Sears R.I.P.

March 1, 2018March 8, 201819 Comments

Our one and only department store has closed and I am partly to blame. Note I said partly, as the other 99,999 inhabitants in the area are also responsible. It does seem strange that a city of a hundred thousand people can’t support a department store, but that is the reality of the changing retail environment, and it’s not just here, department stores are in trouble all over. Sears has gone bankrupt and closed it’s stores all across Canada, leaving us a nation with just one department store, Hudson’s Bay. The Hudson’s Bay Company was the oldest, established in 1670 as a fur trading post, back when Europeans considered it fashionable to wear beaver pelts, so perhaps it is fitting that it is the only one still standing. Eaton’s succumbed back in the late 1990’s, although it did a roaring trade in the eighties when every city had an Eaton’s Centre mall, back when people actually hung out at the mall.

The Sears store in town had been in operation since 1954. One of my earliest childhood memories was of my parents taking me to Sears to shop for a new dress, (my older siblings must have been in school, and perhaps I was soon to go), and I had to chose between a blue one and a brown one. The dresses were both otherwise identical with short puffy sleeves and smocking, the kind of dresses little girls used to wear before they wore leggings. I can’t remember which one I chose, it might have been the blue, but it sticks in my memory because it must have been the first time I was allowed a choice. Normally my mother dressed my sister and I in identical outfits, or I wore her hand-me-downs. Slowly our retail choices are becoming more limited. Other than Walmart which I don’t consider a choice, plus a few ladies shops for older women, and the usual teen jean stores, the mall is littered with empty store fronts, even the food court is deserted. You could go through it in an hour, while I remember whiling away a Saturday afternoon shopping at one of our two local malls. You couldn’t do them both the same day there were so many stores. Now the nearest department store and decent mall is two hours away.

Yes, I know there are lots of choices on the internet, thus the demise of the brick and mortar operations, and I know the internet is cheaper, but I when want to shop for clothes, I want the thrill of the hunt. I want to browse, see what catches my eye, feel the material, try it on, see if it fits – and I don’t want the hassle of having to return stuff. Someone told me part of the appeal of online shopping (other than the obvious of saving time and money), is they like the idea of having a package waiting for them when they get home, but how many of those packages have to go back, or are kept because the alternative is just too much work. And what about the porch pirates? The delivery guy once stuck my Sephora order behind a flowerpot on the front deck and the $24 tube of Tarte lipstick melted in the ninety degree heat. What fun that was to get refunded. I have shopped online after trying something on in the store if they didn’t have my size. Occasionally I have ordered from L.L. Bean (their perfect fit pants really are a perfect fit), but only because I know my size with them, and only when the exchange rate of Canadian to US money was on par, because we also have to pay customs and shipping when ordering from the States. Unless you really love it, it’s just not worth the additional cost.

I could just as easily have titled this post, The Death of Style. I loved shopping when I was younger, (see vintage blog). When did it become so difficult to buy clothes? I distinctly remember it as being fun, a hobby of sorts, retail therapy before the term was invented. So, when I say I am responsible for the demise of Sears, it’s true – I hadn’t bought anything but socks and underwear there for years. Other than my twice yearly trek to the Estee Lauder counter to buy Night Repair, which I have been using faithfully for over thirty years, (by now they should be paying me), I don’t think I will miss it, other than the gift with purchase. Because the truth is the clothes were ugly or poor quality or just plain boring. So, it’s not just my fault you see, it’s the clothing manufacturers too. They need to start making better stuff and offering more choices. Is it too much to ask to have a bit of style with function and fit. As I have gotten older I have gotten fussier about what I buy, and that Marie Kondo tidying up book in January (click here) has only made things worse with it’s closet advice. Now I have to ask myself – does it bring me joy? That is why I have worn the same winter coat forever – I never find what I am looking for. I have a vision of my new winter coat, (a nice rich red, not orange-red, belted, wool, three quarters length, classic cut), in my head but that’s the only place it seems to exist. I would even settle for a new ski jacket (also red, with white or black fur trim), but all you could find in Sears were long over-sized puffy parkas – yes, it’s cold here but we don’t live in igloos. Have you ever tried to shop in a parka – instant hot flashes. Even when I do find something that might be somewhat suitable, I find myself critiquing it. I found a nice black belted wool coat but why would you put such cheap brass buttons on a black coat. Or maybe the style is nice, but the color is wrong. When I was in grade school I wanted to be a fashion designer, but was discouraged by the guidance counselor who looked gravely at me across the desk and said, young lady, you have a C in art. My dreams were dashed, but I wonder if it’s too late? If anyone has an advice on where to shop for stylish clothes, either in-store or online, please leave a comment.

