Boxed

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Pictorama readers may already know I have a hard time resisting a good box or cabinet – decorative storage tends to make me feel like I will, at long last, be able to organize my life and wayward possessions into some beautiful state of organization. And although time and experience show that I continue to fall short, I remain quite drawn to beautiful boxes.

I purchased this box for myself for my birthday this year. Around my birthday I received a Valentine’s Day invitation for a two-day sale at a location I have been curious about and never had a chance to visit, Maxim Dimitry. It originally appeared in my Instagram feed a while back and I signed up for emails, but the holidays were busy and I was out of town for part of December, so I had not been yet. However, a few weeks back I stopped by on my way home on the first evening of a two-day sale. At first the address, 75 East 93rd Street, confused me and I wandered the corner of 93rd and Park for more than a few minutes. There was even a folding sign for the sale, so I knew I was in the right place. However, the building is a Russian Orthodox Church and therein the confusion until I found the appropriate side entrance.

*Other side of the Orthodox Church enclave I was in? Found this online.*

The interior of the building was architecturally interesting on its own as I went up a worn staircase (having noted faux Russian icons for sale at the front desk), however the room I was shown to was small but quite exquisite, paneled in lovely old dark wood with a beautiful marble fireplace. Large windows look south and provide beautiful light for looking at things, although it was winter and the light started to fail early. There are a few jewelry cases and other items line the windowsills and shelves. Along one wall was antique jewelry (what I was really there for), and the held other lovely designs by the young man proprietor, Maxim Schidlovsky.

Maxim and I chatted while I looked and ultimately compared notes a bit on our Russian heritage – dad’s family for me. Although I did purchase something from the jewelry showcase (spoiler – an opal, no surprise, right?) which I will show in a future post, I was also very attracted to the display of antique boxes along the window shelf. (Please note that his own designs can be found on his website here.)

*From the Maxim Dimitry website. I didn’t think to take a photo.*

As I have already opined, boxes are like catnip to me and there is something about the heft, feel and look of this small bronze box that is very reminiscent of my paternal grandmother, and I picked it up immediately. (I have written about Tootsie, aka Gertrude, Butler before and one of those posts can be found here.) Although I do not have such a box from her, nor do I have a specific memory of one, the very tactile experience of something similar comes to mind when I hold it. I’m quite sure in the endless poking around in her things I did as a small child there must have been something similar tucked away in my brain. With her love of stuff, purchased endlessly at auction, it is fitting of the esthetic I would conjure for her as well.

*Box is about not quite 3.5 inches by 4 inches.*

Although I believe I will keep my (admittedly many) rings in it I believe it started life as a cigarette box. Its markings inform us that it was made for RH Macy Department stores, probably around 1912. It is lined with cedar wood (which I gather was used for cigars and cigarettes to keep them fresh), and the bronze finish was one the company called verde. It is the deep green color and the intact silver trim which really sell this little beauty. The company which produced it, Heintz Art Metal Shop, would have only just patented this process (it seems to be about applying the silver decoration smoothly without soldering it?) when Otto Heintz began selling these to Macy’s whose empire was still in its ascension.

At that time Macy’s would have been in more or less its sixth decade since its founding originally on 14th Street here in New York and would of course continue to grow through the early decades of the 20th century. It also would be about to embark on a collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art for a project to bring modern design to the public that last from 1914-1928.

Otto died unexpectedly young and Heintz Art Metals, a family business he inherited and reimagined, ends up being a relatively short-lived venture with him at the helm after his top person left for a competitor. However, I do see evidence of these boxes and related desk item for sale online although this one is in fairly pristine condition. Frequently either the silver or the bronze has been poorly cleaned and damaged driving the price down or lovely examples like this one going for more.

Although there were other very beautiful boxes which might have suited my intentions (still that vague idea of a jewelry box for the house in New Jersey – I may ultimately have to go back for another), this one reminded me so of Gertie that it was hard to let go. It has been like having a little visit with her. Mr. Schidlovsky, saw my dilemma and stepped in with an offer I could not refuse and remain very grateful for. My only dilemma is that I like it so much I am not all inclined to take it to New Jersey where I will see it less often and I think I need a spot for it here on my dresser where it can pick up some of the small jewelry overflow. I will happily keep a weather eye out for his next sale.

Birthday Bits

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I know I did a sort of a birthday tease yesterday and I promise I will get to a birthday gift review soon, but first I have a few other birthday bits I acquired and tales of a day downtown as Manhattans mountains of snow finally started to melt around us. Luckily, despite temperatures hitting almost 40 degrees, the melt remained slow and rivers did not actually form in the streets, at corners here the way they will. My feet are so tired of wearing and walking long distances in boots! I had sneakers on and luckily we weren’t washed away. It was Valentine’s Day and the warmest day in months so all of Manhattan was out and about.

