Grab Those Slippahs….Happy National Flip Flop Day!

By Mirah W. (mwelday)

Oh, flip flop.  Looking back, I didn’t embrace you as early as I should have.  The truth is I had a ‘thing’ about showing my toes.  I’m weird; I don’t really have another justification.  But all that changed when I lived in the Land of Aloha.  In Hawaii you just have to wear flip flops, or ‘slippahs’ as the locals call them.  Flip flops should be the state shoe of Hawaii, if there is such a thing as a state shoe.  Everyone wears them and I grew to love them.  Now I have an aversion to wearing ‘real shoes’.  I’d much rather be sportin’ some flops.  In fact, I’ve lost count at how many pairs now occupy my closet.  This is one of the rare times when I disagree with Stacy from the show ‘What Not to Wear’.  I saw an episode where she said flip flops weren’t appropriate for every day. Obviously, she’s never lived in Hawaii.

So, all this love for the flip flop got me thinking.  For National Flip Flop Day, I’m going to take a brief look at books about the land that inspired me to embrace my beloved non-shoe.

One of my favorite Hawaiian authors is Kiana Davenport.  Her book House of Many Gods is incredible.  Her descriptions of Hawaii make the islands another character in the book, as real and vibrant as a person.  Davenport’s Shark Dialogues follows Pono and the lives of her granddaughters.  So many things about this novel are authentic…the way the characters speak, the family dynamics, the history of Hawaii.  Reading this book is a trek through time of the place I now refer to as The Home of my Heart.

Alan Brennert’s Moloka’i is one of the most beautiful books I’ve read about Hawaii. I picked the book because my husband and I had just moved to Honolulu and I wanted to learn about the history of Hawaii. I suggested it to my book club and it turned out to be one of the few books every member of our group enjoyed.  The novel follows the life of Rachel and the turbulent period during Hawaii’s history when they sent all afflicted with leprosy to the island of Moloka’i.  It was a touching and spiritual read for me. I think Brennert captured the enduring spirit of Hawaiians in his book.

When I think of Hawaii, I think of pineapples, haupia pudding, reading at the beach early in the morning, myna birds, palm trees, rainbows and, of course, slippahs.  I remember sitting at the North Shore and watching the surfers master massive waves.  I remember the excitement of seeing my first double rainbow vibrant over Ford Island.  I remember driving past the USS Arizona Memorial and thinking how surreal it felt to live in a place with such history.  I remember the feeling of freedom and light-heartedness that came with embracing the Aloha spirit.  I remember wearing flip flops on a warm summer (or winter) day and feeling the trade winds blow.

So on National Flip Flop Day I will wear my slippahs and do my best to share the Aloha spirit with everyone I meet. I hope you’ll put on your flip flops and join me!

By Carole (craftnut)

It’s national sewing machine day!  Very little is known about the day to honor the sewing machine, but here is a bit of history about this wonderful invention.  Many people believe that Singer invented the sewing machine, but he didn’t.  The actual history is an amazing story of espionage and stolen ideas, worthy of a blockbuster film. In much the same way as our modern day Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had the war between Apple and Microsoft, in the 1800s there were Elias Howe and Isaac Singer.

The first documented sewing machine was made and patented in 1804 in France, but never made it off the ground.  A German invention was patented in 1810, but didn’t function well and was abandoned.  In 1830, a French tailor named Barthelemy Thimonnier patented a chain stitch machine using only one thread.  His clothing factory was burned by rival tailors who feared the invention of the machine would put them out of work.

In 1834, Walter Hunt made the first sewing machine in America that actually worked well.   He abandoned his invention because he believed it could cost jobs.   He did not get a patent, which would prove to be a determining factor in a later patent fight.

The first American patent for a sewing machine was granted to Elias Howe in 1846.  His design used a two-thread system.   It used an oscillating shuttle to create the lockstitch.   In the 1850s, Isaac Singer redesigned a Lerow and Blodgett machine and began production using the same lockstitch mechanism that Howe had patented but with a stationary head and straight needle.  Thus began the patent wars, ending with a victory by Howe in 1854, in part due to Hunt not patenting his machine.  Singer was forced to pay royalties to Howe, dramatically increasing Howe’s income to more than $200,000 a year, a real fortune in those days.  Howe died in 1867, the same year his patent expired.

