Yes, Virginia, Once Upon A Time, Real Men Played Football

Via Traces of Texas, on Facebook:

"Dandy" Don Meredith, quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, talks to reporters in the locker room following the famous "Ice Bowl" game against the Packers in Green Bay, Wisconsin, back in 1967. The game-time temperature at Lambeau Field was about −15 °F (−26 °C), with an average wind chill around −48 °F (−44 °C). It remains one of the most famous games in NFL history." 

Yes, that is a cigarette he is smoking. And yes, that is real hair on his chest. 

SportsDay writes:

"[Bob] Lilly, A TCU graduate out of West Texas, unfamiliar with such brutal weather, suffered frostbitten fingers on his left hand in that game. His three mates on the defensive line that anchored Tom Landry's effective but quirky "Flex Defense" all suffered frostbite as well.  ...

"They might have worn gloves but Lilly recalled that old-school defensive coordinator Ernie  Stautner admonished that such a luxury was for "sissies" and he couldn't have such coddled players on his squad. ...

"While players cautiously tried to navigate a sheet of ice underfoot, an announced assembly of 50,861 fans exhaled from behind faces covered by woolen masks, emitting enough carbon dioxide to remind of London fog.

"Please, Ryan said under his breath, let those of his cameras that refused to die in the cold, continue to work. The crew's remarkable work in those conditions provides the only known extended video from the game. "

"Once the game began, referee Norm Schachter and his officiating crew abandoned their whistles, which froze to their lips soon after kickoff. Instead, they relied on voices and hand signals to control the game. An elderly fan in the stands suffered hypothermia and died. Alicia Landry, wife of the Cowboys coach, is said to have missed the game's decisive play because her eyelashes were frozen shut. ..."

But Don Meredith had the final insight into why the Dallas Cowboys of Old played the way they played: not for the money, or their coaches, but for their fans:

"Meredith, of course, was on the plane that returned the Cowboys to Love Field in the wake of the Ice Bowl.

"I remember the pilot telling us he got word that there were a lot of people waiting for us," recalled Brandt. "We didn't know what to expect."

News reports estimated about 500 sympathetic fans were there to embrace their heroes in relatively balmly 32-degree weather.

"It was the first time Cowboys fans celebrated a loss," Meredith, who died in 2010, once told Michael. "It changed everything about the way we felt about our fans. It created a bond that would never be broken."

Go read the whole article: "Too Cold to Bleed: Why The Ice Bowl Still Resonates 50 Years Later".    

It's the stuff America ... and real football... is made of. 

Author Richard Adams Has Passed Away, at a Good Age

While everyone is talking about George Michael and Carrie Fisher, who both died too young, and ZsaZsa Gabor, who nearly made it to 100,  one of the genuine great minds of the 20th century passed away too. He was 96 years old, and passed peacefully at his home according to the papers.

Richard Adams wrote Watership Down, and Shardik, The Plague Dogs, and other works. While good books for mature juveniles, they are not children's books. Shardik, in particular, seems to presage certain events of today in Africa and other parts of the world. While his stories end in deep surety of hope, they look honestly at the heart and at human failure, and at the quality of redemption.  They should have a permanent place in every home library.

Adams named his daughters after two of the most romantic women in literature: Juliet and Rosamond. He told them bedtime stories,and they asked him to write them down.  A grateful world of readers, past, present, and future, thanks them.

I don't know if people will still be singing Go-Go while watching Star Wars in 200 years, but I think it is almost certain they will still be reading Watership Down.

A Factoid About Donald Trump and Infrastructure Building Projects

From an article about Donald Trump in the Oct 4, 1989 Issue of People Magazine:

"When the city of New York floundered for six years and spent $12 million trying to get the Wollman Skating Rink rebuilt in Central Park, Trump stepped in and did it in four months for $2.1 million,"

Sounds pretty effective to me!

Demonstrating Linoleum Block Cutting And Printing

I was honored to be among those demonstrating how to make art at the "Stars of Texas" annual art show in Brownwood Texas. This is the third year I have been invited to do this and it is something I always enjoy. This year, I demonstrated Linoleum Block cutting and printmaking.

