Alien Spouse

One of the lovely things about Asheville is that there are so many talented and creative people here, and they are so damned nice as well!

The shop stocks the work of several local artists, and I've always really liked the line of jewellery made by Amber Hatchett that we sell.  Amber creates sustainable jewelery from an eclectic range of found objects - Her pieces can combine vintage charms, chains, bullets, antlers (that were shed by the live deer!) or any number of other things.  All of her necklaces are gorgeous, but they are so very individual and unique, none of the ones we had in the shop were exactly right for me.  Fortunately I knew that Amber also takes commissions, and I had one or two lovely shiny things that I thought she could make me something from.

I selected a few items that I thought might work, and Amber agreed to make me two necklaces from them.  I was SO excited when she told me they were ready, and that she'd deliver them on Sunday!

This one is made from a glass button that fell into my lap when we went to see "Guys and Dolls" in London, it popped off Sarah Brown's jacket during the Cuba number.

The pixie pendant I've had for as long as I can remember, and I'm frankly amazed I haven't lost it.  My Mum bought it for me from a gypsy!

Amber added two tiny leaf charms, along with her signature touch of several different kinds of chain.

I love it!

The other necklace was made from a large glass brooch and the matching clip-on earrings; I loved these but they were so heavy they really did not work as they were originally intended. Now, with the addition of a gorgeous vintage Ulsner pendant they are the perfect statement piece.  If the statement you want to make is "Fabulous!", obviously.

A Quiet Halloween.

This is the first halloween since I moved to the States that I haven't had a costume, but I just didn't have time to make anything for myself this year because Eva's costume took priority!

It's a very very simple costume, just a brown hoody with ears (Thanks Moth!) with a little blue fez and a pair of tiny wings tacked onto it. I crocheted the fez and wings, and I'm really pleased with how the fez turned out but the wings really aren't as good as I'd like.  Fortunately Eva is carrying the costume off with charming aplomb, so I don't think the wings are too glaring an issue.

As for Trick-or-Treaters, we haven't had any so far.  I was looking out of the kitchen window as did the washing up earlier and I saw a lone Egyptian Mummy with a plastic pumpkin walking down our street, but that seems to be it, no other diminutive ghosts, ghouls or goblins have made an appearance unfortunately.

With Doc C being away this evening I don't want to watch anything too scary, so I chose to spend the evening in the company of Vincent Price.  I decided on watching "Theatre of Blood" because it's got such a ridiculously camp plot, with such a fabulous cast, that I don't think I'll be scared too badly by it.  One of the central roles is played by a young Diana Rigg, and I do wish I'd seen the stage version which was on a few years ago with Miss Rigg's daughter, Rachel Sterling, in the same role and Jim Broadbent in the lead.  Damn it, that looked like it was SO much fun!  Oh well!

Queen Edith's Throne.

Edith has adopted the rocking chair as her special seat.

As you can see she finds it extremely comfortable.

Beam Her Up Scotty!

Oh!  I keep forgetting to blog about Eva's pointy ears!  Look how cute they are - My daughter is a Vulcan!

Evalyn does actually have a Star Trek Science Officer (the blue uniforms) onesie that our friend Danny gave her, but she's a bit small for it right now.  Naturally when it fits her I will draw on some Spock like eyebrows with an eyeliner pencil and take some more photos.

Polka Dots and Bad Seeds.

Before Evalyn was born we put together little gift packages for our neighbours, and we tied those underneath the mailboxes in our hallway when we brought her home.  

It's just a mini take-out style box with a couple of pairs of hot pink ear-plugs wrapped up in tissue paper.  We attached postcards with a note saying that we had brought Eva home and that we hope Evalyn'll be a good neighbour, but she's a new-born... So, ear-plugs for all!

The cards were really hard to choose - but we went with postcards of a 50's cover of William March's The Bad Seed.  The book is about a murderous little girl and the havoc she wreaks; the book is ok, but the film based on that book is a camp classic and well worth watching for the central performance of Patty McCormack as evil little Rhoda.

Yeah, we don't really do "sentimental" about our daughter.

 

Thirties Style.

I keep forgetting to say that we met one of our neighbours, Steven (and his very sweet dogs Twiggy and Coco), from the rather nice house next door, he told us that he had a friend who had lived in our house decades ago.  Apparently it was built in the Thirties and has always been appartments.  Fascinating!

There are several elements, like the living room's light fixture, that are clearly original features, and it also explains the layout and design of the flat itself.  All of the rooms, including the hallway and except for the bathroom, have a large cupboard built in; it makes so much difference, and I don't understand why more modern houses forego this type of functionality.  Well I suppose that it must be much cheaper to build that way, but why don't people insist that houses need proper storage? 

There is never anywhere to keep the ironing board or the vacuum cleaner anymore.  Actually, in this appartment we have an original murphy bed style ironing board in the kitchen which I would have tried using, but Doc C thought it would be a little bit impractical as it butts up against the gas stove in the kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still, isn't that fab?

 

 

A Portrait of the Queen.

We've been meaning to get a portrait of the Queen for a while, and this week we actually got it organised. 

First of all we found a portrait of the Queen that we liked on-line (It's a Dorothy Wilding photo, that was hand-tinted in those gorgeous fifties colours), downloaded it to a zip drive and took it to Staples to be printed on shiny card stock.  That cost a dollar.

Today we went in search of a frame, and we very specifically wanted something a bit tacky.  In one of the local antique markets, after some thorough searching of the aisles, we found a faux mother-of-pearl frame of exactly the right size for $6.50.

It's so fabulous, it goes with our red mid-century modern living room beautifully and it cost us under ten dollars.

 

The Proverbial Till.

I promise that I was only inside the Franklin Fountain long enough to order a ice cream sundae, have it made for me and then pay, before heading to the tables outside to eat it - So what's that? Probably less than ten minutes? Not long anyway, but it was thoroughly enjoyable to be in a place where there was so much to look at and admire for it's charming attention to detail.

Even the cash register was appealling - and inspired a short photo essay!

As you can see it's a gorgeous vintage till, with pressed tin sides and a big glass display for the prices - except the prices on the tabs have been removed, so instead when your total is rung up you get a proverb! The family standing a couple of people ahead of me in the queue got "Search Others for Virtue, Thyself for Vices".

