Artist Charlie Harper

 http://www.charleyharperprints.com/

Witch's brew

The best part of waking up is Folger's in your cup.

Hosiery ad 1923

 Holeproof Hosiery, 1923

Chee'burger in gas tank

A cheeseburger and a pickle were found in the gas tank of a South Carolina woman's car this week. It was discovered by a mechanic hired to investigate why her car stopped running. Damage was estimated at $1000.

Someone musta thought it'd give the car extra gas.

1920s staircase

Spiral staircase in a 1920's estate 

in Hollywood Hills, California. 

Listed in 2009 for $15 million.

http://www.exoticexcess.com/estates/estate-of-the-day-14-9-million-legendary-1920s-hollywood-hills-estate-in-los-angeles-california/

Time Out

Attitude and Johnny Cash

I don't get like this very often, but this says it all.

Temperance photograph

Members of the women's temperance movement. 

Underwater sculptures

Underwater sculpture in Granada, West Indies 

by British-born Jason de Caires Taylor, 2006. 

The sculptures were created to form an 

artificial reef for marine wildlife.

http://www.underwatersculpture.com/

Painter Frederick Frieseke

From artistsandart.org:

Frederick Frieseke (1874-1939) was born in Michigan, studied at The Art Institute of Chicago, then at the Art Students League in New York City. In 1898 he went to Paris to study at the Acadamie Julian. In 1906 he and his wife settled in the art colony at Giverny, where Claude Monet also resided. There Frieseke rapidly developed a very original aesthetic. His art has often been identified as "Decorative Impressionism".

http://www.artistsandart.org/2009/09/ladies-in-garden.html

Painter Joaquin Sorolla

Bajo el Toldo Playa de Zauraz, 1910 

Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923)

 

Hotel Redondo, Redondo Beach, California

Venice carnival

Toothbrush ad 1929

1929

Dr. West's toothbrush and paste

Saturday Evening Post

Adult .50c  Child .25c

Water balloon fight

Police in Idaho stopped a water balloon fight between 100 college students because of safety concerns and potential property damage.  Booooo!

Kitten running

School cafeteria theft

A Milwakee high school freshman was arrested, handcuffed, photographed and fingerprinted for allegedly stealing a chicken nugget meal from the cafeteria.

Charges were dropped when the principal heard about it and intervened.

Parking ticket

City workers in Manchester, England were painting lines on the road this week and had to move cars that were in the way.

A woman returned to her car and found it illegally parked over a freshly painted line, and there was also a parking ticket the windshield.

The local council had to tell the police to stop issuing tickets to cars relocated by road crews — it happened to other people, too. The parking fine was dismissed.

The Shoe Tree

I heard about this cool "shoe tree" a long time ago. I think I saw it first on Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt. That tells you how long ago it was.

In northern Idaho there is a cedar tree that people in the 1940s began nailing their shoes to — it's just one of those odd, eccentric things that make America interesting. 

Over the years hundreds and hundreds of people nailed their shoes to it and the shoe tree became famous on TV and in travel books as an offbeat roadside attraction. It should have been a national treasure.

Well, firefighters found the shoe tree engulfed in flames on Thursday and were unable to save it. 

 

 I feel sad.

Blue Hole, Belize

 The Great Blue Hole, Belize

(USGS)

"There are many blue holes off the coast of Belize, but the Great Blue Hole on Lighthouse Reef Atoll is the one most visible in a flyover and the most famous one for diving. The hole is about 1.000 feet in diameter and 412 feet deep."
~ The Los Angeles Times

A fashion plate

NBC reporter Mike Viqueira was jazzed by his anchor for changing his clothes four times in two and a half hours while covering President Obama on vacation in wealthy Bar Harbor, Maine last week.

NBC anchor Nora O'Donnell noticed Viqueira's garmenture changed every time they spoke to him that morning. During that time, Viqueira assumed an Oxford shirt, a blazer, a Polo shirt, and flowered bathing trunks and sandals.

Producers at NBC made a graphic to illustrate the evolution reporter's toggery.

Morning at my house

Smoking coffee and drinking cigarettes.

Library Vandalism Update

Update to Vandalism at 74:

The 74-year-old woman in Boise who was caught pouring mayonnaise down a library drop box, and who is the prime suspect in 10 other condiment-related incidents, turned herself in after failing to show up for her court hearing.

The judge issued two warrants for her arrest. The original charges against her are malicious injury to property and carrying a concealed weapon without a license. The gun was found under the seat of her car.

The woman often used corn syrup and ketchup in her 12-month crime spree. Police said they have not uncovered a motive.

Porky Pig punched

Two men knocked the lights out of a Porky Pig mascot at the Six Flags amusement park in Gurnee, IL on Monday.

Police said the 24-year-old woman inside the costume suffered only minor injuries after she was pummeled 10-15 times by two off-duty park employees.

Police said the men had their picture taken with the mascot earlier in the day. The men denied the attack, but it happened in a public area filled with park patrons.

Park security detained the two men and police charged them with battery.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38248430/ns/travel-news/

ScotTissue ad

c. 1934

"Say, Mother, do you think my skin is made of leather?"

