Sheetar

For our final week of the Sepia Saturday theme, “From Here to There,” I dug out my photos of the Miller Twins.  These two boys were featured in a few photos labelled only as, “Miller Twins,” on the back and I figured that twin boys would be easy enough to find without knowing their first names or much other information about them!  I assumed my great grandma Olga Powis lived near them and I assumed they’d be on the 1920  or 1930 census for a place to start.  The batch of photos that look like this (size/shape/quality) are dated around then, so it gave me a good guessing range.  Sure enough, I found an entry for twin boys Charles and William Miller who were born in 1918 on the 1930 census (ancestry.com link), sons of Merl Miller and Euphamie Lamb.  Euphamie shows up in another photo (link to blog post) with her boys which is what helped wrap the whole thing up to what I feel is a fairly positive identification.

As far as a date for the photos, I assume they’re about 4 or 5 in the set of photos here, so we’re talking 1923 (+-2 years).  The twins were born on March 14th 1918 in Coalport, Pennsylvania.  William died 11 June 1944 while fighting in WWII and was buried in France, and Charles on 19 Feb 1998 in Pennsylvania.  According to the 1920 census, they lived a matter of a few blocks from my great grandmother.  By the 1930 census, they had moved about an hour away to Blacklick in Cambria County.  To tie it into the theme, one of the photos shows the boys perched on the running board of a car.  Together though, even though they’re not related, these photos are a sweet little snapshot into the lives of these twins and the details are wonderful – the matching shirts and pocket watches, the beloved pet dog, the wash on the line behind the boys, the car!  I do hope to find some descendant or someone in the family line who might be interested in these, and I’m glad to have the chance to share them here.  Looking forward to November’s new theme!

November’s Nexus shipment arrived on October 21st and had two nail wraps that fit into the theme, “Gemology.”  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as usual, but I assumed it would be something along the lines of the super popular Turquoise from the June BOOM!Box.  One of the wraps definitely is and the other has the unique EC nerdy twist!  On to the contents!

Amethyst – This is a gorgeous glitter print of that lovely purple gemstone, Amethyst.  I have to admit this is easily my favorite of the two.  My maternal grandmother’s birth stone was amethyst, and I remember her talking about it when I was younger, so there’s some sentimental value attached to this wrap as well.  Plus, it’s sparkly and purple and a little abstract which is just perfect.

Rebel Rose – Okay, so here’s where I turn in my nerd card because at first, I completely missed the reference and wondered why there were roses in a gemology theme.  After I Googled it, I found it’s for the cartoon, Steven Universe, and is a nod to the character Rose Quartz!  Quick video here if you’re as unfamiliar with that cartoon as I am – and hey, EC just expanded my horizons a little today, and that clip is really uplifting and beautiful.  Anyway, pink is not my thing, so I’m going to share the love and pass these off to someone who will appreciate the rosy pink, silver foil, glow-in-the-dark nail wraps since they really are lovely, just not a good fit for me.

As usual, the theme is totally on point (even if I missed the Rebel Rose reference at first!), and both wraps are gorgeous, but Amethyst is the easy choice for me this month.  The nail wraps each cost $10 on the Espionage Cosmetics website, so the value exceeds the $15 month-to-month subscription cost.  The voting is already underway, and the winner will go on to fame and fortune for sale to the public once voting has finished while the loser will be a special Nexus exclusive.  In case you’re thinking about subscribing and want to send me some love, hit up my referral link!

OH!  Did your favorite not make the cut?  You can still grab extras!  As a Nexus subscriber you can purchase past ‘losers’ through the EC website.  Check out their blog here with links to each month’s nail wraps including past losers while supplies last!

Another week in our, “From Here to There,” theme for Sepia Saturday!  This week, I thought I’d feature a car and my great grandmother, Olga (Powis) Kitko.  The back of this is labelled, “Me & Joe’s Car,” which, from a previous post, helped lead me to identify a photo of my great grandfather as well.  That car is featured in a number of photos with either Olga or Olga and a friend sitting in or on it, and it seems to have been quite the prize for Joe to have.  I assume this is around 1930, possibly plus or minus about 2 years.  Olga is wearing a rather pretty outfit between the shoes and dress and I have to wonder if possibly this was taken to commemorate their wedding.  I haven’t yet been able to find a marriage certificate for Olga Powis and Joseph Kitko despite a lot of searching.  My suspicion was that they stayed together under a common-law marriage, but now that I sit here and think about this image, it’s entirely possible they did get married out of state or somewhere I didn’t think to look yet.  So, I’m left with more questions than when I started this post, but it gives me a few more things to think about!

