AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sweet Vintage Gods of Hogmanay!

Sweet vintage gods of Hogmanay!

Look what landed on my front steps this afternoon!

My very special friend and goat sister, Teresa from Eden Hills (and Millie, the goat, too!) sent a box full of lovely, lovely vintage items to me !

Since this is Hogmanay e'en and tomorrow will be the Sisterhood of the Goat's FIRST anniversary, this couldn't have arrived at a better time!

Here's what was inside:

A plush red hat-perfect for Valentine's Day!

This hat has a perfect angle for a Vic crown piece to go with my new Yule garb!

Just look at those pearls!

This red hat has some delicate lace net trim and a beautiful diamond accent!

Also, a lovely black vintage clutch with a diamond clasp!

I adore hats.....but vintage purses are a true find! 

And.......a most excellent vintage WEARABLE dress!

(That means I can wear it to work on days when they AREN'T expecting me to show up in garb!
Of course, I don't know how many days that really is.....they don't really notice any more.)  ;)

BUT WAIT......THERE'S MORE!

About a week ago, a very special little goat named Angel Baby and her Maa, Haggers,

gifted me with an ENORMOUS amount of vintage finds!

The box weighed in at 16 pounds!  I'm not kidding!  16 pounds!

AB and Haggers are new and special friends and it was gracious of them to remember my love

 of precious junque and to be so kind as to share!

The box has soooooo many things in it I haven't had a chance to properly sort through and do pics yet but, because AB was worried, I did rescue her Dead Mouse right away!

Can you find Angel Baby's Dead Mouse?

The box is chock full of fabric, jewelry, funny things, precious things...and love.

My humble thanks to these two wonderful friends.......

(and their goats!)

for not only gifting me with such beautiful things from the heart but also for

carrying me through this past year of joyously finding myself a Goat Sister!

Much love.......and a Happy New Year to you all!

xox

~Mimi

ps.  Bet you can't wait to go through that box with me, eh?

;)

GREETINGS from BEDLAM: The Many Faces of Fox

The Madwoman in the Attic and the Many Faces of Fox

~Why being crazy is better!

Have fun!  xox

http://collagepirate.blogspot.com/2011/12/madwoman-in-attic-faces-of-fox.html

TRIP-TRAP! TRIP-TRAP!

image:  1491 European woodcut

I'm terribly excited to be writing and directing the Spring play

at our new outdoor bridge!

But before I can put pen to paper I have to do my research.

I spend weeks (months!) learning about my subject.

I become rather obsessed! 

Since the Universe gifted me with both a goat AND and outdoor bridge...well.....

I really had no choice but to choose Three Billly Goats Gruff !

(If you're a bit confused, scroll down one blog below and all will be revealed!)

Of course, the 'true' story can't be done as a child's stage play......not in this era, at any rate.

(I'd like to argue that point but it's futile, so suffice it to say:  I can't.  Athough, I'm interested in what you have to say on the subject.)

So, it's up to me to take the essence of the story and present it in such a way that, hopefully, the lessons will be learned and the story told without any.....uh, goatie/troll violence.  ;)

(ie:  No trolls will be harmed in the making of this stage play!)

It has always fascinated me that no matter the culture, fairytales, fables and folklore remain basically the same.  I even found a version with a FOX!  (yay!)

I've come upon Loki in my reading, the Icelandic trickster, and since I do love the trickster character in folklore, Native American storytelling and commedia dell'Arte, I'm thinking I'm going to have some real fun with my Troll!  I think you're going to like him!

I post here the Norwegian version of our story, the one, I believe, most everyone is familiar with.

Stay tuned for what happens next....and to find out if Darla learns her lines in time!

THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF

Norway

Once upon a time there were three billy goats, named Gruff. They were on their way to eat on the hillside, but they had to cross a bridge. Under the bridge lived a troll, with eyes as big as saucers, and a nose as long as a poker.

