Midnight Madness March to Memphis

Well, train, train, take me on out of this town.

Train, train, Lord, take me on out of this town

Well, that woman I'm in love with, Lord, she's Memphis bound 

Well, leavin' here, I'm just a raggedy hobo.

Lord, I'm leaving here, I'm just a raggedy hobo.

Well, that woman I'm in love with, Lord, she's got to go

 

Well, goodbye pretty mama, get yourself a money man
Goodbye, pretty mama, Lord, get yourself a money man 

 You take that midnight train to Memphis
Lord, leave me if you can 

Oh, take that midnight train to Memphis

Lord, leave me if you can
Oh, take that train, baby

Lucky Strike ~ Baumer

How am I not myself?  Do people ever change?

Perhaps it is you who are not the same?
You breathe in love like a cigarette,

And put it out as you light up the next

Love- you say it calms your nerves
Love- stills your hand as it burns
You say its cool and keeps you thin
This one's done- light one up again

Burning baby, you're making your way
Through lines of lovers, you're up to a pack a day
So long baby, I wish I could stay
So long romance

How am I not myself?
Can people remain the same?
Relapsing into what you call insane
Inhaling love like a cigarette
And hoping a lucky strike's up next

Love- you say it calms your nerves
Love- stills your hand as it burns
You say its cool and keeps you thin
This one's done- light one up again

Burning baby, you're making your way
Through lines of lovers, you're up to a pack a day
So long baby, I wish I could stay
So long romance 

Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain

W.C. Handy, won't you look down over me?
Yeah, I got a first class ticket
But I'm as blue as a girl can be

Then I'm walking in Memphis
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel?

Saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue
Followed him up to the gates of Graceland
I watched him walk right through

Now security, they did not see him
They just hovered 'round his tomb
There's a pretty little thing waiting for the King
Down in the Jungle Room

When I was walking in Memphis
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel?

Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
(Walk)
Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
But do I really feel the way I feel?

They got catfish on the table
They got gospel in the air
Reverend Green be glad to see you
When you haven't got a prayer
Boy, you've got a prayer in Memphis

Now Gabriel plays piano
Every Friday at the Hollywood
And they brought me down to see him
They asked me if I would

Do a little number?
And I sang with all my might
He said, "Tell me, are you a Christian, child?"
And I said, "Man, I am tonight"

Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
(Walk)
Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
But do I really feel the way I feel?
Walking in Memphis

(Walking in Memphis)
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
(Walk)
Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
But do I really feel the way I feel?

Put on my blue suede shoes...

Are you starting to feel that Midnight March Madness?

I am!  Dreaming of my summer VaCa to Surf City, NC.
Last son's wedding, class reunion, and of course getting out to those sales to do some Junking!

 

Thanks for hanging with us!

Ciao!

Junkyard Gypsies Vintage Clothing & Accessory Pictures taken at the Big Four Railroad Depot Riehle Plaza Main Street Bridge in Lafayette Indiana.

Music lyrics: "Blackfoot - Train, Train" "Baumer - Lucky Strike" "Cher - Walking in Memphis"

All Vintage Clothing, Vintage Jewelry & Vintage Shoes pictured are available at Etsy JuNKyArDgYpSIes  

I'm a Hot Chocolate Snob ~ There, I Said It

Did you know that cocoa beans

were used as part of Aztec currency?
It was very important to their way of life,

and their chocolate drinks. 

The Aztec’s drank cold chocolate drinks flavored with wine and chili peppers, no sweeteners at all.  It wasn’t until the Spanish started importing it, that they began serving it hot and sweet.  Right around the 1700’s chocolate became a hit in England and the later baroque period picked up on the Hot Chocolate Craze with it’s own version of Starbucks, in their trendy little coffee shops.

Which brings me to my point, I am a Hot Chocolate Snob, and to me, there is something is decidedly wrong with making hot cocoa with water.

That sharp after taste of some concocted powder that sticks to the roof of your mouth, followed by warm water, yuck!  Knowing that it started that way doesn’t help, and the
inclusion of chili peppers doesn’t entice me at all.

And though it may not be of connoisseur quality, I prefer mine made of milk and (hate to say it) Nestles Quick!

(Love this container! Beatles on the back!

No I don't have it ~ DRATZ - Worth about $1000.00 if you can find one)

Why Nestles Quick – duh, because it’s… so rich and quick and chocolate  - that you can't drink it slow...

oops mines gone now!

