Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: So what the heck is going on in this photo? To start, I am mad for this Felix costume which is sort of exactly what Pam Butler is looking for in a Felix costume. A wonderful full head be-wiskered mask (with hard, perky pointy ears) and then a simple black “cat suit” to complement it – not the covered paws however.
This isn’t a photo postcard, it is a slightly larger (4″x6″) studio photo. What the heck are they dressed up for? If it weren’t for the crown (a rather splendid one) on the girl on our right, the fact that they are in costume might have eluded me. Was it a play? But then why Felix? I am a bit sorry the origin is lost to us, but I am very pleased to have this unusual photo join the Pictorama collection.
In addition to being a rather posh studio photo these children look well-heeled. There is a nice symmetry to the picture with the long-waisted dress between the two notched in at the middle. Headscarf on the middle and tallest of them. Behind them a bland sort of backdrop which must have made do for all photos, faux scenes of fake landscapes outside drawn and painted windows.
Embossed at the bottom is the legend Service Studios and something I cannot read below – Olesbrough is what is visible. On the back it says, Service Studio, Middlesbrough (Felix the Cat – 1920’s.) Perhaps one of Pictorama’s British readers can help sort the location question out.
All of the Felix photos in my collection are essentially one-of-a-kind although occasionally I have found and purchased several from a session and I do occasionally find my photos elsewhere online. Of course in theory there could be some multiples of any of them, at least from those which were printed from a negative. Meanwhile, the other day while we were in San Diego and I had a few minutes to see what was up on Instagram, I saw a photo of a little girl on a beach with Felix which looked familiar. Turns out it was some sold listings on a sellers feed – and I had purchased it from her!
Pam’s Pictorama Post: We announced that we would head out here a few months back when we were told that Kim would be inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame.
It’s been more than a decade since our last trip to this con, although I made at least one return trip for work subsequently. 150,000 people are said to crowd into this tiny town which does appear to literally be bursting at the seams under the weight of it.
As Kim said, there’s one in every crowd. Although, you actually don’t see many Supermans. A lot more Batmans.
Without getting too into it, travel was difficult and verged on disaster at times – a worldwide meltdown of all international and domestic airports, followed by a fire near our terminal at JFK which meant the evacuation of thousands mere hours before our departure. Add in some sort of traffic mess (3 hours from York and 86th Street to JFK essentially not long enough, we almost missed our flight) and my personal favorite, our hotel reservations turned out to be canceled when we got here at 11:00 at night. Visions of bad films with no place to sleep being the punchline occurred to my sleep deprived state. (2 AM NYC time!)
Seemed sort of classic.Sidewalk stroll at the Con.
San Diego is just clogged with folks. Young, old, those in costume (I Dream of Jeannie anyone?), those not. We are concerned with an ever-shrinking comics related part of the con which is like a snake eating its own tail as first the animation and then action film industry slowing takes over.
From where I sit in our highrise hotel, the Hilton across from us is wrapped in an ad for FX which says, What we do in the Shadows with creepy heads. Gigantic seagulls cartwheel in from of our 20th floor window. Isn’t it too high for them?
View out our window.
Kim was part of an interesting panel on Harvey Kurzman first thing out of the bag Thursday. Luckily a woman named Becky jumped into the fray and got us our badges in time for getting into the session. (The lines to get in are like Disney World long – this apt comparison from our friend Bruce. The lines are like miles long.)
Kim with our friend Bruce Simon at lunch on Thursday.
Kim offered to take an afternoon adventure with me and I found an antique mall out beyond the airport here. It was a large place, in the style of the ones we go to in New Jersey.
Being San Diego, it was somewhat open on two sides to the outdoors where furniture and plants were on a sort of porch. Kim found a Dumas novel he hadn’t read – something found and published posthumously. Sadly, I found nothing portable enough or that I was will to solve a shipping issue for. This Felix tea set below tempted me a bit.
In retrospect I am amazed I resisted.The interior of the antiques mall.
