A New Job

excitement! I just starting my new job this week. I am working at an online estate auction company, Everything But the House. My first day was spent at a fabulous estate, the Longacre/Gruen home in Clifton. I went to the preview with Jim and Condy last Thursday and was completely overwhelmed by the history and breadth of the items in the estate. The home was full of art and wonderful collectibles from all around the globe, but best of all, killer vintage clothes! I will share more of these treasures as I  photograph them. I helped pull the various orders together, while ogling the varied and eclectic items this family possessed: human skulls, stone printing presses, bronze fountains, paintings, a steinway piano....check in for more on my job and this estate.

Blonde on Blonde

I love Bob Dylan. And I love Edie Sedgwick. A muse. Lithe and androgynous.  And I love that Bob loved Edie. But used her, in a way. Just like Andy Warhol did. Anyway, her style was amazing. The doe eyes, lined in black. heavy false eyelashes. Chandelier earrings. Black tights. Big vintage furs. I am posting my "Edie" coat on Etsy and will share here.

Ancient History through Photography

I found these old photos of children while antiqueing years ago. Where did these children live? The first photo has plants that look Southwestern. Maybe this was Texas or New Mexico. I love the little double-breasted coat and the hat the lad has on. The second photo is so charming in the creamy sepia tones and especially the pose the little girl is striking with the floppy brimmed hat. The third has a mysterious, atmospheric feel...it looks like the child is on the edge of a very deep abyss.

I Love Patti

Patti Smith is just the coolest. My kind of artist--androgynous, sensitive, not afraid to express her convictions, wild in a good way. Just saw her movie and loved it. I think the name is Dreams of the Heart. I will check that out. Anyway, her book Just Kids is pretty amazing, too.  Patti has had alot of tragedies in her life, with losing Robert Mapplethorpe, her husband, Fred and her brother. She never stopped creating.

Ancient History

In June, my sister Cindy and I went on a rescue mission. Saving old photos and memorablia from The Old Lawton House. We scooped up several stinky boxes of photographs and other ephemera. I haven't had a chance to even look at them since our initial sorting-out and they are still in my car. But today I had to retrieve something out of the car, and happened upon a primitive little wooden box with yarn, shells and other trinkets saved. Found these two images which I dearly love. One is of a twisted tree--very strange. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but it is really bizaar. The other image I think is one of the mighty oaks that lined the drive. A pretty girl with a straw hat and a white dog is posing in front of the tree. We always called these oaks the "Snake Trees" because of the abundance of black snakes that habitated there.

My Westwood Mansion

I have loved living in my Westwood home. It is a fabulous Queen Anne Victorian built in 1903. The entry parlor is one of the amazing features of my house with it's inlaid bordered floor, hand-painted English tiled fireplace, oak-columned stairway entrance, and toweringGerman executed stainglass window. I love the inlaid tile porch with it's meandering design snaking around the circular expanse. The house has a tower and I will never have a house with a tower again!

Missing My Dogs

August marks the anniversary of Bob, my big collie's death. Bob was a big, beautiful boy and he is missed. I found Bob about 12 years ago, after my other collie, Dugan was hit by a car. It was a nasty accident, but Dugan survived, but was crippled by the bad break. Well, I was going to the Y, and there was Bob, trotting down the sidewalk, dragging a big chain behind him. He was friendly and I grabbed the chain and walked him home. I reported him as a lost dog to the SPCA and the owner was located. He didn't want Bob! He was a minister ready to go out West and I guess Bob was too much to deal with. Well, he did tell me a funny story about going to Kings Island (an amusement park) and people seeing Bob in the car (I don't know why Bob was taken to an amusement park) thought that Bob was an attraction! I thought that was funny.

I hope you are looking down from Heaven, Bob and knowing that we love you.

