Author Illustrator Designer
I love hunting around at thrift stores, yard sales, and places like Savers because you never know what will turn up. Here are a couple of pieces that I think are particularly nice.
This chick jar, made in West Germany, has a great simplicity in design and color. Love it!
The mug with the houses comes from England. Great graphics, Batman! Not afraid of color, are they?
I keep these two pieces near each other because I think they have a similar (awesome) vibe!
Well, as I alluded to in my last “post”…I spent a good part of last week in coastal Maine, the part they call MidCoast. We had a nice rental cottage in New Harbor, very close to Pemaquid Point. Here’s the view from Colonial Pemaquid’s fort:
Apparently, this area had been colonized in the early 1600s (displacing the native American tribes, naturally). I had no idea. I bet Maine kids know this, but down in RI all you hear about is Plimoth Plantations! Seriously, follow that link, it’s way interesting.
Since the place has been clocked down a hundred times and rebuilt, it’s amazing that the original cemetery is still there:
Across the street from our cottage each morning was a home made donut stand. Sweeeet.
Behind the donut stand were 3 horses and a donkey. Donkeys make weird noises, especially at 5 am.
Not a cute “hee-haw”, no. More like a nails-on-a-chalkboard squeal.
What an ass! He was cute, though.
We were very lucky with the weather. Very, considering everyone up there told us the summer had been a bit of a washout (not unlike RI, too). Here’s Boothbay Harbor:
Boothbay has a great Botanical Garden– we had fun checking out all the nooks and crannies:
That last one shows an area designated for making “fairy houses”, which we did.
I absolutely LOVE this art in an ice cream shop in Boothbay:
Somehow, I NEVER thought of how a littleneck would eat ice cream…now I know!
The Pemaquid lighthouse and point are gorgeous:
This is the lighthouse that appears on the back of the Maine quarter- and I can see why. It’s pretty much a quintessential storybook lighthouse! The rocky zones all around it are excellent to poke around on…you find fun stuff like this:
I made a new friend in Pemaquid!
We had lobsters one night, right off the pier. This came with mixed emotions, because we here at Maison Dubois happen to love lobsters (the living kind). The kids want to keep one as a pet. And yet…MY GOD they’re good eatin’!
After staying out in these parts, we meandered home slowly along the coast, checking out lots of lovely coves and more lighthouses:
We went to the York Zoo, and were happy to see so many animals that our local zoo doesn’t have!
Capybaras! And a capybaby! I was a Bill Peet fanatic as a kid, so getting to see capybaras is a treat.
OK, goats aren’t very exotic, but anytime you get to hand feed piles of baby goats, that’s a good day!
How cute are prairie dogs? They’re even cuter when drinking out of a bowl!
This is the most amazing bird ever to me:
It’s got tiger stripes! Spots! Every color! Just crazy, man. I love it.
What is it? Um, it’s a..a…Lady something-or-other. I’ll find out.
They also had a butterfly garden going:
And what’s a vacation without tchotchkes?
I wouldn’t know, I’ve never taken one!
Here are my my classy souvenirs:
A lobster tile, a handcarved owl on driftwood, and the cutest cat mini-vase/toothpick holder.
And a few tackier items:
Another balsam pillow, this one with the Pemaquid lighthouse on it. (You know I love me some balsam!). A few patches to sew onto my patch bench. And a lobster cookie cutter.
Oh, yeah! Guess what everyone’s getting at this year’s cookie exchange!
We were lucky to stop by Newburyport, Mass. on the way home. The Child At Heart Gallery is closing it’s brick-and-mortar shop there, and we were able to get some awesome art at a discount- these pieces are by Chris Demarest and David McPhail. Whee!
Now it’s all about back to work and back to school. Booo!
I thought I would show you some of my recent antique/flea market finds!
Here’s a nifty owl that simply screams “70’s”:
Anything that screams 70’s makes me happy, what can I say?
Hankies are also happy things, so long as your not blowing your nose into them.
Here’s one for my bunny collection:
And oh, look…it’s LARD!
You don’t see honkin’ big packs of lard anymore.
Gee, I can’t imagine why.
Nowadays, they just insert the lard directly into your processed foods…no fuss, no muss!
I like stuff like this package from the past not only for it’s absurdity, but the graphics.
I will put it into my Dubois 5+10 area (a shelf of similar things).
How cute are these little guys!
Yeah, I know it’s not anywhere near Christmas, but I picked these up for my mom.
Are you reading this blog, Mom? DON’T LOOK!
Here’s something for the fall:
This will be the ideal thing to wear to the annual Apple Fest, oh yeah!
And last but not least (and not even last)…
FABRIC!
Sweet piles of vintage scraps destashed by a hoarder…let me hoard thee now!
That’s all for now…
I think I’ll be taking a blog break while summer is still here.
Plenty of time for this in the fall (not really, but you know what I mean!)
I have an bit of an obsession with 5 & 10-cent stores. As a kid there were still the last vestiges of them around for me to pick thru.I clearly remember the Ben Franklin that my aunt worked at, and the Woolworth’s in Garden City and Providence (both complete with lunch counters). Too bad they’re all gone!
Or ARE they?
No, there are a few left.
One of my favorites is in North Conway, New Hampshire.
It’s just a cute little hometown version that still has an authentic candy counter:
That’s pure joy, right there.You can get yourself a little basket and fill it with various candies, then they put them into the traditional little paper bags.
So-weet! They also have all kinds of things that I haven’t seen in years- Dennison seals, those little gummed stars, dollhouse furniture, etc. And, it being New Hampshire, they have all those wonderfully tacky cedar chests and balsam pillows and the like. I really wonder where they get some of this stuff. The staff assured me that the makers still make the stuff. I guess there’s just not much call for it anymore. Thanks, WalMart!
With this image in my mind, I made a new Scrap Shack that’s based on the N. Conway 5 & 10. I love the exterior color!
In my version, there’s a bear entering the shop, and the store seems to be filled with toys.
My kind of place! I made a few of them- one for me, one for my mom, and a couple for you at the Etsy shop!
NOW, here’s one place I NEED to go:
The National Christmas Center in Pennsylvania!
Amongst the many Christmas exhibits, they have recreated a vintage Woolworth’s at Christmastime.
If you follow that link, they have a “virtual” tour of it.
Have mercy!! I am so there!
Has anyone been to this?? Do tell!
Words can’t describe how much I love this old wooden puzzle, recently bought at a local antique joint.
Have mercy! Why don’t they make ’em like this anymore?
Here’s a pretty typical scene from the studio…Old Georgia (she’s 19) is sitting on a stack of books, waiting for me to flinch, breathe, or move in any way, so she can divert my attention to the kitchen.
She doesn’t remember anymore when she’s been fed. She gets fed constantly.
Thank goodness for those little cans of food they make now!
When she is not eating or anticipating my every move, she is sleeping.
Today she has been dressed in a jaunty new cap and scarf by one of my kids.
It turns out that American Girl clothes fit cats pretty nicely, too.
Don’t you hate it when you’re talking to a nun, and a good, stiff wind just carries her away? This week’s box is an ode to Sister Bertrille, the The Flying Nun. It’s a late 1960’s box, chock full o’ weird charm. There is Sally Field, happily flying over her Puerto Rican convent, probably up to good-natured mischief of some kind.
Oh, Mother- that’s Superior comedy!
This deserves a ranking in a special category of shows with the oddest premises- it’s right up there with I Dream of Jeannie, and Hogan’s Heroes. The art is from the celebrated MAD magazine school of realistic-but-enhanced caricature.
Too bad they don’t make ’em like this any more- the shows OR the lunchboxes!