The first goat over the bridge was the youngest Billy Goat Gruff. "Trip, trap, trip, trap!" he walked across the bridge.
"Who's that tripping over my bridge?" roared the troll.
"I am the smallest Billy Goat Gruff, and I'm going up to the hillside to make myself fat," said the billy goat, with a tiny voice.
"I'm coming to gobble you up," said the troll.
"Oh, no! please don't eat me. I'm too little!" said the billy goat. "Wait for the second Billy Goat Gruff. He's much bigger."
"Well, be off with you," said the troll.
A little while later, the second Billy Goat Gruff crossed the bridge. "Trip, trap, trip, trap, trip, trap" went the bridge.
"Who's that tripping over my bridge?" roared the troll.
"I am the second Billy Goat Gruff, and I'm going up to the hillside to make myself fat," said the billy goat, with a medium voice.
"I'm coming to gobble you up," said the troll.
"Oh, no! Don't eat me. Wait for the last Billy Goat Gruff. He's much bigger."
"Very well! Be off with you," said the troll.
Next, the big Billy Goat Gruff crossed the bridge. "Trip, trap, trip, trap, trip, trap!" went the bridge. This billy goat was heavy and the bridge creaked and groaned under him.
"Who's that tramping over my bridge?" roared the troll.
"I am the big Billy Goat Gruff ," said the billy goat, with a big ugly voice.
"I 'm coming to gobble you up," roared the troll.
"No, you're not!" said the biggest Billy Goat Gruff. "I am bigger than you and I could crush you into bits and bones."
"No, you're not!" said the biggest Billy Goat Gruff. "I am bigger than you and I could crush you into bits and bones."
And when the troll saw how big the billy goat was, the troll let him pass. After that, the three billy goats went to the hillside. They got so fat they could hardly walk home. And if the fat hasn't fallen off, they're still fat; and so,
Snip, snap, snout. This tale's told out.

image:  18th century Icelandic Loki (Trickster)

GOATURE for the Fashion Conscious

Shabby Caprine Hat with horn bow by Fox

(crochet)

~from Hatty's Tattered Finery

*Fox's Shabby items are simply items put together on a wing and a prayer from

scraps and a vision.  No two are ever alike.

~Tattered Finery~

Hatty Bunratty (Henrietta Bunrat)

is Fox's Victorian alter ego who

dresses up her goat, Darla, and sells, with her good cousin Eulalie Auralia,

tattered goods and lovely junque at the Gooseberry Fair.

Hatty and Eulalie profess to have fallen into 'genteel poverty' and

must sell off the family goods.

Each tattered item comes with a fantastical, if far fetched story.

Victorian Darla

 Eulalie Auralia with Darla

 Hatty Bunratty and Darla

 Papa made some ill advised business deals........

 The Good China

Please sir, not my dolly.......

Next GOOSEBERRY FAIR May 19, 2012

Clay, New York

*A lovely side note:  Darla will be appearing in the play

THREE GOATS GRUFF

at the outdoor bridge on the town hall lawn.

She will be playing the role of The Third Goat.

She is very, very excited but a little nervous about learning her lines.

**************************************

If you are in the area, tables are available

for your *own* sale items!

A mere $5

Items may be junque, thrift, crafts, artisan work or pretty much sky's the limit!

A fun day of reusing and repurposing!

Music~Food~Costumed Enetertainment

Our fun part in being GREEN!

**********

GARB-ITES ALWAYS WELCOME!

Feel free to show off your Tattered Finery or Disguise!

ARTIST MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985

But perhaps my art is the art of a lunatic, I thought, mere glittering quicksilver, a blue soul breaking in upon my pictures.
~Marc Chagall

I've been thinking about beautiful things today.

I adore beautiful things and, as a lot of you know, go out of my way to collect them.
I don't collect for monetary value, I collect what calls to me.
(And it can get quite noisy in the thrift shop with all those voices!  Trust me!)

Eight years ago, when I moved to my current townhouse, (the townhouse without room for a goat)

I created an office that I call The Chagall Room.

Fancy, eh?

Not really.  I merely found what Chagall prints I could and hung them on the walls.

And I began to love Chagall.

In addition to his paintings, he also produced etchings for Fables la Fontaine.
Most notably, I adore the Fox & Goat!

And then, a while back I noticed an interesting thing:

A great many of Chagall's paintings include.....goats!

Seriously!

I didn't like goats then.  And I never noticed the goats.  But, there they are just the same.

I first came upon the realization while I was searching Goat Quotes to begin this original blog and I stumbled across the quote from Notting Hill (a great movie, by the by!):

"Love isn't love until there's a violin playing goat."

