Trash Beach, Post Irene

I know I'm always showing pictures of of the loot I find at Dead Horse Bay, so I thought I'd show some pictures of where it comes from.  The Hurricane blew out tons of new detritus, so it was kind of an amazing wonderland of, uhhh, trash. I'll show my treasures soon.  

I know there are differing opinions on Dead Horse Bay.  What do you think; is it great for amazing treasure hunting or a sad instance of ruination? 

Vintage French Postcards

I picked up some old French postcards at a thrift store the other day. One is missing a stamp (was it worth lots of money?) and I think the postmark says 05.  That would be 1905, making these more than a century old!  I love the fancy handwriting in the bottom photo. They also make me nostalgic for handwritten letters (not that I have had many occasions to write them)  I have a hard time coming up with things to write when it's to easy to facebook/email/text/videochat with most of the people I know.  I'd have to hold off on communication in order to have anything interesting to say.

But these postcards may inspire me to try!

Trash Beach Treasures

We had a good run at dead horse bay last week. Sometimes I get pulled away by the rest of my party when there is still so much searching to do!  But we stayed until full high tide this time--and I'm getting better at culling my collection:  the final haul was relatively lightweight (and certainly exciting!).  Here are a few treasures from the recent trip:

Look at this nearly perfect old doorknob.  Somehow it's more exciting to find one on a beach than buy it at a flea market.  And the glass stoppers--I'm always on the lookout for them, but I got lucky this time.

Look at that glass dish and all of the beads.  I must admit, the beads have been collected from multiple trips, but the dish is from the most recent visit and it is in great shape.  

Some of my favorites are the military collar pin and the old locket below.  I can't open the locket without breaking it because the hinge has completely corroded off. I'm sure anything that was inside is long gone, but we'll never know!

It's that time of year again

And another visit to trash beach.  I love the waste knob and the sugar tongs.  The pawn was a pretty fabulous find, too; it's solid iron! These were found on a miserable day a few weeks ago, but now that it's a bit warmer I'll have to go again soon...

 yay trash!

Letterpress Studio

 I so love letterpress type.  I love type in general; I love design; I love fancy letters and especially flourishes.  It was fun to poke around the studio and look at all the old plates and type in all the drawers.  Now I want to make some text posters.

The Homestead

Of course, what would a trip to Arizona be without visiting the chickens?  One day I will have my own egg laying hen, and then I will subject all of you to an overdose of chicken photos.  So this time there's only three.  Of course, I never tire of sifting through the old sheds in the back (and therein lies the bulk of pictures you will see today).  

I love the wide mouth mason jar and all the coffee tins, and of course, that stack of Lawyer cards.  They are significantly larger than business cards, and I don't know what exactly they were for.  Mostly I get all giddy because they are letterpress made.  It hurts me to leave them sitting out, but I've already taken a fairly large stack for myself, and they obviously have been OK out there for decades, so...  

Old Letter

We're moving this weekend and I found a store  near our new house that has drawers full of old paper ephemera.  I bought this letter (even though I don't need to add anything to my collections) and I want to frame it; I am smitten with the beautiful hand written calligraphy, even though I can't read it. Does anyone read french?

A.M.P. Cup

Life has been crazy busy lately.  The season is starting, we are moving in two weeks and Everything (yes with a capital E) is happening at once.  However, I've been wanting one of these, ever since we visited Lock's parent's houses.  Lo and behold, my dad had one in his stash of stuff.  I am so excited, although I have no idea who this A.M.P. is...

One day

My type tray will look like this.

Vintage

This is what I bought:

The vintage stores were the best.  I was impressed with the inexpensiveness of the items--much less than comparative shops in New York.  I just wish I had more time to search through the racks and bins--There was a large bin overflowing with scarves for €1 each!  I'm sad that I only bought 2. And the shirt is a beautiful lacy eyelet cotton that I must sadly wait until spring to wear--one more thing to look forward to.

My Favorite Place

Some of my new favorites from trash beach.