Vesta

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Sometimes in the (ideally) long running life of a marriage by necessity gift giving becomes a bit mercurial. In reality, for me buying gifts for Kim always has been largely so (our first Christmas together I bought him a lightboard), however and I seem to veer between the extremely practical (he always gets new socks and underwear from me each Christmas, albeit in sportier prints than he might choose on his own) or on the rare occasion I find something like this year’s gift.

There have been past posts about Mia, aka @ The Ruby Foxes Jewellery (or http://www.therubyfoxes.com) who sold me this. She and her family live in the British countryside and she sells jewelry and other small finds online. Over the years and beyond some jewelry, I have purchased all sorts of things including some lovely jewelry boxes (a post about one of those here), a cat door knocker and an ancient cat match holder (posts here and here). In addition to her wares, I enjoy a stream of photos of the stunning countryside near their home, the pups and kitties – especially the fluffy senior cat, Enid Noodle – as well as the exotic bat-eared Astrid and Sigrid.

*Another match related acquisition from @therubyfoxes. Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

I can go for months without purchasing anything from Mia and then find myself sitting on the subway in Manhattan heading to work (back when I did that – I walk now) and discover she’s posted a tidbit I must have.

One morning over early coffee months ago, I saw this in her feed and for some reason immediately decided I would buy it and keep it as a Christmas gift for Kim. Mia, knowing me and having experienced my ineptitude with the closure on one of the jewelry boxes, wisely supplied a video solving the mystery of how to open it. (thank you again Mia!) We did indeed need to refer to her video on my phone Christmas morning to be reminded how to open it.

For any not in the know, a vesta is a container for carrying matches, both to keep them dry and prevent them from igniting in a time before safety matches and of course matchbooks and ultimately lighters. The first friction matches appeared in 1826 and I guess the need to carry the makings around followed shortly after. The term comes from the Roman goddess of the fire and hearth of the same name.

*Size comparison between the vesta and an American match safe. Both in Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

Vestas abound in my Instagram feed – I don’t know what exactly this says about me although in a sense it probably means that, at least for me, I am doing something right. They seem to frequently be made of silver and occasionally appear on a chain for a woman to wear around her neck.

I’m not sure however that pre-pandemic and the curation of my feed to feature antique jewelry in addition to cute cats, that I even knew the term vesta although I do own two cat match safes. (Those rather prized and beloved items have been lovingly described here and here and an elephant one that was actually a Christmas gift from Kim, here.) The internet informs me that these terms are interchangeable although the term match safe is the more prosaic American term for the British vesta. British matches were shorter and a vesta is in general much shorter than a match safe.

This little fellow does indeed seem singular. It is made of silver (plate as we can see where it has worn a bit around its much used edges) and has a striking surface on the bottom, both more or less de rigueur for a vesta, but the engraving on the front is what got me. I immediately loved the funny little Devil, pointy with pitchfork and the script invitation, How the [Devil] do you open it? He is an imaginative incarnation of a Devil, sort of a horned, skeleton dog creature with a arrow for a tail and long arms. On the back, inscribed in the same hand of fancy script, A Bliss. How about a drink Will? We’ll never know who Will (aka A Bliss?) is or about his drinking habits, but he is with us now.

For readers who remember my posts over the holidays, you know that we were experiencing a crescendo of activity which included my job at Jazz ending, acquiring a horrible stomach virus and immediately packing up the New York cats and heading to New Jersey for a month long holiday stint. Luckily I remembered to dig this out and put it in a bag of gifts (mostly underwear and argyle socks of course).

Even more fortunately, I remembered Mia’s little video unlocking the mystery of opening it. I still have to refer to it! While quite easy and logical once you know, it is a bit confounding if you forget. There is significant wear along the side you press, below the striking spot, which should be a good reminder that this is where you push to open.

I am glad to report that Kim loves it. He generally leaves it open and keeps some pills in it queued up for taking, as our current match needs are fulfilled by a large box of wooden ones in the kitchen or a lighter. It was one of those rare finds that has become a part of Deitch Studio and another shout out to Mia for finding it and sharing it with us!

