Ahhhhhhhh...PARIS!

Paris in the spring. Does make one pause with eyes closed and imagine for a moment being there. I've been to Paris twice; once in the spring and once in the late summer.

The trip in the late summer was with two friends. One I am still on good terms with; the other is mostly forgotten.

From the moment we left San Francisco the one got home sick and took it out on the other two for most of the trip. By the time we reached Paris I had had it. We were staying at a hotel on a side street from the Champs-Elysées. Definitely not a 5 star establishment. The walls were so thin you could hear the man in the next room farting. And the wallpaper was like being in a 1960s scene in a movie where everyone is tripping. Bright orange and yellow vertical stripes, floor to ceiling, including the ceiling. Big white polka dots on the stripes. A glass bathroom door that lined up perfectly with the toilet. On the inside of the glass door woodgrain contact paper had been placed so that it aligned with the top of your head when seated on the toilet, the bottom of it aligned with your knees. At some point someone on the toilet must have gotten bored because they scratched two eye holes in the paper. To see what the weather was you stuck your head out into an air shaft.

The wallpaper, the bathroom, the guy next door with the release valve problem all added to the tension until one night I blew a gasket. I went off on the homesick traveler informing her we'd take her to the airport in the morning and she could go home. I didn't want to hear another word from her and I wasn't going to let her ruin the last part of our trip.

My friend looked at me with huge eyes, not believing what she'd just witnessed. I looked at her and said, "Come on! We're out of here!"

And so that is how I ended up spending a very fun and adventurous warm summer night parading along the Champs-Elysées...until the riot police showed up.

Ahh yes, Paris. I would very much like to be there.

Click on image to see it larger.

CROSSWORD for a muddled mind

Yesterday I awoke with images of bridges, glasses, and classrooms in my head. This morning? This morning? I found myself mentally repeating over and over again "48 water clubs." Huh? I have no visual memory of the dream, but it took me awhile to stop repeating "48 water clubs." I shook the cobwebs out and decided it was probably best to not ponder this phrase for too long. I'd have preferred a terrifying school dream instead of wondering what 48 water clubs look like and what nefarious plan I had hatched to use them.

Which brings me to another page in the Think-And-Do Book. This little book belonged to Ruth Gray. As you can see she once again got an "A" on this page. I have, however, removed her answers so that you can put your thinking cap on and try to get the "A" that she deserved.

Ready? Pencils in hand? You have 10 minutes. Start...NOW!

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I HAD A DREAM last night...

...I was just about to walk onto a bridge when suddenly it started to move. The deck began to go up, up, up and I was sliding down, down, down. I know where this came from. I was looking at a photo of a bridge yesterday that was in this position. But then, in the dream, I suddenly realized I was wearing the wrong glasses. I was wearing my cheap computer glasses, not my prescription lenses. AND I was on my way to school? Huh? School? Geez, I thought I was through with those type of dreams. You know, the ones where you can't remember your locker combination or you've somehow managed to NOT go to the class for an entire year and suddenly it's time for the final? Seriously, I sort of thought those dreams went the way of other things in life once I passed through menopause. Alas, no. This one had me freaking out because I had to get to class because indeed, there was a test. Of course there was. So screwy bridge, wrong glasses, test to take. Middle of the night angst!

I have this feeling on my death bed instead of seeing the light I'll simply see a row of lockers and be left thinking, "Oh #!*% I can't remember my combination!" Fade to black.

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I bought a couple of old elementary school workbooks a few years ago. Nothing great, but when I look at them I can almost step back in time and get glimpses of moments when I sat with my thick pencil clutched in my tiny hand, nose close to the page, drawing circles and arrows around answers. I wish I could see one of those books again. I sort of like getting a whiff of an old moment. Looking at this page I think I might just be back in school tonight in my dreams.

This page is from a book called Think-And-Do Book to Accompany Streets and Roads published by Scott, Foresman and Company in 1946.

ANNABEL'S HOUSE with Paper Dolls

I bought this book, Annabel's House by Norman Messenger, over 20 years ago and paid only a few dollars. Now online it goes from anywhere from $4.00 to over $100.00. Who knew?

It's a fun book. Well, it's not just a book. It's an Edwardian dollhouse. It's a set of upstairs-downstair paper dolls. It's all of these things.

My edition is the first American edition published in 1989. The UK version was published the previous year, 1988. I'm thinking the UK version is the one going for over $100. Mine is probably worth considerably less, though it's in near mint condition. I've put a link to the left in the "What Not" suggestion column where you get the details about the book such as the ISBN.

Enjoy! What you'll be missing out on are all the fun little cupboards and doors to open. People and things to see only when you open the doors. Plus there are more rooms and a garden not included here.

__________

I have a new design up at Cafe Press, My ABC's, perfect for the little grade school students in the house. Or maybe the teacher who teaches them. Then again, at my age a little visual aid for memory purposes is always helpful!

You can find various items at my Tattered and Lost Cafe Press shop.

What do MET LIFE, MOTHER GOOSE and the TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE have in common?

This little booklet dates back to the 1930s. There is no copyright date on it, but there are so many of these for sale online that I've come by the date due to the consensus of sellers. 1930s. Fine with me.

I bought this copy a couple years ago at an estate sale. It's in such good condition I didn't actually think it was old.

Click on any image to see it larger.

I have found very little about the illustrator Emma E. Clark. I can tell you she was born in 1883 in New York City and died in 1930 in Whitestone, New York. Her medium was gouache. Click here to see another illustration by Clark.

Okay red lights flashing, red lights flashing...how could she have illustrated this in the 1930s and be dead. Well, from what I've been able to determine, this little booklet was originally published in the 1920s. I do recall seeing a 1920s version somewhere, though it's usually the 1930s one that shows up for sale. Then again, I could be wrong about everything. I do know this little booklet is for sale all over the net. It's also available online here.

Now is where it gets interesting. Today is the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent immigrant Jewish women aged sixteen to twenty-three. Many of the workers could not escape the burning building because the managers had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits. People jumped from the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was located in the Asch Building, now known as the Brown Building of Science, a New York University facility. It has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and a New York City landmark. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

So you're wondering what this horrific tragedy has to do with Mother Goose and Met Life? It's the woman who is listed on the title page, Elizabeth C. Watson. I can't verify that this Elizabeth C. Watson is the same who wrote "Home Work in the Tenements" (link to Google Books) in 1911, just a short time before the tragedy. The Elizabeth who wrote this piece was the Secretary of the Work and Wages Committee of the Child Welfare Exhibit.

In 1913 she was part of the team that wrote the "Second Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, 1913."

I cannot verify whether or not Elizabeth C. Watson for the Met Life Mother Goose booklet and the studies on tenement housing and labor are the same woman. Really, it doesn't make any difference. The fact that my searching her name brought up the labor articles on such a historic day is what's important.

Take a moment and remember those who died 100 years ago at the hands of greedy employers and women with few worker's rights. Bless those who died and the families they left behind.