*****
The morning (Friday) was taken up with the Eisner Lifetime Achievement awards. Many stories were told – some especially moving ones by the grandchildren of the people being honored. (The family of the guy who created Classic Comics – see my post about those here.) However, Kim and Gary Groth (editor of Fantagraphics, Kim’s publisher) were among the living folks honored.
Kim accepting his lifetime achievement award.
After fighting our way through another morning of crowds at the Con we decided to take a shot at a used bookstore I had read about, Verbatim Books. Unlike yesterday, when the car took us to the middle of industrial wasteland no man’s land, we were delivered to a sort of interesting up and coming part of town about a ten minute car ride away.
The trip through the Balboa Park neighborhood was filled with the most wonderful old cottages. Our driver told us that they, not surprisingly, sell for around $1m. Many were in a Spanish style, but some cute Craftsmen ones as well.
Rather good Mexican food for lunch.Strange ancient pinball machine in Mexican place.
You’ll likely be seeing the loot in future posts, but among other things I found a few interesting books of early 20th Century fiction – let’s see if there’s a new writer for me in it. (I saw but did not buy a vintage Judy Bolton novel. For those of you who are late to the Pictorama game, a post devoted to reading that entire series of mystery books can be found here.)
And I restrained myself from purchasing a very large book on collecting American toys. Restraint ultimately failed me however on one or two other purchases that will require some navigating.
We decided to roll the dice again and had an Uber take us to another bookstore, Bluestocking Books. Much to my surprise, I scored several books and a photograph there. We tried to parley it a bit further and find an antiques shop described to us by the folks at the bookstore, but after a six block walk to a somewhat dodgy neighborhood we gave up and circled back. Our afternoon of adventure at a close and soon our San Diego adventure as well.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: In yesterday’s postal post I went on a long tangent about my recent interactions with the post office. Today, I will focus a bit more on the advertising aspect of the other letter opener I purchased, one for Oneeda Biscuit.
I tend to think this one will be designated to go to the office although I am realizing that on my messy desk at home (as opposed to my messy desk at work) I might more easily located this one in order to use it, rather than the smaller Red Lodge Montana souvenir one I wrote about in my prior post. I used this one yesterday for the first time. I’ll have to give that some thought.
Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
This letter opener only has the image on one side which I find disappointing although I guess the trouble to create art for the back of this little boy in his raincoat seemed unnecessary for a give away item like this. (I am pausing for a moment to reflect on the idea that this sort of give away doesn’t really exist any longer, does it? Sad for the future collectors of the universe.) Nonetheless, it was a tad disappointing.
Artwork from an undated Uneeda ad.
Having said that, The art on this is sort of splendid and although slightly chipped in places, in good condition overall. A quick look for these online shows everything from pristine to really ratty. If this makes your pulse quicken and you set your heart on owning one you have ample opportunity.
Uneeda Boy items proliferate with online.
Oneeda Biscuit, as many Pictorama readers may already know, was the forerunner to today’s enormous corporation Nabisco. Founded at the dawn of the 20th century, it played the food field with the likes of nascent Heinz, Kellogg, Hershey, Campbell Soup and Wrigley.
The early days Uneeda produced hard tack, crackers for seamen and soldiers that had a more or less infinite shelf life having figured out a way to ship and store crackers in something other than a barrel. However these folks ultimately brought us beloved snacks such as Oreos, Saltines, Ritz Crackers and Nilla wafers. Theirs is a fast paced history through the early growth of a US company through competition, war and peace. (The full history can be found on a site devoted to its history as touched on here.)
Animal Crackers packaged the way I remember, with the string for handy carrying and the animals in the cages – they have subsequently been “uncaged” evidently.
Enterprising rival companies tried to trade on the early version of the name and efforts to stamp out the likes of Uwanna Biscuit and Iwanna Biscuit were tracked down and eradicated. Uneeda cadets were sent out to ensure cracker freshness in the field as well as these copyright infringers.
As indicated above, Uneeda figured out the moisture proof packaging needed to deliver crackers in individual packages to consumers. The wax paper wrapper was the industrial breakthrough and this little fellow in his slicker is meant to illustrate the moisture proof nature of the packaging. (It took me a bit of research to figure that part out and I would say, at least in this day and age, it isn’t entirely self evident.)
