Join me in my love of all things vintage and antique. I have a great appreciation for the past and all things that existed before me. They remind me of my Grandparents and Great-Grandparents. There is just something very charming about owning something that once belonged to someone else. It has a history, a story, that most of the time I will never know but I do so enjoy wondering…..
Julie
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Thank you very much for the time you give us each day.
Julie Lancaster-Whann
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Vintage Blog Posts Start Right Here
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June 22, 2014
Gordon and Julie’s 29th. Wedding Anniversary
29 years ago today.
Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Whann
June 22, 1985
To commemorate our 29 years of bliss…. (HA)!
We decided to have a formal romantic dinner for two in the backyard.
The table setting in the backyard.
Gordon lighting the candles, white roses for me in a pitcher that was a wedding gift.
Gordon opening the champagne wearing flip flops no less. We’re casual here in The Sunshine State.
Pouring the Champagne
Those are our wedding glasses from the day of our wedding. They even have our names on them. In all of our moves I’m surprised they didn’t break.
So what are we having for this very formal romantic dinner?
Indian Take Out, of course!
Yummy!
A Taste of India
Brandon, Florida
Love the samosas and the butter chicken!!
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Happy Anniversary Gordon!
Driving off into the sunset in a jeep.
Love,
Julie
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June 11, 2014
Remembering the Important Men in my Life
This Father’s Day
Me with My Grandfather
He was the greatest man I ever knew.
Franklin Elwood Haskin
as a young man.
I was lucky enough to have had him for 14 years, that is how old I was when he died. He was almost 57. He was the father figure that I grew up with. My mother and biological father divorced when I was a baby and my mother and I lived with my grandparents until I was around 6. He was the greatest man that I have ever known. Believe me, I don’t just say that about anyone. He truly was. My husband Gordon is the second greatest man.
So every Father’s Day I always think of him. He is the one that I miss. He gave me love, guidance, exposure through travel all across America, and many, many happy memories.
Me, With My Grandparents
He always treated me as if I was the most wonderful person in the world. He never raised his voice to me, well, actually he did once, when we had a flat tire in the desert in Arizona and I was hopping in and out of the car while he was trying to change the tire. But only that one time. We traveled to most every state in America before I was 14. There are only a hand full of states that I have left to visit and I hope to someday.
Me at the beach, 1966.
He took me to Florida many a summer.
He taught me how to swim.
He not just took me to the beach but to watch the space shuttle blast off from Cape Canaveral. Every vacation was not just fun, but educational too. He gave me more life experiences before he died than most people get in their lifetimes.
Here is my homage to him.
Frank Haskin, above left, as a boy at the beach. His parents, my Great-Grandparents, Lillian (Honnie) and Gordon Haskin. They were from Vincennes, Indiana.
Honnie and Gordon adopted my grandfather when he was 4. He was born in 1916. He was an abandoned child from his real parents. Honnie nad Gordon loved him so very much. They put him in the best private schools to get a good education. He even graduated from Darlington School in Rome, Georgia. We have no records of where he came from before his adoption. We know nothing past him. There is no family tree on his side. Everyone that knew anything is dead and cannot tell us. There were no records kept at the time of his adoption. My grandmother didn’t even know he was adopted until after he died and my mother found the papers. All of us were very surprised. But what saddened me the most was to discover that I am not related by blood to my great-grandparents in the photo above. I would like to think that I have a little bit on Honnie and Gordon inside of me though. If not through blood then through environment.
Vintage Busch Gardens 1966
Bottom photo, me at Busch Gardens with my Grandparents
They took me everywhere. I had the best childhood.
My grandmother died in 2000, since then I have experienced such a great loss at not having her with me anymore. She was the last of such a wonderful generation.
The Postmaster
My grandfather was Postmaster of Rome, Georgia up until his death. I have some of his postal things with me. His Postmaster rubber stamp and his little tin mail box. His rubber stamp still has the rubber band that he put on it. I won’t ever take it off.
