It must be the smiling people, the real colors of nature, the mouth-watering food....You Know local grown food is gonna taste better....
I haven't had a real garden for almost 3 years! how sad is that? I've lived in places that didn't have a yard, so I gardened in pots and did some Guerilla Gardening. This year, moving to a home with a big yard was #1 priority. Of all the things I do, I love gardening the most, so the last 3 years have been torture I tell you !!
Do you love gardening? Or do you see it as a dirty chore? Yeah, but you get food and pretty flowers!
Heirloom tomatoes....these look like Brandywine...Yum ! Oh yes...Basil and homegrown tomatoes on a whole wheat sandwich with mayo and horseradish....now that tastes almost as good as a chocolate sundae!
There's more than garden produce at Tacoma's Farmers Market....fresh seafood grown in our local saltwater farms.....Razor clams, OYSTERS and Clams !! oh my.
And then....there are the craftiest crafters.....Even before I saw the humans, I knew exactly who this booth belonged to....
****yeah! It's Scott and Jacqui of Slide Sideways !
in their own words..." We started Slide Sideways because we have always loved working with our hands and making things. Even though graphic design is a creative field we wanted to get away from the computer for part of our day and create using more traditional methods. "
They make hand-screened cards and posters, and sew (on a Singer (me too)) little zippered pouches, tea towels and more more more. And they live in Tacoma. That cracks me up. Me too. Mark and Tressie and our little doggie live in Tacoma too. Here's Scott and Jacqui's shop on etsy. They do the Farmers Mkt, and other shows & festies around the area too.
We also visited other friends in the downtown Tacoma area, and got new keys for my ukelele. No kidding, I'm gonna learn to play poorly. Whatev', eh!
Bye downtown Tacoma. See ya later!
Back in May, Mark and I took advantage of a lovely sunny day....and went to a few estate sales....I like to go later in the day, since I lack the Shove You Out Of My Way Gene (I'm a late sleeper too...)
I wouldn't have any fun early in the morning when the mean bossy shoving type people line up at 6 am.
As you walk around in an estate sale, you are told lots of things by sellers that may or may not be true about provenance.
But, girl you know it's true....this football jersey belonged to a guy named Dave Welsh. He went to the university of Washington in Seattle, in the early 60s. He was on the football team that went to the Rose Bowl and WON! in 1960 and 1961. Which was/is a Big Damn Deal !
Dave attended Garfield High School in the Emerald City....and this was his football jersey. On this same Husky team was Norm Dicks, and Ben Davidson.
Really!
When the fake Mad Men tv show are living their fake life in the early 60s, I try to picture the real early 60s. Here's a bit of it....mmmmm....early 60s....Seattle....oh yeah this......;-)
Some people don't like the idea of estate sales, or anything used for that matter. But it's all recycling, and it's all history, and the family is happy to get rid of the things they don't want..the things that don't have a lot of meaning for them....after a death, it is a great burden to deal with what is left. Families rely on competent estate dealers to price and sell that which is left....It creates a lot of income, and interest, and fun...if you like history.
There are a lot of reasons people like old stuff and antiques......these things have stories. They are about our lives....I like to see them have more time in life. We're humans, we are social beings....we're born....we live...and then there are things...and memories.
this time of year the light falls at a slant not high in the sky.....the air seems mistier...and the days are slowly slowing down and giving way to the dark night.
Colors are both bright and deep..........blue....black...brown...appear frostier and dreamy.......
Sparkling jazz of Miles Davis is just right.....Miles Davis: Bitches Brew 40th Anniversary
right around the corner..........I love this time of year...the hot is hottest...a run thru the sprinklers or a jump in the pool is the best! Soon enough, the weather will cool and then get cold, and the gray rainy days will come...and maybe some snow.
The apples are ripening, the tomatoes have produced and been sliced in thick slabs and plopped with mayonnaise or sprinkled with salt and savored.
I designed some fabric apples last fall, and gave them real branch and twig stems and wired leaves....I'll get going with that again next week..and the fabric pumpkins too. Those are fun to make...and I'm working on a tomato pattern too. Lucky me, that heirloom tomatoes come in lots of colors and patterns, so an orange stripe tomato will look normal now that folks are getting pretty used to them at the farmer's market.
This week I listed some fall dresses in harvest tones, lots of boots (so many already sold!) and I dug out the tweeds. Basic jackets and pleated skirts aren't boring when paired with vintage millinery flowers and sparkly rhinestone vintage pins from Granny.
(hey, that's me!)
I really had fun styling these pieces ....worn with leather sandals now, and fun Converse tennies, and later as the days get cooler, with patterned textured tights and leggings and boots.
I think we all know that Levi Strauss got the ol' American denim jeans thing going in about 1873...and it is more popular today than ever. There is a revival going on right now all over the globe in American fashion.......When you think America.......denim jeans, denim jackets and denim ...denim...denim...everything......is as American as the old Stars and Stripes waving in the sunshine.
If dyed well, it fades, and that fade is half the beauty of denim. The other half of the beauty of denim is the way it wears to show your wrinkles, your holes, scuffs, folds and tears...the way the threads are twill woven.....one of blue and one of white. Pre-ripped and bleached out...not my preference. I like to see what a real person does to a real pair of denim jeans or a jacket. That's authentic. All else is a fake.
