May 7, 2010

Finished and Orange




The finished half bath from the door. It’s neat, clean, and orange. 2010.




Himself: Very pleased with yesterdays bathroom finish. He will swim and give that company a call.

Herself:…and too, the back up blog. Still not feeling like me. I’m getting better at a snail’s pace. Both MB and I have identical coughs.

A blog you might like: Here atStudio Ruthe you will find a world traveler, book maker, delightful artist with fibers and images all this and she’s not twenty any more. Right now she’s trying out a new camera. It’s going to be a good adventure.

Reading: “Two Girls and a Mystery” by May Hollis Barton who is really Harriette Stratemeyer Adams

Gratitude: G, MB, KAP, JJ, and of GH from the poets group.

Friday Lite:
  • Done. It’s done. The last original room in the house has been gutted and modernized at last. Oh there are details here or there, but the major room remodels are finished. There’s always maintenance to be done. A paint chip here, a ding needing patching there. Maybe someday we will put modern, real wood cabinets in the kitchen. Right now, I like the bathroom orange a lot as does G. I like everything….it was all done within our budget….just the way we have done it. Yes too, there is a stuffed chicken on top of the corner cupboard. Yes too, there is a stuffed shark on a shelf. Shouldn’t everyone have stuffed critters in their orange half baths?



  • G installing the hand towel hook. Almost everything you see
    is second hand or recycled except for the sink.


  • Job: He’s called this morning. They won’t commit because of the non-disclosure statement, but he was told to call back mid June. They said that they felt he was a great fit for the company. When he commented that he’s hoped to know so he could take a trip to see his brother, he was told to enjoy his vacation. The job remains off the job board. We have hope.


  • Books. While I read and edited my poem, G dashed off to two estate sales. I’d indicated an interest in a lap tray we had seen one sale site. Late thirties or early forties. When he got to the second sale, he found the lap tray on the sold table, but inside he found a stack of books from the turn of the last century. Girls books. “Nan Sherwood’s Winter Holidays”….”Mystery and Adventure Stories for Girls,” that sort of thing. Just right for a granddaughter after the grandmother and mother finish reading them. He also found three bookcases…..just right for the too many book Lessa who has nowhere to put them. Wasn’t it grand that he just happened to be driving the truck? As he was leaving, he grabbed a 1921 Fannie Merritt Farmer’s Cooking School Cook Book for me….and the tray. Someone didn’t want it after all.


  • More book stuff: I knew that series books like “The Bobsey Twins” and “Nancy Drew” were all written by one person. Do check out that web page. The colorful covers will lure you to once again read a “Hardy Boys” book or a “Nancy Drew” adventure where the hero or heroine always are just ahead of the villain or police. Last night I discovered that Harriette Stratemeyer Adams wrote all these and more using the pen names of Victor Appleton II, May Hollis Barton, Franklin W. Dixon, Laura Lee Hope, Carolyn Keene, Ann Sheldon, Helen Louise Thorndyke. This site says that she wrote nearly 200 volumes in all. She wrote all these while married, having children, and managing the Stratemeyer syndicate that produced all these staple children’s books in a factory line style of writing.



  • G’s latest haul from an estate sale.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the plug, Mage; you make me sound so much more interesting than I am. So often I think of great things to write, but when I actually sit at the computer they've flown away.

    Love your orange walls, and may the job finally appear just as my last one did (after several months).
    Hugs,
    Ruthe

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  2. Maggie, the bath is amazing. You should develop your own decorating business using lovingly used items. It's just fantastic. I love it.

    Still holding out hope for G and the job.

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  3. I agree with Linda and Ruthek, bathroom is fantastic. The job just has to come through. Will keep my fingers crossed until then!

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  4. Several of the series you mentioned are indeed products of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Edward Stratemeyer established the Syndicate in 1905 as a means to produce more books. On his own 160 of his stories were published in book form between 1894 and 1926. His own stories were mainly published under his name plus two pseudonyms, Arthur M. Winfield and Capt. Ralph Bonehill.

    The Stratemeyer Syndicate productions are broader with hundreds of volumes in dozens of series using dozens of pen names. In general the Syndicate created outlines for stories and hired ghostwriters to write a book-length manuscript. The MS was edited by the Syndicate and turned in to the publisher. The ghostwriters exchanged payment for all rights in the stories. The Syndicate became the "author" of these stories for the purposes of copyright law.

    After Edward died on May 10, 1930, his daughters, Harriet and Edna worked together to run their father's business for a dozen years until 1942. They continued to use ghostwriters during this period.

    Beginning in 1943 Harriet Stratemeyer Adams was the head of the company and she started writing individual books instead of merely outlining titles for ghostwriters. She initially worked on Bobbsey Twins stories and by the mid 1950s she began to write each volume of Nancy Drew. She wrote 72 books for the Syndicate, a large number, but not 200 as you suggest.

    James D. Keeline

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  5. Absolutely beautiful. Great work, great orange.

    I fondly remember the Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys. Wonderful reads!

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