From Reticule to Ralph Lauren

Tooled leather purchased where else but Kingman,Arizona

Down through the ages,the woman of the household was usually the shopper. In very early times it was a daily task since there was no refrigeration. Today it is a necessity, but also a pastime(in my case). Now if you shop you need to have a receptacle to safely carry your money.
The first such item was simply a small drawstring bag that could carried in the folds of the voluminous skirts or petticoats that were the fashion of the day.But as in many other basically utilitarian items of daily use, women began to decorate the so called bags with needlepoint and beads.  These early bags were called reticules.Beaded,needlepointed, encrusted in seed pearls,these reticules began to appear with hinged frames and handles for the most part,making them easier to carry and to display to other envious women.It is said that certain artists would leave their identification on the beaded bag by placing a  bead in the design that was a different color than it's surrounding design,appearing to be a flaw.
Today our bags, ladies, are still an important fashion statement and have evolved into veritable suitcases,carrying all the necessities of life. Need I mention,Dooney and Bourke,Prada,Gucci,Louis Vouton and of course Ralph Lauren...all displayed to impress. I recently was compelled to empty my purse in a restaurant the other day and was amazed at what I was actually carrying around...dental floss,church program,multiple register receipts,Bible,nail file, and of course you never know when you may need a crystal prism.

beaded purse with maker's mark,note dark wine bead at tip of orange floral center

note wine colored bead that appears to be a flaw

purse shown on opposite side without the wine colored bead

seed pearl purse with makers mark in the form of a whiter pearl near frame

white pearl shows better when flash not used

glass bead reticule

a later glass beaded reticule with beaded handles instead of drawstring

this is a beautiful iredescent blue bead bag,fringe was removed because it was in a very bad state

silver mesh reticule

seed pearl with nicely decorated clasp

clasp on above seed pearl purse

more intricately beaded seed pearl purses

needlepoint purse

this one is needlepointed on both sides

for some reason this is my favorite

Victorian Christmas Costumes from the Dollar Store

Every Christmas dinner I have a dress up theme for the family. They anticipate what weird stuff I come up with almost more than the dinner or gifts.Well one year I just had to have a Victorian Christmas but was met with dilemma of finding inexpensive costumes. To the rescue came the Dollar Tree and the 99cent Store. I made the girls and ladies costumes from items purchased from  these stores and for the men, I simply purchased top hats and canes

feathers from Michael's and roses applied with hot glue

hat from 99 cent store with brim turned up with hot glue

ladies collar from mini tree skirt from Dollar Tree ties are satin napkins also from Dollar Tree

muff from Christmas 2 stockings ,jeweled chain for placing over neck from eye glass holders all from the Dollar Tree 

girls cap from Christmas stocking  with feathers added from Michael's

girls cape from fur trimmed Christmas stockings,ties from satin napkins

One Last Walk in Beautiful Boston

looking over Charles River to downtown Boston

Our last day in Boston found us making the most of our last hours taking a walk last with daughter and family near their condo which is a very lovely area along the Charles River.It was a beautiful day and I must say a great send off for us.

This bridge is a very windy walkway

A brave window washer

Part of Boston's beauty is that the new blends so well with the old

great idea! these bikes can be rented after depositing fee in a machine and can be ridden to other parts of city and returned.

This picture shows how the old blends with the old.

Fish mosaic along our walk route

Rose garden in Rose Kennedy's honor.104 bushes,1 for each year of her life.

more of the rose garden

Lovely building at entrance to Fan Harbor

Lovely Lustreware..Back to Thrifting

This is the classic image that comes to mind when thinking of lustreware.

Lustreware was originally created by the early pottery factories to replicate,gold,copper,and silver on pottery items. The glaze produces a lovely sheen that closely resembles the aforementioned metals. Another type of lustreware in colors was also produced and is evidenced in mostly trims in colors ..predominately pink.These were produced by England,Czechoslovakia ,and France.

more diminutive versions of the above

An example of pink lustre trim. These pitchres had humorous pictures on them and are quite valuable . This one isn't because of a hairline crack,but my enjoyment has well benefited from it's small cost.

Very old cup and saucer. No handle on cup as the tea was poured into the saucer to cool and then drunk from the saucer.Probably gaudy dutch with the lustre pink trim

pretty lustre embellishment in bottom of cup,this set was found one at a time on 2 different days at the salvation army

more listre trim

Very collectible tea leaf design china,and hard to find.Tea leaf and trim are lustre

Keep in min all this was found very inexpensively in thrift stores or antique stores. Some do have flaws ,but that doesn't decrease my enjoyment of them.

A Visit to Plimouth 's First Residents,The Wampanoag

The native American's that first greeted the Puritan settlers was the Wampanoag. What surprised me was that the Puritans and Pilgrims were not the first Europeans the native Americans had seen.They were used to seeing European traders that had been coming into the bay for quite awhile...not far from the Puritan village is also a replica of the native American village.. Extremely interesting.

The  Wampanoag abode

The dwellings are made of long pieces of bark. In the spring as the sap runs there is a space between the bark and the tree. An incision is made at the top and bottom of the tree and the bark is easily removed.

This young man is making a canoe by controlled burning of the inside portion of the tree.

I asked the young man if he didn't feel cold as you could see his legs are bare."Actually ",he said," I am very warm right now".

drying skins

The family was enjoying a soup of corn,beans etc.

The chief,not as threatening as the picture looks.

Enjoying his soup

Inside the bark dwelling,The lady would answer any questions we had.The dwelling was lined with animal skin covered benches that served as beds.

I was amazed that there was very little smoke inside the dwelling as it escaped upward through the hole in the roof.

woven baskets and bags hung around the perimeter holding extra food,clothing etc.