Tinned

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: A relatively small portion of my collection is devoted to tintypes, and out of those most are ancient pictures from fairs or seaside resorts of people posing with Felix the Cat or occasionally an off-model Mickey Mouse. I don’t seem to be compelled very often to acquire one like this, that just had an odd appeal and I snatched it up.

This picture comes via Instagram and my friend Mike Zohn over at @obscuraantiques. He has taken to doing a show-and-tell of recent buys for sale online. This has resulted in several purchases for me, most recently this advertising piece shown below which I purchased for Kim’s birthday. The post for it can be found here. (I actually spied the same piece in the antique annex in Red Bank a few weeks ago although in worse shape.)

I have written before about a rather beloved junk and antiques store Mike had on the lower eastside where I bought many photos, a display cabinet and many other treats. (A few of those posts can be found here and here.) Mike has been selling at a flea market in the city here over the summer but sadly we were in Jersey and missed him. I hope to eventually catch up with him here.

He was selling several tintypes and had divided them into a group with men and a group with women. This one caught my eye immediately. Hard to tell here but it is small, what would have been called a sixth-plate or about 2.5″x3.5″ image.

These two women are seated in front of a painted set of a landscape and as if they are seated outside in a fancy garden or on a veranda of sorts. I feel like we see the edges of the set, definitely at the bottom and perhaps at the top, which confirms that this is just a fictional background, perhaps even an indoor one.

Of course, it is the way they are decidedly turned away from each other, seeming to refuse to look at each other. As Kim said, you could easily write a story about it. Both are in summer dresses of the day and period. One is in white with a dark belt, with a dark parasol (a prop or hers?) leaning against her leg. She is looking downward. Her dark hat is hard to see clearly, and she leans on her arm with her other hand folded in her lap while she looks directly at the camera.

The other woman is in a wonderful summer-plaid dress with a white bib, also a dark belt and a very perky straw hat which sports something I thought was a feather but now I think is more of a flower or leaf. She is leaning on something which I thought might be the end of the bench they are sitting on, but I have decided it is something more in her lap. Both are wearing pretty bracelets which are hard to see without magnification. It isn’t a given but they could be sisters.

It is the space between them, the dark plant and the faux balustrade it is perched on that define the dark space divide created between them. Trees and clouds are in the painted distance which gives the image a sense of depth. At first I thought they were pointedly alienated from each other but spending time looking at it I think they are perhaps bored and not happy with being there and have placed themselves thus and are just sort of staring off rather than smiling for the camera. Nonetheless, the effect is as if they are somehow two halves of a whole, split down the middle.

Jersey Summer, Part 2

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Yesterday I highlighted our day trip to Asbury Park as part of our summer vacation in New Jersey this year. (That post can be found here.) Today I just have some bits and pieces from the rest of our time off – some lovely visits with friends who came to stay for a few days and our wanderings into town, our annual visit to the local fireman’s fair (prior posts on the fair can be read here and here) and of course my adventures in gardening.

I am afraid I must report that gardening this year didn’t pan out especially well on the vegetable front – my sweet peppers have consistently been sneakily consumed, hollowed out by the likes, I believe, of a particular chipmunk who I spy daily (or a rotating cast of chipmunk characters), who teases me hopping around the deck every morning. Only my hot peppers (two varieties of jalapenos and one banana pepper) have performed admirably – the critters having tested them and realized that they were indeed too spicey. A few measly cherry tomatoes and a single full sized one round out the produce. Sigh.

*My favorite dahlia – red, pink and white.*

Meanwhile half the dahlias have had the good grace to bloom while I am here, the other half have buds but are holding out. I especially adore this red, pink and white one and the hummingbirds share my enthusiasm – they and the butterflies stop for long drinks of nectar there and I find bees drunk with the pollen as they roll around in them.

I commuted longer than usual before vacation on this trip and Kim and I discovered Senor Peppers restaurant and take out across from the train station. A little careful planning and I could place our dinner order when the train hit the station before mine and by the time we got to Red Bank our order was just about ready.