(see part two: Twenty Pairs of Black Pants next week)

Postscript. my fellow Canadian blogger, Anhistorianabouttown, has posted a book review on, Service and Style, a book about how the American department store fashioned the middle class…sounds interesting…..click here for a link to her review.

How to Make Your Home Hygge

January 22, 2018April 12, 20187 Comments

: Ski Lodge – 2016

Now that I’m no longer working and my daily commute is a walk through the snow drifts to the mail box, I’ve realized that my life is already pretty hygge, at least compared to what it was. No more watching the weather forecasts for potential snowstorms or laying awake half the night worrying about the roads, (I had one of those jobs where the only option for staying home was if you called in dead), or driving home late at night through whiteouts, where the only good thing was that you were the only fool on the road and hence could drive down the middle of it. One of the benefits of getting older is that you don’t have to work anymore, and if you are elderly like my mother, no one expects you to go out at all, so you can stay at home and paint.

A big part of hygge is appreciating the things you have and do that make winter a bit more bearable. (see previous blog Comfort and Joy: How to survive January, for more on hygge, which is a derived from a Danish word for “well-being”). So, what are the things that make a home hygge? The Danes are big on coziness, candles, coffee, blankets, fireplaces, mulled wine, sweets, relaxed decor, soft lighting, comfortable clothing and casual entertaining. Sounds like a recipe for a snow day. Hygge is even better if you can arrange for a snowstorm, preferably one with howling winds, the kind where the weather forecaster tells everyone to stay inside and off the roads. Then after it has passed, and the world is a winter wonderland, you can go outside and make a snowman.

: Blue Snowman – 2017

And of course no snow day would be complete without grilled cheese and tomato soup, it’s the stuff childhood memories are made of.

There’s nothing worse for your house than to feel bare and cheerless after the Christmas decorations have been taken down, (your house has feelings too, see Tidying up blog Jan), so I keep some of them up until the end of January, sometimes mid-February, if it’s a particularly harsh winter. You can put the Santa and reindeer stuff away for a much-deserved rest, but the greenery, pine cones, berries and fairy lights can help provide a hygge atmosphere.

The Danes are the biggest consumers of candles, (mainly unscented), so light some pretty candles.

Comfort food is a big part of hygge. Homemade beef vegetable soup simmering on the stove, leftover turkey pie, mac and cheese,

or a big pot of chili, with a simple green salad and some warm bread, all make a nice evening supper. Dempster’s baguettes are so good, you could pass them off as homemade – eight minutes in the oven, and they come in whole grain and rosemary/garlic too. Baking itself is very hygge, brownies from a box are quick and can bribe snow shovelers, while a date nut loaf takes more work but can give your house a wonderful smell. If you don’t want to bake, you can spray some cinnamon room spray around and buy some treats.

The Danes love reading nooks, so a plump lounge chair with some cozy pillows and a throw, is a good place to sip cocoa and read your favorite magazine, even better if the chair faces a window where you can watch the snow falling outside or the cardinals at the feeder.

If you are lucky enough to have a fireplace, then nothing beats reading a book by the fire. You can start in on that stack you got at the second-hand sale last year. Popcorn and mulled cider make a nice fireside snack. Add some mellow music, Ella Fitzgerald is always good.

If you haven’t got a love to keep you warm, a cat is good company, maybe two, but no more than five.

Tiger Cat – AMc – 2017

Five Cats – AMc – 2016

Reading in bed with a cat purring, and tea and cookies, is pure hygge.

There is something about plaid that is so cheerful. I put a red plaid flannel duvet cover on my bed before Christmas and leave it on all winter. It looks nice with crisp white sheets and lacy pillows, an idea I saw in a decorating magazine once. A plaid flannel housecoat with a fleece lining (Vanity Fair at Sears before they closed, but L.L. Bean carries these too), can keep you warm and cozy while you do your final check around the house before bed, and when you look outside, yes it is still snowing. It’s really piling up out there, you may be snowed in tomorrow too. As you drift off to sleep, listening to the north winds howl, may you have sweet dreams….of summer!

