counting on yesterday
December 27, 2011
santa brings yesterday ©2011 Gary Garbett
I’m not sure there’s anyone that knows me much better than Santa Claus. It’s almost like he’s inside my head… kinda like we’re one in the same.
The jolly guy left several gifts of Christmas pasts this year under our Christmas tree: a 1950′s Magnavox phonograph with AM radio, a 1944 Arvin dinette set, and a 1940′s Hunter Zephair hassock floor fan. Some of these are restoration projects. Others are already in use.
The older I get, the more yesterdays mean to me. I can always count on them being everything I expect them to be… with no surprises.
beautiful life again
December 26, 2011
the restoration ©2011 Gary Garbett
I find the greatest beauty and joy in bringing life back to something discarded and abandoned.
After searching for quite some time, I was finally able to locate the perfect vintage 1944 Arvin dinette set on the evening of December 23. Beneath its scratches, rust, tape, stickers, and years of neglect, I knew there was something there. With very little time before loading the sleigh, I had my work cut out for me. After lots of elbow grease, steel wool, oil, lemon juice, flip flops, late night secret hours, fresh paint, and lots of care and love, I managed to refinish one chair by the late hours of Christmas Eve.
It really is gorgeous and I’m looking forward to refinishing the rest of the set. Santa pulled it off for another year.
Quite a lot has happened and changed in the world since this 1944 set left its U.S.A. assembly line. Beautiful however still remains beautiful.
frolic and play
December 17, 2011
rockin' round the… ©2011 Gary Garbett
With winter’s great pinnacle just a week away, I uncovered a few seasonal turntable gems that I haven’t played in many, many years. Some are even pressed in red and green wax. Do the joys ever stop? Seems doubtful.
I also discovered another seasonal gem online. The holiday Stella site experience and the free retro holiday jazz record collection is so well designed and certainly worth a visit. …cheers!
twinkle here, twinkle there
December 11, 2011
lounge lazy ©2011 Gary Garbett
Nothing quite puts me in the spirit of trimming the tree and hanging the lights like listening to the lounge piano and strings of Peter Duchin’s Invitation on vinyl. Fah-la-la-la-la . Then again, maybe it’s just the festive time of the year.
Still a damn fine listen though.
creatively hip
December 10, 2011
The Studio ©2011 Gary Garbett
Six days ago, I began my mission to transform our unused upstairs bedroom into a comfortable creative space… a place to listen to music, to write, to read, to think, to sew, and just a place of focused creativity. For nearly two years we’ve used the vacant room primarily for storage. Last Sunday, with a vacuum and a few hodgepodge items I’d picked up over the years, I began my mission to create a unique and engaging space.
This morning we set out on a thrift store road trip in search for pieces to finish the room. We had a great day and were anything but disappointed.
Aside from a few minor knickknack embellishments that I’d still like to add, my new retro studio lounge is nearly complete following our days finds. We located a beautiful Natuzzi suede mod sofa, a hip coffee table, and a fab chrome and red naugahyde chair. We also found a couple of nice lamps, and a gem of 1948 Fodeco 8mm film projector in pristine working condition.
Santa arrived two weeks early this year. And from the look of things, I’m guessing he’s been listening to a lot of the Rat Pack. Thanks Santa… you’re groovy!
denial of obsession
February 12, 2011
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| ©2011 gary garbett.com |
Twenty-five cent chipped china that someone once served his best Valentines dinner on. Carefully handwritten names and dates under each precisely placed snapshot show life’s journal of the journey. That song about that summer is remembered as the delicate tick from the second hand marks off another. Her costume jewelry dances in slow motion, quietly slowing time.
