Come To Mama, Baby Blue

Estate sales are the best, especially when it's a home whose owner was a pack rat. The sales that have oober tons of stuff is called a "digger" sale, because the buyers literally have to dig through the stuff to look through them.

And, it's a bonus when the home is packed with vintage items.

Last time I saw a suitcase like this was in Madonna's Desperately Seeking Susan. Susan's suitcase, however was black with white skulls.

This suitcase belonged to Patricia Louise Bouvier. This is a name I totally made up.

And I'm guessing her flight was on October 28, 1954.

The sale went for 2 days, Saturday and Sunday. These horses were gone when I returned on Sunday.

So was this boat.

This a wind-up travel alarm clock. I wound it up too tight, and broke it.

Sorry.

Can you guess what this is?

I'll give you a hint: it was inside a cupboard door in the kitchen.

It's a mixer! (I thought it was an iron, which didn't make sense, until I took it off it's cradle.)

This radio still worked!

One of the beds was covered with a pile of clothes, shoes, and sheets higher than me!

Digging through the pile, I uncovered this clown.

I don't like clowns, especially after reading Steven King's It.

I'm sorry Clown. Someone else is going to have to take you home, not me.

I overheard that the husband, long deceased already, was a pilot for Pan Am, and Patricia was a stewardess. That's how they met! I found an old diary journaling their residence in Kowloon, Hong Kong in the 1950's.

A lot of the items in the home were from Asia.

Like this candle holder lamp.

And this beautiful silk wrapped box.

Now we're talkin'! SHOES!

Of course I HAD TO try them on!

Fur. Real fur!

In prestine condition!

And then, the treasure find of the weekend:

This gorgeous, baby blue wool coat.

Come to Mama, Baby Blue!

Again, too big for me. I figure I can try to resize it myself. And if I ruin it, oh well, I paid only $5.00 for it.

"Patricia" was a stewardess with Pan Am. Maybe this was the airline's uniform coat?

Sonya liked it.

Look Mama, I think it fits me!

Could you make a coat out of it for ME?

But when I saw this tag...

This tag...

I thought I'd better have it PROFESSIONALLY resized. Then it will be worth oobers! And I can look like a dainty stewardess.

Then when we meet while wearing it, I can ask you "Coke or 7-Up?"

Remember when those were the only choices for sodas in coach class?

Then if you get in the car with me, I'll sayL

"Welcome aboard, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Netty, I will be your pilot for this drive. I have a Garmin GPS unit, so there are no co-pilots or first mates necessary, especially not from the back seats. You are riding in a 1997 Ford Expedition, equipped with anti-lock brakes and automatic 4-wheel drive, and driver and passenger airbags on the front

[Extend both arms with index and middle fingers of both hands toward the corresponding sections of the dashboard]

and side impact bags on either back doors.

[bend elbows toward left, then right side, with fingers still pointing.]

To buckle your seatbelts, insert the metal clip into the cartridge on your seat. The fit will automatically adjust to you. To release, simply press the red button on the cartridge.

This is a non-smoking drive, and regulations prohibits smoking cigarettes, pipes, or cigars inside the vehicle.

We will arrive at our destination depending on the speed limit, weather and traffic conditions, and requested rest stops.

In the meantime, please sit back, relax, and enjoy the drive."

Ding dong.

Secure doors, and cross check.

Christina, China Blue

Estate sales are like treasure hunts. Sometimes you get false gold, and sometimes you hit the mother lode. Last weekend, I struck gold by the name of Seltmann Weiden.

Hello Christina, my dahhhling.

It has the most darling designs in China blue.

Such detail...

The set came with tea cups and saucers fit for royal tea.

The same attention to detail is on the dainty cups and saucers.

She beckoned me to have noon tea right away.

So I did.

Pardon the dirty fingernails. I was just outside, planting grass. I get to have noon tea with proper china without having to wear a skirt and white gloves. That's the other thing I love about this set, aside from the China blue color.

There's No Place Like the Theater

Me: It's Friday, and I don't have plans.

Miss H: just click your heels together three times, and say "there's no place like the theater."

Me: oh my, Sonya. We're not at home anymore...

Tres Leches Cake

The ingredients.

Really, it should be called Cuatro Leches because there were 4 kinds of milk. Isn't whipping cream considered milk?

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 cup All-purpose Flour

• 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 5 whole Eggs
• 1 cup Sugar, Divided
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• ⅓ cups Milk
• 1 can Evaporated Milk
• 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
• ¼ cups Heavy Cream
• _____
• FOR THE ICING:
• 1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.

Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.

Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.

Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.

Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

You'll swear you died and went to heaven! And because you're in heaven, eat all you can, because no one ever gets flabby up there.

These Boots Were Made for Me

What you wear says a whole lot about your character. Boots say I'm In Charge! Why do you think generals wear them? Not because they're super sexy... Well, that too actually. But also because they are actually very practical and comfortable...

When it rains...

When it snows and the air is freezing...

After a day's cross country ski outing...

When I feel utilitarian...

With a cowboy hat and plaid blouse...

With a cute skirt...

When I feel... um, bossy...

Over my jeans.

These boots were made for ME.

Someone's Trash, My Treasure

Garage/Yard Sales are a way of life. If you've never gone garage/yard saling, then you're missing out on a lifetime experience. Literally, a LIFETIME experience.

I picked this up at an estate sale.

Pinking shears.

pink-ing shears (ping'king) pl.n. Shears with notched blades, used to finish edges of cloth with a zigzag cut for decoration or to prevent raveling or fraying.

-The American Heritage® Dictionary

I found a sale stub under the manual for the shears.

Who was Rose Wenner?

Order of the Eastern Star

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Order of the Eastern Star is the largest fraternal organization in the world that both men and women can join. It was established in 1850 by Rob Morris, a lawyer and educator from Boston, Massachusetts, who had been an official with the Freemasons. It is based on teachings from the Bible,^[1] but is open to people of all monotheistic faiths. It has approximately 10,000 chapters in twenty countries and approximately one million members under its General Grand Chapter. Members of the Order are aged 18 and older; men must be Master Masons and women must have specific relationships with Masons. Originally, a woman would have to be the daughter, widow, wife, sister, or mother of a master Mason, but the Order now allows other relatives^[2] as well as allowing Job's Daughters, Rainbow Girls, and Triangle Girls to become members when they become of age.

Rose Wenner was from a time when women and men were separated by what they were supposed to do. Women stayed home to raise the kids, cook, sew, and clean. While men were the bread winners.

Who took the pictures then? The woman or the man?

For those of you who have been sheltered by modern technology, this is not a fanny pack.

This is the great-great-great grandaddy of the camera we use today.

Kodak Retinette 1A

Whose faces did this piece of equipment capture?

What places did this memory catcher behold?

Whose was the eye behind this Retinette's lens?

Ok, so the Kodak Retinette 1A was the lower class nephew of the granddaddy Retina...

But how can you not appreciate the invention of the Timer Release. (That's the little red dot on the knurls under the letter N in Pronto.)

For all you children of modern technology, this is the lever that advances the film.

What is film?

It's that plastic strip of brown transparent ribbon with notched edges, rolled up in a felt lined tube for use in cameras.

So where's the treasure, you ask?

It's the secret hidden inside the box of shears,

and the photos taken by the camera.

Rose Wenner... What would she have looked like through this Retinette's lens?

Now I live another day knowing there was once a Rose Wenner who lived in Twisp, WA, and belonged to the largest fraternal organization in the world. And I appreciate my Nikon D60 more than ever. That's my treasure!