Julia Roberts was speaking of her Chagall painting!
(Really!  It's an awesome movie!  Watch it!)

And that made me look at Chagall in a very different way.

And so now, my favorite artist, who existed in my world long before goats, was gifting me with the thing I had come to love best!

Coincidence?  Oh, probably not.  The tricksy Universe at work again!

Though, I hardly think he had me in mind while painting them.
Chagall, not the Universe. 

But......what did he have in mind?

Why all the goats?
And here's where you can Google your heart out.
And you should, if such a thing interests you, if only to see his plethora of lovely, lovely art work.
And, while you're at it, you can play:  Find the Goat!

But for all that anyone has ever said in regard to Chagall's goats, all the second guessing and interpretation,  there was one thing I came upon that is certainly the most true, here in the following quote:

If a symbol should be discovered in a painting of mine, it was not my intention. It is a result I did not seek. It is something that may be found afterwards, and which can be interpreted according to taste.
~Marc Chagall

And so maybe, just maybe, not everything has a hidden meaning.

Enjoy something beautiful today!
~Mimi 

  



HOGMANAY

Well, I've less than a week to wish for a tall dark stranger to be a welcome first foot, Hogmanay visitor after midnight, carrying a lump of coal and a slice of black bun?

I mean, what are the odds?

What say ye? 

(Also, do you suppose it would be too much to ask that he have a goat.....?)   ;)

Have a Happy Week Before Hogmanay!

*hugs*

~Mimi



HAVE A FESTIVE & OLD FASHIONED DAY!

Have a wonderfully festive & old fashioned day!

***************

Victorian shabby gauntlets by Fox

A Blessed Christmas E'en..........

Shawna, Santa & Mimi

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is

softer and more beautiful. 

~Norman Vincent Peale

A very Merry Christmas to all my wonderful friends!

love,

Fox, Yellow Dog, Pooter, Darla & Lizzie

Silent Night......not so much.........

I was just wondering, do you think the person who wrote the Christmas Story had ever actually been *in* a barn..................?

I'm thinking it went more like this........

And the Baby Jesus loved them all the same...............


A Short Christmas Story by Fox
c. 2010

Well....'tis true......the breath of the animals did keep the Baby Jesus warm.......

'Course, the goat ate most of the manger and the sheep wandered off when one of the Wise Men left the barn door open....

The donkey placed a well aimed kick at Joseph's shin...which was kind of adding insult to injury because Joseph was already feeling kinda left out as it was....

The cow farted in that small space and even though he excused himself it caused an akward moment....

I really can't speak for the camels.

But the Yellow Dog....the Yellow Dog stayed right by the Baby Jesus' side......

Though Mary lost it when the Belgiums tracked in mud and screamed 'was everybody brought up in a barn?'......in the end it was a happy day after all!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

xox

~Fox

GIFTS & DISCOVERIES

Well, it appears that I'm on a junque roll.   (kind of like a jell roll, only LOTS better!)

Let's start with an older possession.

This coat was gifted to me by the same lady who gifted me the long cape.  It, also, was her Mom's.
It is THE perfect vintage coat for wearing with jeans.  The coat material is heavy and plain while the fur collar reminds people that you ARE a vintage kind of a girl!

(Let me go on record here by stating that I am COMPLETELY AGAINST the harvesting of fur.  For any reason.  However, since the vintage clothing that often comes my way does, in fact, come with fur trim, which was a trend of the day, I hope that I'm not being a hypocrite by possessing such articles.)

Now.....on to the Finds of the Day!  SCORE!  $3.00 for the crochet skirt and top and $1.00 for the funky hat!  The gods bless vintage everyday wearable!

And finally, in the Garb Department........somebody else's MUFF!

Seriously!  A vintage muff!

Just a-sittin' there in a cart full of junque!  $1.50  (I added the broach.)

And you all know how I LOVE a muff!   The world needs more muffage!  ;)

I was almost out the door when I found the following on the floor behind some picture frames.

It was a lovely, tapestry artist portfolio.  I bought it ($8) for the portfolio alone (and that goes WAY beyond my price limit but it called to me) but inside it contained the following.  The acrylics are signed E. Jones.

I love that there's a ship at sea.  Also, there is a print, copyright 1930 from The Art Publishing Co. Chicago, Ill.  The artist is Richard Haines.  The painting is titled LOW TIDE.    At any rate, it begged to come home with me....so there you have it.

