Vintage

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Straw Flowers from Cathy of California.

This started out as an email to Mom and Gretchen but I found myself rambling my way into a blog entry. See why my blog is called, "And Another Thing . . ."?

Cathy specializes in crafts from the 60s and 70s. She sells these straw flowers and the kits to make them, among other things. I was sending the link to Mom & Gretchen because we used to make similar flowers decades ago, with yarn. (Did I just say decades?? Sigh.)

Side note to local readers - I was reading Cathy's blog and saw an entry about the clock at Midtown Plaza. Btw, I finally heard someone on the radio say the other day what I think every time I hear someone boo-hooin' about the demolition of Midtown Plaza: If it is such a great place and you're so upset that it is being torn down - why didn't you patronize it at least a couple of times in the last 20 years?? Then I calm down and try to think of something that would be relevant to me in that same vein. Some place that holds memories more than being part of my life today. Some place that would be so meaningful to me as to prompt me to write some sorry-ass whiny letter to the editor in the local paper. There must be some place, I just can't think of it at the moment.

I swear I must have been at the end of the line when sentimentality was being passed out. I'm such a big purger and declutterer, that I sometimes worry I'm throwing away stuff that might be meaningful to Simon in the way that I love some of my parents' every day things - like the stainless steel mixing bowls and . . . something else . . . you know, other stuff. I know there's stuff that I've told my parents, "So when you're dead & everything, can I have that?" And they are so shocked that I care, they say, "What?? Take it now. You're so silly."

Sort of like these but not exactly. And there are only 2. I still love them and use them all the time.

Etsy has a whole division, besides the handmade stuff, of "vintage" items. The rule is the items have to be 20+ years old. Twenty years ain't nuthin'! It's been within the last couple of years that I realized I've become one of those people that sees trends come around again and scratches her head at the "young people" getting excited about something we're all been there, done that about.

It's like my friend Mary calls herself seasoned, instead of senior, in terms of her work profile. I like that! At my day job, our CEO has said he doesn't care about titles. "Make up your own!" "Be whatever you want to be!" I know he's told people. Somewhere in the last few years, every sales rep and purchasing agent added senior to their title. It always makes me laugh because - now everyone is on the same level again. I've never seen a junior anything, in our company anyway.

I thought this entry was all over the place but looking back, I actually do have a common thread throughout. What a happy accident that turned out to be.

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