60's french pop

My random diversion of the week is 60's french pop stars. Every now and then I get a hankerin' to learn french, and it's usually sparked by videos like these...



How good is that song? And does anyone else think Françoise looks surprisingly 2009? No froofy hairdo. Hrmm. Here's some hair that's a bit more what I'd expect, I guess...



And to round it out, mademoiselle France Gall...

2009: a disasterous year for massachusetts farmers

Governor Deval Patrick has asked the feds to declare Massachusetts an agricultural disaster zone, due to our sucky, soggy summer.

This makes me feel much better about our garden this year. It wasn't awesome, but it wasn't a DISASTER.

Check out the Boston Globe article here.

the motherlode

Check out this motherlode of amazing old photos. They are all part of Roger Vaughan's personal collection.

I could look at these all day.

Here are a few choice examples...

hair receivers

So, I've seen things like this at antique shops in the past, but I never realized until now what they ARE: hair receivers! To quote hairarchives.com:

"During the Victorian Period, the hair receiver was commonly found on a woman’s vanity. After brushing her hair, she would remove the hair from the brush and place it through the opening of the receiver for storage. Once enough hair had accumulated, it could be used to construct rats, or could be woven or plaited and put into lockets, left visible through cut-glass windows of a brooch or even made into watch chains, bracelets or jewelry."

I'm enthralled. And to think we let all that perfectly good old hair go to waste. I certainly could have used a real homemade rat to hold up my hair last halloween.

autochromes

I can't stop dreaming about autochromes. So eery and yet oddly modern. Not to mention I'm reading Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern, so it segues nicely into the time period I'm currently obsessing over.

Here are some gems...

Maurice Rambert (Swiss, 1866-1941) / Family Group at Chalet / circa 1907

Unidentified Photographer (France) / Among the Irises / May 28, 1924

Mervyn Joseph Pius O'Gorman (1871-1958) / Christina / 1913

Unidentified / Woman wearing red dress with houses in background / ca. 1915

Mrs. Benjamin F. Russell / Children in medieval costume / ca. 1910

Check out that last one. See? People have always been into D&D. :P

Props to Liebemarlene Vintage for posting pics of the Mervyn O'Gorman shots and getting my interest.

first step: a corset

I haven't yet made the decision between 1860 and 1880, but either way I have some corset making in my future. And since I'm not sure where I'll find proper boning and busks around Boston, I have placed an order for this handy corset making kit for Simplicity 9769 from corsetmaking.com:


Next stop, buying the pattern itself and some fabric. Fabric-wise, I'm planning to go for something cheap and standard, rather than buying corset coutil. Perhaps if I ever try this again, I'll do it more legitimately. By the time I finish this piece, hopefully I'll have figured out what I want to go over it.

my next crazy sewing project

I am torn between two prospective sewing projects, each equally insane for me to attempt.

1) Civil War era, ala Scarlett Ohara

photos from Dr. Macro's awesome site

2) Victorian Era /bustle /1880's style


Any votes? Stay tuned as I get this underway...

this rain is bullshit

death to squirrels!

Okay, not really death. I'm vegan, after all. But the squirrels are reeking havoc in the garden! First it was just some baby corn plants that took a beating, but yesterday I came home to find holes dug all around my raised beds and about half my kale plants destroyed, 2 big planters full of strawberry plants that no longer contain anything but dirt, and one of my happiest looking winter squash vines got chewed completely off right at the base. WTF?!

Tonight the hubby and I are going to go on a cage/fence/netting binge. We have a date with Home Depot and then total squirrel obstruction.

And even though we are both vegan and not so into that "killing" thing, I really had to talk him down from just buying a pellet gun and taking the suckers out. When someones eating your food, things start getting personal.

One way or another, this is war. If anyone has any squirrel tips, lay em on me!

bathroom tile

The latest phase in the saga of my bathroom is complete... the tile floor is down and grouted. Next step: sealing. And then walls, a toilet, a vanity... *sigh*

Note the beautiful shower tiling job too. I hope I never have to tile anything again in my life.

ah, work

just sayin'.

i love lourdes

Maybe my Madonna obsession just filtered down, but I'm pretty sure I'd love her no matter what her roots. The eyebrows only seal the deal. If she ever cleans them up I will be heartbroken.

pups

Every now and then I rediscover petfinder and get re-obsessed with berating my husband about how we should get a dog. Today, I want the follow pups for my birthday:

First off we have lovely Lily, the Australian Shephard. Check out the curly tail and perky disposition. I'm totally in love.


And here we have Gray, with the crazy eyes. I think Lily and Gray would do a marvelous job of terrorizing my backyard. I don't even care that they'd probably tromp all my tomatoes.

Well, I'm just dreaming, but oh how I wish I could adopt you little pups!

ultimate city garden

This morning I am fawning over this google maps aerial view photo of a city garden in Chicago, brought to my attention by the fine folks at Homegrown Evolution.


You can read more about it on their blog post, but for me I like to just imagine scenes like this taking over cities. You know, street by street, block by block...

I couldn't resist the Earth Crisis reference. Sorry.

ps. Molly's Moves

Just for the record, those dance moves by the Missing Persons crowd were 100% this scene. Shake it, Molly!

80s inspiration

Just when I think I'm tired of all things 80s, I stumble upon something like this. Check out the dance moves at 5:38. That's what I'm talking about!

bye bye winter

I was just looking through some pictures and came across this one. Thank god winter is over. Soon I'll post what this area is looking like now, and what a joyous comparison that will be.

Looking at this reminds me that, last fall, I left all of the perennials in my front yard to go to seed. It's part of my "see what happens" garden philosophy. Well, what happened is that I have volunteer asters all over the front bed. I've thinned them a bit, but I have no idea what will happen with them or how densely they can grow and still remain healthy. I guess I'll see what happens...