Pencil box

Here's another find from Nana's house, a vintage box of pencils. These are lovely to write with and the erasers still work, sort of. Truly an example of "they don't make it like they used to." These pencils are both thicker and heavier than the Mirados and Staedtlers I like. The wood is a nice dense cedar.

I love finding old packaging like this with an eye to both the design and the copy claims. This box uses the time-honored practice of a medalion as an endorsement or certification. But instead of a medal, they use a wax seal design. The box flaps list the five degrees of lead hardness available. These are F for Firm, the middle grade.

However there is nothing to date the box. No copyright or even an address with a zone number on it like "Philadelphia, 17 Pennsylvania." Zip codes were introduced in the mid-1960s. I will share more as I find it.

Up, up and away...

Janine and Bobbie recently went to a baby shower for a woman we know from church. Somehow Janine got to go home with the balloons.

Here she is in the front yard about to be lifted away...not really.

She had a lot of fun with the balloons drawing faces on them with a Sharpie, but alas they are now all flat.

Nature trail

A few weeks ago I shot this video in the nature park behind our house. I'm not sure what species of bird this might be, but it obliged to stay on the branch until I got some video. As the bird takes off, you see the small wetland in the middle of that section of the park. It attracts all sorts of wildlife, especially birds.

Toward the end of the video the shot zooms back out to show the trail I was walking. In the distance our house is clearly visible. It's great to have such a nice resource so close to home.

Found at Nana's

We found this movie schedule at Nana's house. Note the date...May 21, 1934!

While the stars are familiar, none of these movies ring a bell. In fact I doubt if they will even be played on Turner Classic Movies anytime soon. I like the description of the feature as "one of the year's better films." Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

The source of this playbill was Nana's brother-in-law who was a projectionist at various theatres throughout the Pittsburgh area.

This particular theatre had the misfortune to be located near a 1960s "urban renewal" area. Over the years it fell into disrepute playing dirty movies. Today it sits empty near a neighborhood that seems on the verge of revival. Let's hope...

Meat pies on the deck

Sarah made her favorite meat pies for dinner last night. Now it might sound a bit unusual for a summer dinner on the deck, but she had been promising to make them for the past few days.

Of course the tomatoes, mozzarella and basil added the summer touch.

Family Room on the Deck

This past Saturday we deep cleaned the TV side of the family room. To get it done right we moved all the furniture to the deck.

Here's Janine taking a well-deserved break. Along with Sarah and John, the three of them helped Bobbie clean out everything. After they moved the furniture, Sarah got to it washing the slip covers, while Janine scrubbed the floor.

John and I specialized in the stereo, the TV and all the boxes and cords that support it.

The room looks great now. So nice that we entertained last night. We had a friend over for an impromptu dinner. It was nice to just have to cook the meal and not have to clean up as well.

Cat's eye view

Here's a photo of the neighbors' cat that Sarah took in the front garden. I like this one because it shows Sarah is thinking about composing and framing the shot. She could easily have taken the shot from above, but that would not have been as interesting. She only got two in before the cat scurried off. But that's the risk when you are working with animals.