A few months gone, we discussed in this space the concept of the trade card, a Victorian sales device issued by stores who realized that if people started collecting these, they would come to the store to see if a new one was ready. Getting someone into the store was half the battle, afterContinue reading “Having It Both Ways”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
FICTION FRIDAY: Those Old Piano Roll Blues
I need to get this off my chest. You’ll understand why. First off, despite all the rumors which have surrounded my discoveries in the pianowork of Wolfgang “Whiskey Pete” M’Cloud, I did NOT use some kind of computer magic on his recordings. I lack the skill even to come up with some ofContinue reading “FICTION FRIDAY: Those Old Piano Roll Blues”
Covering Dishes
It has been some time since we meandered through Memory Kitchen, largely because this is NOT a food blog. But casseroles came up in an online chat, and this threw my mind back into the Iowa kitchen of my boy days. And I must break your heart at the outset. We never ateContinue reading “Covering Dishes”
That Don Lock
It has been a while, so I thought we might revisit the new arrivals to my inventory which I would characterize as Ass Joke Postcards. Now, I realize the world has turned around a little, and that innocent three-letter word has a popular new meaning as “Something Bad”. So, no: these are not postcardsContinue reading “That Don Lock”
Midweek Fiction: Principles of Economy
“Mighty big nuggets thus time, sir.” “I know it. Just weigh ‘em out and give me scrip to take to the bank.” “Of course, sir. Your weekly delivery of gold has been the making of our establishment. My wife and I….” “Dadgum it!” “I’m sorry, sir. I keep forgetting.” Continue reading “Midweek Fiction: Principles of Economy”
Three of the Culprits
This column frequently touts the work of postcard cartoonists Walter Wellman and Ray Walters, with occasional salutes to other people whose work is now easiest to find on fossilized tweets from the past. But the collections coming in to inventory over the past month or so have included the work of several artists weContinue reading “Three of the Culprits”
Pages of History
I realize I am a product of my time, and that time is passing. There is a down side to bragging about my ability to untangle a phone cord and other bygone skills: there are whole generations of people who do not know what life was like in that foreign country that is theContinue reading “Pages of History”
Wonder Winterland
I resent global warming. I want the seasons back the way I remember them. It isn’t a matter of “When I was a kid”. It’s a matter of “fourteen or fifteen years ago, I could rely on one really good, solid blizzard every winter.” But noooo, all you people who drive to work andContinue reading “Wonder Winterland”
FICTION…TRUE FACTS WEDNESDAY: Peeping Tom
Not quite a thousand years ago, there lived in the city of Coventry a tailor known as Tom O’Thneedle, which was neighborhood talk for “Tom of the Needle”. The O’Thneedles had been tailors for time out of mind. Tom’s grandfather liked to talk about the days when things were tough for tailors, before theContinue reading “FICTION…TRUE FACTS WEDNESDAY: Peeping Tom”
Delight in de Window
Now, in pursuing my research on your behalf into the question of peeping Tom postcards (there’s no end to the trouble I go to for your reading enjoyment, but that’s just the kind of blogger I am), I thought I would consider the question of what is NOT a peeping Tom postcard. ForContinue reading “Delight in de Window”
Blogsy Babbles 