Dear Speck

Speck (11/6/2001 ~ 6/24/2014)

It has been quite a while since I have posted anything - much has been going on both happy and sad. One event that has left a large hole in my life is the loss of my dear friend, Speck. It's been two months and we are still missing him. Here are a few words I wrote in his memory.

Speck AKA Mr. Speck, Spectacular, Señor Suavẽ and/or Speckita lost his battle with cancer last night ~ we are numb. Rescued from a house that contained a clap-on/clap-off fountain, at 9 weeks old Speck joined our household and became ruler of the roost ~ our dog Sparky who was 7 at the time was happy to be relieved of the top dog responsibilities. Speck was the quintessential Scottish Terrier ~ independent, feisty, faithful, vigilant and full of personality. I give him credit for helping me choose my boyfriend, Dick, keeping our yard vermin free, providing us with a zillion happy memories, and for being my loyal companion & muse through good and bad times for all of his 12 1/2 years. RIP my handsome boy, Speck ~ gone, but never forgotten.

Memories ~ of the pups they used to be . . .

{Speck at about 3 months}

{Sprocket at about 4 months}

INSPIRATION 2014 #80: As you may have noticed, I have become obsessed with finding out what special day is being celebrated ~ so many obscure holidays! According to Days of the Year,we should be celebrating Common Courtesy Day, Single Parent's Day, Memory Day and Puppy Day today. How often will I be able to post two images that work for 2.5 of the 4 days?! I am stretching it a bit with the Single Parent's Day, as I was only a single parent to Speck for several months before my boyfriend showed up. 

So, celebrating the wonderful memories we had when our scotties were puppies. Speck is now just about 12.5 and Sprocket will be turning 6 in April. You can read more about their adventures here, here, and here. 

Memories of Geometry Class

{source}

INSPIRATION 2014 #75: Every now and then I see an image that reminds me of projects I did a long time ago ~ this is one of them. In 9th grade geometry class with Mr. Magala, he gave a yearly assignment out to every class to create either an icosahedron  or a dodecahedron out of whatever material you chose. It became quite a contest as your grade was determined by your creativity as well as your craftsmanship. I was lucky that my Dad was an engineer and was great at figuring out how to make stuff and also had the tools to do it. So, I made my dodecahedron out of clear plexiglass, added colored sand, dirt and some plants for a terrarium ~ my Dad actually cut out the pieces (for safety reasons!), but I had to figure out the angles that would work. The down side of making something that Mr. Magala liked and gave a good grade for is that he kept those pieces, so alas, my dodecahedron is probably in a trash dump or antique mall by now!

I have to mention that those who weren't so crafty had a hard time with this assignment ~ poor Pete S. ( I will protect his identity to avoid further humiliation!) ~ I imagine he did not get any help from a crafty Dad, so you have to give him credit for doing it all himself. But, Pete was not much of a craftsman and didn't use any interesting materials - just cardboard and black tape. Unfortunately, his dodecahedron came out in the shape of a football and had black tape sticking out at all angles ~ Mr. Magala ended up throwing it across the room ~ he was known and feared for this sort of thing. If you dropped your math book on the floor you had to pick it up and kiss it or if you were caught chewing gum and didn't have a piece for Mr. Magala, you had to wear it on your nose. Despite some of the humiliations, I have Mr. Magala to thank for teaching me all I know about geometry ~ he really was a great teacher!

The Busiest Time of the Year! (for me)

 

{ad placed in Total Licensing}

It has been quite a while since I have posted anything on my blog ~ not that I don't have anything to post about, it is just that I have quite a bit on my plate right now and can't afford the time. So, please bear with me ~ I can't wait to be getting back to some more antique shows and less stressful days!

In the last few months I have been preparing for my second time exhibiting at Surtex ~ an art licensing trade show held every spring at the Javits Center in NYC at the same venue as the Stationery Show and the International Furniture Fair. 

I designed my website (please visit if you would like a sneak peek), am working on developing new art work, and am also preparing all of the show necessities like banners for the booth, postcards, ads, etc.  It is amazing how quickly the time passes ~ Surtex is just about one month away!

