Thrift Finds - From A Couple Of Weeks Ago

The last weekend in May was a very special one for me. My long weekend began on Thursday, and included time spent with my sisters, and the chance to see and spend time with some VERY dear and beloved old friends! As if that weren't quite enough -we also managed to fit in some thrifting time in our travels. I thought I'd show you some pictures. Found another platter (you aren't surprised, are you?), candle holders, etc:
a nice paint by number scene in an oak frame:
Some books, one of my favorite old deco frames, a 3-tiered jar that I put to work holding game tiles, etc. My sister gave me the tall jar:
A nice cotton sweater from Land's End and a scarf that looks lovely with it! I already had the leaf pin. Can hardly wait 'til autumn, so I can wear it!

A book that I had been hoping to find a copy of, a pair of nice little summery shoes, calico placemats with lovely patchwork detailing on them, little turkey, little bird, pine needles plate, a restaurant china plate - and the glass dome cover was 25c at a yard sale. I never find those any more for less than $3 at thrift shops:
A pair of Vera napkins, two aluminum platters that will go with my tumblers and pitcher, and a nice shoe pin cushion.

I don't think it gets much better than spending time with dear old friends- and then even coming home with some treasures!
It was a WONDERFUL weekend.

Flag Day

To celebrate and honor our flag today, I thought I would show you a lovely little vintage print I found in a thrift shop in Santa Rosa. Betsy Ross was in an unattractive frame- no problem, little frames are easy to find and replace:
And next, The Star-Spangled Banner, from an songbook I have, dated 1945:

And then, one more thing - this sheet music from one of my favorite movies:

"You're a Grand Old Flag" - yes, you truly are!

The Provensens

When I posted recently about my Memory Game, I mentioned that I thought I recognized some of the images on the cards as perhaps being from one of my childhood books. Well, I got to digging around, and guess what I found? See the rabbit card? There he is on the cover of this book:
I had written in another post back in 2007 that this book was among my favorites. I even did two other posts where I featured one of the great illustrations in each. I also found the fox from the Memory card!
And the little king:
I completely adore the illustrations of Alice and Martin Provensen - they are so unique and so wonderful.

Polly Put The Kettle On

Polly put the kettle on, we'll all have tea! One of my favorite Mother Goose nursery rhymes - here is a page out of one of my old song books. Cute!
I have always loved the vintage Hallmark cards in the "Dolls From the Land of Make Believe" series. This page, below, is from my book about Hallmark cards that I wrote about in this post:

I have never had one, so I was delighted to find this one at an antiques shop in Angels Camp. The front:
..and the back:
My name may not be Polly, but I do put the kettle on - every morning - for my tea. I switched to tea from coffee for the sole reason that coffee the way I like it was costing me at least three Weight Watchers Points every morning, and drinking two cups of tea only costs me half a point. I don't get all that many points per day, and I just couldn't spend them on coffee. I miss my coffee, but I am making do for now.
So, the tea kettle whistles for me.
"You know how to whistle, don't you..?"

Sunkist

I found some nice old Sunkist ads, so I just wanted to share them. I am a BIG fan of citrus - but I do eat and use more lemons than any other type of citrus fruit. I LOVE to squeeze them over my fish - I always have to ask for more at restaurants.
I do like oranges and fresh orange juice, but I just don't have them very often.
Although, I do enjoy the little Clementines- I wrote about them in this post.
If someone served me oranges with coconut , all prettied up on the plate like this, I would not turn it down!
I enjoy having lemon in my ice water, too - and of course, they are good for you!

You know me - if I can fit in a Disney reference ANYWHERE, I will! I used to love the "Sunkist Citrus House" on Main Street at Disneyland. There was also a smaller place, "Sunkist, I Presume" in Adventureland. They used to sell the most wonderful lemon and orange juice frozen bars (like Popsicles), among other things. I HAD to have a lemon one whenever I was there. So great on a hot day. The closest thing I can find to those are the Dreyer's/Edy's Fruit Bars - which are VERY VERY good, by the way - you should try them if you haven't as of yet. Lemonade is my favorite, but Tangerine and Lime are great, too.
You can learn more about the Sunkist Citrus House and Sunkist, I Presume by visiting this post at "Yesterland", which is a FABULOUS website about Disneyland. I hope you will take a minute to check it out.

One More Platter

After I did my post on platters awhile back, I found another one at a thrift shop that I couldn't resist. I felt that is was worthy of it's own post. I call it a platter, since it is 12 inches in diameter and large enough to be used as a serving piece. The dinner plates we use most often are only 9 inches - works better for my diet!
I just love the green and blue color combination! When I took this photo, I paired my pretty new platter with My Candlestick. My Candlestick is very special to me. I'm not sure I can adequately explain why. When I was growing up, we didn't have a lot, and not much money to spend, either. (Let me also say that we did not feel particularly deprived, and we had a wonderful childhood! We just didn't have a lot of new or nice stuff.) I bought this candle holder at Barker Brothers Furniture store in downtown Los Angeles with my own (saved) money when I was about 12 or 13, and I have never tired of looking at it since. The green paint on the wood has faded somewhat over time, but the blue ceramic still looks fabulous. I believe I paid $5 for it, and the price tag was still affixed to the bottom for a very long time, but it's gone now. I'm such a freak, I wouldn't be surprised if I kept it, and maybe I will find it some day.
The two look awfully nice together, don't they?