From a popular 2021 post – this cracker tin sits on my home office desk.
This little fellow, Biscuit Boy, becomes the center of their national advertising campaign in 1901, two years after its founding. (Arguably the very first national advertising campaign ever.) Its forerunner was the slogan, Lest you forget, we say it yet, Uneeda Biscuit, but they decided they needed something more.
In addition to the treats already mentioned, they were the early creators of Animal Crackers – always a personal favorite. Later in the tale, Triscuits, a Deitch Studio favorite, were also created and added to the long-lived line up.
Is it possible that the name is meant to invoke the baked by electricity process?
Meanwhile, the Biscuit Boy himself was the nephew of the ad exec who created the campaign. His name was Gordon Stille and he was five in 1900 when he was photographed in a slicker and boots for this campaign. He was paid the princely sum of $100 for his services, but given the popularity of the image he ultimately felt he was undercompensated and sued, but died an elderly man without resolution. (All of this and more entertaining information about the history of the company can be found on this blog site devoted to food history here.)
From an eBay offering, the Morton Salt Girl in one of her numerous guises.
Kim and I both immediately began to wonder about how this Uneeda boy advertising might relate to the Morton Salt girl of our youth. She makes her debut a few years later in 1914 with the brilliant slogan of When it rains it pours, and one can’t help but wonder if they weren’t somewhat inspired by the trench coat kid when they designed her. (I remember studying this salt container as a child!) I can find no evidence of this however online, only statements that images like Morton Salt, Aunt Jemima, Fisk Tires, etc. became very much in vogue for advertising in the period. However, the idea that this jolly little girl (significantly less dour and damp looking than our friend from Uneeda) is also out in the rain to prove that Morton Salt would still pour in the rain – another triumph over humidity and the nature of food storage.
My hat’s off to my friend at Red’s Antiques (@reds_antiques or www.ebay.com/usr/reds_antiques) for supplying these two items which will be used daily as mail is still received here at Deitch Studio as well as, hopefully increasingly, at my office.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: Not often, but occasionally my purchases are essentially practical and today’s purchase was one, although certainly some style here. Somehow in the most recent office move from my last job I failed to pack my letter opener which was of the most utilitarian variety although I had some fondness for it because of the sheer number of years (decades) it had been in my possession, however there was nothing notable about it.
I have been in the work force long enough to have gone through a period with a lot more physical mail than I currently receive. Early in my career I have distinct memories of opening piles of mail every day at the Met. In fact sometimes I worry that the mail at work has failed because we go so long with absolutely none. Physical mail is so seldom now that I had a staffer who didn’t seem to know where to place the stamp on a letter he was sending for me.
Meanwhile, as a fundraiser I was surprised that my current office had never used a business reply envelope. For those not in the know, that’s what those envelopes which allow you to respond for free are called. (There is a permit number on the return address and sometimes it says, A stamp here will save XYZ money.) The postage for each envelope received back is paid by the organization, but hey, if you are sending me money I’ll pay a dollar for your envelope back to me. It’s a good return on investment and removes at least one impediment from making a gift – having to find a stamp.
When I discovered this a few months ago I went down the specifically postal rabbit hole of applying for a permit. I never worked any place without a permit so this was all new to me, nor could I find anyone else who had to apply for one within my circle. After getting an old account out of the way (a ghost account which seemed rather romantic but, not surprisingly, didn’t seem to actually do anything) I spent a lot of time on the USPS website and on the phone with their service people. I, in fact on some bad advice, went to the Main (Farley) Post Office here in NYC. As some might know, the building was purchased by the city and space recently carved out under this grand building to create a new home for Penn Station.
The interior of the post office, the James A. Farley building, is beautiful and I couldn’t resist a few shots despite my disappointment.
It was my first (and likely my last) visit to this post office as they do absolutely nothing there. (Does this mean there is no main post office in NYC?) Yes, you can mail things and yes, you can evidently apply for a passport there, but even an attempt to buy stamps will send you online. As you can imagine, I was told that the administrative office I was seeking was now long gone. They did, to their credit, supply me with the number to phone for help.