Check back when you can ~ I will do my best to post a few things here and there if time allows.  Otherwise, I will be back to a more regular posting schedule at the end of May. Enjoy the spring!  Sitting and staring at a computer screen all day isn't quite the same as getting out and smelling the spring flowers!

For Your Bucket List

{image from here}

Speaking of colons, that reminds me of an interesting place to visit ~ the Mutter Museum. The Mutter Museum is in Philadelphia and houses a collection of all sorts of medical specimens and oddities displayed in beautiful wooden cabinets ~ a 2 floor cabinet of curiosities! In addition to the soap lady, specimen jars of conjoined twins, and a plaster cast of Chang and Eng's attached livers, the Mutter owns the World's Largest Colon! (pictured above). If you look carefully you can see a photograph of the man whose colon this was ~ unfortunately I was not blogging at the time of my visit so this is the only photo I could locate.

My favorite display was the Chevalier Jackson Collection of objects swallowed and removed. There are over 2,000 objects displayed in a labelled wooden flat file ~ all removed without surgery!

 {image from here}

Amidst the coins, safety pins, small toys, dental plates and bones, there were an awful lot of Sunday school pins. My boyfriend and I had gotten the itch to visit the Mutter after visiting the Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph, MO, on one of our first dates. At the Glore, we were entranced by a display of over 1,446 metal objects one woman had swallowed, thus prompting our guide to suggest a visit to the Mutter. Roadside America has interesting reviews on both the Mutter and the Glore Museums ~ make sure to read before you visit!

{image from here}

One more thing, at the time of each of my visits, I was disappointed with the selection in the gift stores ~ I felt that both places really missed opportunity to cash in on their collections. As my brother is a psychiatrist, my initial reason for stopping in at the Glore was to see if I could find a humorous gift for him.  In the past, the Glore gift store had sold actual patient art, but now it is art made from kits, not nearly as interesting. As for the Mutter, why not sell a "Soap Woman on a Rope" or a "World's Largest Colon" keychain ~ who wouldn't want such a keepsake?! 

Make sure to add these two museums to your bucket list ~ you won't be disappointed and I doubt you will see anything like it anywhere else!

While doing this post, I have found that this book is now available in the Mutter Museum shop.

Vintage School Days

Was looking through some old photos the other day and came upon this one ~ it must have been a First Day of First Grade photo from 1968! I believe I was sporting what was called a skort ~ a conglomeration of a skirt and shorts ~ pretty stylish, huh? I'm not sure if that outfit is technically a skort as I do remember it was all one piece ~ it must have buttoned up the back and the belt was just for decoration.

I'm guessing this was 1st grade as I was 6 years old in 1968 ~ too young to be carrying a purse, but I do have both my Dr. Dolittle lunch box and a sticker-decorated notebook (yes, we did have stickers back in the olden days!), along with my sweater. And, best of all, no Instagram needed!

{image from here}

Just in case you were wondering, here is a much better view of my Dr. Dolittle lunchbox ~ I don't remember it being pink! Too bad I don't think I have mine any more ~ they are selling on ebay for around $50 now!

Fabulous Find ~ Plaster Pedestal

Today I thought I would share with you one of my favorite finds ~ a beautiful plaster corner pedestal discarded from a church. I bought this probably close to 20 years ago from Steve ~ an artist friend of mine with a great eye for the wonderful and unusual.

As I mentioned, it is a corner piece and while it is gorgeous and I so wanted to use it in my home, I have not been able to find a suitable corner for it in 20 years! I finally gave up and decided I needed to sell it ~ after all, if I couldn't find the right space for it in all of that time, so I doubt the perfect spot is going to surface now. I sure hated to part with this piece, but hopefully it will find a home that is more suitable than mine!

I had really hoped to find a crispy dilapidated saint to display atop the pedestal, but I never found an affordable one of those either.

So, does this sort of thing happen to you when you buy an antique? As a result of this instance, when deciding on a piece, I now make sure I have at least two places where it might work ~ if I cannot think of two spots, I am not allowed to get it. Unfortunately, I am VERY good at rationalizing and coming up with multiple solutions!

{beautiful detail with just the right amount of crispiness!}

Stylishly Smart Secret Accessory

Don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining, but over the last couple of months I have lost more than 30 pounds. So, while I am ecstatic about losing the weight, it has caused some problems with my wardrobe. Needless to say, I am my father's (thrifty engineer) daughter, so I have come up with the perfect solution so I can continue wearing many of my pants and skirts ~ the binder clip, medium size!

