San Francisco, California in 1970 watching the cable car inch its way up.

Oh to be here

Summer into fall and the new year about to begin. Funny. Decades living where the year starts in January but growing up in Boston with so many schools everyone starts over in September even if you are 103.

Fun back then and wanting to stay forever but a handsome young man living around the corner who went to West Point and ending up traveling the globe one army base at a time. Children that pick up new languages at the drop of a hat with mothers who only know the words for “gin and tonic” and “Where is the dress shop, please?”

All of that fun with dolls and other fun things sent back to relatives who never travel further than their feet will take them but still . . . .fun it was back at school . . .four years all in the same place and a college bookstore that never moved the hand lotion instead of a new PX and having to dig things out like a dog digging in the sand . . . Christmas and being an elf in red tights with a green tunic and a headdress with tinkling bells . . .  a vision it was and a treasure forever. . .

Georgia State Women’s College (now Valdosta State University), Valdosta, Georgia. Page 19 from the Georgia State Womans College 25 Year Anniversary Bulletin, 1913-1938. PDF Link here https://buff.ly/3wEWdhv Screenshot from a PDF of it. I found the link at Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections on Facebook. What is now Valdosta State University was called Georgia State Woman’s College from 1922 to 1950.

Watercolors of interior spaces by American illustrator Jeremiah Goodman. Living from 1922 to 2017, he he worked as an illustrator for Lord and Taylor, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, along with creating the monthly covers of Interior Design Magazine. 

Diana Vreeland “Garden in Hell” Living Room. New York. Designed by Billy Baldwin. 1985. American. Gouache and mixed media on illustration board. Jeremiah Goodman, watercolorist (1922-2017). ©  Estate of the artist. Image ©  patrons.org.es. Fair use license. via https://patrons.org.es/jeremiah-goodman/
Dining room, 19 Rue de Constantine, Paris, France.
Don Carlos de Beistegui, collector and interior designer. 1960. American. Gouache and mixed media on illustration board. Jeremiah Goodman, watercolorist (1922-2017). ©  Estate of the artist. Image ©  patrons.org.es. Fair use license. via https://patrons.org.es/jeremiah-goodman/

Grand Hotel a Villa Feltrinelli, salon, Lake Garda, Italy.
Designed by Pamela Babey for Bob Burns. 1998. American. Gouache and mixed media on illustration board. Jeremiah Goodman, watercolorist (1922-2017). ©  Estate of the artist. Image ©  patrons.org.es. Fair use license. via https://patrons.org.es/jeremiah-goodman/

“Monster” fireplace, tower living room, Porto Ercole, Italy.
Designed by Renzo Mongiardino for Elsa Peretti, jewelry designer and philanthropist. 2000. American. Gouache and mixed media on illustration board. Jeremiah Goodman, watercolorist (1922-2017). ©  Estate of the artist. Image ©  patrons.org.es. Fair use license. via https://patrons.org.es/jeremiah-goodman/

Visions of an older America. Landscapes by Asher Brown Durand. Living from 1796 to 1886, he was part of the Hudson River School.

Landscape. 1859. American. Oil on canvas. Asher Brown Durand, painter (1796-1886). Signed and dated A B Durand 1859 on the lower left. Collections of and image © the Princeton University Art Museum. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. Fair use license. via https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/27252

Progress (The Advance of Civilization). 1853. American. Oil on canvas. Asher Brown Durand, painter (1796-1886). Photo credit: Travis Fullerton. Collections of and image © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Progress_by_Asher_Brown_Durand.jpg

Kaaterskill Landscape. 1850. American. Oil on canvas. Asher Brown Durand, painter (1796-1886). Collections of and image © the Princeton University Art Museum. Fair use license. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1850,_Durand,_Asher_Brown,_Kaaterskill_Landscape.jpg

Trade cards meant to help you live around your wallpaper, not the other way around. Trade cards from the early days of the last century by M. H. Birge and Sons, a major American wallpaper firm located in Buffalo, New York.

Library. Green wallpaper with a floral frieze. 1885.
Library. Green wallpaper with a floral frieze. 1885. Image © 2019 Bolling & Company. Trade card in the public domain due to age. via https://bollingco.com/collections/m-h-birge-sons

Dining room. 1906-1907.
Dining room. 1906-1907. Image © 2019 Bolling & Company. Trade card in the public domain due to age. via https://bollingco.com/collections/m-h-birge-sons

Parlor interior. From Birge's "Decorative Suggestions," published in 1914.
Parlor interior. From Birge’s “Decorative Suggestions,” published in 1914. Image © 2019 Bolling & Company. Trade card in the public domain due to age. via https://bollingco.com/collections/m-h-birge-sons

Interior with floral wallpaper. 1906.
Interior with floral wallpaper. 1906. Postcard. In the public domain. via https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/496733033881625622/?lp=true

Summery beach pictures not wanting to wait for June. American. Beatrice Whitney Van Ness, artist. 20th century.