An Evening Of Art And Music: Salon des Refuses

It is that time again! This is the reception for the opening of Salon des Refuses at the Brownwood Art Association Art Center in Brownwood, Texas. The Salon des Refuses displays art that didn't make the annual juried Stars of Texas Art Show. Both are running through the 20th. Do come and see these beautiful works of art. Entry is free, and the quality is top-notch. :-)



At the piano in this video is my friend Debra Mathis.  Debra has CDs of her music available for purchase. She also composes, and is available to create original music for themes and other projects.  Here is the link to her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/music.by.DebraYvonne

Hand Finishing Fine Silver Jewelry: Pre-Firing Phase

In my Etsy store (link over to the left), I sell handmade jewelry.  This video shows a portion of the finishing process that happens on each piece. I also talk about the time involved in making these items, and why an artisan-crafted item may have a selling price that is far above the value of the materials used to make it. Craftspeople always face the challenge of understanding who their market is, and in this video I talk a little about that.

UPDATED: An American Son, An American Sign: Standing Up Against Negotiating With Terrorists

"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little."                                                                                                                                 ~ Edmund Burke.

UPDATE 6/4/14  -  A group of Vets from the American Patriots III% (AP3%) and friends are planning to join Ethan in a protest at 5:00 pm Thursday, June 5th, outside the gate at the Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot. See Facebook Group "America's One Voice" for more details.
~~~~~~~~
Original Post: When I first heard that Bowe Bergdahl had been released, I was really happy. I was very uneasy to learn that he had been traded for five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Prison. Then, my son Ethan filled me in on some of the facts, and I understood that this is not a time to rejoice.  (Pat at SIGIS has a roundup of info on the troubling details)

Ethan Arguello is a former Marine, a veteran who served in Iraq. I have written before about him, and his brothers in arms who were killed in support of liberty there.

Ethan sees this trade, this ransom, as a betrayal of our military, of the good men and women who gave their lives and their bodies for America, and of the Gold Star families we honor for the terrible sacrifices of loss they live with every day.

So for the past two days, and continuing for the rest of this week, Ethan is standing out on the road holding a sign, protesting against abandoning our 200 year old policy against ransom. His hand lettered sign reads "AMERICANS Do Not Negotiate With Terrorists".

Here is what he told me about it:
"Mother, to be honest with you, I'm angered by this just as much as I am and was with my fellow Marines deaths. I'm mourning for every Gold Star parent, the fact that we captured their child's killers then released them is disgusting.  Most of my hurt in my heart is for the parents (Gold Star) of the brave ones that step up to protect others."

Later on, he added this:  "I will continue to be an American in accordance with our Constitution and the ideals of our founding fathers.  Even though Americans are becoming non American, I will continue.  I believe in the enabling of every deserving person to succeed in every effort that they shall embark on.  If they are productive members of society, they will represent the the average hard working American that pulled their own weight and managed their own responsibilities as done before in history.  "

If you happen to be driving along Highway 278 in Bluffton, South Carolina, look for him there.

He said he is getting great support, lots of honks and people yelling their approval. Thank you to the nice lady who brought him a bottle of cold water! People are glad to know they are not the only ones angry about this  - and people who didn't know the hard truth (like me at first), are becoming angry when they find out what has really happened here.

And some pics taken from cars are starting to show up on Facebook and Instagram, with great comments, so he is getting a little "viral" coverage.

There isn't a lot one man can do in the face of something like this. But there is always something. And Ethan is Doing Something on his own, without waiting on anyone else. He is standing up for what he believes, not hanging about to see if anyone else is willing to stand with him.

And that is the kind of courage that makes America, America.

My sons are all three very fine men, and they continually amaze and impress me. Pride in my children is something they have earned by their own actions and lives. Every once in a while, they will each do something that takes my breath away. And that is how I feel right now.

I'm very proud of my American Son today.

The Other Dame Julian: The Mother of Fly Fishing was a 15th Century English Nun

I first read about Dame Juliana Berners a few weeks ago, and I am still enthralled with this quaint little fact from "A Brief History of Fly Fishing":

"The first English book on fly fishing was written by Dame Juliana Berners in 1496: Treatise of Fishing with an Angle, which contained a wealth of practical angling advice and details on equipment. As the Abbess of the Sopwell Priory, Berners cast flies and wrote between prayers. She described the rod as having two parts: a ‘staffe’ or butt, and a ‘croppe’ or top. The butt was made of hazel or rowan, cut between Michaelmas and Candlemas (that is, in the winter), and was six feet long or more."

She also contributed a middle-ages how-to book on hunting, in "The Book of Saint Albans".  For a letterpress printer, it gets better, because the second edition of her Treatise was published by none other than Wynken De Worde, and has never been out of print in 450 years! Here is a link to the full "Treatise on Fishing With An Angle".

