Sepia Saturday - 100 years of Typing

I know, typewriters are a bit older than 100 years. But they've been around for 100 years so that's what I'm going to typewrite about. The model above is from 1907. I couldn't find a 1911 version but I'm sure they're out there somewhere.

The typewriter has come a long way and now it's on its way to extinction, which is such a shame. I just disposed of 2 IBM selectrics. I used to love the selectric with the bouncing balls of type.

I've always loved to type. I started with a portable manual typewriter in high school and used it to type all my papers. It's still in my garage in the original case. I was a really fast typist, and still am, for that matter. But there's something about typing on a real typewriter and swinging that carriage and hearing the bell. You know what I mean?



I can't believe how well this man types to the music. He happens to be a percussionist with the orchestra, so I guess he knows how to practice and to master his instrument.

But Jerry Lewis does him one better or maybe worse as the case may be:



So after 100+years typewriters are slowly filling up landfills and we're saying a tearful farewell as we type away on our computer keyboards and don't even look back.

And what has the typewriter come to, but this:

From Sparkeez

and this:

from Kitten Lab

So farewell, goodbye to the typewriter, hello computer keyboard. Wonder what some person will be posting on Sepia Saturday 100 years from now.

For other Sepia Saturday stories click here sepia saturday.

I love Ikea

I recently visited the San Diego Ikea store. I wish there was a closer Ikea and I would go more often, not once every two years. Because I love Ikea. I went looking for a new kitchen. I wanted all new countertops, a new sink and maybe some new cabinets. I'd love to have cupboards with all kinds of pull out shelves and lazy daisies and things like that. So I looked and looked and finally chose all the the items I wanted. Then the salesperson said "If you'll just wait until the end of the month, all of this is going on sale and you could save about 20%."  That really got my attention. So I decided I would wait.  But, of course, I waited too long because I don't go to Ikea weekly, I go every other year. So, no new kitchen. Oh well, I didn't want to spend the money anyway.

So instead I made just some tiny purchases.  I got this lovely embroidered pillow that goes so nicely with my red room and red and white striped chair. Isn't it beautiful:

and then I spotted this set of spice jars.  I had to have them too. I took them home and filled them all up with spices that were littering my cupboards in little plastic bags.  Now they have a new home in their own little jars.

The jars are great. They can sit tipped or straight up. However you want them.

I also purchased a floor mat for my kitchen, but I'm not sure I like it. It's a bit ugly and not comfortable under bare feet. So I won't show you that. 

But I will share this youtube video with you. It's pretty amusing - all about Ikea:

My next post is going to be about why I love Big Lots. I don't love it as much as Ikea because you have to sort thru so much junk to find the little treasures. But it's a lot more challenging and when you do find something great, you feel so darned good about yourself and your bargain hunting prowess.

Do you also love Ikea? Any special buys that we should know about? Leave a comment and let me know.

Sepia Saturday 99 - Violin Mania

From the sublime:

To the ridiculous

I'm trying to keep with the theme this week. But I had no family photos of any kind that featured a musical instrument. It seems not one member of my family, extended family or friends were ever caught on film playing an instrument.  So instead I'm featuring two photos of women with violins. I don't know who these ladies are but I sure love the juxtaposition - the first woman so lovely and the second one so silly.

When I think of violins, I think of a scene from the most panned movie of all time - Heaven's Gate.

Have you seen it? It's pretty awful. But there is one scene that is so wonderful that I suffered through the film twice just to see it. It's maybe 4 or 5 minutes long and worth every minute. I thought, if I could just watch this every morning, it would start my day off right because it's so fun and catchy and happy.

The violinist is David Mansfield, a very talented musician and composer. He also composed the score of the film. I emailed him once and asked him if he knew how to roller skate before taking on this very difficult role. Can you imagine skating and playing a violin at the same time? He very graciously emailed back and said that, no he wasn't much of a roller skater, but Michael Cimino (the director of the film) had a roller skating camp set up to teach all of those involved how to skate. Imagine how much time, money and energy that must have taken. He also had the roller skating rink built especially for the film at huge cost. No wonder the film lost so much money!!  Anyway, here's the scene (be warned, it's almost 4 minutes long). Enjoy.

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Roller Skate Dance















Heaven's Gate

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Sepia Saturday 98 - A Religious Outing in Stanley Park, Vancouver

Here's a happy group, all dressed up and on their way somewhere. They're not exactly in a bus, but a big observation car from the BCE Railway.  The photo was taken Aug. 2, 1910 and it's a group called the St. Andrew's Y.P.S.C.E. (Young Peoples Society of Christian Endeavor). This is actually an interfaith religious group whose goal was to promote religious understanding. We could use a group like that now, couldn't we? At one time they were 1,000,000 strong with over 18,500 societies. I found societies on the internet that are still in existence today.

