More Auctions

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I am getting so excited, the first auction will be next Thursday (January 20). We already have over nine six foot long tables of items they will be selling for us!

We took more in today, here's a few shots.

I have a lot of animation artwork.
I thought I'd start with a cel of Smurfette

More glassware.

This is a set of old bakelite or celluloid poker chips.
They're embossed with someone's name!
They come in their own fitted box.

A framed poster from
a most memorable exhibit.

An older fringed leather jacket.
Shades of Hank Williams!

A lot of old bar mirrors
(and we have more!)
The mirror in the upper left
is from a 1950s
Roy Rogers bedroom set.
We sold the set years ago
and just found this in the back of the garage.

This is an old photo album.
The roosters and flowers
are all hand carved stones and shells.
The cover itself is lacquered wood.

Another vintage photo album.
This one has a sticker that states
it is entirely hand painted.
When you open it up, it's also a music box.

A pair of Japanese paper screens.

Jabba the Hut!
Still in his original box.

We've changed our plans a bit. Instead of renting a shed, we've decided to clean out the garage and use that as a storage shed for sorting all the "stuff". This is where we've been stashing yard sale and flea market boxes forever and it's kind of fun (and scary) to go through it all.

Once it's clear, then we'll work on the outside room (which is also full), then the attic (which is also full), then the house (which is also full).

Will we ever finish??
Yes.
We will soldier on
till the task is done

the Refrigerator, Patsy Montana, Mario Lanza and How to Fix Your Nose (circa 1925)

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I've discovered a new blog that entertains me every day. It's called Diary of a Midlife Cruiser and I love the way this lady writes. I suggest you give it a look, it's always entertaining.

ANYHOW, a while back, she issued a challenge to other RVers to "Show Me Your Fridge" (it's the Jan 2 post). If you've spent much time around RVers, these are the kinds of subjects that are often discussed (along with dumping, but that's a whole other topic).

I wasn't going to play
but then I thought, what the heck,
so here's my fridge.

It's taken me five years, but I can actually fit most things in the fridge now. That said, while we're here at the house, we do go to Costco and use the fridge inside the house for extras.

Okay, my blogger duty is done for the day.

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Here's a few pictures
of today's finds.

Have you ever heard of
Patsy Montana?
I just love her voice,
not to mention her name.
And take a gander at this outfit!

She wrote and sang this song.
It's one of my favorites.

I also found this piece of sheet music.
If you're of a certain age,
you'll remember this.

Ross Bagdasarian was also
the creator of
Alvin and the Chipmunks.

In among a pile of old menus,
I found this signature.
Do you think it's
the Mario Lanza???

And finally, I found a
Photoplay magazine from 1926.
I didn't even realize they published
Photoplay in the twenties.
It's pretty entertaining,
all the movies are silents.

Then there's the ads.

So just how hard up
would you have to be
to wear this?

I guess this is the
Ladies version.

More boxes to the auction tomorrow!

Marquetry

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Another load of boxes for the auction today. I thought I'd share two of my favorite pieces we're selling.

This sweet piece is a bust of a young Chinese girl. She's from an artist named Esther Hunt. This is one of the pieces I hate to part with, but I feel the need to divest myself of treasures, so away she goes!


This is an interesting pair of "paintings" Actually, they're serigraphs printed on acrylic. Each is two pieces of art, layered about an inch apart, which gives them a real sense of depth.

They're quite large, approximately thirty inches square.


We took many more pieces, but these were the most interesting.

When we got home, we worked some more, and I gathered up my collection of inlaid wooden boxes.

This technique is referred to as marquetry. I love the precision of the designs. Most of these are from Japan, and originally sold for very little.

This is my very first piece. I remember when I was in the eighth grade, my home-ec teacher sent home a list of required items, one being a recipe box. This one caught my eye and was the start of the collection.

I bought it for $.89 at a Sprouse Reitz. Remember Sprouse Reitz?

Many of the marquetry boxes are puzzle boxes.
You pushed a panel here,
tugged a panel there,
slid pieces around
until the whole thing opened
to reveal an inner box.

Lots of these pieces feature Scottie dogs.

Many of them were cigarette boxes.

This one slides back
like a roll top desk.
then three cigarettes would slide out.

This is a piece of doll furniture.
It's about five inches tall.

Another cigarette box.
Again, a Scottie dog.

The detail just blows me away.
Even the inside of the drawer is inlaid.

This next piece is an amazing box.
Somewhat larger than the other pieces,
it's also a music box.

When the music plays,
the pictures in the little window
changes to different scenes of Japan.

When opened,
it's like a whole vending machine
of smoking paraphernalia.

The cigarettes in the holes
move up and down,
like a calliope.

These next pictures are all puzzle boxes.

Most have a different scene
on the top and the bottom.

These used to be somewhat common

but now they seem to
have mostly disappeared.

