Grand Magasins – Ete 1899… Large Store – Summer 1899
On the cover of this 1899 Summer catalog that I found recently at the brocante, is a woman dressed as if it were anything but summertime: Long sleeves, full skirt, jacket, hat, boots, gloved hands and her friend, a dog holds up her umbrella for her to take.
I wonder if the editor of this catalog confused the cover of the summer edition with another season?
I am bringing this to your attention for one simple reason… I am not going to be 53 years old in a few days... I made a mistake. I am going to be 52. Call me crazy, call me a ding dong, call me dyslexic all the above are true… Thank God a few readers pointed me in the right direction!
The catalog editor and I have something in common.
Goof Balls in our beetle.
The catalog has images of clothing for men, women and children and a section of home furnishings.
Corsets in satin or plain cotton for 3,90 French Francs (less than a dollar).
A wide selection of straw hats. The catalog is after all for summer…
I like the Toque model the best. Though I probably would buy the Chapeau next to it, it is less fancy.
How are straw hats made? Mind you the video starts with curling one's hair. Because in the world of thinking one thing and meaning another this is how it is.
"How to Make Straw Hats by showing electrical hair curlers and then showing an electrical hat machine." It makes senses. I understand things that are not in a straight line. I thought I was going to be 53 and instead I am going to be 52. My mind follows loops, holes and curly Qs easily.
Yesterday Amy Kortuem's comment made me laugh out loud. I could so see those green silky bottoms as a hat.
Amy wrote: "…When I was 4 years old,
I begged my Mom to cut my long hair into a shag cut (it was the 70s). I
hated my haircut immediately. So I walked around with my green silky
pajama bottoms on my head for a year, pretending the legs hanging down
were long hair. My parents even took me out wearing them, they were so
used to seeing me with them on my head!"
Amy send me your address and I will send you a child's quilted shirt from Chipoupine.
Chaise Longue – Long Chair
Memory:
For the first seven years in France I did not drive because I did not have a French driver's license. You might say if I added up all the miles I walked in those early years I could have circled the world ten times.
When Chelsea and Sacha were babies I pushed them in a stroller. (I had muscular arms for the first time in my life.) On one of our joints to the grocery store Chelsea (3 years old) suggested in French that I flatten the stroller's seat so we could put more groceries around Sacha (six months old).
At three she had more organizational skills than I do at soon-to-be-52.
Though since she said the verb "stretch" in French I was clueless and asked her to repeat what she said in English. Since she didn't know the verb in English she said, "I'll show you," and she laid the stroller's seat flat and started to put the groceries around Sacha.
I am a visual person when it comes to learning.
Baby stroller as a long chair makes for a great grocery cart. Baby must be carried or squished by the sack of potatoes.
Today's giveaway is the Section of the Summer Catalog 1899
If you would like to win it put your name in the comment section and if you want answer this question….. drum roll please………..
What is your middle name?
My middle name is Lee.
But when I was going to be baptized, right before the priest poured the holy water on my head, he asked my parents for my baptismal name. My Mom said, "Lee." The priest nearly dropped the holy water cruet when he exclaimed, "Lee is not a Christian name!" My Mother a darling 24 year old blushed. The priest waited for my Mother to give him a Christian name. My mom shyly offered, "Ann?"
My middle name became Ann.
So you see it started from the very beginning…. confusion works for me.
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I'll pick a winner tomorrow.








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