Ice cream ran a close second to Mexican food this summer and I discovered that Nicholas Creamery does a powerful peach ice cream which rivals Ryan’s, my go to until now. The Creamery has the great advantage however of being within walking distance of the house. We further explored blackberry and lemon pie flavors (thank you Deva for pushing us out of our comfort zone) which were wonderful, but peach is still my go to.

*Old tin mugs I purchased. I have a very fond memory of one at my grandmother’s house and I sort of can’t resist them.*

The weather ran to rain (after some extreme heat) which meant I had fewer beloved evenings out on the deck although we did sneak a few in at the end.

*The rather jolly interior of one of the Mexican restaurants we went to in Red Bank.*

A trip to Red Bank with our friend Bill resulted in several purchases. He and Kim did some buying at the comic book store, but I had my go at the Antique Annex. Among my purchases were: a cat picture (future post), a copy of Peggy Parker, Girl Inventor, some silverware (yes, I bought Bakelite silverware in Asbury and some silver flatware in Red Bank – we’ve been suffering a loss of silverware in the NYC apartment), and a rather extraordinary pink glass with images of stars on it.

*Just love this and would like to research it a bit.*

A later trip to Red Bank (taking Bill to the train) resulted in a real discovery – a new independent bookstore opened there in the last few months. Tucked on a side street called Monmouth it is called Crazy Story Books. It is large and well stocked and I look forward to many happy hours of shopping there.

A few select other dahlias.

Last night we hit the first night of the Fireman’s Fair. Kim and I took our favorite ride on a firetruck around the neighborhood and threw caution to the wind and went on a rather nutty, jarring ride in some flying saucer cars. We bought raffle tickets and of course lost and ended the evening with veggie burgers at our local diner. If I haven’t mentioned it before, the fireman’s fair which runs about a week, is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the country and raises almost all of the annual funding for our (largely volunteer) fire and first aid. (A prior post about this fireman’s fair and its history can be found here.)

A ride on a fire engine!

Fireman’s Fair fun.

Kim’s distance walking has improved over our vacation and just today we walked into town and back – yay! So it is time to pack the New York kitties up and head back to Manhattan. I suspect this won’t get posted until after we are back there tomorrow. We need to gather up our dress duds and get ready for our trip to Washington on September 10 and Kim’s talk there so more to come about that soon too.

****

Posting this shortly after arriving back in New York. Cats are recuperating under and on the bed. Unpacking (and lunch) up next!

Jersey Summer, Part 1: Asbury Park

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: This is my first round-up post about our summer days here in New Jersey. Our time here started a bit early (my friend who cares for the New Jersey cats went to Jamaica for a few weeks) with Kim working here and me commuting. Our two weeks of real vacation wraps tomorrow when we head back to Manhattan – again a bit early to accommodate Kim’s gig speaking at the Library of Congress and then SPX the second week in September. I will need to travel back to New Jersey in late September or early October if I want to see the last of my dahlias bloom however – several have stuck stalwartly to buds only.

Last weekend I seized the opportunity for Kim and I to grab a ride with a friend to Asbury Park. Kim had never been and I had investigated and found a few junk stores potentially worth checking out there. The Asbury of my childhood has receded almost entirely into the background of pricey new condos, townhouses and shore hotels superimposed on it.

*Maybe a future post on this little gem!*

We didn’t go to Asbury, or its kissing cousin across the lake Ocean Grove often (or nearly often enough for me), as a kid. I remember going to a doctor there and also a sort of girl scout outing there. We were taken to the amusement pier for a bit although it was largely closed down. (The other feature of that day is we made candles – I have no memory of exactly how all this matched up.) Seeing the pier and the then defunct Merry-Go-Round, lives in memory however and I always itched to go back but it was a little too far and a bit too rough around the edges for my folks to bother taking us. Somehow by the time I was in high school my crowd wasn’t one for going to the Stone Pony and we never got in the habit of going down there.