*Perhaps a dubious purchase of the day, see below.*

We started at Forbidden Planet. Kim has been looking for reprints of classic DC comics and wanted to see if they had anything to feed the kitty on this score. He’s been buying them in NJ at Jay & Bob’s Secret Stash in Red Bank but has pretty much come to the end of the line of their stock. Can’t seem to find them online – in case folks have suggestions.

*Inside Forbidden Planet – I’ve never been in this location before.*

As we headed east we discovered a tiny new store on East 9th Street called Pillow Cat Books (328 East 9th Street, or online here). It is tiny and was quite crowded when we got there, almost so much I debated if we could go in. With a name like that I had to try however. Finally, it thinned out though and so we did and eventually it emptied to the point where we could see things and eventually buy something.

Several shelves of vintage books of all sorts are along one wall but maddeningly high and virtually out of reach. A few attempts did show them to be extremely pricey so we gave up on much trying. Algonquin Cat with illustrations by Hilary Knight of Eloise fame piqued my interest although it was in a locked cabinet, so I didn’t get to have a look. I do see that recent reprints of it are very affordable. I suspect this was an earlier edition. I may take a flyer on it out of curiosity, even not having seen it. I do not need a first edition.

*The old books were on the top shelves!*

While there, I did however buy a Kit-Cat Klock (aka Felix) clock. Now you might be surprised that I don’t have one and I have had a few in the past, all have suffered one fate or another. The Kit Cat Klock was introduced in 1932 by the Allied Clock Company, created by Earl Arnault and designed by Clifford Stone. These clocks have in some ways come a long way from their 1930’s roots when they were made of metal rather than plastic, minus the later addition of whiskers and bowtie. Still, they are remarkably similar to the original.

I find them very cheerful and the new design has the advantage of functioning while sitting on a shelf without the tail, if you are so inclined. (In my experience the tail is the weak part of the operation, and I believe in the older design the clock didn’t work without it swinging.) I always had it on a wall in the kitchen and I may return to that location – I like a clock in the kitchen although now there’s the microwave. Anyway, I purchased the classic black option – as interesting as the other colors were. My former brother in-law was scared of Felix clocks in the way some people are afraid of clowns. I never understood it but was concerned back in the day when I thought he might come to the apartment.

*House puss by the front door at Pillow Cat Books.*

Meanwhile, a pleasantly plump tabby cat of the establishment sat by the front door, enduring a certain amount of attention. I think there was sign on the front door which warned of his mercurial temperament. He deigned to receive a few head scritches on our way out.

*The back area at the Rare Book Room – it is tantalizingly close, but we may not paw through it. Sigh. Always sure great treasures are hidden there!*

After swinging further east and discovering that nothing we wanted to poke into was open, we hit Alabaster Books on Fourth Avenue. We’ve purchased books there although not recently. Years ago and for many years they had a lovely calico cat I liked to visit. While there I did note and contemplate an illustrated children’s book by Rumor Godden (who wrote Black Narcissus), but curious as I was about the writing, I didn’t care for the illustrations.

*The view from my perch at the Rare Book Room.*

Next up and always a favorite was the Rare Book Room at the Strand. They tend to move their small selection of random fiction around and I had to go looking for it again. Luckily they now have it perched next to some comfy chairs which allowed for better looking while seated low. Last year that shelf revealed Maisie’s Sister by Rosa Mulholland which set off a year of tracking down and reading those books. (Posts about them can be found here and here.) I brought home two books, one more promising than the other, The Wild Ruthvens by Curtis Yorke, and (the less promising Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall by Charles Major. Curtis Yorke is evidently the nom de plume for a prolific Scottish writer, Susan Rowley Richmond Lee. Perhaps more to come on her in future posts.

*Valentine view of the bar at Old Town yesterday.*

*Pulled this off the internet – nice to admire their neon sign!*

We rounded off the afternoon with lunch at the Old Town Bar on 18th Street. Kim had a veggie burger and I had a rather notable grilled cheese with mushrooms on pumpernickel – which they noted was a personal favorite of former governor Pataki. That notwithstanding, it was a memorable grilled cheese and plate of fries. While many stores were jam-packed, we were pleasantly surprised to find the bar a quiet and half-filled interlude by two in the afternoon.

Valentine’s Day 2026

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: The sands of time have been running through that hourglass quickly again and we find ourselves at Valentine’s Day for our much beloved and long anticipated Kim Deitch Valentine reveal! For those of you who are newly initiated, Pam’s Pictorama has two major reveals annually – our holiday card which we collaborate on and the Valentine which is 100% Kim Deitch special for me!