In 1850, inventor Allen Wilson invented the vibrating shuttle bobbin.  He was immediately sued by the owners of another shuttle patent that had been granted in 1848.  Rather than fight, Wilson agreed to sign over half interest in the shuttle.   He then began work on a rotary hook design that endures to this day.  The Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines were in peak production in the 1850s and 1860s.  They were the leading producer of sewing machines at the time.  Wilson was also the inventor of the feed dog mechanism and spring presser foot, both still in use today as well.

During the 1850s, so many sewing machine manufacturers were created that the owners of the patents were constantly suing other manufacturers to maintain their patents.  This is known as the Sewing Machine Wars.   In 1856, four manufacturers created The Sewing Machine Combination to pool their patents and force other manufacturers to obtain a license to manufacture sewing machines.  These manufacturers were Wheeler & Wilson, Grover & Baker, Howe and Singer.  They were not cooperative with each other, however, competing with each other to grant the licenses for their own designs.      

Goodspeed and Wyman was a sewing machine manufacturer in Massachusetts, which marketed single thread sewing machines under the name of Bartlett Sewing Machines. The faceplate is difficult to see, but has the name Goodspeed and Wyman, along with several patent dates ending in 1860, and the names Howe, Grover, Wilson and Singer Co visible.  This would seem to indicate that the license fee was paid to the Combination.  In 1866, a new patent was granted to Goodspeed and Wyman, but this patent number does not appear on this machine, indicating it was made prior to 1866.

In the 1870s when all the patents expired, The White Sewing Machine Company began to market its premier product, the Vibrating Shuttle Machine.   After that model, the company began to produce a rotary hook model.  At the same time, Singer began production of its vibrating shuttle models and became the leading manufacturer of sewing machines.  Singer was the first to offer an installment payment plan, as machines were very expensive relative to the average salary of the day. 

This portable electrified vibrating shuttle machine was probably made around 1880, and is branded R. H. Macy & Co.  Beginning in the 1800s, several manufacturers including White, Singer, Domestic and others manufactured machines for department stores with the store’s branding.  Today, it is very difficult to determine a particular machine’s provenance if it is a store branded machine.  Store branded machines made after World War II are mostly of Japanese manufacture.

Singer was not the hard working inventor that the company wants us to believe.  Far from it, he was a shameless self-promoter, would-be actor and womanizer fathering 24 children with many different women.  At his death, his multi-million dollar estate including a castle in England was divided between the 24 children and three of their mothers.  Singer dominated the global sewing machine market until the 1960s.  Severe competition over the next three decades forced the Singer Company into bankruptcy in 1999.

The Singer machine pictured on the left was originally a treadle machine and was converted to electric later by the addition of a power supply.  It is a rotary hook machine.  The serial number dates it to 1924.  Of the domestic makers, only Singer kept meticulous records of its own machines.  No matter how old your Singer is, anyone can discover the date his or her Singer machine was made and where it was made by the serial number.

Singer was a supplier of machines to the military as well.  The machine on the right, which was primarily used to repair shoes, is on the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown located in Charleston, SC.   Since the Yorktown was commissioned in 1943, it is reasonable to assume the machine was made that year.

In 1873, Helen Augusta Blanchard of Portland, Maine patented the first sewing machine to have a zigzag stitch.  The zigzag machine was in use in Europe for years, but in America only the commercial machines had this feature.  The innovation didn’t come into widespread manufacture for the home sewing market in the U.S. until the 1950s.

In 1893, Karl Friedrich Gegauf invented a hemstitch machine in Switzerland for the manufacturer Bernina.  They entered the home sewing market in the 1920s, but didn’t become a major force in exporting to the United States until 1988.  Bernina introduced the first portable zigzag sewing machine to the world in 1945.  Bernina is also responsible for introducing the computerized machine in 1988.  The company has been an innovative leader in sewing machine development.

