Images

Dad Believes That Everyone Has A Story. This is His.

New friends suggested to my husband and me that we tell the best stories. I guess when you’ve saved a few of them up and get to tell them all in a drunken night of getting to know each other, it might seem that way. 🙂

Everyone Has a Story Cover

The truth is that my dad, Jim Cates, has the best stories. He’s been fortunate enough to have been raised in a beautiful and friendly town, Liberty, Missouri, and his parents were the most social people I ever knew. Dad came by his social skills honestly, and because his young home life was centered around an extended family of life-long and local friends, he learned early on that friendships are everything. As his dad would tell him, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” And dad proved that adage time and time again.

His professional pursuits always centered around his ability to meet people well, which led him to a career in sales, an interest in politics, and eventually directed him to a successful second career as radio talk show host. When you are good at identifying what is important to a person (by really and truly listening to them), it’s easy to match them with others who can help further their goals, which is something dad has always done well. Dad believes that everyone has a story, and this is his (click link below).

Everyone Has A Story – Jim Cates

JD Originals Fabulous 1970’s Chair and Ottoman

I scored this 1970's rattan and velvet chair and ottoman at my local, favorite thrift store.

I scored this 1970’s rattan and velvet chair and ottoman at my local, favorite thrift store.

JD Originals logo

JD Originals logo

The best time to buy something unique is when you see it. So here we are.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re not sure if you like this club (?) chair and ottoman or not. Let it grow on you. Imagine how soft that velvety material is, how cushiony the seat is, and how surprisingly sturdy the frame is…
So the fabric is a little orangy and there’s no hiding the outrageous era this came out of. But don’t you love it anyway? There’s not a thing wrong with the condition of the fabric, seat or barrel-shaped rattan structure. The rectangle ottoman is just as pristine. It’s an incredibly well-preserved little reminder of days gone by and although the mod era isn’t typically my favorite, style-wise, I think it has so much potential. And I’m thrilled it exists in this condition at all.
I would tell you which thrift store around Baltimore I picked these up at today, but then I’d have to kill you. (#1 Shopping secret: Don’t tell others your shopping secrets.) I fell in love with it on sight but once I sat, I was really hooked. I really didn’t need to carry up another piece of furniture to our third-floor apartment, but I was just sitting in our incredibly uncomfortable patio furniture last night thinking how nice it would be to actually be comfortable out there. So I bought it. For how much? you might wonder. I’m not telling; I’ll let you decide what you think it’s worth to you.
JD Originals was trademarked by Jackson Furniture of Danville, Inc. in 1968, but that trademark has expired. A quick internet search has turned up only two chairs (http://www.pinterest.com/pin/203858320606632053/) made by these folks, and they don’t look much like mine.
P.S. This is a great candidate for a makeover someday down the line. Can you imagine this painted Tiffany blue with a fabulous chevron fabric (pick a color!)? Me too. Let’s see…
Basic Photoshop used to try a different color on this JD Originals Chair and Ottoman.

Basic Photoshop used to try a different color on this JD Originals Chair and Ottoman.

Gesso Frame example

Gesso Frame example

I cleaned the middle part of this relief in a frame I picked up in Greenfield, Indiana. At first glance, it looks like wood, but it’s actually plaster that’s been stained. It’s my now-goal to learn how to repair this so that I can continue buying old, imperfect frames for cheap; I intend to use them to (finally) preserve family portraits of my Clay County relatives and hang them at home. It doesn’t make sense to put 100+-year-old images in brand new frames, and I just can’t afford the antiques that are in great shape. Updates to follow!

Maryam’s First Recital

Maryam's First Recital

I found this lovely at an antique mall in Greenfield, Indiana. It was a bitter cold day but the mall was warm, inviting and full of amazingly priced treasures. I found several, including this painting.
This little beauty needs a good cleaning, as does anything of its age. By judging the content, framing and condition of the paint/varnish itself, I can only guess its age as “old”. 🙂 Stay tuned for an after photo.

Blue Grass Pastures by Paul Starrett Sample

Blue Grass Pastures

In an effort to track down more information about this charming print, I called the C&O Historical Society. They were incredibly friendly and helpful, and here’s what they said:”The print appears to be of one of the paintings that was commissioned by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway for use in the new cars on their post-war streamliner that was to be instituted between Washington and Cincinnati for daylight travel from serving the major cities along that route, but to primarily to provide convenient daylight arrival at White Sulphur Springs, WV to serve guests of The Greenbrier, C&O’s famous resort. The train was to be called The Chessie and while its equipment was all built and delivered to the C&O in 1948, the passenger train market was drastically changing, with air travel coming into favor, and the train was never actually operated as intended. Some of the equipment served on C&O for a short period, as they waited delivery for other new equipment that was designed to modernize their other long-distance mainline passenger trains. Eventually almost all of the cars from the 1948 group were sold to other railroads and served well into the 1970s and even went into Amtrak service in 1971.

Generally,each of the coaches built for The Chessie, had a display case incorporated in its interior to contain and exhibit original paintings of scenes along the C&O route that the train would travel. The Paul Sample painting was one of those pieces of art. C&O had art prints, suitable for framing, produced for all of the paintings in the collection and they were available to persons who were interested in obraining them. Whether they were sold or provided as gifts, I am not certain, and I am not sure how many were produced. The B&O Museum in Baltimore sold prints in their gift shop in the late 1960s and 70s.”

The question remains: Where is the original?

As of today, this post is the only record in cyberland of this particular work by Sample.