I wonder how much these would sell for
if they were still in production today?

This is the final one,
a small roll top pencil box.

All of these fit in a box
about the size of two shoe boxes,
so this is most likely a collection
I'll be keeping.

Or maybe not,
we'll just have to see how the auction goes.

This is beginning to be a bit of fun.

Feeling Hopeful . . .

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As you can probably tell, I've been feeling a bit down lately. Not so much down as completely overwhelmed. But today that has changed, and I can't begin to tell you how good I feel.

Today, we took our first load to a local auction house, (A&A Auctions). They hold auctions every two weeks, so it looks like we've finally found a venue to relieve ourselves of all our "stuff". What a great operation! It was really nice to see that they take all kinds of merchandise (not just vintage and antiques). This means that as well as all the smalls, we'll also be able to sell furniture, appliances and tools. What a relief!

Today we took close to a dozen boxes. When we arrived, they set up three large tables and we unpacked everything, they looked it over and gave us an itemized list (some thing were marked a s groups). Then. we were able to walk away. Is that cool or what?

I thought I'd share some pictures
of todays haul.
Our first group of smalls.

These next three pictures
are a huge table
full of crystal and glassware.

It's a relief
to turn these over
to someone to sell
as we have no idea of their value.

Now it's all
in someone elses hands!

We're taking more tomorrow
and hopefully
this will be the start
of a beautiful friendship!

Good Morning

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I don't usually post in the morning but we've been so busy I haven't had much energy to post at night. Or much to talk about anyway.

We have the car loaded to the gills, and today we'll take the first load to the auction house. Also a couple more boxes of CDs and DVDs to the used book store.

I'm finally beginning to see just a bit of space, not much, but a bit. We're thinking of maybe renting a storage shed for a month or two. That way we could move the keeper boxes out of the way. We'd also use it for boxing up the Disney that will go to another auction house at a later date. We've discovered that a big part of the problem is the stuff we want to sell in different venues. If we can just get it out of the house once it's sorted, that would be a huge help.

Who would have ever thought this would be so much work?

As I've said before, lessons to be learned.

We've decided that we'll take a week off at the beginning of March. A group of Lazy Daze owners are meeting up in Morro Bay for few days. We haven't seen a lot of our California friends for some time, so this sounds like the perfect break, My thoughts are that we'll be so much further along with the house by then, that coming back after a week will help us see it with new eyes and speed us along even faster.

At least that's what I'm hoping.

I keep trying to stay positive, but I have to tell you, I really hate the weather here. It's so cold and damp, we never seem to get truly warm. We were trying to figure out if it's always been like this? Were we just so acclimated that it was our reality? Or has our time in the dry open southwest changed us forever?

Well, it's certainly changed us, but I mean physically, as to what we can tolerate. When we were in the deepest snow in Northern New Mexico, it would be bitingly cold, but we could get warm, and the rig stayed toasty. Here, no matter how much heat we apply, we're always cold. I believe it's the damp. Whatever it is, I hate it.

We both took a vow today that once we're done with this project, we'll never again stay in a place so physically uncomfortable.

I so long for the freedom of the road.

So today, we go off to unload a lot of baggage, grocery shop, fill up with propane, visit the library and probably treat ourselves to lunch.

And I'll be taking the camera, so maybe we'll squeeze in a bit of photo time.

the Madonnas

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I love artwork. Images, sculpture, music, film, theater, you name it and I'm probably a fan.

And as you probably know by now, I'm a born collector.

I've written before about how I manage my collecting living in the motorhome. Since I don't wish to change my lifestyle by not surrounding myself with art, I have to be very selective.

Being here and going through all my artwork is proving to be a real challenge, but I feel like I'm doing pretty good. Today I only added one piece to the rig, and she weighs next to nothing.

I've had this for years, and I truly love it. I often find myself drawn to images of the Virgin, and I distinctly remember not bringing this originally because there is some damage to the face. That said, when I look at her face now, I realize she needs to be in the rig with us. Then there's the sequins, which I also love.

She's going to live on our refrigerator,
as you see here.

In looking around the rig,
I realize this is my third
depiction of the Virgin.

This is a piece I picked up in a thrift store
some fifteen years ago ($4.00).
Every time I look at her,
I'm enthralled all over again.
She's hand painted and set in a frame
that I believe is tortoise shell,
although it may just be plastic.
I don't really care,
as the serenity of the piece
has brought me so much joy over the years.

The third piece
is a hand painted Madonna
I picked up in New Mexico.

I should mention
that while I'm not particularly religious,
I feel very spiritual.
I think that's the reason
these pieces resonate with me so deeply.

Masks

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I have to tell you, I am so sick of the weather here. It's been raining since we got here, and it looks like it's never going to stop.

Henry hates it too.

