Golden Coral with a Soul of Flame

I was sick this past week with a bad cold. The kind of cold that left me in a brain fog for days. Dizzy. Feverish.

It was lovely, really.

You see, I'm in love with my bed - it's where I do all my best reading, writing, thinking, dreaming. And so it was great to have a perfectly legitimate excuse to be able to spend hours and hours there, a roll of toilet paper at my side to keep the liquids at bay - and vintage magazines scattered all around me.

I'm usually happy, in a bittersweet sort of way, when I'm lost in the past - and reading an old magazine is one of my favorite ways to get there. With each turn of the page there is a chance to discover a new treasure: a story written by an author who later became famous, a quaint poem, a gorgeous vintage fashion advertisement, a photograph of a toy or cereal box or shampoo that stirs up an old childhood memory.

This past week as I paged through my magazines, my head was too foggy to focus on anything but the photos and illustrations - and I decided to make a game of finding as many interesting vintage hats as I could. And then I chose my favorite, based on my current state of mind:

Still mourning, but surrounded in the color of hope. Cautious, but open to new possibilities. Watching, waiting...peacefully.

So here's the winner. Not exactly a hat, but a gorgeous scarf of "coral-red fired with gold" to match the Dorothy Gray lipstick.

"Jewel of India - golden coral with a soul of flame." Dorothy Gray lipstick advertisement - McCall's magazine, May 1960.

Mystery Date

When one door closes, another opens. Will he be a dream? Or a dud?



When I was a little girl my Barbie doll's Mystery Date was always the same guy - a one-armed G.I. Joe. (A war injury, I suppose.) As pitiful as this Joe was, she couldn't even have him all to herself! She had to share with Midge and Francie, and Skipper too.

I've never had much luck with men, and neither did my Barbie.

My darling daughter...

I finally got up the nerve to share my blog with my daughter, Rachel. There was silence for a while as she read it, and then the first thing out of her mouth? - "How can you call yourself the world's worst procrastinator? I'm the world's worst!"

She's certainly right about that. Like mother, like daughter. Only worse.

(I can get away with saying that because I don't have my own mother chiming in with memories of how unbearable I was to live with at times.)

On a brighter note........it's my daughter's 22nd birthday today. Happy Birthday, honey!

Sadly, this is the first birthday I can remember that I wasn't able to celebrate with her. Even on her 21st birthday last year, she chose to have her first legal drink with me and her older brother before going out with friends.

This year Rachel advertised her birthday plans to friends through her Facebook page, and managed to pull together a group of about twelve to spend the evening bar hopping along Grand Avenue in St. Paul. I'm always behind the times when it comes to cultural trends - so no, I'm not on Facebook - and if I were, I'm not sure I would have been invited to be one of her "friends." (For the same reasons I probably shouldn't have shared my blog URL with her - what was I thinking!) But my sister Mary's daughter is Rachel's "friend" - and so my sister found out for me where her starting point for the evening was going to be.

"Mary," I said excitedly, "Don't you think Rachel would get a kick out of it if Daniel [my son] and I surprised her by showing up tonight?"

Now my sister Mary is a real sweetheart, and always has a smile on her face. The smile is there whether she's happy or upset, whether she agrees or disagrees. When you know her well you can figure out which are the true smiles and which are the nervous or half-hearted ones. Her response to my question? - definitely a nervous smile. I got the point.

So, I wisely decided it was best if I just stay out of the picture tonight. Rachel's birthday cheesecake will have to wait until tomorrow.

I guess my little girl is all grown up now. It's hard to let go.

By the way, can you believe someone as young looking as me could possibly have a 22-year-old daughter? (Sometimes a person has to fish for compliments. I'm not too proud. :-)


Woodbury Facial Soap ad, McCall's magazine, Sept 1951

Better than Par

My ex-boyfriend caught me by surprise yesterday by inviting me to go golfing with him.

I made a few lucky shots, but on the whole I played a pretty lousy game.

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I didn't care, though.
Some things in life are better than par.

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And I'm not talking about a candy bar.

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"Wise is the golfer who carries a Baby Ruth in his pocket.

What a feast it is at the hungry ninth.

Stimulating, pure chocolate, plumply bulging with meaty nuts

whose toasted crispness gives rare flavor to the creamy fudge center in which they await your pleasure.

Here is enjoyment better than par - a generous goodness which satisfies your hunger deliciously;

a nourishing bracer which creates eager energy

for a lustier game on the last long nine...."

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Vintage 1929 ad for Curtiss Baby Ruth candy bar, featured in June 1929 Photoplay magazine

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Hmm...what exactly are they selling here?

They sure don't write advertising copy like they used to! :-)