Vintage Adventures

Howdy! I'm a crafty gal living in the Golden State of California; all about vintage clothes, swing dancing, knitting, cooking, books
and adventures!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Saturday, June 26, 2010

{Ecstasy}

Today Hans and I discussed the travel costs of visiting our native California for Christmas.
Flying vs. driving.
If we flew, it would would either cost us $800 from Louisville to San Diego, or $130 from Indiana to Las Vegas and we'd have to find a connecting flight to San Diego plus spend the night in Vegas.
Driving, it would be approximately 2,000 miles.
Hans' Dodge Calibur gets about 30 miles per gallon.
We estimated that it would cost a little over $200 to drive.. plus we'd be able to spend the night at my grandparent's house in Oklahoma.
The verdict is unanimous: we're driving to California this Christmas!!




Monday, June 21, 2010

{Wild berries}

We're lucky enough to find some wild blackberry bushes growing down the hill from our apartment!





Sunday, June 20, 2010

{A ghost story?}

This lady's name is Beulah Olsen.
She sold my parents her house in 1990.She was 80 then and had lived in the house since the 1950's.. used it as a boarding house.
She moved to Canada and used to send a Christmas card to my family every Christmas.
One year it stopped.. I suppose that she died.
The house wasn't in great condition then, and my parents restored it to it's former Victorian glory.
2 stories tall, basement and 2 attics, bathrooms outfitted with clawfoot tubs.. I miss it.
There was a large furnace in the basement that fueled the floor-grate heater.
I used to love going down in the basement and sit in front of the furnace, pretending that I was a bum who had found a temporary warm place.

Once I was digging in the backyard and I found a turtle shell and a few bones..
Obviously someone's pet that had died and received a burial.

She left many things at the house including this photograph, a fountain pen, x-rays (she used to work at a hospital), furniture, chandeliers, books..
so many things from the past century.
The room that I grew up in.. well in the closet was the entry to the big attic.
I liked my closet because it was narrow and had a window that looked out into the street.
I was told that a french guy used to rent my room.. I even found a french coin in the closet once.
I used to play in the attic often.
One day climbing up the ladder I noticed some writing in the corner of the closet's ceiling.
I looked closer and realized that the writing was not in English.. French I think.
Not wanting to get in trouble, I quickly erased it.
Sometime later I went back up to the attic.
I glanced at the corner and saw something there.. the writing was back.
Not sure if I really erased it completely the first time, I erased it again and continued playing.
A few days later I went back and.. the writing had returned.
I stopped trying to erase it.

My mom told me that at least one person had died in the house.. I don't know the specifics though....




Saturday, June 19, 2010

Thursday, June 17, 2010

{Happy icelandic national day}

Hooray!
Today marks the 66th anniversary of when the Republic of Iceland was formed in 1944.
I have only one Icelandic ancestor.. however,
I found this banner on etsy.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

{T-230 days}

So it's official..
Next February we're moving to Ft. Stewart, GA.
I'm excited.. except for the part that Hans will be deploying.
I'm hoping that we can live in Savannah.
It's such a beautiful place.. lots of gorgeous apartments that aren't too expensive.
Plus, I found a great nursing school to go to.. Armstrong Atlantic State University.
They even have an advanced placement program for people (like me) who have had previous medical education.

!!!!

Monday, June 7, 2010

{Bruised}

How much suffering does one have to endure before one becomes a saint?

 

Sunday, June 6, 2010

{Flea market}

Literally too.
I got bit 11 times this morning and then decided to head out to the store.
Luckily they had "Natural Defense" which is an all-natural flea killer/repellent.
I dusted Loki, Lily and Wednesday with it.
Alice is barely 8 weeks old and the powder isn't supposed to be used on kittens under 12 weeks of age.
She'll just get a bath.

After the pet store I visited the flea market and scored!
A vintage Morse sewing machine that weighs 1,000,000 lbs, a vintage leather suitcase and an ashtray for Hans; it's from Las Vegas where we got married!
The sewing machine needs a needle and foot pedal and then it'll be is sewing shape.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

{Excavation expedition}

Yesterday we were in the forest behind our apartment building, looking for logs and stones to put in the snake's aquarium.
I was looking closely at a rock, and realized that there were seashell imprints in it!
1 1/2 hours later I had a small collection of rocks imprinted with shells, fossilized horn coral and even a piece of wasp nest coral!
http://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com is a wonderful resource.

I got up early today (not early enough) to look for more fossils.
It was so hot.. in the 80's.
The area I was looking in is this hill where half of it is eroded away, exposing many rocks.
I found many more shell imprints and horn coral.
I even saw 3 baby praying mantises!
I hope to find a trilobite fossil.. my mom found one when she was a child and she grew up in Columbus, Ohio.. which isn't too terribly far away from here.

Friday, June 4, 2010

{Homesick}

I don't know why it took so long to hit me, but lately it's been hitting me hard: I'm homesick for California.