*A sort of average view from the interior of the Antiques Emporium.*

*I really wanted this weird jug but evidently, I have very good taste and he was too pricey!*

Kim is still recovering his distance walking and I wasn’t sure how much we could cover of the pier on this hot day, so we started at a smattering of junk and vintage clothing stores (and one rather superior used comics store), in a little downtown area with a larger antique annex next to it. After Kim bought some paperbacks at the comics store, we wandered to the annex. It is one largeish floor. The pickings seemed a bit thin at first but somehow as always, we came away with some interesting bits including this rather lovely plate of Psyche (shown here) and some Bakelite forks and spoons for the apartment in Manhattan. Kim came away with several Gene Autry novels he regrets buying. (He does not appear to regret the paperbacks however.)

*I think all these came from our Asbury junket!*

While we looked for a place to eat lunch we stumbled on a photo booth, and I insisted that we take photos. They are catnip for me; I can’t pass one without stopping.

Views of the pizza place and a period movie theater playing revivals.

We wandered a bit more and I saw a pizza place in a rather extraordinary old building and snapped these pics. However, in the end we decided on Mexican food. (This has been a bit of a theme for this vacation – we’ve eaten a lot of good Mexican food. Many Mexicans have settled in the area and there is no shortage of great places in Red Bank as well as this one in Asbury.)

Close to a train station, Asbury Park has clearly become a spot for day trippers and weekenders coming for a shore weekend even as their great grandparents may have. Every shop carries copious copies of Weird New Jersey magazine and absolutely every place is playing Bruce Springsteen – the ultimate in native son made good. We visited a shop that appears to specialize in occult publications – Bruce playing there as well (is it one loop somehow piped into all the shops?) but they had a very impressive Zoltar fortune telling machine which I gave a shot for a quarter.

*My fortune was very non-descript, but his delivery was well worth the price of admission.*

After lunch we walked to the boardwalk. Despite it being the afternoon and sunny, a breeze found its way, off the ocean or the small lake, which made it a pleasant walk. Asbury is beach and the ocean on one side and what they call lakes (small fingers of water) on the other two sides. Old pedestrian walkway bridges, as well as roads, cross them and this feature also always stuck with me from childhood. My grandmother’s preferred, red church was on the outskirts of one side, closer to her home in Long Branch and the town of Ocean Grove is to the south.

Some views of the old buildings in a state of decay or being repaired?

We walked along the south lake to the boardwalk and examined some of the old buildings, in various states of disrepair, there without making it all the way up to the original pier and bathing pavilion which appears to also be the process of renovation.

Heading back to where we were being picked up we walked along the Ocean Grove side. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the area, Ocean Grove is a Methodist camp founded in 1869. Maintained impeccably as a Victorian architecture gem and historic site, with its summer tent inhabitants, has held a dual fascination for the area which I have never had sufficient opportunity to explore. We could see old hotels on the ocean front, still in use, with wide porches with views that must incorporate sea and town in all directions.

*Swan pedal boats as the sun started to head down.*

In my mind these two towns have had a sort of remarkable Cain and Abel existence all these years. Cheek to jowl, the religious community which doesn’t even allow cars to drive through it on Sunday is a stone’s throw from the music venues and biker bars (we only saw one biker bar while we were there although my guess is that there are still a number of them tucked away) of Asbury. One can’t help but wonder how many Ocean Grove inhabitants sneaked quikely across the river on a Friday or Saturday night in summer for a different kind of fun.

Blasberg’s Grove, Hawthorne, NJ 1930

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: I’m up and at it a bit late this morning – very welcome vacation days! Evidently I slept through a heavy and long rainstorm. I am writing this before I venture out to check for any damage to the more delicate flowers and plants in the garden – although in general they are grateful for all the water.

One of my New Jersey passions, developed in recent years, is collecting yard long and banquet style photos. I have mostly purchased New Jersey related ones (see posts from past summers here and here) and ones from seaside amusement piers (these in California here), although if I am being honest, I have another one to frame up of postal workers so there is some drift.