Grey Gardens Fan

I am such a fan of Big Edie and Little Edie. The Beales. Eccentric mother and daughter team who lived in the rambling, decadent 26-room Hampton estate, Grey Gardens. The Mayles' brother documentary was unheralded in it's honest, unjudgmental view of the strange relationship between mother, Big Edie, and daughter, Little Edie. Aside from all the psychological web of love, abandonment, loss of dreams, clinging to the past, I am in love with the style...the decor of decadent, the clutter, the collections, the dust over family treasures and of course, the fashion of Little Edie. Silk headscarves with mink coats, bathing suits with black tights and white heels, shirts worn as turbans, brooches on the turbans. Wow.

The World's Biggest Yard Sale, Part 1

So yesterday was my day to visit the World's Biggest Yard Sale in Covington, Kentucky. I think this is the "headwaters" for this happening event. I arrived fairly early, around eightish, and was off to the races, so to speak. My first find was four roller skating cases, super colorful with neat graphic appeal. The girl was a collector and I think she regretted selling them. I love them! You will see them in my shop, because I collect wicker and leather suitcases and can't start another suitcase fetish :). I also bought a small vintage globe from her. Then to a wonderful older Irish woman who had some beautiful clothes. I bought a thirties crepe dress in a lovely rich cream. I think she wanted to sell it to my friend Emily, who owns the charming Otto's restaurant, but I really wanted it. It also will go into the shop. Then, the most beautiful, aged doctor's bag. I really love this and might keep it around for a bit and love on it. I am posting a photo of a charming tinted photograph I bought today (I'm bad, went today also!) of a Jane Hathaway type camper with her muskie catch.

The World's Biggest Yard Sale

No, get out! This is totally my cup of tea, or joe. I love, love, love yard sales and this is the Big Kahuna of all Yard Sales. It starts around here, in Kentucky, I think and goes all the way down to the Deep South. I'm leaving in a few to go check it out in Covington, Kentucky. I have to make a quick run then home to clean for a house showing at 3:00.

I'll probably go on Saturday and Sunday also, because you never know what treasure is lurking out there. I'm really into books now, well I've always been, but am starting to buy to sell. I'm posting an a adorable Grimm's Fairy Tales with the best cover of Little Red Riding Hood.

Heat Wave via Global Warming

Yesterday, here in the Queen City, was the hottest day ever. I think it was 109F with the heat index. There was getting around it...it was impossible to feel ok about being outside. I've taken to wearing a Banana Republic gray tank top with the sheerest little cotton shirt and cotton carpenter shorts and this has become my daily uniform. I even go jogging in this getup. Well, I drove to Covington to pick up some dandy linens from my beloved linen guru Beth and almost cooked while walking down the street. Seriously. Felt like the Earth left the oven on while us earthlings were just sitting on the oven shelf. Nothing like feeling like you are slowing being heated up, with no control!

I've also taken to wearing the hair up in a little bun. This little vintage crochet top might be my next going out look...hmmm. Maybe layered over the tank  top.

Trials of City Living

I guess it  doesn't matter if you live in the country or the city, but I don't like the whole locking-up-everything mentality. I do lock my car and my house at night, but recently, after several thefts, I have taken to shutting all the downstairs windows and locking them and also leaving porch lights on. I really hate that stale air that hits me when I walk downstairs. Well, I'm the naive one and rather stupid, because I have left my garage unlocked and no surprise, got my mower stolen. They must have come in the heavy bi-fold doors around 2:00AM (my neighbor's dog barked then, they told me), so they had to move a little iron fence, then  shuffle things around in the garage to get the mower out). The thing is, I think I know who did it...a naer-to-well kid who I am sure is a crackhead. So, I have a lock on the door now and am pulling my Element all the way to the heavy bi-fold doors, so there is no way to open them. Today I am going to cable lock them from the interior. But being city or country, thieves will always happen. p.s. the rhodendron is from my city garden this spring and has nothing to do with thievery :)

