Tag Archives: Wednesday Whimsy

Nov 5 2014

Blowing Bubbles for Wednesday Whimsy

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????A sure fire method for entertaining babies is to blow soap bubbles…well, come to think of it, that works for  amusing pretty much everyone! I’ve put together a fun little gathering of my Victorian trade cards around this ???????????????????????????????theme.

“Real laughter is spontaneous. Like water from the spring it bubbles forth a creation of mingled action and spontaneity – two magic potions in themselves – the very essence of laughter – the unrestrained emotion within us!”  Douglas Fairbanks

“No bubble is so iridescent or floats longer than that blown by the successful teacher.”  William Osler

“In all our quest of greatness, like wanton boys, whose pastime is their care, we follow after bubbles, blown in the air.” John Webster

“Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; let fortune’s bubbles rise and fall; who sows a field, or trains a flower, or plants a tree, is more than all.” John Greenleaf Whittier

“Songs are like a form of time travel because they really have moved forward in a bubble. Everyone who’s connected with it, the studio’s gone, the musicians are gone, and the only thing which is left is this recording, which was only about a three-minute period maybe 70 years ago.” Tom Waits

???????????????????????????????I enjoy this card to the left because it solemnly instructs you to “Read The Other Side”,  lest you not flip it over and thereby miss the Yates & Company Clothing’s wish for you to have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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See you next Wednesday for more Whimsy!

Oct 22 2014

The Cherubs Will Help You With Your Corset Now

???????????????????????????????Today’s Wednesday Whimsy is about the 1880’s corset and the Victorian trade cards advertising that essential ladies’ garment. I picked my favorite cards to share….

I like the idea that little cherubs would appear to assist you in lacing up your “glove fitting corset” but I have the rose corsetfeeling more often it was like that scene from the movie “Titanic”, where Rose’s mother made the thing as tight as she could get it!

Here’s a quote from actress Sarah Gadon: “When you’re wearing a corset for a long period of time, things that were important to you hours before are no longer important, because doing them exhausts you.”

And Michelle Dockery of Downton Abbey: “I don’t mind wearing a corset, it informs your posture, changes the way you move, you can’t slouch.”

Author Ali Smith: “Words are like untying a corset – you can move into this great space with them.”

I don’t think I personally would have enjoyed wearing one, no matter how wasp-waisted it made me look in those petticoats and ruffles. Although I did read there were looser ones made for sports, such as bicycling. I should hope so!???????????????????????????????
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These three actresses in the center card above appear to love their corsets, although you can’t see any effect under the pretty robes.
But I think perhaps this card below is my favorite:
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Oct 15 2014

Wednesday Whimsy S Is For Shoes

???????????????????????????????S Is For Shoes and I’ve got more Victorian trade cards to share…it seems to have been quite a “thing” in 1880’s advertising to have a pretty shoe with a bouquet of flowers artfully arranged inside. The one above is my favorite, and was advertising the White Sewing Machine Company, with 700,000 of  them in use by busy seamstresses at the time!

???????????????????????????????“Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.” Marilyn Monroe  I’m totally with her, although I suspect she and???????????????????????????????I were thinking of something a lot sexier than these pretty Victorian slippers I’m showing today.

“A shoe is not only a design, but it’s a part of your body language, the way you walk. The way you’re going to move is quite dictated by your shoes.” Christian Louboutin  My secret wish for a long time has been to have just one pair of his shoes….don’t ask me where I’d wear them!

“I think I have something tonight that’s not quite correct for evening wear. Blue suede shoes.”  Elvis Presley Oh yes, those blue suede shoes of his were something else all right.

“Let your dreams outgrow the shoes of your expectations.”  Ryunosuke Satoro

“The time has come,’ the walrus said, ‘to talk of many things: of shoes and ships – and sealing wax – of cabbages and kings.” Lewis Carroll There was also a theme in Victorian advertising of people sailing the seas in shoes. And another theme of the ubiquitous cherubs playing in  and around shoes.

