Readers' Stuff

Dear readers: If you have a photo of your stuff that you'd like to share, email Sharon to describe it, and she might invite you to submit it for inclusion here.

Thanks to Marsha, a Jane Wheel reader who contacted me through the website, I am the proud owner of some wonderful vintage Kankakee postcards. I'm delighted to see the streets of Kankakee the way I remember them from my childhood. I can look at these and imagine sitting in a booth at Walgreens right now--or shopping for a new outfit at Aldens on a Saturday with my mother, Nellie. Yes, readers, Nellie is so real it's scary!

The most amazing view, though, is the one of Cobb Park. It is that very spot where I pictured Jane, in Scary Stuff, walking her dog, Rita, and stopping under the buckeye tree -- it's just slightly out of the picture -- and calling her brother to report a bumper crop of horse chestnuts very early in the book.

These are wonderful photos/postcards and I am so delighted to have them. Thanks to Marsha -- and thank you to all you readers who stopped by at Printer's Row Lit Fest to tell me you enjoyed the books. It made me so happy -- and eager to get going on the next book which will be -- yikes -- number 8! Number 7 is already at the publisher, so I'll let you know when to look for it and when I might be visiting in your area to sign copies. Thanks readers -- you are the reason writers write!

I'm delighted to have met Sharon, if only virtually, as we've been collaborating on her new web site for some weeks now. The best part for me has been the introduction to her books and the yearning it has instilled in me for Bakelite -- yet another item to scrounge for at the Raleigh, NC, flea market.

But my own stuff is my collection of old diner/restaurant flip-top sugar and condiment bowls. My favorite, made by Jackson China as part of its Soda Fountain Specials line (1916-1930), is this beautiful conic flip with the forest and cabin scene. It is the only one I've ever seen.

Susan Phillips
Apex, NC
See all the flips!

Thanks so much for the opportunity to show off one of my collections: vintage shaving brushes.

I love the quality that went into the mass manufacturing of such utilitarian objects, and needless to say, the variety is endlessly intriguing, whether the handles are made of pottery, metal, wood, ordinary plastic or Bakelite!

Name Withheld to Protect the Addicted
Lakeland, FL
(Click on photo to see larger image)

I look at a topmarked creamer and it draws me in with its mysterious call to the past, begging for me to identify it. Was it used in a restaurant (which one?), company cafeteria, hotel or perhaps railroad dining car? Who was the person who felt the irresistible urge to tuck it in his pocket or slyly drop it in her purse as a remembrance, only to have a family member indifferently sell it in a yard sale or list it on Ebay so many years later?

There are approximately 300 creamers in my collection, and I have a chemistry with each of them that words cannot describe.

Carol Cardona
Houston, TX

My own passion for collecting revolves around "artist dolls" ... one-of-a-kind or very limited edition dolls made by members of the National Institute of American Doll Artists (which is actually international, with artist members all over the world).

I don't make stuff, so I am a mere patron member of the organization, but I am a so admiring of the artistry, talent, and heart that goes into the work of these incredible artists that I can get a little zealous on the subject.   

I've attached a couple of photos....one of a miniature piece by my friend and British artist, Jane Davies, of an African mother, "Mrs. White" (in Victorian dress) and her infant.  The are 1/12 inch scale.  The other is a wacky piece by artists Chris Chomick and Peter Meder of Florida.  His name is "Sebastian" and he's around 15 inches and made of sythetic clay.     

Warmest regards,
Pat Gould
Kankakee