As someone whose birthday falls right before Valentine’s Day (it was this past Wednesday and more about a very extraordinary birthday gift in another post), back in our first or second year together I asked Kim for a drawing for my very own. The earlier efforts were a bit more simple, but the project grew like topsy in subsequent years and now it is an elaborate full-on several week drawing extravaganza, and each year really does seem to top the year before. As the ultimate Kim Deitch fan (yes, it is me!) there really couldn’t be anything more exciting or a greater honor. A handful made their way to an exhibit in France years ago and it is my greatest pleasure to be depicted so lovingly in these – always surrounded by my passions of cats and vintage toys!

People always ask if it is a surprise and I have to remind them that Deitch Studio, while grand in many ways, is still one room so not much goes on here that we don’t both know about. Still, each year his vision for it and how he realizes it is always entirely different. I share some other years below.

*A cat band version from my Jazz at Lincoln Center years! Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

*This one from 2016 has me in a similar ermine outfit with Felix dioramas! Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

This year I am pleased as punch to be Amazing Pam and the Queen of My Heart! I wear my spiffy little ermine trimmed outfit – sort of a cross between a jacket and top you’d actually see me in and a regal regalia, even fur trimmed. (Obviously no ermines were hurt in the making of this card. Kim is threatening to retire this outfit in drawings.) The inspiration for the two cats on either side of me is the wonderful off-model Felix on a scooter toy which lives at the foot of our bed, shown below.

*My faux Felix toy! Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

This fake Felix was made by Chien toys. The Chien toy empire was founded by Julius Chien in New York in 1903. He got his start making the Cracker Jack toys and found his way into inexpensive tin toys, mechanical and often character toys. The business peaked in the 1930’s and ’40s and in later decades (sadly) broke off into housewares. He probably also had the license on the actual Felix so I wonder how this impressive Not-Felix came to be and why. There market was flooded with them as shown in part below.

*Gunterman Felix, not in Pictorama collection.*

My version is a bit incomplete, dented on one side and I don’t believe I have ever written about him before. There is indeed an official Felix version like mine, and also the ones (a version above) that always goes incredibly high at auction with him chasing mice. I am very fond of an Italian version (below) which comes up rarely and I have tried to get but never snagged. However, I started using it as my avatar on Zoom during Covid and still do. We’ve always liked this knock-off version however, with his spiffy little jacket, polka dot vest (who doesn’t love a polka dot vest?), toothy grin, glasses and big old schnoz of a nose. While they must have used the same cut out mold as the Felix they have entirely reimagined him, arguably for the better on this occasion. He has sat at the foot of our bed for a very long time and is in my mind sort of an unofficial mascot here so I love that he is memorialized as such.

*Italian version I use as an avatar at work. I love those wheels with the stars and moon.*

While my faux Felix is actually quite flat, Kim has given him some frontal dimension imagined on one side of me. Meanwhile, with Cookie and Blackie in special places of black cat pride, I am in this card (and for the first time in a Valentine) acknowledged as the Guardian of 7 Cats. (I just typed 8 by accident – maybe a sign? Did I mention a close call with kittens on my birthday? Some at work, looking for homes – close call.) The Jersey Five are illustrated and named below starting with Beau (another black cat) followed by Stormy, Gus, Peaches (the meanest cat ever – read about her here) and Milty – our senior citizen cat. (You can read about him here.)

*Vintage Valentine I gave Kim this year.*

This drawing is largely just wild color and fun design that draws you in – like it can hardly contain itself! It is Kim at his best in that way I think and I am so pleased to have been the inspiration for it.

In the Mood for Love?

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: I have a Pre-Valentine’s Day post today to get us all in the high mystic mood for next week – when I will have a super great Deitch Valentine reveal this year. I don’t think I am spoiling the surprise when I say it is the height of hotsy totsy this year.

I admit to having accidentally left Kim to open his Valentine’s Day gift which arrived early last week! It was an early hardcover edition of a book called Lefty of the Big League by Burt L. Standish of the Merriwell book fame. I saw it in a Flat Lay Friday group photo of objects for sale on Instagram and grabbed it up on a whim for Valentine’s Day. Kim is a Merriwell fan and miraculously it seems he has not read this other book by Standish. I was performing well until I handed him the package to open! Alas, timing is everything but the love and the thought were there nonetheless.

Meanwhile, today’s card, purchased back in the fall, is wonderful and wild. This woman is a “spider” who has cast her love net and scored this man who is now quite literally her puppet! He looks to be a well-heeled sort of the day, a watch chain stretching across pronounced ample girth, top hat, glasses rather than monocle although they sit atop his head in a jaunty fashion. He wears a print waistcoat, bow tie and jacket with some sort of other print on his fat legs ending in tiny, shiny shoes.

This fellow is smiling and I might point out that he also has a bottle of champagne in one hand and a full glass in the other – if the strings that bind him are obvious, may I say he does not appear to mind in the least.