The men in front of me (covered in tattoos and clearly both tough as nuts, but still in the mood for some ice cream with hot fudge sauce) got "A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned"

Mine was "Talk is Cheap Because Supply Exceeds Demand", which I quite like.

I also very much like the soda jerk uniform for the Fountain, although I feel bad about referring to them as "Soda Jerks" because everyone there was lovely despite a line of customers going out of the door meaning they really didn't have a second to even turn round between customers! Still, aren't the uniforms great? I particularly love the classic combination of the little hat and the bow tie.

Literature and Vintage Bling.

This photo combines two of my very favourite things, which are reading and shiny things.

As you can see my Kindle is clothed in it's own leather case, which just happens to be a muted green. I was hoping when I bought my bag that the two would match, or at least co-ordinate, but actually the different shades of green hate each other and clash in a rather sickly way. No matter, I am still fond of both of them. 

As I am sure I've said before (and will probably say again), it took a while for me to come around to the idea of a Kindle, because I adore books as objects almost as much as I love reading them. However, my Mother was right to suggest I would like the format and the Kindle is a prize above rubies for a voracious reader.

Of course if I were to be offered rubies in addition to the Kindle I would not turn them down, because PRETTY!

Kindle and Bangle - Action shot.

I am extremely fond of classic jewellery, and I sporadically, as dictated by my bank balance, collect vintage costume jewellery. This bracelet is a thin slice of tortoise shell plastic (probably it's lucite, definitely it's man-made & not real tortoise) with a simple pattern of diamante studs on both sides.  It's unusual to have the decorative edge be the one vertical to the wrist, whilst the edge which is horizontal to the wrist is so slim and plain; this means it would get lost in a stack of bracelets but works really well alone for some under-stated glitz. In other words, it is dreamy and it was only $18 on Etsy. What is not to love?

It's surprisingly difficult to get a good photograph of a bracelet whilst you are wearing it, so I thought I'd take a picture of the bangle held up to the light to catch the textural translucence of the lucite. Isn't that lovely? 

Me Without Me.

Every weekday I go to Doc C's office to have lunch; I usually also have a nap, so I always take off my glasses, earrings and watch, and take my keys out of my pockets. These items are so integral to my day-to-day self, that this is practically a self portrait, just without me in the picture.

You already know about the glasses and the watch, I go absolutely nowhere without these.

The earrings are from Rhubarb's Etsy Shop ( there will be nothing left on Etsy after I'm finished), and they are my new favourites. These are vintage grey glass drops, which were originally listed with long kidney hooks, but the seller was happy to swap those out for the leverbacks. I love that about Etsy!

The green skull is a Fred and Friends silicone key cap (It glows in the dark and came in a pack of six, so I had five more colours to hand - what is with me and the greens at the moment?), only one of my keys has a cap on it, specifically so I can find the key to my office door without looking at them. I highly recommend this, it saves valuable seconds of thinking time.

Accessorises.

I bought this vintage Samsonite travel bag on Etsy specifically to use as my carry-on luggage when we flew to Vegas. After we got home I simply never transferred my stuff back out of it again, so it's become my everyday handbag.

It's ironic that I think this bag is so fabulous when it is only a shade or two brighter than the green that made my school uniform so very hideous and despised. Seriously, who dresses an entire girl's school in mushy pea green blazers and skirts?

The shades have long been a favourite of mine, but I could only wear them when I had my contacts in - until I got prescription lenses put in! Also just in time for the Vegas trip! 

Edith in the Red Wagon.

Last summer I bought a Radio Flyer, which is one of those red wagons that are an apparently integral part of an iconic American childhood according to films, comic strips and Norman Rockwell paintings. Of course I REALLY wanted to get a photo of one of the cats sitting in it, this naturally means they have avoided having anything at all to do with it (apart from hiding underneath it during skirmishes).

Originally the wagon was next to the fireplace in the living room, and we used it for dumping our bags in when we got home from work. As it got colder and we started using the fire more, I decided to move the wagon, because I worried about the wheels melting. I put it on the mezzanine, and used it to hold the floor cushions up there. An unplanned bonus of this is that Nancy can use the cushions as a ramp to climb up to the railing, which she and Edith like to use as a catwalk.

When I came upstairs to go to bed last night I found that Edith has re-discovered how comfortable the floor cushions are, and she was elegantly lounging in the Radio Flyer. FINALLY!  I had to act fast, but I knew that if I ran to get my camera, that would prompt Edith to jump out of the wagon. Fortunately Doc was still at the foot of the stairs, next to my bag with my camera in it, so I called down and asked him to grab my camera for me. 

The light wasn't great, but I could steady my hand on the bannister, and Edith happily posed for several shots, so happily in fact she started purring. I know she can't possibly understand what a camera is, but there is no getting around the fact that she likes it when I take photos of her. Somehow Edith knows that the camera loves her, and she loves it right back!

Work Clothes.

At work today I wore a scoop neck black t-shirt, a black cardigan and grey tweed trousers. I accessorised with a pair of black converse, my new glasses and a double strand of oversized pink pearls.

If I'd worked at Sterling Cooper, I'd probably have worn the same outfit - just swapping out the trousers and chucks for a skirt and heels.

The only constants in my work outfit are my rings, watch, silver bangle and, first thing in the morning, a cup of coffee in a travel cup.

First Day of Classes: Spring 2012.

Let us never speak of this day again.

Well, except to note there was no blood shed, which I believe illustrates an almost super-human forbearance and mercy on my part.

I did say "No!" several times though. Crickey.

Working Hard for the Money.

It's still a ghost town in my office ate moment; which is great because I have things to do. Mostly these are boring things, but they're fiddly and require some concentration.

To keep things interesting I've been listing to vintage radio plays on Relic Radio dot com. Personally I'm a big fan of Strange Tales, which usually have a ridiculous plot and an imaginative sound effects guy.

Work. Sleep. Sixties Television.

First day back at work was fine, but tiring - I went upstairs at 5:15 for a nap intending to be awake by 6:30. Three hours later...
On the positive side, the cats thought it was entirely for their benefit and very much appreciated me staying still for so long.

