Five Aprils ago

Travel Tuesday? Tempting Tuesday? Too-sad-I'm-not-there Tuesday?
Need to get back there soon.

Geltendorf, Bavaria, Germany
April 2008

What a real Premier sounds like!

"We, in this province, are caught between these two cultures. The culture of the past, with its problems of back-breaking labour, disease, child mortality, premature ageing, inadequate medical facilities and limited educational opportunities, and the culture of the future, as represented by modern industrial states ... 

We must be careful not to over-romanticize the past with the result that we only recollect or think of the finer aspects of an earlier Island life and reject to recall the more grim aspects of living in Prince Edward Island ... Similarly, we must not forget that many Islanders today are not leading a particularly rewarding life ... 

What we must endeavour to do is to identify those advances which have helped in the past and can help in the future to eliminate a number of the debilitating and crushing problems we face and, at the same time, not lead ourselves into the mindless repetitive and de-humanizing aspects of the affluent society. 

Balance, to my mind, is the key word."

- Premier Alexander B. Campbell, 1973

Twenty-Something Days of Xmas: Happy to be home

Well, it's been a long, busy week, including a whirlwind weekend trip out of province. Long, busy, but great! But now here I am, home in Charlottetown, in sweats, on the computer. No shopping, the parties are done for the night. In honour of being home, how about some house and home gift recommendations, then, shall we? Six days' worth!

This recommendation is less for a gift than it is a store. Cottage Industry is a cool modern home decor shop downtown, on Grafton near the CIBC, that carries hip Canadian furniture lines and funky odds and ends. I'd love to outfit my space in modern stuff like this Gus sectional. (Someday!)

Moving Designz, also on Grafton, is another spot to check for neat household items and furniture. They've got lots of smaller items, like coral, vases, and toiletries if you're looking for cheap but stylish home buys. Their esthetic is more fresh, cheery and feminine than Cottage Industry, which leans more to the modern-rustic-industrial.

I am also a big fan of Cattails Woodwork by Brenda Watts, out of Hermitage, PEI, where you can get a badass Burled Maple Charcuterie Board, above, famous flamed French rolling pins, and cute wooden acorn-adorned things. Brenda also has an Etsy store that you can check out if you can't pick up her wares in person!

For your nerd friends who have homes, and empty walls measuring fifteen feet or more, you can get them this Entire First Level of the original Mario Bros poster from Packmania. 

My mom got a sheepskin for me as a baby, and I still have and use it. You should do the same for a baby you might have (or someone else's, that also works). Springwater Farm has great sheepskin products of all sizes, available at the Charlottetown Farmers Market on Saturdays.

And, for the last of the six days, MacAusland's classic, famous wool blankets. People debate whether or not you can be an Islander if you weren't born here; maybe you should only earn your status as a true Islander once you own one of these beauties from Bloomfield.

Whew, six more days along in the Twenty-something Days of Xmas. Stay tuned, especially if you procrastinate and still don't know what to get!

O Xmas Tree

My / our first tree! I am officially going to spend all of my time in here.

(Yes, it's real - balsam fir!)

Peter putting up our awesome tree topper - an exact replica of the topper I grew up with that my dad massacred accidentally smashed one year. It's even made in Poland! Last one at Winners. Success story of the season.

Most of the ornaments are antique mercury glass balls, some inherited and some lucky thrifted finds from work. Some are embroidered and beaded silk ornaments, made in India, bought at How Bazaar over the course of a few years. There are some pretty neat ones...

...like this turquoise-and-gold one...

...and this sort of ironic Islamic crescent-moon-and-star...

,..and, possibly my favourite, this red bird (reminds me of another ornament I grew up with).

We have two-tone lights, which we might rectify... or we might just keep the wonky mix. Hard to say.

I'm just happy the tree is here. The presents will follow soon behind it!

Happy holidays! The Twenty-something Days of Xmas will return shortly!

Homey

Peter and I were hoping to host some visitors over the weekend, so the apartment is still unnaturally neat and tidy right now. So here are some pictures.

The living room (with my family's dog, Mia, for the afternoon)

Sniffing around. Conclusion: yes, I do in fact live here.

 

And the sun room (or, the laundry room, I guess) - the best hangout spot in the apartment.

Orange! The table was repainted orange; thrifted Navajo-patterned rug, pillow cases, Hudson Bay throw.

You need a wool blanket if you hang out in there!

 

The JR's sign - an old bar in Charlottetown until the 90's, I think - we found at the flea market. 

Thrift Week 2012: Important Brands Edition

Moving along, Thrift Week 2012's third post brings us some pretty fabulous brand-name finds. My two favourite types of brands: high-end designer, and heritage (local, at that). First up, a Great Northern Knitters sweater, possibly vintage but likely not - it's in excellent shape so I'd be surprised. People do take good care of their GNK sweaters, though, so who knows! Either way, they used to run about $140, I bought this one for just under $5. Huzzah!

(For anyone not familiar with Great Northern Knitters, it was a wool products company based in Charlottetown that was famous for its ridiculously thick, cozy Island wool sweaters, mittens, worksock-patterned garments, and more, all made on the Island. It closed a number of years back and has more or less been replaced by Northern Watters Knitwear.)

Next up: Oh, just a vintage Christian Dior Monsieur t-shirt, monogrammed all-over, for, oh, $2.95. Yeah. And it's not the first Dior I found this week, if you can believe it! 

Dig and ye shall find. Happy hunting!

For Papa, lest we forget

This post is for my grandfather, George Sauer, who was drafted into the German forces in the Second World War at age 16. He was shot in the back shortly before the war was over, on duty in then-Czechoslovakia. He was rounded up with other wounded soldiers, and rather than being brought back to his home or even a city, he and the others were dumped on the side of a railway, only to be picked up by Russian soldiers and taken to a Prisoner of War camp, where he spent nine months before being released to return to Germany.

 Not long after the war, he immigrated to Canada, followed by my grandmother, and decided to settle in Prince Edward Island, where "no one will ever fight a war."

The Eagles

First Saturday off in over a month, you know what that means: Farmers' Market! Peter and I walked all the windy way on the trail this morning. It was so cold, I really needed this parka! But it was sunny and beautiful, very much worth the chill.

+ Thrifted vintage wool parka, with fox fur and

four (count 'em, four) embroidered eagles, made in Canada

+ Vintage lilac grape earrings

+ Mom's vintage brown scarf

+ That thrifted Alternative Apparel shirt I haven't stopped wearing

+ Old Navy Rockstar jeans

To market, to market!

Microfilm: Hats

From the vault, saved from Prince Edward Island and Maritime newspapers from the late 1800's to early 1940's.

Microfilm: Fashion

A selection from my vault of neat-o microfilm: fashion edition! Sourced from PEI newspapers from the late 1800's to 1940's.

Old Photos of the Week: Nanni & Papa take Montreal

I love these photos of my grandparents, back when they had first immigrated to Canada in the 1950's. This was prior to them moving to Prince Edward Island, where they eventually settled and had my mom, aunt, and uncles. I hope I can recreate these someday!

Old Photos Of The Week

Nanni & Papa's wedding pictures, mid-1950's, Montreal.