I am here to report that, once you get through the red tape of an annoying phone system and get to the folks (all women in this case and I spoke to several) to help you they are a great, smart and helpful group. My hat goes off to Ana, Sabriya, and Arkeda. They know their stuff and they were dogged in their efforts to help me. They coached me through filling out arduous forms, filing them and then shepherding them through the various routing. They even told me when they would be on vacation and who I could work with during that time. I praised them unstintingly in a series of final surveys and thanked them profusely. Frankly, I would hire any of them in a heartbeat if I could.
But come on, they don’t even sell stamps?
It has left me with mixed feelings about the post office. At their instruction I went to the local post office to my job to file the forms with a check to cover the annual fee and open the account. The staff was rude and at one point stood around in a group talking about me in the third person and told me to shut up when I tried to speak. What’s more, I probably shouldn’t need someone to coach me through a labyrinth site and series of mystical forms. So although I give the women above the highest grades, I give the USPS a failing grade in general. My experience as it relates to this interaction is that these women are an island of competent help in a morass of sub par service. (With apologies to others at the USPS who are hard working and doing their job!)
This was the Plain Jane variety opener I had been using for decades.
Anyway, all this to say, if I have my way more mail will come to my office shortly, hopefully in the form of contribution checks. And, to bring us back to my recent purchase, I actually like to open envelopes neatly with a letter opener. When you are handling money coming into an office for various reasons the envelope can be important (proof of mailing date, return address) so better if you don’t end up tearing it to shreds to get it open. I have keenly felt the lost of my letter opener, but did decide that rather than purchase another ubiquitous one from Staples that I would look for something a bit more interesting.
Of course my mind turned first to cats and if I had been willing to invest some real money in a vintage letter opener I found on eBay I could have had a honey. For a variety of reasons this wasn’t a moment I was inclined to do that.
Top of a very nice cat letter opener I deemed to expensive to buy. Tempting though…
A week or so ago one of the dealers I purchase from on Instagram (@Reds_Antiques or via eBay at www.ebay.com/usr/reds_antiques) had a bunch of smalls he was selling and I picked out two advertising letter openers he had listed. I’ve bought some lamps, photos and other bits from Reds, he’s a dealer on the west coast and he lists some cabinets and tables I drool over but can’t see getting across the country to us. The vibe of his stock is a little masculine for me overall (think gas and oil signs, vintage tools and car related ephemera), but we align on certain things and he has a good eye.
Anyway, I figured one opener goes to the office and one stays here or goes to Jersey. That still leaves room in my life for a good cat one should I come across it.
Detail of the top of the letter opener.
As is clearly stated on the back it is solid copper and it is from Red Lodge Montana. The top boasts a somewhat cheesy scene of a teepee and two figures, one on a horse. A tiny banner declares Festival of Nations.
Back markings.
First of all, Red Lodge (for the ignorant like myself) is a town, not a lodge as such, found at the entrance to Yellowstone national park. The area, full of skiing and hiking, looks stunningly beautiful with a downtown full of period buildings that have been preserved. (For a post on the adventure Kim and I had at a whorehouse museum in Butte, Montana, go here.)
Starting in the 1950’s the Festival of Nations was launched as an annual festival to celebrate the various (European) cultures of the area which had never much mixed beyond some tentative cultural experiments such as a unified local band, all this according to a local historical society website. It seems to still run in August of each year.
I think this one is likely to stay in the apartment. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post and the other one I purchased which will head to the office, reporting for envelope duty, next week. Could be a cat one in my future as well.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: This sheet music actually wandered into Deitch Studio several weeks ago but other things pushed forward on the Pictorama agenda until today. Longstanding readers know that I have a smallish, but pointed collection of sheet music which I have written about before – many devoted to Felix although there is cat sheet music in general. When I worked at Jazz at Lincoln Center my walls were decorated with bits of old cat centric music. (Previous posts of musical interludes, Felix-y and otherwise, can be found here, here and here for starters – there are more if you look too!)