Now I'm watching "Mission Impossible" on Netflix streaming. I loved the series as a kid, but Doc's never seen it so we're kicking off from episode one. I was shocked to find that everyone in the team was in place - except for Peter Graves. It's weird to see some other bloke as team leader, but the presence of Greg Morris is reassuring.

Vintage Crime Spree.

One of the joys of the Kindle shop(Oh hey, have I mentioned that I have a Kindle?) is that there are vast quantities of Victorian and Edwardian detective novels available for little to no cost and that means I will never be short of something to read.

I downloaded half a dozen of them only yesterday, and I anticipate going back for more once I've skipped through these.  I selected these six with a very definite research purpose in mind; I read Agatha Christie's "Partners in Crime" years ago, which is a cracking collection of Tommy and Tuppence short stores, however each story pays homage to a popular fictional detective that readers of the period would be familiar with. I wasn't, and I know I missed out on some of the references. So I pulled up the "Partners in Crime" Wikipedia page and systematically went through the Kindle bookshop looking for the authors and detectives being pastiched - And I found all of them! Usually for free, but in one or two cases I had to pay a whole 99 cents. 

I'd already downloaded volume one of the "Dr. Thorndyke Mysteries Collection" and I've just finished "The Red Thumb Mark" the first book in the series. These are a delightful mix of very precise scientific analysis of the fictional evidence and a less condescending version of a Holmes and Watson pairing.

The primary function of all fiction is to furnish entertainment to the reader, and this fact has not been lost sight of. But the interest of so-called "detective" fiction is, I believe, greatly enhanced by a careful adherence to the probable, and a strict avoidance of physical impossibilities; and, in accordance with this belief, I have been scrupulous in confining myself to authentic facts and practicable methods. The stories have, for the most part, a medico-legal motive, and the methods of solution described in them are similar to those employed in actual practice by medical jurists. The stories illustrate, in fact, the application to the detection of crime of the ordinary methods of scientific research. I may add that the experiments described have in all cases been performed by me, and that the micro-photographs are, of course, from the actual specimens.

Freeman, R. Austin (2008-09-05). Dr. Thorndyke Mysteries Collection, Volume One (Four Books in One Volume!) (Kindle Locations 3110-3116). ignacio hills press (TM)IgnacioHillsPress.com. Kindle Edition. 

(I also LOVE how easy it is to pull nice chunks of text from the Kindle, with the source reference already attached. Happy sigh.)

And the Kindle edition still has the illustrations! Yay!

 

New Vintage Chair.

Having tidied and re-organised the mezzanine before the Halloween party (although I'm not really sure why now because it's not like anyone went up there), we had a nice bit of open space that was just begging to be used. Three of my bookshelves are there and it's probably the warmest place in the house, so it made sense to make it into a designated reading area; which obviously required seating.

I fell in love with this chair from Urban Outfitters, not least because it looks like it fell off the set for "Mad Men", and was even more enamored when one of the colour choices was inexplicably reduced in price to $199.99. Stylish and cheap? For me! On pay day I went on-line to order it, and was annoyed to find that despite there being free shipping on anything over $50 that my chair had been tagged with a $35 overweight fee - Well, this threw my very carefully calibrated purchasing budget for the month right out of the window, so I decided to spend Saturday searching the local antiques shops for an alternative.

The very first shop I went to, out of all three in town, had a very plain upholstered rocking chair outside that I liked straight away, but I carried on looking just to be thorough and then came back to it. Then I called Doc C to come and look at it (oddly he hadn't fancied trawling the antiques shops for hours, so he went to his office to write job applications), he haggled a bit on the price because it does need to be reupholstered (I don't think we'll have the spare cash to get it professionally reupholstered and re-sprung any time soon, so I'm probably going to DIY a temporary cover to hide that faded green nobbly fabric) and then we went to lunch to think about it. After lunch I paid $135 for it and stuffed it in the back of the Mini, so now we have a reading chair. Yay!

The cats disagree; they think we have a new cat chair and one or the other has been sitting in it pretty much constantly since we brought it home. I think this is an excellent sign that I chose well, because, as we all know, cats are discerning connoisseurs of comfort.

New Vintage Make-Up Case.

At lunch time yesterday I had a couple of things that I had to do in town, so I walked over from my office and on my way I decided to briefly stop at the large antique shop on the high street. Well, it says antiques over the door, but really it's a flea market and that's actually fine with me because I usually want something vintage and cheap, not appraised and expensive.

I was looking for something to store my make-up in, because proper make-up cases are ludicrously expensive and I really couldn't leave all of that stuff sitting on the side in the bathroom anymore. It was taking up all the space, and there was always the risk something would get splashed with water and ruined. I'd tried organising my cosmetics collection into a vintage thermos lunch tin, but I wasn't 100% happy with that. Anyway, at the antiques shop I found a number of oddly expensive lunch boxes, but none with a print that really spoke to me; a large vinyl doll case full of battered barbies that smelled strongly of stale tobacco smoke and then I found the Ugly Kitten Box.

It's another doll case, this one is designed like a small steamer trunk in tiffany blue enameled metal with white plastic edging, and metal corners. Gorgeous! The enamel is nicely beaten up, and the corners have a charming rusty patina to them.

I'm sure you'll be wondering why I call it the Ugly Kitten box, and I think that's a fair question. Let me show you:

!!!

It really could have been such a tasteful box, but then someone slapped a cartoon kitten with a bunch of daisies on the lid! I love it!

Plus all of my make-up fits inside neatly, but with room for my collection to grow and it was only $10. Happy sigh.

Door-to-Door Letter Opener.

I love this! It's another gem from the retiring professor's office, and it's a plastic letter opener with a molded decoration on both sides of the handle. One side is a travelling saleswoman and the other is a travelling salesman, and just underneath both is the logo for Fuller's Brush Co. I adore the "Mad Men" vibe on this, but I especially love the travelling saleswoman and her fabulous outfit. I want that dress, and those gloves. Gorgeous.

Naturally I did a little google research, and I discovered that these letter openers were promotional freebies from Fuller's, which is just delightful. These letter openers aren't terribly collectible and they are easy to buy cheaply on ebay, so I'm thinking I might turn it into a piece of jewellery somehow. I think it's too big for a necklace, but maybe a brooch or a bracelet.

