Susan Branch Love Part Two

Today, we continue with more Susan Branch love, as my own little tribute to her and all of the lovely books she has authored and illustrated.
Love From The Heart Of The Home:

Sweets To The Sweet:

The Summer Book:

Autumn:

And Girlfriends Forever:
Our local Farmer's Market started a few weeks ago, and with summer fast approaching, I thought this next illustration was a good choice to share with you today:

(I think the only book I do not have is "Baby Love". I do have a copy of "Christmas Joy", but it is packed away and I couldn't scan it for these posts.)
Please do visit her website, and/or you can write to her at
Susan Branch
P.O. Box 1468
San Luis Obispo, Ca. 93406
I admire her talents SO much, and I would dearly love to have the pleasure of meeting her some day!

Susan Branch Love Part One

When I penned my post about Susan Branch calendars back in December, I promised to do a post about her books some day. Since I also recently found yet another of those elusive pages I had saved from Country Living magazine years ago, this seemed like a good time to finally do it!
First of all, here is the sweet page I found from 1988:
And today I will also share part of my collection of her books (most of which are available on Amazon), that I began purchasing back in 1986.
Heart Of The Home:

Vineyard Seasons:

Christmas From The Heart Of The Home:

Days From The Heart Of The Home:

Heart Of The Home Postcard Collection:
And here is a lovely photo of her from one of her books:

I just love her books and all of her wonderful hand-lettered text and watercolor illustrations. Please go and visit her website if you wish to read more about her!
(Part Two coming up tomorrow.)

Libbey Glassware

It made me very happy to find this advertisement for "Emeralds by Libbey" in a 1961 Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Why, you may ask? Because, these are the very glasses that our mother had for years! As I recall, they may have only been brought out on special occasions - holidays and such. They were special; we didn't have nice, matching glasses or crystal or anything like that.
If you are wondering why they were special - this is what Mother wrote on top of the box,
"These glasses were a gift from Dad to me (when he went to Tahoe & came home late & worried me) I want them - Do not give them away. Mom."

The box top looks like the one you see below in the "Marine Life" ad, and it is rather the worse for wear, stained but still intact. And Mother - we didn't give them away. And we won't.
Hers are the Emeralds Hostess Set 8 (4 oz.) Cocktail Glasses. They used them for wine, rather than cocktails. Oh - and that was HER Dad, our Grandpa - I think one of the main reasons he liked coming to visit us in Placerville was because Tahoe wasn't too far away. He enjoyed a bit of gambling, you see.....
And here are a few more old ads for other Libbey glassware patterns.
Golden Foliage (my friend Jamie has these!)

Marine Life - how cool is THIS set?!
And a "Cocktailer Set" with decanter and stirrer - not sure of the pattern name on this one:

Come on over for a drink, won't you?

We really do know clouds!

Good morning. Tina here.
Apparently, here in Kelsey, and elsewhere in the Gold Country, we are about to experience good weather, something that has been a bit rare around here, especially on the weekends!

Last weekend I attended a very wet outdoor wedding, the bride and groom had a large umbrella held over their heads throughout the ceremony. It was a lot of fun. We sat under a large tarp, and as the rain built up at the edge, every so often it would suddenly dump a large pool of water only inches behind the eldest (at 81 years) participant. What excitement! I sat next to her. She managed to stay dry regardless.

I am sharing my cloud pictures as you look to the west from my front porch. I once had a neighbor whose name was Cloud. I would never think to name my daughter Cloud, but I really like the name.

When temps climb into the 100s this summer, and they will, we can look back at these and cool off a bit.

When the sun is beating down and the grass is once again golden, we can sip some iced tea and remember when we complained of too much rain.

When the forest fires threaten, and the mosquitoes swarm so that my husband wants to drain the hot tub, we can reminisce about the two mallards who enjoyed the sprinkles as they flew along the river.

We will be able to say we've looked at clouds from both sides, then.

Then And Now #80 Diamond Matches

In Today's installment of "Then And Now", I am simply sharing this old box which used to hold Diamond Brand Matches, below. I saved it for years, just because I liked the Dutch motif and thought it was too cute to throw away. (If you read my blog with any regularity, you are sitting there thinking "Yes, Heidi, we know.."
So this was Then:
And this is "Now":

But, the best part? Well, it is that the boxes are exactly the same size today, and all I had to do was slide out the new box of matches and insert it into my vintage (cuter) box!
And who wouldn't rather have a vintage box of matches than a new one??