Denim jackets are everywhere again, and quite nifty......Want real vintage? I have 3 right now in my etsy shop.
We know this one ...The ever-popular 2 pocket indigo 70505.
Everyone and their sister copies this classic Levi cowboy or trucker jacket.
And a classic Lee 101J.....more indigo denim.........indigo is a vegetable blue dye that is a gorgeous color though most contemporary denim is dyed with a chemical blue, but still... why...it will fade to beauty all time. Lee Industries began in 1889, designed this type of 2 pocket jacket ...the 101J in 1946 just after WWII ended.
And....a Rare denim jacket with pleated front and 101 branded snaps. Note the patch pockets, sans flaps and snaps....Cute ! This was sold by Montgomery Ward, but I don't know yet who made it....This style was a hold-over copy from the Levi's original design with pleats on the front. Just when this Montgomery Ward jacket was made, late 50s to early 60s, Levi's dropped the pleats forever.
Denim was always the fabric of worker's clothes. It meant...you worked for a living, brother. If a rich guy donned a pair, he was pretending to be Marie Antoinette....play-acting like they could get a blister.
In the 50s, the youth and the outlaws of yesteryear wore denim because they were counter-culture, Man. This In-Your-Face rejection of slacks and ties continued through the 60s...and the 70s...and then...Majick! That which was counter-culture was co-opted and adopted by the main culture and now everyone wears denim all the time. It's just casual.
Here's some pix of Hollywood stars! also so American...can you guess the jacket and the star? I bet you can!!
answer: John Wayne in Levi's
answer: Elvis in Levis, and Barbara Stanwyck in something Edith Head cooked up for the movie Roustabout.
answer: Paul Newman in a Lee Storm Rider (like a 101J) jacket
answer: Steve McQueen in a Lee 101J jacket also.
And just because this movie rules for many reasons.....Dennis Hopper and James Dean in Lee jeans....Rebel Without A Cause.
Trad style, heritage brands, Ivy League style, Preppy....it's coming back around.
I don't think this time the ascendancy of "rich boy" sartorialism has to do with the adulation of The Rich, like it was in the 80s...
And we know how trying to act like we was Rich has ended....Now we're all poor. But when I say...We, I mean, Not me. I don't act rich ...I abhor logo anything, unless that logo is on a pair of worker jeans, or a classic American style.
This time, like the first time when these clothes began, this quality, the traditional brands and the understated style, are meant to last a long time....They are dependable. And that is a conservative value everyone agrees on, I'm sure.
And ...trad style looks cool because it doesn't have to try hard ;-)
Like Cool Ray sunglasses...cool.
Since white people with money are funniest when they pretend to be down with the 'hood....I gift you this video.....
Finally tired of cheap Fast Fashion, perhaps Americans are ready for clothes that are classic, always look good, are made of quality fabrics that are sturdy, zippers and buttons that work well over the long haul.
The classics never go out of style.....So making them the basics of your wardrobe is an idea that is back in style! They're not boring...and most of their charm comes from the fabric that good quality clothes are made from....Excellent fabric looks better and is simply all-around a choice you'll never regret.......
And rotten clothes...bad fit, cheap lack of quality...trendy goofiness....Our closets tell the tales.
The first clothes I remember are jeans, and the second I remember is a sailor shirt in big red gingham. Then there was the black and white saddle shoes...the plaid skirts and Peter Pan blouses my mom bought for me as a little girl. I loved them, but I adorned them with lace tablecloths, gaudy rhinestone jewelry and velvet curtains. Why clothes are so important to me, I don't really know.....Maybe it's that I'm extremely sensitive to touch, sound, smell and feel...not to mention...mood.
The most important thing in my wardrobe always has been and probably always will be... is Levis. The best. And originated in San Francisco.
So, denim. The kids today are calling it Double Denim, which is incredibly stupid. Don't try to fancy me up..It's a Canadian Tuxedo, or a Texan Tuxedo if you're Canadian, G.W. Bush. It's kinda silly unless you are actually working. I love denim as an accent or base for any kind of ensemble.
Classic denim wrap skirt by that American prep/sportswear designer Calvin Klein......we all remember the Brooke Shields kiddie p0rn commercials......."Nothing comes between me and my Calvins" ....and of course...in Back To The Future, Marty's mom thinks Marty's name is Calvin Klein because it's written on his underwear.....And the Kermit the Frog parody of a Calvin Klein ad.
Coming to my etsy shop...very very soon, like tomorrow (If not already there.....)
Ralph Lauren linen skirt.....he deserves at least a whole post just for his design credo....always a personal fave...
Fun fab 80s Chestnut brown leather boots...back when even middle-brow stores carried a good quality leather boot....Don't even think about getting something like this at Payless or WalMart......though this pair has no brand stamp anymore, they are a really nice pair of boots.
Penny Loafers ! always nifty, and never worn with socks...Ha. just saying... These are by Bass, the style is Weejuns. Someone needs to stick a penny in those coin holders!!
I remember when I was handed 2 pennies as a kid and told to put them in my shoes....so..........
I put them inside my penny loafers where my feet went. The old folks got a good laugh at an earnest little kid that day! Bass is another late 1800's American company that was old East Coast...in the same n'hood as LLBean (the East Coast was a shoe makin' American powerhouse)...tho these are made somewhere...the quality is super and the leather is sooooo soft.