The Lodger (1944) - Pictures with Notes!

There were two main reasons for watching "The Lodger" (1944), first of all I watched the Hitchcock silent version a couple of weeks ago so I wanted to compare them, and secondly the police inspector in this version was played by George Sanders and I adore George Sanders.

I took screenshots of my favourite scenes - Sometimes because they were utterly ridiculous, but sometimes because they were really quite impressively atmospheric.

I'll continue after the jump because, whilst I think this is extremely entertaining, I do understand that not everyone wants to look at random still images from a film they probably haven't seen. 

Please note that after the jump will be spoilers, but as there is absolutely no plot twist of any kind in the film I don't feel revealing the lack of them would actually spoil anyone's viewing experience. The thing with films made in the forties is that they were barely allowed to sneeze without the censors taking offence, so a plot that deals with the Jack the Ripper case becomes, well, a bit silly in places really and if the plot itself isn't being then the heroine is just wilfully good hearted and ludicrously trusting. There is being nice, and then there is just being bloody stupid.

To Much Historical Accuracy in Fiction.

One of my previous jobs was Archival Footage Sales officer for the British Film Institute, so I'm always interested when I spot an obvious archival clip in a film. Today I watched a truly bizarre Bela Lugosi film called "The Phantom Creepa" (1939), and when the villain, hammily played by Lugosi, was making a bid for freedom in a bi-plane (piloted by his heavily accented henchman, naturally)it was interesting to note that the damage he caused by dropping test tube bombs was documentary footage.

In fact one of the things he destroyed was the Hindenberg, but it wasn't mentioned as a plot point later so I don't think the film makers intended for the villain to be specifically guilty of the that particular disaster; it was more like they just thought the footage looked, well, cool.

It was actually sort of horrifying, because really how callous is that? Imagine going to the cinema to see a cheesy action flick and seeing news footage from, say, the earthquake in Spain spliced in instead of shelling out for CGI? To be fair, the height of the special effects used was a ray-gun that shoots what was clearly scratches made directly on to the negative. Now that is low-tech ingenuity!

Table and Chairs.

This is our new dining table! Is it not magnificent?

Doc called me at mid-day and he'd been able to borrow a truck, but we had to go right then. So we did, and there was a parking space right outside the shop, which was remarkable, and very fortunate indeed. It turns out that chrome and laminate dining tables are quite heavy, as are chrome and vinyl chairs, particularly when carried in stacks of two.

 

 

We got the table set up at home and then had to race back to work, so I am really looking forward to playing house when I get home. I may have a tea party with the cats, just so I have an excuse to set a couple of places.

Now I know you'll be looking at the photos and thinking to yourself - "That is an epic dining set for $250, but does it really go with the $50 tartan sofa? Or what about that mustard coloured armchair and ottoman?" I cannot lie, it all clashes horribly.

Fortunately, after three progressively uncomfortable years, we already had plans to change the sofa this summer, so now we can try and find one to co-ordinate with the table. I also loathe the tables that the TV are on, they are beyond hideous and I want them gone, so they are also on the hit list to be replaced with red lockers from Ikea. Whilst we're in Ikea I think we'll try out some armchairs for the living room, and move the current armchair and ottoman to the study or the mezzanine.

In other words, this summer we are not planning to travel anywhere or eat anything other than beans on toast because we are resigned to spending all our money on getting furniture that is actually comfortable and looks co-ordinated.

A Really Great Sunday.

Today has been very exciting, which considering I spent most of yesterday either asleep or washing my clothes, would have been exciting had we only gone out for lunch (Oh, and we also went to see "Thor" in 3D, which looked great, was very well cast and yet was somehow clearly not that memorable. Huh.) However first we went to look at the Radio Flyer I had noticed was sitting outside one of the local antique shops. It was in pretty good condition but it was still a bit rusty; so we thought we may as well explore and started getting excited about the dining tabls they had. I particularly liked the vintage enamel tables, but none really spoke to us.

Then we went to walk dogs at the Humane Society, and, as is becoming somewhat of a habit, I fell deeply in love with the most adorable little puggle (Pug and Beagle mix) called Roxie. She is just so sweet, she loves humans and her ears are the softest things in the whole world. sigh. Doc managed to drag me away somehow, and we went to get lunch. I had heuvos rancheros with a pint of guinness, and it was delicious.

Since we were already in town we went to check the other antique shops, especially a particularly great swivel chair I had seen in a shop window. Which was still there, still great and now I knew it was way out of my price range. We moved on to the next antique shop, and went straight to the basement where they display all the furniture. Doc was examining something or other when I turned a corner and saw the most ridiculously fifties dining set I had ever seen. It was magnificent and had a bakelite tabletop in marbled white with red detailing, plus it came with two leaves and a matching set of six vinyl upholstered chairs in the same colour scheme.  It was just fabulous, and cost $250 for the whole set. After some examination of the table and chairs, we decided it was too much of a bargain and we HAD to buy it. There was no chance of us getting a dining room set in the Mini, so we'll have to borrow a van sometime this week to get it home.

And this means we will be able to have people over for dinner! And board games! And tea parties! And poker! And we can eat breakfast at a table! SO exciting!

Of course now none of our furniture even remotely matches, so I think we still need to go to Ikea and find a sofa that will look good next to a vintage dining set. I'm thinking something in white leather with red cushions and a grey cat or two.

Catday.

I am delighted to be able to report that Ruby is fine. The first thing the vet did was check her teeth, and she has gingivitis; so she's probably been avoiding eating because her gums are sore and that has run her down. Poor cat! I thought her breath was terrible, but I didn't realise that was the main thing that was wrong with her. I held Ruby whilst the vet took her temperature, so she wouldn't associate Mum with that indignity. The vet gave her two injections (which she hated), and prescribed some pills for her to be given. I'm already playing the bad guy, what with the trimming of claws yesterday and the holding down at the vets today, so I shall probably give her the pills as well. May was well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb, I s'pose.

We dropped Ruby off back at home, and went into Norwich so I could take a skirt back to M&S that I bought in the haze of the fifty percent sale. This time I tried on a white skirt with blue and indigo bird silouhettes on it, and two pairs of lovely shoes embellished with gorgeously shiny beads; they were very tempting but I decided that they weren't really the best use of my limited suitcase space - so I resisted. sigh. Being a grown up is very tedious.