Page one of two.
The British produced a lot of these Felix novelty songs and to my pleasure they continue to turn up. While the lyrics certainly reference Felix they are somewhat less Felix-centric than you might expect, however this is considered part of the musical Felix the Cat canon. This music was printed in 1925, as it states under the Pat Sullivan signature. (Another website puts the composition as created in 1923 so perhaps it had another issue with a different cover?)
Page two of two of lyrics.
None of the folks credited here seem to have any break out hits of note. It would appear that Horace Shepherd was the lyricist although I gather he composed as well and the other two wrote the music. (Frankly three people seems like a crowd to have produced this item, but what do I know?) It is a fox trot with ukulele accompaniment, which I like the idea of – arrangement for “Banjuele” Banjo and Ukulele by Kel Keech. I feel like four people is a lot to have produced this scant bit of music, but again, what do I know? There is an advertisement on the top and back for Roland’s pianoforte tutor the best in the world. English and foreign fingering.
Advertisement on the back of the music.
And of course most notably a very regulation Felix of the day is walking uphill across the front, concerned expression, hands in thoughtful behind his back position. He is a round Felix, not the more squared off, blocky early one such as on the more common sheet music below. It is of note that this sheet music isn’t hugely available. I snatched it up because, although I may have seen it online, I have never seen it offered before. (I found a Hake’s lot from 2011 where it was sold with two other somewhat more commonly available ones.)
Much more popular and available Felix sheet music. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
The most Felix-y part of these lyrics goes like this: Let’s all follow Felix. We can’t do better than that.When he’s been up to mischief he licks every other crazy cat. He’s bound to make us hold our sides and Laughuntil we grow fat. So let’s all follow Felix that dog-gone crazy cat. I am unable to find a recording of this song so this is not a listening post as such, but if anyone can supply one I would love to know.
It was a pleasantly Felix crazed world in the mid-twenties, exactly 100 years ago. I was just reading that Lindbergh took a Felix doll on his flight across the Atlantic and for some of us Felix continues to frolic (if not actually fox trot) today.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: I have used the term little gem before, but I can’t think of an item it fits better than this one. Within days of purchasing the Neatness award (featured in a post from last week here) the folks at Curiosities Antiques in Texas (@Curiositiesantiques or via their website here) inquired if I would be interested in this little book – and would I!
I have one or two similar period volumes in my collection, at least from the same period and sort of litho images. The one that immediately comes to mind is one I hunted for an ultimately purchased on eBay I think. It is The Cat’s Concert and a 2018 post about it can be found here.
Today’s post is going to attempt to give you the chance to really see this book so many images coming up. I hope I do it justice. Obviously I had to be careful about how I propped the book open in order to take the photos so they are less than perfect, but I would not have been able to scan them which would have required flattening the book.
Inside front cover which peeks through. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
To start, the peek-a-boo cut-out cover which has kitty peering between the cat tails is the most fragile part of this book, folded almost to pieces from opening; the entire book held together with a ribbon. Kitty is a nice tortie and sports a bow in the same shades and shapes as the reeds decorating the front, very elegant and I assume that the gold and silver of the reeds were shiny in their day. These elements on the cover are embossed, the decorative plants and the cat on the inside page too, the whiskers especially stand out. This little volume was lovingly printed and produced.
Title page. No copyright information but a printing number in the lower left?
Inside it is inscribed on the inside cover, A Merry Christmas , Dec. 25th 1893. To: Miss Lola Ritter, With Best Wishes, Lizzie. This decorating the cat part of the inner cover.
The contents are poems, cat verse. They are original works by Edward Oxenford. This little book was printed in Germany and published and printed by the Art Lithographic Publishing Company, Munich, German and New York, USA. Edward Oxenford has a few other available titles to his credit I could find, one book called Sports and Play which is a similarly litho edition to Cat Tales, but cut out in the shape of a saddle. (Apologies for not providing an image but there’s only one online and it wasn’t willing to be grabbed. An odd looking volume though.) As for the publisher, this sort of novelty book seems to have been their meat and potatoes, although I did not find any real history about it. Seems like they may have produced postcards as well.
