Monday, April 4, 2011

Vintage Finds and a War Journal

Sugar Hill restaurant

Recently we had the "birthday" anniversary meeting for our AAUW branch. We met in Farmersville at the Sugar Hill Restaurant. The restaurant features home style cooking and an array of vintage, new, and antique dish ware, all of which is for sale.

plates


I'm thinking seriously of going back and getting a set of these dishes. Isn't this plate beautiful?

Here's a shot of my buffet selections. I chose a cabbage soup and a selection of salads. Since since hubby and son are not into veggies and salads I consider them a treat.

lunch at Sugar Hill

The Sweet Sensations were there to entertain us--think barbershop quartet, only with women and a larger group. They are really good and very entertaining. The program consisted of patriotic songs in honor of a late member of our group.

Sweet Sensations

After lunch I went antiquing in the stores around the town square. I like to go antiquing but don't always find much. This time I'm pretty pleased with my haul.

In the shop adjoining the restaurant I found this cool vintage bracelet. I believe it is Czech glass.

vintage bracelet, probably Czech glass

 My favorite find of the day was at Farmersville Antique Store where I found this beautiful and mostly working typewriter. The ribbon is there, but broken, and something is jamming a couple of keys. The carriage still moves though and I think repairs will be possible. I believe this is an Underwood No. 5 but the decals on the bottom of the front frame that usually have the model number are not there. The no. 5 is the most common of the antique typewriters. I plan to use this to type things to use in collage and on collaged pendants when I get it fixed.

antique typewriter

This jewelry was calling my name--I swear I heard it. I love the little crystal headpins on the smaller pin and the drusy crystal look on the Marquis shaped crystals on the earrings.

assorted finds

Afterwards I visited a third shop where I found another rhinestone necklace and a Bluejackets Manual from the WWII era.

blue jackets manual with necklace

This was the first Bluejackets Manual I have seen. It's a Navy instruction manual that covers what a sailor needs to know--things like how to organize the locker for inspection, rules and regulations, etc. I got very excited when I found it.

My great uncle, Bill Carter, served in the Navy during WWII. He was a 19 year old sailor on the Utah when  Pearl Harbor was attacked. He survived because he just happened to be on deck when the Utah was hit and sank. He served for the duration of the war.

My friend Paul and I have been working on my late Uncle Bill's journal. Mostly Paul is doing the work. He's a historian and has done the notes and things. Luckily my aunt Sarah scanned the journal many years ago so we have good copies to work from. The original is in very delicate condition.  My great aunt Helen (Bill's wife) is eager to see it published. Bill did a lot of sketches in his journal of things he saw--ships burning and other things.  It's very interesting not just for our family members, but as a historical document.

This brings me back to the Bluejackets manual. Navy personal weren't supposed to be keeping journals. Uncle Bill wrapped his journal up very well in brown paper, wrote a note on it saying "I can't think of a better gift for a bosun mate's wife than a bluejackets manual." Then he tied it up in a lot of string and mailed it. The journal was the same size as a manual and it went through without being opened by the censors.

2 comments:

Kim Stevens said...

Yes, I would LOVE to have a set of those creamy delish dishes! What a fun time and some great finds!!

Leslie Todd said...

Thanks! They have a lot of vintage dishes and I'm told it's all for sale, even what they are using.