Marks and Spencer's food hall is the stuff of dreams, my actual dreams when I'm back in NC and just a pleasantly euphoric bubble of browsing now I can really truly visit one. For starters they have supplied the Battenberg Cake I've been craving, and that will be sliced up tomorrow to star in a very special photo shoot with a cup of tea. As if that were not enough they have all of the Easter and Mother's Day chocolate and cakes out now, and they are adorable. For example it is simply ridiculous how cute this white chocolate Hello Kitty is -

Her dress is made from SPRINKLES. Look at that! I'm smitten.

After getting sandwiches from M&S (Prawn for me), we went to John Lewis and I spent a good deal of time stroking all of the yarn. It is a magnificent selection of colours and textures at very very reasonable prices. I was most tempted by a gorgeous merino wool in what can only be described as a Bagpuss colourway, maybe that would be fun to make into a fake fox stole? Or would that be weird? Hmmm...

 

Two Hours in Norwich.

Mum had a meeting this morning so she took me into Norwich with her, and turned me loose for two hours. It's always disconcerting to realise how much a city has changed, but I could still find my way around without too much difficulty.

One of my first stops was Waterstones, where they had a Dalek plonked next to the escalator apparently browsing the Classics section. He was suitably grumpy, and threatened to exterminate me, which was thrilling. There was a sign taped to the front saying to please be gentle with him because he was very old, but I don't know why he was there or if he was an original cast member or anything really. Still, a DALEK!

Then I went to the bank to see if I could remember what the PIN for my cashcard might be. Now sometimes when one is writing a blog one has to consider the likely audience, and I know this week that Doc C will be reading this, so I'm almost reluctant to blog about this... But I thought it was funny, so bugger it!

I put my card into the ATM, and typed in the PIN that I thought was most likely. The machine happily brought up the screen asking how much money I wanted, I decided on £50, whereupon it told me by card had expired and spat the thing out. Oh. Hmmm. Good thing Doc C gave me his cashcard and PIN before I left, eh? That worked beautifully, so I do have access to British currency whilst I'm here. Hoorah! Iknow that Doc will now fret about what i would have done had he not lent me his card, but I'd have been fine. If necessary I was thinking I could have transfered the money into Mum's account and she could get it out for me. No problem, just a touch more complicated.

Green for Danger (1946)

How great is the cover art for the Criterion Collection's DVD of "Green for Danger" (1946)?  The reason I mention it is that Netflix has just suggested I might like to watch it.I have to say Netflix is completely correct in that speculation, because I happen to be very fond of that film!  

If you've never seen the film it's not life changing, but it's certainly well worth 91 minutes of your time.  It's a hospital soap opera, crossed with quirky detective drama, and a WWII spy thriller.  What is not to like?  AND it stars Alasair Sims, Trevor Howard and the fabulous Megs Jenkins.

Even better Netflix has it available to watch instantly on-line, that is absolutely perfect viewing on a wintery Saturday afternoon with a fire, a cup of tea and some knitting on the go.  Ooh, lovely!  (Yes, I'm an 75 year old woman trapped in a 35 year old body.  What of it?)

Decorative Pre-Planning.

This is the best time to buy Christmas decorations because they are usually all discounted by a ridiculous amount to get them off the shelves.  I love it!  Shiny things on sale?  For ME!

Of course the only problem then is that you have to wait a whole year before you actually get to use your new treasures. I'll have to make sure I put these fabulously cheesy baubles with the rest of the decorations when I get home, so I don't squirrel them away "somewhere safe" and then forget I bought them for the bargain price of $7.

Are they not deliciously awful?  I feel a childish delight in their glitter encrusted charms I have to say.  These are part of a anniversary release apparently, and are based on vintage designs from when the company first started.

I also bought a box of Halloween decorations by the same company for $6, so I only have to wait ten months to hang these treasures up.

I think my favourite of these is the happy ghost with a pearl sheen, but the cat has really good fangs and the details on all of them are quite charming.  I'm obviously going to have to hang the crossed bones beneath the skull, and I think they will all look great on my mini black tree.  I cannot wait for Halloween!  As ever!

Deadly Mermaid Cover.

I was really tempted to buy this book, purely because of the fabulously camp cover art.  A questionable red head, wearing an acid-yellow off-the-shoulder dress AND holding a freaking spear gun?  That is just the epitome of pulp fiction, isn't it?

In the end I settled for just snapping a couple of shots, because after I'd read the back cover blurb I knew I wouldn't actually read the book itself, and I didn't want to deprive someone who might appreciate that pleasure.

Smart Women Desk Set.

The second day of classes was still pretty damn hectic, but I surfed the wave of questions and it was invigorating.

The best part of the day was a present from one of the professors!  It was to thank me for scanning the hard copies of her notes for the semester after her computer's hard drive became corrupted and ate them all.

I actually was really interested in her class, so I very much enjoyed doing the scanning, but a beautifully wrapped gift was the quite literal ribbon on top.

It was a Smart Women stationary desk set, with just the most fabulous retro artwork on it.  I love how it looks almost authentically fifties, until you notice little details like the blue anchor tattoo on the leg of the lady sitting at her writing desk.

I particularly love the eraser:

Look at the hair and the specs!  Both of those women could have walked right out of the Sterling Cooper Draper Price typing pool!  SO fabulous!

Cover Art: The Strangled Queen.

The book table in my office hallway, where people leave books they wish to release back into the wild, hasn't had anything new in a few of weeks.  However there was one particularly splendid piece of cover art that I spotted a while back which I finally remembered to take a photo of this morning.

As I say it's been there for a while, so I thought that I would be able to come back later and note down some of the plot points from the back cover blurb - But, when I did, the book had gone.

I could probably look up the synopsis on-line, but in the meantime, and purely based on the cover art, don't you think the title should have been "The Dead Mardy Queen"? She looks like a right madam, mind you Prince Valiant doesn't look like a ray of sunshine either; so they are probably perfect for each other, but refuse to admit that until around page 117.

Star Wars: A New Lamp.

