1936 (orig. published June 7, 2006)

(republished)....

There are so many things in the letters from 1936 I would like to share, by way of newspaper clippings sent to Jean about topics ranging from world events to fashion, to her mothers own take on these very things.....the delightful & endearing things her father writes to her & more. I need to be at home to access a camera & my picture files to do that, but here at work I am done with the '36 letters and at least wanted to keep up to date here!
Seems at some point previous to the correspondence I have, Jean was in an accident that affected her spine to the point she was in bed often with pain so bad it made her nauseous. Her father did quite a bit of research into what could be done for her, from how much it would cost to be examined in Rochesterat Mayo Clinic ($60 to $150), to what she would need to do when they interviewed her & Bob about their finances to determine what they would charge, or, as he put it "to see how many clothes pins you have in your basket & what kind of vacuum cleaner you use". !!.
In October of 1936 she went to Mayo and had surgery. She left a couple weeks later & spend the next 2 1/2 months in a rehab center with her mother there all along. The letters she wrote to Bob are the first I have read with HER voice, and they reveal a scared & vulnerable 30 year old woman trying to recover from a serious surgery and struggling to make her husband happy from afar & please her mother who was intent on mothering her as long as she could. Bob was left at home alone to get a Christmas tree, do the Christmas cards & shopping & find a nursemaid to help with her care so she could come home.
She did get home in January, and I will be back to share more about the '36 letters with some visuals & quotes! Ang

Have Creepy Christmas. Or Boozy. Whichever.

I realize I'm not the only one on the planet with great appreciation for Christmas kitsch with a creepy bent, but these earrings screamed loudly (and a bit threateningly) to me from a shop on etsy recently. So loudly that I actually DID buy them, and while the creepy-slash-mutant Santas are not grinning maniacally from my ears, they grace the tinsel tree I have devoted mostly to weird elves and other holiday oddities here in the dining room.......

Worn correctly they appear to be conspiring to pierce my temples simultaneously with teeeeny Christmas trees. Holiday garb of yore...so cheery!

And while likely too late to grab cards for this Christmas, I give you 2 of my favorite sources (with lots of cards for year round events as well, so bookmark 'em). If all your friends want for Christmas is a visit from the Booze Fairy (and if thats the case, I am clearly your best friend!), then this card is perfect! But don't dare think it gets you out of gifting a bottle of scotch as well, bub. From UNUSUALCARDS.COM.....

If booze isn't your poison, maybe the smokes are? This cheery Christmas gal daringly lights her smoke from a holiday candle, oblivious to the skull and crossbones on her pack o' sticks warning her of imminent death from the eebil lung cancer. I carry some of these cards (this one included) at my SHOP right here in Des Moines if you need one ASAP, and are also available online at ROGERTHATCARDS.COM....

~Ang

madame yevonde

Recently sold some 30s pieces to a film student doing a project on photographer MADAME YEVONDE. I'd not heard of her, and visiting her site found some breathtaking work. Between the fashions, the photography style, the subjects....the still lifes. Go see and watch for an update on Jesse's film!

~Ang