the Tuesday Song of the Week

Had a busy and tiring week, so I dinna have the chance to put anything between last week's Tuesday Song of the Week and this week's. 

Anyway, here's a very excellent one for New Year's Eve:

'I'm Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight' - The Atlanta Rhythm Section

the Tuesday Song of the Week

This was a difficult choice.  

I've already given you Christmas content, sort of, and I don't want to overdo it.  

Nor do I want to underdo it, by giving you just some throw-away song that caught my passing fancy.

Hmmm.

OK, here's what I'll do.  I'll give you a centuries old Christmas song, a newer classic (which other people roll their eyes at, but which I think is really sweet) and something that has nothing to do with Christmas.  

The Holly and the Ivy

Like 'I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,' this one is so beautiful it always makes me cry.

Future generations will puzzle over this.

But you have to admit it's kinda cute.

This AWESOME song almost never gets played on oldies stations.

They should wise up.

'Mr. Dieingly Sad' - The Critters

new not new stuffs

Including...

this loverly and rather large wall pocket I got at Cedars 'Up Country flea market' back in the summer.

Eons ago, I used to sell at Cedars, but slowly the market was taken over by

people selling crafts and secondhand kids clothes, etc., so it wasn't worth it for me, but they still do have at least half the vendors selling antiques, so you should go some time. 

I don't remember where I got this, which is odd because it's soooo

beautifully done.  (And looks WAY better in person.)

I think I got this in a box lot at auction.  

It's pressed glass, but it's still very pretty, I think.

Got this carved coal tree trunk at the Philly Flea in October from a guy who had four tables of stuff FOR A DOLLAR.  I see him at auctions now and then.  He goes for primitive stuff (and often outbids me on it).  Between my hubs and I, we bought $15 worth of stuff on his table.  So far I've tripled that.

Which is nice.

I've got ...

ivory.

in umbrella handle form.

bowling

New old (and very old) bowls.

Isn't this pretty?

This is a nappy, but also qualifies as a bowl.

It's GORGEOUS in person.

Lastly, an eminently kitsch-lectible lacquerware souvenir bowl 

from Las Vegas's Golden Age.

vintage mystery advertising

First, I assumed that this began life on the back of a Studebaker that had been purchased from A. O. Smith Motors, 'go the Smithway!' yada.

Then I find out that A. O. Smith is a big company that makes stuff like hot water heaters and that.

See, this is why I love what I do.  I learn stuff like this.

the Tuesday Song of the Week

I learned something new yesterday, to wit: hot chocolate made using soy milk and stevia a) smells like cereal and b) is undrinkable.

Which brings us to:

Hotta Chocolatta - the DeJohn Sisters

I discovered this catchy song when I bought my house.  The house was in the same family since the early 1930s, and the last family member who lived here had checked out, and the brother who inherited the place just wanted to be rid of it.  

So I got it cheap, with EVERYTHING in it left behind: clothes, furniture, housewares, a piano,... even the food in the refrigerator.

And records.  Lots and lots of 45s from the 1950s.  Hotta Chocolatta was one of the records, and I could play it on my Crosley piece of Xx%!!xx.

Not to be ugly, but Crosley turntables, and their turntables that you can make MP3s on, etc. etc. etc. are not worth even half of what they cost.  I know because I had one, and then when that died (way sooner than it should have) I bought another, which lived to 2.5 years, even though barely used.  If I had wised up the first time, I'd have saved myself a few hundred dollars.  

latest ashtrays

For your interest and edification:

The props master for Mad Men would be ALL OVER THIS, I think.

Not shoes.

The Payless Market one is not rendered in the style I prefer (the Miami one is), but the price was right.  The Payless Market was/is located in Fresno, California.

One of those famous Atlantic City restaurants from back in the day.  

Hopefully someday I'll have one for you from Zaberer's (a funny story comes with that)

and also one from Captain Starn's.

Once I was on one of the pointless drives I used to do with friends.  We were in Chester County, and got the idea, 'Hey, let's go to Gettysburg!' while a) having no idea how to get there, and b) not having a map and c) GPS had not yet been invented.

We got as far as York before I gave up.

This one puzzles me.  

Once there was this teeny tiny Wolf Furniture store in my nabe - only slightly larger than your average water ice stand.  Then they moved to Rising Sun Ave, and bigger -- but not much bigger -- digs.  And now they're on Bustleton Ave. in a much larger - but still not huge -- store.  What's puzzling about that?  Well, there's this large-ish chain of furniture stores called Wolf (as you see above).  They're also based in PA, but apparently have no relation to the Wolf I'm familiar with.  

'Lee Agency' will be my punk name for this week.

Come for the skiing, stay for the smoking.

This is how good God is

Last Saturday afternoon, my husband called me to the backyard to see this little blue parakeet, who obviously had gotten lost from his home.  

It was cold and I was PANICKED.  'Oh, Lord, please please please please please don't let that little guy freeze to death please please please please or let us catch him please please please please.'  