The Men in My History
The important men in my life growing up. My grandfather, great grandfathers and my great-uncle Ray. They were the positive male influences throughout my life and they were very good to me.
Me with my Great-Uncle Ray, my Grandmother’s Brother
Easter 1964
I miss all these wonderful men that I grew up knowing that were so good to me.
Me with my Grandfather at Busch Gardens
1966
Thank you granddaddy for making me feel like the most special person in the world.
I miss you,
Julie
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July 9, 2014
Snow White Memories on my Desk
I have the best view of our backyard from my desk inside our house. Whether it be beautiful rain or beautiful sunshine. But what makes my desk even more special is Snow White and the happy childhood memories that she gave me.
My vintage Snow White planter holds my pretty pens. The photo is of me at my 5th. birthday party where we went to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the movie theater.
How do you personalize your desk? Everyone seems to have some special things that they set around their work area to make them happy, and this is mine.
Happy Hump Day!
Julie
Thrift Store Art
(Hey, don’t knock it)!
Robert Cox, Benjamin Jorg Harris, Izzard
The 3 oil paintings/water colors I bought at our favorite thrift stores in Sun City, Florida. The oil painting (top) is a Robert Cox. We bought this painting for $50.00, it retails online for anywhere between $600.00 and $2,000.00.
Benjamin Jorg Harris
This is my favorite and this is the one that I am keeping. Benjamin Jorg Harris was an African-American born in Albany, Georgia. He is deceased now but he and his wife Georgette perfected the art of water color air brushing. I am not selling this one for any price. I love it! I also really love his style and I am on the look out for more of his watercolors. I looked online and a painting this size goes for around $600.00. I got it free with a ‘buy one get one free’ deal at my favorite thrift store. The painting below is the one that we bought in order to get this one free.
The Izzard is on the right. Gordon liked it. It is a nice boat on a river in winter. Very nice. I have been trying to research this artist but there are a few Izzards and I don’t know which one painted this.
Never overlook thrift stores. Many a treasure has been found there and I love nothing more than a good treasure hunt!
Happy Hunting,
Julie
The Twilight Zone Day
Do, do do do, Do, do do do, Do, do do do……….
“You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension – a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into the Twilight Zone!”
Rod Serling
Da, da, DAH!
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The Twilight Zone’s Hollywood Tower of Terror
The Hollywood Tower Hotel at Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida
Care to check in?
Would you like some tea?
This is my favorite thrill ride in all the world, The Twilight Zone’s Tower of Terror falling elevator ride. I love everything about this ride, old Hollywood glamor, set in the 1940’s, swanky hotel, bell hops, ghosts, vintage luggage, cobwebs all around, falling elevators, lightening strikes and of course this all takes place in…….
THE TWILIGHT ZONE
Right this way, please. You’ll be in room 1313.
So here is my homage to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Twilight Zone’s Tower of Terror on this official Twilight Zone Day.
This is my grandmother’s vintage luggage. The fur (fake) coat once belonged to my mother in her youth. The vintage purse I found at a thrift store along with the poodle. The black gloves were also my grandmothers.
Just ring the bell and someone will help you.
DO NOT DISTURB
The vintage travel alarm clock above belonged to my mother when she was young. It ticks very loudly and the ring is so annoyingly loud that you just wonder how she could have gotten any sleep with that thing next to her all night.
Care to wait in the lobby?
Don’t forget to pick up a little souvenir snow globe of the hotel in the lobby gift shop on your way out.
Now just take the elevator up to your room.
You have entered The Twilight Zone……..
Da, da da DAH!
Julie
p.s. Now I can’t wait for Halloween.
Happy Mother’s Day
May 10, 2014
(My brother Frank’s 43rd. birthday)
Mother’s Day Weekend
The Women in my Family Tree
This is to be my most favorite blog post. I have adored these women my entire life. I was lucky enough to be born at a time when they were all alive and I was able to know them. They are not strangers in photographs to me, they are women that I knew and loved and that loved me in return. I carry the memories of them throughout my life and I always will. They were good to me, they adored me and they made me feel as if I were the best person on Earth. After all, don’t we prefer to be around people that make us feel good?