October’s Espionage Cosmetics BOOM!Box has arrived!  It’s right on time and is full of goodies related to this month’s theme, “Haunted,” from spooky nail wraps to a nightmarish print and sparkly bats and even mysterious gems for your ears.  It’s yet another amazing box and perfect with Halloween coming up this month!

Let’s start with the two nail wraps!  On the left is Graveyard with a nod to Thriller in the subtitle.  In my head, I could actually hear Vincent Price reading that line (also hey, earworm!).  These are glossy nail wraps showing a graveyard scene against a dusky sky with glow in the dark ghosts swirling around the wraps.  On the right is REDRUM, with a glossy print of the carpet from The Shining, and REDRUM scrawled on the wraps in glow in the dark ink.  It’s so hard to pick a favorite between the two, but I know I’m going to be wearing one or the other this month for sure.

This was a big surprise this month!  Two full serums, two everything shadows and two mixing pots to go wild creating custom lip colors.  Everyone got something a little different according to the product card.  I received the serums in Soulless and Fatality and shadows in Shiny and Headshot.  I’ll have to give these a try with the mixing pots to see what I come up with!

Two super fun items that fit the theme and round out the box.  On the left is a set of bejeweled bat clips, Glittering Acro-Bats.  There’s a card included that says they’re more than just hair clips and can be used to add a bit of bling to your handbag, as a necklace, on shoes, or anywhere else they can clip to.  On the right are a set of earrings from Sparks Emporium.  They’re red with an iridescent blue sparkly glow.  Included along with the earrings is a 15% off coupon for any purchase from Sparks Emporium which is a nice bonus!

And finally, a print from Nerdy Post that reads, “Sometimes Nightmares are Real.”  This is gorgeous between the lettering and lacy design around the edges and I just love it.  It’s a departure from the character sort of artwork we’ve had in previous boxes, but it fits in SO well with the theme, plus it’s fun to get something completely different!  I guess I really need to get on that whole finding frames thing, huh?!

As far as value goes, it’s definitely above and beyond the cost which is between $25 and $30 depending on the length of the subscription.  Just with the serums and shadows alone, we’re already at $33, so then add in everything else and the value is way above the cost!  This is another big hit, and honestly, those two nail wraps are AMAZING.  Have I mentioned how incredibly bright the glow in the dark magic on the nail wraps is?  Because it glows for hours after exposure, so much so that sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and startle a little seeing something glowing on my hands (and then remember it’s my kickass nail wraps and laugh at myself).  I’m so thrilled with this box and cannot wait for the next one already!  In case you’re thinking about subscribing and want to send me some love, hit up my referral link!

Late again, and Sepia Monday doesn’t quite have the same ring, but here it is!  In another week of our, “From Here to There,” monthly theme, I have a ship coming into port.  These were taken by a member of the Jaarsma family, and if I have my dates lined up right, they were sending a visitor, Fokke Brander, back home on the Nieuw Amsterdam on the Holland America Line at Hoboken, New Jersey.  I’ve had these photos on the side and had been doing a little work to sort out who this man labelled as “Brander” on the back of the photos was.  I finally fit him to a man named Fokke Brander, born 18 Jun 1900 in Obergum, Groningen, Netherlands and died 8 Oct 1961 in Uithuizen, Groningen, Netherlands.  He likely knew my husband’s grandparents since he lived near them when they lived in Holland, and came over to visit once they emigrated to the USA.

In the photo above, you can just barely make out the ship’s name behind the tugboat’s big “M” stack.  At first I thought I wouldn’t be able to identify this ship, but looking closely enough, I could make out a “N_EW AM” which led me to the Nieuw Amsterdam.  I knew the port had to be the Hoboken New Holland Line terminal just like all the other arrivals they captured, so this helped narrow things down.  Eventually, I found the departure manifest for the Nieuw Amsterdam which listed Fokke Brander as having left the USA on 8 Sep 1953 (Ancestry.com link), so the summer clothes in the photo make sense – it can still be quite warm in early September in the New York City area.

