From The Black Death

   "usury and all commercial ventures were suspect because they assumed control over the future, a mortgage of time which was reserved for God."

"One of the most cogent comments about time was made by the humanist Leon Battista Alberti in his dialogue on family life:

Gianozzo: There are three things which man may say properly belong to him; his fortune, his body, ...

Lionardo: And what may the third be?

Gianozzo: Ah! A very precious thing indeed! Even these hands and these eyes are not so much my own.

Lionardo: Incredible! What is it?

Gianozzo: Time, my dear Lionardo."

Robert S. Gottfried

  I had picked up this book at Apple Fest at Joanna Furnace a couple of years ago. I think I've already blogged about it, and I seldom reiterate unless warranted. It was two dollars. Having read all of the plague books except for the latest omnibus that The Great Courses, that I completed, is based upon, I figured it would be samey and nearly passed it up for a bean cookbook, Jack. Kelly's The Great Mortality is my favorite, and I love Follett's novel World Without End. About the first plague book, from 1983, (I thought it was earlier), I mistook that I wouldn't get anything new from it. Wrong! Not only are all of the latter books obviously based upon this relatively short book, but I believe it is more concise. Nowadays everything is fake, phony, made-up, hearsay, and opinionated nonsense. History is "reimagined", but it was always a white man's game. Facts and evidence are scrapped. This book not only thoroughly looks into the origin of the plague, Africa, and Asia, it also calls a spade, a spade. It has no false claims. It calls theories, theories and nonsense, nonsense. It cites sources from the time. I'd call it a Ron Paul among books. It's not to be missed. Will I read the latest gigantic omnibus? Probably, I'm obsessed and always have been. I'll find the time. 🕛

Apple Fest

   The Hay Creek Apple Festival at Joanna Furnace is October, 11th and 12th. I love Joanna Furnace, Apple Fest is my fav. I haven't had a drink since April, but I've already told Ron I'm having some of Stampede Barbeque's cider at Apple Fest. I'm obvi not an alchie, so he can spare me. 

Apple Fest 🍎

Chaos At Oak Grove

  Tim spent the night. When they got home I was brushing my teeth. Ron said Frankie had gotten out. It was after midnight. I was out with a flashlight, combing the neighborhood with treats, calling him. He comes when called especially for treats. I came back, and Ron was upset. I should've been a general. I'm the one you want in a crisis. I made up MISSING posters. I watch a lot of true crime. Hours later I found him, all hugs, he never left the house. He just hates Tim. Anyway, I had taken out my wooden Saint Francis that I got at Apple Fest at Joanna's Furnace, gave him a kiss, and a bouquet I'd gathered in my walk, looking under bushes for Frankie, right before he came out. So many strange things have been happening lately. We went to the buffet for breakfast. I got a free Victoria & Albert book at their Little Library. I was telling Tim about their museum's online store, and how it's fabulous for gifts. I want everything there. I was talking to the seller in Flushing that I got my Monster High Corpse Bride from, telling them I'd get all of my monsters from them. I hate toy hacks. I only spent a dollar more than The Mattel Shop. Arthur doesn't hate Tim. TTYL... ✨

 

Happy New Year!

 

Pennsylvania Calendar
by dollsandmagic

Frankie Says

  Santa brought me a new bed. ✨

  Ron and I had a nice Christmas with Frankie. Frankie enjoyed all his stocking stuffers, home made from Joanna's Furnace, like the alpaca wool caterpillar finger puppet, the catnip Packers fish, (Not true that kittens don't get high off of catnip, Frankie was rubbing it on his head), and other cat toys and wonders to hunt and gut. The bed came from Joanna's too. I got My Mattress Topper and My Robe, (Thanks Mike!), and the box is big as a Frankie house. I also got a fabulous book from Pottsgrove Manor all about Punch. We already started to read that along with The Three Witches Magic Shoppe Adventures in Doll Land . That is a lot of fun. Ron loves Wyrd Trees too. We were laughing at 1947's It Happened on Fifth Avenue. I have to watch the end. I fell asleep as I'd only gotten three hours of sleep. Frankie woke me at four am jumping on my chest like a child. 

