"Reflection" on a New Year

Nothing special... just a peaceful scene to contemplate for a minute or two as we flip the calendar on another year. Thanks for stopping by here to look and a Happy New Year to all.

"Dawn Light at Convict Lake"-California, 2008

Windows/Happy New Year

A nice pink house on 22nd Street with plane trees outside.

They demolished a rather down at heels hotel and are building this new glass palace on 23rd Street. I think the apartments are very expensive. Who will live in them?

These dresses would be ideal for going out somewhere fancy on New Year's Eve. How much fun it would be to have shiny metallic arms. (9th Avenue at 13th Street.)

Cannot tell what causes the exciting reflected 'X's' on the walls.

 
The waiting room window at Hicksville railroad station.

HEALTH JOY AND PEACE in the New Year

The Thrift Shop Romantic's Thrifty New Year's Resolutions

Ah... New Year's. The time we take stock of the past 365 days, and take heart for a brighter future. And The Thrift Shop Romantic is no exception.

As a result of this past holiday season, and the year in general, I've got some lessons learned. And I thought I'd share just a few of them with you today as a part of my 2009 New Year's Resolutions.

• To thrift Christmas gifts earlier this year. It's never too soon to start pulling together great gift baskets for Christmas and birthdays. Crazy as it seems with Santa only just jingling off earlier this week-- thinking now makes for better gifting, and a thriftier bottom line, too. It's never too soon to think what other folks might enjoy.
  

• To better organize my thrifted purchases. Keeping lists, lists, and more detailed lists, will help me know what I've found, and what I still need to get. Targeting a special area to store these gifts should help make finding my purchases less like archaeology and more like a happy holiday.

• To wrap as I go. I believe I've mentioned before, I really hate wrapping gifts. The wrapping paper fights me every step of the way, and I have even less patience with it when I'm in the Christmas rush. So with good lists, nametags and a little initiative, if I could wrap as I thrift, I could eliminate a heckuva lot of holiday stress.

• To look now for Christmas wrap for tomorrow. It's going to be on sale, so now is the time to get it. Inexpensively-- the way we like it!
  

• To weed out little used clothes for donations. Those of us who love thrift stores know how easy it is to bring goodies home. But a little resolution to clean out the clothes that no longer fit, that just never quite worked, and to donate them back to the thrift stores? Well, someone else will have a great new outfit that works for them... the thrift stores get what they need to thrive... and I get a much tidier house! Win, win, win!
  

• To donate unnecessary household items. Yes, planning to clean out means getting rid of some extra items I'm not currently using. I have some things I plan to sell on Etsy, but to be honest, there are many things I just won't be gathering together into gift baskets. So why not let others have fun making their own through thrifted treasures? And again-- there's that great extra space to look forward to!

• To stop buying thrifted vintage lamps. Okay, anyone who's a regular reader of this blog knows this one might be a toughy for me. In fact, I'd like to make this not be so much a "resolution," as sort of a "suggestion" because I don't see me getting very far with this. Nonetheless, I'm putting it out there. How many vintage lamps does a girl need really? (Answer: a lot.)
  

But, you know, the more things change, the more things stay the same. So as far as The Thrift Shop Romantic blog itself goes-- for 2009, I resolve:

• To continue to share with you slivers of our past as found through thrifted goodies...

• We'll snicker together over surprising vintage recipes...

• We'll examine the best and funniest in decorating ideas

• We'll craft together when time permits...

• And we'll hit the road when antiquing adventures call...

• We'll tour local attractions...

• And sometimes we'll just stay home with a nice cup of tea.

• From 50s frills or Victorian velvet, together we'll make 2009 a beautiful, warm and inviting year.

I hope you'll join me for it!

• If you missed Sunday's "Post-Christmas Thrifting Post," click here.

And otherwise-- HAPPY (and Thrifty!) NEW YEAR!!

The Thrift Shop Romantic's Thrifty New Year's Resolutions

Ah... New Year's. The time we take stock of the past 365 days, and take heart for a brighter future. And The Thrift Shop Romantic is no exception.

As a result of this past holiday season, and the year in general, I've got some lessons learned. And I thought I'd share just a few of them with you today as a part of my 2009 New Year's Resolutions.

• To thrift Christmas gifts earlier this year. It's never too soon to start pulling together great gift baskets for Christmas and birthdays. Crazy as it seems with Santa only just jingling off earlier this week-- thinking now makes for better gifting, and a thriftier bottom line, too. It's never too soon to think what other folks might enjoy.
  