“Snow Time” ’18

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: I am always very pleased when the gift of a great photo for the Pictorama library falls into my mitts and this year it came via a holiday card from our friend in Texas known here by the moniker of @curiositiesantique, aka Sandi Outland who works there. (This doesn’t happen often, a photo coming to me this way, however I do remember recently posting about a splendid photo postcard I found in my pile which turned out to be sent to Kim by Robert Crumb. Really would have picked that photo myself. That post can be found here.)

Sandi and I had a wonderful, lengthy holiday DM exchange over antique angry snowmen (photos, cards and items) which actually lead to last week’s kid in a snowman costume post which can be found here. She collects deeply in this area and recently sent a photo of her mantle, piled high with grumpy snowman goodness. I may not be able to contain myself and maybe the house in Jersey will be decorated in grumpy snowmen next holiday season. We shall see. Meanwhile, I am trying to tempt her into coming up for a Brimfield fiesta with me. (Talk about larks! More to come on that and future post I hope.)

*This was the book we were discussing. Kim bought it for me at a con we were at a few months back and Bob Eckstein was there selling them!*

While I have never had the chance to visit Dallas and enjoy an in-person peruse of the physical store I have followed their Instagram account now for many years. The shop is owned by Jason Cohen, and I have chatted with Jason and Sandi on the phone over numerous purchases. In addition to what catches my eye on my the feed, they keep an eagle eye out for my cat related interests, and as a result a jolly box arrives from them periodically. (Some of their goodies can also be found online here. Right now there’s a bronze statue of greyhounds romping and a pirate bank, both which I find very tempting in different ways. See below.)

img_8818

Sadly the photo did suffer a small bend in transit, but in no way does that diminish its appeal. Someone has applied the tiniest bit of sparkle along the line where the snow meets the building, on the bottom of the one girl’s shoe and coat and also and under the sled. (The one under her foot leaves me wondering if she is wearing skates or does it create that impression? Why would she be sitting there with skates on?)

Of course it has all the elements you want from a snowy scene, they are bundled up in their winter best and they have this great little white dog perched on their wooden sled. They are clad in perky hats, heavy coats and scarves. Behind them is a back stair and a somewhat indistinct house. It is an old fashion typewriter that inscribed it at the bottom. The photo has been mounted on cardboard so I don’t know what the back is like and that cardboard mounted on the card stock. Sandi told me she had been saving it for me and I am most grateful.

*My dad couldn’t have resisted this little bronze which makes me tempted to buy it!*

If I were in New Jersey I might be able to dig out a photo of me and my sister in the snow with our dog and sled, circa 1968 or so. At the time we were in a house in a town called Englewood in north Jersey. It had a backyard I remember as huge, with a rock garden going up a hill. That incline was probably just enough for us on our version of a wooden sled which was the classic wood and red paint model of the day. We were stuffed into the snow suits of the day – amazing we could stand up and walk in them at all.

*I really thought this was a cowboy at first and I would have really had to have it. Still, a pirate bank is very good.*..

Meanwhile, our German Shepard (Dutchess) shown in that photo loved to play in the snow with us. My father would make little snowballs and pitch them to her and she would leap up to grab them in her mouth – must have been cold! She was very young at the time though and my memory is that she was always up for any play with us kids outside, all seasons.

It’s a snowless, but gray January day here in Manhattan as I write this. However, contemplating all this fun in the snow has me considering braving for a run or at least a stroll later.

Snowy

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: It has been well publicized that New York City has been snowless (some might say snow free) for a 700 day streak which we just broke last week. There is (some) snow on the ground as I write. As a generally glass half full kind of girl I like snow and usually can immerse myself in the romance of it. It’s pretty. It covers the city in a temporary blanket of white, briefly hiding a multitude of sins. Of course on the other side you have to accept drippy messy days as it melts and a reality of black ice underfoot.

My first day of work was the snowy day and I have ended up wearing my snow boots to the job each day. This job and I have an odd track record for extreme weather as I interviewed during a historic rain which triggered mass flooding in the city. I’m not sure of what the broader implications are for the meteorological effects of my working at this animal hospital are going to be under the circumstances! Considering my commute is a walk a little more than a mile each way to and from work, weather is going to matter. (There is a pokey bus, but I am generally too impatient to wait for it.) This week’s snow was a mostly decorative not inhibitive one.