Stan swears he didn't grow up with this water cocoa either, but every year I find him in the kitchen pulling out the cocoa, powdered milk, shaving candy bars trying to concoct his own hot chocolate mix to dump in…you guessed it…. Hot water!  I just walk by and say something intelligent like "That might taste a lot better if you pulled out the jug of milk sitting in the refrigerator" then I smile.  I always smile, just to make sure I don't get jabbed.  Think I’ll start suggesting chili peppers and wine next year.

Of course, toast with butter is always a good accompaniment to hot chocolate. Preferably some thick slice of homemade bread toasted and slathered in real butter, but I'll take a piece out of the bag & use some oleo if none is to be found.  I like the crunch factor that goes along with the creamy smoothness of the milk & chocolate.

My mother use to like to dunk her toast in her hot chocolate, and make it all soggy, which tends to made me want to gag.  Personally, I think that the only thing that should be dunked in milk is an Oreo.

If I had had a little hot chocolate foresight, instead of like 3am in the morning, as I’m writing this, I'd make cinnamon rolls… not from scratch mind you, from the can.

Speaking of the dough boy, I think I'll call him and have him pick up some fresh milk and a can of Pillsbury to satisfy my real hot chocolate craving, and be done with this pseudo cocoa concoction.

Since I’m not drinking milk (which is suppose to help you to sleep) here’s to hopping I dream of Swiss Alps instead of large goofy looking bunnies.

Good Night & Sweet Dreams – silly wabbit!

Related articles

• Aztec Chili Hot Chocolate (notecook.com)
• Recipe for Mexican Hot Cocoa (blogher.com)
• The Heat on Hot Chocolate (friendseat.com)
• Chocolate: An Affair to Remember (wholefoodsmarket.com)

I Wanna Be...Your SledgeHammer

Ok, how about just your Soft Metal Mallet?

Most of us are familiar with 3 or 4 kinds of hammer.  Because we only use them for about 3 or 4 things.  We drive and pull nails.  We break things (hopefully what we plan on breaking) and occasionally to change the shape of something,

like straightening a bent nail.

We know a little about the claw hammer, the sledge hammer and the ball peen hammer.  Those with a little more experience know about the rubber mallet, the leather mallet, and maybe a cross peen.  In some industries there are also brass hammers, for working around explosives and combustibles, so they don’t make a spark when they hit other metals (an important feature around dynamite or gasoline).

And there are times when negotiating with a stuck nut or bolt, which the wrench simply can not move,

you need a “Persuader”.

Of course today such a situation would call for a large rubber mallet.

But those have not always been available.

So What did they use before that?

Well, they used a soft metal mallet.
  Usually made from lead.  But after a few uses the lead was badly bashed out of form.  That meant buying another one!

Until business man, tinkerer and inventor John Horat, from Lafayette, Indiana, designed the
Horat Soft Metal Hammer mould in 1914.

 When your lead hammer got in such bad shape that it was no longer usable, you simply cut the head from the handle, inserted the handle into one side of the mold, put the lead in the bowl, heated it till the lead melted, turned the form so that the lead flowed from the bowl into the form and waited

for it to cool.  And Wala, a new lead hammer to persuade the next stubborn bolt!

So what are you getting your honey for Valentines Day?

Well if you haven't hammered out all the details you may want to take a look at Graham Tools.  They have lead hammer mold sets starting at $109.95

Antique Horat mould pictured above is available at Bonanza

Vintage McCall’s Red Valentines Day Dress

I’d so wear this red off shoulder shirt trench coat dress pictured on the front of this 1956 McCall’s magazine out for dinner on Valentines Day.  I’d even wear the black gloves just so I could peal them off.  Non-verbal dinner conversation. 

So I thought I'd try to see if I could actually find this dress.

Solas at Go Antiques was as close to a match that I could find. It had the wide off the shoulder cut.  Although I prefer the crisp notched point collar instead of the rounded, this has the long sleeves as well being totally red.  Add a funky, bold belt and you’re ready to go. 

More of a shirt dress, NikkiFaith at Etsy has this red with black polka dot dress for a more casual look. 

Picked this one from Sydney’s Vintage Clothing for the off shoulder look.  Throw that huge flower in your craft box (PLEASE), an add a belt, and you’ll have a knockout dress.

You can even still wear the gloves! 

Even though this magazine is a November issue it just reminded me of Febuary, guess the Betsy McCall paper doll cutouts reminded me of the punch out, Valentine Day cards. Use to love having grandma hunt up her McCall magazine and cut out some new clothes for Betsy!