• To better organize my thrifted purchases. Keeping lists, lists, and more detailed lists, will help me know what I've found, and what I still need to get. Targeting a special area to store these gifts should help make finding my purchases less like archaeology and more like a happy holiday.

• To wrap as I go. I believe I've mentioned before, I really hate wrapping gifts. The wrapping paper fights me every step of the way, and I have even less patience with it when I'm in the Christmas rush. So with good lists, nametags and a little initiative, if I could wrap as I thrift, I could eliminate a heckuva lot of holiday stress.

• To look now for Christmas wrap for tomorrow. It's going to be on sale, so now is the time to get it. Inexpensively-- the way we like it!
  

• To weed out little used clothes for donations. Those of us who love thrift stores know how easy it is to bring goodies home. But a little resolution to clean out the clothes that no longer fit, that just never quite worked, and to donate them back to the thrift stores? Well, someone else will have a great new outfit that works for them... the thrift stores get what they need to thrive... and I get a much tidier house! Win, win, win!
  

• To donate unnecessary household items. Yes, planning to clean out means getting rid of some extra items I'm not currently using. I have some things I plan to sell on Etsy, but to be honest, there are many things I just won't be gathering together into gift baskets. So why not let others have fun making their own through thrifted treasures? And again-- there's that great extra space to look forward to!

• To stop buying thrifted vintage lamps. Okay, anyone who's a regular reader of this blog knows this one might be a toughy for me. In fact, I'd like to make this not be so much a "resolution," as sort of a "suggestion" because I don't see me getting very far with this. Nonetheless, I'm putting it out there. How many vintage lamps does a girl need really? (Answer: a lot.)
  

But, you know, the more things change, the more things stay the same. So as far as The Thrift Shop Romantic blog itself goes-- for 2009, I resolve:

• To continue to share with you slivers of our past as found through thrifted goodies...

• We'll snicker together over surprising vintage recipes...

• We'll examine the best and funniest in decorating ideas

• We'll craft together when time permits...

• And we'll hit the road when antiquing adventures call...

• We'll tour local attractions...

• And sometimes we'll just stay home with a nice cup of tea.

• From 50s frills or Victorian velvet, together we'll make 2009 a beautiful, warm and inviting year.

I hope you'll join me for it!

• If you missed Sunday's "Post-Christmas Thrifting Post," click here.

And otherwise-- HAPPY (and Thrifty!) NEW YEAR!!

Happy 2009!

Image by Christopher Chan via FlickrThe New Year is upon us and I hope it will be a healthy and happy new year for everyone.
I read at Space.com that this New Year's Eve will be a wonderful show of planets.
From the article:

A delightful display of planets and the moon will occur on New Year's Eve for anyone wishing to step outside and look up just after sunset.

Venus, brighter than all other planets and stars, will dangle just below the thin crescent moon in the southwestern sky. It'll be visible -- impossible to miss, in fact -- just as the sun goes down, assuming skies are cloud.

You should have plenty of time to check out the sky before starting the countdown to the New Year. My hope for the New Year in the realm of science fiction is for more fun movies, television shows, and intriguing novels to enjoy. I hope despite the global economy issues that creative fiction forces will prevail.

Here is the link to the story at Space.com:

Planets

Sunset and Blogging

Looking out of the window provides hours of harmless entertainment.

On Sunday evening we had an unusually spectacular sunset.

My new camera picks up bright colors, unlike the last one where I had to crank up the colors every time. 

Tangobaby has a nice sunset today.

Willow of Willow Manor mentioned Tangobaby.

You see how we run in circles and cross-pollinate.

This is looking west down 23rd Street. The two alien spaceships, lower left, are the (one) light over the dining table.

This picture was taken between the other two looking slightly northwest, and the sinking sun is reflected in the windows of the buildings.

Meatpacking District

Heading down 9th Avenue on an absurdly warm evening.

December 28th and people are wearing sweaters.

The Gansevoort Hotel has a very Wallpaper moderne lobby. Hugely high ceilings and a great deal of pink.

Even the elevator is cool and I'm suitable impressed.

They put Claudia's name on her bathrobe. A perk you do not get at home.

From the Sky bar you look south down on a building whose facade is lit in different colors.

They change every few minutes.

The Post-Christmas Thrifting Post

Apologies that this post was late, folks. I was wrapping up the vestiges of the Christmas holiday and just haven't had as much time online as I'd hoped.