The photograph isn't signed by the photographer, but doing some research on the Stanley Park area, I discovered that the most prominent photographer of that era was Phillip Timms. Could he have taken this photograph? I'm not sure, but the time is right and the area is right.

"Phillip Timms was born in Toronto in 1874. He lived to one month short of his 99th birthday having lived a long life filled with many interests and considerable accomplishments.

He considered his greatest professional accomplishment to be the photographic record that he created of Vancouver between 1900 and 1910. The photographic record that he left behind affords us a valuable glimpse of the province during its period of growth from a frontier outpost to a well-established center of industry and tourism.

All of Timms' photographs have a certain recognizable quality about them; much of the kindness and gentleness of the man himself comes through. His shots are candid and uncluttered and capture dramatically the feeling and mood of the time.

He closed his shop on Commercial Drive in 1968 at the age of 94, after 70 years as a photographer."

So does this photograph seem candid, uncluttered and have the feeling and the mood of the time. I think it does. So I'm going to say it's by Timms. What do you think?

For other Sepia Saturday stories click here sepia saturday

Sepia Saturday - My School Mate Has Become Famous

We were never the best of friends. We didn't run in the same circles. He was a jock and I was (actually I'm not quite sure what I was). But we were forever bound together because of the first letter of our last names. Mine was Finwall, his was Flanagan. We always had to stand next to each other in school every time we students had to be in alphabetical order. Our school pictures were always right next to each other.

Here we are as Sophomores in 1958 (Pomona High School) Pomona, California:
 

Since Pomona High School burned down, we had to enter a new school for our Junior year. So here's Mike and I as Juniors in Ganesha High School, 1959:

 And now as mighty seniors in 1960:

Now several years later (like 51 to be exact!) Mike Flanagan is one of the attorneys in the Michael Jackson manslaughter trial. He's one of the defense attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray. I see him on the news almost everynight. And I'm always so amazed when I see him sitting there on Dr. Murray's left. He's just a kid like me from Pomona. Amazing. He hasn't changed a bit - except he and I both ended up with white hair.

You just never know what's going to happen to your classmates in life, do you? But I must say I'm pretty impressed with my classmate from Pomona. He's come a long way.

For other Sepia Saturday stories click here sepia saturday

Sepia Saturday - My Brush with Celebrity

In keeping with the theme of chairs for this week's Sepia Saturday, here I am sitting in a chair, next to none other than Dan Dailey.  I don't remember much about this photo except that it was taken at a catholic church which was having some sort of fund raising thing. Dan Dailey was a friend of the priest so offered to suffer through sitting and having his picture taken with lots of snotty nosed kids. He really doesn't look too happy, does he? Don't you just love the backdrop that was made for this occasion? - lots of tin foil stars to represent the real Hollywood glitz and glamour.

For lots of you, Dan Dailey might be unknown. So here's a little bio about him. He was born in New York in 1915 and started his career in vaudeville. He was signed by MGM and made many musicals during the 40s and 50s. He was a frequent costar of Betty Grable. As the musical genre waned in the mid 1950s, Dailey moved on to dramatic roles and later his own T.V. series. He died in 1978.

One interesting thing I found out about him - he costarred with Donald O'Connor in "There's No Business Like Show Business" and later married O'Connor's wife, Gwen. That's Hollywood for you!

Here's a little sampling of Dan's talents:



Did you notice that the opening dancers are all men? The scene is from "Call Me Mister. I'd love to see that movie! I'll have to check and see if Netflix has it.

Don't forget to check out the other Sepia Saturday posts at http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com

These Will Make You Laugh

After posting about my "Augh" sign I found in the trash, I checked out Etsy to see if they had anything better. I found so many "Live Love Laugh" things that it literally made me sad. Why do we need so many signs to remind us to live, love and laugh. Shouldn't that just come naturally? But I did find some things that were either interesting or funny. See what you think:

I really liked this bracelet from Sparkee 8z12. I like anything made with old typewriter keys. And I especially like this bracelet because everything is spelled a little like my sign. Just a little off - Laf, Luv, etc.

Wouldn't this look nice on your wall?  It's a collection of handpainted signs with wooden letters from All Spelled Out. 

Here's some more artwork for the wall.  You have to look very closely to the individual photos that make up these words. Really, really clever.  These are from The Hidden Alphabet.  These would make a great wedding gift, wouldn't they?

   Isn't this the truth? Love this garden sign from Bedlam Country Crafts. 

Oh, Marilyn! Do you think she really said this? Well, even if she didn't it's a pretty good quote. Another great idea for a wedding present.  It's from Empire City Studios.

I can think of about 10 people I could send this card to.  It's from Squidy Ink. It really made me laugh. Oops. Excuse me a second.

I'm back. Hope you liked the laugh choices. I sure did.