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The great thing about writing is that you always put yourself in the shoes of the character. If you’re doing it right, you can see into the heart of all your characters. Usually, when there’s a writing problem, it’s because you aren’t doing that. Peter Gould (Director of Breaking Bad)

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Oct 8 2014

October for Wednesday Whimsy

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???????????????????????????????I LOVE the month of October! Yes, ok I was born in this month, but I generally love the cool, crisp Fall ???????????????????????????????weather and this is my favorite time of the year.  I’ve been keeping my eyes open for October-themed or autumnal 1880’s Victorian trade cards…found a few to share today. I also scooped up an alphabet card,  V for Veronica of course, although the maker of the card series seemed to feel the letter is best represented by volcanoes and vipers and vino.

We had a poem we had to memorize in elementary school, “October’s Bright Blue Weather” by Helen Hunt Jackson, published in 1893. Here’s the first stanza:

O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,
        And flowers of June together,
    Ye cannot rival for one hour
        October’s bright blue weather;

The poem goes on for six more stanzas along these lines, SO much bounteous praise for my favorite month, and then the poetess concludes:

O suns and skies and flowers of June,
        Count all your boasts together,
    Love loveth best of all the year
        October’s bright blue weather.

Totally works for me!

014So the 8th is my birthday…here’s me hard at work tomorrow on the current WIP, because birthday or no, we authors must get the words out….I did actually learn to type on a typewriter nearly that old, a Royal that my Dad picked up for cheap at a thrift store when I was a kid. That’s why I still literally pound the keys,  even on my nice laptop, because you had to use force to get those metal strikers to fly up and leave a letter imprinted on the paper.

And here’s me, trying on new earrings for the family dinner party we’re having to celebrate the event???????????????????????????????…She was actually advertising Magnolia Balm on this card. And then here’s The Author celebrating in the last card below:

The bottle contains “Compound Oxygen” created by Drs. Starkey & Palen of Philadelphia. The back of the trade card admonished sternly that this was “not a drug” and  listed numerous Editors, Ministers, Foreign Consuls and Members of Congress who swore by the stuff. All I can say is she looks pretty darn relaxed and cheerful for someone who’s just “restored the Fountainhead of all mental and physical activity to a state of integrity, thereby causing her muscles, nervous system and organs to all act more kindly and efficiently.” GIVE me some of THAT!

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Oct 1 2014

Risque Ladies of the 1880’s for Wednesday Whimsy

???????????????????????????????I thought since we had Queen Victoria herself last week, this week I’d do “R Is for Risque Ladies” as my ???????????????????????????????Wednesday Whimsy/A to Z Challenge post. I must hasten to add though that what was risque in the 1880’s, is pretty tame to our eyes.

I’m using Mae West quotes today although she’s obviously not from the 1880’s but the flavor is there…

“I didn’t discover curves; I only uncovered them.”

“Love thy neighbor – and if he happens to be tall, debonair and devastating, it will be that much easier.”

“I’ve been things and seen places.”

“If I asked for a cup of coffee, someone would search for the double meaning.”

“Cultivate your curves – they may be dangerous but they won’t be avoided.”

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??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????025This one to the left’s not very risque until you realize her skirt is hiked all the way up in front…oh my 😉

And then there were the Bathing Beauty cards, usually associated with cigars or cigarettes….this lady below is smoking a cigar herself, in fact.

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There were probably much racier cards in the 1880’s but those don’t show up in a price range I can afford, in the places I shop….sorry! These final two Bathing Beauties were advertising a shoe store, of all places….

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Sep 17 2014

P is for Parasol on Wednesday Whimsy

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????This week’s Wednesday Whimsy is all about the parasol….couldn’t find too many quotes about them, other than this one from author Anne Sexton, in a poem entitled “The Kite: “The parasol girls slept, sun-sitting their lovely years.”

When I interviewed steampunk author Gail Carriger for my USA Today/HEA column awhile ago, of course ???????????????????????????????she has written an entire series entitled The Parasol Protectorate. Here’s one quick Q&A from the interview:

Veronica: Which piece of steampunk “technology” in the series is your favorite invention and why?

