Fun Mail

Getting good mail is fun, isn't it? Packages, personal letters, cards, magazines that you actually enjoy - receiving these things can really brighten a day. Saturday was a good mail day for me. Last week I won a drawing at Fresh Vintage, and Colleen kindly sent this prize: a box full of vintage goods! Check out her original post for more pictures and details.

I think this little activity book is darling.


This receipt is from 1881. I love the handwriting. Penmanship is a dying art, don't you think?


This is an autograph book from the mid-1930s. Another example of penmanship. I like reading the verses written by young children and thinking about them now, grandparents and great-grandparents.


Everything came packaged in this recipe box, which is actually quite large. My husband was excited to find the card inside the lid, which contains a list of measurement conversions, i.e., how many eggs = one pound. Not that we have much occasion for using a pound of eggs, but still...

Here's the whole thing. Colleen included a lot. There is a book on knitting items for babies; several receipts; price tags; linen napkins; birthday candle holders; ric-rac; a biscuit cutter; a recipe booklet; and more! Andy and I both enjoy vintage and antique items. It's not so much the monetary value that we care about; we just enjoy the history, thinking about the people who made and used the items, thinking about the era in which they lived. We gravitate towards practical items - cameras, sewing machines, dishes, tools, linens - rather than decorative, which makes Colleen's gift even better. Everything she included was to be used in daily life at a home or business.

Thank you, Colleen, you made my day!