Flea Market Daze

Today is the first Sunday of the month, so it's off to Lawrenceburg, Indiana for the monthly Sunday Antique Market. I'm always on the lookout for linens and especially curtains; lace, dotted swiss, barkcloth. I ran out of the house without my checkout and only took out $60, so my buying was greatly curtailed. I found a neat wire basket and a great cake tin with an aeroview of Manhattan and scenes of NYC on the four sides of the tin. Jim said it was very Ayn Rand. I think we might have to keep it! My favorite linen dealer, Beth, was excited to show my the collection of Victorian linens she has been stockpiling....and oh my goodness, they were extraordinary! Shams, a beautiful sheet, monograms, gorgeous and the best old fabric. Beth was a doll and took a deposit, since I was cash poor. I'm going to meet her in Covington to pick up all my goodies.

The Grandest Canyon

Summer always getting me thinking about our grand National Parks, and unfortunately, this year visiting the parks, at least the western ones, is not part of my agenda. Of course, that doesn't mean that I won't enjoy the beauty of one of the more eastern or midwest parks. Maybe Boundary Waters or Great Smokies...who knows. I will always love the Grand Canyon for it's sheer awesomeness...it is the most amazing place; magical, mysterious and utterly mystifying in it's scale. Someday I am going to do the raft trip and also do the hike to Angel Falls.

Fabulous Felines

As some of you know, I am a cat person. Or cat lady. Or cat woman. You know, one of "those" people. I have toned down my menagerie over the years, and "only" have five fabulous felines now. They are probably why my house isn't sold yet...lol.  Yes, with five cats in the house, I've had cat accidents. Along with mysterious infestations with fleas. And strange looking hair ball upheavals on the floor. And scratched up linen sofas.

But, I love them. I love Pearl's big jiggly blue eyes and precious squeak. I love Penelope's loyalty and alpha femaleness. I love Fattie's, well, rotondness and in-your-face, rubbing-your-leg loveness. And Grizzly's eat-everybody's food-as- fast-as-I canness. And Crazy's strange, rather autistic playfulness, as well as his frightened psyche. Their all good and their my cat family. Now I have to figure out how they will live downtown :).

Black Lace

I have two Victorian lace shawls in my Etsy shop and just sold one yesterday. It was a handmade lace with cattails and primroses and quite a bit damage, but incredible non-the-less. I posted the remaining shawl and think this was is even more incredible. The black lace has such a feel of the true Victorian era and is a textile that can be cherished and worn with care.

An Old Spring

My family and all my ancestors got their drinking water and actually all their water from an ancient spring located below the Old House. Long ago, the men placed large flat rocks on the base and sides of the spring, creating an enclosure and then build up rocks around the structure, finally building a door with a tiny air screen to secure the purity of the source. Stone steps and stone retaining walls lead down to the spring from the Old House and snakes lived in the crevasses between the rocks. Craydads built their little mud houses in the marsh beside the  spring where yellow irises and sedges grow. There is lots of jewelweed and I remember a large weeping willow which we used to climb. There is always a tin drinking ladle on the door and you can always be assured of a wonderful cool drink of water, even on the hottest day.

A Broken Pane of Glass

While digging in the mortar-sanded soil around the Old House last week, I found the shards of the broken attic window. This is one of the panes from the original window from 1818, I'm sure. As a child, in the gloaming, perhaps after being in the Old House by myself, I would walk backwards away from the House, my eyes focused on the attic window. I am sure I saw  eyes staring back at me. Surely, there was someone up there. A ghost of a long-ago ancestor. I felt the spirit, the soul of this person that I am linked to, but never knew. Perhaps we will meet in another world.

Treasure Hunting

As a child, I wanted to be an archaeologist, a student of past civilization. I look down alot when walking through plowed fields, love to dig in the garden in hopes I'll find a clay marble or coin, and revel in tales of golden riches in the depth of desolate, arid

lands. My Mom has a knack for finding tiny arrowheads and wee china dishes. I'm always looking and at the Farm, spent some time digging in the mortar-sanded soil around the Old House. It's a connection to the past...when was the last time this dirt felt hands sifting through it's being? Did a child ancestor lose this little metal duck a hundred years ago? What is the purpose of this odd piece of iron?