This Singer Featherweight was manufactured in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1941.  These machines are highly prized today because of their simple design, all metal parts, straight stitch and light weight. Modern quilters love them.

The Japanese entered the sewing machine manufacturing arena in 1908 with the Brother Sewing Machine Company, the first manufacturer to mass-produce sewing machines.  In the 1920s, the Japanese company The Pine Sewing Machine Company was founded.  The name was chosen to be palatable to the American market.  The name was changed to Janome in 1954.  Janome is a Japanese word meaning ‘eye of the snake’, so named because the round bobbin reminded the workers of a snake’s eye.  In 1960, Janome purchased the New England based New Home sewing machine company, which had been in business for over 90 years. In 1990, Janome introduced the Memory Craft 8000 to the world market, which combined sewing and embroidery capabilities. Janome became a leading innovator in the modern computerized machines we use today.

Further reading on this interesting history can be found at these links –

http://www.moah.org/exhibits/virtual/sewing.html – Museum of American Heritage

http://singermemories.com/

http://oldsewingmachines.acandanex.co.uk/ – contains videos on how they work

There are a number of books on the history of sewing machines.  I have the reference book The Encyclopedia of Antique Sewing Machines: A Reference Manual For The History, Identification, Maintenance, And Use Of Antique And Vintage Model Sewing Machines by Charles Basebase Law, but it is out of print.  If you ever find a copy, buy it.

 

The First Conglomerate – 145 years of the Singer Company by Don Bissell

The Encyclopedia of Early American Sewing Machines, Identification & Values by Carter Bays

Singer and the Sewing Machine: A Capitalist Romance by Ruth Brandon

The History of the Sewing Machine by James Parton

Old Sewing Machines by Carol Head

 By Jerelyn H. (I-F-Letty)

Roses mean romance and Valentine’s Day right?  So what am I doing writing about roses in June well… June 12^th is Red Rose Day, a day to celebrate the queen of the garden.  So why June, you ask?  All roses in the northern hemisphere begin blooming in June.  All roses come from wild stock and the breeding of roses is an ancient practice.  Fossil evidence says the rose dates back 35 million years, and recorded cultivation of the rose began about 5000 years ago, roses have even been found in Egyptian tombs, and in the written records of Chinese Emperors.  Roses were not only valued for their beauty, but for the perfume that was extracted.  At one time rose oil was so sought after that it could be used as currency, but the plant has medicinal qualities as well.  Rosehips (the fruit of the rose) are high in vitamin C, and have been used in teas and tisanes for millennia. Old roses pre-hybridization; bloomed only once a year in late spring/early summer, and were nearly always pink.  The modern roses developed in Europe during the 18^th and 19^th centuries were imported from China these are the ones that were highly prized, for variation color, petal types, and long stems but most of all for blooming repeatedly.  There is now something like 30,000 varieties.

But Red Rose Day has a deeper meaning and it has come to symbolize the fight against Cystic Fibrosis.  Or as a little girl, I will call Carrie called it 65 Roses.  Why 65 roses?  Because, that is what Cystic Fibrosis sounded like to a little girl suffering from this genetic disease. My education about CF started one day in June nearly 20 years ago, I moved all my roses into a proper rose garden early that spring.  I had carefully prepared the site and after several years of collecting had a lovely variety of roses, I had moved them to their new home, and spent a great deal of time coddling them to make certain that moving  them had not damaged them. There was one rose I loved, and still love called:  “The Squire.”  It is the color of ruby red velvet.

Carrie’s grandfather happened to be our mailman (he had taken this route so he could take his lunch break at his daughter’s house and to be able to see his granddaughter every day.)  Denny the mailman was a kind person, at that time and too my thirty something self, I considered him to be an older gentleman; I suppose that he was a bit older than I am now. He would always remark on my gardens, for he too was a gardener, and I was just studying to become a Master Gardener, my yard was my studio, as well as my laboratory, Denny understood my passion for gardening.

