‘Love’
Be my Valentinte!
Love’s Auctioneers a mock tudor building dating back to 1900, Canal Street in Perth, see more of this building here http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search_item/index.php?service=RCAHMS&id=158020&image_id=DP038261
Yes! I know and love this place too.
Here’s where I would be happy to spend a rainy Saturday. Henry Chapman Mercer was an archeologist with a passion for collecting, particulalry artifacts of pre industrial life. He believed that the story of human life and accomplishment was told through tools and he had an impressive array of early tools. The Museum is six stories tall and was cast in concrete, Mercer wanting to be the ‘little pig’ whose structure would outlast the others. He had been greatly affected by the knowledge of the Great Fire of Boston in 1872, which had destroyed his aunt’s prized collection of Medieval armour. He wanted something that would endure and keep his collection safe. When it was completed, to the derision of his critics, he lit a fire on the roof of the building to prove how fire resistant his museum was. In addition to tools, his collection includes early American furnishings, carriages, stoveplates, gallows, fire engines, a whaleboat and the Lenape stone (a stone showing drawings of North Americans hunting wooly mammoths, found to be a hoax) plus a library all displayed in a Fun House style, only add to it’s charm.
(Mercer Museum to be found in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Additional information: Wikipedia)
Mercer Museum- a castle of concrete and glass built by tile manufacturing magnate Henry Mercer to house his plethora of collections (and protect them from fire).
“If statistics in the U.S. are representative of other countries, almost 90% of laundry is done by women. The average American family foes 8-10 loads each week. Were all of that to be done by hand, there would be no time for much else, not even to complain about inequality.”
© S. Marian, July 3, 2012
An excerpt from “Liberty is a Washing Machine,” to be found on “A View From Outside the Box,” url: a dialogue
Listen to Mitzi Gaynor, doing a different kind of wash. This is the full audio of “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair,” from South Pacific. It’s a bit choppy, switching back and forth from the old production but is worth seeing.
“For the next two centuries doctors experimented with all manner of things to ‘shake things loose,’ from vibrating chairs to high powered water douches.’ No matter the device, the goal was the same - to induce ‘hysterical paroxysm.’ This was an improvment for the women, for $2 and some time in the doctor’s office, they experienced temporary relief. The problem was, it was only very temporary and there were a lot of women. Dedicated physicians complained of sore hands despite the enormous financial benefits to providing this treatment. One doctor said it was harder than it looked, likening it to trying to rub your head and pat your stomach simultaneously.”
© S. Marian, June 5, 2012
An excerpt from “Something for the Coffee Table,” posted today on “A View From Outside the Box,” url: adialogue
There is an antiques place, a great big barn outside Dundee in the Perthshire village of Abernyte. It’s set in verdant, hilly countryside, one hill rolling into the next like waves - a good analogy for this story. I can and have spent hours there, as it’s full of antique stalls containing the odd, beautiful and ancient of every description. I have a centuries old Chinese mirror from there, polished metal with a water scene in relief on the other side. I like to imagine who might have used it, what their life was like, what their thoughts, dreams and fears were. I will never know but of one purchase, the story has reached out to me from the past.
One day browsing the treasure trove, I wandered into the household and farming ‘shop.’ This isn’t normally of great interest but I was humouring my beloved. In the corner on a table was an intriguing thing, a shiny device I had never seen before. It was approximately one foot long, with a wooden handle and some sort of motor encased within a heavy metal compartment. Protruding from the back was a crank. At the bottom of this device there was a circular Bakelite pad, with a gap and then an outer ring of the same. When you turned the handle the inner disc would move up and down, and depending on how quickly you turned, could go quite fast. It had a hole in the center of the disc where it appeared something else could be fitted. The noise it made was akin to a very loud hand drill or ratchet. On the front of the motor housing, etched into the casing, it said, “Dr. Macaura’s Blood Circulator, Patent number 13932. I was undeterred by my husband’s, “what do you want to buy that for?” I thought it would be a fascinating, mysterious ornament to have sitting on the coffee table, and it was. I never failed to bring out my little machine, adults puzzled over it and children delighted in trying it against their legs, arms, or on the heads of unfortunate sisters.