Song of The Day: Our House – Crosby Stills and Nash – music link

Apple Pie Memories

October 24, 2017April 12, 20182 Comments

Song of the Day – Don’t Sit under the Apple Tree – Glenn Miller Band – click here for music link

Farmer’s Market Apples

Like many people I don’t make apple pie, I make apple crisp, but once a year I will try, using store bought crust and apples from the local farmer’s market, so at least I can say I made a homemade pie….sort of. Pie crust is a lost art, drilled out of my generation by decades of warnings about saturated fat and heart disease. With apple crisp you use oatmeal which is supposed to be good for you. Now things have changed again and they say it’s sugar that’s bad not fat. Unfortunately, apple pie has both, but moderation is also the key, so I think the occasional piece of apple pie could be justified, in view of the newer guidelines. I am just trying to convince myself that anything made with lard could be good for you.

My attempts at pie crust have produced a rock-like substance, which is why I stick with the crisp, but my mother’s pie crust was light and flaky…. she used Crisco, but I prefer butter, at least you can get some omega-3’s. Unfortunately, my mother says she has lost her knack for pastry, (it’s an art form that needs to be practiced regularly), although every once in awhile she will make a crust for a turkey pie, which is still better than anything you can buy in the store. I remember when we were kids my mom would make three pies a week and a dozen butter tarts (I have used her recipe for butter tarts with great success but with store bought shells), and it would all disappear. My father was a prolific pie eater, but as he did a lot of physical work he never gained an ounce. I remember an old man dropping by the homeplace one day unannounced in search of his roots. I think his grandmother was a sister of my great grandmother Ellen, but as this was long before I had any interest in genealogy I didn’t pay much attention, although even then as a teenager I was interested in history and stories. My mother was in the middle of making her weekly pies, her board and rolling pin all in a flurry of flour. He stayed for supper and said it was the best apple pie he had ever eaten and it reminded him of his mother’s baking. (No one had the heart to tell him there was a picture of his relative upstairs in the attic, riddled with holes, from where my brother had used it as a dart board). Later we went to visit Ellen’s homeplace, a farm with a big old yellow brick farmhouse set high on a rolling hill just outside a city about eighty miles away (ie prime real estate). A doctor had bought it and was renovating it so his daughter would have a place to ride her horses. It was a beautiful spot. The only thing I know about Ellen is that she was a school teacher who had married a local farmer fifteen years older than her in 1870 and she raised nine children in our house. My great grandfather John was by the few accounts we have, a gruff old man, and when her mother was sick and dying he refused to take her to visit, so she decided to walk. Such is the family folklore, but I hope someone might have offered her a ride part of the way. This is an old picture of the homeplace and Ellen out front with two of her daughters and grandchildren. I still have the chairs they are sitting on, and the matching antique dining room table which folds out to seat twelve.

The Homeplace circa 1915

How many weekly pies you would have to make to feed nine children, as well as all the threshing crews. Like I said, it is a lost art form. I wonder what will happen when all those older women who make the turkey and fruit pies for the church bazaars are gone. Homemade pie will be a memory of the past. No one has time to make pie now, it’s easier just to buy one. Although I have never had much luck with store or bakery pies as they usually have corn starch as a thickener and I find it gives it a peculiar taste, but then I am comparing it to what I grew up on. Although in a pinch President’s Choice sells a perfectly acceptable frozen apple crisp, made with Northern Spy apples, and you still get the benefits of a lovely smelling house. I am sure all those cooking shows must have some instructions on the perfect pie crust, so one of these days I’ll have to tune in….and practice, practice, practice.

: My kitchen crabapple wreath

Scoop of the Day: The local farmer’s market sells crab apple jelly, from BayField Berry Farm, and last month when I was at a craft sale, amongst all the crocheted and quilted offerings, there were a couple of tables selling homemade jellies and jams, including crab apple, which is made from the pressed juice, so I would not even attempt it…..besides which I am all jammed out for this year – this jam session is over.

Bushel of Apples – 2015

PS. The fruits of my labour…

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Quote of the Day: Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness.” (Jane Austen)

Apple Picking Time

October 17, 2017April 12, 20181 Comment

Bushel of Apples – 2015

It’s apple picking time…. which means apple pie season, my favourite time of the year. I don’t actually pick apples, (I’m lazy), but instead buy them from the farmer’s market which is supplied by a local orchard. Although on a nice fall weekend we might drive down river on a leaf tour to a place where you can pick your own but which also sells to customers from a small stand. They always have spy apples there, which are the best for cooking, despite what people say about all those new varieties. (I once had a grocery store clerk tell me you could make a pie with Macintosh, and I suppose you could if you wanted applesauce). Spy apples are always later in the season, but well worth the wait, their tart taste cancels out some of the sweetness of the sugar.

