Put on a Smiley Face

Sometimes you need to smile. I see something every day that encourages a smile to peek through, as hard as it may be. The thing I see is my Smiley Face drinking glass. 

See....wouldn't this make you smile?

I have a set of Smiley Face drinking glasses. Actually, I have quite a large set, probably at least a dozen....maybe more. Most of these vintage glasses are packed away in the back of a cabinet in safekeeping for that moment when I become all thumbs and break one of the 6 that currently occupy a prominent place in my glass front kitchen cabinet.

I cannot remember what came first in my Smiley Face collection, the first set of drinking glasses or this........

....a glass ceiling light cover with a white frosted background and bright yellow and orange Smiley Faces staring down at you. We've had it for years. Are you smiling yet?

Would saving money make you smile? Try depositing your change in this big yellow ceramic Smiley Face bank, which is a recent addition to my collection. If you fill this bank up, you should be smiling!

If your smile gets turned upside down and you happen to shed a tear, perhaps plucking a tissue from this Smiley Face tissue box holder (the newest addition to my collection) would help you dry those tears and put on a happy face.

I hope looking at my Smiley Face collection helped you SMILE!!

The Shrine of Wooden Utensils

I guess this is the beginning of a collection (THREE ..sets in this case.. would Make A Collection). Today I found the wooden spoon & fork set on the left at the Goodwill Where Things Go To Die on Poinsett Hwy. I scooped them up and brought them home to live with the set on the right that we bought in 1972 for my parents while we were in Hawaii during my husband's R & R. Since I don't have three sets, and the centerpiece is a sacred heart cross, I guess this is more of a shrine, huh?

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee Clock

About two weeks ago we went to an estate sale where I found a clock to add to my clock collection. The price was right, only $2.00. However, the color was all wrong and it needed a little fixin'. Besides the awful blue color, do you see anything wrong?

My cup clock was missing it's saucer. I found a picture to show you what it should look like. When this clock has it's saucer, it can either stand on the counter or hang on the wall. Here's a "complete" clock.

Since my clock was missing the saucer, it really needed to be replaced. A trip to the local hobby store produced just the piece to make the repair, an unfinished 7 inch oval wooden plaque. The plaque had a beveled edge, so I could turn it upside down to replicate the upturn on a saucer's edge. Then I had to decide where to draw the line....the line to guide my saw to flatten this plaque on one side so the clock could hang on the wall when the new "saucer" was attached. I sawed off about a third of it. Then I had to drill holes into the "saucer"to fit the pegs on the bottom of the cup and do a little sanding to smooth the rough edges. 

 

Before I could attach the saucer, I had to paint it and I already had paint the same cream color as the "ear" on the coffee cup. But I still hated that blue color! In my box of paints, I had the perfect color, Really Red! So I removed the clock works and sanded away the blue, and painted the cup red. After proper drying time and re-assembly, I now have a coffee cup clock that I really love.

Now isn't that much better! I'm thinking it's time for a relaxing cup of coffee.

 

Wall of Clowns .... Two Days Later.... with Emmett Kelly

Here it is, 2 days later, and I have now placed the Emmett Kelly clown paint-by-number pair on my "Wall of Clowns". I changed my mind slightly on the placement of these two. Originally, I was going to put one Emmett Kelly above the Bozo clown puppet and the other below Bozo, but the one below would just be too low. So, I thought I'd post a photo of the final product. Final, that is, until I run across the next clown wall art! Here's how the wall looks now.

Clown Paint By Number Paintings & Emmett Kelly

A trip to the local Salvation Army Thrift Store was a success for me today. I didn't think I was going to run across anything, but my eyes wandered to the far wall behind the books and furniture. There I spied not one, but TWO framed pictures that required a closer look!

Off I went, only to find I was a bit too short to reach them. Well, really shortness wasn't the problem. The problem was the table and 2 boxes containing a various, jumbled mess of donated picture frames. The last time I was in this store, the table was there, but it appeared the Salvation Army store workers had been "unloading" the warehouse by the boxful! Not to be deterred, I scooted and scrunched and inched my way toward the wall. Finally, just by the tips of my fingers, I could edge the two pictures down for a better look. All the while I was thinking and hoping that the worker who priced this pair did a decent job and didn't think the paintings were "Louvre" quality and deserved a price tag to match!