Today’s is a very real New Jersey theme, and full disclosure that my friend Larry Watson (www.larzfoto.com) did the initial research online. I sent the images to him as I know he shares my interest in these old photos and indeed he has some of his own that are family related.

Sadly, this photo is quite damaged and as I write it is pressed under some books upstairs to flatten it out. It isn’t so much the folds but the odd damage on the end, darkening part of it that is most troublesome. I bought it for $16 so I need to decide if I am investing (a not insignificant amount) in framing it or if I will tuck it safely in the flat files here for now. Still, I couldn’t not buy it and save it from the threat of demise. At least here it will at least be stored for future appreciation.

For all of that there are parts of this image I just love – the movement of some of the subjects, the sun shining. These men and boys are dressed up for this day in the country, likely imports from nearby New York City. As you will see, there is a lot of history attached to this photo. You all can weigh in on the frame or not to frame debate below.

Located in Hawthorne, New Jersey, I gather Blasberg’s Grove (or Blasberg’s Farm) was a popular locale for all sorts of outings – family reunions, weddings and community events. They entertained groups of hundreds of people at a time. Founded in 1910 it functioned this way for decades (not clear if it was also or previously an operating farm of some kind) until ultimately it was sold and subdivided into housing which bears the (somewhat ignominious) name of Blasbergs Farm Subdivision. Further poking does seem to point to fruit farming associated with the area in subsequent decades but not a lot of information there.

Clearly this is a sizable gathering. It is noted that it is the annual gathering of the Frank Vezzatti Assn. Light research shows that it was likely one of many political organizations – mysteriously called pleasure clubs in some of the research, which makes me think of something else frankly. There aren’t a lot of tracks about Frank Vezzatti except to say it was likely an Italian American political group of some kind in New York or urban New Jersey. Evidently loyalty of voters (notably men here although women had the vote – some younger boys got to go too) was perhaps ensured with food laden days in the country like this.

Worth noting that attire here is largely suits, ties and of course hats. Not really what we think of as clothes for a day in the country admittedly. Nonetheless, it is a documenting a glorious day! The sun shines through the trees and the light reflects and dapples on the ground.

The men, largely wearing (straw) hats, almost all in collared shirts and ties, frequently sporting jackets, all look at their leisure, many smoking cigarettes or cigars. One of the fellows front and center is blurred – that spot usually reserved for an honoree or important person so sort of odd that he is blurred, almost giving the photo a strange sense of movement.

Apologies for the late posting time today. Vacation intervened and an opportunity to take Kim to Asbury for the afternoon appeared and I left this unfinished. More about our adventures in Asbury next week!

Musical Togs

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This just showed up in the mail recently, in the last batch I picked up from New York I think. It comes to me via Heather Hagans on Instagram (@marsh.and.meadow.home). Over time I have purchased many bits and pieces from her. (Some other posts of items from her accounts can be found here and here. Although these are both jewelry posts.) Arguably it is an unusual photo for my collection, but it caught my eye.

You can probably tell from the shape that this is an actual photo and not a photo postcard. There is nothing written on the back and no real sense of the year.

This young girl is in a great costume although for what we know not. Somehow it feels more theatrical than Halloween. She’s wears shiny silk black heeled shoes, one white stockinged leg up and the other with a bit of some sort of petticoat or pantaloon showing on one side – a very careful look shows a bit of musical notation there too. However, it is the trim of her white skirt with lines of music along the bottom that really sets the tone for this outfit.

Her black top has cut out shoulders and exposed arms, making it a bit racy really. She sports a patterned scarf around her neck and, best of all, a crown with a large G clef in the center. She holds a white fan and she’s pretty hotsy totsy. I don’t know why but I imagine she went and performed after this – she has the right attitude to be a performer I think, but what instrument did she play I wonder?

The room she is in doesn’t appear to have anything to do with performing – fireplace mantel with a vase or urn, another side cabinet with a vase behind here. There are what appear to be sheer curtains on the windows and a very faded carpet on the floor. There is also what we’d think of as an old-fashioned radiator on her other side.