One day he asked if he could bring his granddaughter over to see the roses, as she lived around the corner and she often walked by, of course I agreed.  Several days later they came by and to my surprise Carrie was a girl I recognized, I had seen her at my kid’s school, and running around with the kids in the neighborhood, she was a several years older than my daughters, but was as small as my eldest.  Well after about 10 minutes Denny had to get back to work but Carrie stayed to talk to me about the roses.  She smelled them all, and I named them for her, and at last I asked her which one she liked best she went to “The Squire” I like this one best she said,  so I cut off  3 blooms and wrapped the stems in wet paper towel, so she could take  them home.  That is when she said to me and I will never forget it. “You know that I have 65 roses?”  I know she must have seen my puzzlement, because she continued on.  “It is really called Cystic Fibrosis, it is a disease that affects the lungs that is why I get to come home from school every day for lunch and lots of time I can’t go back, because of my treatments.”  I knew so little about what “the treatments” entailed; but when I asked, she told me very matter of factly, that her mother had to beat on her chest and back to break up the congestion there.  At that time there was a new machine that would do it, but she had yet to get one.   She had to inhale medicine through a nebulizer; even now I cannot do justice to the description of what she had to endure.  “I hope to grow old she told me, kids like me they don’t get old, we die young and that is why I don’t have any brothers or sisters, because they could be born with it too and Mom and Dad don’t think it is fair.”  But if I get older I want to grow roses too.  That “if” affected me deeply “if I get older.”

Over that summer she came to visit quite often, and then she moved onto middle school, our visits came less and less often.  Denny retired several years’ later, life went on.  Nine years later I was walking down her street and noticed the moving van, in front of their house.  Carries father was putting things in his truck so I went over and introduced myself; I asked him how Denny was and about Carrie.    Carrie would have been 20 and I feared his answer.  To my relief he said that she had married 3 years ago, he said she was living in Portland Oregon, and that he and his wife where relocating there as well, after wishing them happy trails, I continued on with my walk.  Married at 17 what were they thinking? Then it hit me, “we die young” she had said.  So she was going to experience life in what time she had. Why not love and marriage?  I was happy for her, and that she was making a life for herself in spite of the uncertainty of her future.

So Red Rose Day can mean many things, roses symbolize passionate love; they symbolize hope, and remembrance.  Roses are still the favorite flowers for brides, and June is still a favorite bridal month. But every time I see a red rose I think of “The Squire” and of Carrie and I hope that she is still on this earth and that she has a rose garden, and I hear. “You know I have 65 roses?”

For more about CF go here: http://www.cff.org/

For the short history of the rose and its interesting road to domination, go here: http://www.ecbdflowerstore.com/108091.php
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with this web site, I just thought their history on roses was the most interesting and concise.

SixtyFive Roses: A Sister’s Memoir by Heather Summerhayes Cariou

The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red by Ridley Pearson

Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia C Wrede

Red Red Rose by C Rowe-Myers

Blood Red Rose by Maxwell Grant

Snow White & Rose Red by Ed McBain

The Red Rose Box by Brenda Woods

Best Friends, Books,

and Beatitudes….

Happy Best Friend’s Day!

By MIRAH W. (mwelday)

Best friends are with us through thick and thin, provide us with wonderful memories, accept us just as we are and, in the greatest of situations, share our love of books.  If those bibliophiles among us are truly lucky we have a best book friend (or two, or three) who loves to roam the shelves of the bookstore with us, gives us book recommendations, understands the sorrow we feel when a wonderful book is over, and doesn’t laugh at us when we cry over the book we’ve already read numerous times. So in honor of Best Friends Day, I offer these words of friendship wisdom.

A girl can only expect to be so lucky in life, but when it comes to book-loving best friends I’ve won the lottery.  Take Jennie for example.  My bestie since we were babies.  We shared Nancy Drew novels when we were kids.  Once we got a little older we couldn’t get enough of the Sweet Valley High shenanigans.  When I was a kid it was ok to be a book nerd because Jennie loved me anyway.  True acceptance can only come from a best friend.