Those crazy Medieval nuns! I have always been fond of the eminently quotable  Dame Juliana of Norwich, whose record of her Visions of Divine Love in 1373 remains a breathtaking work of faith in Jesus Christ that inspires to this day. By happenstance, or perhaps the Grace of God, it is also the earliest surviving book written by a woman in English.  I have read her in several translations, and once even started a translation of my own, working from the original Old English.

And now to read about another ordinary soul who surprises and upends our assumptions and the "expert" guesses about the lives of Religious in those so-called dark ages following the Black Death. Something tells me their lives were quite livelier - and perhaps much more like ours - than we have been taught.

Isn't it interesting how different history looks when you let the facts speak for themselves, unpainted with fictional anachronisms or modernised disclaimers.

Letting History Talk For Fun: Reenactments and Historical Demonstration

 In the way these things usually happen, I accidentally started myself down the road into a whole new hobby a few months ago when I did a letterpress printing demonstration in period costume. They say historical reenacting is one of the fastest growing hobbies in the world, as people engage personally in their favorite time period. Meet the newest wannabe American Civil War era civilian reenactor!

Late last summer, I heard about a museum-hosted event in nearby Stephenville, Texas: "By Gone Days on the Bosque". They were looking for demonstrators of old time crafts and life for the annual one-day fundraiser celebrating the post-civil-war period in this portion of Erath County along the Bosque River. Those were true Wild West Days, when the citizens really were  cowboys, outlaws, Indians, settlers, renegades, notorious lawmen, cattle ranchers, rustlers, fence cutters, farmers, and sheep herders.

I offered to show how a wanted poster would have been made, using wood type and my little portable press. They had never had a Printer and welcomed me. My sister served on the board of a local museum in her town, and lent me a dress she had made from a period-correct pattern. She also made me a "pinner" apron to wear. I didn't have a bonnet so I used a hair net and a doily gathered with ribbon to cover my hair. Given the short time frame, I cobbled together a fairly passable outfit (Marjorie, I have not forgotten that I do need a corset :-) ).

I went to the experts in letterpress history: the LETPRESS email list, and got wonderful advice on what to wear and how to approach it. They especially recommended the book "Newspapering in the Old West", filled with photos and detailed information that is essential for accuracy. It is one thing to tell people that women were actively employed in the printing trade, and even owned and published newspapers during that time, but showing photos substantiates it, important proofs for all of us who were educated in the myth that American women "didn't work" before the feminist movement of the 1960s.

I have attended reenactment events before as a tourist, been a vendor at antique shows, and have demonstrated printing as an art form and a modern day craft. So I expected to enjoy myself. I had the BEST time!!!! Paul's back was killing him (two days later was when we learned it really was killing him and the surgeon saved his life - see previous post for details), so I had to go by myself, but it was still loads of fun.

Since then, I have been absorbed in caring for Paul as he recovers, and have been reading up on Historical Reenacting as it plays out in Texas and considering how I can take part. Most groups accessible to me focus on the last half of the nineteenth century (Civil War, Wild West, Indian Wars). Although far from expert, my knowledge about printing and merchandise in that era would make it easiest to take on an impression of a civilian merchant ("sutler") and Job Printer.

So I guess, now,  I am nearing the stage of identifying people in near-by groups to learn about their focus and what kind of impressions their group needs, to see if any would be a good fit. It will still be quite a while before I have freedom to attend events or take an active role. In the meantime I can keep studying, read the various forums, prepare myself and some materials, and start putting together a nice, authentic costume.

Now I am wondering: is there anything I need to know that I don't know I need to know? ;-)

Where Unchosen Postage Stamp Designs Go To Play

This is the coolest page I have seen today: Sheaff : ephemera : Stamp Design.   These are postage stamp designs that never made it through the final approval process. Like hiring, sometimes there are just too many good ones and only one job, or in this case, one stamp. So these got left behind. But they are wonderful to see.

 I am a Rockwell Kent freak - the 37c woodcut angel is one of my faves. The various 42c Edgar Rice Burroughs/Tazan are ALL, I think, better than the one they ended up with - it was truly a homely stamp. The technique used to generate Cochise's portrait is fascinating. And dig them cool cats playing Latin Jazz, down toward the last of the list. 

Save this page to end the daily browsing with & sleep on a lighter note. :-)

Letterpress Poster Printing ... And A Little Wood Type Puzzle Solved

 I've been doing more printing lately. This is the first poster I've ever printed. I am pretty happy with it! It was a give-away for my demonstration at our Farmer's Market - we had a bit of a celebration on the first day of the new Cottage Food Law, and I figured, why not promote the really big event of the season: The Harvest Fair!  The demonstration was fun and I met a couple of printers - boy they must be right that once printer's ink gets into your veins it never goes away,  because nobody gets excited to see my type the way former printers do. It is worthwhile to hold a little exhibit just for the chance to make some erstwhile printers really really really happy! :-)


After I started looking at my little Line-o-Scribe proof press to figure out how to use it for a portable demonstrating press, I remembered a couple of cases of very small wood type that I bought when I was first outfitting my shop and haven't used before. They are small fonts and, lucky for me or I never would have gotten them, were not as desireable at the time for people looking for that large newspaper and poster faces they could print with their Vandercooks. Turns out these are perfect for flyer-sized posters on my press.

 