It would have been beautiful had I remained in ignorance, trotting it out at dinner parties to the wonder and amusement of my guests. A year later, it occurred to me to look up the patent number of my table ornament. I was more than surprised to discover so much information about the Blood Circulator, originally known as the “Pulsacon.” It was invented in the 1880’s and produced until the 1920’s by the British Appliances Manufacturing Company of Leeds, England. Apparently, cranking the handle could produce two thousand vibrations per minute. One example can be found in the London Science Museum with the operational instructions, “It is secured with one hand and the vibrating plate placed over the desired body part. Turning the handle produces a surprisingly intense vibration over the affected area.” In the 58 page booklet that came with it, titled, “Death is Stagnation – Life is Vibration,” Joseph Gerald Macaura claimed that it could cure pain, deafness, anaemia, heart disease, cramp, polio and ‘women’s problems.’
As I said, I like to imagine the people that went before me, what these things have meant to them, the context of their lives. For the woman who possessed this ‘blood circulator’ and I do think it was a woman, she lived in much more constrained times. The assumptions of her time included the belief that women were prone to hysteria, causing untold problems in the home and for Victorian men in particular. A common diagnosis was ‘womb disease,’ the symptoms of which were, headaches, irritability, fear of impending insanity and hysteria.
I can’t help but smile at these well intentioned, naïve Victorians, as naïve say, as someone buying a ‘vibrational device’ as a coffee table ornament. Some other Victorian assumptions were that women did not experience ‘copulatory urges,’ or the physical release that came from these encounters and that real coitus only occurred with penetration to physical release. Climax was seen as a sign of good health but not of fornication. Thus, doctors surmised that womb disease and female hysteria were caused by failure to achieve climax.
By the first century AD, massage of the pudenda had become standard treatment for this common but chronic complaint. For the next two centuries doctors experimented with all manner of things to ‘shake things loose,’ from vibrating chairs to high powered water douches.’ No matter the device, the goal was the same – to induce ‘hysterical paroxysm.’ This was an improvement for the women, for $2 and some time in the doctor’s office, they experienced temporary relief. The problem was, it was only very temporary and there were a lot of women. Dedicated physicians complained of sore hands despite the enormous financial benefits to providing this treatment. One doctor said it was harder than it looked, likening it to trying to rub your head and pat your stomach simultaneously.
People like “Dr.” Macaura saw a niche in the market and capitalised. By now some practitioners were feeling a little defensive trying to convey the seriousness of their work. To meet this demand, vibratory entrepreneurs produced new machines, professional looking and substantial. One was called the Chattanooga, which was mounted (by the doctor) like a Tommy gun on wheels, to be rolled alongside the patient. Another popular model was the Carpenter, which hung from the ceiling and looked like a mechanics impactor, or air gun as it’s sometimes called. Needless to say, a myriad of devices were made, all advertised in a manner to camouflage their intent. Then, sometime in the 1920’s they seem to have disappeared. One theory is that the devices began to show up in less salubrious films and their camouflage was gone.
I feel I must speak up for the previous owner of my Blood Circulator. I am sure there was relief to be had in owning this device but I am quite certain frustration did not disappear. The context of her life did not allow her a voice in the home (except in domestic matters), in her marriage or in society. She did not have freedom of choice, the vote and was viewed as irrational, weak and unreliable. Multiple paroxysms would not have increased her influence, nor diminished her most meaningful impotence.
What of our good doctor though? He was passionate on the subject of women’s health and surely for that he is to be admired. At one trade fair in Leeds, he concluded his talk on vibrational therapy with this, “It is the duty of those who took the Hippocratic oath to be fired by imagination and inquisitiveness, to…arrest decay and to amplify life. Who could find objection to such noble sentiments? The French apparently. On May 14, 1914, Gerald Macaura, an American of Irish descent, was arrested and ordered to pay a fine of $600 and sentenced to three years imprisonment. He was charged with fraud and crimes of ‘vibratory massage.’