The other book of his is called Holy Gladness and it also sports beautiful lithographs but unlike the other two books, it is a larger bound edition. Neither of the other books are widely available and Cat Tales seems somewhat rare as well. Edward shares a name with a much earlier writer who also went under the name of Edward de Vere and has much more writing and controversy to his credit.
This illustrator gets a credit at least! Not in the Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
I’m a bit surprised (and sad) that the artist of these illustrations isn’t identified and get credit. These are wonderful illustrations beyond having been beautifully printed. There is no copyright date, only the inscription on the front identifies the year.
I’d like to point out that there is a Miss Blackie’s Yarn below. My Mr. Blackie is decidedly unimpressed by these so called Christmas verses at the close of this book. Oddly all three of these poems seem to end badly for the cats in question. Not at all sure I approve either. A jolly volume, these last few verses notwithstanding.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: Some Pictorama readers will remember previous posts on a small (but now clearly growing) collection of medals I have acquired. These award pins I assume were given out (at school?) to encourage various virtues.
I found one for Improvement and purchased it for my birthday in the winter of 2020. It was meant to commemorate how well I felt I had grown into my job over the first few rough years there. I had spotted it while getting some jewelry repaired – probably one of the watches, they seem to need to go frequently. Anyway, I fell in love with the idea. I do like encouragement.
That one and the one that came after for Excellence, purchased on eBay, were both made of 10k gold. This too amazed me. There was a time when real gold medals were given as awards to children at school. Man, I was happy when someone put a sticker with a star on my paper! (A post on the prior prizes can be found here.) I would have been over the moon for one of these pins – as I am sure the youthful recipients were.
Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
I believe I only got to boast Improvement on the lapel of a jacket a few times before the world shut down for the pandemic. A few years later Excellence joined on the same jacket and people would frequently remark on them. (One of my staffers surprised me as he had read the post here.)
In many ways Neatness is another whole kettle of fish. Unlike my others, this one is made of silver. The other two date from 1910 and 1945 respectively. This one dates back to 1881! (This was clearly a longstanding tradition. It should be noted that my Excellence came from Canada, so we know that it was popular there too.)
I wonder how far back does the tradition go? Of course many of these were considered special and therefore saved over the years. Once I got the hang of the right search numerous ones seem to pass through the portals of eBay and Etsy. I am highly selective however about the message and have to have some sort of kinship to it.
This one is so special though. I love how it has a star shape and hangs off a banner – both declaring Neatness and the date above. It is a little like being the sheriff of neatness. In the center of the star shaped charm it also says 85 and I have no idea what that refers to since the date is so clearly marked as ’81. Twice on the back, top and bottom, it has the recipients initials and this gave me a giggle too. They are N.P.B. so it was in a sense clearly meant for me.
Back of pin. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
Alas, I’m afraid however that an award for neatness is indeed only aspirational in my case. I may strive for it, but neatness is more of a goal than a given. It is unlikely I would have earned it. As I look around our treasure filled single room abode, let’s just say neatness is not a concept it was built around. Our books and my toys and photos grow like topsy and cat hair and New York sooty dust is to be kept at bay. Luckily we now have the house in New Jersey for some of our booty.
Still, when it came up for sale via my Texas team on Instagram @Curiositiesantiques (or via their website here) I knew it should be mine. While Jason and Sandi thoughtfully keep a weather eye out for things that might interest me, resulting in a mounting number of cat related items of various kinds, they may not know that these are a developing passion.
I am told this pin belonged to Terry, Jason’s mom – thank you Terry! (A few prior purchase posts from this Dallas duo can be found here and here, for starters.) Sandi as a regular reader knew I might find it of interest. Here’s to hoping I find myself in Dallas and can meet them one of these days – or perhaps a meet up at Brimfield. Hmmmm. A girl can dream.
