My Home Town

These cottages should have been posted after the larger homes but I forgot how things load so the post about our town should have been first and this second but. . .

I didn't want everyone to think I only like the big homes I have a fondness for the cute little ones too.

We had a storm the night before I took these photos so there might be debris lying on lawns, sidewalks, and driveways.

Here starts the big houses, although the one below is a 'medium' home I just really like their porch. Cute, eh?

Isn't this one (above) a beauty?

This is the carriage house for the house below.

It's nice living in an old city. Our population is 15,000 and called a city, the other cities in our county have populations of 1,418, 2601, and 2522. I'm uncertain what qualifications are required to be called a city but the difference in populations between our city and the other three are confusing to me. In our county we have 16 villages, 27 townships, 24 unincorporated communities, and 13 ghost towns.

Our city was founded in 1825 by a man who thought he was someplace else. This founder was killed along with an infant son ten years later in a tornado.

We have one hospital, one library, one community college, a Walmart, a K-Mart, one major grocer and one Midwest grocer, one movie theatre with two screens, a Goodwill, a McDonald's, a DQ, Burger King, Taco Bell and a Hardees. We also have a small JC Penney's and numerous small businesses. We have a town square as do many of the towns in this county. I believe the population of the whole county is somewhere around 37,700 with our town being the largest.

One of the neat things about living in a smaller city is the big old houses we have. The photos posted are from our town only. I never tire driving around looking at the old homes and neighborhoods. I hope you will enjoy the photos.

P.S. Notice how most of our homes have porches?

Goodies

I wanted to share a few things I've picked up the last few weeks. The baby quilt on the back of the loveseat cost $1.05. It had dark stains all over it and I decided I could spend a $1.05 to see if the stains would come out. Most of them did and the darkest one lightened up to a pale tan. it was worth it, it's hand pieced and hand quilted.
After our town-wide-yard sale anything that isn't wanted is set out to the curb. This is where the sugar bowl and gravy boat came from. They'll make nice planters.

Hurricane lamp for candles $1.00 and a plastic coated wire basket .25.

Wood and wire birdcage with finials, $2.00.

Don't you love junquing?

I got a few other things but I need batteries for my camera so will post them later.

Radio Days

Notice the radio is the same one as in the photo below. Isn't this an interesting advert? Radio was a major form of 'media' in the old days and kept folks informed on a daily/hourly basis of what was going on in the world.

When I was a girl our major form of 'media' entertainment was the radio. Women and men use to listen to 'soap operas'. They were called soap operas because many of the programs were on-going stories and were sponsored by soap companies. Many of the detective and cowboy programs were sponsored by cigarette companies.

The radio in the photo is a replica of the one we had in our home. It was a 1942 Zenith AM Shortwave. I wish I could say it was ours but alas, I can not. It surely does bring back memories. Late at night on weekends and in the summer I would tune in to the BBC in England. I could also listen to broadcasts all over Europe as well as South Africa. It was amazing.

My father use to tune in to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights and I can still hear Roy Acuff and Little Jimmy Rodgers in my head.

For the U.S. there was WMBD/Peoria, WLS/Chicago, KOB/Albuquerque, KOMA/Oklahoma City, there was a really good one from LA that I can't remember anymore. There were AM stations all over this country and this little honey could get them all.

I still listen to old time radio programs located here: http://www.archive.org/details/radioprograms

Look for the alphabet bar, pick a letter, and have fun. You might have to search a while until you find something you like. Some of my favorites were the mystery shows, Gunsmoke, Cisco Kid, Inner Sanctum, Sherlock Holmes, etc.

WARNING:

LISTENING, RATHER THAN SEEING, REQUIRES IMAGINATION.

I hope you'll give listening to the radio a try sometime. Wouldn't that be a novelty for children in our high tech society. . . and if you live alone it's a lovely way to spend an evening instead of watching the telly. It stretches the imagination.

Make a bowl of popcorn, a pitcher of Kool-Aid, turn down the lights, tune in and enjoy.