Porch-Part Five
This porch project seems to be going on forever. Our contractor Joe jerry-rigged this platform to work on reattaching the downspout. Uh! Looking at these pictures makes me so uneasy!
Eaves Dropping
Pete and Joe repaired the porch eaves.
The stairs and deck were painted.
If I'd never been there before I would think that At Home is some goth super center. Pete got these rubber mats there. The treads on the stairs are cut down from bigger mats.
Here's where it gets really nuts. Pete and I feed off each others kookiness, but he is one upping me with all these details. I love this porch so much!
Pete set up this painting lathe with a drill and some plastic toy gears to paint the porch balusters.
Flora and Fauna
Pete works for Joe on occasion. It was cold enough on one of these jobs for Pete to leave almond milk on the porch. A squirrel (or some other nut loving rodent) also thought it was a good idea.
A local goat farmer brought a few baby goats to Black Forge Coffee. I wish I could have been there. Goats are my favorite farm animal!
New Acquisitions
I saw this book on display in a fancy hotel in Florida over the summer and bought my own copy. Its the story of a duck whose duck husband is shot down during migration, and her search to find him. It's kind of a morose story for children, but Mrs. Quack finds Mr. Quack alive in the end. Its inspiring to know some children's book writer was questioning the morality of duck hunting in 1917.
This cat ephemera was displayed in a photo album at an antique mall on Long Island, probably from one cat lady's collection.
a cat cigar label
This one is kinda creepy
This postcard was mailed in 1918, the last year year of WW1, sent by a British soldier through their military postal system. There is no paper stamp, just two ink stamps. One reads "ARMY POST OFFICE" the other says 'PASSED BY CENSOR No. 5376." Any outgoing mail from soldiers was read to make sure no military secrets were leaking out.
The message reads
"Dear Nella, Hope you are all well and not being worried over air raids. How would you like to meet three cats dressed up like this? -Uncle Charlie
If you are interested, there is more information about military censorship during WW1 here.
Moving out of the darkness of the Great War, I got some fantastic Christmas gifts this year!
Domestic regret is such a big theme in many postcards from this era!
Below is the back of the Matrimonial Bliss postcard. It reads
" Dear Florena, half past three this morning Jane was brighter and this morning Papa went in and found her dead"
Jeez, doesn't this kind of news deserve an actual letter, in an envelope?
Maybe Jane was the sick old family dog.
I was at first confused by this photograph from Pete. He said it would look great framed next to the trimmed lampshade hat postcard I love so much. Pete worked in a frame shop in college, he's gonna regret telling me that when I start asking him to mat and frame all of the photos and prints I've accumulated.
Pete got me these miniature portraits a while ago.
I've recently learned about the French magazine La Vie Parisienne, published from 1863 to 1970. For unknown reasons, the issues I see posted on Ebay are mostly from the 1920s and 1930s. I've collected a few issues, and Pete got me this amazing winter issue.
This didn't make a cover, but I think butterfly lady is suitable for framing.
There are so many of these magazines with great cover art, collecting these could become an expensive habit, so I try to avoid looking at them on Ebay.
Pete bought me two Currier and Ives ladies prints, Ann and The Belle of New York. I'm starting to recognize different Currier and Ives artists. I have a couple of prints from an artist who most likely created Ann. I really like her, in spite of her asymmetrical breasts and jointless fingers.
There is no one complete archive of Currier and Ives prints, which makes hunting for them all the more fun. The modern books published about the company print the more popular landscape images. No one has much to say about these ladies.
Pete commissioned this bag from Etsy seller Spunbyver in California. There are no words to accurately describe its awesomenessđź’—
Inspiration
The Wonder House
Bartow, Florida
This house is an hour away from where my in-laws live, so I'm hoping to take a tour on my next Florida trip.
Construction of the Wonder House began in 1926 by fellow kook from Pittsburgh Conrad Schunk. He was inspired to move to Florida after being told he was terminally ill. He packed up his family and headed south, living 40 years past his unspecified diagnosis.
This was originally a pond. There was a pond inside the house as well.
Mr. Schunk was big on bringing water into the house in unconventional ways. A rainwater collection system was designed in the now enclosed porch. Water was collected on the roof, flowing down through hollow concrete porch columns leading to a tap on the sunroom window.
Exploiting the child labor of his nine children, the Schunk children worked on the house with their father. They helped dig the foundation, mixed concrete, and set all those small bits of mosaic glass. Was this a fun family project, or a domineering crazy man forcing his children to bring his vision to fruition?
Every concrete surface appears to have glass and ceramic imbedded in it.
These blue ceiling panels in the parlor were once removable. Mr. Schunk would change the images depending on the season or holidays.
Mr. Schunk used a periscope, mirrors, and prisms to shine different color lights into the parlor through a special channel in the fireplace. This optical witchcraft was too advanced for some to comprehend, and with the mass paranoia of WW2 some of the local rednecks thought he was a German spy. This accusation gained traction, and Mr. Schunk spent three days in jail and was investigated by the FBI.
After this experience he dismantled the whole contraption.
Just like wacky Mrs. Sara Winchester, Mr. Schunk never thought the house was finished, so his family never lived there.
Instead, the house became a source of income for the family as an established tourist destination from the 1930s to the 1960s.
The house is currently owned by Drew Davis and Krislin Kreis, who have been working on its restoration since 2015. The couple live in the house and open it for tours on the weekends. They have done a beautiful job furnishing and decorating, complementing Mr. Schunk's original vision.
Photos from:
Polk Government-YouTube channel
Cupping is an ancient practice where a heat source is placed in the cup then quickly removed. The cup is quickly placed on the skin, creating a vacuum.
Visit Central Florida-YouTube channel
The Sterling Collection
What look like stemless wine glasses are glass domes for medical cupping.
Some of the claims are that it helps:
inflammation-I'm not sure how, its sure to inflame the area due to the vacuum effect
blood flow-anything sucking on you is good for blood flow
There's also the "helps eliminate toxins" claim. I was unable to find what specific toxins those are.
One theory is that the procedure creates a controlled injury, helping the area to heal.
This looks like it could possibly be effective for sore or knotted muscles or extracting a big zit, but other than that, I'm filing this under quack medicine.
I don't poo poo on all schools of alternative medicine. Maybe this is really effective for some people, but some of the claims sound like bullshit to me.
Poetry Corner
I think I have about 10 more poems before I run out.