 Now, here is the wood-type puzzle I mentioned in the title:

A little oddity of note: see that "4" in the lower right (stage right) corner? When I first set it, it was backward! And another small face also had backward - aka not mirror image - fours! I kept turning it upside down to try to fix it, about drove me batty. Then after a couple of days, I looked at the pieces of type again.


Can you solve the puzzle? 


Answer is below,








under the photo...

 

'

'


'

When I looked at the type after clearing my mind, I was able to see that they didn't need to be flipped 180 degrees, but turned a quarter turn.

In both fonts, the number crossbars for the number fours are exactly the same length. Thus, when standing on their crossbars, they look like they are non-mirror-image cutouts.  It was just a fluke that they were all turned
wrong in their case, looking for all the world like they belonged that way!

How a Thank You Note Made My Day

Since the new Texas Cottage Food Law took effect September first, I have been baking bread to sell at our local Farmer's Market. It has been fun, because my bread always sells out and people are very happy to have it! Last week I took some to a small pioneer day event, and sold out there too.

The law requires that we put a label on our foods, and include our address on it. Today in my mailbox was the kindest Thank You note from a customer:

"Dear Friend,
My daughter and I visited Pioneer Day...on Saturday. She bought me a loaf of wheat bread. Oh my, it is wonderful. Had some on Sunday morning with ham and an egg. [here she drew a smiley face]  Made me happy all day. Love it. Thank you for sharing your time and talent with others.
Sincerely, [her name] "

This sweet lady and I do not know each other, so I was doubly enchanted by her note. Little kindnesses such as this add joy to life if we focus on "just for today".

This has given me much "food for thought" about this latest hobby, and the potential for good in the simplest things like real home-made food.

 I am going to miss these kinds of interaction when the Farmer's Market closes for the season in mid-October.

And I will look especially forward to having veggies to bring to it in the Spring!




.

The Author Reviews My Review

There are some good books out there in the self publishing world today. One way to find some of the better ones is to read the authors' own blogs. That is how I came across a particularly memorable story about a thief and a castle and a wizard.....   Author Christopher Taylor (Word Around The Net, linked from my sidebar), approves of my review of his fun chivalrous fantasy novel "Old Habits":

 "I expect to get indifferent, happy, and even insulting reviews, but something I never expected was a review that so completely understood what I was trying to accomplish with my story and seems to have crawled inside my head when I was writing it, which is deeply humbling and gratifying all at once. I wanted to share it with everyone so they can learn more about the book."       

See? Can this guy write or what? Click over to his blog to read the review - and buy the book!

Maybe if he sells enough of this one he will feel inspired to write a sequel! 

Come and See! The Project I Have Been Working On Since January!

In January, my future with my employer went away. In February, I started working on designing silver jewelry, and now am ready to launch.  I've had an Etsy shop for a while to test a few things, but my main marketing  method will be in person at shows and events. The show I will be exhibiting at is a 3-day event that draws about 25,000 people. It should be a good starting point. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. :-)


Here's a somewhat edited version of the press release I sent out to media yesterday:
  
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

Local Artist's Handmade Silver Jewelry Celebrates Texas Wildlowers and Our Christian Heritage             

Announcing Pecan Corner, featuring fine Artisan and Christian jewelry by Tina Howard. Original designs in Fine Silver, handmade by the artist, one at a time, in Texas, USA.    

Artisan Tina Howard introduces a new line of Fine Silver jewelry celebrating the beauty of Texas and our Christian heritage, all handmade in Texas, USA.  Howard is exhibiting in Booth #56 at the Brownwood Reunion this weekend, Sept. 20-22.

Created from her original designs and cast in .999 Fine Silver, pieces in the collection range from a large statement "Matthew 6:28 Cross" with Bluebonnets and Sunflowers, and a figural Oilfield Pump Jack, to a series of small charms with individual roadside flowers: Bluebonnet, Wild Geranium, Primrose, Thistle, and Shepherd's Purse. New designs are being added as Howard creates them.

The artist makes each jewel herself, one at a time. She begins by sculpting a prototype by hand, from which a single basic mold is created as the starting point for each successive piece. The nuances of individually molding, firing, and finishing each piece with a significant amount of handwork assures that no piece will ever be identical to any other.

Howard points out that "My pieces look handmade because they are handmade", and notes that you might find her fingerprint permanently cast into a piece once in a while. Even earrings, because each half of the pair is made separately, will vary ever so slightly from its mate. Howard explains that these artistic details are marks of human craftsmanship which machines cannot produce, and anticipates that you, too, will find beauty in the variety.

Howard is proud to offer jewelry that is completely made by hand right here in Texas. In addition, she purchases all of her raw materials from domestic companies and looks for "Made in USA" on her supplies whenever available.

 Howard's designs can be purchased on Etsy.com in her shop named "pecancorner".

Tina Howard is a native of Oklahoma, who has lived in Texas her entire adult life, raising her family in the Big Spring/Midland area, and spending a few years in Port Lavaca before she and her husband Paul moved to their current town  in 2007, where they live in a tiny cottage shaded by pecan trees.