With my dad visiting, we went o'er hill and dale, to the city's north and south, west and east, to a variety of antique shops and thrift stores in the area. Yes, when most folks are off at the malls exchanging their silk ties for other silk ties... or bathrobes for little black dresses... The Thrift Shop Romantic hits the second-hand stores!

And there was quite a bit of good fortune in that direction, as well! Like this lovely fairy-covered old vase from the Ohio River Boulevard Antique Mall...


Or this Italian plaster bust from the same place!

Like more mainstream stores, antique malls seemed to be having post-Christmas sales. So at 20-25% off, a little tough math (tough for me, that is!) proved that bargains could be had.

Strangely, I uncovered two World War II souvenir pillow covers in two different places-- one at the Good Samaritan Thrift Store in North Versailles. The other at Junk for Joy in Jeannette...


And I found this cute wooden and metal birdcage at the Red, White and Blue Thrift Store in Bellevue...

That's where I also found this pretty pink, green and purple vintage tablecloth!..


Then at the L&L Fleatique in Adamsburg, I found a rather startling thing-- a McCoy pottery vase for $11. Finding inexpensive McCoy these days is virtually impossible!...

I also uncovered at the Fleatique one of the bowls to my Hazel Atlas Moderntone dish set. I've never seen a bowl to it before!...

The vase there... almost of the same color... is called (and I need to do more research on this) "azureite" or I've also seen "delphite". It was a blue glass variation on jadeite and not terribly easy to find.

Lastly, I found a bunch of new Victorian postcards at the Ligonier Fleatique. There are all sorts of occassions here, from Christmas and Easter to Birthday and general greetings...


Well, that's all time will permit today, I'm afraid. Join me this Wednesday, for The Thrift Shop Romantic's Nifty New Year's Eve post. Virtual champaign for everyone!

Hope to see you then!

The Post-Christmas Thrifting Post

Apologies that this post was late, folks. I was wrapping up the vestiges of the Christmas holiday and just haven't had as much time online as I'd hoped.

With my dad visiting, we went o'er hill and dale, to the city's north and south, west and east, to a variety of antique shops and thrift stores in the area. Yes, when most folks are off at the malls exchanging their silk ties for other silk ties... or bathrobes for little black dresses... The Thrift Shop Romantic hits the second-hand stores!

And there was quite a bit of good fortune in that direction, as well! Like this lovely fairy-covered old vase from the Ohio River Boulevard Antique Mall...


Or this Italian plaster bust from the same place!

Like more mainstream stores, antique malls seemed to be having post-Christmas sales. So at 20-25% off, a little tough math (tough for me, that is!) proved that bargains could be had.

Strangely, I uncovered two World War II souvenir pillow covers in two different places-- one at the Good Samaritan Thrift Store in North Versailles. The other at Junk for Joy in Jeannette...


And I found this cute wooden and metal birdcage at the Red, White and Blue Thrift Store in Bellevue...

That's where I also found this pretty pink, green and purple vintage tablecloth!..


Then at the L&L Fleatique in Adamsburg, I found a rather startling thing-- a McCoy pottery vase for $11. Finding inexpensive McCoy these days is virtually impossible!...

I also uncovered at the Fleatique one of the bowls to my Hazel Atlas Moderntone dish set. I've never seen a bowl to it before!...

The vase there... almost of the same color... is called (and I need to do more research on this) "azureite" or I've also seen "delphite". It was a blue glass variation on jadeite and not terribly easy to find.

Lastly, I found a bunch of new Victorian postcards at the Ligonier Fleatique. There are all sorts of occassions here, from Christmas and Easter to Birthday and general greetings...


Well, that's all time will permit today, I'm afraid. Join me this Wednesday, for The Thrift Shop Romantic's Nifty New Year's Eve post. Virtual champaign for everyone!

Hope to see you then!

The Whole... or a Part of the Whole?

Back in a "travel" mode for a few days...
It's tempting when you're dealing with a large subject or a big scene, to try to get it all in the frame at once. Nothing wrong with that if you just want to record the view in a very casual way, or if you're doing classic scenics, as long as you make the effort to consider all the compositional elements of the scene. When done well, it looks easy, which is why most people try it almost by default. If you want to go beyond snapshots, to create an image that someone who wasn't actually there can appreciate, you'll often get a better photograph and be able to capture what it is about the subject that caught your interest in the first place by concentrating on just a certain part of the scene. As an example, here is a night shot of the inner workings of the Eiffel Tower utilizing the iconic structural elements, multicolored lighting and the motion of some giant elevator pulleys, turning the whole shot into a colorful abstract, yet still keeping a sense of the original subject.

