Pennies From Heaven

Well, I might be cross-country skiing out back sooner than I thought. It's a great day to be closed with a wood stove to stay warm by.

I just added a new page to my collage website to feature the digital variety. Hope you enjoy my latest, Pennies From Heaven, inspired by the old song book in Monday's post.

Laying Up Treasures in Heaven

From a song book rescued from the paper dumpster.

Follow Instructions ?

This is a 15-year old xerox of my daughter's jacket tag. Believe me when I say that I'm not much interested in housekeeping standards so it's a miracle that I even noticed it. Remember this, Marianne?

X-Country Skiing

I've been blogging my brains out today as a result of closet-cleaning in search of some photo machine pictures posted here. This is the last of my old scrapbook clippings from the Salem News.

I still have the skis, boots and poles that I am wearing in the photo. I wish I still had those red, white and blue argyle knee socks!

First Significant Snow

We got a little snow yesterday, as you can see, but not quite enough yet to cover the meadow for cross-country skiing. And it will be a while before that channel freezes over. The roads were pretty icy last night, so bad that a car skidded into an electrical pole in front of the house next door. Broke the pole right off, from what I understand. I both heard and felt the crash, looked out the kitchen window (no street lights in this part of town, and no moon so it was DARK!) and saw headlights shining into the woods. I called 911.

For the next few hours there was all manner of activity involving public service, and this morning when I looked in the daylight I noticed a second pole was added. (The barn was not damaged in the accident, its roof fell in over a year ago.) A friend informed me that a police cruiser was involved in the accident so today I had a story to tell my bead customers about calling the cops on the cops!

Player Piano

Here's another Salem News article from my scrap book about the old player piano that my father (Fred, not "Frank") modified to run automatically with the help of an old vacuum cleaner. (See related article, The Piano Girl, about an old photo that was found inside.) The suction was a bit too strong so the music played LOUD! You held your foot on the soft petal to spare the neighbors when the windows were open in the summertime.

Grandmother's House in Salem

My grandparents owned this lovely colonial house on 29 St. Peter Street in Salem, Massachusetts and lived there from June 10, 1943 until May 20, 1969. Parker Brothers and the Salem Jail were just down the street. It was slated to be torn down as part of "urban renewal" in 1969. The land was taken to create Almy's parking lot. Not a great improvement in my estimation.

After they sold their house in Beverly, my parents (and I) lived with them for six months or so while a new house in Danvers was being built. I was four years old and I remember it as one of the best times of my childhood. I was given the little back bedroom with the slanted wall on the third floor (the sleep-over room) as my very own for the duration.

My Aunt Dell and Uncle Al were living in the apartment on the first floor and I would sneak down the back stairs connecting the two bathrooms to watch my aunt cook (everything she made smelled wonderful) and chase after her siamese cat, Dozo.

These old Salem News articles are from my scrap book. Some day I will have to visit Kimball Court to have a look for old times sake.

Below is my grandmother's kitchen. The stove stands in front of one of four blocked-off fireplaces. Another was in their living room, and two were downstairs in my Aunt's apartment. All had deep closets on either side. (The closet on the left in the living room was the candy closet.) Perhaps there was a fifth fireplace in my grandparents' third-floor bedroom. I can't recall now.

31 Cabot Street, Beverly

The box of photos that I went through last night had some pages from my old scrap book. Included was the listing for the house my parents owned when I was born. (More about the house in a previous post about Beverly, Mass.)

Here's a shot of the house before they purchased it. It looks like it was taken from inside a car parked nearby.

And here's a couple of later shots, one from the same vantage point as "before" and one of the back, after renovations. There was a beautiful spiraling staircase in the front entrance hall leading to the second floor. And the dark attic was scary and fascinating at the same time. It had a tiny hidden room behind one wall that my mother referred to as a "Money Closet."

First Collage Circa 1970

Here's my old room in my parent's house in Danvers with my first collage on the walls. It was done back in the days when I had no clue what collage was! (Same cat pictured twice; I forget its name now.)

Oh Look, It's the Nylon Lady!

So nice to find the same photograph that I used in my collage titled "Easy to Adjust." I think my attraction might be due to the fact that she resembles my mother.

Perry's Nut House Re-Visited

These photographs were taken on the second floor of Perry's Nut House (postcard views here) probably around 1990 or so.

Take Your Own Picture

Are these "Take Your Own Picture" booths still around? I haven't seen one lately! It took a while to locate these photos which were taken in the machine at Salem Willows. These are of my daughter and me, back in the early 1980's:

And here's a couple of my sister and her best friend Laurie:

How They Do That

The mystery solved, thanks to the 1923 Book of Knowledge. Very nice hands, playing cards and numbers.

Things To Do

I recently added a Subject Index right below the Blog Archive, and added a few new labels including All My Favorites 2008 and All My Favorites 2009.

Other additions: Methods (how to) and Triangles.

I can see where there is room for improvement here. Sixty three posts labeled "Artists" seems cumbersome and vague. I'll have to work on fixing that.

Here is another cool page from the 1923 Book of Knowledge:

Making paper boxes is a fun thing to do at holiday time!