Then I have Sara.  We like to say we share a brain.  We share thoughts, complete one another’s sentences, and understand what the other is thinking with only a glance.  And, hold back your jealousy, she’s a librarian. She’s got the scoop and, even before her librarian days, I could always depend on her to recommend a good book.  She knows what I like. She shares my enthusiasm for really good characters and stories.  During her vacation to visit me when I lived in Hawaii we coordinated our purchases of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ so we could read it together.  It was all we could do to control ourselves to not devour it in one day.  A best friend who shares your passion for something in life is a rare treasure.

And then there’s Tasha.  She shares my disenchantment with so many good books being made into movies with actors who could never adequately portray characters as we see them in our minds.  However, there was an exception.  We were so excited when the Harry Potter series was brought to life on the big screen. One of my greatest memories with Tasha is when I, along with several other friends, surprised her with tickets to see ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ for her birthday.  I will always remember her excitement that night.  Being able to share excitement and happiness with someone over something as simple as a good book and a movie is the mark of a great friend.

And I have Meg. She’s quick to share a book with me.  She’s the reason I started reading the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.  When she made the trek to visit me when I lived in Japan she was reading the first few books in the series.  She thought I would like them, gave them to me when she was done, and she’s been sharing them with me ever since.  Generosity is an essential trait in a best friend and Meg never fails to be generous.

Micki is my British literature soul mate.  We actually met over ‘The Golden Compass’.  I know, kind of random, but that’s how it started.  She saw me reading it, asked me about it, and from there a friendship developed.  We started our own Jane Austen Book Club to read the books, talk about them, and watch the movie adaptations. We would go on dates to the bookstore and peruse the shelves, talk about the books we had read, make notes on books and authors, and buy way too much. As I like to say, being addicted to books is better than being addicted to crack: books are cheaper and less harmful to my health.  I believe a friend who supports your habit is a good thing, within reason.

In my book, best friends should be accepting, share our interests and passion and share in our happiness; they should be generous with their love and support us in what we love to do.  Happy Best Friends Day, everyone!  May your life be full of friendship and good books!

*Disclaimer: Friends are listed in no particular order and this is not an all-inclusive list of friends.  I don’t want to start a fight.  That would kind of go against the whole idea of Best Friends Day. 

In honor of hug your cat day, I present a letter to my itty-bitty-kitty-committee.  

By Cyn C. (Cyn-Sama)

Photo by Cyn

photo by Cyn

To my dear Moose,
I know that you think that you’re the only kitty that matters. And, I know that you feel it’s your duty to soak up every bit of lap space, and to keep me well-groomed.
The lap space I don’t mind so much, but after about five minutes, the grooming starts to hurt.
Please stop being all offended when I take my hands away.
I promise you, mommy doesn’t taste that good.

PS. Peabody doesn’t seem to care for the grooming, either. Though, she needs it more than I do.

photo by Cyn

To Squirrel,
I know that you are a cat with very little brain, and this lack of a brain has endeared you to me.

Photo by Cyn

Kicking your poop out of the litterbox, or pooping outside of the litterbox (when I just went and bought you your own box, so that you don’t have to share) kind of makes you not so endearing.
Laying in the window and talking to the birdies – good. Flinging poo – bad.

And, at some point, we’re going to have to address your obsession with me petting you with my feet. That’s just weird.

Photo by Cyn

To Peabody,
Aside from your meow sounding like a puppy dog barking, we’re pretty cool. Keep on using the back of my knees as a pillow, when I’m lying down to read. It’s kind of relaxing.
Though, you really could learn to get along with Moose and Squirrel. We’re kind of a package deal.

The pink thing that feeds you

Spy Cat (Pete the Cat) by Peg Kehret and Pete the Cat

A Constellation of Cats Denise Little (Editor)

Great Cat Tales William Geldart (Illustrator), Lesley O’Mara (Editor)

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards (The Cat Who Bk 1) by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

And 10,000 other cat books! LINK