Saturday afternoon, Anna and Steve and I drove up to see Aunt Linda and Uncle Frank. You might remember Uncle Frank and his 1955 Ford Pick-Up Truck post Uncle Frank was in my People at Work show. He is a master at restoring vintage vehicles.
Here he’s showing Steve the interior. Steve loved getting behind the wheel.
Here’s his 1933 Plymouth
My grandfather Judd DeWitt VanSickle in the middle hugging his youngest son, my Uncle Robert. My grandmother Charlotte is sporting the sash, I believe. I calculate the date as Uncle Robert was born in 1914 and to me he looks about ten in this photo. Durand, Illinois or perhaps on vacation in the Wisconsin Dells.
From my grandmothers’s album
My mother is standing in the white dress, back left. Her brother John on the right. Notice the cat pillows.
She’s holding a cat pillow that’s similar to one I sewed together as a pillow. I never noticed it in the photo album before. In fact, I think a reproduction cat pillow might be at my sisters home. Or it was.
Dovecote, a vintage boutique in Aspinwall Pennsylvania, located on Brilliant Avenue. What a great address. Brilliant!
My friend Vincie and I were shoe shopping at Soothe the Sole on Brilliant Avenue and Holly (at the shoe store) suggested we check out Dovecote right across the street.
Here’s what we discovered –
The boutique is definitely eclectic and affordably priced. Scroll down for more details. There are vintage items, consignment items, handcrafts, antiques, jewelry, home decor and holiday fun. Sports team theme including black and gold potholders and darling onesies with hand sewn embellishment, adorable ruffles.
The felted Mr. Rogers created by Artist Christine caught my eye, and the Pennsylvania ceramic platter would be cool to serve from at a dinner party.
from their website
From my grandmother Charlotte’s photo album. My mother, Marian, is the little girl standing in front of her Aunt Edna and Aunt Mae. Younger brother Robert is seated on the left. Their father, my grandfather, Judd, is the man smiling in the back on the left. My mother’s grandfather peeking between the women’s faces. Perhaps my cousins will be able to identify more relatives.
Durand Illinois July 2, 1916.
What’s on your wish list?
Anything hard to find?
Something you’ve had on your list but never received?
My son Mark recently remembered his longed for toy (thirty + years), best gift ever. You might remember that post of his receiving the Millennium Falcon. It was my top post in 2011, the most viewed.
Not to confuse Star Wars and Star Trek but how about this Barbie and Ken Star Trek set? It’s probably gone now but I saw it a couple of weeks ago.
Upon entering the Antique Emporium, a lovely woman invited me to have cool water, offered me a glass of wine, the use of the facilities AND there was a basket of free tomatoes.
Obviously I was a a first-timer. “You are welcome to take photographs. ” she said. That was all I needed.
There are three floors and over 75 Dealers’ Booths of everything you can think of- and then some more things you didn’t know existed in the world.
The “like items” are categorized and displayed together, so if you are into political buttons, license plates, or milk bottle collections you don’t have to dig through other stuff. It is so organized and tidy.
Right on the main street which is Seventh Avenue
The first time I ever saw JFK cards, like trading cards for baseball
Please pass the salt and pepper.
Railroad Station Roof Tile They interlocked
Not a customer
Check out all these 45s
Matchbox cars
Porcelain Asian doll
Everyone had to take typing when I was in high school.
This is just a sampling of what is available.
A biscuit tin
The Knights and Castle room is for display only, nothing is for sale in this room.
Meet Jim. If you are in need of a pun, the proprietor will help you out.
Here he is holding a business card that says “You’re worth a million to us.”
See how the LBJ buttons change when you move your angle
Stained glass lamps and wooden spools
Be sure to have a nice chat with Jim. As I said, he’s pretty puny.
Aunt Linda and Aunt Marlene are in production, baking for their niece’s wedding this Saturday. But that will be a separate post.
I took the alphabet message and shape cookie cutters up to West Mifflin Monday night. (They still had the Laura and James names in place inside the heart shape- sweet memories)
Uncle Frank and Uncle Donald (Mark’s FIL) went upstreet to the West Mifflin Social Club where Uncle Frank was showing his two spectacular vehicles along with some other car aficionados.
You may have seen Uncle Frank and Aunt Linda when he went to pick up the bride for a wedding post
And while we were there I met Dave who photographs cars and prints the images on T -shirts and who does Aerial Photography with his JDI helicopter-like drone camera system. WOW. You can’t go higher than 400 feet and you have to take it slow.
Like a hobby toy airplane, Dave at the controls.
Looks like a UFO to me
Back to earth and then to the van to print
What a setup Dave had in his van
WOW, it is amazing.
Dave explains his display of a big show. Tonight’s show was small cause people were worried it might rain.
Dave was generous and took my photo with Donald. I think Donald was planning on adding a JDI hover drone camera to his wish list. Looks like a serious toy.
Music supplied by the host’s sound system
Pin-up girl on the antennae detail
And another post about Uncle Frank and his 1955 Ford Pick-Up.
Check out that wooden truck bed More than 2500 people looked at it in March.
Found a really interesting article on Drone Photography at National Geographic So You Want to Shoot Aerial Photography Using Drones?
The glass bottles attracted my eye as I saw them sitting on a soda fountain counter on Carson Street in the South Side. Only when I got home and uploaded the photo did I read Bridgeport Conn. The bottles are from the Pittsburgh Seltzer Works but that wooden crate had Bridgeport Conn, stamped right on the side.
Bridgeport – where I spent four years of my life. Granted, a long time ago. It’s where I got my Art Education degree.
Oh and it’s home to the P.T. Barnum Museum, where Elias Howe invented the first sewing machine, where Sikorsky(now gone global) manufactured helicopters, where Dr Fones founded Dental Hygiene profession in 1906 and a ton of other well known names born there including Walt Kelly and Al Capp.
I think Paul Newman when he was filming The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, once called it the “armpit of New England” which wasn’t very kind. There was lots of industry and manufacturing, and then decline, departure and attempts to revitalize. The P.T. Barnum Museum is worth a trip, though. Seriously. And if you are into deterioration and dilapidation reports click here to read about Remington Arms.
Do you remember seeing Uncle Frank’s Chevrolet (1953) when he was just putting the engine in?
Here’s what it looks like now after all the work (love) he has put into it! Shot from the passenger window- the interior.