So just a snippet of a post today. I have a few other Jersey treats in the works – we brought several paintings to live down here and I will be sharing those too I think.

****

*Dahlias, cosmos and zinnias. They are enjoying the rainy weather even if I am not so much.*

*Hard to see with the green on green but we have a great many peppers on this one to enjoy!*

It is a rainy day here in New Jersey, but I have snapped a few pictures of the flowers – which have enjoyed all this rain – and my bumper crop of jalapeno peppers. Hot peppers seem to be my best crop this year so far.

Kitten with Fruit

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today is a (somewhat) rare Pictorama painting post. Mostly these seem to be summer New Jersey posts as this is the home with enough wall space for paintings. Some of you may remember my pig painting purchase post from last summer (post can be found here), although cats are more typical and prior posts of some of those acquisitions can be found here and here.

Having said that, this one was acquired from a seller in Britain (@oldstockantiques, his website can be found here), via Instagram and has sat, still in the shipping wrapping in the New York apartment for several month until it could come out here. As a result, when I unpacked it I felt a bit like I was seeing it for the first time all over again. (Good thing my taste is consistent!) There are actually others still to come (largely but not all cats by far), but we start here today with this one which is my favorite.

I don’t know if you can see it from the photo but this painting is old and the surface is a bit reptilian in places as the top layer has crazed and crawled over time. I would guess that this top layer is actually a glaze and there might have been a moment when removing it and replacing it made sense but I think that day has passed and it doesn’t really impact the enjoyment of looking at it. The frame, which I like very much, came with the painting and from the back I would say they have been together for a good long time.

As you can see from the back, this painting was done on an old form of prepared board (Academy Boards prepared for oil painters it says) and sold by Geo. Rowney & Co. 18 Rathbone Place, London. I believe I have purchased both Rowney pastels and oil paints in my life. The nails holding it in are new but I think that is gratis the seller, along with the bit of string and hooks to hang it. It appears not to be signed, front or back although I won’t say there wasn’t something that is now obscured by the crawling surface.

To start, there is something about the pupil dilated wide-eyed look of this kitten that draws me in – I always think that it is as if he truly was asked to pose amongst this wild assortment of fruit and flowers and is wondering what the heck is going on. The cat is well done although we really only see his vaguely peevish head (note ear askew too) and sort of a nod to the rest of him – there is a bit of paw where the crazing is bad on the right side. A few trumpet lilies are at the top and wandering down to these somewhat oversize peaches, an oddly too small avocado (with a giant pit) and some grapes that look a bit like they are of the glass rather than the food variety.

Kitty is of course a tabby, pink nosed and bewhiskered. I would say the article was a better cat and flower painter than a fruit one. There is a moody background too – a sort of sunset horizon and a darkening cloudy sky – also a victim of the surface to some degree. I would say a careful look suggests that there are bits of blue sky among the dark clouds.

It may sound funny to say since I am far from being a kid, but I have only recently given myself license to buy paintings. I mean, I have made paintings, sculpture, prints and certainly photos myself, however the act of purchasing paintings always seemed like something only grown ups like my parents did. I have bought art on paper (in large quantities as you know) but never paintings. It took inheriting a house along with some paintings to prompt thinking about it as an option.

In my mind purchasing paintings was always something my father did. From the earliest time I can remember Dad (almost always him and only occasionally Mom) brought paintings home. He was a particular sucker for a seascape (future post on that), but also an eye for landscapes – never figures. Dad had a good eye. I wouldn’t say we have the same eye but nonetheless, the paintings he purchased are good ones and I have them up in the house now. It is nice to find an avenue of collecting like this so late in the game and it will be interesting to see what I can come up with.