The Old Lawton House

This will probably be the first of many posts I write about the Old House. Our family home was built in 1818 in Barlow, Ohio on the original 360 acre tract of land deeded to the Lawton's before Ohio became a state in 1803. My ancestors moved to  Ohio from Newport, Rhode Island, having emigrated from Chester, England. The move from Rhode Island to Ohio must have been a trying and difficult journey and when the Lawtons arrived in Ohio, they had to susquester in a fort in Marietta, seeing that Indians were living on their land (yes, it was the Indian's home rightfully and wrongs were done with the taking of their homeland) and couldn't move to the land for several years. When they finally were able to travel to the land, it took 3 days to make the 12 mile trip. A log cabin was  first built, as well as a large barn with massive beams. I will blog about the barn later. These photos show the lower arch which frames a cellar window. The bricks were handmade from a nearby clay deposit. When I shot these photos, it was 90 degrees and very humid, but the  air flowing from the cellar window was wonderfully cool.

The Falls

I just got back from a couple of days on my farm in Barlow, Ohio. Whenever I go back, I take a hike to the Falls. The Falls is a beautiful formation in the creek that meanders through my farm. It's about a four foot high drop of water from a stone-lined stream into a round pool, carved out by millions of years of swirling waters. During the hot summer Sundays of my childhood, my Grandpa would load all my cousins into an old green wagon hitched to his old grey Ford tractor and we would be pulled along the old stagecoach road back to the Falls. We always took along our cane fishing poles and fat worms dug up in the rich compost around the barn. The fish we caught were pretty small...we called them suckers and maybe some sunfish. Taking a swim in the Falls was always refreshing, but a little frightening because of the crawdads...some of them were around four or five inches long.

Country Birthday

Well, I''m spending my birthday on my Farm. The butterfly bush is really tall this year and the yellow and black swallowtails are just going crazy.  Yesterday I walked back to the Falls with Jesse and took shots of all the Queen Anne's lace in the fields. I love Queen Anne's. It's one of my favorite wildflowers and I just want to gathering bunches up and stuff into my silver wine cooler, but have been warned about the bugs that seem to love it too. I remember my Grandma Lawton's walnut dining room table with the beautiful bouquets of Queen's Anne and cosmos that she would put in the center in one of her vases.

Beat the Heat

I went to an estate sale in Price Hill and found a wonderful 1930's swimming dress with bloomers. I can't wait to put it on and hit the swimming hole.

White on White

Going to Australia

Red woven fabrics. Just say country. This is one of my favs and it will soon take a long, long journey around the world. I hate saying goodbye but it's on it's way to Australia, and if I can't go, my beautiful red tablecloth

Dumpster Diving

For the sheer joy. For the thril of discovery. Recently I had an opportunity to "dd" up the street, at the
1875 railroad inn at the corner of Werk and Ferguson. It was a broiling hot evening and let me tell you, being in an iron dumpster in the Cincinnati heat, well, it was really hot. But treasures I did find. Arrowheads, a little walnut drawer, a box full of really neat buttons, old curtains, a portable sewing machine, an orange wicker headboard, very hippie-ish, a neat old balloon woman. Lots of these finds are on my Etsy site. Today I went back and salvaged about 20 old shutters.

Mammoth Cave

An incredible treasure...Mammoth Cave. Mysterious halls of stalagtites.
Inscriptions from long ago explorers. Strange washed out albino creatures.

Glass Love

I love glass. Wavy old glass. Glass cloches. Glass vases with one special flower. I found this cone-shaped cloche yesterday at Goodwill and was ready to sell it at mamavintage, but just fell in love. It's on my kitchen window sill right beside a clear squatty vase with one white coneflower. I
might have to keep it.

Retro Summer