My great-aunt Cynthia...a woman of class and grace

My great-aunt, Cynthia Pearl  Carroll Todt

Going through my recently-passed mother's household effects has been both sad and rewarding.  Among the plusses: finding vintage pictures of family loved ones.  Like my great-aunt Cynthia.

Cynthia Pearl Carroll Todt was my mom's sister.  She and her husband, Bill Todt, an executive in the Gulf Oil Corporation in West Texas, were childless, and they adored my mother.

Auntie, age 16...circa 1926

Together, they had an enormous influence on my mother, and by extension, me.

"Auntie," as she was called (with the West Texas drawl that made it sound more like Ain't-ee), was a woman of class and grace.

My earliest memories of her include her red lipstick and beautifully manicured red fingernail polish.  Her clothes were timeless and elegant.

This so reminds me of clothes I've seen on Downton Abbey

She loved make-up, a love she passed on to my sisters and me.  Her home was lovely and gracious, and  had a wonderful smell all its own, an aroma I wish I could bottle and spray in my own home.

Auntie and Uncle Bill, circa 1940's

My mom was named after her, and then I was named after my mom.  Cynthia Pearl...Cynthia Anne...and I'm Cynthia Susan.

Sass!

I hope you enjoy these pictures.  I love their vintage quality and charm, and they connect me with a lovely woman from my family's past.

10 Old-Fashioned Baby Names that are Back in Style

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"These classic names went out of fashion, but now they're back as parents go vintage" --(from Parenting.com):

1) Clara

2) Eli

3) Naomi

4)  Charlie

5)  Alice

6) Henry

7)  Olive

8) Leo

9)  Lillian

10)  Jasper

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Rounding out the top 20 are Amelia, Everett, Nora, Silas, Adeline, Max, Hazel, Owen, Stella, and Oliver.

Go here for a lot more info about the names, their meanings, their re-emergence in popularity, famous people who have them, etc.

And if that's not enough, this site  lists "10 vintage baby names we want to see in 2013, including Ada, Cora, Florence, Josie, Murray and Graham.

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How about you? Have you named your baby a "vintage" name...or do you plan to? What's the reaction been from family and friends? Inquiring minds want to know!

From the Archives: When was the last time you wrote a letter?

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"Will this fading generation... also be the last to write letters? Messages crafted by hand rather than bits of binary code? Writing that carries emotions rather than emoticons?

"...Think of letters and the mind falls on Paul of Tarsus, Abraham Lincoln, Jane Austen, Mark Twain; on love letters written during the American Civil War, or letters written to a parent by a frightened soldier at the battlefront..."--Catherine Fields, The New York Times

(originally posted June 28, 2011)

Today is Long Letter Day, billed as "a time to stop and write that long letter to an old friend."

Which begs the question, does anybody write letters anymore? Should we? Why?

I myself can't remember the last time I wrote a letter. E-mails, sure. Texts just to say "I love you" or "I'm praying for you." But a letter?

This New York Times article by Catherine Fields, "The Fading Art of Letter-writing," opens with Fields' description of the regular letters she gets from her 75-year-old aunt in England.

Fields writes:

"A good handwritten letter is a creative act, and not just because it is a visual and tactile pleasure. It is a deliberate act of exposure, a form of vulnerability, because handwriting opens a window on the soul in a way that cyber communication can never do. You savor their arrival and later take care to place them in a box for safe keeping."

Some of the many letters my mom wrote to me when I was in Bible college in the late 70's--I saved all of them!

As a Bible college student, far away from home in the late 70's, my mother's regular letters were a lifeline. There was no e-mail, no cell phones, so these loving, chatty missives were like cherished gifts showing up in my otherwise-empty student mailbox.

My husband and I were apart for some two months prior to our marriage in 1978. Somewhere in my house are the letters we exchanged during that time--sweet, naive, romantic and probably somewhat cheesey expressions of our love. Do modern couples have this testament to their devotion?

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Apparently there are those in the younger generation who are trying to revive the art of letter-writing. Letter-writing clubs like this one are springing up all over the world, where members meet just to put pen to paper to "go back to the old-fashioned way of sending their regards."

Witness blogs like LetterLover.net ("where the written word lives on"). Blogger and written-word advocate Samara O'Shea writes:

"...there is nothing—not a text message, not an IM, not a Facebook status update—that competes with the emotional connection made through a letter. Handwritten or typed, snail-mailed or handed over—doesn’t matter. It’s the time you take to choose your words carefully and write them down that becomes a tangible testament to how much the other person means to you."

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I doubt that I'll start conducting all my correspondence by snail-mail. But I do feel the urge to bring letter-writing back into my life, at least occasionally!

What about you? Do you ever write letters? Do you enjoy getting them? Do you think it's an art that needs to be preserved? Let me know!

Oh, How Pinteresting: Retro Style

Source: bellesdepub.free.fr via Cindy on Pinterest

I have a board on Pinterest devoted to Retro Style. I love the styles of yesteryear, especially when they would fit right in today! Enjoy...

Source: myvintagevogue.tumblr.com via Cindy on Pinterest

Source: abby-rd.tumblr.com via Cindy on Pinterest

I would totally wear seamless hose...I think they're adorable!

Source: wehadfacesthen.tumblr.com via Cindy on Pinterest

Pencil-thin eyebrows notwithstanding, Greta Garbo's elegance is timeless.

Source: recklesslybeautiful.tumblr.com via Cindy on Pinterest

Let's not forget the gents!  Cary Grant was amazing, so sophisticated...makes me wish men still wore hats.

Source: berkeleyhat.com via Cindy on Pinterest

How amazing is this silk derby hat?  It looks like it could have been worn aboard the Titanic.

Source: thebridescafe.tumblr.com via Cindy on Pinterest

Very Gatsby-esque...and I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of this kind of style when the movie comes out!

I'm participating today in Oh, How Pinteresting, hosted by the Vintage Apple!

Click on the icon...and DO leave a comment, please!

Thursday 13: 13 Old-Fashioned Baby Names that are Back in Style

Photo by Brittany Blevins on Flickr.com

"These classic names went out of fashion, but now they're back as parents go vintage" --(from Parenting.com):

1) Clara


2) Eli


3) Naomi


4)  Charlie


5)  Alice


6) Henry


7)  Olive


8) Leo


9)  Lillian


10)  Jasper


11)  Amelia


12)  Everett


13)  Nora


Rounding out the top 20 are Silas, Adeline, Max, Hazel, Owen, Stella, and Oliver.


Go here for a lot more info about the names, their meanings, their re-emergence in popularity, famous people who have them, etc.

For the first time in quite a while, I'm participating in Thursday 13! Go to the link to join the fun