Saturday in Snohomish and such...

Ellen is my kind of hostess: After a full day of exploring the Lavender Festival, she served a breakfast of freshly baked rolls and farm fresh jam made from the berries at the U pick farm.
Yummy!
Not only did she whip up a tasty repast first thing, she also was game for another day of hoofing it around to see the sights.
It was showery and a bit humid, but since we would be sight seeing mostly inside in Snohomish, we knew the rain would not be much of a bother at all.


The quaint town's antique and boutique row offered lots of tempting venues.


A graceful river view to be enjoyed...

Walking paths to trod...

And scenes of bloggers documenting all of the above.
So much to do and see in Snohomish!


The day's headline neatly summed up current the situation in the Northwest.

We began to noodle around the musty antique shops of antique row.
Can anyone guess what this contraption might be?
OK...I'll give.
It is a Victorian Squirrel cage!
Apparently the Victorians were fond of capturing white squirrels and parking them inside in a squirrel cage.
Now wouldn't that drive the family's dogs and cats crazy?


I thought I had heard of a millinery shop in Snohomish; Ellen enquired of a shop owner concerning that possibility and was directed to a three story high antique mall just across the way.
Apparently there was at one time a Seattle millinery named Gladys McFerron.
I loved her creative use of her first initial as a hat on her label.

Ellen has informed me a few times over our blogging friendship and now in person that she DOES NOT do hats.
I share this fact to underscore what a kind and indulgent hostess she was to allow me to wallow in millinery examples for an hour or some.
She did not convert to hat wearing but patiently listened to me extol the wonders and possibilities of each hat that I examined.
(She also proudly shared that her daughter Katie could wear any hat and oh do I wish she had come along with us for the sake of hat modeling for this post!)


The first booth owner listened to me go on and on about the hats she was displaying and after a bit went into the back of the space and pulled out this already purchased hat.
I swooned...

An original Schiaparelli creation in PERFECT condition!
She shared that she had acquired the hat and sold it to a private collector, possibly a museum, in a single day.


The had came in its original "shocking" pink hat box, the iconic fashion designers iconic color.
Boy could I ever picture this hat on a woman with a coiffed hairstyle, a slim long sleeved tightly fitting jacket, bias cut sweeping "New Look" length skirt sew from the same satin fabric as the hat trim and a necklace designed with pearls and diamonds with a matching bracelet upon her wrist.
Now that's what I call a style for a woman who knows her worth!


As I shared with Ellen: hats have throughout time cost the equivalent of a week's average income
Not every women could afford the luxury of a designer hat.

This hat was clearly made by "loving hands at home".
I salute her daring and wished I could have seen the rest of the outfit that went with it.





I'll admit to being very smitten by this hat.
Wool felt, velvet and fall flowers over layed with French veiling.
Oh la la!
The price was killer good too...this mall had such bargain basement prices on everything that if my luggage space wasn't already spoken for I would have been snapping up hats right and left.

Another evening or possibly black woman's church hat.
I made a point to verbally chide the not present booth owner for vignetting the hat with the elastic band UNDER THE CHIN.
Just for the record: Grown up women DO NOT wear the hat elastic (also called a jenny) under their chin.
Little girls under the age of ten wear their hats thusly to help keep the hat steady while they go about their childish antics.
Adult women wear the jenny behind their head, unseen beneath their hair, where the backside knob of the cranium keeps the elastic stable and low.
Sheesh.
Doesn't everyone know that?


This hat looked to be a small sized hat, and I wear a large size otherwise I would have been snapping it up to wear with a dark beige wool suit in winter.
Feather covered hats are amazingly both light and warm, just the thing for nippy fall outdoor weddings and such.


One of my very early blog posts was entitled "This is a stick-up!"
The picture of this hat should be added to that post; it has an excellent example of the use of a stick-up (the feathered tip bit in the front) in millinery.
The veiling is something to shout about too...