Gail: I like the really silly ones. So I’d probably go for some of those in the Finishing School series, like Bumbersnoot (a steam-powered mechanical sausage dog), which are a bit more whimsical. In the Parasol Protectorate books, I’d have to choose Alexia’s third parasol, the one Biffy decorates. It’s the ultimate Swiss Army knife of parasols.

I don’t have any Victorian trade cards with parasols that multi-purpose, but some fun-to-look-at nonetheless. And I love the dress this lady to the right is wearing….

Humans weren’t the only creatures who needed parasols in the late 1800’s, as you can see from the cards below. (The one with the chickens reminds me of my author friend Pippa Jay, not because she writes terrific science fiction romance (although she does)  but because she keeps “chooks”, as she calls them, in her Colchester UK home.

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I think the lady mouse on her “slow coach” with her leaf or flower petal parasol is very ???????????????????????????????endearing….I like the way she’s keeping her sang froid on that  less than secure perch!

And two more photos below, although it almost seems the couple has a beach umbrella rather than a parasol but it fits my theme (almost), so there you are!

 

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Sep 10 2014

O is for Owls on Wednesday Whimsy

???????????????????????????????More Victorian 1800s trade cards from the collection today! They seem to have really loved owls in their advertising.

There was an entire series of these cards to the left, featuring the mother-in-law owl, who seemed to be perpetually disapproving, and then the two owls who were in love, plus random frogs.  I like this one the best ???????????????????????????????because even if the old lady owl doesn’t seem happy, the young lovers clearly are. Even the Moon, peeking out from behind the tree, seems ok with the romantic pair. The card was advertising Sweet Home Soap.

Here’s what Ernest Hemingway thought about the birds: “A serious writer is not to be confounded with a solemn writer. A serious writer may be a hawk or a buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl.” Okayyyyy…..

I like this proverb: “The owl of ignorance lays the egg of pride.” And also this Greek proverb: “The rabbits’ eye differs from that of the owl.” Yes, yes it does.???????????????????????????????

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, said: “Alone and warming his five wits, the white owl in the belfry sits.”

I’m quite bemused by the next card. The lady seems rather shocked by the owls. The owls are dressed for a party apparently, whereas she looks ready to turn in for the night. And I wish I had some of that Ladies’ Tonic, the sure cure all, just $1.00! Any why a huge blue and white vase?  Maybe I’m searching for too much deep meaning and sublimity in ads that are over 100 years old.

Tell me you don’t love this dress below! I think she’s supposed to be wearing a costume and is an Owl. And then of course there’s a thoroughly modern owl that I’m sure almost no one can forget!

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Aug 27 2014

Muses, Graces and Xanadu for Wednesday Whimsy

???????????????????????????????This week’s Wednesday Whimsy is M for Muse. I’m always talking about mine and how finicky she is, and how she absolutely refuses to plot things too far in advance LOL.

Here’s what famed film maker Franco Zefferelli thought about the Muses: “I have always believed that opera is a planet where the muses work together, join hands and celebrate all the arts.”

???????????????????????????????I have a lovely set of six trade cards from 1910, from Italy, with the nine classic Muses, to share with you today. These young women were thought by the Greeks to personify knowledge and the arts, especially music, dance and various forms of literature. I put Clio and Calliope at the top because Clio represented history and Calliope specialized in epic poetry. Hesiod, a Greek poet who lived around the same time as Homer, said:  “Happy is the man whom the Muses love: sweet speech flows from his mouth.”  Or as James Broughton, a precursor to the Beat Poets said, “The most astonishing joy is to receive from the muses the gift of a whole lyric.”

Yes, just hope the Muse doesn’t dictate too fast for the poet or author to scribble the notes!