 

Christmas at Joanna Furnace 2024

  Joanna Furnace is a charming way to kick start the holidays. We've been coming for seventeen years, but this was the best yet. We began the evening with supper at Stampede Barbeque. They have the best cider on tap. It's my brother's and my place, but Ron enjoyed it tonight too, and said that we can come more often. I think he was impressed as he thought he knew our cashier from wrestling and Amish Mafia. It's the same wonderful staff. I actually discovered this place last year at Apple Fest, they were selling cider. I love the hushpuppies and coleslaw, but Ron was impressed with his brisket salad and peanutbutter pie. Joanna's is usually packed, but not tonight. The dollhouse is new. I think somebody created it to look like the original furnace owner's mansion that was sadly demolished long ago. Best band ever! They usually feature a school choir, but this year was a gentlemens' brass band. I haven't been in the mood for Christmas music this year. Frankie and I have been listening to Shiner's favorite party songs because it's all new to Frankie. This band played all my favorites. They were great. I had gotten some Starry Slumber wine from the Sleepy Cat Urban Winery in Allentown, better than the sweet stuff I got last year. There were no letters in Kris Kringle's box at the general store where I get the little Civil War soldiers like I left in Jeremy's Room at The Farnsworth House in Gettysburg, so I left him a letter thanking him for Frankie. Actually we all had major Christmas scores as I got a dollhouse sized Heidi Lotte doll from the forties from Mr. Glass, the third doll I've gotten from him. He was also selling for the German woodcarver that I'd gotten a gnome from who could not make it tonight, so Ron got something handmade for his stocking that is still very light. It's not even his real stocking, the blue velvet topped with berries that I made him seventeen years ago, as the house is cat proof this Christmas. I didn't get everything out of the attic this year, certainly nothing breakable. Frankie was a very good boy, the tree was still up when we got home. He made out like a fat cat, his stocking is full. His stocking is from my childhood, and Shiner's first stocking. Shiner nibbled it's hand when he was a puppy. It's a cat in a Santa hat popping out of the stocking. Tonight a Packers catnip mouse and an alpaca caterpillar finger puppet were added, plus he got a hand knitted hooded cat bed. He's going to love it. Frankie loves boxes and bags. Shiner graduated to the big Tinkerbelle stocking that Mummy got me that Ron is settling for this year. Actually it's bigger, so I have some work to do. I also got a darling little knit bee and a new hat for Cornwall Furnace tomorrow. 

The Train

Light Maze

 

Christmas at Joanna Furnace 2024

Christmas at Joanna Furnace 2024

Sir Frankie Crisp

  This little boy literally fell into my lap. I've wanted a Manx my entire life because Daddy always wanted one. Daddy hated cats because a big Siamese that got walked on a leash jumped on his head when he was a kid. When I was six he got me Flower, the guinea pig, because all I talked about was cats. I woke up Christmas morning, and she was dead. Daddy ran out to the shelter and bought me Sugar Plum the next day. She lived to be nineteen because evil never dies, she only liked Daddy. Daddy did like Lou cat, who my brother found. Frankie looks a bit like him, wild. I just got a Saint Francis statue last week at Apple Festival. Daddy's middle name was Francis after his beloved uncle. He came with the name, Frankie. He comes when you call. He is five months old, May 9th, 8:30 pm, a lovable Taurus. I still have to run his chart. He was born in a three-hundred year old stone fairy cottage. He loves us and is a good boy, purrs like a machine. He cuddles and gives lots of kisses. I had no idea he would just come in and take over. I have a bit of catproofing to do. He was already in the Monster High bus. I have to move Julius's tank, but she had fishtanks in her magical cottage. Thank You, Anna! I found this guy completely by accident on Adopt a Pet. I thought I'd be driving to New York or Altoona after waiting a year and paying hundreds of dollars for a Manx. They aren't common. He's got the mittens too. They call them fairy cats on The Isle of Man, but the Manx always said that they arrived with the Spanish armada. Legends don't stray far from the truth as their DNA is most closely related to the Spanish wildcat. I met his mother, he looks like her. She was really lovable and vocal but was swatting at Frankie. I told Ron we probably should not take him, but he said to bring him home. I love Frankie already. 