The hand-colored beauty who is the woman-in-charge sports a green top, trimmed in red hearts (!) and stripes that really make this card for me. (Can I just say, oh to find such an item at a vintage sale and snatch it up!) A slight blush is added to her cheeks, skin and her curly hair which is highlighted brown – all adding to her winsome appeal and, shall we say, allure.

Our manipulating maiden emerges from this spider’s web (tiny tear to her left so maybe it isn’t the first rodeo for this photo set) with fat cloth hearts pinned on in a circle around her. Aside from the green label of his champagne bottle (borrowed from her shirt) and a bit in the top of his champagne glass, our puppet man is left in black and white, aforementioned strings top and bottom quite visible.

I can only really confirm that this card was sent in 1907 – there are three cancellations, two overlapping and European and I cannot verify the month or day although it might be August. This card (which the internet attributes to being Russian maker – again the cancellations make it a bit hard to see) was sent to a Mademoiselle L. Guilloim… on the Avenue de la Gare, Vielsalm, Luxembourg.

Thanks to several readers I now know I can put the image of the note into Google and get a (very) rough translation:

It is a pleasure, my dear,
for the good wishes you sent me. Like a verse, I thank you for it, and I think of it often. For short nights, I will be accused afterwards. I slept very well, a big thank you that the present during your trip? Please reply. Best regards to all your team.

Maria

Sort of interesting to chose such an extraordinary card with no mention of the image, but it seems Maria had other things on her mind.

Whoever Mademoiselle G. was, I am very glad she saw fit to keep this card in fairly pristine condition for me to share with you today and wishing you a romantic week leading up to next Saturday.

Whisper and I Shall Hear.

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: This is a very odd card and while I rarely purchase things on the basis of that, I somehow just needed to see this card and what it was in person. It appears to be a photograph of a painting, and I would guess that it is actually done by painting over a photograph which gives it the almost photo quality it has. Not just a photo but some sort of a mash up of photos I would think. It is on glossy cardstock which is unusual for a card in 1909 in my (let’s face it not insignificant) experience.

I assume given the title of the image that the cat is whispering in the ear of this strange doll. It looks as if it is illustrating a fairy tale none of us are familiar with. If you look at that cat’s expression I would say, cat lover though I am, he’s up to no good. The doll looks inert but there is a frightening bit of a lifelike glimmer in its eyes – he shall hear alright! Very strange and more than a little creepy. They are perched on a rooftop, some snow in evidence, with a night sky and cloud obscuring a full moon behind them. Cats seem to be depicted on rooftops a lot although my personal experience of them does not bear this out. I can’t think of the last time I saw a cat on a roof. You?

The card was printed by the Shamrock Co. Photographic Printers & Publishers London, E.C. According to internet intel, Shamrock was a card printer active in the 1890’s – 1910’s. It was particularly known for producing high-quality religious devotional cards, postcards, and sentimental photographic prints. I could not find any compelling further evidence of their product online to share.

The handwritten message at the top says, Writing Wednesday if at all possible. I was just writing to someone else (hey Wayne!) saying that it seems postcards were frequently used to say that a letter was coming, buying time. Funny that after all these years it is the postcard that has been saved and the letter likely lost. (People do still write letters folks – as I type this out, Kim is at his desk across from me handwriting a letter right now. That lucky recipient is getting a preview of the color sketch of my Valentine – hopefully that reveal next weekend. Kim often writes using xeroxed sketches and other bits for his letters. Lucky recipients! He is a frequent and thoughtful correspondent. I on the other hand, send cards – birthday, condolence and with this job, sadly, frequent condolences for the loss of a beloved pet.)

The postcard is dated by hand, 30.10.09 (a European style of writing the date) but the postmark is obscured so I don’t know where it was sent from. It is simply addressed to Mrs. Herbert, Millertown. Millertown, New York in Dutchess County is the likely destination – even today Wikipedia only puts it at 900 occupants so I can imagine that in 1909 you could address something this way and it might get there. Odds are much better than a fully addressed postcard today I dare say.

*Back of the card which seemed legible at first but actually a bit challenging to decipher.*

The (also unusual) note reads, Mr. E.S. away till afternoon. Case will go next week with (illegible) from attic. Mrs. M. unable to meet – (something) two weeks. Had a splendid trip around, but sat up at Junction on acct it coming from Typhoid region, but only got 5, a-on (?) Had nearly all five day (?) here. Enjoying everything very much. Love (name unclear). It was sent from P. Isld. Not clear where that is – Pennsylvania was suggested by the internet but I do wonder about the reference to Typhoid – yikes! Also, this is sent in October and most of the P. Island’s I can find are summer locales. It was mailed with a penny stamp so I assume this was mailed domestically.

