My ONE and ONLY Library Book during Quarantine

You remember libraries right?  Brick buildings full of books, magazines, audiobooks, friendly faces?  We were fortunate enough to visit ours the day before life came screeching to a halt.  We didn't know it was our last chance for weeks / months to check out material.  So I checked out ONE actual book and five audio books.  Those are the ones I am stuck with for the duration....

First the fiction audiobooks.  I gave all five a passing chance, but only one seemed worth listening to the entirety. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult.  I admit I am a picky audiobook listener -- it has to be well written, and have a good reader, not too sleazy, not too predictable, not too sad, not too serious, no vampires, no zombies, no fantasy, sci-fi or magic.  (Second thought -- maybe I'm really not that particular). I may have to go back and give the other audio books a second chance.  Maybe a third chance for the really bad ones, depending on how long this lasts.

My ONE actual book?  "Rhapsody In Green" by Charlotte Mendelson -- non-fiction about a writer and her small vegetable garden.  If I was forced to only check out one book for two months, this would have been it.  I ended up with a winner by accident, and I love it.

She and I have some opposing thoughts.  She is all about growing edibles, and I am almost strictly flowers.  She loves starting with seeds indoors, and I try to avoid seeds altogether.   Still, she has many of the same gardening thoughts that I do. And is able to express those thoughts in a fun and entertaining way.  Each chapter is only 3-4 pages, so I can make it through a whole chapter without falling asleep.  She is pleasant and upbeat -- the book always leaves me smiling. I have finished the book and now am starting to read it for the second time.  I wonder how many times I will have read it by the time the library reopens.

"If you can find the perfect armchair garden-reading, it will soothe you better than almost anything."
-- Charlotte Mendelson

Other Flea Finds Going On Ebay

 Two old water sprinklers.

Bought for $6, sold for $13.

 Very lightweight old fan.

Bought for $8, sold for $20.

 Plant Holder.

Bought for $10, sold for $33.

Waverly Gallery by Sir Walter Scott.

1870.

Bought for $3, sold for $36.

All came from Sunday's flea market.

All going on ebay Saturday.

Vintage Danish Marbled Cover Books

 Last Saturday morning my husband told me I should check

garage / estate sales.  I informed him that the first week of January 

was not the optimum time for these, but grudgingly looked at Craigs List anyway.

 You know what comes next, right?

A big old antiques sale about 15 minutes from us,

it was already a couple hours past their opening.

 We still scooped up quite a bit, (more on the rest of the haul later).

One of the items we picked up were these books.

I think they were still there because they were all

written in Danish.

 All with leather spines and corners.

 All with these gorgeous marbled boards (covers).

All written between 1864 - 1940.

All going on ebay this week.

Circa 1935 POP Up Books

A friend of mine lost his father recently.  While going through his father's belongings he found several 1935 pop up books in awesome condition.  He and his sibs had not had access to them, and had no emotional attachment to them --- so I am putting the books on ebay for him.

 They are in such great condition,

and the pop ups are so 3-dimensional and well done.

 These three characters became more popular

and endured through time.

But there were several other pop up books with

heroes whose names are less well known.

Heading to ebay the first week of March.

Halloween Book Art Assemblages 2016

I decided that to "eek" out my full enjoyment from an art project, I can handle doing about three.  Any more than that, and it seems like a job.  Which, is necessary sometimes.  But thankfully not for this project.

 

Like last year, I did include quite a few screws.

I really don't like my book assemblages to fall apart,

and this really keeps them solid.

(Clamp books together before attempting).

Again, a few screws.  (Another tip:

drill pilot hole first before adding the screw.)

  Check out my past book assemblages by clicking here and here.

1930s PRIMERS & READERS Vintage Finds

This pile of Primers & Readers all came from a local on-line auction that I picked up last week.  I won several interesting items, but these were the best surprise.  The online auction photo only showed a few of these in the top of a tub, but there were scads more buried underneath.  Almost all of them were from the 1930s.

This was a set of 10 Readers from 1936.

Pre-Primer, Primer, and 1-8.

