VintageGriffin.com

Love. These. Too.

Part of what a lot of people like about yesteryear-ish elements is that many of them use natural materials, were created with a human, instead of a machine, hand.

I. Love. This.

Always have.

Stonewall Kitchen used to also sell a double-tiered version, but right now I only see the single-tier version on their site. It's charming. I see it unassumingly offering up little lines of petit fours, tartlets, and slices of linzertorte. The shelf is glass, which means a little underlighting would make a great presentation at parties. Nice size, too. 24" long, 7" deep, 10.5" tall (and adjusts to 18' tall). Oh, and bonus -- it comes apart easily for storage, in case you only want to use it at fetes.

As summer fades we turn towards indoor activities. For generations past, this time of year was a very busy one, devoted to harvesting, cleaning, canning, storing, and preparing in fair weather times for living when the nights get long and the weather less hospitible.

Although our external pressures during autumn are much lessened in these modern times, it's still natural for us to think of home and hearth, to take stock of the heart of our homes, the kitchen. So when I saw this whimsical bird dishtowel from Anthropologie, I smiled, imagining how much cheer it would give when many of our avian friends would be roosting in more southerly climes.

Vintage is everything -- clothing, architecture, gadgets. It also encompasses books, which can be considered living vintage since so many books printed decades or even centuries ago are still in print and actively read. This week vintage (and current) books come into focus as the American Library Association celebrates the importance of art and ideas during the 25th anniversary of Banned Books Week (September 23-30), an important event, as book banning is still a very lively sport for some folks, as they try to remove textbooks, novels, and information guides from libraries and schools. Out of the 100 books deemed the greatest novels of the 20th century by the Radcliffe Publishing Course, 42 of them of them have been banned or challenged over the years. Recent years, in fact.

The ALA's annual list includes books which have been banned outright or been challenged. Important works of art like To Kill A Mockingbird have been on banned lists and have been repeatedly challenged throughout the decades (To Kill A Mockingbird was most recently challenged in 2001, 2003 and 2004, and was most recently banned in 1996). Even in recent years, books such as The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, The Lord of the Flies, 1984, Of Mice and Men, Slaughterhouse Five and Satanic Verses. In 2001 The Lord of the Rings had the distinction of actually being burned in Alamagordo, New Mexico near Christ Community Church (source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, Mar. 2002, p. 61).

Okay, we haven't yet really said goodbye to summer, and I don't mean to push Halloween upon you, but I saw this and wanted to share. Smith and Hawken (the gardening store) has made some Halloween items available. 'Twas this bat that knocked me flat. Fun, whimsical, and could even be a little spookified with some webbing and a fog machine. Very Edward Gorey.

A few years ago (it was, but it seems strange to say it; time speeds so swiftly), there were a bunch of enthusiastic, madcap, chatty vintage folks who congregated on the Vintage Clothing and Accessories Board in eBay's community forums. We talked about vintage clothing in general, helped each other date items, waxed poetic over favorite frocks, and had in-depth discussions about issues that related to vintage clothing (conservation, fur/anti-fur, selling tips, photography tips).

Well, from this merry crew an idea was born -- The Vintage Fashion Guild. A non-profit organization which would devote itself to educating the public about the value of vintage clothing, and provide support for sellers, collectors, and enthusiasts. The best resouce for vintage. That was the dream.