Vacation in the Air

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Today is the first day of vacation. First thing this moring I wandered outside in my pj’s, admired the dahlias and some just emerging zinnias and popped a few ripe strawberries in my mouth while the coffee finished perking in the kitchen. I have fortified myself with one of my friend’s popover, provided earlier this week, and now I sit with my second cup of coffee (coffee so good this morning I texted a friend that I felt like I was swilling it) and share this new favorite card with you.

*Strawberry plants offer a few nibbles every morning.*

I purchased this postcard just before we left New York and it has just made its way here from Britain. I haven’t acquired one of these big kitty chair photos in a very long time. This cat chair is a bit smaller than some and sitting sidesaddle on him seems quite easy. My very favorite part is the way she is holding onto his (her?) little round cat ears!

The woman is wearing a white dress and sandals and she is dressed a bit differently than the general sort of togs we see in these holiday photos. (Early examples from my collection can be found in posts here, here and here for comparison.) The woman is smiling sort of placidly – a good sport but not embracing it quite as much as I think I might have given the opportunity. (I would have been bouncing with excitement!)

Meanwhile, Kitty is a bit bowlegged which gives him an especially cheerful look. He has a ribbon around his neck and a Steiff-y sewn on nose and mouth. We can barely see it, but kitty has a big fluffy tail up behind her. There is some vegetation in the background and what appears to be ivy climbing up a stone wall. This doesn’t have the seashore feel that some of these have and as I said before, this appears to be a somewhat smaller cat so likely a different location although obviously it is a resort area of sorts. This card was never mailed so we don’t have any sense of date or precise location. Oddly it has a narrow fold at the very top like maybe it was kept in a book and sticking out just the slightest bit.

*The dahlias in the garden have either gone plumb wild or not come up. It’s an odd year.*

I am savoring the delicious moment of my entire vacation stretching ahead of me. All things are possible at the beginning, and it is a cool morning here in New Jersey which beckons us outside. My dahlias are blooming and the red ones in particular are attracting my favorites, the hummingbirds. (I have not captured them in a photo and am unlikely to as they are so mercurial.) Evenings under the fairy lights are ahead as well as good food and friends visiting, cats to be fed and petted. More to come but enjoy this grand kitty chair for now.

Summer Day

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Picotrama Photo Post: As I write I have the pleasure of being on an immobile NJ transit train, having sacrificed breakfast to hop on it and now am just sitting. They have informed us that we are held for an indefinite period. There is a young man who has taken off his shoes and is playing loud music on his phone – he thoughtfully turns it off for the overhead announcements about not know how long we will be here. For some reason he also keeps yanking his trouser leg up to obsessively scratch his calves.

I stayed in New York last night to have dinner with a friend who is sick and it was a rare chance to see her so I cannot regret it. Dinner, after a rather biblical rain last night, ran too late for a train back to New Jersey but now I am regretting not trying for it.

*Friday commute into NYC. A better day.*

All that being said I have whipped out my laptop to share this recently acquired treat with you. This family was having a far superior summer morning in England some time about 100 years ago. This card was never mailed and nothing has been written on it.

Shortly after writing that it became clear that no trains were leaving Penn Station for the foreseeable future and the lack of internet on the train, making further decisions difficult at best, meant that I packed myself up again and went back upstairs. What followed was a series of mishaps, breakfast with a friend who lives nearby and a hot more or less five-hour journey on a very hot day to our house in New Jersey, less than an hour and a half away under normal circumstances. Not sure if it was breakfast, dinner the night before or the heat, but my tummy started to scream in protest. All this ended in bed and a book for the remainder of the day after getting home and sadly, no Pictorama Post for you all. My sincere apologies!

This photo postcard deserves our full attention, however. It has been long time since I bought a Felix photo card and this is a worthy entry.

Our featured family is in clear focus while the rest of the scene is a soft blur. The sun is pretty high in the sky it seems – a rare sunny day on a British holiday we’ll assume. Dad looks a tad uncomfortable dressed in a full suit and tie, complete with dark socks and heavy shoes, sitting in the sand nonetheless. Somehow mom looks more comfortable in her layers of dress and hat despite the many layers which we would never sport at the beach, although it does keep sun exposure to a safe minimum. The smaller of the two children has got Felix by the ear and may even be holding him up. This Felix, while very jaunty, he is even tinier than the kid.

