Happy Valentine's Day -- True Antique Ones

I have a notebook full of valentines and other things one person saved back when you had to write and make your own. They are so beautiful and so sincere. This one is dated 1846.

This one is dated February 14, 1847. The beautiful pink rose is an original watercolor.

This one isn't dated and is signed My Valentine. The area around the butterfly has been cut out in a continuous loop as you will see in the next  photo.

I am holding the butterfly up in the air so you can see the surprise in the center. It will be featured in the next photo.

Two birds holding a ring and the inscription ♡"I am thine eternally"♡. Isn't this romantic?

This one has blue forget me nots with yellow centers handpainted in watercolor. Signed simply Valentine with a whole page full of a heartfelt message of love. 

❤️♡HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY♡❤️

xo

H A P P Y 🦃 T H A N K S G I V I N G

This is my annual post for Thanksgiving

made from a scan from my favorite antiquarian book, 

"The Royal Book of Crests"

The font is Elizabethan Script 

I lost it when my 

Windows PC crashed ages ago. 

This font is called
Jacques  Francois Shadow

it's a free download from Google
Let me know if it's garbled and I will replace it with another universally recognized font.

H A P P Y 🎃 H A L L O W E E N

HAVE A GREAT HALLOWEEN WEEKEND

The history of this image here.

Flower Basket Engraving

Victorian Flower Basket

Vintage Victorian style flowers in a vase engraving. Original from the British Library.

via

Equestrian Paintings by Sir Alfred Munnings

Portrait of Lady Barbara Lowther on horseback by Alfred James Munnings 1878-1959.

The artist himself. Read about Sir Alfred in a great article published by Christie's Auction House in London entitled: FROM WAR HORSES TO ROYALTY: THE ART OF SIR ALFRED MUNNINGS. The short biography includes many more paintings for you as well as one painted in 1954 with Queen Elizabeth. He painted continuously and beautifully up until the end of his life! I love the first one with the beautiful landscape in the background. Enjoy. xo

Lady Liberty Gilded Antique Weather Vane

Lady Liberty still prevails!

Christmas Illustration by Thomas Nast

Christmas decor by Thomas Nast illustrating the poem 'Twas the Night before Christmas by Clement Moore. I have never seen this one and I love the mice not stirring in their cozy little beds. I but have often blogged about Nast and his famous Santa Claus illustration in my collection. I copied this delightful image from @maccullochhall on Instagram, a local house museum across the street from Thomas Nast's house in Morristown, NJ.

Halloween Bat

I probably posted this last year but I love it so here it is again. I took the photo from my antiquarian book, The Royal Book of Crests, and added the text myself. Be safe tonight and don't eat too much candy. I am turning off the lights early and will be watching movies in bed. I voted today and placed my mail-in ballot in a designated drop box in front of a police station. I really wanted to vote in person but decided this way was safer and ever so much easier. Count Dracula would have loved this crest. xo

Best Carriage House Ever!

Best Carriage House Ever!

Photo from Real Estate Listing via GSMLS

The main house in Madison, NJ is amazing too.

Hello, March and A Lamb Cake

March came in like a lamb at my cottage. It was 23° when I thought to look at the weather app on my phone but there's no wind. I was thrilled to see a bluebird checking out my bluebird box so hopefully she liked what she saw and is ready to set up housekeeping soon. Fingers crossed.

Do you have a lamb cake mold? No? There's still time to find one and if you do, here's the recipe. I found a link for this mold on Amazon. Be sure to read the reviews about putting wooden skewers in the ears and neck for stability. Happy baking.

Two 19thC Farm Buildings

These two 19th Century farm buildings or ice houses were partially buried for cold storage before refrigeration and are still useful. I photographed them at a Broker Open House on Thursday. They are lovely and are currently being used for storing gardening items.
Have a great weekend.
xo

Wonderful 19th Century Bookplate

How wonderful. I couldn't agree more. I still think about certain books I loaned out and never got back. I remember one in particular and know who has it but it's a book I can live without. When I was very young, I turned down the corners of book pages and then I quit. It still pains me to think about all those times I hurt a book. via

Happy Christmas by Beatrix Potter

A Happy Christmas to You

The greeting is very faint and Beatrix Potter signed this rare watercolor with her initials only HBP circa 1890. This rabbit family is getting ready to enjoy their Christmas Pudding! See the full-size image and read the provenance ©Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Hello, December

Last December I published a red copy of December page from The Procession of the Months by Walter Crane. It seems like yesterday. I worked outside chopping down tall weeds with my electric hedge trimmers and cleared quite a lot of lawn. It felt good to be outside. This was my third day in a row doing such. Today it's much colder and there is a freezing rain that could turn to snow later. I unearthed my snow shovels yesterday too. Enjoy what's left of the first day of December 2019. xo

Hello Novmber

I posted this image one year ago a tan color HERE. So far, I have posted January through November in Red. The description for the tan one at Harvard can be read here. 

We had a horrible rain and wind storm overnight and I woke up to a tall tree from my next door neighbor's property over the part of my driveway leading down to my red barn and the canopy of the tree with no leaves in my front garden. No damage was done and a tree person said my part of the cleanup will be very inexpensive. It was horrible just after midnight when I woke up to see what was happening outside. And then I heard the crash but could not determine the source. I slept soundly somehow and found the tree when I opened my front door. Power never went off and many people all around me had much worse damage. All that on Halloween night too. Yikes. Hope you didn't have any damage. xo

Royal Crest of a Bat

WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY HALLOWEEN

This is an image I photographed from my Antiquarian Book: The Royal Book of Crests. This must have belonged to Count Dracula. Click to enlarge and print.

OCTOBER, already?

I should have posted this yesterday but I hit the ground running and never stopped. I had my furnace checked out and serviced for the upcoming winter and my generator too. The service man came at 7:30 and I was shocked that my furnace came on when I set the thermostat to the heat setting. I still have my windows open and don't plan to have my radiators cranking for some time.

I am so enjoying my garden claw and the ease it has given me in pulling my tall weeds. It's rather like wrapping spaghetti around a fork. If you ever see one at a garage sale, grab it. It does take a bit of upper body strength, but I have plenty of that so it's not a problem. Men would probably like this tool too.

August 1st + Two Legal Drama Movies

August is a month to try to enjoy in spite of the heat because once September rolls around the rest of the year flies by.

I enjoy legal dramas and two that I have enjoyed on Kanopy are shown below.

Emma Thompson is wonderful. View movie trailer here. I loved the interior design of her London apartment too.

This movie is based on a true story and the legal trial takes place in England. 

Based on the acclaimed bookDenial: Holocaust History on Trial, DENIAL recounts Deborah E. Lipstadt’s (Academy Award® winner Rachel Weisz) legal battle for historical truth against David Irving (BAFTA nominee Timothy Spall), who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier. In the English legal system, in cases of libel, the burden of proof is on the defendant, therefore it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team, led by Richard Rampton (Academy Award® nominee Tom Wilkinson), to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust occurred. View video movie clips here.

July is here. Let the summer begin.

Happy first day of July.

The year's half over.

Merry May by Walter Crane

I am a few days welcoming May. So far, she's has been chilly and rainy. I heard on the news this morning that in the past 20 days, 16 of them had rain. I have had to mow earlier and more frequently this spring than in any other. An illustration from: The procession of the months: the verses by Beatrice Crane; the designs by Walter Crane, [1889]. via Houghton Library at Harvard.