Our proprietor was able to find a suitable outfit to wear, created and loaned by creative and talented Lynn McMasters, who also created the outstanding Timeline of Fashionable Hats for Ladies and Gentlemen during the time period of Jane Austen, that was on display at the Public Library in San Mateo.
We had delightful historical and literary presentations by a number of members of the Jane Austen Society, live music and country dancing. Ann Morton provided delicious cakes and other desserts for our consumption. We had a game of Whist, presided over by Deborah Borlase. Our Proprietor offered a hands-on writing workshop for those who wanted to learn or revive their skills with the quill pen and ink, folding paper and sealing it with wax. We had a marvelous turn-out of all ages of people, met some old friends and made some new ones.
It’s now been requested that we help organize a program, like this one, as a fundraiser for the Vassalboro Grange in Maine, with Full Circle Farm founders Jody and Bernie Welch, our Proprietor’s sister and brother-in-law. So stay tuned, gentle readers, for more information about that event, coming your way in August, 2017.
Since you may have missed hearing the carols at the Great Dickens Christmas Fair, here is another opportunity to hear these arrangements sung in a festive, Victorian setting. Tea will be served by the volunteers of the historical society.
The Camron-Stanford House is located at 1418 Lakeside Drive on the banks of Lake Merritt in the City of Oakland. Open EVERY Sunday for tours at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. and by special appointment (call 510-874-7802).Admission
Adults $5.00 Seniors $4.00 Children Free
When? SUNDAY 12/27 – Tomorrow – between 1 pm and 4 pm
What? Tea and baked goods in a beautiful setting, surrounded by art work, the latest exhibit of the historical society and four part, acapella harmonies of Christmas carols from 1860 and earlier.
–Suzette L. Davidson, Proprietor
Malvena Pearl’s Emporium
Good day to you, adoring fans. Our proprietor would like to make the official announcement that we have had a major transition. The Emporium is now set up in a house in the lovely village of China, Maine. Some of the House Elves are calling it “the future Command Central” of the Emporium. In fact, ur new location is just a few doors down from The Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China, Maine.
What’s that you say? You don’t see a link describing the namesake of said library? Or anything about it? That’s because the Emporium’s Wikipedia House Elves need to get their butts in gear and research that and update Wikipedia with that vital, missing information. WOOT!!
In other news, Please note that our committee was only able to bring four bags with us on our journey here. We only had room for basics because we stopped off to join the lovely and talented hi-jinks ringleader, Laura Ulak, along with Renaissance Seamstress Arte Moltabocca, Saharazara, and The Cheap Chick in Edina, Minnesota, for CONvergence 2013. For more details about that now-lost weekend and all of our preparations, please see Arte’s blog, Diary of a Renaissance Seamstress, entry here. For another version of our Costume Sorority week at Chez Ulak, please see Laura’s blog, Rocking the Frock.
So, as we return to the topic at hand, let me remind you that we do not yet have access to our paper library, which was amassed previously by our proprietor. Aherm. We currently only have the digital resources, which while they are very helpful are not what we are Accustomed To. Nor do we have — ulp — our major tool, the sewing machine handed down to our proprietor by the proprietor’s mother, that once belonged to Grammie Robbins, aka Malvena Pearl herself. We are also in need of a real ironing board and iron. But that will come with time. We do have a functioning washer, dryer and internet access. And our phone number has not changed!
Please bear with us as we complete our set up of our new diggs. We are available for design, hand-sewing, repair and other consultations.
Our new address is: Malvena Pearl’s Emporium, 809 Lakeview Drive, China, Maine, 04358
For driving directions, please email the proprietor as the exact location is just down the road from the mailing address.
SIDE NOTE: Our friends and allies from BIBLIOMANIA Bookshop in Oakland, California have given us an Ephemera mission, to aid them with their collection of postcards – only of LIBRARIES. So that will be one assignment that our Ephemera Elves (a sub-set of the House Elf Committee) will be taking on this month. Dear readers, if you find any inexpensive vintage postcards of libraries in your area, do please drop us a line! The folks at Bibliomania want old postcards in good condition – no matter if they have already gone through the mails – that is usually a bonus.
