Q: What’s missing from this picture?
A: Your Comments!
You have from now until Sunday February 7th to comment on any of our 2010 blog posts. For each comment you leave, your name will be entered into a drawing. If your name is drawn, you will receive something red and frilly from Yours Truly just in time for Heart Day!
LOVE this image. i want a vintage typewriter so bad. i don’t need to enter the drawing per se. i just wanted to remind you how sweet and generous you are. what is missing: a love letter? it’s good to be back. have missed your blog. feeling a bit BLAH since returning but i will snap out of it soon. just wanted you to know that you are on my mind. loves!
It has been quite the week for you and I am hoping you are sitting on the couch now with a polka-dotted cuppa and a quilt, relaxing and catching up.
I have to say that I am beside myself over winning the Carissa Fox flying heart! For those who wonder what the heck I am talking about, please to to http://www.lostintheattic.typepad.com.
Re: the typewriter…just realized that it is really hard to read where this image came from; it is http://www.shabbyblogs.com.
As for wanting one of your own – I found mine at an “exchange” at the local landfill in CT. No, I am not above it and I bet you aren’t either : ) In the meantime, if anyone knows a good source for vintage typewriters, please do share! XOX
I like the image, too. I have an old Underwood from the 1920’s and a Smith-Corona portable from the 1950’s. That one even types in “cursive”. I remember using IBM Selectrics (with the interchangeable ball) when I was in the army in the 1980’s . And, of course, the old teletype machine from my army days. Love the old school – I even use fountain pens – but I could NEVER write my book on a typewriter!
Heres your Valentine’s content — XXOOXXOO. Have a happy Valynn-tines Day!
I love that Jack Kerouac used a continuous scroll to type out On the Road in 1951. The image of him typing for days on end (fueled with booze and who knows what) has haunted me since girlhood. The original draft has been published (in book form). Is having three copies of one book a little over the top?
As for your typewriters, I will try not to be a jealous girl. I had an old Royal – left it in a friends basement when I headed west several years ago. Am sure it did not make the subsequent move and am afraid to even ask…she needed lots of restoring but what a beauty (the typewriter, not the friend).
Are you using a fountain pen to write your book? I found a stationary store in NYC that sells every color Le Pen imaginable for $1.67 each at “Buy ten, get two free”. I practically kissed the shopkeeper’s feet when I discovered them in all their rainbow glory where you would normally find the candy bars…
No, I am not writing my book with a fountain pen. A pen in hand has a very difficult time keeping up with my synapses. I type 95 wpm so that works better.
Also, I am a big cut-and-paste fan; it allows me to run off on a tangent and then, if I decide I am on the wrong track, I can remove the wandering bit (often saving it for future reference), without having to tear paper.
I use my many fountain pens for everything else, though – classes, journal, checkbook (difficult for thieves to erase and rewrite), doodling…
An important thing regarding my “old stuff” is that much of it is family. The S-C typewriter was my grandmother’s at her travel agency. The Underwood sits on a desk from my grandfather’s office. One of my favorite pens was used by my grandmother during WWII. On a shelf upstairs is an old Marx tinplate train set from my father – it doesn’t run, though it looks great.
Of course you don’t write your book with your fountain pen – I swear sometimes I used a time machine to get to “here and now” and one of the stipulations was that I wouldn’t remember having done it.
Example: In college, I wrote out my papers before typing them and am pretty sure I was the only remaining student to do so.
Very cool that your “old stuff” has been handed down through the generations. I don’t have many of those types of things but the stuff I do have I cherish.
Stuff like fairy tale books, newspapers from the 1800’s, perfume, a painting, a handful of photographs, a silver candy dish…
Pondering “old stuff” gives me a distinct feeling that if I had more of a sense of my roots, my wanderlust would not be quite so fierce.
Can the train set be restored to working order, or does it not matter to you either way? I enjoy your comments so much and am becoming more and more excited for your book. Oh, have you seen the movie “A Love Song for Bobby Long”. Just watched it again while John E was here. I have seen it several times.
