Rose Anderson's Blog, page 21

New Year just hours away…

I wish you a happy, healthy, loving, and prosperous new year!

So the year comes to a close. I’m glad for it even though at my age it sure seems like time on this side of the hill moves faster than on the other side! I’m glad, because for me 2014 began in sadness that culminated in heartbreak, and it’s time to move on.

Thank you for joining me here every day. I have big plans for both my career and my blog during the coming year. My interests are varied and a whole wide world awaits. You never know what topic will spark a post each day. I’m versatile!
:)

Case in point…

Comet Lovejoy is coming into view in the northern sky. If you have access to an area with less light pollution, the comet will soon appear just to the right of the bottom half of Orion’s bow. If you know your constellations, that’s just above Eridanus. Apparently the comet’s show will be especially good come mid-January.

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Since Thanksgiving I’ve shared the vintage postcards from the scrapbook my husband started as a Christmas gift for me two years ago. The album spans 100 years from 1860 to 1960 and we’ve been adding to it whenever a card catches our fancy. 

I find this one interesting. It has luck charms bursting forth with the champagne cork. Ok…horseshoes, clovers, and coins, but mushrooms? They’re the red-capped amanita mushroom, a toxic fungi also known as death cap and destroying angel. It’s also a clue.

I mentioned how the lithograph postcard industry was dominated by Germany prior to WWI. In Germany and other parts of Europe the amanita mushroom is a symbol of good luck. They’re called glückspilz or lucky devils. I suppose if you ate one and came out alive on the other side of your  near-death hallucination, you’d certainly consider yourself lucky. The card is dated 1907 and is embossed. This is the last holiday card until next year. I hope you’ve enjoyed them. Scroll down to see previous postcards.

We’ve had such a fun time collecting cards. I’ve picked up a few non-holiday postcards here and there so I think it’s time for another album. I got this one several years ago. It’s from 1915 just prior to US involvement in WWI. It’s also one of my absolute favorite cards.

If you’d like to start such a collection for yourself, you’ll often find old correspondence like postcards in antique stores, estate sales, and flea markets. You’ll also find them on ebay. The majority of ours come from a local summer flea market –our standing Sunday “date” from April to November. Though they can be expensive depending where you look, we’ve never spent more than $3 on a card. Most are $1.00 so we find it an inexpensive hobby.

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I love old things. My house is full of them. It’s the thought behind them that draws me in. Every “thing” I’ve picked up over the years began as a concept. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bottle stopper, a pin cushion, or a Cracker Jack toy, someone thought it up. It was somebody’s imagination at play. As a person who spends a good deal of time working out of my imagination, I just love this.

I once paid $7 for a sandwich bag full of thimbles at an estate sale because I happened to be in the room that held all the sewing stuff at the right time of day. The sun was streaming in through the bare window and made something in the bag on the table glow. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Among the worn thimbles and old advertisement thimbles was a heavy one made of ornate gold. It wasn’t a simple gold thimble –it was a Victorian engagement thimble. These love tokens have a wedding band base that was cut off and worn as a ring. See the image. This isn’t my thimble, mine is more ornate, but it shows the wedding band on the bottom. If you come across a very shallow thimble made of silver or gold, chances are excellent that a ring was cut from it.

That unfinished story gleaming in that bag of thimbles is what caught my eye, for I had never seen one in the flesh. It begged the question –Why wasn’t the ring cut from the thimble? What had occurred that the courtship didn’t use its ring? That’s what I mean by concept. Someone conceived such a love token to begin with. Another bought the conception for an idea of their own –a purpose that did or did not take place.

And that’s how it is I find myself an author.
;)

If you’ve enjoyed my daily musings, subscribe to get them sent to your inbox. A new year full of curious and compelling posts awaits!

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Sample my scorching love stories for free!

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Happy New Year from RB4U!

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Romance Books ‘4’ Us ~

Our January contest is coming soon.

http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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One day to go and a few clues

As mentioned earlier, my husband and I are building a vintage postcard scrapbook — one postcard at a time. The album spans 100 years from 1860 to 1960 and many slots are yet to be filled. I’ve been sharing my postcards and will continue to do so up to New Year’s Day. From here on out they’re all New Years’ themed and I have a few new ones! Scroll down to see previous postcards.

This is my only photo postcard.  It’s undated, but it does give us a few clues to work with. First off, it’s not a cabinet card or carte de visite – both popular photo keepsakes of the mid-Victorian/early-Edwardian eras. This an actual postcard made for mailing. I know this because the back says Post Card.  :)

Her clothing, although partially obscured, gives some idea of the time this photo was taken. Women’s clothing components often identify the era –a fashion time stamp if you will.

The clues:

She is a young woman, so then as now her dress would reflect the modern age.

Her skirt doesn’t have the slight swept back look that would indicate a bustle worn during the 1870-80s. Instead it’s smooth and slightly flared below the knee which suggests we’d also find a shorter hem and visible shoes. Her sleeves are puffy, but not the hugely puffy sleeves of 1890s-1900. Taken all together what we see is indicative of the turn of the last century. But we can narrow it down further for there’s a time stamp — the hat.  Medium-sized hats came into style around 1905. Wide hats in 1911. To me this  says the photo was taken sometime in the five years between 1905 and 1911.

