Friday, July 13, 2012

" Make Do's"


There is a "category" of junking, collecting,
whatever, that I call "makedo"s.
Probably closely related to the "mended antique"
category, but usually involving a more common, less expensive object.
 I find them at older estate sales or auctions and
most often at farm auctions.


That's exactly where these two books came from.
My sister found these at a farm estate sale in Oregon and bought them
for me knowing I would like the "new" repair on the book covers.
These books were repaired with a piece of fabric that I  would guess
was originally some farmers shirt.
Or maybe fabric left over from making said farmers shirt.
The same fabric was used on both books,
but the maker used different stitches on each book.
It looks like the one used on the top book
was the most successful.


You can see here what the fabric looked like when
it was put on originally.


Both of these books are religious books
and I think must have had much
sentimental value to the owner
for this "makedo" to have taken place.


These books were home to family history,
and were obviously meant to be handed down and cherished.
(notice the spelling of ....."borned", and the wonderful
old dates.)


Old books seem to become our safe keeping places for
little bits of our lives.
(a photo and an obituary)


Important news events................
(this is an article from The Oregon Daily Journal dated March 3, 1931)
It is worthy of a read, especially the last part.
(click on it to enlarge)


I am not sure what this little cloth label came out of
or why it was deemed worthy of tucking into a book and keeping..........
other than ......"waste not want not".......
But I am glad someone did put it there,
so I could find it all these years later,
and glad my sister found these books and thought of me.  











                                                                            

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

ART is in the eye ........

of the beholder........right? right??????


I am cleaning out......trying to free up some space......
so last week I took a few boxes of "treasure"
to the auction for someone else to take home and love.


While there I saw this unsigned painting and for some reason
"had" to leave a bid on it.


I was happy to receive the call saying......
"congratulations!"
"your bid took it!!"


So for $15.00 and a bit of tax,
and buyers fee it is now mine.



I took the hideous frame off , cleaned it,
love it!



This is not my usual subject matter,
still not sure what possessed me,
but something about the color and all the pattern 
was so appealing to me.

To me it has a primitive folk ART feel to it.
Yes???    No?????










                                                                                  

Sunday, July 1, 2012

This Years Crop............................

Of Baby Owls.........................





(sorry, couldn't get this to turn)

Usually we don't see the "kids" all at the same time
so we are never quite sure how many there are.
(this year there are three)
But this particular day I happened to open the front door and
saw the one on the basketball hoop, and then noticed that there was an owl sitting
right next to me on the porch railing.
I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of that, but was able to get some fun 
photos of them as they perched in the trees around the house.
These are Barred Owls, and we are fortunate enough 
that they have been nesting and living on our property for several years now.
They don't seem to be bothered by us at all, and it's not unusual to see them sitting on the peaks of
our house, the basketball hoop, swingset, garden arbor, any place they
can sit and do a quick swoop down on a meal.
Myself, I love them, and hope they catch every last rabbit, mole, and mouse
on the place. I am afraid though that some of the smaller songbirds and other
birds don't like them very much.
 I am equally fond of the flycatchers that nest outside my bedroom window and eat mosquitoes..............so I hope the owls know that they are
offlimits!!!!!!!!!!!


Then...............................
Speaking of things with wings that go bump in the night.............
I received this gorgeous mala 


from Steph, aka
"Vlad the bat"
It's perfect for me , I love it!!
Thank you Steph!