Before I go any further with this entry, I need to say something. Like I said, the weather has been pretty horrible since we've been here. We've just started to make a little bit of progress inside the house. We have an appointment this Friday to take the first round of boxes to the auction company, with more to follow.

What with working inside, we haven't done a thing to the outside of the house or the yard. It's looking pretty grim. AND, I seem to have as much stuff outside as I do inside. Well, not really, but I do have a lot of outside decorations.

I'm telling you this because when I look at these pictures, the house looks really horrible. I'll admit it's in need of a bit of paint, but the truth is, If I had the time and inclination, a good power wash would help a lot.

But there's the rain, and all the other things to do . . .

So please bear that in mind when you look at these pictures.

As anyone who follows this blog knows, I've been a pretty hard core collector for most of the last fifty years. While I still appreciate the many things I've collected, I know in my heart I can do without them. That said, as I look at them, I'm amazed at the variety and volume of it all.

Just like I like small hand carved pieces, I also have an appreciation for large hand carved pieces, particularly primitive and ethnic art.

Like everything else, these pieces have come to me over the years., one at a time, resulting in another collection.

the Masks

I'm not sure where these two are from.
I'm assuming the one
on the left is Indonesian
and the one on the right might be
from somewhere around Australia.
The eyes are Mother of Pearl.

I have no idea where these three are from,
but they are all of a similar wood.

Another pair of unknown origin.
I really like the hair
on the one on the top.
The painting on the bottom one
is much brighter than it appears
in this photo.

This is a weird montage.
The ceramic lady is quite beautiful.
For years she held trailing lantana.
The black mask to her right
is inlaid with mother of pearl.

Another of unknown origin.

This one is, I believe, a piece of folk art.
I think someone found the wood
with the "bone structure" already
created by nature,
then just took it from there.
I like the bone in the nose.

This one used to be
much brighter,
but has weathered substantially.
Still, I like the way nature
has subtled her tones.

I have several friends who are pretty serious Tiki collectors, so I'm going to point them to this blog. Hopefully, this collection will find a good home.

Otherwise, it's off to the auction!

Sugar Free Cheesecake

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We pretty much try to eat low carb as much as possible. While we're not real anal about it (especially this time of year), we do make a concerted effort.

Basically, this means we try to avoid sugar, wheat and most starchy vegetables. We haven't found this too difficult, but every once in a while, the desire for yummy sweet desserts overcomes us.

And when it does, I usually make us a cheesecake.

Since we avoid wheat, we can't have the regular crust (graham crackers, vanilla wafers, whatever). Sometimes I just make a crustless cheesecake, but I really prefer a crust, so I've found a great substitute in almond meal. It has the consistency of flour, but is high in fiber and low in carbs. You can either buy it pre-ground, or run it through your food processor. For my crust, I melt some butter and mix it with the almond meal, press it into a spring form pan and bake it for about ten minutes, just enough to give it a bit of color.

For the filling, I use three 8 ounce packs of cream cheese (room temperature) three eggs (also room temperature) 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and the equivalent of one and one half cups of sugar. Since we don't eat sugar, we use Splenda, which bakes up just fine. If you like a bit of tartness (which we do) you can also add three tablespoons of lime juice.

Right here, I'd like to mention a product we first found in New Mexico called Nellie and Joe's Key West Lime Juice. I have to tell you, this is the very best seasoning I've ever found. For years, I used fresh lemons or limes when I needed that bit of tart zip. Like almost everyone else, I had tried that gross liquid that comes in the little plastic lemons and limes and was disgusted. It just doesn't taste like anything real, more like some concoction of chemicals that try to resemble citrus.

Then one day, I saw Nelie and Joe's and decided to give it a try, and my culinary life changed forever.


This juice is like nothing else I've ever used. It really does taste like fresh lime juice, and it keeps for a really long time when refrigerated. I use it in salad dressing, for a marinade, in making dips for different fish (I love it mixed with sour cream and dill and drizzled over salmon). It's also excellent in drinks.

Give it a try, it's superb.

Okay, back to the cheesecake. You take all the filling ingredients and mix them till they're creamy smooth. Since I'm not afraid of raw eggs, at this point I give it a taste, just to make sure that it's sweet or tart enough. Then you put it in the baked pie shell and stick it in a 350 degree oven for one hour. You want it to be firm but not hard, if that makes any sense.

When the cake is done, take about a cup of sour cream, sweeten it up with some Splenda and add a heavy dose of lime juice. You have to do this by taste as everyone likes it different. I like to have this topping really tart, as I think the bite it gives the cake is a nice touch, but you might want it sweet. It's up to you.

Once you have the sour cream topping to your taste, just spread it on to the top of the cheesecake. Put the cake in the fridge for a couple of hours, and when it's all firm and set up, you can take this anywhere and no one will ever guess you've left out the sugar.

Yum!