"Summer Sunlight." ca. 1936.
“Summer Sunlight.” ca. 1936. Oil on canvas. Image © National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC. Fair use license. via https://wayback.archive-it.org/2972/20181115101812/http://clara.nmwa.org/index.php?g=detail&object_id=661

"Umbrellas at the Beach." No date.
“Umbrellas at the Beach.” No date. Oil on canvas. Image via Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers. Fair use license. via https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/beatrice-whitney-van-ness-american-1888-1981-um-207-c-b9bul18bm8

f99f08576071e415e8f055611cadc213
“Ogunquit Beach Scene.” 1913. Oil on canvasboard. Image © Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield. Fair use license. via https://www.pinterest.com/pin/426786502158682223/?lp=true

American women all dressed up and standing in front of interesting backgrounds. Emma Fordyce MacRae, artist. Member of the Philadelphia Ten, a group of female artists.

"Roland in Red." 1926.
“Roland in Red.” 1926. Oil on board. © 1999 – 2019 SKINNER, INC. Fair use license. via https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2841B/lots/439

"The Dreamer." 1928.
“The Dreamer.” 1928. Private collection. Image © 2000–2018 The Athenaeum. Fair use license. via https://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=140288

"Summer Flowers." Date unknown.
“Summer Flowers.” Date unknown. Private Collection. Image © 2000–2018 The Athenaeum. Fair use license. via https://theartstack.com/artist/emma-fordyce-macrae/summer-flowers-6

American Tiffany punch bowls from a bit back in time. Just a little different from the cut glass kind with the little cups. Must have been specially commissioned by someone, I am sure.

Punch bowl with three ladles. 1900.
Punch bowl with three ladles. Exhibited at the Paris World’s Fair of 1900. 1900. Art Nouveau in style. Glass, silver, gilding, copper and wood. Collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. In the public domain. via https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-49692160/

Viking punch bowl. ca. 1893.
Viking punch bowl. Exhibited at the Chicago Exposition of 1893. ca. 1893. Iron, silver, gold, and streaked ebony. Paulding Farnham, designer for Tiffany. © 2000–2019 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Fair use license. via https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/69.4/

Mountains to escape into with enough of them to cover your entire sitting room wall, painted by American landscape artist Thomas Cole (1801-1848). Founder of the Hudson River School.

"Evening in Arcady." 1843.
“Evening in Arcady.” 1843. Oil on canvas. © 2015 Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford. Fair use license. via https://www.thewadsworth.org/collection/hudson-river-school/

"View Near the Village of Catskill." 1827.
“View Near the Village of Catskill.” 1827. Oil on wood, Image © Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Fair use license. via http://www.explorethomascole.org/gallery/items/19

“Shroon Mountain, Adirondacks." 1838.
“Shroon Mountain, Adirondacks.” 1838. Oil on canvas. Image ©Cleveland Museum of Art. Fair use license. via https://www.britannica.com/art/Hudson-River-school/media/274715/5990

Women a little more exotic than the ones in the linoleum ads. Andrew Loomis, illustrator (1892-1959).

"Drink Budweiser, America's social companion." ca. 1930-1939.
“Drink Budweiser, America’s social companion.” ca. 1930-1939. ©2018 Artnet Worldwide Corporation. Fair use license. via http://www.artnet.com/artists/andrew-loomis/drink-budweiser-americas-social-companion-OHNi6vFKNJ48SlC1xkEiUw2

Woman dressed in gold. Undated.
Woman dressed in gold. Undated. In the public domain in the United States because the artist has been dead over 70 years. via http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/loomis.htm

American landscapes with buildings included by 20th century artist Walter Stuempfig. He painted over a thousand paintings but I like these best.

"Procession to Golgotha." Undated.
“Procession to Golgotha.” Undated. Oil on canvas. Image © 2019 Woodmere Art Museum. Fair use license. via https://woodmereartmuseum.org/explore-online/collection/procession-to-golgotha

"The Monument." 1947-1949.
“The Monument.” 1947-1949. Fair use license. via Nelson Atkins Museum https://twitter.com/nelson_atkins/status/956884177928032256

"West Wildwood, New Jersey." 1946.
“West Wildwood, New Jersey.” 1946. Oil on canvas. Image ©2019 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Fair use license. via https://art.famsf.org/walter-stuempfig/west-wildwood-new-jersey-194812