Check out this great event coming up in April at McKenzie’s in Malvern to benefit PALs
Monthly Archives: March 2015
u.s. postal service: they deliver for who?
What is your mail delivery like? The only thing I like about my mail delivery are our mail carriers. And our postmaster is really nice. But that is where the liking of the U.S. Postal service ends.
THE US POSTAL SERVICE IS SO NOT IMPROVING!
I have a great post office and mail carriers BUT the US Postal Service changed how our mail gets routed to our post office to deliver to me! My mail used to go through Southeastern PA and now they route my mail through a different state— my mail routes through Wilmington, DE!
A lot of our mail goes missing. One person mailed me something almost 2 weeks ago at this point…and I should have had it in like 3 days. And yes, they had the correct address and so on.
A lot of mail is damaged or arrives partially opened like someone was taking a peek.
And sometimes it smells like the bottom of an ash tray.
And when I call to ask, well what can they do? All of the local mail gets routed out of state so it can come back in state. (Or so my postmaster tells me.)
Unacceptable. (But so is much of anything else which has born the touch of the US Government…..)
true vintage: collecting and using dansk
Caveat Emptor is Latin for buyer beware. Like everyone else, there are things I collect and love to use. A lot of times I have a hard time sourcing things locally, so I have to go out onto the Internet to find what I want. But you have to pay attention and research what you are buying.
Dansk Kobenstyle cookware, specifically their Dutch ovens, is one of those things I love . But I only collect the vintage and I only cook with the vintage. Dansk can also be purchased through William Sonoma and other outlets again now, but in my humble opinion they are just expensive they aren’t necessarily as good as what you can find vintage.
Dansk Kobenstyle Dutch Ovens or covered casseroles were introduced originally in 1955. The Kobenstyle Casserole was originally designed by Jens Quistgaard….in Denmark. Interiors of pans are white. This is enamelware (enamel coated steel) , so you have to baby it and hand wash it. One of the really cool things of the design of the pot is the lid can be used as a trivet! It’s just fun and practical mid century modern.
The time during which Dansk was originally produced in Denmark was a mecca for mid century everything from cookware to furniture. (I think some of the furniture of that era can be retro cool, but some of it I don’t care for.)
My mother also had the Dansk flatware when I was growing up. She also used the Kobenstyle cookware ( Dutch oven and a casserole pan of I recall correctly. ) Simple design with a great weight….and basically indestructible.
Also note that Dansk was a US company no matter where the items were produced. Dansk as a line was born out of the Great Neck, NY garage of a couple named Nierenberg in 1954 after seeing the work of Jens Quistgaard at what is known today as the Danish Museum of Art and Design. Eventually Dansk corporate headquarters to Mt. Kisco, NY in the mid 1960s.
I don’t like things from the entire line but I do love the Dutch Ovens and stock pots. For example, some people swear by the rectangular casseroles, and I hate them as everything sticks all the time. I had at one time a casserole and small sauce pans but I got rid of them.
Dansk originally appeared in Neiman Marcus ads in 1955. At Christmas time. These items were originally produced in Denmark. The pans were first produced in turquoise, red, and yellow. There was also a bright green color which was pretty awful, but it didn’t last and was discontinued after year I think.
I have attached some photos of the vintage logos for Dansk. You will notice one says “Made in France”. That is because in 1965 production moved from Denmark to France.
What I collect and use, are all basically from the years 1965 through 1975. I can date my pots from their colors. White ( circa 1971-1973), Brown ( circa 1975), and Sun Gold Yellow (circa 1965)
In my opinion at the end of the 1970s, Dansk sort of faded from popularity with a lot of their line until it was reintroduced in 2012. And it was sold as a line in 1985 and then acquired by another company around 1991 and then again in 2009.
The Kobenstyle pans today are made in Thailand, and the bottom on the newer pots introduced in 2012 through to today are also slightly different (not just because the bottom is black, as the ones manufactured in France sometimes have black bottoms). I have looked at them in stores and the weight is slightly different and I just don’t like them as well. They have also tweaked the design in some cases which makes them look slightly like cartoon pots to me. So I continue to use the vintage versions of the Dutch ovens/stockpots .
I use these Dutch ovens regularly and eventually I wear them out. Which means I start looking for other vintage Dansk to replace them with. I like to do this before my Dutch ovens don’t have enough of a resale life in them. While I use mine, a lot of people just buy them for display and I have resold some of mine that way.