Then we have Polimnia for geometry, grammar and hymns,  walking with Euterpe, ???????????????????????????????the Muse for music. Thalia protected comedy and Erato lived for love and love poetry and weddings. She’s the lady of Happily Ever After, I think!=>
Melpomene (shown below) was the opposite of Thalia, being the Muse who sponsored tragedy. She carries the mask of Tragedy and a bat (to bring tragedy if there isn’t enough already???)
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Urania inspired the astronomers and protected the stars…As Mary Ritter Beard said, about a hundred years ago, “It’s only very recently that women have succeeded in entering those professions which, as Muses, they typified for the Greeks.” We’ve made progress  since Ms. Beard was writing but much remains to be done.
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 There’s another quote I loved, before I get to the ninth Muse and my big finale.  This is from an ancient Roman scholar and writer named Marcus Terentius Varro: “The number of guests at dinner should not be less than the number of the Graces nor exceed that of the Muses, i.e., it should begin with three and stop at nine.”  I guess he liked very small gatherings…So here are the Three Graces, or Daughters of Zeus, for you, although I know them as Faith, Hope and Charity myself:
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 OK, now the ninth and final Muse was Terpsichore, the protector of dance, inventor of the harp and a lady who liked to have fun while dancing. I saved her for last because I’ve got a wonderful, fun music video for you from the old 1980’s musical ???????????????????????????????“Xanadu,” wherein the Muses come to life to the music of Electric Light Orchestra singing “I’m Alive”. Olivia Newton John played a girl named Kira, who was a Muse in human form and inspired a roller rink among other things in this fun, candy-colored film. Gene Kelly danced in it, although not in this youtube clip I’m putting below!
Aug 20 2014

L is For Laundry on Whimsy Wednesday

???????????????????????????????Combining my slowly unfolding A to Z challenge with my Wednesday Whimsy meme, and adding in my Victorian trade cards! I’ve got some fun ones to share this week. I actually enjoy doing laundry, even though it’s one of those never ending tasks. Somehow it doesn’t seem as pointless to me as dusting does. I even enjoyed the laundry process as a kid when I had to go hang the clothes outside to dry, using wooden clothespins. I think it’s satisfying to end up with loads of clean, fresh smelling clothes and sheets, more or less neatly folded. Although thankfully our clothespins didn’t talk to me or try to run away, as the ones on this card above are doing!

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True story – my mother was right handed and she would go behind me into the linen closet and refold ALL the towels I’d just put away, because I folded them the reverse way from how she did it and she informed me it bothered her to know the towels were mixed up on the shelves, facing different directions! (I’m left handed.) She’d really be appalled by the state of folding in my current linen closet.

I think these trade cards are especially fun, from a late 1800’s brand called Soapine.  Evidently they did a whole series of clever cards where daily household objects spelled out the company name. The two I’m sharing in this post were my favorites. Soapine also had other humorous cards, like the clothespins,  and more mundane ones, without humor, that just touted the virtues of the soap itself.

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I have a kind of running joke with one of my author friends, about how she always leaves the laundry until Sunday night and  then has to stay up late to get it all done – this 1880’s Queen of Laundry card below is in your honor, Jodie!

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Aug 13 2014

Ladies Reading ~ Wednesday Whimsy

???????????????????????????????For today’s Wednesday Whimsy I went to my stash of Victorian trade cards and decided to present a theme of Ladies Reading. Most are reading books but a few, like this charming medieval damsel, are apparently reading letters. I love her hair, seems to be in the most elaborate braid.

Found this quote from Francis Bacon:

“Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.”

And I think the picture is a good illustration for the quote???????????????????????????????

She was advertising some kind of meat extract…..
Now the recumbent young lady below  was apparently reading and then began having “Maidens Dream of a New Home”,  as the card says, which was apparently going to have to feature a new sewing machine! Here’s a quote for her:
???????????????????????????????“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.” John Locke
I love the ones of people reading together, like these two elaborately dressed young ladies, who were advertising shoes (although the shoes are all but invisible in the picture).
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???????????????????????????????And my next art card embodies this Jane Austen quote, I think, and reminds me so much of her novels. “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
And this last one is just fun – she’s obviously reading a scary book alone at night. I like to imagine she’s reading Frankenstein perhaps, or Dracule, or maybe even The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. This card was advertising “a trusty family tonic” and advises on the reverse side that young ladies should forego reading ghost stories at bedtime. I guess if they ignored the advice, then the trusty tonic was ready to banish the nightmares!
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