Happy Halloween, Y'all

Some new goodies wee added to the mix. Yay! Treats, no tricks...

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Oh no! Tallulah Mae is turning into a werewolf for Halloween...eek!

Despite her fierce appearance, Were-Tallulah wishes you a very happy Halloween.

(Actually, if you look closely at the last photo, you can see the popcorn that has landed in her mouth...she's an ace at catching it! The previous photos were taken during the waiting phase of the popcorn toss.)

Halloween Week: Tallulah Mae and a Little Friend

"La la la...if I ignore it, it might go away. La la la..."
"Did someone say 'Howl-o-Ween'?

Halloween Week: Jacks o'Lantern

A collection that started out rather modestly but now fills the dining room table. We can't really afford the truly vintage ones, but I do try to buy ones that are made by craftspeople (or even kids...I have one tin can jack o' made by a child)--in other words, we try to avoid the "made in China" label if at all possible. These make me smile.

I was just saying the other day--and here's where I put on my cranky hat ("Get off my lawn!")--that I find rather distasteful the gory/bloody/slasher turn that Halloween seems to have taken in recent years. To each his/her own, of course, but I prefer whimsical/spooky but not bloody/eerie but not gory for my Halloween fun. {Takes cranky hat off, saunters off to find some candy corn and hot cider.}

Halloween Week: Disembodied Hand

Found lying in the gutter: a hand (actually looks like a kid's art project, but in the twilight glow: spooky!).

Halloween Week: Grasshopper Ghost

Look what I found: a ghost of a grasshopper (actually, they molt--who knew?). Fascinating how you can see every joint and exoskeletal plate. Cool, yes? I think so (and kinda spooky for Halloween week).

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Shiny.
Dog.
Lip.

That is all.

Leaf Lights

This is about it for changing fall leaves here in SoCal...this is a liquidambar (or sweet gum) tree. Some of them turn a brilliant magenta-red, and they are deciduous so there is some leaf crunching that happens. While I do miss the orange/red/yellow trees from my old Kentucky home, but I like it just fine where I am...

Toast: It's a Good Thing

What's better than freshly baked homemade bread? Why, the toast you make with it the next day! I baked a peasant boule I'd never made before. It didn't really rise as much as I'd have liked, but I also didn't knead it quite long enough. The recipe said it would be sticky...and it was, too sticky to knead very effectively. Still, absolutely delicious (if I do say so myself!), with a nice holey crumb and a thin but chewy crust. I LOVE bread of all sorts, don't you?

Typety Type

My Hermes 2000 and I got busy and made some gift tags with vintage trim...

Hermes, My Love

I present to you: the Hermes 2000. Ah, how I love thee, my Hermes! Isn't it just lovely?

I got this at an estate/garage sale...well, I got this after an estate/garage sale. I saw it and loved it but didn't buy it (I love all old typewriters but I don't collect them. Ahem). The price was more than right--like, jaw-droppingly right--but still... So I went home and obsessed about my lost treasure. The sale was only on Saturday morning so I couldn't even go back for it. I got out some stationery and wrote up a little note asking the people to please call me if it hadn't sold or been carted off to Goodwill (!). Mailed that on a Monday a.m. and got a call on Tuesday: "If you want it, you'd best drive up and get it--it's going off to the thrift store tomorrow a.m." Vrooom...and it's mine! Turns out it was purchased in in the 1950s in L.A. at Bullocks Wilshire (a place I knew and loved well) so that the lady of the house and her brother could type their school papers on it. And the man of the house had typed his master's thesis on it. A well-loved and well-used little machine.

It's typewriter love, y'all!

This post is part of a "blog party" over on the new blog Flea Market Style--every Monday a blogroll o' folks will be posting their latest flea market/estate sale/barn sale treasures. There are more than 120 blogs playing along, so go check it out if you're so inclined...

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

You know how you walk into a room and you think, "Gee, I don't remember heaving the chair cushion straight up into the air like that...I wonder..."
Oh. I see.
"What?"

P.S. She often does this...she sidles up to the chairs and shoves the cushions up with her head. I don't know why...what a weirdo! A darling and sweet weirdo, but a weirdo nonetheless!

Someone's Getting Ready for Halloween

Santa really wanted to go as Don Draper this year...sadly, he couldn't find a grey flannel suit that fit him. Oh, and the constant smoking and cocktail drinking might have tarnished his image. Mrs. Claus is still going as Betty, though...

Stained Glass Flower

Barbie Had a Lot of Friends

Check it out: Barbie, Midge (that minx!), Annette, Babette (!), Tina, Liza (with a Z!), Polly (probably the teacher's pet), Gina, Babs (she and Babette probably had a bitter rivalry), Andy (Hi, Andy!), Don (Hi, Don!), and last and perhaps least, poor Ken. I think that might be Ken sporting the unfortunate shorts/kneesocks combo...



These were sewing patterns I sold on Etsy...when I think about all of the teeny-tiny stitches required to make these, and the miniscule buttons and microscopic hooks and eyes on these garments, just...wow, the patience of Job. I actually have some lovely hand-made Barbie clothes, myself, made with love (and patience and a magnifying glass, I think!) by Miss Vivi (thanks, Mommy!).

Purple and Orange and Green

Tons of these little airplane-shaped butterflies around right now...they skitter up from low-lying plants and then fly off, often in groups of two or three.

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Hmmm...I wonder what United charges for an extra checked dog?

Blergh

This about sums up my feelings today...

(BTW, these very odd little gals are in my Etsy shop at the moment...click over there at the right if you're interested.)

Japanese Packaging: It Always Rocks

I have been meaning to post these photos for months and months and months (Hi, Dolores!)--would you please check out the gorgeous packaging in which these Japanese goodies come? Beautiful, as always...

The little rice paper packets up top contain (um, contained, past tense) yum-alicious little cookies...and hey came in the pretty box in the second photo. Sweet!

Calavera de Azúcar

Look what I made today! A sugar skull for the Day of the Dead. I made it at a program at the public library--it was me and a bunch of five-year-old kids wielding little pastry bags. The kid across from me wanted his to look like GI Joe. A good time was had by all...

Mine looks a little bit like a drag queen wearing a yamulke, but hey! (The purple foil thing is actually a heart, BTW).

Tallulah Mae approved this message.

Sunset, Moonrise

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Angel. Devil. Angelic devil or devilish angel?

(Actually, she's 99.9 percent angel...the bottom photo, BTW, is mid-yawn--and I have a LOT of these because she is an Olympic-qualified napper.)