"Eiffel Elements"-Paris, 2008

Caramelised Root Vegetable

Want the recipe that goes with the pictures?

Go to A Thousand Soups to read my guest post.

A Thousand Soups

Festivity Fatigue

A good time was had by all.

However, Joba's antlers no longer light up.

The paper hats have been crumpled up and thrown away along with the little pieces of paper with jokes and Trivia on. 

Example of Joke so old Methusalah might have laughed at it:

 Q. Why do bakers work so hard?

(Because they need the dough.)

Trivia. Q. Name four of the seven Von Trapp children from The Sound of Music.

Answer at the end of the post for those with time to waste pondering this.

A bouncy ball from the crackers has ended up with the rest of the tangerines.

After Lindt truffles and Toblerone, their simplicity seems rather attractive.

A. Liesl, Freidrich, Lousia, Kurt, Briggitta, Marta, Gretl

Merry whatever round up

Another Christmas bites the dust in usual over feeding stylee.
Those that follow me on twitter know that I was up till ridiculous o clock cooking the turkey. I would rather say up late, than get up early any day. Even though I babysit it for hours, I still managed to roast the ruddy thing upside down. I was most upset that it had no breast, until I turned it right side up, whoops. Still tasted bloody nice though. Another thing I like about twitter is twitpic that way I could inform everyone in a pictorial way, of the turkeys progress (upside down progress).  Most people thought that certain pictures were too graphic.... So I have added twitter and twitpic to my sidebars so you can stalk me more effectively. Its micro blogging at its best and great when you cant be arsed writing something lengthy, which sums me up lately.

Through the miracle of technology I got to see the nephews in Hamburg opening presents and their dad flashing his arse (thanks Ste, not). It was great seeing them, but not ste's arse. Twas a quiet Christmas for the rest of it, with just the folks and me. Plus a ton of food and usual Christmas TV watching. Everyone will be home next year, everyone being sisters, nephews, sisters other halves etc. So I may run off somewhere else, only joking .....(heh).

PS: Nobody light a match near me: turkey,sprouts and cabbage = Danger to the environment and possible gaseous explosion. I know too much information, but I cant stop eating the stuff! Halp!

PPS: Also you will have to wait till the 12th day of never to see photograph of new do, or until I am drunk and take a photograph that  I like. 

Merry whatever caption

 Can you think of the same caption I was thinking? 

Longer post on its way sometime today, hope you all had a good festive time, or you at least survived it.

What would you do if you had an extra second?

What would you do if you had an extra second of time to spend? It doesn't seem like a lot of time but I remember this episode of the Twilight Zone called A Kind of Stopwatch that first aired in 1963, where the character in the show could stop time and be unaffected by the time stoppage so that he could manipulate situations to suit his fancy. He stole drinks, money, robbed a bank, and caused problems in general. I also thought of the Star Trek movie Insurrection, and one of the characters had learned how to slow time down with her mind so she could perceive the moment for longer than normal. So I ask myself, what could I do with an extra second? I could take an extra sip of champagne, toss a ball, improve my 5k running time, talk long distance for a free second, kiss a little longer, or wait an extra second for the New Year 2009 to arrive. Yes, I think that is what I will be doing, because this year we have an extra second in 2008. Over a Space.com there is a fun yet informative article about how on the 31st Dec 2008 at midnight we will have a void of one second due to the gradually slowing rotation of the Earth. The extra second was ordered by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, according to the article.
So again, I put the question to you, what can you think of doing with your extra second!

Clear and Bright

A Sci Fi Xmas

Image via WikipediaA Christmas Carol is a Victorian morality story written by Charles Dickens and published in 1843.
Although the story is primarily a drama describing social injustice and plain old human cruelty, you could loosely apply the term science fiction to the story due to the time travel and an alternate time line experienced by Scrooge. The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge to his own personal past to help him remember the decisions he made that brought him to where he is today. He then receives a visit from The Ghost of Christmas Present who takes Scrooge into situations and homes in present time to show him how his actions affect others in his life. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come takes him to see his possible future based on his current behavior and actions. In this section of the story, Scrooge experiences an alternate time line because he is informed this future can change if he changes his ways.
I know this story is actually more of a fantasy story than anything else but it is so well told and timeless I had to include it in my blog.
I can hardly resist a story that suggests that I can be a better person by being kind and polite, something that simple, to make life more enjoyable and meaningful!
Peace and Happy Holidays.