Heffy the cat

I don't like cats. Now wait, before you accuse me of blasphemy (or worse), I have 2 cats. I have a grandcat. Over the past 35 years, starting with one gray tiger named Ralph, I have had many. Ralph fit in the palm of my hand when he first arrived. He was followed by a black cat I named Wilhemina which was rapidly shortened to Willie when he started prowling and meowling. I have had as many as 5 at one time. I always thought one had to be a real cat person to own multiple cats, but it's not true. You don't even have to like cats. You just have to agree to be owned by one and they just settle right in. Being cats. I hadn't had any cats for 15 years or so when I allowed myself to be bamboozled by my daughter Becky into getting a kitten. The ploy was that it would be my cat and she would help me relax and diminish my stress level. Xenophon moved in and that was the end of lowering stress. She hisses at all of us, runs when we get too close, and generally does all things obnoxious from a people point of view. She won't leave though, being quite content to have the run of the house when we're gone and allowing us to serve as her butlers when needed. If the family is all in the living room, Xen rests in the dining room where she can see us. Go figure. Although I believe I have good judgement, Becky turned on the charm again and Haephestas entered our lives and home. Heffy would repeatedly take a run at the sofa and bang headfirst into it, seemingly never realizing he didn't fit. He would climb 4' up and tree and get stuck because he couldn't figure out how to go up farther-or down. These exploits always made us laugh. I think that's part of why Heffy's name is on everything. Despite being a cat, he makes us laugh. There's a lighter side to Heffy, and we wanted our business to be fun. The work is hard work, but it is fun. He's got eBay, a website, myspace, and a blog. His picture is all over all the things we do. And he makes me smile.

Heffy's Collections

Pop art

I remember going to Albright-Knox Art Gallery as a child and seeing the paintings I had become familiar with like Jackson Pollack's "Convergence" which I loved and "color field" paintings of artists such as Clyfford Still. They had some classic masters-Renoir, Vermeer, Van Gogh, but the museum's focus was modern and contemporary art and those forms were most prominent in the gallery. On one visit there were some new acquisitions (which is probably why we went). There in front of me was a painting of soup cans. Recognizable soup cans, all lined up. I had, of course, never seen anything like it. Nor did I know Andy Warhol. I saw the "100 Cans" before I was aware of pop art or the movement that had hit Europe in the '50's and then this country. Wow!

Pop Art made its way to clothing in the '60's. Paper dresses of Campbell's soup cans, artists' sketches of movie stars and celebrities, along with the comic strip themes all found the way to articles of clothing. It was different. It was fun. There aren't many examples of pop art clothing around anymore (maybe museums), but there are items reminiscent of the pop art clothing of the Sixties. And possibly, we just call it pop art because we like the genre and whatever article of clothing we're handling at the time.




It's just plain fun! Check out our website, you might find more fun!

Heffy's Collections

Mending

It's interesting how things evolve working from home. There was a time when I wouldn't have dreamed of spending time on line in discussion boards or other networking type venues. Too much to do, so little time. Working from home alone for 2 years, I still didn't get into it. Since Becky and I started taking care of my dad and doing eBay, we didn't get out much. As he has declined, we get out less and less. Going to the grocery store is a big deal. The major change began about September when he stopped walking and then (for other reasons) wasn't able to be left alone at all. Some days, not even to go to the bathroom! So, our little world has become really little!

I had been looking at the discussion board on eBay for Vintage Clothing and Accessories once in a while, they have super info on cleaning stains, restoring clothing, and dating. Then I started looking to see who had questions, what was up, and just general stuff. Becky commented that the "Vinties"-our name for the boardies-had sort of become our social network. She's right. Yesterday, one of our favorites decided she was going to have her own mending marathon and invited anyone else to join in. I have a mountainous pile of repairs that I try to ignore. That's a bit hard. It started as a small corner of my workspace. I couldn't keep the pile from spilling, so I put it in a box. Now the top of the mountain is threatening to block any light from the window about 2 feet above me. If a mending marathon could get me to even tackle ONE item from that pile, I'm all for it! I have a lot of rationalizations for why I avoid the pile like time, etc., but they are...rationalizations. Even the truthful thoughts, like I'm afraid I won't be able to do a given repair, or I'll damage something, still are attempting to rationalize avoidance. I'm scared stiff of that pile. So the Vinties have given me incentive to at least start the process. I committed to repairing 2 items. Given that our camera went to the hospital, this is the perfect time to tackle my mountain. Maybe by Spring I'll see daylight again. Woot!