And here’s the man himself, Fokke Brander, standing on the right side with his luggage, shaking the hand of a man only identified as “Dijkhuis” in other photos.  The back of this photo is labelled, “Goed bye to Brander,” so I can safely assume this is the day he departed.  I haven’t yet been able to identify all the other people in the photo, but Mr. Brander shows up in a number of other photos with the other folks in this picture, so I assume he was making the rounds visiting everyone.  It’s pretty neat to have this sequence of photos to line up together and tell a story about Fokke and his visit to the USA!

I know, I keep getting later and later on these, but I’m still here!  It’s been a difficult week, so I think my lateness is acceptable under the circumstances.  We have a new theme for Sepia Saturday for the month of October, “From Here to There.”  Our prompt image features a bunch of ladies on bicycles, and with my husband’s Dutch ancestry, we have LOTS of photos of people on bicycles, so here’s my first submission!  On the left is Ellechien Dijkema and on the right, her sister and my husband’s grandmother, Hilje Dijkema.  This was probably taken in Holland, somewhere around Uithuizen in the late 1920s or early 1930s.  The girls were born only 2 years apart in 1912 and 1914 respectively, so there are a lot of photos of these two girls together.  Here, they’re posed on their bicycles, balanced together while being supported by a fence, wearing matching dresses.

This is a bit of an odd photo and I have the hardest time visually making sense of it – it almost looks like part of the photo is a negative, but the girls’ clothes and faces are positive.  It doesn’t look like the photo has degraded, but it’s possible there might be a bit of a double exposure going on, juding by the line towards the right side of the image.  Regardless, it’s a sweet photo of the two of them out on their bikes and I’m glad someone paused them to take this!

For the first time ever, I went to a convention.  No, not a stuffy work thing, but a super fun convention all about retro shows and characters and really everything from my childhood.  It just so happens that this particular con, RetroCon, was practically in my backyard, so I really had no excuse!  Plus, I knew a friend who would be going, so it wasn’t like I’d be going by myself to some gigantic convention center (the husband is still at sea), though it turns out, I didn’t really feel alone, not even once, but I’ll get into that later.

Naturally, I brought my camera, and if I got a photo of you, do let me know in the comments!  I had a ton of fun watching the superhero presidential debate and the costume contest on Saturday.  The people who entered into the contest were really creative and between the variety of costumes and the incredible creativity, I sat there in awe, sometimes laughing (the family pack of insurance companies was HILARIOUS), watching a parade of characters from Thundercats to He-Man, Tron, Batman, Jem, and so many others.  I took a walk through the vendor tables and saw everything from creative artwork to t-shirts, toys, games, bags, jewelry, you name it!  It got me a good jump on giftmas shopping too.

I’m not sure if this is particular to this con because it’s smaller and retro oriented or if this is a thing that happens at all of them, but I felt really comfortable.  I’ll admit to being a bit socially awkward and shy, especially in a room full of people I don’t know (Hi, I’m an introvert, my idea of fun is curling up with my dogs and my knitting at home instead of being around people).  Somehow, this felt like home and I fit right in, right away.  I got to talk to amazing local artists and crafters who had time to chat about their work and nerdery in general.  I saw all manner of amazing costumes and people who, regardless of shape or size or anything, had truly become their characters and took countless photos with adoring fans and kids and even each other.  I’m not sure why this struck me so hard, but it really hit home, and I kept walking around with a smile on my face all day that I couldn’t shake.  I know all of that sounds like some big and sweeping schmoopy experience, and in a way, it was!  It’s not something I can really put to words since it’s not a feeling I’m used to feeling in big crowds of people, and I liked it.  A++ RetroCon, would Con again.

I’ll be adding more photos to this post as I get them edited and all, so check back here frequently!  I’ll also be putting them on my Instagram, which you can find here.

