Baby

Irises are my favorite flowers.  They're just so beautiful in their own way.  Here are a couple of pics of my Irises which are blooming at the moment in the front yard.

'If you had come to visit me today you would have seen these beauties from the street, and from the porch and I would have made sure you noticed them.  I love flowers.

Then  you would have come inside, and invariably would have asked me about life and all things in it currently.  Which would have led us to 'Baby' short for 'Baby Jane' a dear aunt of mine who shares my affection for inanimate objects and always names her cars, always has.









Baby Jane is a 1965 Dodge Dart
    Like a drive back in time...

Here she is waiting to take us wherever we'd like to go

As you attempted to open the door to step in you would have found it locked.  Everything is manual in this car, so I would have to reach over and unlock it for you.  Then upon opening the door a very loud metal creeeeeaaak   

would catch you off guard.  It makes me smile.  Then you would find that the door has to be slammed shut pretty hard.  She and her kind were made like tanks.

It's funny to watch people, especially young people get into Baby for the first time.  What is THAT?  They ask....   The door handle, or the manual window handle, or the ashtray.  They are embedded in the back doors and one in the dash.

The dashtray

Here's Baby's Model number on the glove box

And if you opened up the glove box you'd find the original service record.  Dating back to 1965.  

And no, there is no middle belt

You'd wonder about the seatbelts then, especially the under 30 crowd.  When we first looked at Baby and took her for a test drive I had the pleasure of riding in the back seat.  It reminded me of being a child in the back seat of 'The Batmobile'.  Our grandparents big black Chevy Impala (I believe) much like this one.                                 

But I digress....  Every Friday our Gramsy who did not drive, and only worked a half day at our Aunts house watching all of us would pile us all in the backseat and Grandpa or our Uncle would drive us to Gramsys house.  There'd be at least five of us crammed in there, smashing each other as we rounded every curve.  Good times...                                        

Ok, now we're ready to roll.                                 Don't worry she's not driving.  

 You might wonder about the window operation then.  No AC, remember.  So we'd roll down the front windows and open the little triangle ones at the front.  And that is the only side mirror.  They used to only come with one, remember?











Depending on your personality, you may or may not get a kick out of watching me start the car.  The steering wheel is so large, it reminds me of driving a boat.  Baby needs a lot of juice and sweet talk before she'll start.  And she can be very loud.  Then she's gotta warm up.  So don't think you can just hop in and go like with these modern cars.  She needs a little gentle coaxing.  But treat her like a lady, and she'll treat you right...

 At this point you would undoubtedly be checking out this sweet dash...  And maybe you'd like to hear some tunes...




Old school heat and fan controls, and the original AM radio.  Which still works.






















Remember the old push button AM radios?  Oh and it's mono baby!

This is it.  The only speaker.

Oh and that is a steel dash.  No airbags.  So don't crash.

I'd check my mirror for oncoming traffic.  Yeah, it's the original too.




As I let the brake off and give her some gas we'd move forward and you'd notice

 The speedometer needle bouncing up and down and all around.  Again, these things make me smile.  Hopefully it wouldn't make you too nervous.  She also 'dances'.  Her timing is off so she idles real heavy and is pretty loud.

Never a dull moment when  you're with Baby.

 Driving down the street I feel like I've gone back in time.  My girls and I think we need to get driving hats and scarves to go with our large sunglasses so we'll look the part.  I never thought my daily chauffering rounds could be so much fun.  Listening to a crackly AM radio, laughing as everyone passes me in their modern day hurry.  Not me...  I am thoroughly enjoying the little things.  And loving it!

She drives at a steady pace, unless going uphill.   And I'm just relaxing, taking my time.

Original wipers, remember when they only had one speed?

Her trunk

 It's a large 'two body' trunk.   Unless you are my kids.  I think we could fit most of them in there.

 So here she is.  Those who have ridden in her literally squeal with delight! I think it's a treat.

Enjoy the little things my friends.  Enjoy the little things!

oasis

 [oh-ey-sis] 

o·a·sis

   [oh-ey-sis]

noun
something serving as a refuge, relief, or pleasant changefrom what is usual, annoying, difficult, etc.: The library was an oasis of calm in the hectic city.

definition from Dictionary.com









I absolutely love that word, don't you?  And the definition is perfect.  As you know I need an Oasis.  And life has brought me one.  

The bed and nightstand.   This is facing rear from the door.

She needs some TLC, but we can manage that.  We are longtime DIYers.  And I love the fact that we are revamping something old, rather than buying something new.  Here are some photos of her lovely 50's or 60's (?? we are pretty sure narrowed it down to '59 - '61).  

The kitchen, and some of her details.  So I really wanted a "Canned Ham" model trailer,

The cabinets and hardware remind me of my
Gramsys kitchen.  

and as  you can see from the picture above I got one.  

check out this old paper towel holder

I also really wanted the inside to be 50's style with the rounded corners and real wood interior.  Oh and a princess stove.  I really, really wanted a Princess stove...

Check out the rounded corners,
and the scalloped shelf

 And of course I wanted her to be pink.... Love the old pink formica backsplash.

Light fixture

A propane lamp

In this picture you can see
the lav.  

 We got lucky and she still had a lot of her original parts. The valances are scalloped like the shelf in the picture above.   I'm tellin' ya, it was l  love at first sight.

magazine rack

 These light fixtures and magazine rack remind me of the old Elvis movies I used to watch as a kid.

So, here she is.  A work in progress (aren't we all?!)...  But I have such a vision for her when she's finished. She is going to be a beautiful, peaceful place to relax and get away.   And the Geenies Lamp Studio will be on the road.

Inside the bathroom