These days I am having my own travails both with US Postal Service and with UPS the company – finding both of them falling down massively on the job. As I worked to (finally) try to close my mother’s estate there are papers that company swear to have sent that never arrive, a Christmas card from North Carolina I fear I will never see and more. Kim had two letters show to their destinations empty – one torn in transit and the other just…empty. Meanwhile, at the building that houses my office they have informed us that mail will no longer be picked up on a regular schedule. We’d long discovered that the mailboxes on the street are an iffy proposition so now it is either the one in our apartment building or all the way to the post office to mail things.

As for UPS I can only vouch for a long series of phone calls to outpost calling centers in India where no one seemed to be able to help me with my package (sitting in Newark) and who kept urging me to go online where an AI assistant could only answer the most routine questions. I will spare you the details, the package eventually returned to sender despite my ongoing efforts, but I do think these issues will start to impact my collecting, much of which has always come from abroad.

Dear Louise

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Here at Pictorama we’re in lucky black cat territory today. When I reflect on the difference between the British who honor their black cats with being lucky and our own culture’s tendency to assign them bad luck, I think I may have been born on the wrong side of that big pond. This is an English published postcard, never used postally so hard to get a date on it. The image is a fairly common one and I would say this postcard could be from any time from the ‘teens to the forties.

Although the phrase on the card, I will meet you in the evening dear Louise, seems to bounce around (I found it on at least one other, albeit mundane, postcard) I cannot find the precise origin of it. However, one can imagine this sharp looking little fella being a popular image on a postcard. Red bow, tongue out, looking over to the side with huge eyes, he is perched atop a brick wall, rooftops and pipes in the distance with a huge yellow moon rising from the mist. I can see it being just the right cheeky card to send to your loved one for an assignation of sorts.

I have written about the roots of British black cat good fortune before. On the maritime side, they believed that a black cat on board a boat was good luck (perhaps not for the cat although maybe a mousie and rat filled paradise of sorts), and my favorite tradition of giving a bride a black cat on her wedding day – what a very nice wedding gift that would be!

*Blackie on the bed in NYC in a recent photo.*

As mom to two black cats, Blackie and Beau, I often profess to their particular good nature. I remember that my mother wanted to adopt Beau especially because he was an all black cat and I gather they are less likely to be adopted. There seems to be some truth in that but meanwhile certainly she found herself the most devoted little friend ever. Beauregard would sit on her lap happily for hours if allowed and there is not enough petting in all the world for that cat. He is a great companion.

*Beau possessively on my lap one morning in NJ recently.*

When his weight became too much for her as she grew more frail, he shifted first to next to her and eventually to the chair next to her where he kept persistent watch over her – really of his own accord and understanding. He did not need to be reminded after he first realized it. At times it would be my job to move him to another room – doctor coming etc. and at first it was difficult. As experienced as I am with cats he wasn’t used to being picked up and carried and he is, frankly, an enormous cat. He allowed it and over time he accepted me as one of his spare humans while mom was the unquestionable primary.

With mom gone more than two years now I am the closest thing to her and when I spend time in NJ he claims as much lap time as he can get. His preference is still sitting in my mom’s recliner chair, and I like to think my way of petting, learned at her knee, is somewhat reminiscent of hers.

*Milty, who is actually a small cat, looking like an evil genius in a recent photo.*

At times I have felt bad about not trying to bring Beau to New York with us, but he rules the house and the other cats in New Jersey, and I am not convinced that displacing him would make him happier. It was my mother’s wish that they would all continue to live in the house and I promised to at least try and it has worked for the past few years. Beau, Gus and the two girls (Stormy and Peaches) are quite young cats, only Milty is a senior citizen (of slightly indeterminate age – late teens, early 20’s) and he is quite tenacious. Therefore, the Jersey Five remain intact at the house there.

Yum! Un Repas Succulent

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today’s card is a favorite that has been in my pile clamoring for attention. This by the artist Maurice Boulanger who was one of the heirs apparent to the Louis Wain throne. (I wrote about another one in my collection recently and that post can be found here.) Here we have not the chef kitty, but instead a bibbed-up consumer cat served up this very large rodent, albeit unadorned by trimmings, on a platter. Mr. Rodent hardly looks deceased, but we will assume he is. Kitty is toothy and anxious to dive right in it seems.

Boulanger cats have a Wain-esque tendency toward an anthropomorphic wackiness, but they seem to not to be as sly and are less of a commentary on human nature, more feline in a way. This grinning fellow clearly has a ferocious appetite and can’t wait to dive into munching on this rat on display atop this dish, from whiskers to the tip of the tail. He stands on two feet and wears a bib (which probably covers a white bib of tabby design fur no less) but only his paws are in evidence – we imagine just teeth and claws in play. No human utensils for him. Below this dish at the bottom it declares, Un Repas Succulent – A Delicious Meal. Or in my mind the more descriptive, a succulent repast!

