VTT - Riley Child Rhymes & The Raggedy Man

April is National Poetry Month so I am showing a poetry book my mother had as a child. "Christmas 1919" is written inside the cover. The book is Riley Child Rhymes With Hoosier Pictures.

James Whitcomb Riley was a famous Hoosier poet, popular in the early years of the twentieth century. He is known as the Hoosier poet because he was from Indiana and he used a Hoosier dialect in many of his poems. A number of postcards included some of his verse. The postcard shown here includes part of the poem The Raggedy Man, one of Riley's best-loved poems. This poem was originally published in a 1890 issue of Century Magazine. The complete poem was included in the Riley Child Rhymes book.

I'm participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday

SS - Sherman House, Tomah, Wisconsin

This is a fine picture of food, but it is not my idea of "fine food."

This postcard is probably from sometime during the 1945-1951 period. The card has a one cent stampbox (postage increased to two cents in 1952). A 1912 History of Monroe County, Wisconsin called the Sherman House "today a modern little hotel in every particular." A new modern version of the Sherman House and a new VA hospital were in the planning stages in 1945 (Boom Times Face Tomah--VA Hospital Under Way). The Sherman House apparently closed a long time ago.

Smorgasbord Sundays (SS)
restaurant and food postcards

PFF - Cherry Blossom Time

The cherry trees in Washington, D.C. were a friendship gift from Japan. Japan gave the city of Washington 3,000 cherry trees in 1912. The U.S. reciprocated with a gift of flowering dogwood trees given to Japan in 1915. Additional cherry trees were given to the U.S. in 1965.

The cherry trees grow in several locations: around the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park, in East Potomac Park (Hains Point), and on the Washington Monument grounds. The cherry trees flower in the spring and are a popular tourist attraction. This year the blooming period was March 27 - April 5. The 2010 dates of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival are March 27 - April 11.

This postcard shows the cherry trees in bloom. A Japanese lantern used in cherry blossom ceremonies is in the foreground, and the Washington Monument is in the background. Similar cartoon "tourists" also appeared on postcard views from other areas of the United States.

VTT - Vintage Kitchen Things

This postcard advertises Sears sinks and cabinets. That is a Coldspot refrigerator in the picture, probably the 1946 model. Below is the description from the back of the postcard. The cabinets appear to be steel, a type that was popular for postwar kitchens.

This week I am showing my vintage red kitchen thingies. I just bought the Bromwell's Measuring Sifter at a thrift store yesterday. I already had two vintage sifters, and I can't even remember the last time I used one. My other sifters have the type of handle that you squeeze to sift. This one has a red crank mechanism like the sifter my mother had. The Hazel Atlas nut grinder was bought at a thrift store more than thirty years ago and is just like the one my mother had. I used to use the grinder before they started selling chopped nuts for less than whole ones.

The other items I don't use, though I do keep them with my other kitchen utensils in case I need them. The Ekco tomato slicer on top is something I bought long ago, but I didn't even know what it was until I saw one on a blog.

I'm participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday

SS - The Warehouse Restaurant, Marina Del Rey, California

The Warehouse Restaurant was created in the late 1960s by Burt Hixson, a documentary photographer. The interior is a recreation of a warehouse with items from old warehouses such as crates, barrels, sacks, and nets. The restaurant is still there, but Hixson went on to develop the Villa Verano resort on an estate in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

The following is from a 1985 article in Nation's Restaurant News:

Burt Hixson's niche in the history of restaurantdom is assured, both from his trend-setting establishment of The Warehouse themer in Los Angeles's Marina del Rey (and three other spinoffs) and from his victory in a 1982 federal, precedent-setting lawsuit to protect the nautical-wharf "trade dress" of his $4 million-a-year flagship restaurant.

Hixson, 45, is now entertaining the idea of establishing a "corporate resort" in a large estate he bought in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He said he may "retire" there when he concludes the active role he has played in his restaurants after 17 years. Known for his safari-plantation garb and savvy merchandising, Hixson described the pending move as "sort of getting out of the fast lane or mainstream."

Smorgasbord Sundays (SS)
restaurant and food postcards

A Note for the Easter Bunny

I wonder what's in that envelope--perhaps an invitation to an Easter party? When you were as young as these girls, you probably would have believed that the Easter bunny wore clothes and could paint Easter eggs! When you are older, you recognize this scene as fantasy, but it can still evoke happy childhood memories.

PFF - Sunday on La Grande Jatte

The first postcard is a modern Easter postcard published by Hallmark. If you have ever studied art history, you will probably be familiar with the source of that image. The second postcard shows Sunday on La Grande Jatte, a painting in the Art Institute of Chicago that was painted by Seurat in 1884-1886. This painting is monumental in size, 207.6 cm × 308 cm (81.7 in × 121.25 in). It is considered very important in the history of art for both its style and subject matter.

To learn more about A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, watch this excellent video.