Lounge Chair Road Trip No. 18: Newcastle, California

Good morning, Tina here.


Heading out (in my mind) to the north of us to Placer County to the charming Railroad burb of Newcastle, which I will show you through a few postcards.

I remember this little town near Auburn fondly since a childhood friend of mine moved there while I was still in grammar school and we went to visit. We had so much fun!

I remember feeling like we had the run of the town, which was dirt streets, packing sheds, a railroad depot, small stores, and my very favorite of all... old Victorian houses (one which was rented by my friend's family of nine kids).

Here is one of the long packing sheds. Debbie's dad had a business making oak briquettes coated with wax to barbecue with, which I think was very forward thinking for the 'sixties, and packed them for sale in one of the sheds. We thought it was great fun to ride down the bumpy conveyor belts in the old wooden fruit boxes!



I haven't been to Newcastle in a few years, but now it has a couple of stores and a few restaurants and the long sheds hold commercial efforts of various sorts, changing now and then.

Oh what fun it would have been back in the day to ride the train to or through Newcastle!

I guess maybe I should have called this post a Lounge Chair TRAIN Trip...

Because, although the postcard above, the newest I have, is from the 'sixties. just like Mr. Bumpus's briquettes, the train still runs through the historic town of Newcastle.



Vintage Dazee "Put-Ons"

I found these groovy vintage Dazee Pets "Put-Ons" a while back.
Blue and green chickens:

Pink and orange lions:

Blue and green bunnies:

And pink and orange monkeys:

Aren't they the cutest??

I wish I had found more of them!
These chickens were on eBay (they aren't mine):

Here is the back of the package:

I've found some other colorful vintage things, too - like these "Label-Licks":

Mushrooms!

So - perhaps it seems crazy for me to love this colorful, fabulous stuff so much - but I simply DO.
I do not know whether I will ever use them, but I may be able to display them, at least!

Gotta go- but there's nothing to stop you from "hangin' around" awhile - we do have more than 3000 posts here on the blog for you to read, and (hopefully!) enjoy!

My Newest Watercolor Acquisition: Charles F. Surendorf

Tina here. This is going to be very short.

Ever since Heidi got married, and acquired some lovely Surendorf works, I always wanted one of my own, and I finally did purchase a beautiful painting of the historical Episcopal church in Sonora.  I am embarrassed to say I have never hung it since I have so much other art on my walls! I would show it here but it is packed away, so another time.

A few weeks ago I found another I could not resist. It is of an old farmhouse with the usual spooky foliage he seems to enjoy adding into his works, forming imaginative mystical shapes.

I have a feeling I will be spending many hours just looking up at this house and making up stories in my head about my life here. Right now I am sitting on the porch with a glass of iced tea, no lemon or sugar, swatting the first mosquitoes of the season, and finishing this post. Cheerio!



Vintage Clothing, Decor - And Much More.....

It's the last three days of the little sale I am having in my Etsy shop; it ends May 4th at 11:59 pm.May 4th.
The photos I'm posting here today show a small sample of the types of items I have currently listed.
If you visit my Etsy shop "Cool Paisley Cat", you will find a coupon code to enter for 25% off the current listed price of each item you order.
Please note that interested international buyers must contact me first (through Etsy, only, please - NOT through comments here on the blog) to inquire about shipping.
I have this fabulous rooster wall hanging:

This gorgeous vintage skirt:

 A colorful burlap bag:

Toddler dresses:

Aprons:

Pictured here are a pair of granny square pillow covers:

I have shirts and tops:

This fabulous vintage needle-punch silhouette pillow cover...

 ....  and much more, including kitchenware, collectibles and crewelwork craft kits.
Head on over and take a look if you have a chance!

(Just click on my shop name at the top of this post.)

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!