I need to find the right jacket to pin this to, although maybe a black sundress will do for summer. I always think that it’s good to have ideals and I will indeed strive to exhibit and embody all these desirable qualities.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: A few different things conspired to prompt a rather wonderful childhood memory recently. The first was our friend Bruce bringing over a bag of Ranier cherries – the ones that are sort of orange fading to a bright red, rather than the dark maroon of the more common ones. Despite the story I am going to tell, I somehow came to gobbling cherries late in life, but have eaten them with an abandon to make up for lost time. I generally buy the dark red ones, but cast no shade on the Ranier variety.
The next things was this little device shown at top – a cherry pitter. I also use it for pitting olives. I was in New Jersey a few weeks back and realized that I only had my decades old one, acquired in cooking school tucked happily away in our New York apartment.
Not much to look at yet it is perfectly adequate for these two tasks and if you are trying to cook with either cherries or olives it is a much needed and appreciated tool. To be without it means any chance of a perfectly sliced cherries or olives for decorative effect will likely not happen. I promptly ordered the contemporary equivalent from Amazon. I searched cherry olive pitter and there is was. The beauty of the internet age. I sent it to NJ and it was waiting for me when I got here on Wednesday; it is a decidedly zippier, upgraded version. A happy summer of cherry and olive pitting awaits.
Meanwhile, the memory in question was one of an annual cherry picking at my grandmother’s house. She had an enormous Ranier cherry tree in the backyard. In retrospect as an adult I don’t think I realized that cherry trees got that big. It required a proper ladder to get to the top.
Was actually a bit hard to find a photo online of a large-ish one. My grandmother’s was much larger than this!It makes me remember it being in bloom though.
Anyway, the kids, spouses of kids and grandkids were all assembled and we picked cherries all day. There were sea green plastic buckets I can still see in my mind and we filled them with those orangey red cherries. My grandmother would then take them and cook them down and can them. They would supply pie filling and get spread on toast for the rest of the year and long winter ahead. (Mom’s mom who I have written about before here with a historic photo of that yard – sadly the tree was in the other direction and would have been tiny!)
These are exactly as I remember them.
Oddly, I don’t remember eating them off the tree. Now, I was at the time probably the youngest family member of the team, probably about five or six at the time I am describing before my brother was born. Perhaps my mother, always a worrier, didn’t want me eating pit filled cherries. I can see her fretting about that. Anyway, I didn’t and somehow didn’t really get into the swing of eating cherries until I was more or less an adult. If I were able to visit that tree today I’d be popping half in my mouth as I went, eating my body weight in cherries off the tree.
On one of those days I remember it ending in, if not a barbeque at least a picnic. (My Italian grandmother wasn’t really much into barbeque – she liked to cook her food on her stove and in her oven and make the table grown with delicacies which were not of the grilled burger variety.) I wandered around and found my way to a small tree. Much to my horror, as I touched the tree I was immediately covered with ants! I screamed the way only a small child shocked by ants can scream. It took a minute for mom to figure out what was wrong with me, get them off and set me right. (Tree must not have been well to be full of ants, but I don’t remember much about it.)
Dusk on the deck with the fairy lights on. Deck (and lights) had to be completely redone last fall – boards were all rotted! This is my first evening of return on investment! Well worth it.
Perhaps that memory came back to me because as I write this I am sitting on my deck in New Jersey, in the evening of July 4. Next to me on the fence I share with my neighbor, I discovered a huge and evidently industrious ant colony. I can see those hard working fellows even by the dim light of my fairy lights out here. Do ants ever stop and rest? These don’t appear to as I spotted them early this morning and they are still at it.
On of the solar lights I have around which I love!
A gentle boom, boom of distant fireworks is going off, but not enough to bother either me or the five New Jersey cats who have had their dinner and are largely sleeping. Fireflies have come out and look like miniature versions of the fairy lights. (People ask me if we still have fireflies and I am glad to assure them we do – have they really disappeared from places?) The mosquitoes, whose enthusiasm for my flesh has been somewhat tempered by some spray will chase me in soon. But my first evening on the deck this year and I guess summer has begun.
The back gate! Newly installed light here also last fall – so we have a bit of light coming and going at night. It is motion activated.
Pam's Pictorama 