The famous Pulsacon / Blood Circulator does not sit on my coffee table anymore; instead it now resides in a cabinet of antiquities in my bedroom. No longer a sitting room ornament but an interesting device with a colourful history and the object of one of my favourite stories.
(Additional information from “Worth Point,” the “Independent,” and Leicestershire County Council)
© S. Marian, June 5, 2012
A little taste of what is to come tomorrow, Tuesday May 29 on “A View From Outside the Box,” url: adialogue. Please read it to find out what Mrs. Beeton had to say and both how much and how little some things have changed.
“Praise is readily accorded to those whose province it seems is to shine in society, whose brilliant talents or accomplishments almost command admiration, while those who simply devote themselves to their home, to the comfort of their husbands and the care and culture of their children are, in comparison, but lightly esteemed; while in reality they should be more so. They often do a higher, nobler work than mere talents could effect, and seldom without self sacrifice. These good women have their reward.”
(From “Mrs. Beeton’s Every Day Cookery and Housekeeping Book)
I love unusual jewelry, the elegant but also the unexpected. I’ve had a brilliant time looking at some amazing trinkets and now I’m going to show them to you. If you’re the sort of person who likes to pay lip service to beauty, consider a necklace, a beautifully graduated pendant of lips (and noses, chins and cheeks too). For the lovers, how about immortalising your love - go on, say yes! If you are more traditional and still feeling romantic, you might like a change from the claddagh (Ireland) or the luckenbooth (Scotland) - this exquisite Witch’s Heart made of almandine garnets set in rose gold is full of symbolism and is thought to be lucky too. Circa 1790, a brooch such as this would be pinned to the petticoats of children who were deemed particularly susceptible to harm from ‘evil spirits’ or ‘fairies.’”
Moving from the romantic to the whimsical, do you fancy a cuppa? This little ring cup and saucer of green tea is just right and will ensure you’re never far away from a cup of tea. From a cup of calm to something to focus your attention, the Ford Focus specifically; Cornish designer Katherine Hawkins was commissioned by Ford to celebrate their centenary of Ford in the UK. She received a box of car parts and this is the result. If your dreams are a little closer to home, Philippe Tournaire can design a villa, mansion or even your dream home in 18k gold - all in miniature to adorn your finger. Finally, don’t get too carried away, you’ll have to take it all off at the end of the day.
(To find all of these and more stunning pieces, google, “unusual jewelry.”)
Happy Easter to all my friends and followers! On this beautiful Spring day (at last!) I am remembering previous Easter celebrations. I hope you enjoy these fabulous eggs, some of the images come from the White House Easter Egg Rolling Contest. I don’t imagine you’ll be rolling any Fabrege eggs, the caption on one egg said, “this is worth more than your soul” (for more of the awesome and exquisite eggs, copy and paste this link: loveisspeed.blogspot.ca/2012/02/carl-faberge-eggs.html).
I will be hiding chocolate Easter eggs for my daughter who has informed me that she is not too old at 13 to pillage the house for chocolate. Each year, no matter how systematic I try to be, there are always unfound eggs. They will be discovered over the months in odd places that I forever imagine as being ‘too easy to find.’ We will decorate eggs and roll them down the hill. In years past I have used my eggs as a creative expression, social commentary and at times, as a kind of protest. Memorable eggs have included Darth Eggdar and his Eggsaber (including real miniature light up saber), Beautiful Fatimah and her Egg Veil, Camila Parker Egg Bowles and my personal favourite, Gordon Egg On Your Face Brown. Gordon went down the hill in Perthsire, residing eventually, a much broken man, in the bottom of a small pond. If you looked very closely, you could just about see his dour scowl glaring at your from the murky depths.
I send you my best wishes of warmth, new challenge, growth and happiness this Easter.
For Kay-Sway, another one who loves beautiful old things but also a certain mood, a calm, the exhale after an event, a sigh….Thank you for following me, I truly appreciate it. The photos are from morning scenes around my home, taken minutes ago. The sun is rising, the light on the walls is soft and gently weak and it feels cold!
(The Charlotte Bronte quote says, “Better to try all things and find all empty; than to try nothing, and leave your life a blank.”) The small picture and “face” were found in antique shops, history unknown.