As you can see above, the simple binder clip keeps everything together firmly and is comfortable to wear ~ plus as long as you wear a shirt or jacket untucked, no one will ever know! Then again, this could give you some trouble at airports ~ I haven't tried it out yet.

When I was in junior high, I remember coming up with similar solutions to avoid sewing ~ I'll bet there are others out there who have masking taped up a hem now and then, right? Well, just thought this would be a helpful hint for someone ~ binder clips are now a permanent part of my wardrobe ~ try one, you'll see!

Happy Easter 2012!

A Happy Easter to all! Looks like a beautiful day is ahead ~ at least where I live! Found a few Easter themed images to share ~ mostly via Pinterest. Of course, the one I had in mind I couldn't locate ~ probably one of those times where I wasn't able to pin. I have linked all the images (click on image for link) to where I found them, but unfortunately there are several that haven't been pinned properly and one cannot find out where the original source actually is.

I have to say, I am glad the custom of dressing up for Easter didn't catch on ~ these would be some mighty embarrassing photos for your parents to show prospective mates or in case you might choose to run for public office.


The photo below reminds me of Easter when I was a child ~ a new dress and hunting for the easter baskets that my dad hid. It was best if you could find your basket before we left for church so that you would have some candy to get through the service ~ otherwise you had to wait until afternoon. Sometimes those baskets were impossible to find ~ my dad was really clever with hiding them ~ I remember once there was one in the bottom of the laundry hamper. Another time he took the lampshade off, installed the easter basket and replaced the lampshade ~ that may have been the hardest one to find. Then there was also the egg hunt.......

Can't say I ever found any eggs like those below! My grandmother usually had a special egg hunt all set up for my brother and me ~ she taped nickles, dimes and quarters to the decorated eggs. She also wasn't nearly as crafty with hiding the eggs as my dad was with the baskets, so there was always a mad scramble (no pun intended!) to grab up as many eggs as possible and then hope you had a bunch with the quarters on them! So, what easter memories do you have?

{remember to click on image for source}

My 15 Minutes?

Dick came home with these organizers the other day ~ don't know where we will keep them as we have no space, but they must have been too tempting to pass up. I happened to glance at the packaging and despite not wearing my reading glasses, I recognized the pattern I had designed used in the crafting example. Got the glasses to double check, and sure enough, it is a valentine scrapbook paper I created a few years ago ~ hopefully this isn't going to count as my 15 minutes or any portion of my 15 minutes ~ I am still waiting for them!

National Button Week ~ Last Day

{syroco or ornawood scottie buttons}

By now, if you have visited my blog a few times, you certainly know that I have a great fondness for scottish terriers, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that my theme for my final posting for National Button Week is scottish terrier buttons. There is more to the story than just the combination of a button with a scottie on it ~ the first pet I had was a scottie and his name was Buttons ~ you can read about that episode of my life here. Also, one of my favorite books is about a scottie named Buttons ~ more about that here.

{syroco or ornawood scottie dish with scottie buttons}

{white plastic button with metal scottie attachment}

{reverse painted pressed glass buttons}

{tiny plastic molded scottie buttons}

{variety of bakelite scottie buttons}

Hope you enjoyed the week of button postings as much as I did ~ now that I know there is actually a week designated as National Button Week, it will give me another excuse to buy more buttons!

The Way We Were

While perusing Pinterest the other day, these skates caught my eye ~ I had a pair very similar to these, along with the skate key which I wore around my neck on my handmade gimp lanyard (here is a tutorial where you can make one for yourself!). I think my skates looked a little bit more like these:

When the weather got warm enough, I used to strap on my skates, leash up my dog, Gretel and skate down the hill on the sidewalk watching for the uneven cracks. It was the closest I could get to waterskiing ~ and probably more dangerous as back then no one believed in helmets or knee pads! Even though Gretel was not a large dog, she loved to go for a run and was pretty speedy, so we both had a good time as long as I didn't misjudge the sidewalk and wipe out.

