Rudyard Kipling: Life’s Handicap. Stories of Mine Own People

When sorting through boxes of books from an Estate, I found a really interesting book by Rudyard Kipling. It is not one that I had read.

The book, which is mostly a compilation of magazine articles that he had written, was first published in 1891. The red cloth bound copy that I have was published in 1913.

It is a group of stories that he collected while travelling throughout India. There are about 27 stories contained in the book, and they all feature native people
and how life was for them.

I haven’t finished reading them, but what I have read captures a point in time during the British Colonial Era.

It isn’t a book that I would have been searching for; but I am intrigued with the stories and the manner of Kipling’s writing.

One never knows what might be found poking around in a box of items, or on a shelf in an Antique shop.

A joy of the search in Antique shops is the unusualness that each contains. You might find the same teapot in ten shops. Or you might find the one teacup and saucer that you have been searching for for months. Or a creamer that matches your great-grandmother’s that broke.

The interesting thing is that you can decorate your home uniquely with a terrific find or two, or you can find a book that transports you to another era and a different continent.

Let us know about any unique items that you have found in an Antique shop, or some particular treasure that you are searching for…

Georgia & all

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Wandering around the Shop

Hello,

Today, I was wandering around the Shop, taking a break from some paperwork. 

The sun is shining through the windows and the overhead fans are gently circulating the air, while making patterns on the metal ceiling.

I took the time to pick up some of the old glass pieces and enjoy their glistening colors and fancy shapes.

There is a jewel colored tumbler from the Dugan Co with storks and rushes.  The blending of the hues is magnificient. Also, Green and Amber Depression ware plates, sherberts, cups, saucers, and other pieces.

It reminds us of an earlier, more Romantic time in our minds.  We tend to think that people had more time to visit and socialize over family meals or tea and cakes.  It is probably not true that people had more time, especially women with the lack of ‘conveniences’.  But the dishes and the extra fancy pieces lure one with dreams of tea time. 

While I sit here in my slacks and teeshirt, typing at the keyboard of the computer, I can recall our grandmothers in their dresses and fancy shoes.  They are setting the table for ‘company’, pulling favorite pieces out of the china cabinets and cupboards, and setting out the cakes that they baked from ‘scratch’.

Well, back to paperwork…but I’ll be enjoying the sparkles and old memories.

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Dorothy Moore’s Pattern Drafting and Dressmaking

Hello,

We have unpacked some more of “Harriet’s” Estate items. 

Included was an interesting book, as titled above.  Mrs. Moore followed her husband to Okinawa, and became fascinated by a Japanese method that custom fits a pattern to a person’s measurements.

Without any previous sewing experience, she became a student and then a teacher of this interesting custom design process.

While the illustrations are of styles of the late 60’s or early 70’s, the method can be applied to current fashions equally well.

This is just one of Harriet’s sewing and craft books.  She was always interested in Dressmaking and was a skilled sewer.

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