I have found the vintage Kobenstyle everywhere, but it is easiest to find on eBay and Etsy. So as a result, I was looking on Etsy the other day.
I saw a listing. It was what was described as a vintage Dansk. It’s not. And I knew it as soon as I saw the photo of the bottom of the pan. There was a very modern Dansk logo and “made in Thailand”. That’s not vintage anything, that’s current to within a couple of years. Even the handles were not the traditional style for the vintage Kobenstyle Dutch ovens or stockpots. (Dansk is now owned by the company that owns Lenox. And don’t get me started on Lenox because while true vintage Lenox is divine, modern Lenox? Not so much.)
I contacted the owner of the Etsy shop to let them know what they actually had for sale. I have noticed on eBay and Etsy that most sellers enjoy getting additional information on what they are selling because quite frankly it helps them sell items quicker. Not everyone can know everything – some people just know certain kinds of items better than others. It’s why you will see so many antique and vintage dealers specializing in specific things.
The owner of the Etsy shop came back to me with the reply “What is your point?” and some other rather rude comments I won’t share. (I am also doing the store owner a favor and not outing them. Everyone can make a mistake.)
Guess my point to the store owner was that I was trying to be helpful. She left her listing to stand with the incorrect description overnight and then removed it. But she is a seller who has now lost me as a potential customer. Not because of her mistake, but due to her attitude. And the shame of it is for a modern Dansk reincarnation her pot was ok, but it was definitely not vintage. All she had to do was change the description and she could have even sold it at the same price point she had listed.
The moral of this rather long Aesop fable is to check out your items. Ask questions. If it’s something you collect and the seller doesn’t know something about the item, tell them. To be honest it’s a little bit hard to be an expert on everything vintage, so feel free to tell us what you know about things. It actually is helpful. And if you run into a seller who strikes a discordant note with you, move onto the next seller.
down the rabbit hole
Do you ever wonder what happened to people? And that’s when you take a peek on social media to see where they’ve been for all the intervening years? Mind you, I’m not talking about people you were necessarily close to, just people that were sort of in your world or circled your orbit as it were. Sometimes they were just people you sort of saw in the background.
I have done that a few times recently and it’s so odd to look at some of these people you knew once as kids now as adults, often with their own kids. Time has flown, yet the strangest thing I’ve noticed in some of these cases is how little some of these people have changed. They’ve aged, so have I, but it’s like time stood still even if the aging clock didn’t . There they are, in poses similar to what their younger selves used to do and in similar situations. It is like Alice looking down the rabbit hole.
And then there are the people that you run into in real time. My favorite have been people that just used to know my parents and in some cases are the kids of the people who used to know my parents. Most of the time, it’s really nice to run into these people as we shared some fun memories, but some are not so pleasant.
Sometimes you run into people whose parents used to be friends with your parents but are no longer friends with your parents. You see these people and you say “hello” to because that’s the polite thing to do when you run into someone, especially when you’re about 3 feet or less from them. And these are also the kind of people who pretend they don’t see you, don’t hear you, or just turn their backs. What is the point of being rude? Yet they do it. Haven’t run into some of these people in a long time except for occasional near misses on social media on other friends’ Facebook pages. Which is terrific. Who needs that pettiness and negativity?
But looking down the rabbit hole can be painful. You see people you were once close to as well as the people who were just sort of peripheral or on the fringe of your life. People change as they get older, and commonality fades. People just let go of one and other.
Sometimes you see people who were once a very large part of your life…..until they weren’t. Sometimes seeing those people is ok, and sometimes it’s not. Because some people just hurt you when they leave. Period. Sometimes these people know they have done that, but often times they don’t because they are not thinking about anything other than their own path.
I guess that is one of the blessings of growing up and even getting older: you can choose who you wish to spend your time with. And that is such a nice thing. Occasionally looking down the rabbit hole for me reinforces I am glad I am where I am in my life and who I am with. Love and respect are very powerful things.
I have been working on this piece of writing for a while and put it away. Then I came back to it. I did not want to sound negative writing it because I wasn’t feeling negative.
But then I was. It’s like I was a kid again with all those raw feelings you can feel at those young ages.
Sometimes it is just hard to have grace when you unexpectedly find yourself face to social media face with someone who hurt you deeply. But then you realize they aren’t the people really once were. And while it still hurts in a sense, in a sense you can let it go. You have nice memories, but you are both off on different journeys.
Trust me, grace and forgiveness take work, but if you don’t release it it’s simply unhealthy. Why let it fester? After all, these people you see in your rear view mirror ? They aren’t worrying about you are they?
