This and That: A Blog

 I'll start out the week with an adorable photo of Mickey!  Here are some mushrooms in the park, probably in the Shaggy Parasol family.  It may be hot summer, but the trees in the park are circled with wood chips and usually damp. My son took this photo of a grasshopper hanging onto his car door.  It finally was blown off, but flew away fine.  Some bees in flowers. Tall Plains Coreopsis Chesapeake Crablegs Daylily This bee was caught in the sprinkler, and was drying herself off.  Excuse the background sound, it's my noisy neighbor warming up his noisy truck.  The entire family has noisy vehicles.  I think they test drive them to make sure the are the loudest possible. 

  Cee's Fun Foto Challenge   The Crayola Box of 8 - Orange  

  Some more dogs from St. Vincent de Paul! The two on the right top are tiny, they are "doll house" dogs, Japanese.  The long terrier was also made in Japan, as is the poodle pair.  The blue and white's background is harder.  Unmarked, white clay body, with the blue decorations, was common in Dutch, Danish, and German miniatures in the 1950s through the 1970s.  They were all a dollar or two, less if they were bagged with a companion dog.  For 50¢ a bag I got a lot of holy or prayer cards.  I keep the vintage for their artwork.  Here are a few of my favorites. Saint Anne,  Pray for us! is an antique, dating back to 1890-1910. I don't know anything about the Infant Jesus of Prague, but here he is on four different cards. They put out a lot more ephemera, bit by bit, over a few weeks.  I managed to be there to pick up some of the nice stuff!   So stay tuned... 

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge The Crayola Box of 8 - Green 

 St. Vincent de Paul put out a lot of new donations!   As you can see, there were a lot of postcards, and some old photos. The red bag held the non-paper items.  Seven of which were dogs. The Rio Hondo (El Monte, CA 1939-1950s) hound, top, was a bargain at just $1.75. The middle pup is from Ceramic Arts Studio, one they made between 1951-1954.  The company was based in Wisconsin and closed in 1956.   The bottom dog is unmarked, probably a midcentury Japanese import. While reminiscent of Rio Hondo, these are Hagen-Renaker , another southern California pottery.  These are three of their "miniature early" figures, made between 1949 and 1952, when they were still in Monrovia. The company was started by John and Maxine Renaker in their garage in 1945, where John set up a kiln by running a garden house from the kitchen's gas stove. Their daughter now runs the company.  I'd heard of Hagen-Renaker before (their little figures are sold glued to paper ...

 I went to an estate sale last month.  It was the second day, so items were half-off the stickered prices.  I would have bought more if they hadn't had so many little things (figurines and salt and pepper shakers for instance) in boxes sealed with plastic wrap for one price.  There would be one or two things I liked in a $10 box.  I overheard quite a few other shoppers complaining about this among themselves.  Four things at 50¢ each...  Japanese bone china Persian cat.  A menu cover from an Alaska Steamship Company cruise, copyright 1941.  It's a print by Joesphine Crumrine, called Mageik .  There were at least eight different dog menu covers by Crumrine.  Inside right would be the daily menu, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.   This poor little basset started out life as a pincushion, however he was used as a planter and is quite worse for wear now.  A thrilling find! Rio Hondo pottery bud vase, 1930s - 1940s.  I l...

 There's a new thrift store in town!  The sign in the window reads " Clothes and Antiques ."  The clothes were all outside on racks, and I wasn't too hopeful about what we'd (my son and I) find inside.  But, it was full of vintage and antique items!  More than newer items actually.  It reminded me of an antique mall booth, but an entire store.  Good prices too.   I got dogs.  Five dogs and an antique photo.  Here are the dogs shown by size, little to large.  Light plastic to heavy chrome plated  brass. A little plastic Scottish terrier made in Japan.  This and the next were $3 for both. A pair of playing fox terrier puppies, also marked Japan. As a rule, I avoid buying chipped or cracked items.  However, for $1 I couldn't resist this pressed glass French bulldog, chipped in places and missing his right paw.  It's Westmoreland, from the original mold, c.1920. In the mid-20s they added their logo.  The gl...

  I bought this antique print, F rost Breaking,  1850s-1880s, in 1969 or 1970 in Portobello Market, London, when I was 13 years old.  It's a photo-engraved electrotype (electric engraving).  First, the original artwork was photographed, then a metal plate was etched using electric current, and the plate used to print the image.  An F poetry form can be found here .

 First some of the garden things. Lemon Thyme The strawberries are blooming.  My two varieties grew into each other, so I don't know which is which.  One is a June bearer, the other is ever-bearing. Perennial Candytuft  One of my favorites, Blue-Eyed Grass. My only patch of tulips.  I like interior of the red ones.  There used to be only red and yellow, so the orange must be a hybrid of the two.  I've never known that to happen, but it sure looks like it. This is one big borage at sunrise. The bumblebees like the borage.  This is a yellow-faced bumblebee.  One of the Breeder's Mix hardy geraniums I grew from seed years ago.  Some non-garden things.  I was inordinately happy to find matching treats at Trader Joe's!  Mickey isn't a big fan, he prefers the sweetness of my yogurt pretzels.  The people version isn't all that good, other than the pretzels, strange bunch of stuff.  Mickey and I went to the park yesterday. We...