2011 Vagina Monologues show in San Francisco2012 V-Day show at the Uptown Lounge, Oakland
Here’s a guest post from our visiting dignitary, Lady Vagina, aka Lady V-Jay Jay:
“Well my lovelies, it’s here again! A fantastic opportunity for you to support the women in our communities who may need a little help, a little, shall we say, attention. Aherm. We’re talking about domestic and sexual violence that has to stop. And WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!
As the ONE BILLION RISING Oakland group showed us: we can all show up for our communities, women, children, men, and say Enough! No More Violence! and dance, rise, celebrate the growth we have experienced.
For this Vagina Monologues show, being performed on Wednesday, April 10 and Thursday April 11, 2013,at the New Parish in Oakland, CA all proceeds apart from direct production costs will go to Communities United Against Violence.
We are pleased to share with you a Mother’s Day holiday feature post on one of our sister-sites, Overdressed For Life, by Moya Stone.
The Emporium proprietor was at Costume Convention 30 during Mother’s Day weekend in Tempe, Arizona, with the members of the Wench Posse from North Carolina, Washington state, the District of Columbia and Minnesota. It was fabulous to meet everyone in person and be able to share the fun, live, not just in photos e-mailed and posted on the internet.
We celebrated winning awards in the Masquerade by going to a local pub, hearing live music, dancing and enjoying the nightlife in the college town of Tempe. Our group presentation won a blue ribbon for Judge’s Choice and four of our members won individual ribbons for tailoring. We also met several incredible costumers from Idaho, San Diego and Vancouver, Canada! They received the “Spammy Award” – entitled Go Big Or Go Home — from the MNSOC (Minnesota Society of Costumers.)
Our ringleader, Laura Ulak, has written at length about our shenanigans that weekend over on her blog, called the Eleonora Project.
In the works are plans to attend both Gallifrey (the Doctor Who convention in Los Angeles) and Costume Con 31, next year in Denver, CO. Stay tuned!
Soon it will be birthday time for a young lady who would really like a wizard cape. Her folks asked me if we could create this design in her favorite colors with a special collar. Here’s my work on this project:
As foretold by our guest blogger, Lady V-Jay Jay, the fund-raising performance of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues will be held on Wednesday March 14 and Thursday March 15, 2012, at the UPTOWN NIGHTCLUB on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, CA.
2012 Vagina Monologues Performance, Oakland, CA
Come on by the UPTOWN on Thursday night for a chance to bid on some great Silent Auction items from these local businesses and individuals
slient auction table, all proceeds go to Bay Area Women Against Rape
I escaped my work for a few days last week with a visit to the 23rd Annual Doctor Who convention hosted by Gallifrey One Network in Los Angeles. I was in my role as “minion” to my Wench Posse team members and boy, did we ever have fun! I got to meet two members of the Wench Posse, Alisa and Nell, who live far outside of California. And I also got to spend time with the lovely Glynnis, whom I met at Costume College in 2009, when I met the lovely Laura Ulak.
We all got along so very well it was our first time, ever, at this particular convention. We had a fabulous time. Alisa has written a nice summary of her Gallifrey experiences here.
I enjoyed meeting other Doctor Who fans from Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Pittsburgh, the greater Los Angeles area and even a few from San Francisco to whom I gave my card. Hopefully we’ll connect through the Bay Area Browncoats (Joss Whedon fans.)
Some of my favorite times at Gallifrey were sitting with the Wench Posse in the audience at panels and feeling what actor Mark Sheppard described so well: the shared love of the creative process that makes Doctor Who. You can tell that it’s really a labor of love on the part of the production folks, actors/writers, etc. That they become like a family and have all these in-jokes. It’s fun to see them banter together and to share these moments. The shared love and gratitude for the show that brought us together was so much “in the air” during the last couple of panels, it was almost overwhelming. It was like going to a really good concert or a wedding, where the entire room was having fun. Even when the question was awkward or silly, it kept moving and somehow, some of the youngest questioners inspired some really great discussions on the part of the panels.