Obviously, this is a French postcard for all intents and purposes as I believe that the writing across the front and the back is in French – although the postcard actually appears to have Eastern European produced. (If anyone wants to take a stab at translating the message I would love to have a sense of what is written here.) And as is often the case, the neat scribble on the front adds to the decorative element. It was mailed to an address in Paris in March of 1906, but I can’t read much else from the cancellation. Again, the small, neat writing on the back escapes my rudimentary translation skills.

*Reverse side of card – can anyone out there read and translate this?*

For those of you in the same neck of the woods as us at Deitch Studio, you know that at the time of writing this it is the end of another frigid week of weather in New York City. Although I can think of several equally impressive snowstorms, I cannot remember one where it stayed so cold that that snow just didn’t go anywhere and here we reside a week later in piles that are still knee high, garbage piling up even higher where trucks cannot get it. (Speaking of rats!) The City makes attempts to dispose of the snow manually while Mother Nature continues to deliver a bit more here and there.

Clearly, we will have one of those spring thaws where things long buried will emerge on the streets. The temperature in the early morning and the nights hovers in the single digits and dips well below zero with the wind. The (blissful) heat in the apartment runs constantly and despite being 1.5 small rooms I expect the bill to be high. The cost of heating the house in New Jersey, even without us there, is a bit staggering this year. Meanwhile, the heat in my office is oddly mercurial and reduced substantially by an ill-conceived wall of windows so it has been a very chilly week indeed and I hunker down with a mug of hot coffee to write this.

All this to set the stage to talk about the wonders that hot food can manifest in this weather. Recent weeks has seen me doubling down on soups and stews. (I shared a miso based soup recipe recently – you can find the post here.) We don’t eat meat, so pots of bubbling beans and tofu make up the stews along with whatever greens or leftovers in the fridge need cooking up. Each one tends to come out different for that reason – black beans seem to be the winner recently, although the chickpea curries are gaining ground. There is a simply wonderful spicy chili crisp tofu recipe that I retrieved from the New York Times (it can be found here at the time of writing) which has become a bit of a staple.

Last week I had a yen for a brothier soup after lots of thick ones and threw together one I will make again. Roughly it was ginger, garlic, onion, and carrots to start with two containers of vegetable broth, some miso, a small can of diced tomatoes and flat leaf parsley and finished with a package of cheese tortellini added at the end. I let it simmer all afternoon on the stove and really, it was heavenly! This week I am experimenting with a simple potato leek soup a friend makes but boy – last week’s soup will go into a regular rotation.

Soup and stew, hot food in general, the ability to make it, afford it and eat it, is a blessing especially in the cold weather. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the very act of making it calms and reassures me. Hot meals for the cold week ahead. Lower perhaps in pure protein than this feline repast but will fill us up and keep us going nonetheless.

Stormy

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Perhaps not surprising as a large swath of the country buckles down to what could be the most substantial snowfall of many years, that this photo (just in the door from my friend @marsh.and.meadow via Instagram) should be top of my pile for today.

Mounted and undated, other than a bit of damage at its edges it is in good shape. It seems it was a treasured photo despite it being overexposed, although somehow it works with the effect of the snow. This little boy is wearing the kind of long coat I think of more for an adult, but I guess he maneuvered on his sled just find nonetheless. (I bought a very long down coat this year to replace one I have been wearing for decades. It has zippers in the side so I can actually walk in it or keep it zipped all around in terrible cold. I can’t image it on a sled though.) He wears a cheery sort of beret and sort of has the look of a race car driver standing next to his beloved vehicle which is why I purchased it.

*Early morning view out the window of the apartment this morning.*

He has a very elaborate sled. Better is painted on the side but I cannot read the rest and there is more – it is obscured by a sort of jointed wooden handle – perhaps to steer? How would that work? The top of this sled is made of wooden planks – it all looks very heavy for a sled. The runners are the carved bottom. I think you would need some heavy snow to take advantage of this design. Growing up we were the generation that moved from the traditional wood with red metal runners to dishes of metal or plastic which picked up great speed, even in less snow. Growing up near the ocean and a river it was frequently a bit too warm for much snow to hang around.

This card came from the Midwest and they do generally know something about snow out there. I am not sure if that is a house or a barn behind him, behind a fence. Skeletons of denuded winter tress are visible and it is snowing as the photo was taken, white dots on his dark clothes, gathering still all around. (As it is out my window right now – a complete white out here on the 16th floor, looking north.)

*Snow at the house in Jersey last weekend.*

Last Sunday I was in New Jersey and shoveling some of it in the evening. Monday dawned to an unusually pretty day of snow – everyone was talking about how picture perfect it was. It was a holiday for many including from school and provided ample opportunity for sledding down a very large hill near my house which I drove past. A pretty church, aptly named Tower Hill, sits at the top. I’ve run up that hill and it is steep! Perfect for sledding however. Growing up, it was a bit too far for us to get a ride two towns over, so I think I ever sledded there once or twice and when I was older. It would have seemed like Everest as a little kid. I want to say my folks drove us to a hill near my grandmother in a town called Long Branch, but I don’t remember where really.