I know some will read this post and wonder if I am speaking about them in particular. Those are the people who will never get it, and I can’t control what they think (or feel). This is just one of those things I have thought about and have actually discussed with other friends who have also thought about and/or experienced this.
Thanks for stopping by.
phoenixville project (very cool !!)
So. I read about something really cool today. And I thought I would share it with you all:
So I think what BP Miller of Chorus Photography is doing sounds like a very cool project! So if any of you who live or have lived in and outside Phoenixville who are interested contact him at projectpville@chorusmediagroup.com
Oral histories are a very cool thing to give back to a community and area, so I hope people will contact him. He is interested in Phoenixville in the broader sense – not just the Chester County Borough of Phoenixville, but the surrounding areas known as Phoenixville that lie in other municipalities. There is a lot to the area- farmland that once was, industry that once was, how everything has evolved.
Thanks for stopping by on the first (and snowy) day of spring.
spring is coming!
The pussy willows are showing their catkins!!!
My garden to me is a hot mess, however.
The frost heaving has wreaked havoc here and there, and the deer have already been making the rounds as they are very hungry right now. Tops of parts of my hydrangeas on a side bank are all partially eaten down. It might be too early but I sprayed some deer stuff in a couple of places today.
And everything in general is alternately terribly muddy or still frozen like a rock.
I have seen the tops of some daffodils starting to peek through – just the leaves. I think my roses made it through the winter but it’s a little too early to tell.
I am itching to get into the garden but it’s really too early.
women’s lib barn malvern 2015
west king road east whiteland
This is West King Road in East Whiteland.
Now I know this road is not unique. The roads in multiple counties around Pennsylvania are in deplorable condition after this winter. The frost heaves alone are incredible.
But if you don’t constantly point out to PennDOT what roads are in deplorable condition, nothing gets fixed. I am also putting this out so State Representive Duane Milne’s office sees more photos. I emailed them about this recently and once again they never even acknowledged the email.
I am still finding that the communication between elected officials and regular residents out here leaves a little to be desired at times. I also informed State Senator Andy Dinniman’s office.
Both the honorable State Representive and State Senator should be glad I am not writing a dissertation on the deplorable conditions of Route 100 and the constant PennDOT construction project there. That road is dangerous and treacherous at this point in places.
If you know of roads that are in really bad shape and Chester County feel free to post photos and comments on the Chester County Ramblings Facebook page.
shoehorn development
I hadn’t been down towards the Main Line in a while again until yesterday. Since I moved a few years ago now, I rarely get below Wayne which I still love.
But I rarely go down near where I used to call home in Lower Merion. It just makes me too sad that where I grew up and lived a lot of my adult life is getting crammed full of ill advised development plans and what can only be described as shoehorn development.
This photo is from my old neighborhood in Haverford and is in Lower Merion Township. This house being constructed is way too large for the lot it is sitting on – it was an empty lot for almost the entire 15 years I was living there. Prior to that it had been this large yellow and white Victorian which had burned to the ground two days before Thanksgiving one year. The former structure that burned had been subdivided into two student rentals and at the time it was your typical slumlord deal. I would definitely say this new structure is shoehorned in. The old house that was once there was once a part of a much larger land parcel that had been subdivided decades before it burned down.
Where I used to live and where I grew up was I thought at one time very beautiful. Now every time I drive through I am hit with how shabby everything looks and overdeveloped.
Remarkably, yesterday was the first time I had actually been through my old neighborhood that I left to come to Chester County for a few years ago.
So when I occasionally write about development and how I feel Chester County needs to have a care, this is why.
foxcatcher farm now
The ugliness of it is astounding. It’s like looking at overpriced tyvek wrapped tenanment housing.
This is the former Foxcatcher Farm today. There are all these houses crammed together and on the tops of some hills there are giant McMansions in progress crammed close together. So many of the trees are gone it’s staggering.
This is why people fight Toll Brothers and their ilk from coming into their communities.
I am a realist and I no longer expect large parcels of land like this to stay as intact estates as the years go by, but if this isn’t a reason that screams for more control on developers and development within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania I don’t know what does.
And it’s funny as you go past this debacle in Newtown Township, Delaware County, and you go into Radnor Hunt you notice every year how much more of the land is being developed within the Radnor Hunt area, don’t you? I wonder how many years longer the actual fox hunts near Radnor Hunt will be able to take place?
Change is inevitable, but this is a case of where change is kind of sad.