When this farmland was first settled everyone grew apples, and stored them in root cellars for cold storage. From my genealogy records, according to the 1860 agricultural census, they had to record how many acres of orchards they had, so it was an important crop, and a symbol of prosperity at the time. It was also their main source of vitamin C over the winter, and I wonder if the expression, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” came from it’s prevention of scurvy. Both the homeplace and my grandparent’s farm had the remnants of the original apple orchards from over a hundred years ago. My dad’s farm had mostly crab apple trees, and a few eating apples, but the trees were so old the fruit was basically inedible, although the blossoms did have a heavenly aroma in the spring. The orchard was right beside the house and during my teenage years pity the poor sibling who would have to cut the grass in the orchard with a push mower and run over all those hard little things, which made for a very bumpy experience. (A riding lawn mower was the best thing ever invented). My grandmother’s orchard had better tasting snow apples, and on Thanksgiving my younger brother and I would climb the fence and brave the field full of large but rather dumb cows to pick some, and also to gather chestnuts, which my brother used as fences for his farm animal set. My grandmother lived to be 96 and every year she went apple picking with my uncle to the orchards down river. Her old farmhouse had a little unheated vestibule beside the kitchen where she would store the apples in bushel baskets, so when you entered her house you would always get a lovely whiff of the smell of ripe apples. Someday soon my house will smell marvelous from the cinnamony scent of warm apple pie, in the meantime I’ll just have to light some apple scented candles.

Artist of the Day: Helen McNicoll (from time to time I may feature a new artist I have discovered, unless otherwise specified all the other paintings are by my mother).

Helen McNicoll - The Apple Gatherer - 1911

The Apple Gatherer – Helen McNicoll – 1911

Last month I went to a talk on the Group of Seven at our regional art gallery. The speaker showed a slide of a painting by Helen McNicoll, called The Apple Gatherer which was painted in 1911. She was a contemporary of the Group of Seven, but being female, not considered part of the group. I think I much prefer Helen’s painting, as it is full of colour and light. Maybe next spring I will plant an apple tree…

Quote of the Day: “I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony, grow apple trees and honey bees, and snow white turtle doves.”

Song of the Day: I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing – by the New Seekers – click here for music link

Book of the Day: Apples to Oysters by Margaret Webb has a chapter devoted to apple orchards.

Apples To Oysters: A Food Lover’s Tour of Canadian Farms by Margaret Webb

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An interesting read about Canadian farmers, starting with apple growers and moving across the provinces…..oysters, cheese, vineyards, wheat etc. I found the stories fascinating and being from a rural background could relate to the appeal of the farming lifestyle, as well as the uncertainty of the farming business as most of the stories involved smaller generations-old family farms. If you ate today, thank a farmer!

Autumn Decor

October 6, 2017April 12, 20182 Comments

October Trees – 2014

Mother Nature is starting to decorate for fall. Despite the warm days, the tips of the maple trees are starting to turn red and gold. I love to decorate for fall inside too, mostly with dollar store finds, but you can get very creative with dollar store finds if you weed out the tacky ones, the plastic pumpkins and fake looking wreaths. Every year I haul out the same things from the basement storage area and spend an enjoyable hour or two making the house look cozy for the cooler days ahead. I put away the seashells and the starfish from the fireplace hearth, string the mantel with fairy lights, and switch out the floral pillows for plaid. The days are getting shorter and soon it will be dark at five pm and time to hibernate inside, because as lovely as autumn is, winter isn’t far behind. Enjoy it while you can. In the words of Anne Shirley, “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” (Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery)

I put two $4 swags from the dollar store around the lantern on my dining room table and strung fairy lights underneath ($11 at winner’s with a 40% coupon) for a romantic fall centrepiece.

A $3 garland of fall leaves lines the mantel, with small bittersweet wreaths decorating the candles at both ends.

Add some fairy lights – and it’s magic!

More fairy lights in urns on the side, and a bowl of apples on the hearth.

I bought this bunch of Indian corn at the grocery store last year, and the bouquet of autumn leaves is another dollar store bargain.

More bittersweet wreaths around the candles…(you can see I still have wallpaper….it is an old house and I have not finished renovating it inside, but I kind of like it….it’s very B&Bish)

Even the cat gets into the act….

Now it looks as colorful inside as it does outside. Happy Thanksgiving!