Nellie Mae
My Grandmother
This is the woman that I have been closest to in my life. She was more of a mother to me than a grandmother. She died 14 years ago and I miss her most everyday. She was a character. She would light up like a Christmas tree whenever she saw me. She was the one person that I could call night or day and she would answer the phone. There was no answering machine or voicemail, no screened calls, just her voice on the other end. Always happy to hear from me.
The woman did love to eat though. She did make the best Brunswick Stew. I base my recipe on her’s. Sometimes when I was with her she would have a craving for Kentucky Fried Chicken so we would have to swing by and get some. She would then run every stop sign and red light in Rome, Georgia on the way home because of the smell of that chicken in the backseat of the car. I would usually cling to the dashboard with my hands yelling at her to slow down and chastise her for running those stop signs. She would then bark at me,
“I’M HUNGRY!”
She hated her name. She thought that it sounded like a cow so she would tell people that her real name was just Nell Mae.
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The serving tray at left I decoupaged several years ago. It is of my grandmother and great-grandmothers. The photo in the center of the tray is of my grandmother’s mother, my great-grandmother Keith. That is also her to the left of that photo as an old woman. I loved her so much. She is the one that made the best cornbread in the south. She always had a big cast iron skillet of cornbread for me whenever I would come visit. I now own that cast iron skillet and make my own cornbread in it. She and I would sit out on her front porch, in the porch swing and fan ourselves on those hot summer Georgia nights. I also spent many a time climbing her magnificent Magnolia tree in her front yard. It had the prettiest blossoms and the nicest leaves. I miss that tree.
Her name was Emmaline
I think she was beautiful. I was very lucky to know her.
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Lillian, a.k.a. Honnie
Honnie is my great-grandmother from Vincennes, Indiana. I had a southern great-grandmother and a northern great-grandmother. You could say that I had the best of both worlds. I remember her well. She would sew me the nicest clothes. She sewed me the cutest Chinese pajamas with the cute mandarin collars. She would always make me divinity. She was the best cook. Unfortunately all of her recipes were in her head and when she died she took them all with her. I was the one that coined the name “Honnie”. Her second husband was Coy Lone, my great-grandfather, everyone called her Miss Lone. When my mother was a little girl she couldn’t say Lone so she called her “Hone”. I then came along and called her “Honnie”. That is when everyone started calling her Honnie.
In the photos above you can see Honnie’s Victorian purses. I have always had them. Ever since I was a little girl. I loved them and still do. In the photo above Honnie is looking through the surveyor’s scope. Her first husband Gordon, and the love of her life, helped to build the railroad out west. Honnie was with him every step of the way. My mother has wonderful photos of how the railroad was built with my first great-grandfather in charge of it. Also with Honnie there as well. We never knew Gordon Haskin, he died of a heart attack in his 50’s in Vincennes and left Honnie a widow. That is when she married Coy, the great-grandfather that I did know. All I have are photos of Gordon Haskin. But in most every photo he and Honnie are hamming it up. Laughing and being very silly. You can tell that they loved each other dearly and that they were probably the funniest couple to know.
Honnie in Vencinnes, Indiana
I love the Victorian attire and especially the lovely plumed hat. Honnie had a very voluptuous figure. She and Gordon were also very well off financially. It wasn’t until he died that she and her second husband migrated south looking for work on their way down to Macon, Georgia but finding work in Rome and settling there.
Candles to Remember
This is the tray that I made for my mother many years ago. Surrounding the tray are her dolls from when she was a child.
Mary Keith and Duddy
In the photo decoupaged on the tray above is of my mother in some school competition where she was crowned queen and her boyfriend Duddy was crowned king. Duddy was killed when he was about 15 from a hunting accident. He went out hunting with his uncle and cousins and got shot accidentally and killed. My mother always resented that Duddy was killed. He was her first boyfriend. I can remember hearing of this story and thinking that I almost had a daddy name Duddy?
Here she is above wearing the dress from that little pageant. I’ve surrounded her here with her dolls.
