07 March 2024

Bringing Garbage Home


Some people up the street were throwing this table away. It was in pretty bad shape and one of the legs was off. I've glued the leg back on, stripped it, sanded it, and stained it. It is still not any sort of heirloom quality but free is free... and I have several "children" here at home who are (hopefully) thinking of leaving the nest one by one again soon.  So this will work as one of several pieces of first furniture.



Ignore the trash on the floor. Right now the table is dry enough to be taken out of the high traffic areas of the house, but not dry enough to put things on just yet.  I still have all my sanding/ stripping supplies nearby too.



 

10 June 2023

What A MESS.

Maybe my bloggy friend Virginia has seen a six and a half-foot tall curly-top kid driving about in a grey car with Missouri license plates since last November, because Emperor and Elf now live in the suburbs of Firebird City.  Patrick joined them in April.  I'm going through the stuff they left (everything but one suitcase each, thanks guys) and boxing it up.  And finding graffiti from ages past.

This is what I am left with.  You would think packing up all the stuff they had would mean I had MORE room but apparently not!  Packing things into boxes makes the items inside expand by about 60 percent.  Scientific fact.
 
Not sure why I am trying to paint a room full of boxes, but since I no longer do laundry and flip the dishes about in the dishwasher so much I don't have much else to do... Well, there is the poison ivy in the rock garden but I am pretending not to notice that... the house seems veryyy empty with only two children in it.

 

15 May 2023

Polish Festival in Weston, Missouri!

I went with a friend last weekend to the festival in Weston, Missouri.  There was a band playing Polish music, lots of Polish food for sale, Polish outfits and almost every sort of trinket from Poland you could imagine.  These bunnies are Polish pottery cookie jars.

Honey pots with little drizzlers.


Um... can you tell that Kansas City has a bit of an unhealthy obsession with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs?

One of the shops downtown had works from several metalworking artists as well as some stained glass. 


Here's what I bought.  A giant bowl with bunnies. I love bunnies!

And my mug.  It was a great day!

 

02 July 2022

First Same-Sex Marriage in US, 1834

Published in the 5 April 1834 Christian Intelligencer.

It took me a few readings before I realized that the other "man" who was dressed as a "woman" was actually woman all along! She had run away from home because her father didn't approve of the marriage.  This marriage would have been performed in the Dutch Reformed Church, hardly a bastion of liberal crazy ideas. Would you like to read about how to preach a sermon in that denomination around that time?  So happens my fifth great-grandfather James Spencer Cannon (1776-1852) wrote an entire book on the subject for your edification.  

He was a professor of Metaphysics at Rutgers College and a professor of Theology and Ecclesiastical History at their seminary.  He was born on a ship in Curacoa, Dutch West Indies, because his dad was a ship captain who brought his family on his adventures.  I am sure Dad was transporting nothing but Bible tracts in that cargo hold because that is exactly what people usually did in the Golden Triangle during that era.  It paid enough for him to send several children to private school and maintain a home in New York City.

But James was orphaned at a young age, and some wealthy fella named Elias Brevoort would have met him at the school and supported him after his inheritance ran out (hence the fancy degrees and job).  Later he married Elias's daughter Catherine but there was some sort of disagreement between them.  Elias specifically wrote that James was not to touch a penny of his money in his will; his daughters were capable of managing his estate and handling their own money, thanks.

And here is a photo of James Spencer Cannon, complete with his little top hat and signature in the corner.  Snazzy.

20 May 2022

Go Away, Greitens.

Junk mail from Missouri First Action, top clipped to remove my address.

The "establishment thugs in the D.C. swamp" attack former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens for his "America First" values? Ew. Let's see... he cheated on his wife, left office in shame and even got indicted by a grand jury. If you're feeling brave, google "50 Shades of Greitens" sometime and see what this guy got up to. Ages ago I thought he was just not conservative enough... no... now I know it's way more than that.

14 May 2022

The Robinson Family Photos

My great-grandmother Ruth Ida Robinson (1889-1970) is tending a cow on her farm in Weedsport, Cayuga County, New York. Here are a few pictures from her photo album.



Here's her son! I knew him as Granddaddy, but his name was Ross Robinson Monroe.  He was born in Cayuga County but grew up in Toronto, Canada. 


This is Ruth's brother/ Granddaddy's uncle, George Gates Robinson. During this time, it was almost mandatory to give the oldest son the mother's maiden name as a middle name.
.

What a fun bunch of people! I would not have ever thought any Robinsons to have been informal, having met some of the older folks myself, but the album had a few surprises...


A picnic!

 
When going out on the town, hats and gloves are a must!


Granddaddy with his aunt Jo and dog, Sport.


Granddaddy again in the same outfit riding a horse.  He may actually be quite young in the photos because he was just under 6ft 5 as an adult.

25 January 2022

Sorry. Not Outraged.




Hello! Some of the more conservative websites have been letting me know I'm supposed to be triggered because Biden called a reporter an SOB. Nope. Biden can say whatever he wants. Would be nice if he left Americans the hell alone, tho'. If you'd like to get vaccinated, or not, or breathe all over the grocery store like a free unmuzzled person with no mask, or wear five masks, you go make that choice! Just don't expect me to do what you do, or pass laws mandating that I must. 

And I'd sure appreciate if my local school district quit using MY tax dollars to fight Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt. He has the common sense to tell schools that last he checked, they aren't health officials and simply lack the authorities they have been exercising. They cannot tell children they must wear masks or quarantine or do anything but stay home when they're sick. "Stay home when you're sick" or have a fever is a very reasonable request. 

Bringing Garbage Home

Some people up the street were throwing this table away. It was in pretty bad shape and one of the legs was off. I've glued the leg back...