*Tower Hill Church, the slope continues down about three times as far as what is shown here – unobstructed and perfect for sledding.*

Living near the ocean and between twin rivers, it was frequently too warm for snow to stay around long. Snowstorms also often caused flooding which meant water (river water) on the ground rather than snow and certainly not driving anywhere. Therefore, the perfect sledding snow day was a bit rarified. Here in Manhattan we have sledding hills in Central Park and even a small one here near me in Carl Schurz park. I bet the kids are heading over even early this morning although maybe everyone being kept inside while it is coming down so hard.

Weirdly when I watch the Winter Olympics I have a vague yearning to try the luge and skeleton. There is a place in upstate New York for training and the thought always tempts me, no idea why that particular sport speaks to me. My girl cat Cookie likes to watch it with me – television interests her and anything zipping around like that is a bonus. I was born in a blizzard (and as a February baby I also have many snowy birthday memories of plans canceled or adjusted for the celebration) so maybe it was born into me.

Meanwhile, at work we will likely be the only animal hospital open and our vets and techs who come from a broad swath of the tri-state area will have trouble getting in, but of course animals will still need us. Most of the interns and residents are a bit closer – we provide some housing not far from the hospital. It is a bit sad for me that my first thoughts about snow are practical about slippery sidewalks and shoveling at the house, getting to work and losing power – instead of fun and beauty. I will try to repair my sense of wonder, dream about fast sleds and do some cozy cooking and at home projects.

Quarter

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: I believe I recently mentioned in passing that most days Kim walks to work with me. This started after a nice summer of a lot of walking and the desire to keep the good habit up. My morning walk is from 86th Street to 62nd, right down First Avenue or York. Often I walk home as well, weather permitting, but it is rare that I don’t walk in the morning as the subway is too far and the bus down York is slow and crowded. It’s something between 4-5 miles roundtrip.

Kim walks to about 68th Street before turning back to get on with his day working in the apartment. I finish the walk and end with a stop at a deli on 62nd`where I generally get a breakfast sandwich and fill a small thermos (glorified travel cup – I wrote about it last week here) with coffee. The bodega is called Space Market and at first I wondered what was always turning up on my credit card bill that way. I talked to a friend who worked in the area decades ago and it turns out that Space has been there a long time. It is neat and clean and they play rather remarkable jazz – not the early music I prefer but still, some very interesting and good contemporary jazz. It is some sort of list or play loop but very long before I ever heard it repeat. Someone knowledgeable person has put it together very lovingly.

In the beginning while I was finding my rhythm I experimented with buying lunch there but really a sandwich was too expensive. Eventually I shifted to bringing leftovers for lunch, never having found an affordable option in the neighborhood. However, their perch less than a block from my office makes it my go to for breakfast – and I am not alone, I see much of the hospital staff there. I have a regular order (one egg over medium on a toasted English muffin) and now all I need to do is nod at the grill guy and he gets it ready.

Well-meant but also unfortunate other portraits from the series.

The woman behind the register changes periodically. For a long time there was an extremely cheerful young woman who asked about my jewelry and chatted about all sorts of things. I was sad to see her go. They have had trouble replacing her and recently I got the wrong sandwich (scrambled eggs on an everything bagel with hot sauce!) and on another day a batch of coffee which was undrinkable. I am a creature of habit but I’ve started eyeing other establishments if they can’t pull up their socks a bit.

Most days Kim and I are chatted about the day ahead, the story he is working on or the meetings I have, or something else entirely like a television show he watched as a kid or how some dogs greet each other on the sidewalk. (New York City has a lot of dog on the street activity and since I took this job my dog awareness has been heightened.) Sometimes though we are both mulling the day ahead to ourselves and yesterday was more one of those.

Kim is the one who usually stops to pick coins or more often interesting bits of metal off the street. He has a large (and it seems still growing) collection of metal washers, organized by size and thickness, which lives in our bathroom for some reason. Most often though it is interesting heavy screws or metal bits, copper is a bonus, and this practice is hell on his pockets. However yesterday it was I who happened to have eyes on the ground and spotted a shiny bit.

I stopped in my tracks (always a bit dangerous to stop short on a busy sidewalk here) and picked it up. I was rewarded with a rather mint looking Anna May Wong quarter! Kim and I have been very curious about these since their issue in 2022 and have yet to run across one. While the design seems a bit unsatisfactory (unflattering) the concept carries it. It would appear, depending on the particulars of your quarter and condition, that it is valued at something between 30 cents and $1000 – although on the higher end I would say asking is not getting. (Nor does ours display any visible printing malfunctions that would increase its value.)