My favorite of my mother’s dolls.
It’s funny but she never used to be. It’s strange how our taste’s change and the things that we don’t like become the things that we do.
Mary Keith and her Doll
My mother was a very cute little girl thanks to my grandmother that was always fussing with her hair. My mother told me that my grandmother would make her sleep with rags in her hair to make it curly. She hated it! She was a tomboy that preferred to be outside playing with her dogs. Animals were her best friends.
A Collage
I put this together a few years ago of my great-grandmother, center, and both her daughters on each side. My grandmother on the left, and Opal on the right. Opal died when I was 6 so I don’t remember her. That always bothered my grandmother, that I did not remember her sister. She told me that Opal adored me.
Opal Keith
The funny story that I’m told about me and Opal is when poor Opal was dying in the hospital of cancer and my grandparents couldn’t find a baby sitter for me so they took me to Opal’s hospital bedside, left me there, and she had to look out for me. Poor Opal.
Baby Mary Keith
My mother’s baby picture. She was a beautiful baby. My grandmother made sure that she took the best photos. She was also an only child so she got lots of attention.
I wanted to share with you these photos because I think it is important for us to know where we come from. I have never been close to my mother but I was close to the other women in my family and they instilled in me who I am. I know where I come from and that helps me to know where I am going. I adored these women and I always will. You know I’ve always been confused when someone dies and you hear it said, “I loved her.” Or “I loved him”. Past tense. As if just because the person is dead that their feelings for that person have died as well. I have not seen some of these women in decades but I still love them. Those feelings of love are still alive in me. They aren’t dead. To me Mother’s Day is about honoring those wonderful women that came before me.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you!
Yours Truly,
Julie
p.s. Happy Birthday Frank!
p.s.s. Special mention to Miss Willie and Aunt Margie. They were very special as well.
Vintage Bath
After a long weekend of yard work I like to reward myself with a nice hot bubble bath. I refer to this as my ‘vintage bath’. Most everything here is vintage and was passed down to me by my ancestors.
This is my grandmother’s vintage fountain. I’ve added some soaps and sea shells to it. It is nothing more than chalkware and I love it. I grew up looking at it. It goes perfectly in our bathroom.
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We did add a wall mounted fountain to our bathroom. I love to hear it when we have it running. The statue was made by my great-aunt Margie in the 1960’s. She and my grandmother took ceramics classes together and my mother and I have the nicest things that they made.
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The rubber duckie is sitting on a bench that my grandfather made many years ago. I love it! I think of him every time that I use it. I love an elegant bathroom. I like to fill it with pretty things that mean something to me. Usually ‘hand me downs’ from my ancestors that I love so much.
The light fixture over the bathtub is inexpensive, it originally hung in our dining room. Here I added my grandmother’s crocheted beads that she made herself. To me it is more beautiful than any crystal chandelier.
I have these wonderful nooks in our bathroom that I can place so many lovely things up high. We really do have the nicest bathroom and I enjoy it every time I’m in there. Here I placed some nice baskets that go very well with the color scheme, mustard and red.
You know you too can create a beautiful bathroom atmosphere that will not cost very much money, that you can enjoy. I am not the kind of person that goes to get manicures or pedicures. My lifestyle is the beach, the garden and craft work. Not to mention, housework. I just prefer to do those things myself. I don’t go to spa’s or get massages, that’s what Gordon is for. 🙂 I’m happy taking care of myself and using my own resources to do so. Besides, my bath is a heck of a lot cheaper and just as nice.
Treat Yourself! Everyone of us is worth it! If you are female, then you are special and deserve it!
Julie
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My cute vintage ‘made in England’ tin. My vintage Snow White ‘Happy Birthday’ card. My vintage deer, vintage glasses that house some lovely white roses.
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Very elegant looking. Also very special to me.
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I had the best birthday possible. One to remember. I adore you Snow White. You were very special.