The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp

 

Elders Cut Meadery

 Love bees, love honey, didn't think I liked mead. Have tried Rebel Hive again and again. Sorry, but no doctoring, and I'm crafty as fuck, can make me like it. I like this stuff! I tried it at Joanna Furnace's Apple Festival last year, I believe it was raspberry, and I'm no huge fan of raspberries, I'm more a mulberry elderberry girl, but it was good. Yesterday I scored a mixed four pack: cider, orange, raspberry, and lemon. The cider is tasty and so is the orange. I'm a fan. Want the lime. I know the farmers markets and super markets sell Rebel Hive. I'm going to have to look for this or order online: Elders Cut Meadery 🐝🍯🐝

Joanna Furnace Apple Festival

I was happily writing along about Joanna Furnace's Apple Festival until I mentioned some old geezer with a homemade Cabala Embarrass shirt, cap, and button. That's when my entire post vanished. Now I'm pissy. Yeah, I wanted to jump on her stupid commie head and beat her illiterate ass, but I did not. So, now, let me get back to my post that was rudely eaten by the fucking GOOGLE Monster. 😡 I had a ball. I had cider and apple fritters. We brought homemade pot pie and bean soup home. I also brought home some mead seltzer. I do not like mead, but the seltzer is tasty, and I got a mixed batch. Somehow I lost my box of Thanksgiving decorations. I don't have a lot, but Mummy's stuff from the bicentennial in Massachusetts is in there. Sure I'll find it while decorating for Christmas but until then I got this beautiful hand knitted scarecrow. I also got a handcarved Saint Francis, he's not Italian, so he might just be Pennsylvania made. I have a wooden Mary and Saint Patrick, but Francis is our long time saint of choice. I also scored a church doll from Mr. Glass who I'd gotten a lovely rag doll from a couple of Christmases ago. She always graces the foyer, too sweet to put away. Think we'll be seeing J.D. Vance at the airport later. Good times. 

Season's Greetings

 Of course my thirty-five Christmas cards have been sent, (everybody isn't dead), and I had some internationals, (The Pony Hexpress now charges $1.50 to send one small international Christmas card), so next year... I've been on the wrong side of Christmas the past couple days. Besides Queen Ann Ron had also gotten me my subscription to Antique Doll Collector this year, and I was in the batrhroom pouring over this month's issue when I came across an article on Christmas dolls that is so darling I just know I'm going to be cutting it up and making special holiday cards for my doll friends with those pictures next year. I also enjoy photographing my dolls and making cards, calendars, and charms. I do dress my dolls seasonally as well, but mostly stick to the Himstedts with that anymore as the paint chips off the antique dolls' bodies the more you dress them. I did discover Heidi, my Otto Dressler, however, has a solid wooden body, though, that way. I presumed it was composition, but through the paint flaking I am able to see beautiful wood grain. Anyways, Dodi and Mistraldespair don an old chair in the foyer greeting us. Both are handmade. I'd gotten Mistraldespair, the snowman, first. There is a grand old sprawling dance hall looking house in the next town over where I first lived when I moved to this corner of the state. I'd walk past, admiring it, imagining what might've gone on there, back in the days of Scrooge. After we moved a shop had set-up, there, The Primitive Barn, which sold primitive things from candles to soap made by local artists. I would drive past for years, like I do, (stubborn), and think I was going to stop in there sometime. A couple of years ago, right about this time, I finally did, and discovered rambling old rooms with creaky floors, garlands of dried herbs, and even an old cupboard which held witchy things like crystals and incense. I didn't know what to get, but Mistraldespair was on sale, half off, and my favorite, although there were a couple of Santas who were also adorable. I've inherited a lot of Christmas stuff, and although I lost most of my original city stuff I first bought in my twenties when I ran away, I've gotten a lot of gifts, too; so it now takes me all day to decorate, and I don't even bring everything down from the attic. It's just too much, and I prefer simple hassle free old-fashioned holidays to the new commercialized screaming headaches. Anyways, I had gone back to The Primitive Barn again around Valentine's Day and got Ron Incense Matches for Mardi Gras, a stuffed rabbit for his Easter basket, and a little bird house for his birthday. I returned in June looking for an Uncle Sam, only to find it closed. That was sad, and I've been working on my Uncle Sam ever since. I'd drive past, (it's along the way to The Pony Hexpress which I still have to use occasionally, unfortunately UPS charges a FORTUNE to post internationally over here: they must work on that), seeing the empty house was for rent. Looks like somebody must've rented it recently as it has a new coat of paint and is looking spiffy. It's a beautiful house, wonder what will open there next. Dodi came from Christmas at Joanna Furnace last year. She was five dollars, and when I bought her from Mr. Glass he said, "Look how surprised she is." He had an antique this year, some church dolls, and an antique doll bed. I'm going to have to bring more money next year. I spent it all on homemade cider this year and could only afford a knit elephant who sleeps in my bed with my other elephants. These two look like they're made for each other. I'm usually not into primitive things as they're mostly crappy, made in China, but my two lovelies are very well made by Pennsylvanian artists. Dodi stays out year round, but I'm always sorry to put Mistraldespair away for Valentines Day. 