As most Pictorama readers probably know, the actress. Born on January 3, 1905 she rose to fame in silent film as a rare Asian American leading lady. While her early films like Toll of the Sea (1922, it can be found here) allowed her to make her way into film, it was the later many sound films from the 1930’s with titles like Dangerous to Know (’38)and Island of Lost Men (’39) that she is best remembered for. Recently Kim and I had a chance to see a little available German silent, Großstadtschmetterling or Pavement Butterfly (’29), with English subtitles and her true range as an actress is on display. Sadly it is only available online in German at the time of writing this. As per a Wikipedia synopsis: A Chinese dancer in the nightclubs of Paris, becomes involved with a Russian painter and becomes his model. She is persecuted by a man named Coco, accused of theft. Later, in the French Riviera she is at last able to prove her innocence. Don’t miss it if you have a chance to see it.

*Another still of Anna May Wong from Pavement Butterfly.*

The Anna May Wong quarter, a part of a series honoring American women of note, was the final release on October 25, 2022. Others honored included Dr. Sally Ride (first woman in space) and Maya Angelou in somewhat equally unflattering portraits. Years ago there was a series of quarters which did a tribute to each state and the art was far superior. I often stopped to admire one and I kept Vermont and Tennessee for a long time I liked them so much. Not all, but some, were like little works of art.

*I remembered Vermont as a cabin but I do remember this. Can’t find the cabin imagery I remember though!*

So it is more in tribute to Anna May Wong and her skill as an actress that this find enters the Pictorama collection today and we consider it a bit of a find.

New Brunswick, NJ

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: I grabbed this up as soon as I saw this little collaged beauty. I am not sure that I immediately digested the weirdness of it entirely but being a Jersey girl at heart I thought it was pretty hotsy totsy. Like many recent posts it came from the postcard show last fall and it went into a pile I am only recently digging into.

Born and bred in the Garden State I admit that I may never have so much as driven through New Brunswick. Looking at the map of the state I must have (may have?) as it is nestled in the crook of the state, just above Monmouth County, heading north and a smidge west. This sounds a bit odd but we didn’t drive west all that often growing up. North of course took you to New York but generally we went up the coast. South brought you to Freehold which seemed to be required occasionally; Princeton where my sister went to school, and ultimately Philadelphia on occasion – we had a cousin there. I rarely made it to the bottom corner of the state, probably not until college and after.

*For those of you who don’t have the map of the state handy in your head.*

The northwest of the state was a rare event. Flemington is up there (I have a friend who moved there recently – hey Hope!), where I can remember going only a few times – it felt exotic. Even our forays into Pennsylvania were usually made by going more south or directly across the state. Years ago I spent some time hiking with a friend along the beautiful Delaware water gap. Christine grew up in that area and knew it well but it was the first time I spent much time there. All this to say that New Brunswick always sat slightly north and west of where I had my formative years and somehow I never much got there or maybe knew if I did. It belongs in a vague category of North Jersey that I would have used when I lived there.

This card is hometown proud indeed. A rendering of a pansy has a collaged-on head and shoulders of a woman in turn-of-the-century finery, wearing a be-ribboned or flower covered hat. She wears the pansy petals like a dress and on each petal is a local building of note shown as actual postcards of significant sites on each petal. They are: Washington public school, Livingstone Avenue High School, St. Peters Parochial School, Carnegie Library, and the Post Office. Clearly they thought highly of their educational institutions.

*New Brunswick Carnegie Public Library, in a contemporary but undated photo.*

The Carnegie Library, shown above, seems to be the only one that is definitely unaltered. I’m on the fence about the post office, shown below, which could be the same building from another angle and with different things around it obviously. The schools have long been replaced (or in the case of the parochial school possibly disappeared) by newer structures. (My own high school in Rumson still exists intact with its old building but a certain amount of building on has happened. You can still see the bones of it however.)

*The Post Office in New Brunswick – I believe it is the one shown in the postcard. The windows are the same.*

Someone has written the initials JHB in the lower right, under Greetings from New Brunswick, NJ. On the back, also written in pencil it says Miss Ethel Hardy, 5 John Street, City. However, it was never mailed and it is incomplete. Another version of the card I found online was mailed in 1908 according to a cancellation mark.

The card was published by Hammel Bros., New Brunswick, NJ. It was made (printed) in Austria however. Hammel Brothers, not surprisingly, seemed to special in cards of a local nature in New Brunswick, NJ, although I do wonder how they would have made a business out of that bit of limited fame and for how long. They have not left many tracks and mostly there are references to a brewery of a similar name and time in New Mexico.

As you read this I will be packing up and heading to New Jersey this morning. As per yesterday’s post, there is snow on the ground (more overnight and a fair amount coming down now) and still a bit more throughout the day, hopefully in a desultory sort of way. Anyway, a tip of the hat to my home state and the undiscovered treasure of New Brunswick from a time passed.