I was glad that these hats were tucked behind locked glass doors to prevent "playful" shop patrons from manhandling them while they tried the hats on for giggles.

Perfect hat to wear to an art gallery opening or a play...with a black short skirt, black turtleneck, and tall black boots.
Hair cut very short or tucked up completely inside the hat please.
Done and out the door in no time.

I had not seen synthetic straw braid used for flower design work before.
And yes I can see this hat worn sueded silk slacks of the same green shade and a flowing silk long tank top in a ditsy orange green and grey print.
Or maybe chiffon. I will have to think about that a bit.

(Can you tell that my home ec course work included a fashion design class? We would be given an inspiration element and then the assignment would be to render a painting of an entire outfit. I had no problem coming up with outfits; my painting skills were "B+" level at best and that particular field required A++ level work to get a job. One girl's art work was so outstanding I was tempted to burn all my brushes at once.)

A morning or "breakfast" cap, in excellent shape!
It was of course labeled a "night cap"; actually such creations were worn by women who needed to be seen by others first thing in the morning before they had enough time to fully dress.
Getting dressed used to take up quite a bit of time...so a "wrapper" and soft cap would be donned first thing in the morning instead.
Isn't that ribbon work something?

I should have checked the price on that; I am sure I could have still slipped that into my overstuffed suitcase.

An authentic "Roarin' Twenties" cloche.

Surprisingly low price for a hat almost a century old.


This was the back of the skin tight hat, designed to show off the exposed neck as part of the new shingled and shorned hair styling rage of the time.

Personally I have fond memories of the glamorous young women and young wives of the fifties donning this style swim cap before going for a bit of swim.
The snugly fitted cap kept the hairdo dry during a time when a hairdo took some time to create.
I did a blog post about this kind of swim cap in my first year of blogging. This cap is rather tame compared to the almost Afro styled floral covered caps of the 1960's.

I never liked wearing chin strap, and so my childhood swim caps were the style without them and of course while being active and diving through the surf and such my cap would usually loosen and my hair would become soaked anyway.

"Old Lady's Rubber Swim Cap"???
Whadda heck?
In what world is it proper to call anything "Old Lady" style in print???


I was very glad to spot this fractured veiling with dotting created by spiralling fine chenille stems instead of twisted chenille bits. I picked up a new veil design technique!

Another new technique: a long strip of felt was twisted and tacked to a simple felt form, creating a poodle curl look.

Being blond and wearing glasses rather ruins the effect, but it really was a cute design.

I could see my millinery instructor Kate in this hat.

She could always pull off a ruffled tilt styled hat.
The end of the ribbon is tightly pinked...wonder where one could find such a pair of pinking shears for such work?

Another first: Black felt that had gold leafing applied for decorative purposes.
Love the dotted veiling...

The owner of the first booth caught up with me and asked about this hat: was it a mourning hat?
Quite possibly, although the colorful flower would suggest a later season of mourning, or it would have also be appropriate for Mass.
Of course nowadays it is mostly appropriate for Goth wear.
Gosh that veiling was lovely!


Of course my other passion is old children's books.
I like the cover art on this book and opened it to a random page...


Old children's book never cease to amaze me.
It is surprising how many books written shortly after the turn of the last century had racial relations as part of the storyline.
I own one of the Emmy Lou books that managed to tackle a black child and Jewish child relating to Emmy Lou and them being hauled off to a Protestant church service by her good little self...much to the adults in her world's amusement.

Saw this...thought of my daughter LauraRN.

Doesn't this lemonade set look like just the thing for an issue of Southern Living?

So tempting to buy!

This pattern was the pattern of the dishes of my childhood. I still have a few pieces of the set, and admire the interesting stem work used as handles on the cups and gravy boats (gravy boats in two sizes!)

If I couldn't own the lily of the valley lemonade set, then I wanted the six dogwood glassware set.
In three colors: Pink, green and yellow no less.
I manage to stay sensible; the set is still for sale in Snohomish.

