sweet ornaments to make inside:

 Santa and a reindeer - Dancer, I think:

 A few favorite ornaments, old and new. I already had two of the stands and I picked up another at a thrift this year. They make a lovely display with electric candles::

 I could not resist this cute handmade Santa candy dish, and I LOVE the tree topper spires. Everything you see in the photo below was "thrifted":

 Vintage ornaments on a little tree:

Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas bright with blessings!

From Martha - With That Vintage Look

I finally made it to a JCPenney store, and got to see the MarthaHoliday collection.
 I still miss her Christmas line at KMart, where things were very reasonably priced, and the wrapping paper selections every year were beyond fabulous. I am kind of a wrapping freak, and I still have quite a lot of that paper. I almost don't even want to use it, because when it's gone, it's GONE. And that makes me kind of sad.
But Martha has some wonderful things at JCP this year, and they were on sale for 60% off, so I picked out the three items you see below:

Two lovely glass silver finial ornaments, which I am displaying upside-down, and a very sweet bottle brush tree with a fabulous vintage look:

The finials again, with a pretty vintage tree topper I found at a thrift store:

I found these ornaments below the very next day, at a thrift store on my way home. From Martha's KMart collection, seven years ago, I think? (I have packed the box away already.)
 Hand painted with a lovely Pennsylvania Dutch design. Two boxes of them, and too pretty to pass up!

Hope you are having a bright, shiny, colorful holiday!

Christmas Cookies

I am busy today making Christmas cookies, but I just wanted to share these vintage photos.  I actually showed them to you back in 2009, but maybe you didn't see my post back then? What the heck, something this cute bears repeating, anyway.  
Christmas cookie decorating time, circa 1960. We always used to get together with this family during the holidays, and would usually have Christmas dinner at either their home or ours.
(Hmmm....making cookies - looks familiar - some things never change, right?)
 There are three girls in their family, too.
 In the pictures below, you see all three of us Gold Country Girl sisters, along with our very dear life-long friends that we do not get to see nearly often enough!
 From left to right in the top photo: Diane, Barbara, Lori, Tina, Lisa and Heidi. 
Okay, girls - let's get together and do this again some time - what do you say?

 (Since Diane is in Colorado, this may take some doing!)
 But a girl can hope, right?
I miss you guys.

A Winter Gift Of Warmth And Practicality

I found this gorgeous pair of hand warmers (mittens? fingerless gloves? I don't know - what DO you call them?) at Anthropologie.

A couple of days before, I had JUST put on my driving gloves when getting ready to leave work, when , prior to backing out, I needed to make a phone call (I always call my husband right before I leave to drive home), and I was like "Oh, right - can't finger-swipe your smart phone with gloves on...". You see, I haven't had my phone that long. And it IS winter now, and my hands need warming up!
 So, okay - take off the glove, make my call, glove back on, drive home. Fine. Whatever.
But when I saw this gorgeous pair while out Christmas shopping with Lori, I thought "Hey - that's just what I need!" And they are beautiful, to boot.
So, if you are in need of a warm and practical last-minute gift for someone on your list, and you have an Anthropologie store nearby....
I'm just sayin'.......
And Happy First Day Of Winter to you all!