This is the final week of the theme for 343, “Work and Play,” and I’ve really run out of steam on this one.  I found one of a young girl that mostly fits in, so we’re going with that!  Pictured above is Sarah Berger, and I know that because someone thoughtfully decided to label the back of the photo!  I didn’t have much to start with other than her name, but assuming she lived near my great grandmother Olga in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, I started searching Ancestry.com for Sarahs that may fit the bill.  I stumbled upon a Sarah Berger living with her parents and grandmother at age 15 in the same town as my great grandma.  That had to be her!  A little more sleuthing and I found that Sarah Berger was born 1 Jun 1914 and died 2 Mar 1989.  She married Mirrel Yingling aon 7 Oct 1935 and had one son, Edward Yingling.  In the photo above, you can see she’s standing in front of a little scooter style tricycle which makes this fit into the play category.  I’m not sure who took the photo – it could’ve been Olga or it could’ve been her parents and a copy later shared with Olga.  I know Olga kept photos of a number of kids from the neighborhood, so it’s neat to finally learn a little more about the gal pictured in this one!

HOOBOY!  I always get a little excited for this box because it’s been so consistently on point, but this month?  MINDBLOWING.  Oh man.  I can barely even put words together to put up this blog post, I am that blown away.  All the products are cruelty-free, some vegan, but they’re all rather ingredient-conscious and tend to be things that are right up my alley.

Gypsy Soul Organics Sister Wind Aromatherapy Spray – 2 oz / $19.99 – (Product is Full Size)  Okay, so I like the idea, but the scent is completely not me – spearmint and eucalyptus are near the top of my least-favorite scent list and honestly make me a little nauseous (I find those eucalyptus flavored cough drops are an instant upset stomach too, FWIW).  It’s not the product’s fault, it’s my picky nose/palate not liking the scents.  I’m going to pass this off to a friend, but there is a promo code included in the box and it looks like their “Family Tree” scent is right up my alley.  I could see this being a nice treat after a post-yoga shower since they’re all essential oil based.  The originals come in a glass bottle and the one included in the box is plastic so the value may be a little off, but it’s such a generous size to include in the box.

St. Tropica Coconut Hot Oil Hair Mask – 6 pack / $27 – (Single size, value of $4.50)  It’s like they were listening to me when I rant about hair products in subscription boxes – I don’t want parabens, sulfates, or silicones.  This?  Fits that bill in spades and the ingredient list is beyond perfect.  My hair is super curly and dry, so I pretty regularly use all kinds of oils to help keep it moisturized and bouncy, so this is SO BEYOND PERFECT.  The first two ingredients are coconut oil and coconut butter, so yes and yes.  It is in a foil packet, but it’s meant to be that way so that you can heat up an individual packet as a single-serving so to speak, and there’s enough in there to generously coat down my long hair.  I’ll probably give this a whirl next week, but I promise to report back with my results.  There’s also a card included for 20% off your order.

Tat2 Lash Mascara – .25 oz / $16 – (Product is Full Size)  There’s beeswax, so this isn’t vegan, but as a beekeeper myself, I don’t mind.  LOVE the packaging!  The brush is a bristle tip, not one of those spiky plastic numbers, and it works fairly well considering the formula is on the thicker side.  I tend to like my mascaras a little thicker, so that’s perfect for me.  I did get a perfect application on one lash and then the next was clumpy which I figure is user error, but it does go on rather richly in one coat, no second coat needed.  Dries fairly quickly and the ingredient list is spectacular – no bad ingredients that may irritate my eyes.  So far, I’m loving this!  Better yet, there’s a card enclosed with a coupon code for 40% off your first order.

Ecco Bella FlowerColor Lipstick – .13 oz / $19.95 – (Product is Full Size)  I received the color, “Primrose,” which is a shimmery mulberry spice type shade.  The ingredient list is really amazing, no parabens or petroleum-based ingredients.  It goes on a thick and semi-matte, but it stays put as a result of the waxes and still feels moisturizing thanks to the Vitamin E.  The color is spot on perfect for fall and I rather like the thickness of the product.  I figure some people may not like the waxiness, but I found that thicker products mean I’m not constantly moving my lips around together to redistribute the product and they end up staying put longer.

Bellapierre Eyeliner Duo – .14 oz each / $25 as a set – (Product is Full Size)  The product card from Bellapierre goes into detail that the clear one can be used to pick up a little color from one of their eyeshadows and used as a colored liner which is a super fun idea!  I have PLENTY of mineral eyeshadows and this extends those to a whole new usage and it’s much easier than trying to mix pigments with water and hoping they’ll stay.  Both the black and clear are waterproof.  The black has a felt tip and the clear is a brush.  I found the black a little watery and tough to apply evenly, but I’m also a little clumsy and shaky-handed when it comes to eyeliner, so it’s probably user error again.  It does go on nice and dark though and the ingredient list on both is great.

