East or West Home is Best

The perfect place to live---there is no such place--let's agree to that.

But many times a person can go on a vacation--and return and think--now THERE is a place I could settle down--when I retire, when the kids are grown, when the cows come home.

Dear One and I know a few people who have travelled places and returned--pulled up stakes and moved away.  I am sure it works for some.  This is something I can't imagine doing.  I always felt that the specialness of a vacation is that is IS temporary--you DON'T live there.  Vacation is a snapshot (literally) in your life--not the reality of your life.

We love to travel and have been very blessed to have had vacations in places that have touched our hearts.  We usually bring home a suitcase of reminders--maybe a local product-or foodstuff-or special book--and most likely a vintage something that we found on a "poke around the vintage shops kind of day" that we like.  I might even come home with visions of repainting the kitchen that JUST PERFECT shade of sky or sunset or stone or flora  or shutter that I saw on a vintage home.

What makes the perfect place to relocate?  I think many do it to move closer to family (I always wonder what the family thinks of the idea)  Some do it to leave behind a life of memories or a perceived staleness in what exists and a searching for the freshness of what is ahead.

I have always been haunted by a quote from Blaise Paschal (b. 1623)

“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace?

This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself”

[This is from page 75 of Blaise Pascal’s Pensees (New York; Penguin Books, 1966).]

Your Kiddos Don't Want Your Tchotchke

This weekend, the Wall Street Journal had a front page article on bric-a-brac and baby boomers.  It seems that baby boomers are downsizing their homes and "gifting" family treasure on their kids and grandkids--who just do not want it.

I hear that story all the time.  Friends who own and sometimes decorate with family heirlooms and hand-me-downs are lamenting that their kids do not want "that old stuff" even if beloved Granny owned it or used it or touched it.  I particularly hear that about sets of dishes.  No one seems to want Granny's Havilland or Auntie's apple pattern dishes.

I understand that angst.  I am sentimental and love this old stuff.  For me, the greater connection to a family member, the better.  But, as I have no children--all my stuff will someday be owned by people who do not share my last name.  But heck--I have a house full of treasures that were owned by someone else's granny. I am treasuring them and taking care of them.  Such is the life of antique recycling.

Miss Nameless

Who are you Miss Nameless?

We sell many paintings at www.odanaantiques.com and at antique shows.  We try to search out appealing pieces--some in oil, gouache and watercolor.

I heard once that paintings are the jewelry of a room.  It is difficult to pick out a piece of jewelry for another person--it really is so personal.  But we sell paintings often--so maybe selecting paintings that will appeal to others is an easier task.

Who is the woman in this painting?  I haven't a clue.  The piece is not titled and not signed.  It is clearly a 1950s/60's vintage and framed under glass.  The woman is seated and pensively staring at the viewer.  I like to take a few moments and reflect on the paintings we buy.  What is their history?  Who if anyone sat for the portraits?  Sometimes there are answers--often not.

Mid Century Mad

For several years now, decorating, clothing, recipes  and television viewing has been crazy about mid century modern--the snappy phrase that means the stuff us baby boomers grew up with in the 1950s and 1960s.  Now add to the mix the newest book by Bob Kealing, "Life of the Party--The remarkable story of Brownie Wise and the Tupperware Empire."

Ok--now stick with me on this.  Tupperware parties were popular in the 1950s and 60s as places where women could escape from their homes and meet at parties and eat jello desserts, and play games and yes--buy plastic boxes to store food in.  We've come a long way baby.

This, at times interesting book,  follows the careers of Tupperware founder Earl Tupper (who knew?) and the woman he hired who quickly built the empire of home parties and the legions of hundreds of women who raised money selling to their friends who sold to their friends who sold to THEIR friends.... You get the picture.

This book is overly stuffed with facts that just, well, don't matter.  Aren't there a million stories of partners in success who have messy falling outs?  What makes this interesting is that Brownie Wise was a cracker jack salesperson at a time when the career choice for women was mother, secretary, nurse or stewardess. The owner of the company flipped out, canned Brownie and then the book is over.  The book reads slowly--and is well--not very compelling.  Save your $26 and plug in a dvd of Mad men instead.

Thanks to Blogging for Books who provided me with a copy of the book to reveiw.