I seem to recall my crib had similar lambs prancing about the head board.
(My children slept in the same crib when they used to visit their grandmother; my memories are from their days of infancy, not mine.)
Gee it would be fun to put together a 1950's style lamb based nursery...

Eventually Ellen was able to herd me away from the hats and out to explore other Snohomish scenery.
The sidewalk flowers looked especially nice dappled in both raindrops and sunshine.



The hollow core doors of my house need to be kept open to allow summer breezes to flow through the rooms. Because they are so light they tend to slam shut if not propped open with a heavy door stop.
I would have love to have had this smiling cat doorstop for sure...

Maryjane style socks for infants were charming in one boutique...and why oh why don't they come in my size may I ask?
I'd love to pad around the house in sox that looked like these.

LauraRN was a lifeguard and probably would give a thumbs up to the infant ages 0-3 months bikini set.
I personally give a big thumbs down to the leopard skin version.
That. Is. Just. Wrong.

Found a great old children's books with a humerous poem...


And an adorable inscription!
I'm guessing an Easter gift???


I asked the gentleman shining up this wringer washer if it still worked. He said he didn't know.
Ellen came over to show me how she had once caught her hand in the wringers as a young child.
Too bad I didn't have this photo as an illustration for my Laundry memories post the other day...


Snohomish has a fabulous tea shop, not the kind where you drink tea, the kind where you can acquire quality loose leaf tea from around the world.
There was a display of Russian porcelain; I asked Russian heritage Ellen which style she favored.
She said she owns a tea cup of the patterned pictured and that she had taken ownership from a Goodwill store.
So this is to let you know that if you are ever in a thrift shop and happen to spot some of this particular pattern in the china, please purchase and send immediately to Ellen....


Apparently there are a couple of excellent wineries in the area too...
Ellen said she used to routinely take guest here for wine tasting, but for some reason had slacked off on including that with their visitors lately.

Even if one had no interest in wine, a tour of this place should be on every visitor's agenda.


And since I was not checking luggage I could not hope to sneak a bottle or two home with me this trip.
(Utah law prohibit bringing alcoholic beverages into the state, either by person or by mail, without purchasing some stamp and paying extra etc etc read: lots of bother...)


Kind of funny....and lots of folks were in the tasting room setting their counters back to zero.

The place was swamped with people so we didn't get a chance to sample the wine.
Apparently a well known band was performing on the grounds later in the day and people had cued on the lawns to wait so they could get a good spot seated on the lawn for the concert.

That meant that the rest of the grounds were pretty much without a crush of people.


Sometimes foxgloves don't know when to quit.
Ellen is about 5 ft 4 ish I think.

Wonder if I could eat this fungi...





Sporting ivy...
I actually look at ivy closely after learning that ivy tends to "sport", that is, begin growing in new leaf patterns sometimes. If someone happens to spot the sport and sends it off to the American Ivy Growers Association, and it is an new variety, then you have the naming rights.
There are a lot more varieties of ivy than most folks think, including one variety that grows with a perfect yellow heart shape centered on each green leaf.
(If you happen to be in the Northern San Diego beach area check out the ivy nursery there that ships world wide...it is simply mind boggling with ivy varieties!)








The rock landscapes have inspired me for edge of our driveway designwork...

What's a winery without a vineyard?
This was an older vineyard; the trunks were as big as my lower legs.

Young meets old, old meets young...

Ocasionally the two hold on to each other in unusual ways...



I really would like something like this at the end of our driveway....
From this we returned to Ellen's home for a bit of relaxing and then it was dinner time.




Ellen is an organized cook with a great color sense.
She whipped together appetizers...

Summoned her staff for bar tending duties...


I am still waiting for a copy of this libation's recipe.

Remember the "U pick" berry farm we visited yesterday?




Ellen's husband "Dear" had grilled fresh salmon to perfection!




The lone American (non) Mennonite Girl can definitely cook a fantastic dinner too!