After work today we browsed for lamps and soft furnishings, and Doc C pointed out a really nice petrol blue lamp with a blue-and-brown shade.  When I got home I thought about how that would fit in our bedroom, and suggested he have that lamp on his bedside table.

Doc said that actually what he'd like is the same lamp that I have, but full of Star Wars figures.  Which I'd suggested, ooh, when I bought my own lamp 18 months ago, so of course Kmart don't sell them any more.

So he googled for "Martha Stewart Terrarium Lamp" and the top result was Alien Spouse, with a photo of my bedside lamp.  Which is funny, especially because that post even mentions the Star Wars figures, but not terribly helpful in finding one for the Doc.

Mad Men On Demand.

We are moving in four days - But it's really humid, so naturally I'm curled up on the sofa watching TV.

I got sucked into "Mad Men" by Tom and Lorenzo's analysis of the costumes in their Mad Style posts.  So then I caught up by reading my way through all of TLo's episode re-caps, and now I'm watching season three, because I've just discovered cable's On Demand service. 

It's probably a good thing that only the last season is available to watch.  I really should be putting things in boxes.

Muggy Sunday = Horror Movie Marathon.

It's too warm today, and there is a thunderstorm hanging around that just won't break, so it's really muggy as well.  There's nothing to be done, other than sit underneath a ceiling fan and watch cheesy horror movies.  Fortunately I've got plenty of material on hand because I bought a 50 film box-set of "classic" horror movies in DC, which is delightfully haphazard in it's quality.  There's roughly a dozen early Hitchcock's mixed in with really random schlock; I just watched Tod Slaughter in "The Dark House" which was a really melodramatic adaptation of "Woman in White", and I'm currently watching "The Long Hair of Death" which is even worse than it sounds.

The only one in the house who enjoys this weather is Nancy, who is lolling around in attitudes of stumpy cat joy.

Boxes of Books.

I can see that I'm going to develop quite a habit working in the English department.

Every so often the table in the hall way mysteriously becomes covered in second hand books, and they are there to be taken, who could resist that?  Today five large cardboard boxes appeared whilst I was at lunch, so I have no idea where they came from, and I had a good dig through the contents.  I found lots of interesting titles, but I limited myself to carrying only 6 books back to my desk where I perused them and then chose to keep only two; this is impressive restraint on my part I'm sure you will agree.

The two books I chose were "Mark Twain's Best: Eight Great Stories by America's Master Humorist" and "Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behaviour" by Temple Grandin.

I didn't bring "The Master and Margarita" home, because it looks depressing frankly but I love the cover art.  I'm assuming that the woman is Margarita, and she looks really annoyed about something.  Not, I would imagine, her fabulous hat though.

Back to Asheville.

Last weekend we went to Asheville with Laura and Jasmine, and, after a lovely day, we drove by the cinema on our way out of the city.  As we passed I saw a poster with a Banksy rat on it and I realised that "Exit Through The Gift Shop", a title that I just hadn't recognised, was the documentary about street art that I'd been reading about a few weeks ago.

So Doc and I drove back today to see it, and it was a really amazing film well worth a two hour drive to get to (That's actually not much of a yard stick for me - When I lived in Brighton I was only round the corner from the local Odeon but it cost eight quid to see a film there; whereas if I hopped on a train to London and went to the NFT it was free, because I worked for the British Film Institute at the time.  Traveling for two hours just to see a film is completely fine to me). We also had a delicious noodle lunch, and I bought discounted yarn, a vintage Ngaio Marsh with some groovy cover art and the new Goldfrapp album.

Doc C didn't actually do any shopping himself, but he did get to see a film that will most likely be useful to show in one of his classes and he discovered that Dunkin' Donuts have perfected our donutty grail; I speak of the Chocolate Butternut.  It is glorious.

When we stopped for donuts we caught the eye of a gentleman sitting outside the shop, who noticed the Union Jack in our car and asked if we were British.  On the way out he spoke to us again, and we got a long rambling travelogue about his hitch-hiking through Europe as a teenager.  After that he had something else to tell the Doc, but it wasn't for my ears apparently so I got into the car.  Doc told me afterwards that he'd been told two dirty jokes, neither of which he heard the punch-line to, and the confession that the guy had been drinking since 6 in the morning.  It was around 4:30 in the afternoon by the time we ran into him.

Ahh Asheville!  You never, never, disappoint.

The Original Constant Reader.

The second hand bookshop that we really love in Asheville has a small bowl of badges (American Translation: Buttons or Pins) next to the till, and all these badges have photos of authors on them.  I usually take a moment to rummage through the bowl, and usually only recognise a couple of the portraits, and then it's never anybody I enjoy reading.

Except, on this last visit, I found Dorothy Parker.

 I did double-check with the booksellers that it was actually Miss Parker before I bought it, although who else could it be really?  She looks both hungover and world weary, with a distinct air of sarcasm in her pose.

Did you know that D.P. left her estate to the Dr Martin Luther King jr foundation?  And her ashes were not officially claimed for 17 years and were just sort of kicking around the place, including being stored in a filing cabinet in her attorney's office, until the NAACP claimed them in 1988 and designed a memorial garden for them outside their Baltimore headquarters.  Isn't that great?

Vintage Radio and Faux-Vintage Posters.

In my quest to find some fun podcasts to listen to I found Strange Tales on Relic Radio, which I really liked.  It's vintage sci-fi American radio dramas from the 40s and 50s, and when I went to the Relic Radio website I found they have ten other programs to subscribe to.  I'm probably going to get hooked on the suspense, thrillers and horror shows, but I am particularly intrigued by the whole archive of Orson Welles' radio performances.

 Also, Meg at Quiddity linked to a rather fabulous vintage-style DC character posters:

After I'd saved Batman to my iPod to use as a wallpaper, I followed a link from that page to the twitter feed of the artist, Michael B. Myers, and from there I went to his website. I really like his series of illustrations of Lost characters as well, but I think I'd probably be more likely to put the DC posters up on my wall at home.

Post Script:  Late breaking squee of joy for this terrific Dexter poster. WANT!

  

Links and Notions.