I was in luck! The person who "painted" these paint-by-number clowns did a decent job, and they also liked them well enough to take them to a frame shop to be framed. The frames did have a few "bruises" and some dust, but overall, I was very pleased with the pair. Now, for the determining factor...the price....was it "too pricey" or "just right"? At $2.99 each.....the price was "just right"!

I have no way of knowing for sure that these paint-by-number clowns are, indeed, Emmett Kelly, but it sure looks like him to me. So I'm just going to call them "my Emmett Kelly's". 

Since I really like Emmett Kelly, I thought you might enjoy this video of Emmett appearing on What's My Line? TV game show on March 11, 1956.

I've already decided on the placement of the pair on my already full wall of clowns. One will go above the clown puppet on the right and the other just below it.

If you want to see more about my clown collection, be sure to check the Blog Archive in the right hand column.

Cheery Clown Surprise

Now isn't this a cheery clown? 

He doesn't look creepy at all!

This water color painting is the newest addition to my clown collection. It will soon be hanging on the wall with all my other clown art. 

The greatest thing though?? The artist. Here she is. Julia.

She is my best friend and has been since our days in Junior High.

Julia thoughtfully painted this cheery clown as a surprise for me. She recently started taking some art classes and, from what I have seen, there's been a hidden talent lurking in her all these years! 

Thanks Julia, for the painting and for your friendship.

Here is my collection after adding the Cheery Clown water color and my vintage Bozo hand puppet.

Creepy Clown Chair

What else can I say? It looks creepy to me. My son found this kid's clown chair this past weekend while on a thrift store outing, and he just "had" to get it for my collection. I like that my son cares enough to bring me an addition to my collection. Does it seem weird that he thinks of me when he sees "creepy clowns"?

From the inscription engraved on the underside of this chair, you can see it was lovingly constructed and painted by "Gramps" in 1982 for a little boy named "Travis". I'm sure Travis liked this chair.....unless his mom decided it would make a good place for him to take his "time-out's" for misbehaving! Maybe that's what makes this clown seem creepy!!!

I don't know yet where this creepy clown chair will sit in my house, I'm sure I'll find the perfect place. Should I place it in a corner? And if I do, should it face toward the wall?

You can see more of my clown collection HERE, HERE, and HERE.  

Clowns, Clowns and More Clowns

 

This tray puzzle is of clowns from the 1950s television show "Big Top". I remember watching it and I had a puzzle like this one as a child. You can read about it at CLOWNS - My Fear and Fascination, a post about my relationship with clowns at my first blog. Little by little, clown art found its way to me and I had a collection. More than three...right?

So I decided to display what I had. After hanging them (as seen above), I found the tray puzzle. A while later, my son and daughter-in-law brought me a large clown watercolor they found at a thrift store when on vacation. Then, a little over 2 weeks ago, I found another huge clown painting you can read about here. My small space in our computer room wouldn't hold my collection. Pieces were stored away. I would tell myself...."I really need to do something with all my clowns".

SO .....I DID! Finally. Two days ago I got a frame for the tray puzzle. It was the wrong color....or rather a color I didn't like. I found some craft paints and mixed my own color and painted the frame. Then I waited for paint to dry. Boy, that takes a while! When it did dry, I framed the puzzle and was satisfied with the result. Then. yesterday I spent a while arranging & re-arranging my various clown "art" on the floor, until I got an arrangement that I liked. Next, I got my tools....hammer, nails/picture hanging thingys, laser level, stud finder, pencil, yardstick....and commenced to marking & measuring & hanging all my clowns. 

My clown collection is now in my den and it covers a large portion of one wall. It's quite a lot larger than it was, now that it was all gathered together. Here's the final result.

 And here it is from the opposite end. I would need a panoramic camera to get a centered picture!

Now I have plenty of wall space....you know...just in case another clown finds its way to me!

A Clown with Many Faces

Today I found a beautiful, nicely framed oil painting of a clown at a local Goodwill store. Actually, the painting had not made it all the way out for display. It was in a cart with other merchandise that was being shelved. I didn't see it, but I am glad my husband did. 

The picture above is only part of the entire oil painting. The full canvas measures about 20" by 24".  It is signed at the lower right "K. Howard". I tried some searches, but couldn't come up with any particular artist by that name. My husband and I joked that maybe Ken Howard from the old 1978–1981 TV series "The White Shadow" had decided to paint clowns. Probably not. I do thank whoever K. Howard is for painting this clown and also thank whoever decided the painting was going to "my" Goodwill store!

