Hello, back to it after a week-long break so as to get things in order.

So, I unearthed this lovely tray in the unpacking process. I like its plainness. And its age. In general I find enamelware irresistible. Something about its cheapness, but ultimate durability, that gets me every time. This company makes enameled kitchenware, but it’s still not available here in the US. Dang it.

Agence Eureka has such an amazing and extensive collection of ephemera that I could probably post something from their archive every day for the next year and still have plenty to spare. Scrabble anyone?

I love this little image. It’s a cigarette card (1.375″ x 2.675″) which I bought a couple of years ago while in San Francisco. Almost nightly when I was little, my mother used to read us The Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. One of my favorites was about how the Armadillo came to be. According to Kipling, these odd little creatures were formed out of an alliance between a turtle and a hedgehog. Click here if you would like to see the entire NYPL collection of Animalloy cigarette cards.

Another image found on Agence Eureka’s blog. I have a feeling this won’t be the last of them either.

I had NO idea that Antarctica has its own currency. Actually, it doesn’t. We all know it’s a continent, not a country (right?), so doesn’t have its own legal tender. Antarctica is divided into territories, so in some parts the British Pound will buy you milk, and in others the US Dollar will pay your way. These bills are produced by the Antarctica Overseas Exchange Office, and while they may not get you far, they do fund valuable programs in that far flung place.