More Silhouettes

Here are just a few of the vintage silhouettes that I like so much. This beautiful lady:
And this one - I love these old advertising ones with the thermometers:
I guess I was first drawn to these because they go so well with my vintage black and silver art deco style picture frames.

Besides, having thermometers around the house here and there kind of comes in handy!

A Few More Deer

I don't think I have shown you my matte white pottery deer. Some of them are on shelves in our entertainment center, along with a few white birds thrown in,
...and some of my favorite books. (I did already do a post about my deer bookends!)

Gee - what else haven't I photographed around here? Hmmmm......

Remember Betsy Cameron?

I remember her VERY well- she was one of my favorite models back in the 70's - right along with Colleen Corby, Lucy Angle, Bonnie Lysohir, Susan Dey - there were a lot of them! We LOVED Seventeen Magazine. How I wish we had saved them all. When I see the covers now on eBay or elsewhere, they are so very familiar still:
Here she is in an advertisement for McCall's in 1974:

And more in Seventeen:
She graced a lot of magazine covers:
I saved this article about her back in 1997:
/After all of those years spent in front of the camera, she got behind the camera - perhaps you are familiar with her popular, adorable images of children:

I have admired her for years. Was it really that long ago that I was a teenager?
Geez.

At The Kitchen Sink

I'm just curious - what do you have at YOUR kitchen sink that you use daily?
Tuffy scrubbers have been my favorite for a very long time. For years, I ALWAYS had one at my sink. Then they just disappeared from the supermarket. I looked every single time I went to a new store. Couldn't find them at all for a long time. Then recently, when I was wandering around in Rite-Aid killing time waiting for a prescription - I spotted them! I bought three. My husband went back later and got three more. Every other nylon scrubber I had found was crap. They fell apart. Tuffy lasts a long time- rinses clean, doesn't scratch. Have I convinced you yet? I love 'em.

Do you like a certain type of dishwashing soap?
Surprisingly, I'm not real picky about that. We probably buy Dawn or Palmolive most often. I like yellow and green because they look good in my soap dispenser!
I am NOT a sponge fan. I think they're icky. Especially if they aren't allowed to dry out between uses. They get stained and they smell. I don't like using them at all. I don't like touching them.
We always have some cleanser handy, as well. We have an OLD sink that stains very easily, so I must be vigilant about scrubbing it. Most of the time, we have both Bon Ami and Comet on hand.

Do you use a dishcloth? I do, but not to wipe up really messy stuff. I use a paper towel for that. I just swipe the counter with mine and wring it out and rinse it - so it can dry. And I change them often- because I don't like it when they get smelly, either. Gross. I remember when the only kind you could really find (years ago) were like this one on the right, below -minus the pretty crocheted edging. Also, there were the more open-weaved type - we sewed them together and made drawstring bags to hold our camp dishes at Girl Scout Camp in the summer. You could wash them in the bag, and hang it up on the line to drip dry. Did you ever do that?
Quite awhile back, I switched my every day dish towels to ONLY darker colors - blue, green, etc. That way, if they do get stained, you don't really notice it. Because those get used A LOT.
I would only use pretty vintage ones like the one below occasionally for drying dishes.
I do enjoy displaying them, though!
So, how about you? Any favorites or preferences?? Share, please!

More Vintage Glass Tumblers

This first set is a really pretty one with red and white bows and blue polka dots. The funny thing about these is that I found five of them years ago - SOMEWHERE - and later, I found a rack for them - and then MANY years later, I happened to find one more- to complete the set of six! Don't you just love it when that happens??
This set of eight, shown four at a time in the next two photos, were here in the house:
The Carousel set, they were made by Libbey Glass:

Nice tall frosted tumblers for a delightfully cool glass of iced tea! Just right.

My Dizzy Kitty

I was looking through a bunch of pictures, and I found some cute ones of Dizzy. Considering how much I love that kitty, I don't write about him nearly enough! Here he is on the shelf outside the window above the kitchen sink. He knows that if we are in the kitchen, we will see him if he jumps up there - and we will go and let him in!
This is one of his favorite perches. He really isn't allowed on tables, but he loves sitting there like this so much that we let him. Sometimes he sleeps sort of hunched over at the table, but mostly he is there to look out His Window. Yes, he is spoiled. And your point is?
And, other times, he just curls up on His Red Stool and takes a nap!
"Hey - don't take my picture- the flash disturbs my pretty green eyes!" The chair he is lying on was one of my very first antique purchases 30 years ago. I still love it:
One more pensive pose - in another window; this one is in the den:
And one more - at the same window as in the top picture- but more recently, and in a different position!

He does love his windows- and he has a lot of choices in this house!
He is definitely one completely adored Kitty Cat.