Valentine’s Day Cards – A Look Back in Time

I remember the Valentine’s Day cards of the 50′s – the ones we exchanged in grammar school (that’s what we called elementary school).  They were mostly funny, sweet, and complete with  sugary clichés.  The Valentine cards shown here are older and speak to a slightly different take on expressing affection.  Can you imagine the phone [...]

Read Full Post »

Countdown to Christmas – December 1st

Hopefully you got your Advent calendars early this year so you were ready to peel open door number one. Oh the anticipation that the traditional Advent Calendar engenders!  This year I purchased at an Advent House for Finley.  An amazing work, possibly home-made, however, extremely well-crafted.  An adorable cottage replete with dormers and all together [...]

Read Full Post »

The Sounds of Yesteryear! An AMUSE-BOUCHE du jour

You know this blog likes to take trips back into the world of long gone now – that is my own childhood and young adulthood, lol!  We’ve looked at classic cars, vintage board games and even phrases that have gone the way of the past.  Today I have a list of sounds your kids have [...]

Read Full Post »

Queen of Kitsch: A Brief History of the Plastic Pink Flamingo

Quite some time ago, I did a blog post about my flamingo collection and recently my friend, Gail, sent me this article that appeared in the Mental Floss blog about the history of the pink plastic flamingo.  Well several years ago when Peter was selling antiques in Chelsea, one day he saw this couple walking [...]

Read Full Post »

Collections on Steroids – Thursday’s Top Ten

I’m a collector, my husband is a collector and so you can only envision the stuff in our home. Or can you?  A while ago I did a blog post about my Flamingo collection which I refer to as kitschy.  See link:  http://pbenjay.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/florida-kitsch-is-cool/.  Oh the collections we have!!! Just to name a few;  There are [...]

Read Full Post »

They Don’t Call Them “Classic” for Nuthin’

Well those of you who know me (and my husband) and recently a good friend described us to her friend as “they’re so retro”, know that almost all things old and vintage are revered and quite possibly collected by us.  I sometimes refer to my apartment as a tchotcha museum, while others have referred to [...]

Read Full Post »

What’s the First Record Album You Bought?

OK clearly this question is limited to those of us who are of either a certain age or are collectors. Unfortunately I fall into both categories although admittedly an avid collector, records is not one of my collection addictions.  No, I leave that one up to Peter.  Yesterday was a sweet example of making a [...]

Read Full Post »

Museums Special Section – Recalling the Craze for a Game of Chance – NYTimes.com

I LOVE to play Mah Jongg!  I always wanted to learn and I have no idea why.  Being the Martha junkie that I am, several years ago there was an article in her magazine, Martha Stewart Living about Mah Jongg sets and I fell in love with the tiles and the idea of owning a [...]

Read Full Post »

Florida Kitsch is Kool!!

You’ve seen the lights, now here’s some of the flock!

Read Full Post »

Flamingos Flock to the City

Apparently there was a mass exodus of flamingos from the Florida Keys.  Luckily I had the bathroom window open a crack and LOTS of them flew in.  Read COLLECTION! I tried to photograph the room where they have roosted but it wasn’t quite possible so instead I took photographs of these beautiful pink and coral [...]

Read Full Post »