Here is the whole painting.

The camera flash made places on the clown's suit appear sparkly when it really isn't. The frame has a couple of places in need of touch-up, but this was a great find. At a price of $6.00, I just couldn't pass up adding it to my clown collection, which you can check out at CLOWNS - My Fear and Fascination.

I am not good at interpreting artwork, so I am not sure of the meaning of the clown's solemn look or the other happy faces, which appear to be the same clown sans makeup. I just know I loved this painting at first glance.

Now all my clown artwork will have to be re-arranged!

Mr. Bingle 2011 Arrives!

 

Jingle, Jangle, Jingle....it's time for this year's Mr. Bingle! 

Try as I might, I could not resist. In South Carolina, Mr. Bingle is not to be found. Most here probably don't know who he is, but I do. 

October rolled around and I knew stores would be putting out this year's Christmas items soon. I waited patiently, checking the New Orleans Dillard's website every few days for Mr. Bingle 2011 to make an appearance. Finally, on this past Sunday, there he was! I slept on it, trying to resist, but he was so cute in his little purple sweater with the gold Fleur-de-lis! On Monday morning I placed my order online and set in for the 4-7 day shipping wait. 

Wait, what's this? It seems that not only was Dillard's prompt in filling my order, but the good old USPS was on their best behavior too! On Wednesday (that's only 2 days) a nice package arrived containing my newest Mr. Bingle!

 

 

So, Mr. Bingle 2011 will take up residence this Christmas with my other Mr. Bingle's from 1987, 1996, 2007 and 2010. You can see the rest of my Mr. Bingle collection at this link. 

It's gonna be a jingle, jangle Christmas in S.C. for me!

Memories of a Timeless Birthday Card

Do you have a birthday card from your youth that's been tucked away for years, but you think of it now and then, remembering that time when you received it? I do and it's the one pictured here. It is one of the very few that I, not my mama, kept stored safely away. It has moved to new homes with me, once with my parents and three times since I married. Sometimes I forget just where I store it, but eventually it comes to the light of day when I do major cleaning, or just decide to see what's stored in this box or that drawer. More often, it comes up in my memory because I have always just loved this card.

I cannot remember for certain what age I was when this card came to me, but I was probably 10 years old, maybe a little younger, and that would make this card date from about 1957-1959. My Granny and Aunt (Daddy's mother & sister) sent it to me. My Granny couldn't sign it herself, she was partially paralyzed from a stroke, so my Aunt Lib signed the card for both of them. I loved my Granny, she was the only one I had as Mama's mother had died years before I was born.

YEARS and YEARS passed....I'm not telling how many exactly! (Though I am sure it isn't hard to figure by what I write in this post!) One day last year, I was in a CVS to buy a card to send to a friend, when something caught my eye....a NEW card that looked like the one sent by my Granny and Aunt all those years ago. I had to have it to compare to the card I had stored away. So home it came with me and into a drawer where I store other cards & would remember it's location the next time my "vintage" card showed up.....and that was today, so here are my two cards!!

On the left is the birthday card sent to me by my Granny & Aunt Lib when I was a young girl and, as I said, I'm guessing it was sometime in the late 1950s. I thought it was the prettiest card I had ever seen back then and I think I still do. On the right is the similar card I found in 2010. The colors are slightly different and the new card is much larger.

This is the inside of the 1950s era card. This card measures about 4 1/2 inches wide and 5 1/4 inches tall when closed, so opened like this it is about 9 inches wide. In this vintage card, the "pink girl" is on the left and the "green girl" is on the right. You can see where Aunt Lib has signed the card on the green skirt on the right.

This is the inside of the card I found in 2010. It measures 4 1/2 inches wide and 7 1/4 inches tall when closed, so the width when opened is the same 9 inches as the vintage card, but it is 2 inches taller. You can see the verse on both cards is the same, but the "pink girl" and the "green girl" are on opposite sides on this 2010 card than on the 1950s one.

On the left is the card from the 1950s, which says it is "A Forget-Me-Not Card", made in Cleveland, U.S.A., and the cost was 5 cents. On the right is the 2010 card, which is an American Greetings card, also made in Cleveland, Ohio. The cost of this new card, some 50 odd years later was $2.79. On this new card is this statement: "Written and designed by our founder, Irving Stone, this card has been an American Greetings classic since it was first published in 1932." So it seems that the "Forget-Me-Not" card company was a forerunner of today's American Greetings card company. I also have to say that Mr. Irving Stone must have been quite a man and I like his style.

