Decoration Day

A House Divided  10x8"

Decoration Day received its name from the laying of flowers on the graves of the fallen soldiers during the Civil War.

In 1868 General John A.Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" should be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle.
The northern states quickly adopted the holiday; Michigan made "Decoration Day" an official state holiday in 1871 and by 1890 every northern state followed suit.
The earliest Confederate Memorial Day celebrations were simple, somber occasions for veterans and their families to honor the day and attend to local cemeteries. At its Decoration Day on April 25, 1866, Columbus, Mississippi commemorated both the Union and Confederate casualties buried in its cemetery.
Following WWI, Decoration Day became Memorial Day and has been ever since a day to honour all those who have served in the military.

11 Wonderful Years

Our 11th anniversary today. Thank you Margot

 for bringing magic to my life!

Cinco de Mayo

Celebrate!

It's May, the Lusty Month of May!

Happy May Day!

(Vintage hand tinted postcard, early 20th century)

Marbleized Easter Eggs

A little late with this, but I did manage to get them done the day before Easter!  Found the tutorial on Tim Holtz's Blog. Step by step and easy to follow.  Plastic eggs from any craft store - either the kind that screw open and are shiny or the kind that are matte and look more like real eggs and alcohol inks in a variety of colours.

The results look remarkably like marbleized eggs

 and take hardly any time at all!

The first photo shows the eggs after I applied the alcohol inks, 

...the other pictures are after I applied a coat of matte sealer.

It gives a bit of shine and adds to the effect. 

 If you use the shiny plastic eggs to start with

 you can skip the sealer.

I was pleased with the results - easy, fun and beautiful decorations! 

Happy Easter!

Easter 1890

Easter 1956

Check out the gloves and the sleeves - ever the stylish one!
Happy Easter!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Vintage Valentine's Day!

Happy New's Eve

Wishing a wonderful year full of health and happiness for all!

Happy Christmas to All!

A Jolly Old Elf 11x14"

"And I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight
"Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!'"

The Bells of WWII

One of my favourite holiday poems, 

I can never get through it without tears.

The Bells (1940 version) - Rachel Fields

What will the bells of Paris say

To those who wake on Christmas day

Where the Seine flows on by the buildings gray

On Christmas in the morning?

"Noel! Noel!" the bells will peal

Above the echo of iron heel,

To a city bowed by a yoke of steel,

"Noel for Christmas morning."

How will the bells of Munich raise

Their carols of forbidden praise

For hearts remembering gentler ways

Of peace on Christas morning!

"Once," they will toll. "we dared to play

Good will to men on Christmas day

To men who mock us and betray

The faith of Christmas morning."

What will the bells of London cry

Where death and danger ride the sky.

And men put on their boots to die

On Christmas day in the morning?

"Hail," they will clamor, bell for bell,

"Burn us, and break us with fire and shell,

Still we will answer "All is well,

Take heart on Christmas morning!"

Happy Hanukkah

Blessed are you,  Lord our God

sovereign of the universe

who has kept us alive, sustained us,

and enabled us to reach this season. (Amen)

Ice Scene

When I was a kid, one of my favourite things to do

at Christmas was set up the ice scene.

I loved placing the skaters on the pond

 (a pie tin covered in foil).

And decided where to put the skiers and sledders. 

A few pieces have been added over the years,

but most of it is pure '50's vintage, including several

bottle brush and candle Christmas trees.

There's something magical about seeing it

and realizing that I've been putting it up

every holiday season for over 55 years.

Keeping a precious Christmas memory alive.

Yes, Virginia

Virginia O'Hanlon

Something I re-read every Christmas - what a message of hope and belief.  Published in The New York Sun, in 1897, I am wondrously amazed that the editor of one of the most prestigious newspapers of the time would write this uplifting editorial.   

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West Ninety Fifth Street

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.

Francis P Church - editor The New York Sun

We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

French santon nativity figures from a Paris flea market

Bit by bit the decorations are going up.

I made this angel in second grade, in 1959.

I'm resting after each spurt of energy,

My dad made the church in the late '40's and the red sleigh 

was a junior high shop project constructed by my brother.

and then getting up and doing some more.

Life on the Coast

Last evening was the annual Lighted Boat Parade

here in Morro Bay/  Always lots of fun and a great way 

to kick off the holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving

Vintage holiday postcard from my grandmother's collection.

Welcome Bronwyn!

My daughter Bronwyn is arriving this morning all the way from Missouri. We'll be having a family Thanksgiving a week early, and this year she'll be making the dinner - not just eating it as in this 1982 shot above.

Armistice Day

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Guy Fawkes Day

Gunpowder, treason, and plot!

If you're not an anglophile - here's the whole story!

Decoration Day/Memorial Day

A House Divided  10x8"

Decoration Day received its name from the laying of flowers on the graves of the fallen soldiers during the Civil War.

In 1868 General John A.Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" should be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle.
The northern states quickly adopted the holiday; Michigan made "Decoration Day" an official state holiday in 1871 and by 1890 every northern state followed suit.
The earliest Confederate Memorial Day celebrations were simple, somber occasions for veterans and their families to honor the day and attend to local cemeteries. At its Decoration Day on April 25, 1866, Columbus, Mississippi commemorated both the Union and Confederate casualties buried in its cemetery.
Following WWI, Decoration Day became Memorial Day and has been ever since a day to honour all those who have served in the military.