I've noticed that I tend to post links to interesting things on Facebook, rather than here or on Twitter.  On the one hand this is usually because I wish to draw something to the attention of a specific person, but not always.  In a similar way I'm also tending to jot ideas down on Twitter, rather than here.

Which is, you know fine, except that Facebook and Twitter don't have terribly useful search functions for going back through your own posts and I find my blog really useful for that.  I mean imagine if, for example, I forgot my wonderful idea for a faux vintage t-shirt from Manderlay and I couldn't search for "That great T-shirt idea I had"?  How awful would that be?  

Because I really do want to put that t-shirt together somehow, I can picture it exactly.  It will be a very light blue distressed t-shirt, with a centered print of a black silhouette of a impressive country mansion against an orange-and-yellow sunset, and say "A Present from Manderlay" in sweeping white lettering.  And yes I know that a t-shirt from Manderlay, however distressed it may look, will be terribly anachronistic, but I still think it would be really funny!  And elitist!  And geeky!  And I think I could get away with wearing that to work, don't you?  I mean it's a literary reference for crying out loud!

Yeah, so my not-new-year's resolution is more links and jotting down of notions here on this blog.  it'll be good, trust me.

01.

I have no idea who owns this car, but it is often parked on campus and it is just as awe inspiring in real life.  My favourite part of the whole car is the hood ornament.

SHINY!

Last Night I Dreamt I Went to Manderley Again.

We went for a drive this afternoon to a town even smaller than the one we already live in, because we've heard that housing is very cheap there and we fancied a nosy around.

The town itself proved to be absolutely tiny; but still manages to have better shops than we do and a gorgeous 50's looking cinema that screens things in 3D.  We wondered into a really nicely stocked boutique which just had beautiful clothes and accessories, along with lovely bath things and other nice stuff.  It was intoxicating, I could have spent an absolute fortune without batting an eye.  Luckily for Doc C, I remained calm and merely stroked all the pretty things I could get my hands on.

 Even better across the road was... a second-hand bookshop!  I was thrilled. 

Once we got inside we discovered that a good 3/4 of the floor space was devoted to the Mills and Boon type of romance novel, but I gritted my teeth and plunged through until I tracked down the mystery section; where I found two Dorothy L. Sayers and a copy of "Rebecca".  I didn't even really look at the covers until I was at the till paying $8 for the lot of them, but the "Rebecca" is a particularly pleasing find for the artwork alone.

Personally I'd have liked to see Mrs Danvers lurking around somewhere, but that's probably a little bit greedy.

Asheville - Double D Cafe.

Overnight In Asheville

Doc C suggested we go to Asheville for the weekend, so I threw a t-shirt, a pair of pants and some socks in my bag and away we went!

I slept the whole way there, so the first thing we did was get a coffee at the Routemaster-Bus-That-Has-Been-Converted-Into-A-Coffee-Bar.  I tried to chat with the barista, but they were having none of it.  As the Doc said later, the one place where you'd think the accent would have some sway would be on a imported red double-decker, but apparently not.  Fine.  Nice coffee though, and the conversion of the upperdeck to the main seating for the cafe was very nicely done.  I took pictures, but I forgot my cables so you'll have to wait.

Then we went bookshopping, first stop was to look at shiny new books; where I found a book on cable knitting.  Thrilling I know, but I think cabling is perhaps the key to not getting bored during the long dark front of a large sweater.  One thing that I personally think you have to watch out for when knitting is getting caught up in a technique that is really fun to make, but produces a hideously overworked end product.  I think cabling gives you a nice blend of fun to make and interestingly textured textile, without getting too fussy. 

From there we moved on to the second-hand book shop.  I found three murder mysteries, one Tey, one Sayers and one titled "Knit One, Kill Two" which combines murder with knitting, and features a recipe for cinnabon buns at the back.  I'm not expecting high art from that one, but I think it could be fun.  I also got "Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul" which is a craft book with a Mexican edge to it.  There is glitter.  There are sugar skulls.  There is a lot of stuff I want to make already.  Doc found two philosophy books, so he was really happy too.

After books we did clothes, and I was trying to find a cheap swimming costume because I'd forgotten to pack mine and that meant we couldn't use the hotel swimming pool.  I found one in Urban Outfitters (Which we had no idea had even opened in Asheville, so Score!) but it was hideous and involved lace down both sides in an ironic nod to the 80's.  I think.  In one of the super cool vintage stores I got a great floral silk scarf which, although very pleasing, will not be so useful for swimming unfortunately.  No hot tub for us.

Finally we had dinner.  We went to our favourite curry place, Mela, and I had a delicious vegetarian taster selection with sour lime pickle, which I was sad to not be able to finish.  I'm not usually a huge fan of vegetable curries, but I was right to trust Mela's chefs, they do amazing things with chickpeas.  After the meal we window shopped for a while until we had made some room for desert at the French Broad's Chocolate Lounge.  Doc had a latte and I got a chai hot chocolate, both of us had coconut macaroons.  We've been meaning to go to the Chocolate Lounge for ages, and I really liked it.  Especially as one of the girls behind the counter had a cool key tattoo on her arm, and we bumped key tattoos in a sort of clumsy high-five!

Now I am lying on the bed back at the hotel, surrounded by books and full of tasty food. 

Oh yeah!  Asheville always delivers Baby!

Shiny Things Nice.

This week at work continues to be not much fun, I'm not actually involved in the main horror event, but I'm getting hit with the odd bit of shrapnel.  sigh. 

Fortunately I've discovered a full proof method for cheering myself up no end; listening to the cheesiest Euro-pop available (How cheesy?  Gina G, Whigfield AND Aqua were involved.  And, yes, one of those is not technically a European, but Gina did represent the UK for Eurovision so I think we can give her honorary citizenship for the purposes of music categorisation) and browsing vintage jewelery on Etsy.

This evening I snapped up a gorgeous sweater guard, which has to be the worst name for a piece of zuz ever.  Essentially a "Sweater Guard" was an accessory made popular in the fifties which is both practical and pretty. It's two matching brooches with a short chain or string of beads between them which you wear clipped on either side of a cardigan to help secure it.  The one I happened to find today is two diamante clips with a strand of pearls; with the added fabulous bonus that the clips happen to be an exact match for a set of three vintage brooches I already own.