The gratitude — or whatever it was — was a third entity, apart from the speakers (actor/director on stage) and the fans in the audience. I could especially see it/feel it when the eldest cast members encouraged each other, with humor and kindness, during panel discussions. It was there when Mark and his father Morgan and Camille Coduri (who played the character of Jackie Tyler) talked about being recognized while walking down a street in London, and kidding each other about being tough. And when Louise Jameson (actress who played Leela in the 1970s Doctor Who series) shared about her near-death experience, it was really amazing. I got a little teary.
The journey home for me was pretty unremarkable except that a very generous convention-goer named Mike helped me out with the shuttle transfers from LAX to the “Fly Away” bus that goes to the downtown Central train station, and then helped me find my way to the Gray Hound bus station. We shared our experiences of conventions, Doctor Who episodes, the writing of PG Wodehouse and travel. Since I haven’t heard from him via e-mail, Thank You Mike for giving me a hand in a city that was strange to me and for being a friendly and generous non-stranger.
Greetings fellow earthlings! The Proprietor of Malvena Pearl’s Emporium has asked me to do a “guest blog” for you tonight.
I’d like to tell you a little about V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls. Why would you talk about that? Well, I’ll tell you. V-Day is held during this time of year. It’s a time when groups of women get together to volunteer their acting skills, their production skills, their fund raising skills and their sense of humor to make it possible for women’s stories to be shared and for awareness to grow among many people. They raise funds for local non-profit groups who help out women and girls who may have no resources available to them and who need help. It starts with one woman’s story.
As the poet Muriel Rukeyser once asked, “What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open, show it’s anger and call her a lunatic.”
Writer and performer Eve Ensler interviewed a very large number of women about their lives, their bodies and their experiences. She created The Vagina Monologues and many groups all over the world perform these pieces and raise money for local non-profit organizations. We raise awareness of women’s experiences, specifically, awareness of violence against women. We believe it must stop.
I participate by dressing up in a giant, pink suit that I made, and I call myself Lady V-Jay Jay, or Lady Vagina. I talk to people and tell them where they can find out more information. In this role, I am a “lady” who wears pearls, sensible shoes, gloves and carries a purse. I hand out free condoms and dental dams. I ask local merchants to donate prizes to our raffle and/or silent auction. Here’s yours truly posing with the directors of the 2011 show at Brava Center for Women in the Arts:
2011 Vagina Monologues show in San Francisco
I know what some of you are thinking. ‘What’s a nice girl like you going around doing, talking to women about DOWN THERE?!’
“V-Day’s mission is simple. It demands that violence against women and girls must end. To do this, once a year, in February, March, and April, Eve allows groups around the world to produce a performance of the play, as well as other works created by V-Day, and use the proceeds for local individual projects and programs that work to end violence against women and girls, often shelters and rape crisis centers. What began as one event in New York City in 1998 today includes over 5,800 V-Day events annually.
Performance is just the beginning. V-Day stages large-scale benefits and produces innovative gatherings, films and campaigns to educate and change social attitudes towards violence against women” — V-Day web site
If you would like to attend a local production of this show, or would like to support efforts in your area, please e-mail me, visit the V-Day web site, get in touch with us on Facebook. I will be at two performances in my area:
In the past few years, I’ve made an effort to either volunteer at the Dickens Fair in Daly City, California, or to spread my enthusiasm about going to the Dickens Fair to other folks. I’ve made a bonnet or two for this occasion and assisted a number of friends with their outfits. Here’s a photograph from 2005, one of the first years I went to Dickens Fair with pals Beth (on the left) and Aimee (on the right). I made Beth’s gray and plum-colored outfit, my outfit, helped Aimee embellish her jacket and skirt; and I made both my bonnet and Aimee’s bonnet.
If you like live music, live theatrical performances, dancing, games and general holiday fun set in the time of Charles Dickens’ city of London, then you may want to go to the Dickens Fair. Happy Christmas!