Tom Turkey – 2013

Farewell to Summer Song: Chad and Jeremy – click here for music link

Harvest Tea

October 1, 2017April 12, 2018Leave a comment

Song of the Day: Harvest Moon – Neil Young – music link

I was going to write about Harvest-Fest but as I am currently sick this week with a horrible cold/flu, it’s chicken noodle soup and the couch for me. It’s been four days now, and I’m still feeling too achy and miserable to even nap or read, two of my favorite activities.

Bowl of gruel…..er chicken noodle soup

iHarvest-fest is a locally sourced dinner held in one of the neighbouring towns at their outdoor farmer’s market, with food prepared by gourmet chefs from locally grown meat and produce. I weep when I think of that tender beef and all those heirloom vegetables I am missing, the fancy goat cheese arugula salad, the artisan bread, and best of all the Pie Lady was going to provide desert. There was to be rockabilly swing music and a full harvest moon in the sky. But as I said it was to be held outdoors, and I did not think it was a sensible thing to do in my current state of health, so I sold my tickets. When you are older, you tend to become more sensible, (I have bad memories of H1N1), so I am going to write about my harvest tea instead.

Last week I had the Group of Seven Art Ladies here for tea and a viewing of my mother’s latest collection of paintings…she did 98 paintings last year, or about two per week. My mother has painted for over forty years, but she held her first exhibit last year at the age of ninety. Usually you have to be dead or famous or preferably both to get into our class A gallery, but I entered her in a contest and she was one of three local artists selected for a pop-up exhibit. One of the art ladies was her co-exhibitor and while not all are painters they are all art lovers, so I guess you could say she has a fan club now. One of the things about living to be ninety is that most of your friends have passed away, so it’s lovely that my mom has this great new group of friends. Having lived in a medical world for most of my life, one of the things I found most interesting about the art world is how happy and cheerful and positive everyone is. (Not that medical people are necessarily miserable, but it can have a high burnout rate). Creativity is joyful – what child didn’t love art class in school. One of the reasons the gallery curator gave for choosing my mom for the exhibit was that her art was reminiscent of Maude Lewis, the east coast painter whose paintings are full of color and joy, a celebration of life, although my mom’s paintings tend to be more rural based as she lived on a farm for fifty years.

Harvest Moon – Sept 2017

Although I consider myself a foodie, I don’t particularly like to cook. I see nothing wrong with buying something if someone else can make it better than I can. But I do like to set a pretty table. I have lots of lovely things I have collected over the years, tablecloths and place-mats, many of them from April Cornell, mostly in blues, as I have four sets of blue dishes. But as it was fall, I pulled out my red Chinese-looking plates that I bought at Winners two years ago. (It fit the theme, as we did go for lunch at the Chinese restaurant first, as we would need sustenance to get through all those paintings.) As Winners is hit and miss, I was unable to get a complete set of mugs or teacups, so I am still on the hunt for things that might match the plates. I made a cherry cheesecake using the old Philadelphia cream cheese recipe from the eighties, (the one with the can of sweetened condensed milk, and lemon juice to cut the sweetness, takes about ten minutes, and best made the day before to set), but bought the Presidents Choice Lemon Curd Cake, (with a small jar of McKay’s Lemon Curd from my friends store to add extra flavor), because it is better than anything I could make, so moist and lemony, and low in calories at 150 per slice. The ladies really enjoyed the the deserts and the table settings. Although younger than my mother they are of the age when people had and used good china. So few people bother today, as no one has time anymore, but sometimes it is nice to be pampered and spoiled. The lavender sachet party favors were a hit too.

It’s important to match your desert to your dishes…..no seriously, it’s just how it turned out, including the peaches. So although I was sorry to miss Harvest-fest this year, (I expect a detailed update from someone), I have fond memories of a fun afternoon spent with a lovely group of ladies.

Book of the Day: I Let You Go – Clare MacIntosh When I was sufficiently recovered enough to be able to read again, my book club selection was so suspenseful it kept my mind off my misery…..highly recommended….see Good-reads review below.
I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

This book was a selection of my book club, but sadly I missed the discussion. I loved it – it was so suspenseful! It kept me my mind off the misery of three days on the couch sipping chicken noodle soup and nursing a horrible cold/flu. I am not British so was unfamiliar with the book (it was a crime bestseller in 2014), or the author……or waxed jackets. A waxed jacket was mentioned so often that I looked it up on Wikipedia…….”A waxed jacket is a type of hip-length raincoat made from waxed cotton cloth, iconic of British and Irish country life. Today it is commonly worn for outdoor rural pursuits such as hunting, shooting and fishing. It is a cotton jacket made water-resistant by a paraffin-based waxing, typically with a tartan lining and a corduroy or leather collar. The main drawback of a waxed fabric is its lack of breath-ability.[1]….” So, if you are ever on the Welsh cliffs on a cold dark and stormy night when there is a murderer about, please wear one, lest you end up sick like me! PS. I was not crazy about the spooky rather ambiguous ending, but the author’s Q&A profile on Good-reads assures us that Jenna has a happy ever after. I have the author’s second Book – I See You – on order.