~~~~~~~

Outside The Box and Working: A Full Service Independent Gas Station

 This is an older, independent filling station. They have a convenience store ("Cheap Smokes, Pop & Snacks"), but that's not the principle draw for their business. It is located on a busy but out-of-the-way road through an older, declining neighborhood in a small town in Oklahoma. Their gas is priced about the same as the other self-serve stations in town. It is 100% gasoline, no ethanol.

The owners, a man and his wife, pump your gas for you when you drive up.  They took my out-of-state check without question.

 

Because they pump the gas, they are VERY fast and my car is filled up & I am on my way "sooner" than if I were doing the work myself.  At 105 degrees, I was able to sit in my cool car while they put the gas in. Last winter, I stayed in the warm vehicle and didn't have to hold that freezing metal nozzle!

An outdated building, an outdated location, an outdated concept.  I am betting they don't have a Facebook page or business Twitter account.

And there is a double line of cars three deep every time I go there. These pictures were taken at different times on different days.

People, THAT is customer service. THAT is figuring out a way to make a living with what you have.

American Free Enterprise is stubbornly alive and well and working hard, despite the best efforts of marketing sophisticates and government bureaucrats.

God bless America, and Americans like these! :-)

Kitchen Sink Band Plays Cigar Box Blues At Common Grounds Coffee House

Every once in a wonderful while, the local blues band "Kitchen Sink" plays at a Brownwood Texas coffee shop (Common Grounds Coffee House and Deli) and we always try to go. We are early-to-bed people so these 5-8 shows are a real treat: live music that actually happens while we are awake and alert to enjoy it!