:) That was fun. It makes me wish I had another to deconstruct.

If you’ve enjoyed my postcards and daily musings, subscribe to get them sent to your inbox. A new year full of curious and compelling posts awaits!

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

Sample my scorching love stories for free!

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Today is Author Suzanne Rock’s blog day.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Romance Books ‘4’ Us ~

Our January contest is coming soon.

http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Two more days…

As mentioned earlier, my husband and I are building a vintage postcard scrapbook — one postcard at a time. The album spans 100 years from 1860 to 1960 and many slots are yet to be filled. I’ve been sharing my postcards and will continue to do so up to New Year’s Day. From here on out they’re all New Years’ themed and I have a few new ones! Scroll down to see previous postcards.

This Art Deco cutie is a little scuffed and dog eared, but all in all, not too bad for being 99 years old. Dated 1915.

If you’ve enjoyed my postcards and daily musings, subscribe to get them sent to your inbox. A new year full of curious and compelling posts awaits!

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

Sample my scorching love stories for free!

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Today is Author Sandra K. Marshall’s blog day.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Romance Books ‘4’ Us ~

Our January contest is coming soon.

http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Three Days to Go

As mentioned earlier, my husband and I are building a vintage postcard scrapbook — one postcard at a time. The album spans 100 years from 1860 to 1960 and many slots are yet to be filled. I’ve been sharing my postcards and will continue to do so up to New Year’s Day. From here on out they’re all New Years’ themed and I have a few new ones! Scroll down to see previous postcards.

Here’s a new favorite of mine.  :)

If you’ve enjoyed my postcards and daily musings, subscribe to get them sent to your inbox. A new year full of curious and compelling posts awaits!

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

Sample my scorching love stories for free!

❋❋❋❋❋

Today our guest is Author E. Ayers

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Romance Books ‘4’ Us ~

The December contest is on at RB4U! The top prize this time is a $100 gift card to Amazon or B&N. The horde of remaining prizes will be split between two winners.

http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Four Days & Counting

As mentioned earlier this month, my husband and I are building a vintage postcard scrapbook — one postcard at a time. The album spans 100 years from 1860 to 1960 and has many slots yet to be filled. I’m sharing my new and old cards up to New Year’s Day. From here on out they’re all New Years’ themed. Scroll down to see previous postcards.

I just love this sparkly lithograph. It’s in excellent condition, the paper more like cardboard than my other cards. It doesn’t show in the scan but here and there it’s decorated with gold paint or very thin foil similar to leafing. You see it as a sparkle around the candle flame, the stork’s eye, the pointed tip of the scythe, and a bit on the baby’s hair. The card must have been tucked away safely in a book for the gold to hold up for nearly 100 years.  I’m going to guess pre-WWI.   :)

If you’ve enjoyed my postcards and daily musings, subscribe to get them sent to your inbox. A new year full of curious and compelling posts awaits!

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

Sample my scorching love stories for free!

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Today is Author Janice Seagraves’ blog day.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Romance Books ‘4’ Us ~

The December contest is on at RB4U! The top prize this time is a $100 gift card to Amazon or B&N. The horde of remaining prizes will be split between two winners.

http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Vintage Greetings Wind-Down

As mentioned earlier this month, my husband and I are building a vintage postcard scrapbook — one postcard at a time. The album covers 100 years from 1860 to 1960 and has many slots yet to be filled. In the spirit of the season, from now until New Year’s Day, I’ll share cards from my collection. Scroll down to see previous postcards.

From today to the end of the year, the postcards are for New Years’ wishes. Here’s my most mystifying card. It’s either a potato, a Jerusalem artichoke, or some other felicitation tuber. The big question is why?

If you’ve enjoyed my postcards and daily musings, subscribe to get these posts sent to your inbox.

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Sample my scorching love stories for free!

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Today is Author Sam Cheever ‘s blog day.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Romance Books ‘4’ Us ~

The December contest is on at RB4U! The top prize this time is a $100 gift card to Amazon or B&N. The horde of remaining prizes will be split between two winners.

http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Happy Holidays

I wish you all the best this holiday season. ~ Rose

 

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:) Scroll down to previous posts to learn about my vintage holiday postcard collection.

A Two-fer Tuesday

Short on time today so it’s a Two-fer Tuesday.  :)
Vintage Greetings
As mentioned earlier this month, my husband and I are building a vintage postcard scrapbook — one postcard at a time. The album covers 100 years from 1860 to 1960 and has many slots yet to be filled. In the spirit of the season from now until New Year’s Day, I’ll share cards from my collection. Scroll down to see previous posts. Subscribe to get them in your inbox.

Here are two beautiful lithographs. The Santa card has embossed edges. No dates on either.

:)

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Get your FREE ebooks in all formats

>>>Both are now at Barnes & Noble<<<

Exquisite Quills Holiday Anthology Vol 2.