Rockabilly

In a previous post, I explained my experience with a Rockmount shirt we have listed on eBay. The shirt is a true Western shirt. While there is a strong Western element, including cowboys (hey, I'm a rodeo fan!) and country and western types there also is an overlapping style called Rockabilly. Rockabilly encompasses music, clothes, and often lifestyle. Rockabilly first became popular in the '50's. Bill Haley and the Comets were a western swing band and they recorded "Rocket 88", often thought to be the first Rockabilly recording. Many others went on to further the cross between "hillbilly music" and rock and roll, such as Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Chuck Berry. Their style of dress was part of rockabilly then and remains so today. The 'greaser" look with full hair and long sideburns with tight jeans or black slacks. The women had poodle skirts and letter sweaters. Rockabilly revived in the '70's and maintains popularity today.

Now, rockabilly includes swing, country (including square dancing) and a smattering of other genres. The clothes run from pin-up wiggle styles ala Bettie Page to dresses with full crinolines. Swing, country, '50's, even some disco thrown in all qualify. Western shirts, any country influence works. We occasionally get rockabilly clothes like the Rockmount shirt and the dress shown here. Most of the dresses are full circle skirts, making them even more desirable (lots of room for crinolines and lots of movement on the dance floor). This one has a matching suede belt that adds a really nice touch.


On eBay!


Here's a different one showing the full circle skirt:




On our website!

Menswear

When I talked about going to the concert to see Ronan Tynan, I only mentioned what Becky and I wore and how we put our look together. Women seem to spend more time thinking about clothes, or what to wear, or how they're going to look. It just seems like guys go to the closet and the right outfit is there, waiting for the time to be placed in action. It wasn't a deliberate act to leave Charlie out of the discussion, especially since he was an integral part of the Christmas decision and the concert. It wouldn't be any fun without him. While Becky and I discussed our clothes and such, he just listened (probably with great amusement). He wore a white buttondown collar shirt with a Spartan tie (think Michigan State), black pants, and a dark gray herringbone sportcoat. Over it, a charcoal gray single-breasted topcoat. I thought, you know what, guys' fashion is timeless and they never have to worry. Then I really started thinking about it, and that's not entirely true.

If I think back to what I remember of men's clothes, it hasn't been static and there have been many changes along the way. I can remember my dad in the '50's in a gorgeous light blue suit, single-breasted, with what I would call "normal" fitting trousers. He always wore bow ties, and they were narrow, straight cut. In the '60's, the pants had a narrower leg and the sportcoats started a little stylin'. By the late '60's, my brother broke out into the less subdued by wearing more color and mixing patterns. The '70's saw Rae in super wide ties (the knots were huge!) and wide lapels. The shirts had to have big collars and long points to accommodate the ties. Double breasted coats became really popular. My dad (Newt) started wearing wide bow ties with shape-they flared at the end. They were pretty wild at the time. There were differences over time, 2 button coats, 3 button coats, buttondown shirts, tie clips, tie tacks, some subtle, some not.

I didn't go into some of the more outrageous styles for a couple of reasons. I was thinking mostly of dress clothes. And Rae and Newt (thank heaven!) never got into polyester, leisure suits, or some of the other trendier styles. No Nehru jackets. Maybe it was where we live, that there is a conservative undercurrent. Maybe it was the staying right on the edge of classic, yet up to date in their own way. So Charlie can put on his dress clothes and look classy and very well put together any time. It's classic and it works. And in this decade, the '00's, it's fashionable to do your own thing and wear what's comfortable and what works for you. Hooray. Rock on!

Christmas at last and 2008

I noted earlier that we cancelled Christmas in order to see the Buffalo Philharmonic and Ronan Tynan perform. It was all we expected and more. He put on a great show, a mixture of Irish humor and serious music that was superb. The Philharmonic added immensely and we got to see the conductor, JoAnn Falletta, in person (finally) and she is everything we had heard and then some. What a dynamo! It was a wonderful evening.

We don't get many opportunities to go out, so our attire was an important part of this event (gotta make a statement, even if no one recognizes it!). I wore an '80's long skirt, black with an occasional big red rose, that I just love. My big thing is getting to choose the jewelry. I wore a pair of Art Deco earrings, black, shaped like roses. I put long black beads from the same era with them. Understated and fun. Becky makes her statements a little louder and wow! did it work for her! She wore a '60's ankle length tunic in orange, cream, turquoise and other colors in a great print with black velvet jeans underneath. When she walked, the glimpse of the black velvet just made the look work. She isn't much for jewelry, but she wore round silver clip-on earrings from the '50's that just capped off the whole outfit. So it doesn't have to be one era or one style, the look can be as eclectic as you are and look well, stylish.

Yesterday, Becky brought in the new year with 73,000 other people at the Winter Classic. The Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins played an outdoor hockey game at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The event was broadcast, gad, all over. In true Buffalo style, it snowed. That caused the only real trouble they had because the ice got a little funny. She said it was a lot of fun and the fans really got into it. She had taken part in the only other event like it-the Ice Bowl between Michigan State and Michigan-the first outdoor hockey event. So she joined Ryan Miller, Adam Hall, and probably others who actually got to go to both of these unique hockey events. What a way to bring in 2008!