I ran into the house and posted in the lost and found section of Craigslist 'There's a blue parakeet in my backyard.  If your's, you've got out come ASAP!!!!!!!'

Saturday night was going to be in the 20s, temperature-wise, and I didn't dare hope that the little bird made it.

But make it he did.  (I later learned that the color of the nose indicates he's a she.)  Later on Sunday there was a big-ish snow storm, and again I was pleading with God, 'Please please please...'  

And the little bird was in the yard EVERY DAY THIS WEEK, even though the temperatures at night have gone into the teens.  

I'm still hoping to catch her, because I have a friend who has birds and is willing to give her a home.

Thus far, she's hanging with the sparrows I feed, and they seem to accept her.

Last week's finds

Some neat finds last week, including, but not limited to...

What I found Monday at Philly AIDS Thrift:

two large pieces of Gaston Y Daniela's AWESOME and oh so Fortuny / Venetian fabric, entitled Las Esfinges (i.e. The Sphinxes)

  

 Then this nifty 1970s novelty print of old-timey architecture and new-timey cartoon of

a travelers checks window

And THREE Lefton bunny rabbits

And a nifty vintage T-shirt for the hip hipster type

Then on Wednesday (I think it was Wednesday) I was at the Sal on Torresdale Avenue and got: 

History's widest vintage purse by Ingber

I got some other stuff, too.  A vegetarian cookbook (the hubs and I are all about that now), and one other thing which I don't remember.

Friday I went to the Sal up on Route 1, and got:

three old skinny ties

A very pretty shabby chic wooden tray

Ivy Spivington and Lester examining the very pretty shabby chic tray.

 And a cotton blouse with a print of beets AND little beet-shaped buttons.

This fits me and I might keep it.

the Tuesday Song of the Week

I don't like having back-to-back Tuesday Songs of the Week. 

It makes it look like I'm not working hard enough for you, my audience.

This week, though, I'm giving myself a pass because my kitchen got a little renovation, and in order for the renovation to commence, practically all the kitchen ended up in my living room.

I realize this is a plane wreck, but it looks a great deal like my living room at the moment.

So my living room and, by extension, my life and business are a MESS, and therefore I have to pay more attention to that this week, especially since when tripping over a significant part of the chaos, I almost fell onto Lester.

He's just chilling atop my desk.  He's perfectly fine.

Anyhoo, you're getting not a song, but a hilarious (if you're from the City of Bothersome Love) riff on Christmas songs sung in the local accent.  

the Tuesday Song of the Week

Welcome to the first Tuesday Song of the Week that I don't actually like.

'I Will Follow Him' - Little Peggy March

or as I refer to it 'The Stalking Song.'

I wanted something where the singer sounds the tiniest bit unhinged, as Ms. March does towards the end of the song.

Why?

Because I am being driven freaking INSANE by the inescapable and unhackable Christmas music that every single retail outlet insists on torturing the public with at this time of year.

The last straw was last evening at the supermarket where some light of singing ability songstress was piped through the sound system with her breathy version of 'Simply Having a Wonderful' yada yada.  I honestly thought that the top of my head would come off.  

I get that marketers will swear long and loud that fostering 'the Christmas spirit' among the sheeple will reap rich rewards for their clients, but as for me, it makes me LESS likely to buy anything I don't actually need.  

favoritism

I love Etsy.

I really do.

However, what I don't love is the following.

Above is a huge bee I took a photo of on the day that happened to be my second wedding anniversary.

I favorite bees.

There are what are called 'teams' on Etsy, which are groups of like-minded and/or like-merchandise-selling vendors.  I'm a member of a bunch of vintage stuff-related teams.

Similar to the above, but not really, if you can follow that in any way.

Some of the teams insist that you 'favorite' your fellow team members' stuff.  I think it has something to do with exposure, but...   

I LOVE Grant Wood's landscapes.  If he was alive and on Etsy today, I'd favorite all his stuff.

the exposure I'm getting is just among other people in the team.  What this exposure leads to is not sales, but tons and tons of favorites in my feed.  

When this first started happening, I thought, 'Ooh, people like my stuff.'  Then I started to recognize user names, and even though DipsyDan favorited every single thing I posted, he was not forthcoming with purchases.  Nor were ChrissieandAshley who seemed to be similarly awed with my stuff.  Fast forward to now, and I'm familiar with dozens of user names, all favoriting stuff they've barely even looked at, let alone gone to the listing of.

If I sincerely like something, think it's interesting, whatever, I favorite it.  Otherwise, I don't.  Nothing personal.

I'd love to post "If you're not interested enough in one of my items to actually look at the listing, please don't favorite it.  Otherwise, all you're doing is clumping up my feed."

I realize most of you have no idea what I'm talking about, but maybe some Etsy-er will see this, and get what I'm saying.

vintage Christmas gifts for dog people

We have some barkingly awesome retro for the dog lover:

vintage Christmas gifts for cat people

I gotcher cat stuff right hyar, I do.

(My hubs sometimes talks to me in this seethingly cornpone accent that would make even Junior Samples roll his eyes.)

Anyway, cats...