*A bigger snow out our window from 2022.*

In anticipation and celebration of impending snow I picked up this odd postcard. I have never seen a similar snowman costume and I wonder how long this kid, or any kid, was a willing participant. His hands are entirely covered in the cotton batting that makes his suit. The snowy batting gives him the requisite round head and suggests a rounded body, especially if you add in his arms. Those thorny looking sticks remind me of something Krampus carries. A crushed and not quite jaunty hat with a bird atop finishes the look.

The writing declares, Happy New Year! There is a sort of a full moon behind him with a few more birds atop it. If you look carefully you can see a dark line to define it was added and also that there is a white layer of snow gathered on top. Snowflakes in the form of white paint cover the surface as well, offering some depth to the very artificial scene.

This card was mailed on December 27, but the year is indistinct. It may be 1908. It is addressed in pencil on the back to, Miss Margaret Cosgrove, New Hampton, Orange Co. NY. The sender is harder to read, but is something along the lines of Bob Bruening Batt HH St. TA AEH. It is also marked, Soldiers Mail in the same hand and stamped As Censored and noted in a different hand, in pen, O.K. E.P. Woodard, 1st Lt. 21st F.A.(?) There is no personal note however.

While my first instinct is a childlike enthusiasm for the white stuff, it does impede my running and generally gums things up and slows them down. In New Jersey the driveway and sidewalk have to be cleared. Somehow the world no longer really stops for a snow day the way it did when you were a kid and school was called off. However, I will try to cultivate a cheerful attitude about it since I think we see more snow ahead here in New York City in the coming months.

New

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Seems impossible to write about anything else while my mind is so full of the first few days at the new job so here I go. As some of you know, I have only ever had a handful of first days at jobs in my adult life. (Meaning beyond the days when someone handed me a uniform or an apron and said have at it in high school and college!) Since one of the few was returning to the Met after an absence of two years and doesn’t really count, I am inexperienced at this for someone my age and who has worked continuously for decades.

*Frosty view on my way to work on day 1. It has been in the teens and/or snowing all week!*

When you leave one place and go to another you shed much of your day-to-day expertise about who does what and how things are done. I remember at Jazz there was a bi-weekly meeting that was held to discuss Wynton’s calendar and upcoming events and for the first couple of months I just sat there marveling at how I had no idea in the least what they were talking about. You lose the place where you got coffee in the morning, not to mention where lunch could be found.

At my new gig it is the discussions around oncology and neurology for kits and pups and a surgical floor opening that flummox me somewhat. I have seen a new MRI for small animals (I gather we are more or less the only game in town for this) and I have chatted with an angry orange Maine Coon cat who was waiting his turn for radiation. While kitty was very mad, next to him was a pup whose tail wagged continuously despite his circumstances when he heard our voices. Dogs, for whatever reason, make up the larger lion’s share of our practice. I can already say a lot of dogs get attacked while being walked. Be careful out there folks!

The first weeks require wandering around looking for the necessities of life – where to grab lunch, a drugstore, a post office. Considering we are in Manhattan you would think these are on every corner, but the animal hospital is perched near the river and the on and off ramp for the FDR highway. Much in addition to us is under construction and it is an island of traffic and construction, the amenities of life are at least a block away.

*The origin of the Animal Medical Center, downtown, back in 1914.*

By its very nature, as an animal emergency medical center and the only Trauma 1 center for animals in the area, it is a place that must look constantly forward. Having said this, it is housed in a building from the early 1960’s that we are renovating while still going full tilt. I too was built in the early 1960’s and I think both of us are showing our age. Luckily for the animals (and all of us) the hospital is in the final phase of a massive renovation of said building. Unlike a museum, a hospital has to stay open and fully operational during its renovation and space will be tight for almost another year. Our cramped quarters and the valiant unfailing efforts of the docs inspires me to get in there and raise some money to help finish the job.

As a result my team and a smattering of other folks are camped out in a block away which makes it hard to immerse myself in the life of the place although frequent trips in and out are helping to permeate my consciousness. Meanwhile my team doesn’t really exist in a place where I can easily gather them, although I am doing my best to perch among them on and off and pepper them with questions. My first few days were a morass of equipment that wasn’t quite working with passwords that needed to be established and a persistent problem with sound on my computer which I believe we finally resolved late Friday. This is what first days of work in the 21st century are made up of I guess.