Too bad these bicycle skates weren't available when I was a kid ~ these would certainly make you stand out in a crowd. The ones at bottom look like they could do serious damage if you happened to fall ~ yikes!

Aside from rollerskating outside, I remember going rollerskating at the rink as well ~ a dark, dingy place where you rented skates and took your pocket change to spend on all sorts of candy to eat during the couples skates. I wish I remembered the name of the rink ~ I do remember they had a giant mirrored disco ball that made skating extra exciting when all the lights were turned off. There was also a pinball machine area where all the unsavory guys that wore army jackets used to hang out. I never could figure out why my mom always suggested the skating rink as a good place to meet men ~ except she was probably remembering what they were like in the 50's ~ maybe they were more wholesome then?

I know I earned a girl scout badge for rollerskating, but that is a story for another time!

{click on each photo for source}

An Uninvited Guest

Looks like we now have another guest along with Stumpy ~ Scurvy's cousin, Rickets. Considering my home is within city limits, it always surprises me when this sort of wildlife is living within 20 feet of my back door. It does look as if Rickets has taken up residence in the hollow tree, so that is a huge improvement over Scurvy's bad manners ~ he was the guest that wouldn't take a hint.

I doubt either Mr. Speck or Sprocket will allow Rickets in the back door, so I have no worries about that. As you can see, Sprocket has also noticed Rickets, but so far has not figured out how he is going to get an invitation to tea. I'm not sure Rickets is the tea throwing party kind of guy (at least I hope he's a he!) ~ looks like he is giving me the stink eye. Ah, life in the city!

Happy Father's Day!

{My Dad, me & my brother amidst the cherry blossoms ~ Spring, 1971}

It being Father's Day today got me to taking a look through a few old albums to see if I could find a photo of me and my dad ~ I have a feeling that all the good photos are in albums at my parents home ~ all I have are awful photos from my Kodak instamatic. It was also difficult to find a photo where I didn't look just downright scary ~ after all, it was the 70's ~ the styles were not flattering!

So, this is a result of my search. . . a photo from one of our family trips to Washington, DC in the spring ~ my Dad would always take off a day around spring break so we could go on a short trip somewhere. My mom must have taken the photo and somehow managed to get us all in (without chopping off any heads) as well as the scenic view. You can tell we were a styling family ~ just look at that floral pantsuit I had on! You can also see my Dad's pocket protector ~ engineers never go anywhere without one!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there ~ thanks for spending the time to make our childhoods memorable!

Halloween Advice for Women & Girls

This is the story of one Halloween long ago ~ a lesson well learned and worthy of passing on to every woman & girl. My friend Gina & I were debating whether or not to attend the annual Hallmark artists' Halloween party ~ we hadn't come up with a good costume idea, but really wanted to go to the party to see everyone else's costumes. As a last resort, we decided we would go to the party dressed as single girls sharing a girl's night together ~ eating popcorn, trading beauty secrets and reading about how to attract men in the current Cosmo.

What a great idea we thought ~ easy too! We rustled up our housecoats, popped up a bowl of popcorn, gathered up some junky magazines and even stopped at the local drugstore for the finishing touch ~ cold cream ~ which we smeared all over our faces. Ready in five minutes, we headed to the party where we met our other girlfriend, who for some reason was dressed as a pig. The party was in full swing when we arrived ~ great costumes and lots of people. We weren't there too long before we noticed that few people were talking to us. It was dark and a little hard to see so we headed over the brighter area near the bar for a drink ~ it had gotten rather hot in the venue. When Gina got her drink and turned around, I noticed that the cold cream on Gina's face didn't look so great anymore ~ instead of being an opaque white mask, it had become a transparent greasy and globby mess ~ I cannot tell you what it looked like, afterall, this is a G rated blog! Of course, I looked the same ~ it was no wonder no one was talking to us! Our other friend in the pig costume was faring no better ~ she discovered her boyfriend had run off with someone else ~ they had a big fight and broke up. Miserable night ~ we felt like the ugly stepsisters!

Maybe if we had worn sexier bathrobes?

Moral of the story: If you are a female and want to have fun on Halloween, do not dress as a pig or put cold cream on your face ~ I recommend either a pretty costume or a sleazy one ~ either way, guaranteed good time! Try your luck with one of these:

{click on images to see sources}