Flamingo Motel, Wisconsin roadside

One of my favorite parts of road trips is seeing iconic signs, logos, and gigantic bits of the past preserved like insect legs in amber chunks washed up on the banks of the Wisla/Vitula River generations ago. The unfavorite part of family travel was carsickness in our family car (a bumpy VW Beetle) and having to throw up in a roadside ditch.  Today, thankfully, I can keep the contents of my stomach intact by keeping my eyes on the horizon and avoiding reading (maps for instance).

 My parents' favorite gas station to stop in was Mobil with the fascinating, glorious Pegasus logo.
 https://www.google.com/search?q=mobile+gas+horse+logo&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=hrrcUb6QE4qo9gTenID4DQ&ved=0CEsQsAQ&biw=1105&bih=539
My mother recorded the price per gallon (usually something like 69 cents), the mile marker on the odometer, our location and destination.  This was in a series of tiny notebooks that fit in the plam of her hand. The other things she kept written notes on were recipes in a green tinted spiral notebook, her monthly cycle on a small funeral home (or was it insurance agency?) calendar, short to do lists or what was done lists on the back of envelopes.  She said she kept charts of what her babies ate, when they nursed, etc, but she gave that to a sister-in-law and never got those back.

I always got a thrill out of seeing the Sinclair Dinosaur. 

This was on the roadside someplace in Wisconsin last fall.

Same thrill and new pang of nostalgia. 

Some of the roads from my childhood no longer exist or have been superceded by larger roads,

so it was an unexpected pleasure to catch a glimpse of the familiar green brontosaurus. 

Not sure if this fictional brontosaurus has been reclassified as apatosaurus.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatosaurus

The next sighting of a mythical creature deserved a closer look. 

I have long been intrigued by flamingos, choosing a beautiful print to go over

the Universal stove in our former kitchen and found pink flamingos elsewhere.

http://storiesfromtheoldneighborhood.blogspot.com/2012/10/my-happy-place.html

Just the faintest hint of a corner is visible in the link.

 

I asked my dear husband to pull over to get a closer look.

Let's take a good look all around from every angle.

Aha.

Glorious and pink and massive.

                                                          I loved feeling so pleasantly tiny.

All the way around.

Adjacent pool/playground.

One last look.

 But before I sign off a few more flamingo pictures closer to home amidst trumpet vines
and peeking out from behind a chair. xoxoxo.

my happy place

Warm welcome.

Painted door and window frames, baseboards one sweltering 4th of July weekend.

 

Color copied vintage barkcloth and decoupaged with Modge Podge,

then covered with polyurethane onto kitchen cabinets.

Different print of actual barkcloht on transom window from mother's basement.

Eight doors were a labor of love by proxy.

Stripped doors (sent out) sanded (dear brother), stained and varnished (hired out).

Pink and black table and chairs from antique mall a little les that $60-- a slurge.

Worn, wooden thonet chair found in alley, regret not getting the second one.

Usually in attic, brought down for extra seating.

 

 

Universal stove came with place, big and heavy, it's not going anywhere.

On wish list: vintage farmhouse sink and old fridge that latches, or lookalike.

 

God Bless our Home picture housewarming gift from my mother.

Little wood shelf scavenged post someone's moveout from alley.

 

Family pictures after autobiographical work by Cuban American photographer Tony Mendoza,

personal inscriptions/descriptions under each color copied photograph.

Surprisingly each color copy has held up well.  No fading after almost 20 years.

Southern exposure though 2 kitchen windows.

 

Green bedroom behind aloha signed door.  Dresser with serpentine fronts came with the place. 

Painted in 3 different green tones.  Wall painted with brush for a leafy feel. 

Ceiling painted soft violet with a brush as well.

Landscape from the countryside where my mother grew up.

Green table and tuffet dumpster dived or alley found.

 

Living room painted a blue from Benjamin Moore, one of my favorite cornflower blues.

Super tall palm found in alley by my brother.  Thanks!

Gorgeous living addition to the garden theme.

 

Dear sofa, I hear you calling my name.

Thift store and garage sale paintings.

 

Round artist decorated coffee table found in alley. 

Funnily, seminaked lady at 12 o'clock looks like son's former teacher. 

Added Irving Penn photo of red poppy from a Vogue magazine and cutout of son's drawing over rudest word. Poly'ed the top.

 

 

Little table was moveout gift from sister in law.

I stained with a translucent blue stain or paint hung upside down in bathroom for flamingo display.

 

Warm goodbye as well, aloha!