Unlike Jazz, which had moved back to working entirely in person, I am back to a combination of online meetings and fewer in-person ones. I feel I have lost the cadence of working that way and am struggling to regain the skill set even once my equipment is functional.

*If I had a window my view might be close to something like this of the 59th Street bridge and Roosevelt Island tram.*

My new digs are pleasant enough. We are on the East River and while I have no windows skylights add some natural light to my office. (I have been warned by the pathologist next to me that they leak however – her microscope is covered.) There is a pile of fluffy dog beds in one corner from our recent Gala and I admit on a chilly late afternoon it is tempting to pull one out and curl up like a Great Dane in one.

My boxes of files and personal office effects have yet to arrive so it is a bit sterile for now and I twitch for files that aren’t there as I start to think about materials that need to be produced. It will seem more like home once I am fully installed, hopefully in the coming week. Despite the internet I still keep a dictionary and a thesaurus on my shelf and a few other office touchstones from my past – although I let go of the actual rolodex years ago after moving that around a couple of times.

*Large fluffy dog beds are tempting. There’s a bag of cat toys too in case I get bored.*

Some readers know that there’s always a Chinese lucky waving cat in my office to help attract money. I will definitely feel better once he is back on the job. (I wrote about my affinity for these in a post here.) I could use his reassuring tick, tick. I may need to bring one from home if there’s going to be a delay! No one has invested themselves in the space though, despite having been there for years and the likelihood of at least a year ahead. I hope for my team my being firmly grounded there brings them some measure of comfort. I like to take root in a space wherever I am. I like my stuff.

*One in a series of lucky waving cat statues.*

Because our space is open at the ceiling and we are crammed in together I cannot play music in my office, but Radio Dismuke is still on my earphones daily. (I wrote recently about finding this now beloved radio station online and posted about it here.) I am just getting to know the few existing members of my team and they are friendly if a bit wary. I have interviews with potential staff to fill existing positions already set up for this week.

So that’s the state of me as my first few days at the new job draw to a close. Much more about this adventure to come. Thank you for those readers who tuned in!

Open and Closed

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Pictorama readers may remember over the summer when I headed upstate near Poughkeepsie for a long weekend of work with the summer session of our youth orchestra. (That post can be found here.) We rented an Airbnb home and on the last day had a several hour gap between when we needed to leave the house and when we would need to arrive at someone’s home for an afternoon event. Luckily my colleague likes an antique store as much as I do (she is also the person who sent the cat puppet in yesterday’s post) and we filled the morning with visits to several as they opened.

We were not disappointed! She was decorating a new apartment, a converted stable space I think, and was looking for pieces of all sizes. I, who had taken the train to Poughkeepsie, was trying to confine myself to smaller objects. I failed to some degree, as I ended up purchasing this item and a lamp and my colleague brought them back to Manhattan for me. (A post that mentions the lamp, part of a lamp buying madness that is upon me, can be read here.)

*One of my recent lamp additions – purchased in Poughkeepsie last summer.*

I didn’t even know what I wanted to do with this item, whether it would maybe live in New Jersey or in my office and I settled on my office (in part because it arrived there!) and it recently came to the apartment when I was cleaning out my office at Jazz.

I am not sure what establishment this would have been used for. Something about the black and white enamel makes me think a medical office, but I don’t know how that might of worked. As you can see, a wooden knob at the top changes it from Open to Closed. I did develop the habit of turning it to Open in the morning when I came in and Closed when I was leaving – or tired of people coming into my office!

My office possessions are all packed up in boxes, still at Jazz, until I decide what is being sent to the new office and what is coming to the apartment. There are several things I am extremely attached to in those boxes. Among them is a small wooden box Kim painted with elephants (a special post about that here) and other items given to me over the years by various colleagues.

This Waldo mug was another item that came home with me. Someone made Kim two in exchange for being able to sell the design. I don’t know what happened to the other one – I think it was in rotation in the house and got broken at some point. This rather pristine example was my coffee mug at work. I think it will go to the new office as well. I always wonder if people in meetings are slowing becoming aware of Waldo’s tiny penis in the drawing.

The Farmer, Kim’s occasional avatar, appears on the other side, chasing Waldo.

It has a patina of dings on the enamel and the handle at the top is worn. There’s something about items like this, that had a very specific life before, used daily in some capacity, however never meant to be in a home or even the sort of office I had either. I enjoyed having it there and if there’s space I will bring it to the new office. If not, I will decide if it stays a part of my home office here or makes its way to the house in New Jersey.