Did you have a Betsy McCall paper doll growing up?

Hope you have good luck finding something fun to wear for Valentines Day!

You can look at more pages from inside the magazine at: http://bit.ly/h1p0dR

Junk Yard Gypsy Merry Christmas to You!

Merry Christmas to You and Yours & a Happy New Year!

Kindergarten Dream Comes True Through a JunkYard Gypsy History Tour

I love being a JunkYard Gypsy.  I always find some new treasure to discover and research.

Like this vintage travel chest.

 Most people grow up wanting to be doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs – I wanted to be an archeologist since I was in kindergarten.  Seriously it’s in that little book, my mother kept.  The one that has pockets to put keepsakes, report cards and place to glue your school picture, lists your teachers, your pets and what you want to be when you grow up.

Yeah this is it – ha, ha, bet you have one too!

Later I decide I wanted to be a magazine editor, so my junior and senior year of high school I was the yearbook editor.  Well I never became an archeologist, nor did I become a magazine editor.  Instead I packed my 78 Nova with all my worldly possessions and headed for Texas.

But that’s a different story.

Most of these trunks are toy doll cases, and rightly so as you can tell by the racks and small pull out drawer, but this one had a drop leaf drawer on the top, and it peaked my interest (ok, it doesn’t take much).  Anyway, I was seriously expecting these to be fake stickers, but they are not, they are actual railway and ship stickers from real companies during the 1920’s to the 1940’s.  I learned about Magic Island/Treasure Island in San Francisco during the 1930’s World’s fair, the Dole Plantation, and others all from studying these stickers.  It was kind of fun traveling by train and ship all around the United States discovering these locations.

Doing so, I discovered that people used these small chests to store above their berths or under their seats with small personal items.  Mark Twain use to keep and send his manuscripts in one and forward it on to his publisher.

Now my mind is really going, and I’m so loving this chest thinking that some author might have kept their most prized manuscripts in it to ship from one great journey to another.

What Fun! I’m getting to explore my love for history through my junking research.  Guess I’m reverting to my childhood by vicariously exploring my kindergarten dream.

And I get to combine text and pictures!

If you want to learn more about Crack Trains (yes that what they use to call some railroad lines), take a look at the listing.  This little trunk has some wonderful history.

What to do with Old Vintage License Plates?

My brother called the other day and ask if I wanted some old license plates that he found in his pole barn.

Humm, what to do with old license plates,

if they're not of a particular vintage value?

So I went shopping around online and found some really neat pieces, like this butterfly & lobster at RecycledMonkey

 

 Guitar-List.com had a working guitar covered in license plates.  The link went to Etsy but no longer showed this particular guitar.

However, another Etsy seller RunningOnEmpty, fashions license plates into guitar shaped wall displays.

Then I found Etsy Seller TomBoyArt

Cutting up the plates to spell words like Peace, Johnny Cash, Say What, just to name a few of her 35 pieces.  I don't think he has enough for me to spell words, but it's a cute idea.

If you're thinking of doing something similar and need license plates for your project Ebay has tons of expired plates starting at just a dollar.  And of course you can always run across specials there like this auction for 51 plate with free shipping, starting at .01 - No bids as of today.  If think you might have a vintage license plate that a collector might be interested in, you could start researching by reading "License to a Cool Collection"

Happy Hanukkah!

Related articles

• 'Don't Tread on Me' License Plates Become a Growing Trend in the U.S. (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
• The Best Metal License Plate I've Seen (metalinjection.net)

1950's Vintage Metal Floor Lamp Revamped in Red

Found this adorable metal floor lamp

Cute swag on the shade.

 Wish I could have kept it, but it needed a redo, because someone used latex paint (very poorly, I might add)
on the base.

Plus the whole dingy creamy thing wasn't working for me,

so I sanded it down.

And I painted it Red!

Thought about adding a design to the shade, but I changed my mind, thinking that who ever decides to give it a home would have their own ideas, and I didn't want to limit it's appeal.

Think it would look great in boys room or rec room with their favorite sports decal.  A lot of different teams would work like the Cubs, Indiana University (Go IU! - ooops not suppose to say that here in Purdue country) Kansas City Chief, etc...

A black art deco design would look great too.

Or they could just leave red.

Related articles

• Lamps Made of Old Beakers are Scientifically Awesome (inhabitat.com)