The Old Family Radio

This old console radio/phonograph has been sitting in the foyer of our home for absolutely ages. It hasn't worked for years, so the only purpose it really serves is to take up valuable space.
I wish it still worked, but it doesn't. All we knew about it was that it was an "Airline" brand, and that it had been here in the family home for as long as my husband could remember (which is quite awhile!).

But, have a look at what I found in a cupboard down in the basement! The 1942 catalog of Airline Radios from Montgomery Wards:

So, now we know it has been here since 1942, just a couple of years after my in-laws built their home. I was pretty tickled to find it inside the catalog:
Back then, of course, music and news from the radio and playing records on the phonograph were the main form of home entertainment:


My, how things have changed.

More Vintage Illustrations

Sweet illustrations from an old book. I don't know the illustrator nor the book title; all I have are a few pages out of the book.
First up, Bobby Shaftoe. ( She may be waiting a long time - maybe she'll get lucky and Captain Jack Sparrow will show up instead?)
Good old Jack Sprat and the wife:
Another one of those Bad Boys, that scoundrel Georgie Porgie:
Jack a Nory and his brother Jack?

Do you suppose they might know Larry, his brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl?
(Yes, you may need to be a Bob Newhart fan to get that reference! Which I am.)

Three Orange Clocks

I am rather fond of my vintage orange clocks. I have shown you this first one, below, before. I have had it since I was maybe twelve years old. I remember that Daddy built a special little corner shelf up high above my top bunk of the bunk bed Lori and I shared, and I had my little alarm clock sitting up there on it so that I could reach it from bed. I wonder what the people thought who moved in after we left about this odd little shelf up high all by itself in a corner?
Sadly, my favorite sweet little clock quit working LONG ago. I have also had this orange Big Ben for many, many years. He doesn't work either - and he is missing all three of the little screws on his back. But he's orange, and he's cute:

So, can you EVEN blame me for completely falling in love with this little cutie that I purchased on eBay??
Not only does it work - but it's in perfect condition, and it even came with the original box and instructions! Score!
And it might just be the cutest of all three.

What's Penny Wearing? #48 Just Another Hippie Shirt

I found yet another of my old hippie shirts, modeled for you today by Penny:

Cool, comfortable gauzy cotton, complete with four pockets and embroidered details on the collar and cuffs, as well. This one even has epaulets, for crying out loud!
Penny likes it.
When I could fit into it, I really liked it, too.
A lot.
I wore it a lot, too.

The Latest And Greatest

Here are some more of my latest finds - beginning with the greatest - this beautiful lady:
And a set of vintage napkin rings - they are that sort of lacquerware-type plastic, you know? Chippy, but they were cheap and I like them:
A nice vintage necktie - it says "Santa Anita by Dietrich" on the back:
A huge shaker (for Parmesan cheese, perhaps?), an olive green Pyrex bowl, and another pillar candle holder. I found the gorgeous tablecloth a while ago:
A long and lovely fringed shawl with glitzy gold metallic thread, to cozy up in on a chilly evening:
And a bright floral wastebasket....

...because I'd rather throw my trash into something pretty and vintage instead of plastic and new.

A View from Afar

Good morning. Tina here.

I am showing a few photos this morning taken of our home in Kelsey from afar. The first two are from across the South Fork of the American River in an area known as Gold Hill. My hubby works at a plumbing supply store and new customers came in who were working on their home across the river from us. After chatting, they realized that they could see our house, and took some pictures after a small snow storm in 2009.
It really stands out amidst the white.

We can't see their home from our house, the trees hide it. There are a few places that we can drive to (it takes about 40 minutes to get there!) and stop and see our home. Once in a while we enjoy doing that. Go figure!

This past Sunday we went to a barbecue at our neighbor's home which is on the same side of the river as us, but closer to Coloma than we are. My hubby hiked a short distance out away from the trees and took this photo of our house. If it is blown up you can see the front porch and bedroom windows.

That's it for today. Have a happy June!