Carved wooden mask, origin unknown

Carved wooden mask bought at an antiques store

I was on a day trip, driving around western New Jersey, stopping in Frenchtown, Milford, and later Flemington. While I was in Milford, I browsed through several antique stores when I spotted this carved wooden mask, that made me stop and look closely. There was no ID tag, and the proprietor wasn’t sure where it … Read more

Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners Retablo

Our Lady Refuge of Sinners Retablo

As I mentioned yesterday, I went into Mexico Lindo Furniture in Santa Fe with a specific goal: I wanted to track down the retablos I saw in this store in 2022, and hopefully buy one. As I was looking around the store, I saw plenty of cool things – like this double-headed angel carved out … Read more

Billy Cowan: the Angel with a halo

California Angels Billy Cowan with a halo over his head

This 1972 Topps baseball card, with Billy Cowan of the California Angels, has always been a favorite in my baseball card collection. The photographer must have had a good sense of humor, to have Cowan pose in this exact location, allowing the halo in the background to be perfectly positioned over his head! Curious about … Read more

Making art from old postcards

my collection of vintage postcards from the 1980s

I pulled out a box of old postcards from the late 1970s and early 1980s the other day and started looking through them. These were postcards that I had bought as a kid on family vacations (many of which involved riding in the far back of a station wagon without any seat belts … how … Read more