Arts and Crafts 101

September 19, 2017August 25, 20184 Comments

Since it is back to school time I thought we’d do some arts and crafts.

Painting 101: chalkpaint is the best invention ever….no prep, just paint. Many people like Annie’s Sloan’s line but I use Americana Décor which you can get at Michael’s, a bargain with a 40% off coupon. This chair was a $5 thrift store find – I found it outside the store when I was dropping some stuff off. I used Serene Blue which is a lovely soft shade.

It was originally intended as an extra chair for the patio but it looked so nice that I put it in the spare bedroom. I have also used Vintage green on this weathered table with great results.

Scavenger Hunt: I saw this abandoned wrought iron cart on the street put out for the garbage pickup, so I asked the homeowner, who it turned out I knew, if I could have it. She even delivered it for me as it wouldn’t fit in my car trunk. It was an ugly sunflower yellow but I spray painted it lime green with paint from the hardware store. I’m not a big fan of lime green in general but it’s okay on a garden ornament, and it held my lime green pots up off the ground and away from the bunnies. I have been teased about picking up stuff at the curb on garbage day but it is amazing what people will throw out. I once got a white vinyl corner picket fence that retails for $50. I dragged it across the road from my mother’s neighbour to her garage. They were new neighbours and obviously didn’t like the garden décor as they also threw out a $300 white arbour, but it was gone in thirty minutes, before I could find someone with a truck.

Most recently I scooped up a turquoise Adirondack chair which just needs a bit of retouching, it’s plastic but stack-able so good for when you need an extra chair beside the campfire. I placed it under my maple tree and plan to sit and read there when it turns colour.

Crafts: Take two $4 dollar store fall foliage sprays (I always try to get some with corn stalks or wheat),

and twist them around a green floral holder to make an attractive gravestone wreath. I recycled last years as it was still in good condition. You can also fill it out with leaf garlands and a harvest bow.

My dad died in Sept and as a farmer, autumn was always his favourite time of year, once all the crops were in. So much attractive than those garish purple and yellow things floral shops sell for sixty dollars plus…..and much more frugal. I think my dad would approve. PS. I have done the same thing at Christmas with Christmas garlands.

So there you have it…..class dismissed!

A Glorious September Morning

September 18, 2017September 21, 20184 Comments

We are having a return to summer this week, even though by now mid-Sept we have had a few mornings where the air is fresh but there is a chill to it, a feeling of fall. I’m disappointed because the Heavenly Blue morning glories are duds this year – lots of foliage but no flowers or buds at all. It doesn’t seem to matter how early I plant them, this year in mid-May, but they never bloom until September. Along with the dinner plate hibiscus, they are usually summer’s last hurrah.

Dinner Plate Hibiscus

Most years I have good luck with them, although they have been known not to come up at all. This year I planted four packets along the back chain link fence thinking they would have more room to climb gracefully, instead of like last year when they sprawled along the neighbour’s wooden fence, and obliterated the shepherd’s hook at the front like some kind of weird looking Cousin It – it took me hours to detangle and chop them up with the pruning shears last fall.

Morning Glories on steroids

I did have one skinny strand bloom in late August but it was purple, not blue like the picture on the seed packet. I hate when that happens, I feel like I have been lied to. I had given packets to three friends, and none of theirs bloomed either, so it must have been a manufacturing problem….or too much rain….or perhaps lack of bees. Two years ago I had such a glorious display.

Morning Glorious

Morning Glories on Arbor

I took lots of photos that year which provided the inspiration for my mother’s painting.

Blue Morning Glories

Oh well, there is always hope for next year and isn’t that the gardener’s eternal lament.