Julie
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Today is My 53rd. Birthday
It’s hard to believe that I am over half a century old! I like to look at it as fine wine gets better with age. 🙂 You know I don’t mind getting older as long as I feel good. And I do still feel good. I like to appreciate every birthday that I have because I know they are only going to get worse. 🙂 So here’s to me on my 53rd. birthday! I hope I get 53 more!
My Snow White Birthday Then and Now
1966 and 2014
Julie age 5
Having cake and ice cream at my party.
The original Walt Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs movie was made in 1937. Top left is the movie poster. Top right is one of my favorite scenes from the movie. Snow White at the wishing well.
You know when I re-watched Snow White recently I noticed more of an old European influence in the cartoonists drawings. Especially when it came to the seven dwarfs cabin. America has really changed in my lifetime where our influences are concerned. It’s really evident in this Disney movie. Those influences came from immigration to this country. Pretty cool, huh?
Lynn, Julie, Cathy and Jackie
That is me in the red coat with my friend Lynn, in the white coat, and my cousins Cathy and Jackie. It’s my 5th. birthday and we are on our way to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the movie theater in downtown Rome, Georgia. This is the best birthday that I have ever had in my life. It is the one that I remember fondly. Why this birthday? I think because all of my grandparents and great-grandparents were alive. I was lucky enough to get to know them. They were all around when I was young. They were the best family that I could have had. Unfortunately I didn’t have them all for very long, but I remember them as if it were yesterday. So this year I wanted to recreate that nostalgic birthday feeling.
So here is my vintage Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Birthday.
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That is me, below, in the red sailor dress at my grandparents house. Although you can’t see it, I am holding my slinky in the photo.
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Opening my presents, below.
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The snow globes above, under the dome, I made a few years ago. The vintage deer and trees I found online. I love vintage.
A placed my Snow White necklace around my silver pitcher that I used to house my white roses. I also placed little plastic Snow White characters all around, even as cupcake toppers.
Although hard to see this is such a lovely plate with pretty pink roses all around. The candle holder is also pink with some pretty edging on the base of it. I found both pieces at Goodwill for just a few dollars. I also made the pedestal plate that the apple is on in the photo up above.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Copywright 1978 by Walt Disney Productions
(I found this wonderful book at a thrift store for a few dollars. It is such a treasure trove of information on all the classic Disney movies).
The Story of the Production
“You should have heard the howls of warning when we started making a full-length cartoon,” Walt Disney recalled years later. “But there was only one way we could do it successfully and that was to plunge ahead and go for broke—shoot the works. There could be no compromising on money, talent, or time. Well, as everyone knows, the picture did make money, and if it hadn’t, there wouldn’t be any Disney Studio today,”
Snow White with the Apple
Production began in 1934 and was completed in 1937. More than 750 artists worked on the picture, creating at least one million drawings, of which over 250,000 were used. Studio chemists in the Disney paint laboratories ground their own pigments from special formulas and mixed 1,500 colors and shades for the characters, and backgrounds. The multiplane camera, invented and developed by Walt Disney Studio technicians, first reached a high degree of perfection in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. With it, animated scenes achieved a three-dimensional quality because characters and backgrounds could be photographed on several levels or planes.
Walt Disney with Shirley Temple in 1939 at The Academy
Awards
(RIP Shirley, 1928 – 2014. You were a cutie. Thank you for all the entertainment that you gave me when I was a child watching you on television).
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and sciences gave Snow White a special award in 1939, with nine-year old Shirley Temple making the presentation to Walt Disney of a large golden Oscar and seven miniature replicas. There are eight songs in the picture, several of which are now considered “standards” in the trade: “I’m Wishing,” “One Song,” “With a Smile and a Song,” Whistle While You Work,” “Heigh-Ho,” “Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum,” “The Dwarfs’ Yodel Song,” and “Some Day My Prince Will Come.” The songs have been translated into thirteen languages (many more by now) and are well known throughout the world, wherever this record-breaking picture has played.
(As taken from Walt Disney’s Treasury of Children’s Classics).