Of course each is progressively more difficult

and increases in vocabulary

(and decreases in illustrations, which is sad.)

These are the gorgeous illustrations

in the Pre-Primer.

I looked up the difference between Primer and Reader.

Reader is synonymous with "book".

The easiest level of  reader is a pre-primer.  The text is simple and often repetitive and/or predictable when viewing the book's illustrations.

 

Primer is the next step up from pre-primer in the world of leveled reading.  The text remains simple, but sentences are longer and more vocabulary is introduced.  Repetition is common, but not to the extent of the pre-primer text.  In our modern world, primer level starts at approximately the second half of first grade.  But these vintage Primers look pretty advanced for that.

 

Aren't these illustrations wonderful?

The books are all in vg condition for their age.

 

If I don't get them sold through ebay,

most of them look interesting enough to sell in my vintage booth.

 

And these are the cream of the crop. 

Two paperback Dick and Jane readers from 1936...

...with the sweetest illustrations.

Vintage Patriotic Purchases

Here is my brief homage to Independence Day.  R,W&B are not my favorite color combination (treason?) but I always pick up a few things around this time of year to decorate my booth.

And I really stay away from cutesy, craftsy items --

but this chicken was completed handcrafted and cost me a whole buck.

My husband's find.

Cute with little flags on a July Fourth table.

A patriotic project that I finished a few weeks ago,

click here to see that post.

My "book bundles" to sell this month and a

cute book with vintage flag stickers.

 

My fave patriotic find:

seven small 48 star flags,

they sold for $29 on ebay.

Vibrant tablecloth going on ebay.

Saturday's Vintage Finds 4.30.2016

I actually did major junking on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Two auctions and lots of garage sales thrown in there.  I'm trying to crawl out from under the pile of loot that was collected.  Here is a sampling, and I plan to take some photos of my loaded booth later.


The Friday night and Saturday auctions were: in the rain, in the cold, and coincided with a huge local flea market.  So there were very few dealers there, and I took advantage of not having the usual competition.  I was bidding almost quicker than my husband could take charge of the merchandise and run it back to the van.  But we must make hay while the sun shines -- or buy junk while standing in 6" of water. I got some exceptional deals.

The items that made the photo cut in this post

are all going on ebay with the exception of the blue jars.

This little flower frog birdie was made by Weller.

Bought for $5, sold for $78.

This little plaid book has some tales from Scotland.

Sold for $7.

This shot glass is from Los Angeles,

old enough that the phone numbers only had four digits.

Bought for $2, sold for $14.

I hardly ever get jewelry because of the high prices

it brings.  But I managed to get a whole box of assorted

pretties at this sale, and this beauty is sterling.

Also in in jewelry box.

Sold for $10.

Another cutie from the treasure box.

Sold for $7.

 

A nice micro-mosaic button hook.

Bought for $3, sold for $24.

 

Maybe my favorite from the bunch,

a 1928 Yellowstone Guide.

Full of cool b&w photos.

Amazingly pristine (even after all of the rain).

Bought for $9, sold for $102.

Halloween Assemblage Art Books PART 2

I do not claim to be a great artist.  But I sometimes get consumed by a creative force.  I lose track of time.  I can't get enough.  Everything else (like time itself) not only comes to a standstill, it doesn't exist.  So this is part 2 (click  here  to see Part I) but know this still is not all of them, just all that I paused long enough to take photos of.

If you were able to decipher the note:

the Apron Club was kind of a chain letter but with aprons.

 

This book I gave more of a masculine vibe.

 

I used all the different bits from a hinged paper

skeleton - just on different books.

Can you find all of the different parts after looking at my PART I post?

An actual page from an old book.

I was inspired by the "face"

I saw in the rusty metal piece.

You don't have to yell at me.

After I took this photo, I replaced the

doorknob plate with a less attractive one.

This photo had 1888 written in two places on the bottom.

So, I decided to have it's theme be numbers.

My favorite Halloween decoration this year has been

plastic roaches from Dollar Tree.

I added a little glitter to these three.