Shop for Yourself
A Sort of Drawing-Room Tobogganing Exercise: John Singer Sargent's Mrs. Carl Meyer and Her Children
Sargent carefully staged his stylishly dressed sitters against 18th century French furniture and architectural elements. The animated Mrs. Meyer is posed just to the right of center at the edge of a canapé. She wears a dress of satin, velvet, and organdy which may have been supplied by Worth in Paris. A rope of oriental pearls drapes across her prominently featured bodice, touching the tips of her shoes. more »
Were They "The Good Ol’ Days?" Doing the Math or Not
Joan L. Cannon writes: I can scarcely believe what I recall as the prices of things — like stamps for a first-class letter at three cents. I sometimes wish I were a statistician with the ability to research and do the sums that would tell me whether the prices were the same proportion of ordinary wages as today's prices are to today's ordinary wages. What is 'ordinary?' Something over the equivalent of today's minimum wage? more »
Culture Watch: Book Review of Did You Ever Have a Family
The precipitating event of the lives intertwined like threads in primitive needlework is the tragedy on their wedding eve of a fatal explosion that destroys the young couple, sons and a lover. The bereavements leave behind survivors who are forever changed. Even the landscape where the exploded house once stood is forever wiped out. Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the individuals whose existence has been altered beyond their own and others’ comprehension. more »
The Shopping Trip: Cutting Table Wars
Roberta McReynolds writes: It never fails. Just in case you have never personally experienced the 'cutting table wait', the odds are that no matter how many people are ahead of you, the person who is buying a shopping cart filled to capacity with quilting fabric will have edged ahead of you by a nanosecond. You will end up cursing yourself for wasting that extra minute after getting distracted by a sale on yarn, a special on notions, or some other devious merchandise display. more »