Bear cubs

Awwwwww!

Parents turn in kids

News We'd Like To See More Often

Two 18-year-old bank robbers were fingered by their parents when they saw the bank's surveillance video on the local news and recognized their sons.

The Boynton Beach, Florida Bank of America was robbed at gunpoint yesterday by two men, one of which was wearing a well-made pinstripe suit and a gray fedora.

Both sets of parents saw the news and called the police. The fashionable young men are now in federal custody.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/07/13/Parents-turn-in-bank-robbery-suspects/UPI-82401279052483/

Wrong house

Earlier this month, a man in San Diego got so drunk he walked home in the wrong direction, opened what he thought was his condo door, undressed completely and crashed on the couch. Unfortunately he was off by 20 miles and had sacked out in someone else's house. The next morning the homeowner called the police but he did not press charges. The man got dressed, apologized, and walked away.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/834142-naked-drunk-man-misses-bed-by-twenty-miles

Tree Houses

There was an email going around last winter of pictures of tree houses. These are two of my favorites.

Horse in heather

Vandalism at 74

A 74-year-old woman in Boise got her jollies by depositing messy food inside library drop-off boxes. 

She was finally caught, after a 12-month pursuit, pouring a jar of mayonnaise into a return box. Police saw it and nabbed her as soon as she pulled away. 

She liked to use ketchup and syrup and other condiments.

She was charged with malicious injury to property and released.

I'll keep an eye open for this story as the weeks progress.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/06/14/national/a131405D99.DTL#ixzz0tDVEzD7h

Slave driver

A Georgia man held his mother hostage for 6 hours yesterday because she refused to iron his clothes. The 30-year-old man, who still lived with his parents, told her ironing is "women's work." He pulled out a gun and took her car keys and cellphone. Eventually the woman escaped and went to a police station. The man is being held without bond on the charges of aggravated assault and false imprisonment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100708/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_ironing_arrest 

In the news

A Michigan pole-vaulter who was a high school champion in 1967 is still vaulting at the age of 62. He says he'll stop when he can't do it anymore.

In Austin, Texas, a woman entered her dog, Woodrow, into the gubernatorial race to call attention to animal rights and adoption advocacy.

In Gainesville, a man hired a prostitute. When she started talking and smiled the man saw how dirty her teeth were and he called off the deal. The woman grabbed the money out of his shirt pocket and ran. The man called the police. She was arrested and charged with robbery.

Kids in Wayne County Michigan celebrated Mud Day by playing in a foot and a half of mud created with 200 pounds of dirt and 20,000 gallons of water. Sounds fun.

A man in Land O'Lakes, Florida ripped off a construction site tractor and drove it down the road so he could buy some beer. Police said he had previous convictions for theft, loitering, prowling, and he smelled strongly of alcohol.

A man in San Diego got drunk, went home and undressed completely and went to sleep. Problem was he was off by 20 miles and had bedded down in someone else's house. Neither the homeowner nor the police pressed charges.

Blue whales

More than 25 blue whales, the earth's largest animal, decided to feed just off the coast of Monterey, California earlier today, enthralling whale watchers and lucky tourists who were on a whale watching expedition.

Experts say the waters were rich with krill, and that the sightings are a "once-in-a-decade" spectacle. 

An average Blue whale is 90 feet long and they are highly endangered. There are only 2,200 blue whales living off the coast of California and only 8,000 living elsewhere.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15457470

Ringo

Happy 70th Birthday to RINGO STARR. Still married to Barbara Bach. They wed in 1981 after making the movie Caveman. Have a great one, Ringo!

Fashion 1915-1925

American women were still wearing corsets in 1915 (below left). By the mid 1920s women were wearing slinky dresses and flowing chiffon wraps. They showed a lot of skin, too. They went from domesticated to daring. What happened during those 10 years?

What helped early on was the 1914 patent for the modern bra. It was wildly adopted. By 1917 women began leaving home and working for the WWI effort much the same as they did in WWII. At this time Kotex was born and allowed women sanitary freedom to work outside the home or dress in less bulky clothes. Women were organizing for the right to vote. In 1919, after the war ended women liked working and adapted their hair and clothing to reflect their new status. It was this year, in 1919, that the Women's Rights movement  and the right to vote became law. New groups form — Socialists, Communists and the new Labor union movement were active, and there were many raids, arrests and strikes. In 1920 Prohibition started, American jazz took root, and the League of Women voters was founded in Chicago. In 1921 Radio broadcasting was introduced, and Yankee Stadium opened its doors. In 1925 was the Scopes Monkey Trial erupted in which science and religion came to blows. People were questioning their religion, their politics, their duties, their lives.

Out of the Edwardian microcosm and into the new world, women were never going back.

Women 1920

1920

1920

Compare the above images of women to ads around 1915 or even as late as 1919. This one is from 1910. Notice the domesticity.

We had radiators growing up and I loved the sounds they made. I'd give anything to hear a radiator again. Maybe I  could find an old B&B that still has them. That's an idea.