Here are some interesting pipe paraphernalia.  To-day is is hard to find a dedicated pipe smoker but some of these did belong to my husband but most of the interesting pipes were used by my husband's father who was  Captain George Elliott and he was Captain of a ship for Imperial Oil during the Second World war. As one would expect this Ship's Captain was a pipe smoker and most pictures of the hardy captain standing on deck with his pipe in his hand.  I wonder if they allow smoking on board naval ships today????

Why I am keeping these and I guess it is the old story that everything has a memory and a tale to tell.
I suspect that as the years go on and time goes further down the road the memories become faint and eventually no one will know the stories or who they even belong to, and that will be their final demise.

Tying the knot in 1954

This wonderful typical 1950's gown was worn by Marguerite Dey of Collingwood Ontario when she married Mr. John Dance.  The dress with the exception of the veil is in remarkable condition and could be worn again if one is as tiny and petit as marguerite.  the skirt is accordion pleated tulle with lace bodice.  The original slip remains with the dress as well as the headpiece of tiny seed pearls and rhinestones.

All the years the dress was preserved so was the grooms suit with it's two pairs of trousers.  I seek out the photos of the original brides when I am offered a vintage wedding dress for I feel that the picture give more meaning to the day and the type of wedding held in 1954.

Three Generations of Bracelets

These great little dust collectors hang on the wall to my bedroom.  Some bracelets from my mother'  (only the orange baklite remains)  my daughter did collect the others which I was glad to see since that indicated to me that they meant a lot to her as well. There are bracelets that I wore and bracelets that my daughter wore in the 70′s and early 80′s. My father made this shadow box inserted dowels with glass door knobs on the ends and a mirror at the back and it works perfectly for displaying bracelets.

When I was growing up in Toronto we lived on Niagara street from there my grandfather walked to work at the ”Coro Jewellery Factory” which was on King street east of Bathurst in the late 1940 and early 1950′s and many broken trinkets destined for the trash came home in his lunch box. My mother I remembered spent much time piecing together odds and sods to complete pieces for us to wear.   I think now it is time to have another box built to accommodate the cast off bracelets that my two grown granddaughter’s have put aside.  They know the rule “what you don’t wear you give to grandma”.  The only thing I wish I could do is have my father here to build me another shadow box.  Thanks Dad, yours is the best.

Bust Enhancers- So they claimed

Here are just some ways that you ladies could improve your bust measurements,  so they claimed.   I do not remember in my teen years (the 1950′s) of any one of my friends who knew about implants for bust enhancement.  We either stuffed our bras with kleenex or purchased a pair of falsies or a cream that they said who enlarge your breasts. I also remember the bullet bra and as time passed they some  ladies wanted  the soft natural look so they actually cut the tips off the bras so that the nipples would stick out of the cut ends and give a softer appearance to the sweater girl.   Things sure have changed but I do hope that you ladies would find this interesting. If you know of any other old booby tricks please let me know I would be glad to hear from you.

My Flower garden

How Does your garden grow?   I love these cheery bright enamelled pins dating from the 1960 to the 1970.   I have seen many of these pins used by artist who attempt to create their own jewellery and render these pins unusable.  I am all for the recycling of items that can no longer be used in their intended way but to actual take the jewels of the "Flower Child" and use them in any other way I find disturbing to me.   I will be showing more of my collections  

Overshoe Evolution

Since I started this blog it has been an adventure Hunt for me.  Each time I think of an item that I would like to share with you I discover that I have two or three more to show.   This has become a form of house sorting which is long overdue.  Here is some good examples of the boot or rain boot from the 1940 to the 1960.  The fur trimmed overshoe I wore in the 1950's but the sexy heeled boots was popular in the 1960's.  The rubber overshoes judging from the shape of the heel would be typical of the 1040.  The most interesting is the black rubber protector which left the heel of your shoe out and only covered the sides and sole.  I do remember my mother having a pair of the clear plastic fold up shoe covers in her bag along with the little package with a  fold up head cover.

Vintage Wicker and Straw bags and Purses

I promise myself that I will post more often so that i can share with you some of my favourite things.  this collection of straw and wicker purses and totes are  novel lovely and great examples of some hand made bags.  Most I suspect are souvenirs from many different tropical vacations.  These are starting to require a lot of space, so I am not applying myself to acquire more I just keep the ones that come my way.