Potato Mania

Banner Haus News and Musings:

Howdy lil' donkey frens [and any lurking burro acquaintances]. Top o'the cyber mornin' to ye...

Attention lil' ones, I still carry a flail, but I have added a lovely lil' piece of barbed wire (correctly pronounced "bob whar") to it, to keep everyone in line...now you donkeys be good to yrselves and we'll all git along.

Now you made me sing! "Git along, lil' donkeys, git along, git along"...ow, that hurt yr poor ears...

Quote:

"My friends, there are no friends."

      - Coco Chanel

Vintage Image Freebie:

First, more potatoes. My bloggie fren Ms. Sparrow didn't cotton to my last potato. Got my ire up. I thought to myself, "Myself, what can you do to irritate the poor woman further? Post MORE POTATOES!"

And here, from someone's old studio portrait, a colorized gal. She looks like she's about "give up" on gettin' any sensible comments out of her donkey frens, if you wuz to ask ME.

I think if you regular-click on the potatoes, they get BIGGER. Undoubtedly the image is hosted in Texas.

Neither Fish Nor Fowl - Free Vintage Images

Actually, my pets, it's both fish and fowl today.

Banner Haus News:

Look for a lot of chocolate-colored glitter on Easter projects, and quite a bit of "sanding sugar" on Easter decorations this year.

I saw pictures of eggs on a lot of the cards I put out yesterday. Real eggses, m'dears. (By the bye, the plural of egg ought to be eggses, if there were any justice in this world.) TURQUOISE and brown feature prominently, as do the "frosted" eggs, with the pretend sugar-floof on them. They are stunning.

Musing

New Orleans was quite a hellish place, for me, to be raised, in many ways. But sometimes I think back to the long-ago days before the world seemed to become totally craven, and how the parades would roll past and the doubloons would ring on the pavement, and the krewes would tease and tease the crowd by holding aloft some incredibly desirable item, such as a bamboo cane with a DOLLY on the top...I miss that part of New Orleans. The flambeau carriers at the night parades, and the exhiliration of being part of the throng in the dark. Happy Mardi Gras, and RIP New Orleans, and old memories.

Quote for the Day

From Brenda Ueland's recounting of her Russian piano teacher's passion for music -- and call for passion in whatever you do:

"In Russia, when we make love, we crush the bones!"

Vintage Graphics Freebies:

A fish bouquet, perfect for most any occasion, and a pretty red-winged blackbird advertisement. Don't fergit to try picnik.com or photobucket.com to add type to any photo or graphic, free. Or gimme $1 to do it.

Right-click to save. Enjoy. Clicking on a graphic will often bring up a larger version.

Wise Bivalves and An Antique Rose Postcard

Banner Haus News:

Nationally: Chocoholics throughout the nation report that they ate too much chocolate yesterday. Those in Hawaii also admit to eating too many macadamia nuts along with it.

Local News: I don't want to hear any "I-told-you-so's," and since I turned off the comments, I won't, but I admit to missing reading the comments of my bloggie frens and passersby quite a bit.

On the other hand, I just want to set around and read Tweets, as it's ever and ever so much easier. Aye, I'm spoiled.

Have to credit bloggie fren Julia (the amazing aproned botanist) for her quip that those who use Twitter are "twitterpated." I had forgotten that term!

Still, I am maintaining my clam-like silence on this bloggie! 

Interestingly, evidently most hinged bivalves are silent, brooding creatures. We say someone "clammed up," and we also say, "As solitary as an oyster." Or at least I do, because I read incessantly, and have many and many an oldtime expression in my vocabulary. And a person picks up a few things in 451 years, which indeed is my actual age.

I think it's wise to collect as many sayings as you can!

A Quote from the Bookshelf:

"Hobbits...have a fund of wisdom and wise sayings that men have mostly never heard or have forgotten long ago."  J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Antique Postcard Freebie:

Roses of a rich buttery hue.

Right-click to save. Don't fergit to click on the graphic to see if there is a larger size available, too. And don't fergit to try out the free "add type or words" features of picnik.com and photobucket.com, either.

A Rescue and An Antique Postcard: Girl with Quill and Menu

A big "Howdy" to you, Elves and Others! Greetings to all my olde Penniwig's frens, too.

Welcome to The Banner Haus News, where you can find antique and vintage images posted daily, to help keep the work of long-ago artists alive, in circulation, and appreciated. Right-click to save them, then use on yr blogs, websites, cards and such.

The Banner Haus is also a place where I enjoy "holding forth" as the mood strikes me, bringing you all the news and musings of my strange little world. I'm just an Ol' Western Gal, suspiciously akin to my former alter ego, The Olde Dame, only dustier.

I go wandering through life like a little straw-hatted donkey, munching on weeds and sniffing on flowers and trying to stay off of the cactuses.

Catch my Twitter feed, if you like! I have it up here on my bloggie, too. I think Twitter turns out to be a fine way to interact.

Fer those without a Twitter account, they are free and easy to use. Now all of you other donkeys can mill around and whinny at each other and be nosey, without a lot of bloggie bother and etiquette and obligations. Try it, my pets. We'll all learn together. You go first.

Breaking News

Yesterday, while out on my favorite mount, Spokey Joe (which is an old girls wide-fender two-tone TURQUOISE-N-CREAM coaster-brake bike), I came across a horny toad SETTING IN THE STREET right in front of George W. Bush's childhood home here in Midland, Texas.

I don't know why a horny toad would be awake at this time of year. The temperature spiked up yesterday, possible confusing the creature. This is the second horny toad rescue in the same location, and a handtowel was used in both rescues, as I am a bit leery of handling the horny toads.  They DO shoot blood out of their eyes at you. Which I personally think wouldn't do either of us any good.

Old-Time Household Tip:

If you have that trailing ivy in yr home, and it gets dull or dusty, get yrself a piece of old washcloth. Put 1/4 cup milk and a 1/4 cup water together, put the cloth in and squeeze out until just damp. Then wipe the ivy leaves with it. Makes them glossy. No, yr house will not smell like milk, my suspicious pets.

Vintage Postcard Freebie:

Today, a digitally freshened antique postcard image. It is ready for digital or craft projects.

Wondering how to add wording to a graphic, without having to buy and master a program such as PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro? There are several places on the Internet offering instant, online editing abilities. Photobucket and Picnik are two such places, and their basic versions are free. (Ol' Western Gal has no monetary connection with these places, and I primarily use Paint Shop Pro to alter, clean up, and create images.)

Right-click to save. Enjoy. I'm moseying on now, see you tomorrow God Willing and the Creek Don't Rise.