Friday, March 30, 2012

wallflowers

Aren't these cute?
They are, of course, from the 1960's. 

And they're wall pockets.  

HATS! again!!

Judging from my stats, my Hats! post of October 12, 2010 is one of the more popular ones.  So, for your looking pleasure, here are MORE hats.  Vintage hats!!  

(OK, the other hats were vintage, too, but these are vintage-er.)

Enjoy!!













Rest in Peace, Jersey Joe

Jersey Joe aka Jerzeleh aka Jerz went to Kitty Heaven last Saturday, March 24.  He was five years old.

He was given to me back in 2007 by a co-worker.  Now, for eons, I have had friends and neighbors wanting me to take this or that homeless cat or kitten.  Usually, I say no.  I wish I could take them ALL, but I just can't.  I'll pray for the little creature, and I know that's far better than offering my own home.  

The co-worker said that the kitten -- Jerzeleh was a kitten at the time -- was sick, and really needed help, and she couldn't do it yada yada yada.  This time, for no reason I can figure out, I said yes.  

So one night after work, her brother came and gave me a box with the kitten inside.  There wasn't a peep out of him during the 15 minute drive back to my house, and I really wondered if he hadn't croaked there and then.  But when I opened the box, I saw he was still with us, although it was very obvious that he was sick.

Joe eating as he hangs off of the drainboard. 

I took him to the vet at the first opportunity, had him examined, tested for feline leukemia and feline AIDS, the whole nine yards.  A day or two later, I get a call from the vet who tells me that he tested positive for feline leukemia, and should be put down, "You can bring him in now, if you have the time."  Only once in my life did I ever feel as bad as I did when I hung up the phone.  

I hugged him and told him he was a very good boy, and I loved him.  When we got to the vet, he must have really charmed her, because she changed her mind (or maybe she just remembered something from her training that she had forgotten...).  Because he was so sick, it was possible that the blood test showed a false positive, and if he could throw off the infection(s) he had, it was possible that he was really OK.  So he was pumped full of antibiotics, and within a few weeks he was just fine.  And insanely affectionate.  Every five minutes, he'd be on my lap, and then he'd get up on his hind legs, put his paws on my shoulder, and rub his face all over mine while purring. 

We went back to the vet about 6 weeks after the first appointment, but the vet told us it was too soon to test him.  Then we went back two months after that.  Jerzeleh was the happiest little thing you could imagine, and so I was sure he was going to test negative.  

But he didn't.  She said he had feline leukemia, and although he looked good at the moment, sooner rather than later he would succumb.  

He had five good years, and although on some level I feel like I failed him, I think back to how affectionate he was, and I have to conclude that the level of affection he displayed meant that he was grateful that he'd been spared, and did get to have a life with someone who loved him.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

skirting the issue

Yesterday at the upscale brother of MVFTS (see 2010 posts for what this stands for), where I rarely find anything this worthwhile, I found this:


An early 1970's silk maxi skirt with a print of wild cats, made by Calypso of Bermuda, AND...
 a Vested Gentress maxi shirt, googly-eyed schools of fish print.

Like most vintage mavens, I love Vested Gentress prints.  Back when I started a'wheelin' and a'dealin', they were fairly easy to find, especially when you consider that Philly is close to Valley Forge, where the company was based.  I'd get at least five or so per year.  But this is the first one I've found in at least five or six years.

Monday, March 12, 2012

the very very very BEST IN THE ENTIRE KNOWN UNIVERSE

'Best what?,' you ask, both puzzled and intrigued.

Best ice cream.
"Pssht," you say.  "That's just your opinion."

Well, know this: I know ice cream. 

I was raised in a household where ice cream was a RELIGION (that and Christianity), and I know whereof I speak.

Halo Farm ice cream, which I discovered about 10 years ago, has NO competition, delicious-ness wise.   

Ben & Jerry?  Puhleeze.

Haagen-Dazs?  Don't make me laugh.

Breyers?  Close, but no cigar.

Cornish ice cream, which I was told on my 3-month Penn State-sanctioned trip to England a gazillion years ago, is famously wonderful?  Nope.  (Rather, it's one of the few edible things you can find in Old Blighty.)

You can find Halo ice cream, and Halo milk, which is graciously donated by cows whose milk is 100% free of all those cockamamie chemicals other milk producers put into members of the bovine community --  and Halo other stuff at three locations:

The Halo store on Spruce Street in Trenton, NJ (or maybe it's Ewing, NJ), but it's practically Trenton.  It's next to the Trenton Farmer's Market and is open from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm.  They also have two Halo Pubs in nearby communities.  I guess you can Google 'em.

Just thought I'd share these important facts with the world. 

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

heavy metal

Sterling silver, to be exact.