Those People From The Slides

My Dad sent me a Ziploc bag full of slides that he found in my late Grandfather's things. We have no idea who these people are and so far, I'm not recognizing anyone as family. My Grandfather was a wheeler-dealer and bought and resold everything in the world so chances are, he bought them somewhere and just held on to them. Oh you know...like people in my family do. Ahem. I get it honest. Only three slides from the bunch are scanned so far but here is a sampling of one.




So mysterious, this one. The others are a cute little kid's scene that I need to do some repair work to and one of some sailors on their ship. You KNOW it's going to kill me to never know who these people are - seriously. The slides are in pretty bad condition with scratches and a lot of fading but I can't wait to get the rest of them scanned and see the tiny little worlds that each one holds. I'll be sure and let you see too!

I hope that you all are having a great Wednesday. I'm walking around exhausted today. We were up in the middle of the night, watching the weather reports due to tornado warnings and high winds. I hate, hate, hate being awaken by the drone of the tornado sirens. It's totally creepy. I always take storms really seriously because we have a lot of large trees next to our house. Without my Henny Penny-ing around, Mister Kitsch could more than likely sleep through the sirens and ignore them - thus he didn't wake up when they went off. Nor did he wake up when I switched on the TV to see that the black computer screen with it's automated drone voice was telling us to take cover.

After I called his name a few times without waking him, I decided to shake his arm. The poor guy jumped up screaming and literally catapulted Mr. Kitten Pants who'd been laying across him. I could only watch as that poor cat went flying through the air over my shoulder and landing in the hall with a skid before looking at us like we were out to get him. I'm pretty sure he'd always thought that the broom or vacuum would be his demise so he was pretty surprised at the turn of events. He skulked under the bed with a brush-broom sized tail and wide orange eyes.

After that, we spent a brief stint in and out of the hall closet wearing our scooter helmets and with hasty backup lighting of tiny plastic toy lanterns that we bought for my niece and nephew. Having no basement or storm shelter, we'd cleared out the closet before we went to bed and were now surrounded by it's contents: Christmas decorations. Every time that I heard the house pop and creak, I imagined the authorities finding us like that if things turned towards the worse - the two of us wedged into a 4 x 3 closet  wearing helmets and clutching wee pastel lanterns.  Smiling Santas and crushed ornaments all around us. Mr. Kitten Pants would be interviewed by local news stations and would tell them that we only got what we deserved.

Until next time,
x's and o's,
Eartha

Just a Squirrel Tryin' To Get A Nut

This is a salt and pepper shaker set that I bought from a seller on eBay. Her auction description assures me that Mr. Squirrel is casually riding a mushroom down the road - but I'm going to call this one as I see it and will address the elephant in the room:

Penis.

Mr. Squirrel and his phallic mushroom car were also subsequently and harshly judged by the residents of the Kitschville Knick-Knack Shelf  as well.

He was forced out of town and eventually took refuge just over the county line with others who had been cast out .

Until next time, x's and o's, Eartha

Cirrus

My friend Katrina over at Eclectica Miami clued me in to this amazing video this morning. It's absolutely mesmerizing and I can not even imagine how long it took animator Cyriak Harris to do this. It was made as a music video for a British musician and DJ named Bonobo and he uses 20th Century video stock as building blocks to create this amazing world.

I recommend clicking on the corner of the video where it says "Vimeo" (or here) to make it larger - don't want to miss a thing in this one!



     

I dare you to watch it just one time. Ah-mazing.

Have a great weekend!

x's and o's,
Eartha

Ice Storm! Estate Sale! Kitties!

We had a whimper of an "Ice Event" here in Nashville last night. An "Ice Event" - that's what our local news channel called it as they were predicting Cold-mageddon last night.  Now, don't get me wrong. It was really cold - especially in a house with no storm windows - but it wasn't nearly the ice storm that deserved everyone running to the store for milk and bread like they did. What do people do with all of that milk and bread anyway? French toast? We may never know.

After the tiny bit of black ice had thawed this morning, Lisa and I went up to Ashland City for an estate sale. It was my first time in Ashland City and the estate sale went well. Usually estate sales are jam-packed first thing but there were only two other customers there besides us. The Ice Event had served us well! Here are some of the things that I came home with:



Without good reason: this cat. Honestly, I felt sorry for him. Once I got him home, I felt sorry for myself. I hadn't realized that the darn thing was molting and before I knew it, my entire desk, floor and table were covered in so much mohair that it was as if God himself (with his most-likely enormous beard) had shaken out his electric razor right on top of me.

In other cat related news, the house belonged to a lady who obviously loved kitties. There was a lot of cat related stuff there and unfortunately, the house did smell like a little bit of kitty. I always ask the people holding estate sales if they can tell me about who lived there. I like to know more about the people so that I can appreciate the items that I'm buying even more. I like for things to have history - even if I have to bug estate sale staff to get it. Today, I learned that owner of the home had gone to the hospital and that in the two weeks before she passed away, her neighbor was coming by to check on her kitty. Throughout this time, the kitty was alone at home and most likely, very nervous without his Mom. So, it seems he went crazy doing some spraying. Poor kitty! Admittedly, since I don't have children I often wonder if at the end of my days, will it be just the Mister and me and our kitties....will we be able to keep up with things...will our house go to pot...will the neighbors call us "The Crazy Cat People".... etc.

The estate sale lady assured me that a family member came in and adopted the kitty after the lady died. I felt like she might have been telling me this because I got all weepy faced when she told me about Mr. Home Alone Kitty being without his owner towards the end. Either/or...I immediately went and found Lisa and launched into this rambling conversation about houses that smell like cat pee and made her promise to tell me if my house ever smells like cat pee. Then I went even further with, "Oh no....wait... does it already smell like cat pee??!" She assured me that she hadn't noticed anything in her brief time at my house as I implored of her, "I REALLY want you to tell me if it ever does! You're my lifeline!" as she tried in vain to look at the estate sale wares.  Sometimes, I think it must be really hard to hang out with me.

Or to read the stuff I write. How many other blogs talk about cat pee? None. You know why?  It's disgusting and completely out of vogue.

Besides getting myself a reputation as a desperate goon at the estate sale, I also got:



Try as I might, I can not make a pot look exciting but I was plenty excited about this super clean Club pot in yellow.

I also got this large children's book.

From the inscription inside I could tell that this book was given to the lady of the house back in 1957. I'll do a post one day about the amazing illustrations inside but let's just say that the book had me at this one: 
Dogs and pigs in britches! Maybe I'll tell you one day if the cheese got spoiled or not. 

I also got this book: 


Oh, ho, ho! 
I don't want to spoil the entire plot in case this adorable book is made into a movie but...

At one point, she turns blue!! 
I also got this painting. 

The lady ran a framing shop and had some interesting art around. To me, he looks like a preacher but turns out after reading the back, it's Leonard Bernstein!  Still, he's handsome and he's a keeper.

I also got: 

....because he made me giggle. After close study, he's running at full trot but at certain angles, he looks quite honestly like he's about to lighten his load on someone's lawn. I have big plans for a confectionary creation with this guy that more than likely, you will not want to see.  Also more than likely, expect me to show it to you anyway. I'm pretty sure you all don't come here because I practice the mystical art of restraint and class.

Anyway.. Do you all have big weekend plans? I hope that you've got something good on deck. The Mister and I are going to attempt to build something. I'm also going to scan some slides that my Dad sent me. They appear to be of sailors back in the day. Cha! Cha! Cha! and Ooh La La!  Well, whatever you do - have fun doing it! We'll see you on the flip side!

Until next time,
x's and o's,
Eartha