The older boy, who I assume was the primary architect of this magnificent sand structure, is also in a jacket along with his short pants, high socks and cap. He looks very pleased with himself.

*Popped one strawberry in my mouth but several others ready soon if I can beat the birds and animals to them.*

The sandcastle is more pyramid than castle, aside from its decorative topper which I somehow assume was a sand mold or toy with a sort of castle scene on it when you look very carefully. The tunnel under the structure makes me think of cars passing through.

Mom perches on a beach chair, other chairs are scattered about. There is a sort of mysterious stack of planks (?) behind here, other beach goers are behind them (also in hats and British layers) off into the distance – I see a little girl digging to the far left. All the way to the back is a high wall.

*A banana peppers a brought in this morning. Animals appeared to attempt to eat them but found them too hot.*

The registration number is would have been tracked by is both in the upper left and lower left corners – presumably how the family’s card found its way to them. The card has been sloppily placed to the right side of the card with a fat margin on the left but very little on the right.

I am better this morning and it is a pretty day here in New Jersey – making up for the journey yesterday! My pepper plants (green peppers, jalapenos and banana peppers) are full of peppers, the tomatoes are trying their best and the dahlias are blooming. The recent hard rain damaged some of the nascent blooms but they are coming back! Here’s to a quiet summer day at the Jersey shore and in the garden.

Jersey Girl Garden

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: We are nicely installed here at the Jersey shore. Cats, both the Jersey Five and the NYC kits, are getting used to a new routine. My friend Winsome who cares for the Jersey cats is in Jamaica on vacation and so these kitties are stuck with me and my commuting hours. Feeding and litter box cleaning for seven cats is plenty twice a day. Kim has been doing the evening feeding shift so everyone doesn’t need to wait for me to get home.

*Strawberries which are prolific and yummy but always tiny.*

The weather has been too balmy to sit outside or do much in the garden yet, however my spring efforts are paying off and my dahlias are already providing a stream of early blooms. We had rain last night so everything is quite content. Finding time to water before or after work has been hard as well, but necessary many of these hot and very sunny days. The sudden hard rains and winds can be hard on them too though and I have lost a few dahlias to it.

*Some nascent tomatoes – all except the poor cherry tomato.*

My tomato plants have been slow starters this year. I planted them in the garden instead of containers and it may have been a mistake. The chipmunks and squirrels (which are aplenty here) delight in digging them up, not eating them, but digging them out, despite cages around them. The cherry tomato seems to be their favorite game. (I will say while planting something else recently I found a bunch of peanuts in the hole I dug! Maybe that is what the squirrels are looking for?

Unlike the tomatoes the three different kinds of peppers I planted in containers have done quite well. We already have some peppers ready for the picking and the promise of many more. We have sweet peppers, jalapenos and banana peppers – I believe it is the banana peppers that are ready for the picking – might be the jalapenos though – I will pluck some and let you know.

*The banana peppers (or are they jalapenos?) are coming along nicely. May trim one for the fish stew!*

*Look carefully for a couple of small green peppers.*

The hydrangea is doing its thing and the purply blue in the backyard is stunning. The honeysuckle is blooming (I taught Winsome’s grandkids about sucking the sweet bit out of the bottom of a blossom.) I don’t cut them often though as they don’t seem to last in a vase – the pink variety is so pretty though I will sometimes. The cut flowers are a great joy to have in the kitchen where they are seen day and evening and always cheer me. Unfortunately, Beauregard does like to have a nibble on them.

*My favorite hydrangea in the backyard. I like to clip a occasional choice bloom.*

*The pink honeysuckle – a favorite of mom’s.*

The herb garden, shown at the top, is a bit feral – the sage and the oregano seeking to crowd out everyone else. The basil is making a valiant effort, and the rosemary has the good fortune to be outside the purview of the sage and is perking along, smelling glorious.

