Today my dad, Mycie, and myself are headed down the 5 to visit our kinfolk in California’s Central Valley. We make the trip a few times a year, but usually not in the sweltering summer. The reason we pulled this together at the last minute was because I started researching my family history, or genealogy, in earnest recently and realized That I had to interview my grandparents, and their one living sibling apiece, while they’re still with us. I am armed with a video camera and a slew of questions.

My research on one branch, the Camps, has been much aided by the fact that a book was published about my great great uncle, due to the fact that he was a sort of agricultural whiz kid in the mid 20th century and solved the longstanding problem of how to grow cotton in California. (And by the fact that there are about a million Camps out there, and perhaps as many websites and mailing lists).

That’s him, Wofford “Bill” Camp, standing next to his father in front. In the back left, behind his mother, is my great great grandfather William. My great great great grandparents are John Clayton and Mary Jane Atkins Camp. This is them in front of the still standing house known as Camps Crossroads, in Gaffney, South Carolina. (Someday I WILL visit this ol’ homeplace!). I was lucky enough to know William’s daughter, Maggie Lorene (Camp) Hill, as a child. It is to the home her husband built in Shafter, California that we are headed today, where her son, my grandpa, lives with my grandma. The house pictured here is in where my grandpa began his life, and the house to which I’m going is where he’ll end it.  Continue Reading... (708 words + 3 images, estimated 2:50 mins reading time)

-Joanna Newsom in the 10th issue of Lula.

Lose yourself in the fantastical clothing of summers past and…

Get your Witch Priestess on:

Size 7.5/8

Embroider your tall tales:

Betsey Johnson

reserved for Alela

Be a summertime elfin baby doll:

Dazzle the dragon in white lace and crochet:

And snag your prince by framing your lovely face with intricately woven neckline designs:

I Magnin

It’s been many photo shoots since I’ve posted a “preview” here, but I felt that the time was ripe to do it again for three reasons: 1) I really enjoy letting my friends and readers have first dibs 2) I have a strong feeling that at least one person will find their new favorite garment if I post this rather than just start listing on Etsy and 3) I am going out of town on Friday and probably won’t have time to list all of these, so through your comments I can ascertain which pieces are most fabulous and list them first!

Ah, the thrifting life is certainly a rewarding one. Surprising, at times tedious, but always worth the effort. I recently scored both of these white lace dresses (thus adding to my ever growing collection of all things white lace) and this perfect stretchy belt and these wicked, witchy purple shoes (which will be for sale in the shop soon, but I can’t say the same about the dresses! Or the belt).

I am so completely smitten with this doll. It’s the clothes, of course. Such gorgeous embroidery! And the red skirt with lace! The apron, the bonnet! So Eastern European peasant. The stockings are fabulous too. And her face is so intricate and lovely. After considering a slew of other, really quite prettier, names I decided that I had to go with my heart and name her Maja Lisa, after a character in the novel Hanna’s Daughters, which I just finished and is about about three generations of Scandinavian women.

The grandmotherly lady at the thrift store had a soft spot for little girls and gave this doll to us for only $3.