Bellapierre Shimmer Powder – 2.35 g / $15 – (Product is Full Size)  The color I received is, “Jadoo,” described as a burgundy with gold shimmer.  I’d probably call it more of a Merlot sort of color – it’s more purple than red I think, but it is very heavily pigmented and yet again, the perfect color for fall.  Remember the vanilla lip balm from last month?  Yeah, this pigment will mix with that and create a really pretty lip color.  Or you use it with the clear eyeliner and make a gorgeous eyeliner color.  So many possibilities and I love the tie in to the last box.

Overall we have 7 products or 6 if you count the eyeliner duo as a set with a total value of $100.44!  The box costs $29.95 per month for a month-to-month subscription, so the value is over 3 times the cost of even the month-to-month subscription!  This is the first time we’ve had non-makeup products in the box, the hair oil and the aromatherapy spray, but honestly, I’m completely okay with that since the hair oil is absolutely perfect and while I didn’t like the scent of the aromatherapy oil, I do like the idea.  Well done, Benevolent Beauty, this month is phenomenal and somehow the boxes keep getting better and better.  Excited to see what you come up with for next month!

The theme for October’s Espionage Cosmetics Nexus shipment was, “Clever Girl,” which promised, “designs perfect for the adventurer gearing up for the ride of their lives through the age of the dinosaurs!”  I’d say they absolutely nailed it this month, and while the designs both feature a nod to the Jurassic period, they’re completely different which is going to make deciding which is my favorite this month pretty hard.

Hatchlings – With a subtitle of, “Not The Mama!” from a show I remember and love, these glossy wraps feature lizard eyes and claws breaking out of a brown eggshell base.  The details are fantastic from the crack lines to the colors of what lies inside.  Really a fun way to show off the theme!

This Land – Another glossy nail wrap with a variety of flora and fauna, and a play on a scene from Firefly.  I love the bonus subtle nerd content that goes beyond the actual dinosaurs on the wrap!  Little Tyrannosaurus Rex and Stegosauruses march across the nail wraps with an accent wrap of green and purple leaves and flowers.

I’d say the EC team proved themselves as the ultimate Clever Girls this month – the tie in to Firefly was phenomenal and I didn’t see that one coming at all (though, DUH).  The nail wraps cost $10 each on the Espionage Cosmetics website, so the value far exceeds the cost of the $15 month-to-month subscription.  Subscribers then vote on their favorite of the two and the victor goes into regular sale on the website.  That means that the other nail wrap ends up being a Nexus exclusive, never to be produced again!  In case you’re thinking about subscribing and want to send me some love, hit up my referral link!

Yet another week of Sepia Saturday on the same theme, “Work and Play,” so for this week, I have a series of photos of my grandfather, Leon Kitko.  Leon was born in 1933, so he’s probably somewhere around 2 years old in this photo, or maybe just shy of 2 – he was born in March of 1933, so if this was taken late summer, he’d probably just be walking which looks about right.  I’m not quite sure where this fits into the theme, whether it’s work or play since I can’t quite tell what Leon is holding.  It may be a brush as if they had set the child to work to wash the car, or a toy, or just a random piece of metal.. it’s hard to tell.  The back of the photos say, “L J Kitko on Dad’s Truck,” and I know that truck shows up in a lot of photos, so it’s something his father, Joseph Kitko, was rather proud of.  Even if these weren’t labelled, I’d probably be able to tell that was my grandfather just from the child’s face – the eyes and cheeks are features I’d be able to recognize at any age!  It’s great to have all three photos taken in succession like this – usually we pick out the best photo and toss the rest – and to have all three together is a real treasure!