The new card is still a pretty card, but my old, yellowed card from Granny & Aunt Lib is "prettier" in more ways because of who sent it and what it means to me. Time to tuck away my "vintage" card for safekeeping, but I'll store the new card with it "just because".

I Say R...Rag....Ragg...Ragg Mopp....Rag Mop!

 

Three might be a collection, but there is only ONE of these as far as I am concerned. 

May I present my very first doll. A "rag doll" whose name is Ragg Mopp

....or Ragmop

....or Rag Mop....I really don't know at all how I spelled when I was that young. 

I also don't know who gave this doll to me, but my Mama wrote in my "Baby Book" that this was my favorite toy. Also listed in that book are my 2 favorite songs...."Mule Train" (by Frankie Laine) and "Rag Mop".

In 1950 "Rag Mop" was a hit song by The Ames Brothers. Even though my childhood memories are not very clear, it seems like I can remember singing the chorus of this song a LOT! I also remember my Mama singing it to & with me. I wanted to find a good video of The Ames Brothers singing "Rag Mop", but it seems there isn't one. This video contains photos of The Ames Brothers and this is their version of "Rag Mop", which I prefer over others.

After all these years, if I even think about this song it becomes an earworm for a while, but I don't mind at all.

Rag Mop's face is painted on oilcloth and is quite faded and worn. Her eyes are blue and her hair is "blonde". The back of her hat IS the back of her head and the hat's frill is sewn on. 

 

The rest of Rag Mop's body is plain old cotton. She is a "thin" doll, sort of flat, only about 1 3/4 inches at her thickest parts.Her feet/shoes are also "built into" her legs. Her little outfit....an ancient "onesie" of sorts.....does come off, so over the years it has been washed, but it's still dingy. The rest of Rag Mop, except for her face, is quite dingy & dirty and I'd be afraid to try cleaning her now.

Rag Mop makes me feel the comfort and love and security of my childhood......before I was aware of "the world" outside my parent's home.

New Orleans Books and Movies

There couldn't be a collection of New Orleans themed books without a copy of  John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces, and our collection is not the exception....well unless having 5 copies of Confederacy makes it THE exception! Yes, FIVE copies. You just never know when you will need to give a copy of Confederacy to someone who has not read it.

New Orleans is a place that is dearly loved by both myself and my husband. Given a choice of where we could live, along with the funds to do just that, we would definitely live in New Orleans. Since that is not a choice, at least at the present, we have had to satisfy ourselves with visits and when unable to visit, with books and movies about that fair city. These books and movies could be fiction or non-fiction and over the years we have amassed a pretty fair collection.

Since I am the "nut" in this household, I have the books filed by author name for the most part. (More on that in a bit.) Our library is in our hallway, beginning with this tall bookcase above. Authors in this bookcase begin with Ralph Adamo and run through Steven Womack. 

A little more than half of the top shelf of this bookcase contains a variety of New Orleans themed books, some containing short stories, biographies, and a variety of other books. The remainder of the top shelf, the second shelf and about a quarter of the bottom shelf contain movies, either on VHS or DVD.  About half of the bottom shelf contains several New Orleans travel books we particularly liked and several New Orleans cookbooks. The stack on the right side of that bottom shelf consists of a variety of magazines and books that were just too tall to fit any other way. The only non-New Orleans book on these two bookcases is the bottom one in this stack, my R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book.

The last bookcase is where I, as the aforementioned "nut" in the household, decided to group books where I had many by the same author. On the top shelf is Charlaine Harris books....yep, the Sookie books...as well as others written by Ms. Harris. I know that her books are not "New Orleans" books (even though Sookie does go to NOLA), but I love reading her books and, well...it's my filing system! To the right on both the top shelf and the second shelf are books by Poppy Z. Brite, who is a New Orleans author, and who I also met one year while at the Napoleon House in the French Quarter. To the left on the second shelf are books by New Orleans author Julie Smith, who I also had the privilege of meeting while in New Orleans. You can get a closer view of Julie's books in a previous post HERE. The bottom shelf is filled with books by Anne Rice (her older works, all the good vampire stuff, etc.)...and she is also a New Orleans author. 

New Orleans author, Marika Christian, has written Phone Kitten, which is an e-book. Her book was the first (and so far the only) e-book I have read. Since I cannot put an e-book on a bookcase, that book will have to remain on my computer. You can read about it or purchase it at booksBnimble or at Amazon.