Kitchen Sink adds musicians from time to time (they are looking for a drummer and bass player), but the heart and soul are a Father Daughter Friend trio: Aaron McNeely, Moriah (aka Rye) McNeely, and Noah Pieprzyza.  They cover an upbeat mix of standards ranging from Noah's gravelly-voiced version of Muddy Waters' "Blow Wind Blow" to Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band's "Blue on Black" in a memorable Aaron/Rye duet, along with postmodern gospel like "Even When The Rain Falls" (NeedToBreathe).

This time we also got to hear an original song: in true old bluesman tradition, Noah took us along on one strange fishing trip with the humorous and toe-tapping "Nuclear Chicken". I look forward to more as they increase their exploration of original music and lyrics. 

Band leader Aaron McNeely sets the tone with his good, strong voice ("Ain't Much Left of Me") and solid guitar. He switches instruments even more frequently than Noah changes harmonicas, and plays them all with abandon. Loved the great covers of "Big Yellow Moon" (especially good timing too), "Layla", and interesting "Tulsa Time/I Walk The Line" medley. 

His song choices show off the band's versatility and he gives each artist continual opportunities to shine at their best.

A gifted vocalist with a truly good voice and a strong range, Rye McNeely can belt out a song like nobody's business. When she sings the Elvis-inspired "Black Velvet", she hits notes that give me chills. I love to hear her sing. Her harmonies with dad Aaron are lovely and melodious, and their voices balance each other well.

Plus the camera loves her - her face lights up any picture she is in. You've heard the saying about taking all the air out of a room? Well, Rye draws all the light in the photograph. Look through the band's Facebook page and you will see what I mean. Agents (and modeling agencies) take note.

Noah Pieprzyza (that is pronounced "Pieprzyza") usually hides - expertly - behind a hand-held harmonica or two. Or three.  As they set up to play "Bell Bottom Blues", he commented "There's a reason nobody plays harmonica on Eric Clapton songs..." and he proceeded to juggle two French harps through the key changes as though it's not unusual to play like that every day.

In true washtub tradition, you never know what kinds of instruments these guys are going to drag out of the "magic Mary Poppins Guitar Case" (as Aaron referred to it during set up).  This time, both the ridiculous and the sublime sounded... sublime.

While the new star might have been Noah's beautiful & haunting steel dobro slide guitar (gotta hear that porch swing on "Summertime"), the "novelty act" proved, in capable hands, to hold its own with the best: an eBay seller's homemade electric guitar made out of a wooden cigar box. Aaron about played the strings off of it and it sounded good!

 Kitchen Sink is a local band and that gives lots of heart to their music. Here's a little taste, a cell phone recording from last year.

The tip jar is out there, and they all have genuine talent, but their big edge at this moment in time is that they are alive and real when not much else is. They are singing live, for fun, in venues you can take the kids to.

They are people who have work-a-day jobs and local lives and families that fill up their venues with cousins and babies and old ladies...everyone goes to Kitchen Sink shows.

That's worth a Hallelujah.

Paula Deen, Rush Limbaugh, Shirley Sherrod: Honest Victims of Infantile Management

Paula Deen testified truthfully when under oath. She was asked "have you ever [in your whole life] said [that word]?"

Unlike the US Attorney General, she answered honestly while under oath.

Unlike the head of the IRS, she answered honestly while under oath.

Unlike the woman our President wants to make "National Security Advisor", she answered honestly when asked a direct question.

Unlike the current or recent Secretaries of State, she answered honestly when asked a direct question.

Maybe that is why she is being villified: the left is outraged that a member of their party tells the truth.

A culture that has renounced Christianity is not capable of forgiveness. A culture that has renounced reason in incapable of rational thought. 

I have written before about this disturbing habit of firing people for short term PR news bursts. It is a symptom of an infantile corporate management that allows immature Public Relations groups to run amok.


Instead of building their own legitimate company reputation on old-fashioned principles like giving customers what they pay for, honoring guanrantees, honestly representing the product, working to produce a unique product that can stand on its own, remaining loyal to existing employees and customers and suppliers, treating everyone fairly and equitably no matter who they know..... instead of building a great company themselves, companies like Food Network  are trading on other people's reputations, rubbing elbows and bragging about Who They Party With, but it is all a shell game, and no one can trust them.

