The Morning of New Year's Eve

I went food shopping yesterday after I cleaned out my refrigerator and forgot to buy black-eyed peas to eat on New Year's Day with cornbread and greens. Do you have a tradition of eating anything special on the first day of the year? My meal is very Southern - history here.

Easter Greetings

Isn't this how the pyramids were built? Those two bunnies are very smart, knowing exactly how to move a giant egg. Happy Easter! via

Don't even think about getting close to the Easter chick. It's MINE to love and protect. Look closely, baby chick is under cat's nose. Found on Google images.

Antique Fraktur Valentine circa 1800

Valentine
Courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia
Love Letter (Liebesbrief)
Decorator: Anonymous
Scrivener: Anonymous
Creation Place:
State/Province: [Pennsylvania]
Note: Based on design characteristics
Creation Date: ca. 1800

Hand-drawn; hand-colored; hand-lettered. This document is a square sheet of paper that is folded into a star. The text and drawings are on both sides of the sheet. The areas that are visible on the folded paper are decorated with text, hearts, flowers and a small cross. One of the hearts is pierced by an arrow. The measurements refer to the unfolded paper.

Transcription:
1 \ My Dearest Dear and blest divine \
I’ve pictured here your heart and mine.
2 \ But Cupid with her Cruel dart \
Has deeply pierced my tender heart
3 \ And has between us set Across \
Which makes me to lament my loss
4 \ But I’m in hopes when that is gone \
That both our hearts will be in one

Welcoming 2013

Can't think of anything you want to change next year? Try the New Year's Resolution Generator.

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and may each New Year find you a better man." Benjamin Franklin

Merry Christmas - Vintage Images

My own front door Christmas past.

Have a wonderful Christmas and thank you one and all for your good Christmas wishes for me.

Charles Dickens said it best.

GOD BLESS US, EVERY ONE!

Delivering the Egg Nog

I still have such fond memories of the milk man. Nothing today compares to those glass bottles full of fresh milk with the cream on top. Ours delivered eggs, butter, cottage cheese and probably a few other dairy products too. The egg nog at Christmastime was the best! Leaving the empty bottles in the milk box beside the front door with a note in one containing the next day's order was recycling at its best. Now that you can have your groceries delivered to your home after placing an order online, I say bring back the old-fashioned milk man! via

Roast Turkey Recipe by Beatrix Potter

"Pluck the bird carefully and singe all over with a piece of white paper; then wipe it with a clean cloth; draw in and keep the liver and gizard.

Wash the inside well and wipe it thoroughly dry with a cloth.

Cut the neck off close to the back but leave enough of the crop skin to turn over; break the leg bone close below the knee; draw out the sinews from the thighs and flatten the breast bone to make it look plump.

Fasten the neck with a skewer over to the back; run a skewer through the pinion and thigh on the other side and press the legs as much as possible between the breast and side bones.”

A turkey of ten pounds will take about 2.5 hours to cook - a larger one three hours or more.

A never seen before 161 recipe book by Beatrix Potter has been discovered and is up for auction. 

The recipes, which are believed to have been handed down over generations, include sponge cake, roast turkey and curry. The earliest entry is dated 1851 and the hand written cookbook was updated regularly over many years. Read the entire article HERE.

Beatrix Potter's recipe for Ginger Bread

Ingredients:
3.5 lb wheat meal
3.5 lb treacle
12 oz sugar
12 oz butter
2 oz ground ginger
1 oz pounded allspice
1 pint of ale

Add two thirds of the ale to the other ingredients and beat them well for some time then dissolve 1oz of common washing soda in the rest of the ale and add it just before you put it into the oven.

It requires a slow oven - (let all the ingredients except the flour and soda be put before the fire to dissolve for an hour or two.)

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving Day

This vintage Thanksgiving postcard was mailed in 1910 back in the day when all turkeys were free range. I hope all of your dishes come out of the oven and make it to the table and sideboard looking and tasting just the way you hoped they would. Enjoy this day of thanks with family and friends and eat all you want. Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. Enjoy! via

Glad Thanksgiving Greetings

Be safe if you are traveling over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house for a family Thanksgiving celebration. I thought this vintage postcard was unusual and perfect for the vegetarian/vegans out there who will be passing on the turkey but enjoying all the trimmings.

Pearl Buttons

Don't you love this shirt button card? Pearl buttons are my favorite. via

Great Old Halloween Masks

Homemade ones are always the best, aren't they? The Owl and Pumpkins heads are quite wonderful in spite of the girls' impoverished surroundings. via 25 Totally Odd and Awesome Vintage Halloween Photos

London Olympic Games 1948 and 2012

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1809 Invitation to a Pleasure Ball

"While we live, let us LIVE."
I love this quote.

Oh, the excitement of receiving this invitation to a PLEASURE BALL. Miss Lydia Goulet's heart must have been racing at the prospect of an early afternoon dance until an undetermined hour. Would Mr. Darcy be there? I wonder if Jane Austen was invited too? I looked it up and May 30, 1809 was on a Tuesday. How odd, that doesn't sound very exciting at all now. But maybe it was. I can hear Maggie Smith's voice in my head saying...WHAT is a weekend? I guess everyday was a Saturday to a certain class. via

Vintage Memorial Day Postcard

How will you celebrate Memorial Day tomorrow? Parade, cookout, what? Kiss a veteran if you can. Be sure to honor those who serve and remember those who have passed on. Google Images

Cat and Owl Calligraphy - So Beautiful

Click photo to enlarge and you will see that there is a mouse in the owl's beak. I dearly love this folky antique drawing snd handwriting exercise. The fragile calligraphy drawing was produced by the schoolteacher, Jacob Labotz, as part of a series of sketches with poems that he gave to students sometime in the 18th century. via BibliOdyssey
The Dutch text reads: 
"De kat spreekt tegen den Uijl 
Uijl gij doet mijn onregt 
de muis is mijn toegelegt 
Den uijl spreekt tegen de kat 
Kat gij moet weten 
het ongegoste broot word't meest gegeten"
I think there is some sort of dialogue going on about who deserves the mouse.

Serving the Easter Eggs

 

Happy Easter everyone. I always look for vintage images and this is an old Easter postcard I've never seen before. It's a beautiful day here at the cottage and hopefully at your house too. via

Printable Bunny Silhouettes

The graphics fairy has a whole sheet (8 per page) of these wonderful running rabbits in two sizes you can print for your Easter Place Cards or other Easter projects. Download and print here. She made something much more complicated.

While we are on the subject of SWANS

Will it fit? Don't you wish we knew why this swan needed to be driven somewhere? And on the passenger side too! via

Ex-libris with Swans Circa 1907

From A collection of book plate designs by Louis Rhead, Boston, 1907. via

Hierarchy of Punishment

I guess they are all on Santa's naughty list. Wonder what they did? via