Small Talk-ing

It's the little things in life...

Sep 05, 2023

Share E-Musings: Things I've Been Thinking About

Image by Massimo Negrello from Pixabay

I’ve always been charmed by tiny stuff…you know, like those colorful eensy-weensy frogs in the Amazon rainforest (sadly, they are often poisonous, “beautiful, but deadly” like film noir femmes fatales), miniature orchids (here’s a photo of one gifted to me by my friend Julie a few years ago; it delighted me briefly before its untimely, yet predictable, demise—because I have The Black Thumb of Doom), and so on...

L’il Ms. Orchid, not long for this world, alas…

FAREWELL, STERLING PLACE:

Our Rose moved out of her itsy-bitsy Brooklyn studio apartment this week, after four years of living and working in extremely close quarters. She wrote this ode to her former digs on her terrific blog, The Draft…

PAPER DOLLS:

Time was, I was a huge paper doll fan (does anyone but me remember Betsy McCall, the paper doll in the back of McCall’s magazine?) I know I was not alone. Even (slightly) before my time, kids were making these small dolls and their wardrobes. Check these out, from Staffordshire Archives and Heritage in the UK (thanks to my friend Karen for sharing on FB):

“Take a look at these 'tiny time capsules' from the museum collection! These paper dolls were made by members of the Masefield family who lived at Old Hall in Stone during the 19th century. The family had 8 daughters who made these beautiful paper dolls using snippets of fabrics during the 1860s. The little box contains 13 dresses. The fabric probably came from offcuts and scraps from the material used to make the family's clothes - which makes this a tiny archive of the fashionable patterns and trimmings of the day.”