So, we definitely have a collection here....way more than 3! If you are wondering...we have read the biggest majority of the books (with the exceptions of cookbooks & travel guide which are just for reference) and we have watched the movies and documentaries, too. Also, if you are wondering....this is not all of our books.

BLUE DOGS an Instant Collection!

We went to a few yard sales today and most were not very good. There was one where we came out with armfuls of good "stuff", the Annual Attic Sale at  St. James Episcopal Church. This is a well organized sale that we like to attend every year and we usually find something. This year the selection was great, even 2 hours after they opened!

The very first thing I found was 3 framed Rodrigue BLUE DOGs. Granted, they are huge calendar pages, but they are a piece of New Orleans, a place we love. There was a balled up piece of masking tape attached to one of the 3 pictures. It appeared to have a $1.00 price on it, so I asked a sale helper if that was the price for one picture. To my surprise she said it was the price for all 3 pictures and made a new price sticker. Three BLUE DOGs  for the grand total of $1.00??? I couldn't pass that up and it was an instant collection to boot!

There were other great things we got...some books, colorforms, videos, vintage terrycloth hi-ball glass coasters, vintage terrycloth Santa Claus glass & bottle coasters, a MASH trivia game, a vintage 45rpm op art record case, and a hack saw to replace the one I cannot find....which, I'm sure, will now turn up! But an instant BLUE DOG collection was THE find for me.

No....it isn't a collection, but it is a Popiel No. 9 !

Although I don't generally collect kitchen tools, I found this at a church yard sale today and just could not resist! After all, it's a POPIEL...."But wait, there's more" as Ron Popiel used to say about his Ronco products.....not only is it a Popiel Product, but it is marked No. 9. What does that mean? Uhh....I do not know. I really had no idea when I picked up this gadget, just what exactly it was called or what it was designed to be used for. I just knew I wanted it. 

Unfortunately, my husband found a use for Popiel No. 9 as soon as he took it from my hands....he used it to tickle my sides right there in the church gym! 

Knowing that there had to be some unique purpose for Popiel No. 9, I came home and did a little "Googling". Soon I found that this handy-dandy aluminum gadget was straight from the 1950's, designed by Ron's father, Samuel Popiel, and was intended to be used as corn tongs....or tongs for picking up whatever hot thingy you are cooking. They do seem as though they would work very well.   

In my "Googling" I found that Dan Bentley is a artist who made a sculpture called Poppi and incorporated these tongs into his sculpture.

I don't think I will be starting a kitchen tool collection, and I doubt I'll be adding to my Popiel collection either. I don't have room to store many Chop-O-Matic or Veg-O-Matic's and have no desire for a Pocket Fisherman.

Books by Julie Smith

Recently there was a contest at E-guerrilla (author Julie Smith's blog) to name the best-selling mystery author who did the artwork for Phone Kitten, an e-book written by Marika Christian (available at booksBnimble and also at Amazon.com). Phone Kitten was a fun book to read. I had paid attention to the credits in Phone Kitten and knew this answer....Nevada Barr did that artwork. I entered the contest and I won.

 

 

My prize for winning this contest was my choice of one of Julie Smith's books, inscribed to me by Julie. I chose to ask "Aunt Julie" (not related, just how I think of her because of reading author Greg Herren's blog) if she had a copy of Louisiana Hotshot. She did, and she inscribed it to me and sent it on its way. I received it yesterday and now it is neatly filed with the other Julie Smith books in my collection.

 

I already had an uncorrected proof copy of Louisiana Hotshot (trade paperback) which Julie kindly inscribed to me at the Garden District bookstore one year during our visit to New Orleans. I will be keeping that copy, but am pleased to have the hardcover version to go into my collection of her books. The uncorrected proof copy was one I found on eBay. Julie asked where I got the copy and inscribed it appropriately, as seen in the photo below.

Most of my collection of Julie Smith books are in hardcover. There are 5 paperback books in this collection. They are: Death Turns A Trick, True-Life Adventure, Tourist Trap, Dead In The Water, and Other People's Skeletons. I keep looking at book sales and hoping that one day I will be able to find these books in hardcover, at a price I can afford.

My collection of Julie Smith books is just a small portion of a much larger collection of books written by New Orleans authors and/or about New Orleans. In a future post, I will show you the "bigger picture" of the New Orleans book collection.