And speaking of books, Stephen King’s “On Writing” was gripping and full of advice I had not thought of. I love that he told us all about how he became a writer and that he opened up about that horrific accident (this book goes back a few years). I have a feeling you would really appreciate it…
Valynne, is your e-mail still Valynne@att.net? Did you get my e-mail thank you for the treasures you sent me? I unwrapped the box and threw the paper away and did not have your physical address, which I would like so I can send you something…. will you send that to me? My comment about your blogs: they are delightful and I treasure them. I scrolled back the other evening just to look at them again… and find I am particularly fond of the photo of the buttons! Hope all is well. I think of you both so often, always with love… every day and ‘specially on Valentine’s Day!
That is still a good e-mail addy, Denise. I did receive your e-mail and will e-mail you back today for sure with our mailing address, etc. So happy you are enjoying your goodies!
John Erlandson has been out these past few days…wonderful to catch up with him and not have to share him with the rest of Evergreen like I normally do (greedy girl – I know).
Just dropped off both John and Paul (John is on his way back home and Paul has business in Orlando) and am now looking forward to four days of Me and Milo time : )
What is missing …. A love song from one of the greatest poets of all times … Eddie Vedder!
If I were Eddie Vedder I would write you a love song and sing it from the (Rocky) mountain tops : )
some resources:
http://mytypewriter.com/index.aspx – full of eye candy of course.
http://www.typewritercollector.com/ – turn the sound up on this one.
ah, you had me at local landfill – sure wish you still lived here.
OMG, OK, here I go…
First site – For me, it is a toss between the pink Royal (1950’s), the duotone green Remington (1931) or the aqua Optima Portable (1950’s). Or the black Remington Streamliner (1950’s and oh-so-shiny!). OK that was a lot of fun, and for you writers out there, how cool is this:
“Authors A-Z is an ongoing project featuring the lives, works, and typewriters of the most outstanding authors around the world. Consisting of more than 80 contemporary authors from Mark Twin to Ayn Rand, Authors A-Z is a growing project documenting the important role of classic typewriters played in the formation of literature master pieces”.
The second site offers a great classifieds section and a book section (who knew that many books have been written about typewriters?). How about this one…
“Sexy Legs and Typewriters” depicts pretty women and typewriters as they appeared together in vintage advertising; humorous photo series and postcards; glamour photos; and erotica.
And, you can click on “Memory Lane” for a pictoral of typewriters I have never seen before. Wondering if I love the McCool Typewriter No. 2 for it’s looks or it’s name…
Thank you, Rachel…I can always count on you to take it a step further in the inspiration department : )
you had me at: aqua Optima Portable (1950’s)
SO happy you enjoyed the links as much as i did.
Hello! Great image of the ol’ typewriter! I think the top cover is missing….??
anyway……great reminder of it….
I learned how to type on my mom’s found at a yard sale typewritter…it was great fun!
xo
Sunny
Hello Sunny! I remember playing “secretary” on my mom’s typewriter before I even knew how to type. I thought it was so sophisticated.
At that time my mom was a secretary (I know you call it something else now but I can’t remember what) at Buena High School and I loved to visit her at work.
Sometimes she operated the switchboard, which was the old fashioned kind where she would answer the phone and plug a long corded metal thingy into an actual board to transfer the call.
I especially loved the library (ahh, the smell of old books) and the courtyard in the middle of the building. I thought my mom’s job was super glamorous : )
“On Writing” is now “In the mail” and on it’s way to Hearthfire for me. I’m looking forward to it. Notice that I did not get the e-book!
“…if I had more of a sense of my roots, my wanderlust would not be quite so fierce…”
Ah, but your wanderlust is one of the things that makes you so special and unique!
I suppose the toy train could be restored, but it doesn’t have any guts at all so I’d have to find all that. I also have a train set from 1961 that my father got for what he thought would be my first Christmas – but I was cozy and warm, so I didn’t come into the world until December 28th, so my first Christmas was almost a year after my birth. That one still runs just fine!
My Darling,
After 30 years of marriage, i love you as much if not more than the day we married. You were my soulmate, my sweet valentine then, now and for always.
I love you,
Be My Valentine,
You Are My Sweet Valentine xxxxxx
Love Your Wife xxxx