Although in spring the garden is all about the peonies, the centerpiece of the summer garden is the dahlias. This year I have planted some in the garden and others are in containers. The ones in the garden are growing quite huge and some of those are having their first bloom. Some of the old timers are in containers and a favorite orange-red and yellow is already bursting out much to my delight. In the garden is an enormous purple one which I leave in the ground over the winter and seems to be very happy. I planted it for my mom, like many of the peonies, for Mother’s Day or her birthday. That is the origin of the cherry tree and the magnolia too.

*This orange and yellow is a favorite returning this year.*

The rest of the dahlias are dug up annually in the fall and tucked into the garage for the winter where I hope to find tiny green buds on them in the early spring for planting. I had some new ones purchased this year that haven’t worked out so well for me so I have to think about where I buy from in the future. It could be them or it could be me. Hard to really say. I have an experienced gardening friend who advises me in these matters and she too suffered some losses this year on the dahlia front.

So sets the stage for summer here. I am eyeing my fairy lights on the deck and hoping for an evening cool enough to enjoy them. I generally take my time off in August when, even if it rains a bit more, temperatures tend to go down a bit already and the evenings are more enticing. I have a plan to make fish stew today (post with that recipe can be read here) so we have dinner for the week – easier with the commute. More tales of the Jersey shore to come for those who care to follow me.

Tough

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Writing from our New Jersey outpost today – more about that maybe tomorrow. However, I am fresh off a Saturday morning of cat chores – multiplied of course by the number of cats and also with my commute less gets done during the week. There is a day of gardening ahead too – the first of the dahlias is blooming and I have even cut a few for enjoying here in the kitchen.

I tucked a few cards in my computer bag for posts, although there are also a few items that have come with us to live here which I hope to feature in the coming weeks as they get unpacked and are fully available for consideration.

Today, this little tidbit however, purchased at the most recent card sale. I chose it as I am now in a bevy of kitties here in the House of Seven Cats and I am reminded of their pecking order. Although Milty is the oldest of cats here (and male) he is so old that Beauregard, the five or six year old all black fellow, is really top cat for all intents and purposes these days. Beau (and Milty) are fed first among the Jersey kits. (Cookie and Blackie, aka the New York cats, are fed in separate rooms to keep the peace.) Gus, Peaches and Stormy wait to eat after. The older boys also get their pick of the choice sleeping spots. Alas, the feline world is a sexist one.

*Milty, true elder statesman senior cat.*

In this card we have a fellow who is indeed a tough guy after a fashion. He sports a pistol, knife and has a cig hanging out of his mouth. (Arguably though he has a fluffy kitty tummy being shown!) The newsboy cap pulled over one eye, a kerchief knotted around his neck, here is something of a Frenchmen about him, an apache. His Wanted poster is on the wall behind him, sporting the same, striped, vest and presumably a list of his sins below. His hands (um paws) are on his hips. He is looking to the left of the viewer at something, above him Tough Baby! is inscribed.

*Peaches, meanest cat ever, just shown here for the heck of it.*

If I was going to draw comparisons to my New Jersey cats this chap would be Milty not Beau who for all his top cat status isn’t really a tough guy – just the largest kitty here. Milty, even in his dotage, is more like this swaggering fellow.

This card was mailed, although the message and address are quite faded. By happy coincidence it is postmarked July 30, 1940 from Margate, Kent. So as of yesterday, it was mailed exactly 86 years ago. As best I can read the message on the back, in faded blue writing it says, Dear Andrew and Timothy, We are having…time here and the weather is lovely. How are you getting on Andrew with your work, not working…hard I hope. How is Timothy, I’m sure…love the sea. Love from Heidi & Madelaine. It is addressed to, Master A. Marr, ‘Kilroney’ Swan Lane, Edwin Bridge, Kent. The card is British published.

So that is your quick Pictorama post for today. I’m off to do household and cat chores and find my way to the garden, weather permitting.

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30