I blogged a few years ago about how disappointed that I was in my generations “Disney Princesses” as being so helpless that they had to have men come and rescue them. I admired the bravery of Mulan and the skill and determination of Merida and I literally viewed iconic roll models of Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora, Sleeping Beauty as weak and helpless. But I have come to realize that Snow White, for example, wasn’t as helpless as I originally thought. She couldn’t fight anyone if she had to but she was good and kind and pure and innocent that she did charm her way into getting the help and shelter and food when she needed it. She had attributes that although are wonderful to have, they are not always appreciated by the masses. Luckily for her the dwarfs did appreciate her and they helped her when she needed it. They gave her a “job” when she was homeless. Maybe Snow White wasn’t so helpless after all. Maybe I should view her as a positive roll model that did the best with what she was given. She bloomed where she was planted. She was not such a helpless one after all. If only more people were as good and kind as she was then the world would be a better place. So Snow, you are now on my top 10 list. I will always love you. Thank you for the happy birthdays that you gave me.
We ended the day with the best possible outcome. My daughter Veronica and I watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on television. Just the two of us.
Watching Snow White on Blu-Ray
I felt like a silly girl again. That’s what I wanted. That feeling.
Happy Birthday to me!
Julie
Check out what my daughter gave me for my birthday! A Snow White robe. Loving it so much!!!
My Modeling Days
Here are just a few photos that I came across while cleaning out one of my dresser drawers. Some photos of when I was modeling from the 70’s and 80’s. The coat, at left, is the same one featured below with my Melanie Daniels, The Birds photo shoot.
I did go to New York to try and break into the modeling business but that was when the Brooke Shields look was in and I didn’t fit the bill. Also I was getting too old at the time. Hey, back then your modeling career was over with by age 23. But I did have some fun while I was there. I stayed at The Biltmore Hotel. Ate at Tavern on the Green. Rode the Stanton Island Ferry. Climbed The Statue of Liberty. Saw a Broadway play, can’t remember the name of it though. Although I’m sure I’ve got the Playbill somewhere. Rode in my first limo and went to the hippest nightclub that ever existed, Xenon. So I would hardly call the trip a bust.
Julie
I found this lovely Lusterware set at an estate sale. I’ve added the lovely Dutch windmill chocolates, the souvenir spoon to commemorate the marriage of the Dutch prince of Holland Willem-Alexander to Maxima Zorroguieta from Argentina, and the lovely ceramic sabot. All gifts from the Dieker’s.
Prince Willem-Alexander and his bride Argentina born Maxima Zorroguieta.
You all know how much I love a royal wedding.
Very Sincerely,
Julie
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1957
Starring Marlon Brando, Red Buttons, Miiko Taka, Miyoshi Umeki, Ricardo Mantalban and James Garner.
“And then in a voice centuries soft, the beautiful, haunting, forbidden girl said: “I come from the North of Japan. We were very poor. I join Matsubayashi Theatre. I work very hard and now I am first dancer of all. But Matubayashi girls must take vow……
The photo above left are some of my vintage books from the movie’s Sayonara and The Flower Drum Song.
Ace and Ona-Ogi in a scene at the home of Joe and Katsumi Kelly.
Vintage cocktail glasses filled with flowers. I added some umbrellas to the cupcakes for that Asian look.
Ace and Ona-Ogi
I love the flowers in her hair. When I was in high school in the South, I would wear flowers in my hair and the other kids would make fun of me. But when we lived in Hawaii everyone had flowers in their hair. See, I knew there was nothing wrong with me, I was just living in the wrong area of the world.
I placed all of this on my shell mirror because I wanted it to look like a lake.
I bought this doll on Ebay and when she arrived I hated her! I thought she was just a bit too gaudy for me. She also has this huge gold plastic “spike” through her hair. I tried to remove it but I can’t without ruining her hair. I hated her so much that I was thinking about getting rid of her and then one day while I was decorating gift bags with some silk flowers I got the idea to glue one onto her “spike” in her hair. Then I decided to add some flowers to her hands.
A beautiful movie, a beautiful culture and a beautiful memory that I recreated myself.
