for when you feel the need to get in touch with your inner...

...heedless young modern aka 'flapper' circa 1925

yet another

steampunk-ey dragon candleholder!

S

Skeery, ain't it?

Lefton bunny rabbits

We had two of these when I was a kid.  My mom would put them out for Easter, along with a bowl full of fake grass and ceramic Easter eggs.

  Aren't they sweet?

vintage ties for contemporary guys

the four feathers, plus nine or ten more

 the almighty flames of sartorial awesomeness

 I want some grey and white goo for a blue lady

like an Indian blanket in necktie form

Listen, my children, and you shall hear...

tropical beauty in necktie form

Sal finds

There are two Salvation Army stores within 20 minutes of where I live, and one more I stop at when I'm in the Lambertville area.

The store closest to me is usually the best for finding 'finds.'  The one a little further away is hit or miss.  Most often miss.  And the one near L'ville is usually somewhat awful, but has been slowly improving.

Like, I was there yesterday, and found this:

Victorian milk glass vanity box and matching tray

 and this: 

circa 1918 souvenir shoe from Long Branch, NJ

And from the local one that's not as good as the other local one:

circa 1930's German hand-carved 'kissing' figural napkin rings

Neat, huh?

new old fashion

I'm being inundated with omigosh-ally awesome vintage clothing.

Some of the most awesome is still in my car, but here's some of the stuff that's made it out:

a relic from the Golden Age of Unique and Unusual Sweaters, i.e. the 1980s.  This'n is one sweater, but it looks like two.  

circa 1970 dress for the school girl or hotter than usual secretary

circa 1980 silk blouse by knockoff king Jack Mulqueen.  Very Downton Abbey.

Adorable early 1970's secretary dress with mushroom print

pink! kid gloves

early 1980's prairie dress.  Ralph Lauren made his name with this style, although this is not a Ralph-made dress.

Thai silk hostess gown.  Nobody makes these anymore.

soft leather boots for the trainee pirate.  probably from the 1980s.  

Democracy in action

I don't have any new pictures to show you because I dropped my camera, and it died and  went to Camera Heaven.  But because I know you enjoy pictures, here are some for you, an amateur (like, very amateur) photo essay from an Obama rally I attended in October of 2008.  Held on Frankford Avenue in the Northeast section of the City of Bothersome Love, it featured the man himself.  I heard, but never saw him, because there were approximately 72,894,500 people there. 

See how many you can count!

There was heavy security because in the City of Bothersome Love, we're known to use articles of our famed junk food culture as weapons.  (Honest.  A buddy of my brother's, who became a cop, was working a demonstration, and was assaulted by a nun brandishing a hoagie.  True story.)  

I was not armed with a hoagie, a cheesesteak, a soft pretzel, water ice, or a buttercake, but what I did have was a Victorinox penknife attached to my housekeys.  I had never used the knife, except for nail emergencies, and yet it was seized.  Like, yeah, I was gonna have no problem getting through all those bodies, and at 5'8" and 150 would have no trouble overpowering the Secret Service, and going all Chechen widow on Mr. Obama.

More outrageous than the fact that they seized it was that when the rally was over, and Mr. O. was safely in the vehicle that would take him to his next appointment, they wouldn't give me my penknife back.  For that, I cursed each and every one of them to the tenth generation.

Here's the demographic breakdown of the attendees:

Irish-Catholic mom-moms...

hipsters...  (Note that these had to have been bussed in from Northern Liberties.)

Jewish nerd boys...

Non-Jewish nerd boys tend to vote Libertarian.

Former customers of mine... 

I don't recall actually selling this lady anything, but I used to see her shopping at the Golden Nugget Flea Market.  For a long while I had a beautiful cabinet card photo of a lady, circa 1880.  This wasn't one where the gal is just sitting in a chair, looking stone-faced.  It was really exceptional.  And every time the above lady came to my table, she would ask the price of the photo.  I wanted $10 for it, and this was one of the rare instances where I refused to take less.  She would make offer after offer, and I would decline and decline.  I finally sold it online for around $30.

black folk singers...

This gentleman above was singing some song he came up with himself about how and why Obama should be president.  It was very catchy.

Local pols...

I forget this guy's name, but he's still a big wheel in the city.