Song for a September morning: Neil Diamond – September Morn – music link

PS. this year’s compensation – Dinner Plate Hibiscus (pic added Sept 25 2017)

PS. Late harvest……I now have ten morning glories! (Pic added Sept 29 2017)

Bee enjoying his morning glory breakfast

Thanks, It’s Vintage

September 11, 2017February 23, 2018Leave a comment

My love of vintage fashion stems from my inability to get rid of clothes, which is why I still have an eighties closet. I suppose you could blame it on not having many clothes during my formative years. We had to wear ugly nun-like navy blue uniforms in high school and for a young girl who poured over the pages of the few Seventeen magazines I owned like they were the Bible, I think it must have somehow damaged my psyche. My entire wardrobe fit into half a small clothing rack in the upstairs bedroom I shared with my sister, and a few dresser drawers. Oh, we went shopping with my mother, but mostly we looked. When I was a poor university student who lived in jeans and polyester shirts, my dorm closet was the size of a phone booth and still held my entire wardrobe. It was only in the eighties when I started working that I had any money to spend on clothes, and graduated to multiple wall length closets, separated by season. It’s not that I think the 80’s was a great decade for clothes, all those big shoulder pads and billowy sleeves…. the reason I can’t part with the stuff is the fabric – the fabrics were so beautiful, and the clothes seemed to be better made than what is available today in our throw away society – i.e. if you haven’t worn it in a year throw it out. All those beautiful velvet dresses, because yes people actually dressed up for New Years Eve (think of Meg Ryan’s strapless blue velvet dress with matching elbow length gloves in When Harry Met Sally), and Christmas, (think Donna Reed’s black velvet dress with lace collar in It’s A Wonderful Life).

Donna Reed – lace collar velvet dress

Meg Ryan in classic velvet dress

They dressed up for work too – I wore tailored suit jackets (with pocket scarves matching the blouse) with skirts to meetings, in fact I don’t think I wore pants to work until 2003. I still have the shirt dress I work to my first job interview – a fine worsted blue wool – I paid $200 for it…. but I got the job. Then there were the April Cornell cotton sundresses (such vibrant colours and prints), which I wore to work in the summer, under a lab coat of course, when the air conditioning was broke – because even though it was a hundred degrees out you couldn’t be seen in bare legs, capri pants or skimpy tops. It seems we have chosen comfort over elegance, but I don’t remember it being a chore to dress up back then. Although it might have been a relief to change into jeans and sweats, we didn’t live in them. Clothes today don’t seem to have as much style, and the material is inferior, and you certainly can’t tell when shopping over the internet, so it becomes a hassle and an expense having to return things. Maybe I am just in that in between age, too young to shop at the stores my mother shops at but too old for most of the stores in the mall, and department stores seems to be a dying breed. I am still mourning the death of Eaton’s…will Sears be next?

The decades I really love are the 50’s and 60’s – the elegant Audrey Hepburn Dior dress era with the little black hats with veils.

: Audrey Hepburn-Breakfast at Tiffanys

I remember my mother having a Jackie Kennedy-like navy blue taffeta dress with a small bustle which she would wear with a string of glass pearls, on the few occasions my parents went out…usually to funerals. The dress is long gone, but I still have the pearls. The roaring twenties was also a lovely era for clothes (think Downton Abbey – elbow length evening gloves and all those hats). You had to wear a hat to church up to the mid-60’s or you would be excommunicated. Hats made a brief come back in the 80’s with Lady Diana, I have two vintage hats, one black with a stylish brim and one white with a big feather…. hats are probably a whole other blog.

Vintage Lady Di hat

Vintage Black hat with brim

Vintage purses are fun especially those that close with a decisive click, and it’s always interesting to look at old jewelry and see if it can be refurbished. I like to browse in vintage stores, but I don’t care for tacky vintage, no matter how expensive the designer label. Likewise, if it’s shopworn….it must be in excellent condition. I once saw a beaded flapper top in a vintage store which I loved but it was so stained under the armpits I couldn’t even try it on. The same store also had the exact same black velvet dress I bought in the 80’s (which still resides in my closet), for $80 – when I went back a month later it was gone, so there might be some money in selling some of this stuff. My friend offered to make me a quilt with the April Cornell sundresses, if only I could be brave enough to cut them up. Last June I needed a WW2 40’s style dress for a swing band dinner dance, (we got last minute tickets the day before), but after a quick visit to Valu Village and the Goodwill I still couldn’t find anything, so I raided my closet and wore a yellow Laura Ashley sundress with a full skirt – so sometimes that vintage closet does come in handy. When we got to the venue, which was an airport hanger they had decorated with war memorabilia, there was a similar yellow dress on a mannequin beside an army jeep. I wish I had thought to get my picture taken beside it, but when I got compliments on my dress, I replied, thanks, it’s vintage!