HAPPY JUNQUE-ING EVERYONE!  xo



SEW WHAT

Things I find and things I sew and junque that finds me!

Happy Yuletide garbing!

The Vics knew how to dress for Christmas, eh?

My new Yule chapeau

Edwardian boots from Victoria Trading Company

Coin purse found at a church rummage sale

Long cape gifted to me by one of my senior citizens.  It belonged to HER Mom!

Scarf, a vintage find

Capelet purchased at Dickens Festival

Muff by Fox

The whole package!

Found the lovely lace blouse at a thrift store.

Repurposed two skirts from thrift store

Lace cuffs from Victoria Trading Company

Was luck to find that Lizzie Borden "cheap silk" that has a low percent of cotton mixed

 with silk so makes it look quite old.

The perfect Regency jacket a la Austen!  Thrift shop find:  $3 (on 50% off day!)



Hat & Muff by Fox

GARB:  IT'S GOOD FOR THE SOUL!

xoxo

WHO *IS* FARMER?

Farmer & Elvis, our Attack Donkey

This blog is especially for Marigold and her Goat Mother
 http://marigold-goatphilosophy101.blogspot.com/
 though it's not like plenty of you haven't asked over the past year.
(Wonderful blog, by the by!  Check her out!  She is another of the Sisterhood....and a Kindred Spirit, as well!)

You'll have to read back to find out all the details but the crux of the story is this:

One day, on my way to a Victorian tea for my seniors (I am an event coordinator) at a lovely B&B here in the area my good friend said:  "I wish for you a goat today."

I laughed.

Unlikely I'd find a goat at a Victorian tea!

Never second guess the Universe!

During the course of discussion (the pumpkin loaf was FABULOUS!) I said, as I had many, many times in the past months:  "I should like a goat."

I got the usual response:  "What?"  "A goat?" 

But one nice lady, quietly said.  "Ask  **.  He has a goat farm."  (I omit Farmer's name as he's not an internet kind of a guy and I haven't permission to do so.)

Me:  "No way.  If there were a goat farm around here wouldn't I have seen goats?"

Nice Lady: "Nevertheless.....he's got goats."

Me:  "Do you think he'd let me kiss them on the lips?"

Nice Lady:  "You'd have to ask."

And so, I did.  The farm is around the corner from where I work. I coordinate a Wanderers Club for my seniors-"all who wander are not lost"-and so I called to ask if my group could visit the farm.  Farmer said yes.  And so we went.

Farmer let me snuzzle to my heart's content and then, him not knowing yet what he was in for, made plans together to use Sweet Bill as the upcoming tree lighting Yule Goat.  (this was November) 

The night of the tree lighting Farmer figured out how much I REALLY wanted a goat and so let me know that babies were expected and I could help out.  (I heard:  covet, borrow, snuzzle, kiss, dress up and take home!)  lol

And, well, you know the rest. 

Farmer is an amazing man, a *true* farmer in every sense of the word.  It's what he's done his whole life.
And he's damn fine at it!

He puts up with a great deal from me-most notably the day I cried (sobbed!) for 6 hours straight when I returned Darla.....as she did, as well.

But, we've become friends and he's taught me so much.  We work together now and have designed a Rural Awareness Program with the wee farm animals.  We do events and are quite the Odd Couple with our pen of animals and my clothesline art!

Mostly he just shakes his head and laughs when I come up with a new idea.  lol

He's a great friend.  And there will never be a way for me to thank him for letting me *borrow* his time.....and his farm.  Like I've said, the Universe granted me a boon.

Me & Farmer at the Community Festival this past summer

Farmer at my work pretending to pay Darla for a Goat License

Darla processing the paperwork

Farmer & Darla at my work

Darla passed out in my office from exhausting paperwork

Clothes Line Art at the Festival

Rural Awareness

(Little Miss Shawna was quite full of herself leading the goat around and being in charge.

Moments later-Darla turned and did the Goatie Rear and the look of horror on Shawna's face was priceless.  How sad I didn't get it on camera!  Don't worry-I can laugh because she's my granddaughter.  Normally, we wouldn't let a random child alone with goats.  But....oh, how funny it was!  Rural Awareness, indeed!)