This brings us to the new job, a new work space and not even know what that will be like yet. I have requested a desk in the animal hospital itself so I can immerse myself in the activity of the place, but I gather my real space will be across the street where they have offices. I asked several times to see it, but there seemed to be a number of reasons why that wasn’t possible.

*Cookie who has re-assumed her spot on the couch and as Queen of Deitch Studio.*

I do hate not knowing as I would have liked to start imagining myself in the space, I can’t say I like the unknown. I am like the cats, hating being uprooted and taken some place strange. (Incidentally, Cookie is reveling in being back in Manhattan and Blackie seems to have fallen back into his routine as well. If he misses NJ he is largely keeping it to himself.) As for me, some fairly major oral surgery last week has occupied my final days of vacation before starting fresh this week.

Somehow the Open and Closed sign seems like an appropriate post for today, my last before starting the new job this Wednesday. I will report back in full in the coming weeks – here we go!

Handy

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Toy Post: If all goes according to plan, as you read this Kim, cats and I will be on our way back to New York City after our holiday sojourn in New Jersey. I start my new gig next week, January 17. Time has flown and our month in Jersey seems to have gone by in the wink of an eye.

Blackie made real gains in the house this time, making himself to home here. (He and Beau had a few tussles – wish I had gotten photos of them all puffed up like Halloween cats!) Cookie remained firmly installed behind the chair in the bedroom. (As I write at this very moment both have entirely disappeared due to a visit from the electrician earlier.) We are scheduled to embark early Saturday morning.

This sweet faced little puppet fellow showed up in the mail about a week after Christmas, a gift from a Jazz at Lincoln Center colleague and I could not have been more surprised or delighted. (Linsey is a dog person and she wrapped it in the best dog themed paper!)

As it happens, I did not own this Steiff puppet before. He, or she (there is a pink ribbon) is indeed Steiff, complete with a button in the ear, if no longer a tag. He has an intense look in his glass eyes, a pink stitched nose and mouth. The insides of his ears are a medium gray felt and he sports spritely whiskers. There’s a nice white tummy and dark gray and white stripes on his back. He has pink stitched toes on his paws.

This kitty reminds me of Mr. Roger’s cat puppet on his show, Henrietta Pussycat. In the incarnation I remember I think she was a close match for this puppet, although online I see some versions of her where she is all dark gray and I gather even a very early one (pre-PBS?) where she is black. I’d like to see that. Not surprisingly she was my favorite puppet on his show, which was a favorite.

It feels a bit old and crunchy inside where your fingers are placed in the head. I have some kissing cousins to this cat – a stuffed striped cat that is very similar and a Felix puppet (not Steiff) of similar design. Kim just plucked the stuffed cat off the shelf to add him to a drawing he was adding to the end of his most recent book.

I will report back on our progress tomorrow. Wish us luck getting these kitties settled back in!

Barker Brothers – the Long Shot

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today is another installment of my nascent collection of yard long photos. These came to me via @reds_antiques on Instagram. He is a splendid west coast dealer and somehow I have managed to purchase a number of lamps and photographs from him. I suspect if I lived closer I would also be purchasing furniture from him but I have contained myself thus far. (Full images below – click on them to enlarge.)

These photos caught my eye one evening while scrolling through my feed, and after corresponding decided to purchase the lot of them so that they would stay together, although I knew it was my intention to only frame the two very large ones. (A video look at each below too.) There are a clutch of far less interesting group shots taken in a studio.

Barker Brothers Annual Picnic, 1919. Pams-Pictorama.com

As always, I know these are hard to fully appreciate in this presentation although I have tried valiantly. These are a full 48 inches long. Unlike my earlier purchases these were not framed so I took them to a local New Jersey framer my mom used to use. They were speedy and did a nice job. After some discussion we landed on gray mats although I had thought to do them without and needed to be talked into the necessity. They are already so large, I didn’t want to make them a bit larger, but I like the way they look now in the end.