1920 ‘s daring to show a little ankle

This is a picture of my grandmother and her sisters around 1920 when women were just starting to show their ankles. I wonder what they would think of all those strategically placed barely there dresses movie stars wear now…

Songs of The Day: Blue Velvet – Bobby Vinten – click here for music link

Frank Sinatra: They Can’t Take That Away From Me – click here for music link

Book of the Day: Vintage by Susan Gloss – see The Vintage Corner on main menu or Goodreads review on the front page.

Mad for Plaid

September 10, 2017September 12, 20181 Comment

Back to School Anthem: September….Earth Wind and Fire – music link

I was getting some computer help from a summer student at the library and on her last day she wished me a good year. If you are a student (or teacher), the year starts in September, if you are not, the year starts in January. So I started thinking about how it felt to go back to school when you were a kid, not that I would want to go back to those days, (like Billy Joel says in the Italian Restaurant song, you can never go back there again), but shopping for back to school clothes was always fun, and usually meant something plaid. I blame my mother for my love for plaid as she dressed me in a little red plaid kilt with a red sweater for my grade one picture. I remember wearing a stylish dark cotton plaid dress the first day of grade eight when I was just starting to be fashion savvy, and thinking it was the grooviest thing ever. High school meant a whole week of dress up days before we were regulated into ugly navy-blue nun-like uniforms with white shirts (which my mother had to iron every morning) and no pants either, although the boys could wear ripped jeans and t-shirts with bad sayings…..you would not get away with that kind of discrimination today. How I would have welcomed a nice plaid kilt like other Catholic schools had. Dress up days were also held the first Friday of the month and were a cutthroat competition as to who could look the most like a Seventeen model. I remember wearing a short plum skirt with a gold blouse and a plum vest with a gold plaid pattern on the front, and thinking it was the epitome of style…. kind of like a cheerleader’s outfit. Although I was never the type, I envied them their uniforms. Skirts were short, (looking back, really short), as it was the early seventies, and the nuns would go around measuring with a ruler if they were in a particularly mean mood. One winter when I was sixteen I bought a wool plaid winter coat at Saks where we hardly ever shopped because it was too expensive, simply because the sales lady talked me into it by telling me I looked like the cover of Mademoiselle, a magazine I was not familiar with at the time as it was for college students. I think I only wore it one year as the next year it was out of style, and the plaid was way too loud and garish. University meant jeans and plain polyester shirts with the occasional sweater – we were poor students with no money and high rent living in a big city where there was lovely shopping but who could afford it. We window-shopped instead. In first year, my roommate and I so coveted Viyella plaid housecoats that we used to stop by the nightwear department at the Eaton’s store and visit them when we were downtown. I finally bought a knockoff version because you had to have something to put on in the girls dorm, because horrors what if you ran into some guy in the washroom.

vintage red plaid housecoat

Does anyone even wear housecoats anymore…they seem harder and harder to find? After squirreling away most of my summer job savings towards the next year’s living expenses, there might be a bit left over to splurge on a plaid shirt before back to school, usually red but one year black and gray. I used to shop at Sears on my lunch hour and deliberated for hours over the color. I remember wearing a red and blue checked plaid shirt with a jean jumper to a party and dancing to Abba’s Dancing Queen when I was supposed to be studying for midterms, and I was wearing a plaid shirt and tight jeans at a fourth-year party the night I had to go to the hospital with what turned out to be a kidney stone, but which I had thought was just really tight jeans. These are my plaid memories – it seems archaic now when if you want something you just whip out a credit card, but back then credit cards were only approved for people who had good jobs, and you had to apply for them, they didn’t send you invitations in the mail.

I am still mad for plaid – it must be my Celtic DNA. I was in a material store the other day, looking for mesh bags for the lavender harvest, and saw my favorite red plaid tartan, and then the most beautiful navy blue flannel. But what would I do with it – it has been decades since I have sewn – when I was a teenager I would buy the material, pin and cut out the pattern, both of which I enjoyed and then lose interest when the seams didn’t go right on the old machine, and my mother would end up finishing the rest. My vision never quite matched the reality.

When you are older you should take your plaids in smaller doses – a plaid carryall for gym stuff or a cheery winter scarf.

There is something so inherently cheerful about red plaid and of course nothing says cozy like a soft plaid throw for the couch…how can it be that I do not own such a thing when I visit Winners on a regular basis? It’s a sad truth that now that I have more money to spend I so seldom find anything I like. But I will give it the old college try, and go shopping to see if something plaid catches my eye. Wishing everyone a good year!

Celtic Song: I discovered this Irish group Celtic Thunder while watching PBS one night…..I love public television…. click music link here