Amazing Things on the Porch at 256

So I was sitting in this rocker on the front porch tonight, after a bike ride.  I considered all the other people who also sat on the front porch of 256 before I did.  I like to think about the Shea Family who lived here until the 1960's.  Their great nephew, Butch, still lives two streets down in a white house with yellow shutters on the water. 

I mused about the live oak trees in front of the old school.  They must have been just saplings back then.,  The sound of the ferry and the Norfolk Southern freight train would have been similar.  No street lights and far fewer houses.   No air conditioning.  Few cars.   However, on a beautiful night like tonight, I feel sure that they would have been rocking or gliding on the front porch.  Most women would still have been wearing skirts just above the ankle, although those scandalous flappers might have been dancing the Charleston downtown.

I went inside to look up this date in history, in 1920, to be specific, when the house was brand new. The first radio news broadcast had just been made in Detroit, but they wouldn't have known.  I was wondering what they might have been discussing as they rocked back and forth.  The Great War, perhaps and how things were now getting back to normal again for everyone.

Nope.  That's not what they were discussing.  Can you guess what?  Women's suffrage!  Women's right to vote was ratified just about this time in August of 1920.   

Autumn Leaves a Wee Bit Early

My friend, Terry, is the best person in the world.  Really, trust me, she is.  Terry is a psychologist.  Besides that, she has a lot of wisdom and is the soul of kindess.   I recommend having a friend who is a psychologist because it is cheaper than psychotherapy AND you can call them at home in the evening.  I have a collection of friends who are psychologists or therapists.  Psychologists...collect all three!   This is an odd thing, but I collect them like I collect Virginian Pilot newspaper reporters.

Anyway, back to Terry being the best person in the world...Terry went to an estate sale last week.  We chatted on the phone.  Then she said those words that make every vintage vixen's heart sing, "I went through a box of vintage linens and took what I wanted.  When you come over, I'll give the box to you, so you can see if you find anything."

I found quite a few things, but nothing more than this beautiful hand-painted fall tablecloth and matching napkin set. 

Here's some detail of the painted pattern:

I had to do a new bouquet.  Strangely, it pleased me that I put the flowers in a depression glass canister marked "flour."  I'm odd and fanciful that way.

The little leaves are actually ashtrays from my Franciscan Ivy pattern.

Thank you, Terry, for this cooling bit of Autumn during dusty dry summer days.  You are such a Proverbs 31 woman.