On The Road (or at least Amtrak) Again

 

Off to Chicago for a culture-vulture week (Carmina Burana, Much Ado About Nothing, and the Elizabeth Catlett exhibit at the Art Institute).  Blogging will resume Caturday!

Vintage Advertising

 

With the holidays fast approaching, a timely little advert for Nonesuch Mincemeat (which is still around, btw).  From Woman's World, January 1922.  Downloadable from the Internet Archive in an issue that includes instructions on what to do with an incubator, and some forgettable fiction.

Caturday!

 

Napoleon Was Right

"Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake."

Quote of the Day

 

Isn't it wonderful that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~ Anne Frank

Grrrsday

 

Lest We Forget

 

We are the soldiers who have no voice. ~ Graham Bentley

Vintage Crochet - a Doily from 1947

 

From Woman's Day, April 1957, an advertisement for crochet thread that includes a free pattern.  The entire issue can be downloaded from the Internet Archive and is worth a look.  Lots of mid-century modern home decor, and a small craft section.

Left-click to enlarge.

Happy Birthday, Marines

 

Caturday!

 

Just Waiting on Issachar and Naphtali

 

We had four little boys lined up to read with Baldur the Wonder Dog at school this morning.  The first three were Elijah, Noah and Judah.

Quote of the Day

 

The worst wasted of all days is that during which one has not laughed. ~ Nicholas Chamfort

Grrrsday

 

Knitting - A Wimple and Gloves

 

From Crafts N Things, February 1992.  If you start now, you can probably have these completed for a Christmas gift.

November is Native American Heritage Month

 

cartoon by Bill Mauldin

Caturday!

 

Quote of the Day

 

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay. ~ Robert Frost

Grrrsday

 

Other Crafts - "Frilly Lacy Jewelry" from 1973

 

From Make it From Odds 'n' Ends, published in 1973 by the Pack O' Fun people, a variety of jewelry, pendants and earrings to make from string and acetate (a suggested source of the acetate - the lids to holiday card boxes).  Available as an online loan only at the Internet Archive. 

Tomorrow Is National Chocolate Day

 

Govern yourselves accordingly.

Caturday!

 

History Repeats Itself

 

Seven Nisei soldiers of the 442nd posthumously receive commission. ~ Military Times, 10/20/25

Last month, the Secretary of the Army posthumously promoted seven second-generation ('Nisei') Japanese-American soldiers to the rank of second lieutentant.  These men had been ROTC cadets at the University of Hawaii in December of 1941.  

They were expelled and forcibly removed to a relocation center on the West Coast after Roosevelt signed an executive order stripping them not only of their chance at serving as officers but most of their legal rights as citizens.

All enlisted in the 442nd Regimental Combat team.  All were killed fighting in Europe.  

Their names were Grover Nagaji, Howard Urabe, Robert Murata, Jenhatsu Chinen, Daniel Betsui, Hiroichi Tomita and Akio Nishikawa.

Grrrsday

 

Vintage Furniture Crafts - a "Costumer" from 1915

 

From The Boy Mechanic: Book II, a free download from the Internet Archive, dating back to a time when your house might have one or two small closets - if you were lucky.  This is a grand book, full of interesting projects that in those dear dead days were considered simple enough for a boy 12-16 years old to make.  

Happy Birthday To The Woman Who Tried To Warn Us

 

Caturday!

 

Quote Of The Day

 

Grrrsday

 

Vintage Sewing - Plastic Bibs from 1950

 

From Crafts for Everyone by Louis Newkirk, a set of bibs to be made from that new-fangled plastic fabric that was all the rage just after the war.

Instructions can be found at the Internet Archive - unfortunately, this is one of those books that has to be checked out by the hour, but an account is free.

Happy Columbus Day

 

Caturday!

 

Quote of the Day

 

photo from Getty Images

I must counsel you, my dear, to remember that patience is one of the highest virtues a woman can possess, and self-control is another. ~ Bessie Dill

Grrrsday

 

Children's Crafts - A Clothes Peg Boat from 1949

From Hobbies Weekly, November 16th, 1949.  A British publication from a time when toys, and materials to make toys, were in short supply.  A better picture can be found at the Internet Archive. 
 

Happy Birthday, Fannie Lou Hamer

 

"I am sick and tired of being sick and tired."

Caturday!

 

Quote of the Day

 

Grrrsday

 

Target of Opportunity

 

Brian has been getting out of bed early to go to work, and someone is taking advantage.

(*corn and soybean harvesting with his BIL).

Tatting - Trimmings for Household Linens from 1919

 

-

A page extracted from Needlecraft magazine, September 1919, from the Antique Pattern Library.  The medallion in the left column would make a nice snowflake ornament.

Left-click to enlarge.

Obscure Holidays - National Coffee Day

 

Caturday!

 

Quote of the Day

It was much better to imagine men in some smokey room somewhere, made mad and cynical by privilege and power, plotting over brandy.  You had to cling to this sort of image, because if you didn't then you might have to face the fact that bad things happened because ordinary people, the kind who brushed the dog and told the children bedtime stories, were capable of then going out and doing horrible things to other ordinary people.  It was so much easier to blame it on Them.  It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us.  If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault.  If it was Us, then what did that make Me?  After all, I'm one of Us.  I must be.  I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them.

No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them.  We're always one of Us.  It's Them that do the bad things. ~ Sir Terry Pratchett

 

Grrrsday

 

Vintage Crochet - A Christmas Bear from 1950

 

From Workbasket magazine, October 1950 comes a frilly teddy bear to crochet for Christmas - slightly more  legible instructions and the entire issue can be found at the Antique Pattern Library.

Tis Autumn Equinox

 

AKA the day people in Chicago jam Randolph Street near Millennial Park to get a photo of the sunset aligning perfectly with the east-west street grid.

Caturday!

 

Quote of the Day

 

If you want to know who rules over you, look at who you aren't allowed to criticize. ~ George Orwell