Holiday Card

More Doll Stuff

Dreams 12/3-5

 Couple of bad dreams. First, I was with my grade-school girlfriend, Laurie, and we were talking about a boy who got a sexually transmitted disease from school. The virus was called Something Blue. 

Next, and worse, I dreamt I had two big brown slugs wrapped up between my teeth, and I had to pull them out. 

Christmas at Joanna Furnace

Began the evening at Stampede Barbeque again. Ron was being a drag, said he didn't like it, so I guess that place is just for my brother and me. It was beautifully decorated and busy. There were real Native Americans, there, not half-breed fakers. Sweet cider is killer as always, and at least the bartender is my friend. Got a knit elephant, a tin General Lee, and a paper star at the furnace this year. Have two handmade tin soldiers from there, General Reynolds and an artillery man, have no desire for Grant or Lincoln. Wish they had Sherman. I plan a Gettysburg board game. They'd make great play pieces, but I suppose I have to sculpt my own. Had a snuggle with Ricky Bobby, the alpaca. I would have loved to have alpaca swapped. The other, the white one, is named, Action Jackson. 

Ricky Bobby & More

 

Old-fashioned Herb Garden

I want an old-fashioned herb garden like Joanna Furnace has. I've been working on it in small patches over the years having read a book from The Met about medieval monks and cloister gardens like in The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry. I have lavender, woad, soapwort, and have planted other things such as sage and thyme, but I want to plant a raised garden like this. I want to fill it with useful things. 

 

Joanna Furnace Apple Fest

What a fangtastic fall weekend! Today was Joanna's Furnace's Apple Festival. We usually attend their Christmas shindig after Thanksgiving, and might've been to The Hay Creek September festival twice, but I don't think we'd hit The Apple Festival before, and it was off-the-hook! I had three ciders and apple fritters. Look at my twenty-seven dollar score: raw indigo wool and handmade lace for my Peggy Shippen doll, the only plague book I'd missed besides the brand new one that after The Great Courses with all the CONVID I'm going to pass on, an antique book on Early American costumes, a bean cookbook, a couple of handmade gnomes, (wood and plaster), incense, a wooden jack-o-lantern pin, even a bitsy handmade imp for the dollhouses, hexcetera... O, my ghoul... 

 

Simplification

Dodie, my beautiful handmade doll that I got at Joanna Furnace past Christmas for $5, has taught me how nice simplification is. In a world of simpletons, I'll keep my dolls. 

Christmas at Joanna's Furnace

Christmas at Joanna's Furnace