Happy 2nd Birthday Philip J. Fry!

I can't believe that teensy little Fry 

is a grow up man pug!   He turned 2 on Sunday.

We took him and Mr. Tuvok with us to Bay Ridge where my father in law lives.  We went early and took them for a walk through the Narrows Park.

 

On the way back to Jersey we bought him a Happy Meal in lieu of a cake, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Then we opened presents:

We are so lucky to have Fry who is so much like his dear departed brother Norbert: loving, sweet, and a little bit shy.  

Adventures in Vintage Hair Styling: Fun with Snoods for Snoodtember

There are many wonderful vintage blogs on the web, but one of my favorites is Tanith Rowan's.  Tanith is a brilliant milliner and I adore all of her work.  I interviewed her here, and she made my 1950s coolie hat.  Tanith's blog is devoted to all kinds of vintage head gear, not just her own designs.  There are posts on historical hats and instructional posts for the crafty to make hats of their own, (sadly I am  not among the crafty).  This September Tanith is celebrating the snood:

She has created an instragram hashtag #snoodtember and posted photos of beautiful snoods and tips on how to wear them.   

I'm right alongside Tanith in her love of snoods.   A snood is any sort of net or bag that is designed to hold a woman's hair.  They where particularly popular during the 1940s when women working in factories needed to contain their hair for safety's reasons.

However, snoods where not only for casual wear. They could be dressed up too, like this gorgeous beaded version on Ginger Rogers.

For myself, the appeal of the snood is  the simplicity.  A snood gives you a vintage hair do with basically zero effort, no rollers or pin curls required.   Plenty of vintage fans create elaborate styles to go with their snoods, but as I have zero hair styling talent I just pull my locks into the snood and perhaps curl my bangs.  Easy, peasy, and takes less then two minutes.   I found this post from Vavoom Vintage very helpful when I first started wearing snoods.  

It took me about 30 second to put on this snood

All of my snoods are from Arthelia's Attic, and she makes a beautiful snood.  I am sure you can find them for cheaper but her quality can't be beat and her snoods are beautiful, sturdy, and stay put.  I have four of  them and love them to pieces.   I have gotten plenty of compliments on them, including one lovely lady who told me I brought her right back to her youth in the 1940s.




I love to wear snoods to work since they are so quick to put on:

  But they are great fun for weekends too.   
                                            

Snoods are traditionally more of a 1940s accessory, but I like to pair them with 50s looks too.  Like my Bernie Dexter  kitten print dress:

What do you think of snoods?  Do you have a favorite hair accessory?

Pug on a Bike

A few weekends ago we took Fry on a little bike ride.  

He is a very good cycle passenger sitting quite still in his basket (unlike Tuvok and Weasley who are just aren't suited for cycling).   I used to use a wicker basket to ride with Ping, however since her arthritis worsened rides seem to be uncomfortable.  The metal basket we use with Fry is permanently attached to his dad's bike is even more secure then the wicker one.  Once a cord for the leash is attached and its lined with a dog bed, Fry is safe and comfortable.  

We celebrated his successful ride with a little ice cream treat:

Belated Roald Dahl Day

September 13 was Roald Dahl day.   I've always loved Dahl's creative and clever stories.   Plus, this famous quote pretty much sums up my attitude towards life:

This year my favorite ice cream shop, Ample Hills creamery, came up with an awesome way to celebrate Roald Dahl: ice cream inspired by one of his most beloved characters, the cider loving,  Fantastic Mr. Fox!

Of course I ordered some, Ample Hills ships all over the country, but sadly it didn't arrive until September 14.   

The ice cream is delicious and now I can celebrate Dahl all month!   It seems Spot wants to try some but I may want to keep  it all to myself.

Star Trek New York

Labor day weekend New York hosted a large 50th anniversary Star Trek convention and I was able to attend on Sunday.   

This was a big convention put on by CBS, at the Javits center in Manhattan and it was packed to the gills with vendors, photos, and displays for the new CBS show Star Trek Discovery.

          

                               

I bought a collar for Mr. Tuvok and a cat collar, I haven't decided which cat to give it too!  Both where a good price, ten dollars each.

Still I thought this convention was too focused on selling stuff, and that was after you paid fifty dollars to get in!  There where some displays about the characters and episodes:

and some props from the Original Series like Scotty's Engineering tools, and a medical kit, and some glasses and plates:

A model of the famous Alien head from the ending sequence was also there:

And the costume crafting book Make it Sew was on sale and they where displaying  a Skant uniform, a sort of short dress for men that was shown of the first season of Star Trek The Next Generation:

 

I still thought there was far too much stuff for sale, and far too little actual Star Trek stuff for fans to interact with or look at, especially considering the fifty dollar ticket price.  I really felt the Philadelphia convention was better, and for half the price!

Most of the panels where on Saturday but I did see a panel with some of the actors and writers from Voyager which was entertaining.

Best of all I got my picture taken with Levar Burton, who I really admire,  I loved his character, Geordie LaForge on the Next Generation and I appreciate everything he has done for children's literacy.  Another odd thing about this convention was the celebrities where behind curtains so you couldn't even glimpse them without a ticket.  I only had a second with Levar Burton but he was very nice, (and handsome), and I got to tell him that my late father who was a librarian and introduced me to Star Trek was a big fan of his.


The picture came out ok, Levar looks great, but I'm not so sure about me!

As you can see my hair is black, the semi permanent blue would not come out and was turning green, so my hair stylist dyed it this color to cover it for my return to work.   I hated it at first but, I'm adjusting.   

So overall it was a fun event but there was lots that could have been improved on.  Live long and prosper!