I am already building outfits around my latest find, so I hope the seller is able to get to the post office first thing in the morning.  I need glamour, damn it.

Three Good Things.

1. Very excitingly I will be buying this book from Rex Parker, replacing my current copy of this title; because I want as much of my Marsh collection to have vintage covers as possible.
2. I also bought some new clothes today, nothing particularly dramatic; a denim skirt, a pair of cords, and a black sweater, but the skirt is a US size ten so a UK size 12.  Um, squee!
3. And we found blackcurrant jam in one of the local supermarkets.

Yeah, I'm pretty easily pleased actually...

Science Fiction - Double Feature, Dr X Will Build a Creature.

We went to feed friends' cats whilst they are away, and stopped at the chemist (American Translation: Drug Store) to get some vitamin A and Zinc, because I read they can be helpful with Mono.

They have a great range of Halloween stuff there, so we browsed that as well.  I had noticed last time they had some cheesy looking CDs and DVDs on offer at $3-for-2, but I hadn't really looked at them because how good could they be?  Um, AMAZING!

I am now the proud owner of the following classic B movie horror double-bills;

• Monsters and Madmen - Featuring "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" (1962 and the title that really drew my attention!) and "Beast of Yucca Falls" (1961 film in which Tor Johnson is accidentally mutated by an atomic test)
• Threshold of Terror - Featuring "Bluebeard" (1944 film starring John Carradine) and "House on Haunted Hill" (The 1959 film, directed by William Castle and starring Vincent Price)
• Chills - Featuring "Dead Men Walk" (Made in 1943 and featuring the classic evil identical twin storyline) and "The Monster Maker" (1944 film which I'm given to understand co-stars a man in a gorilla suit)
• Tales of the Undead - Featuring "Atom Age Vampire" (No clue! Apparently it's a dubbed Italian film from the 60s) and "Revolt of the Zombies" (No idea! Zombies from 1936 have got to be worth a look though)

So that is 8 fabulously tacky creature features for $6, and all of the DVDs also have a cartoon too.

Vintage "Get Well Soon" Card

My office was recently given several boxes of second-hand books for the lobby library, and inside one of them was a vintage Get Well Soon card.  The printed sympathy verse is sentimental and seems very dated, but I do love the hand tinted graphic from the top of the card.

Isn't that gorgeous?  Those colours would make anyone feel better.

Another Brick in the Feature Wall.

Have I mentioned the incredibly retro feature wall in my office?

It's the only wall that doesn't have a window, and it was largely covered by my enormous desk until I reorganised the furniture. Now my desk faces this wall, and I'm thinking I need to put up some art because otherwise it's a bit oppressive in a Pink Floyd "Another Brick in the Wall" way, you know?

There already rawl plugs in some spots on the wall, so it wouldn't be too difficult.  Well, accept that all of the existing rawl plugs were seemingly put up at random, so none of them are central and all look to be at least a foot lower than I would want to display art at.  That sort of thing really bothers me.

Anyway, I'm thinking that I might get some new art from the University gallery, but what I would really like is to put up a "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster in a nice soothing colour-way.  Personally I'd like sea green with off white or, maybe, charcoal with duck egg blue.  Something soothing and reassuringly vague, in a nice British way.

Making Nancy's Bed.

I've finally got my suitcase back from Nancy, but only because I gave her one of her own.  I was inspired by both her love for my suitcase, and a number of very cool pet beds that I'd seen on-line made from recycled retro suitcases.  My original plan was to find a nice piece of second-hand luggage, but I couldn't find anything I liked.  Then I remembered that we have three large wheelie suitcases that we bought for about 50p in Hackney when we needed to lug stuff over here in our move.  Not quite the look I really wanted, but it was exactly the right size and you can't get much cheaper than simply re-using something that's been shoved in a cupboard for a year.

I also had an old hoodie which I started wearing when Doc decided it was getting too scruffy,  so it is really beaten up now, and I turned that inside out to use as a case for a nice comfy pillow.  This means Nancy has her own bed that smells like her people, which she seems to find comforting.

Naturally Nancy (who by the way, is looking so pretty at the moment! Look!) is totally blase about all of the carefully planned luxury elements, she's all "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I am comfortable, that's great and only to be expected frankly. Stretch. Honk-shu, honk-shu...", but she adores the zips on the edge of the suitcase and rubs her whiskers against them with great gusto.

Of course now Edith's nose is out of joint because all she has is her woot! cardboard box.  And the fleece blankets on the sofa.  And the armchair.  And the ottoman.  And the bookshelf.  When what she really wants is her very own suitcase with a pillow in it.  It's a tough life for a demanding floofy madam of a cat.

Agatha: Novel (1978), Film (1979).

When I was 9 I suddenly developed a taste for Agatha Christie novels.  I'm fairly certain the first one I owned was "At Bertram's Hotel", but I don't remember if I got that before or after seeing the BBC adaptations of the Miss Marple stories.  I could still hum you that theme tune, and for me Joan Hickson is the definitive Marple.

I must have been about 12 when the film "Agatha" (1979) was shown on TV, but I was thrilled to be allowed to stay up and watch it with my parents because I was fascinated by Agatha Christie's 11 day disappearance in 1926, which she never really gave a proper explanation for.  Dad teased me that there was bound to be a sex scene in the film because it starred Vanessa Redgrave and Dustin Hoffman, and, as I was a very pure minded 12 year old, the mere suggestion was completely outrageous to me!  I don't actually remember much about the film now, except for the main plot twist, and it being the main reason I developed a distaste for Timothy Dalton that I've never quite got over.  He's probably very nice in real life, but as Archie Christie he was a cad and a bounder so I could never buy into him being a romantic lead after this.

Last week I spotted the book that the film was based on.  It was published two years after Agatha's death, so she didn't have a chance to respond to the solution posed by Kathleen Tynan.  I'm only on chapter three, so she's only just vanished mysteriously and there isn't any indication of where she might have gone.

The art work on this is particularly 70's film tie-in, isn't it?  Hideous, yet intriguing.  Those are great portraits of Redgrave and Hoffman, but it's a weirdly composed image and I have no idea why they are peering off in different directions through wet glass.  I'm pretty sure that doesn't end up being a plot point, but I could be wrong there.