Stop Rolling Your Eyes

One aspect of the antiques trade that has always aggravated me to no end is dealer snobbery.  The idea that because one dealer carries a stock that has larger initial inventory investment, and through that, makes the items better or more desirable than lesser priced items is nothing more than arrogance.  Or that purchasing "Pilgrim Century" items makes you more high brow than Heywood Wakefield.

I don't know any antique dealer who did not start out as a child with an interest in history and a curiosity for "neat old stuff" that cost very little.    I remember attending auctions with my grandma and parents when I was single digit age. My friend Rebecca and I would pour over Goodwill's book offerings in the store next to a Chinese restaurant that was more often than not an after church lunch spot for our two families.  We often came away with a 50 cent or $1.00 treasure.

Dealers whine whine whine and  wish younger people would become buyers. Well folks--this is not rocket science--GIVE THE YOUNG CUSTOMER WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR!  Stop trying to put the round peg in the square hole and bemoan that you can't sell the fabulous quality inventory you own--and can't get rid of--because--wait for it--NO ONE WANTS IT ANYMORE.
While more modern furniture by classic designers is serious money--good quality, quirky modern things can be had reasonably if you look hard.

Dear One and I decided some time ago--show the young buyer an eclectic mix.  If they like mid century modern furniture--pair it with a more traditional piece--or an asian style lamp or art from ANY era.  Oriental rugs look fabulous with mid century.  Try putting an industrial shelving unit on a traditional rug.  A modern painting next to a victorian sideboard.  It WORKS!!

If some dealers would stop rolling their eyes at 1950s and 60s furniture and accessories and spend time giving buyers what they want instead of what they SHOULD want--their bottom line might improve.

A Sweet Little Book

On my last day on earth--I hope to spend a part of it enjoying a good vintage black and white movie from the 1940s or 50s.  Maybe it will have Olivia de Havilland acting in it.  I was highly anticipating receiving my copy of the book Every Frenchman Has One, which is the reissue of the humorous memoirs of de Havilland first written in 1953.

The 143 page small scale book was re-released this year to honor de Havilland turning 100 years old.  One small chapter is added at the end that was not in the original release.

The book contains anecdotes of the humorous and sometimes nerve wracking challenges of de havilland when she moved to Paris in the early 1950s to marry her second husband.

The book tries too hard to be funny.  Maybe it is just dated or old hat to read snippets about Paris traffic, or visits to doctors, social etiquette or women's fashions.  Foreign countries are just that--foreign to your homeland. Her stories are not that unusual or humorous.  De Havilland has embraced France and has lived there ever since--but it just seems that reading about her "misadventures" just does not strike a clever cord today.  It was written for a post war audience of Americans who most probably had never been abroad.

De Havilland is a brilliant actress and forever etched in iconic movies to be enjoyed for many future generations.  Please explore her films if you have not before--you can pass on the book.

Thanks to Blogging for Books who provided me with a copy to review.

Jefferson's America

Julie Fenster's new book entitled Jefferson's America is a refreshing change of pace from the usual books about Thomas Jefferson.  Haven't we read our fill on Jefferson's personal life--from the did he or didn't he story about Sally Hemmings, to the crazy collector of books and natural history to the he died bankrupt with Monticello in disrepair kind of thing.  This book focuses on his brilliance as president and his incredible foresight in choosing explorers and their exploration of America's undiscovered frontier.

Fenster does a good job setting the political background of the age--giving just enough information to set the stage of all the countries vying at the time for a piece of America's natural history and territorial riches.    We all have heard about Lewis and Clark--but Fenster weaves the tale that also included Zebulon Pike and William Dunbar and others.  She is a good story teller--this is not a simple book to read--but if your history of that time is a bit fuzzy--she does a good job of bringing the reader up to speed.

Fenster tells the riveting tale of the American adventurers, and also tells what Spain, Great Britain and France are doing at the time in a sort of race around the clock.  Who will come back first--and which map will be correct?    Her stories of the explorers' travels are written with good descriptions without getting bogged down in excessive historical details.

This book was not a fast read--but was a compelling read.  Sometimes we can forget what a really remarkable and exceptional country the USA is.  Well worth your time.

Thanks to Blogging for Books which provided me a copy to read and review.