Exquisite Quills Holiday Anthology Vol 1.

And while you’re there, sample my scorching love stories for free too!

❋❋❋❋❋

Today our guest is Author Joanne Jaytanie.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Romance Books ‘4’ Us ~

The December contest is on at RB4U! The top prize this time is a $100 gift card to Amazon or B&N. The horde of remaining prizes will be split between two winners.

http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Get the lead out

I’m busier than a North Pole elf today so just a small post here. I think it worth mentioning that today is the anniversary of the 1st ever string of Christmas tree lights. It was created by Thomas Edison in 1882. I wonder how big they were. I remember the lights we had when I was a child — big, hot, burn-you-when-you-touched-them, bulbs.  As the youngest and most able to squeeze behind the tree, I always got stuck with tinsel. I loathe tinsel. Putting it on always resulted in burns from those hot big light bulbs.



In my family today, I’m the one who put the lights on the tree.  (we use those common mini lights). For years my husband and our two kids have teased me. The way they see it is I have to have the perfect arrangement of lights and they can’t decorate the tree until I have the lights exactly how I want them. That’s partially true. I do like a balanced display of lights. To me that’s what makes it pretty. However, the real reason behind my solo task is lead.

To keep the cords of string lights flexible, lead is added to the plastic in the manufacturing process. The thing is, lead is toxic. Mom’s “perfect light arranging” has always been about love. Better me than them, I say. If your kids help with the decorations, be sure they wash their hands well if they handle the string lights.

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Vintage Greetings
As mentioned earlier this month, my husband and I are building a vintage postcard scrapbook — one postcard at a time. The album covers 100 years from 1860 to 1960 and has many slots yet to be filled. In the spirit of the season from now until New Year’s Day, I’ll share cards from my collection. Scroll down to see previous posts. Subscribe to get them in your inbox.

Here’s a cute one. Someone trimmed all four sides and pasted it in a book.

:)

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Get your FREE ebooks in all formats

>>>Both are now at Barnes & Noble<<<

Exquisite Quills Holiday Anthology Vol 2.

Exquisite Quills Holiday Anthology Vol 1.

And while you’re there, sample my scorching love stories for free too!

❋❋❋❋❋

Today is Author Desiree Holt ‘s blog day.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Romance Books ‘4’ Us ~

The December contest is on at RB4U! The top prize this time is a $100 gift card to Amazon or B&N. The horde of remaining prizes will be split between two winners.

http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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When the frost has wrought a silence

On a lone winter evening, when the frost has wrought a silence.

~John Keats

If you pay attention to your circadian rhythm, you’ll notice something tonight. The sun will set a bit early and morning will come a bit late tomorrow and the long night will feel still.  Tonight marks the great stillness — the longest night of the year– the Winter Solstice.

The word solstice comes from the Latin and means sun set still. Every morning the sun rises on a slightly different trajectory than it did the morning before. At one point it appears not to move at all. That must have really rattled early humans. Winter brings scarcity and hardships. You’d want to know when the season would change and plenty would return. The moon does the same thing in its Lunar Standstill by the way, and ancient megaliths around the world mark both celestial events. Here’s a clip of one famous spot:

The Winter Solstice was a time for celebration and joy and many early cultures held solstice ceremonies to coax the return of the warming sun.  Some still do. It’s time to count your blessings and contemplate a new year.  May 2015 be blessed for you as well.

Whatever you dream you can do – begin it.

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

Begin it now.

~Goethe

Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.

~Joseph Campbell

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.

~Albert Camus

More~

Here’s a great explanation of the hows and whys of the Winter Solstice from the US Navy.

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/rs_solstices.php

Here’s a bit of trivia for you. A Roman Saturnalia greeting in ancient times was io! That i is pronounced like an H. The next Ho Ho Ho you hear this time of year, you’ll know exactly where it comes from.  Oh that Santa.  :)

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Vintage Greetings
As mentioned earlier this month, my husband and I are building a vintage postcard scrapbook — one postcard at a time. The album covers 100 years from 1860 to 1960 and has many slots yet to be filled. In the spirit of the season from now until New Year’s Day, I’ll share cards from my collection. Scroll down to see previous posts. Subscribe to get them in your inbox.

This one is in ratty condition but we added it because how often do you see a French mouse riding a lobster? Especially when it carries a scroll saying Paix, Joie, Sante, Bonheur  meaning Peace, Joy, Health and Happiness. Dated 1881.

:)

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Get your FREE ebooks in all formats

>>>Both are now at Barnes & Noble<<<

Exquisite Quills Holiday Anthology Vol 2.

Exquisite Quills Holiday Anthology Vol 1.

And while you’re there, sample my scorching love stories for free too!

❋❋❋❋❋

Today our guests are Authors Megan Crane and Bianca D’Arc.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Romance Books ‘4’ Us ~

The December contest is on at RB4U! The top prize this time is a $100 gift card to Amazon or B&N. The horde of remaining prizes will be split between two winners.

http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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