A Great Find

I have not been to a true Estate Sale in a while. They are the most interesting, but also so sad. Walking through a person's house and browsing through their cabinets and closets is so strange, but also so fascinating. That is often where I find the best old ephemera stuff.

There was a neat story in The Oregonian yesterday about a local guy who bought a box of old photos and clippings for 4 dollars at an Estate Sale. Inside he found a unique and missing part of the history of The Oregon Zoo and it's most famous resident, Packy the elephant.

The box had belonged to a guy who worked for the paper and spent years covering the zoo and Packy. The Oregon Zoo was thrilled to have some documented history about a time that they had no saved documents for.

It's a neat story. You can read more about it here.

January Days

Today has been sunny and about 55 degrees. It has been like this for a couple of weeks. Plants are starting to bloom. Little buds are sprouting from my hydrangea and a friend actually saw a daffodil the other day.

This is the earliest false spring I have ever heard of. I know there is more winter for Portland, but it sure doesn't seem interested in showing up.

Here are some photos I got recently of a very different January in this town. This was on 114th and Fremont in January of 1954. The woman in the photo is Ruth May.





The address and name of the woman is on the back of the photos. I couldn't find the same exact house (as often happens the address numbers have been changed a bit), but I think this is the street view now.



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Thats some crazy snow. Although I am not looking for this kind of weather, a little more winter would be fine for me.

time for something sweet

I would so love to stop by Doreen's Pie Shop right now. A nice piece of pie and some coffee sounds great. I tried to figure out where this pie shop was and the only address that matched was in Modesto, California.

I spent some time today posting some great vintage Valentines on The Cedar Chest Shop. Take a visit and check them out. They are full of sweetness.

Etsy Buy Handmade thecedarchest

Jan. 1st

This lovely new year greeting was sent on Dec 16, 1913 to Miss Emma Street at 468 S 6th St in San Jose, California

Dear Emma,

We'll be in San Jose on Wed noon Dec 17th. Would love to have you meet me. I want to go and see my future home which will be 540 S 6th St. I don't think it's so far from your place.

Love,

Elsie

(The links show you where Emma and Elsie lived).

Your New Years Book

Happy New Year! Thanks so much for following this little blog of mine. I have really enjoyed sharing my collection on here and on Flickr and I appreciate it so much when you take a moment to comment. I am looking forward to all kinds of neat things to share in the new year.

Here are three sweet New Years wishes for you on this last day of 2009. I wish for you all that is written here. Why, hello there 2010.

This above postcard was sent to Mrs David on South Ivanhoe St in Portland. There is no street number and no stamp or postmark. The sender wrote the date at the bottom, Jan 5th 1925. She wrote:

Dear Mrs David,

May Heaven Richest Blessings be yours for the coming new year.

Lovingly,
Mrs Lucinda Jones

This one above says on the back.

To Opal
From "Buckle's"
1926

a very merry christmas to you

Christmas Eve is here. This year came so much faster it seems. I feel behind in my basic Christmas rituals. Right now I am watching White Christmas for the first time this season. That is weeks behind my usual viewing.

Ha! Well, no matter. It is here and it should be fun. My family does a theme Christmas every year. We have done Medieval Christmas, 1960's, Dutch, Hungarian and others. It makes each year unique. This year it is Depression Era Christmas. Soon, I need to go in my closet and find some outfit vaguely reminiscent of the 1930's. I am going for a Walton's version.

I found some great old music to play tonight, mostly from the 1930's. You can listen too if you want. You can find it here.

Here is the only Christmas item I could find in my collection from the 1930's. It is actually plastic and on the back is a calander for 1933:


I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. I will leave you with this last Christmas postcard from December 24th 1917. It was from Emma and Edwin to their brother Oliver in New London, Minnesota.

Homefront Christmas

This image above is from a homemade Christmas card. It is a photograpah printed on really nice toothy thick paper. It is them folded and then folded again. When you open it it has this inside:



A funny Christmas card remarking on the weird world of rationing that people had to go through during World War II. It is one of my favorite finds.



A Christmas family portrait with the soldier brother included in the corner.