Another one on the “Play” part of our Work and Play theme for this month – a little late, but better late than never, right?  I know I posted a class photo from Doede Jaarsma’s technical school before (here), so this is likely the same class on a day trip to one of the islands off the northern coast of Holland.  The back of the photo simply says, “Day Trip, Douglas,” so that helps narrow down who at least.  In this photo, I believe Douglas (Doede) is in the next to last row, second in from the left, sitting next to the older gentleman who is likely their chaperone or teacher.  They’re sitting on what appears to be a beach dune in front of some sort of observation tower or lighthouse, and if I were a betting woman, I’d bet it was the North Tower on Schiermonnikoog because it looks a lot like it, though the extra tower behind the lighthouse is gone now.  I actually found another old photo on Flickr showing the tower, so I’m pretty sure I have my location!  Doede was born in 1911, so if he’s about 13 in this photo, it was taken in the mid 1920s.  Neat to have finally figured out the location, and it’s probably a safe bet that the boys in that photo were enjoying a good bit of play on the beach on their day trip away from school.

EDIT: There’s actually a great image here showing the extra side tower.

Another edition of our monthly theme starts this week, focusing on, “Work and Play.”  We’re allowed a good bit of leeway with the theme and prompt image so, since I have nothing at all in my collection like the prompt photo, I went with “Play” to start and found a good reason to share this silly one of my husband’s grandfather, Douglas (Doede) Jaarsma.  The back of the photo says, “Douglas and the Ducks,” and you can see him sitting on a toy spring duck with quite the grin on his face.  The photo print date says March 1973, but I’d guess this was taken the previous summer and developed later since the trees are much too leafy for March!  I’m not sure of the location either, but it was probably in New Jersey.  The photo was taken when he was 62 years old, proving you’re never too old for being a little silly!

Whaaat?!  It’s not even September yet!  I love it when boxes ship early and exceed my expectations!  The crew at Espionage Cosmetics shifted the shipping schedule around a little for the Nexus shipment which now ends up shipping between the 18-27th of each month and renews the 28th of each month for the following month, so September’s shipment went out on August 24th for me, and arrived today, the 30th.  I loved getting the heads-up about the change, and being a newer subscription, I’m glad they’re keeping us in the loop as they fine tune the process.  SO!  This month’s theme was, “Ancient Mau,” and I had a pretty good idea cats and egypt would be involved, but as usual, you never know what sort of magic will tumble out of the glitter cloud.

Peek-A-Boo Cats – Little black cats peek around the edges of an orange-red glossy ombre base.  There are even glow in the dark accents on the cats.  Too cute!  I have to admit that I’m more of a dog person (we have two), but I spent my youngest years being herded around by two cats, so these are absolutely welcome here!  I have a feeling these are going to be saved for October so I can show them off around Halloween because the colors paired with the black cats are purrrfect (sorry, had to be done).

hieroglyphics – Okay, so the cats are cute, but this is DEFINITELY without a doubt the nail wrap I’ll be voting for this month.  It’s a glossy nail wrap with gold foil accents featuring hieroglyphics and the eye of Horus.  I’m a history nerd in general, but Ancient Egypt has always held fascination for me, so I am positively over the moon for these!  They’re just stunningly beautiful and I cannot wait to wear them.

  The nail wraps usually cost $10 each on the Espionage Cosmetics website, so the value definitely exceeds the cost of a month-to-month subscription at $15 per month.  Subscribers then vote for their favorite of the two, and the winner goes on to regular sale on the website.  That means Nexus subscribers get a super limited edition nail wrap that will never be produced again!  As usual, I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with for next month and I’m LOVING this subscription – I get two brand new nail wraps before they’re released to the general public, and I get to vote for my favorite and hope it wins.  This whole thing is ridiculously exciting.  I’m not sure any other subscription box does something like this!  In case you’re thinking about subscribing and want to send me some love, hit up my referral link!

For our final choose-your-own-theme Sepia Saturday under the 342 prompt, I’m selecting this photo to coincide with what would’ve been their anniversary this past week.  In this photo are pictured Romayne Louella Greenaway and Leon Joseph Kitko in a photo taken around their wedding date which was 24 August 1963.  This was Leon’s second marriage, so while Romayne wasn’t a biological grandma, she was married to Leon long before I was born and she had always been my grandma.  I found these photos in a trunk of old photos at their house after they both passed away.  From the photographer’s stamp, these were probably proofs, and I know there’s a larger photo that was hand colored in the house.  There’s something about this one that I love though – that stifled laugh on Leon’s face is one I remember seeing multiple times and makes me smile even just seeing the photo here now.  Short and sweet this week, and even though Romayne and Leon have both passed away, I’m glad to have this great photo to remember them by.