Jen Bowles Design

{My} Tuesday Treasure: Vintage Postcards

Yesterday (Tuesday) I found myself in downtown Scituate at a quirky little shop called The Quarterdeck. After I browsed through the impressive selection of reasonably priced starfish, I stumbled upon their huge collection of vintage postcards.  There were, literally, thousands of postcards housed in several long cardboard boxes.  They were well organized by town or region and each postcard was individually priced.  $3.  $4.  Eek, too rich for my blood.

Never one to give up on finding a bargain, I wandered around the rest of the store and came upon my prize:  two boxes of mixed-up, well-worn vintage postcards.  The price?  35¢ each or 3 for $1.  Yeeeees!

Here's a peek at my treasures from Tuesday... {click on image to enlarge & view fully, really wish I could figure out the column widths better on Typepad...}

From a local car dealership (postmarked 1957)    

I love the message on this one (postmarked December 1924)    

Can't decide which side I like more on this one  from Brünig, Switzerland (postmarked 1905)      

This one cracks me up! (unused, undated)

Love this little dude's bathing suit (unused, undated)

The handwritten script on this Greater Tampa postcard booklet is so lovely

Maybe this is what I should be using on my hair... (late 19th century advertising trading card)   

And finally, my favorite find of the day (postmarked July 1905)    

Great stories, great artwork--what's not to love about vintage postcards??

Wishing you luck on your treasure hunting!

Visiting: Heart Rock Display

A few weeks ago Ebby and I ditched the boys (and the dogs, the cat, the turtle and the chinchilla) and headed west on the Mass Pike to visit our bff's in upstate NY.

I was lucky enough to see my bff Kathy just a few weeks prior, when she came for a quick solo visit to our house.  Our girls (she has 3) however,  hadn't seen each other in over a year.  We're only 3 hours away--that's just not right.

We love poking around each others homes when we visit, seeing what's new since our last trip.  Or maybe just admiring the same well-loved objects over again.

Now, I have my own collection of heart rocks.   I don't have my collection displayed in a muffin tin in my kitchen--but Kathy does.  Love. It.  I also don't have the coolest heart rock ever, from Alaska.  But Kathy does.

Great collection, great display, great friends ♥.        

Beach day, October edition

Last Friday, Bobby Law and I took a short trip to the beach.  The sun was shining and the kids were in school ☺...

There are some beautiful vistas on the way there.

Once we reach the end of  the road with the (multi) million  dollar homes, we drive over the wooden bridge to the beach.  There are always people fishing off the bridge.  We never have.

At the end of the bridge, you can turn left to go to the parking lot (wimps, lol) or right to go on the sand road to the (4WD) drive-on beach.  We go right.

On our right as we drive to the first crossover, the bay.  During the summer you often see windsurfers zipping around on the water here.

On the left, over the dunes & the ocean.  The drive-on beach is on the ocean side.

We drove on, we parked.  Bobby Law relaxed, I walked.  I collected rocks and two pieces of sea glass.

On the way out, I asked Bobby Law to pull over on the sand road so I could take a quick walk on the bay side.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Turns out, that's where all the good beachcombing stuff is!  I may have been a bit overzealous in collecting the shells with barnacles, but in my defense there are never good shells on the ocean side.

Now that I know the secret, next summer I'm going to have to recruit children to walk over there with me and explore.

With beach pails. 

Many beach pails.