Barker’s Brother Picnic, yard long photo. Pams-Pictorama.com

Although my original thought had been only New Jersey themed photos in this house, I decided I could extend myself to beach and pier scenes when I saw these! Nothing like a good old amusement pier. (Not sure I have every recounted my days visiting the remaining scrap of amusement pier in Long Branch, New Jersey as a kid and then teenager. Among other things friends worked at the Haunted House and outdid themselves to scare us if we came through!)

Below are a few details of each.

The thing I like most about these photos are the amusement rides behind the people – oh that roller coaster (Blue Stream) and that interesting castle, wonder what that was. This is the Santa Monica Pleasure Pier in case you cannot catch the name which is on both.

If you are trying to figure it out, these are not the same year. The smaller of the two, the one with a white border, is dated August 23, 1919. The other one does not appear to have a date – there are some numbers near the studio . Clearly though, both represent the Barker Brother’s Annual Picnic which was clearly quite the affair. The larger of the two (as noted) does not have a border and is printed oddly and it looks cut off, especially on the bottom.

For the record, Barker Brother’s Furniture Company of Los Angeles was founded in 1890 and was in existence for about100 years, folding in 1992 after a bankruptcy filing a few years before. The building, once fairly remarkable, is still extant (renovated in 2020) in a somewhat reduced appearance.

Lastly, these were both taken by M.F. Weaver Photography at 1196 West 38 Street, Los Angeles. Miles Weaver (1879-1932) started his career as a prospector. His photographic career, which began in 1910, came about with the death of his father in-law and moved to Los Angeles (from Santa Maria) in 1916. The studio became one of the largest of this genre of photos – taking pictures of banquets, army troops, religious revivals, beauty pageants, movie stills and even the early Academy Awards. After Miles’s death in 1932 the studio was run by his wife and sons until the 1960’s when it dissolved.

My quest continues! I am especially interested in acquiring some landscape ones up next, but we’ll see what comes my way.

Cabinet

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: In New Jersey news, Blackie discovered the upstairs yesterday. Just wandered all the way up them and found Kim working in the office up there, much to his delight. I wish I had gotten a photo of him coming out of the room and before he headed back down the stairs – so much for my fear that he would get up and not be able to get back down – and as he looked at me, ears back, in earnest shock. It was as if he had just discovered America. It’s good to see the little fellow spreading his wings and poking around a bit. The New Jersey cats are pretty patient about it with the exception maybe of the kitchen where their food is. They seem a bit less forgiving of that transgression. Cookie remains tucked behind a wingback chair in the bedroom. She is definitely a city kitty.

*Blackie wandering into the kitchen yesterday. Still new turf for him.*

On occasion I have written about my passion for those things which contain and/or display and today I return to that topic. Whether it is a glass front bookcase (such as the one I restored here in New Jersey and the post that can be found here), a special box, jewelry box or display cabinet – past posts about some those can be found here, here and here.

*A small display cabinet photographed shortly after it arrived at Deitch Studio back in 2019.*

The notion of that which contains always seems like such a good one. Surely if one has enough wonderful cabinets and boxes your life will be delightfully organized. (I bring the same enthusiasm to hardware stores and home stores – storage and organization abound!) Whether it is a tiny box for a ring or a bookcase, according to the way my brain works, each one brings me closer to a more perfectly arranged life – one where I know where any given pair of earrings can be found; any book can be located with ease. Meanwhile, small delicate items are protected from the prying claws and jaws of kitties.

Along these lines, on Christmas Eve this year while Kim and I were perusing the Red Bank Antique Annex when I saw this nice little glass cabinet. It was sold as a medical cabinet in its former life and even marked down. I cannot speak to it’s past affiliation although I guess I can see it. I like the peeling sea green paint with silver undertones and beyond washing some grime off I don’t intend to do anything to it. The mirror back lightens up the space around it as do the reflections off the glass shelves.

I have installed it on top of a glass front bookcase in the living room here. A few small tin toys lurk on those shelves, but I think this is a good perch for items for the New Jersey collection that need to be cat proof (given the abundance of cats here). Thus far the elephant match safe I wrote about last week is installed in there and a small, old cast metal dog Kim bought for me at the same time. I have yet to determined what stays here in New Jersey and what comes back to New York with us, so we’ll see what it ends up housing over time.

Pam's Pictorama

All Pam, all the time

Month: January 2024

Vesta

“Snow Time” ’18

Snowy

New

Open and Closed

Handy

Barker Brothers – the Long Shot

Cabinet