The Supreme Court may have ruled that in law, corporations are people, but they are not human.

And they have no souls.

Meaningful work and the chance to use our talents are among the great blessings God has given us in this life.  They are blessings regardless of whether we get famous or rich in doing them. To make a living is a lovely thing. And good, honest, ethical people who put people and honesty and truthfullness above expediency and PR crap.... well those good people will always come out in the end with happy personal lives because no one can control them. They understand that their joy does not come from any corporation.

Never jeopardize your own soul for any "thing" on this earth.

Who Can Take Your Money? Hmmmm?

Very Funny! Christian comic Tim Hawkins does a great impression of the late, great, Sammy Davis Jr in this so-true-it-hurts parody called "The Government Can". Check out the rest of his stuff too - he has a bunch of music parody that had us all - including the 16 year old in our house - rolling. A good laugh at the end of the day is a good thing!

Victory! A World War American Homefront Collection

Well I had planned to blog about starting the garden, but Pat's latest antiquing "Take A Trip" got me thinking it has been a while since I shared some of my World War I & II "Home Front" collection. So let's do that first, then we'll talk gardening (maybe even Victory Gardening!) later.

I've blogged before about the shop-made toys of the WWI and WWII eras: how Germany and Japan had previously been the source of most playthings, trinkets and knicknacks found in the "5 & 10 Cent Stores", but when war started, those imports were cut short. In addition, local factories all converted to making necessities. So the wartime sources for toys were local small workshops, print shops and mom-and-pop side businesses all over America. 


Here's a cardboard playset called "Forward March". The many little soldiers are diecut standees, and the board opens out as a map on which to array the armies.

The little set of red and yellow ships, tanks, and "Big Bertha" type guns are molded composition, died with cochineal and yellow food coloring.

The carved and wood burned "Tank Bank" has little wheels on the bottom, a place to insert pennies for saving, and it is a souvenir of Victoria, Texas. Sometimes known as "poker work", by using a poker or soldering iron to decorate it, no paint was needed. Electric woodburning tools were a popular Christmas gift for kids & adults for many decades.

That little growling bomber plane is a pinback, probably a bit of sweetheart jewelry worn by a mother, sister, wife or girlfriend of a guy in the brand-new "Army Air Corps", which was the forerunner of today's Air Force.

Ever-popular Jigsaw puzzles reflected hopeful themes during the war, and this one titled "Welcome Home" probably gave a serviceman's family much comfort as they dreamed of the day their boy would return from where-ever  Uncle Sam had sent him. The box prominently features the "Buy Savings Bonds for Victory" advertisement.

The "Buy War Savings Bonds and Stamps NOW" notice is in a deck of Russell Artcraft Pinochle playing cards. Card games were a HUGE source of entertainment in those days, and nearly every family had a card table they could set up to play on. Couples got together and played rummy or bridge or pinochle or Canasta (Canasta was THE game in my family! Anybody wanna play?)whenever they had the opportunity.

The Victory theme was everywhere! These are two of my favorite little items: a spool of thread and a little box of bobby pins. The Victory Hair Pins' "Vicky victory - Hair Aid Warden" (playing on the "Air Raid Warden" who helped coordinate evacuation plans for each neighborhood), and a sewing thread company's mascot, "the Corticelli Kitten" in his own little kitty helmet, with weapon and bayonet, marching off to
serve his country. 

In both instances, the cute themes reflect serious rationing of raw materials as well as manufactured goods and food items: the hair pins were meant to be carried back to the beauty shop for reuse on your own hair, just as we carry our shopping bags today, because "Uncle Sam needs the Steel!", and the Belco thread was a substitute for unobtainable silk and nylon, both of which were being consumed as parachute material for our fighting men.

I keep running out of "blog space" before I get to the books, albums, and paper items in my collection. Oh well, there's always next time!  If you collect Home Front or World War memorabilia, please post and tell us about your favorite items in your collection, and why you appreciate them.

Sarah Palin Goes To The Fair: Inspiration From the Original Midwest Bus Tour

Via Texans for Sarah Palin:




America is the most awesome country! Thank you, Sarah Palin, for telling anyone who wants to listen just how great our everyday world is in the USA.