Spiderman and the Mailman

Look folks, this is America.  The land of Capitalism.  This is the place where dreams are made and anything can happen in this beautiful democracy of ours.  I happen to like that.  Even if I do sometimes like to wear flowers in my hair.

So, I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised today when I saw a mail truck that looked like this:

Spiderman and the USPS co-brand, license, blah blah blah.  Everyone makes a buck. photo courtesy of the USPS

I'm all for that.

Big Bucks no whammies.

I'm just glad that my children know the original Spiderman 1960s TV show theme song.  And I have Uncle Goalie to thank for singing it over and over when I was little that it stuck in my head.




Uncle Goalie taped himself on our Panasonic tape recorders with one of our cousins.  I recall the day my dad brought home that amazing black piece of technology.

photo courtesy of Prop Hire

There was something  lasting with those tape recorders.  Oh, kids these days what with all the digital stuff.  The tape recorders had a finite supply of tapes, so inevitably you listed to the same tapes over and over again.  Or you recorded over them.   But not the good stuff.  Not the recording of you and your cousin joking around singing "Spiderman."

Over the weekend, a friend's husband who I don't think has ever viewed my blog called it "hyper liberal."  I was a bit taken aback by that.  I mean, most of you know I don't get into politics.  Sure, I have mentioned Pete Seeger, tofu, and other things someone might associate with a liberal person.   But at the beginning of this blog I'm all about Capitalism.  Aren't the pinko lefties very much *not* into The Man?  Aren't the Hippies *not* into the big bucks?  Truth be told, I'm a mixed bag, Chad (name has been changed).

I'm into the hippy chic and so is the wonderful designer Jonathan Adler

Bottega Veneta can be Hippy Chic

Or, in Case You Thought I Was a Card-Carrying Hippy Chick...

My mother has good taste.  She told me about Bottega Veneta when I was a young girl, and when their store opened in our mall she told me that it was a fine place to shop for handbags.  I am so grateful to my mother for planting the seeds of the finest of taste.

Only recently have I learned about the company's history and the workmanship that goes into each piece.  That's what you get for reading The New Yorker.  No, I can't post a link to the great article, as Conde Nast is highly protective of their Intellectual Property.  Ya know what, good for them!

Bottega's classic butter-soft leather woven bags have a distinctive look which has been copied many times over.  You know the look, but you just don't know that it's Bottega.  These bags are the ultimate understated elegance.  One need simply only to say Bottega and nothing else.  No flashy labels, no flashy logos, no flashy nothing.  Their artisans, working out of a small town in Italy, are trained and apprenticed to hand-craft their bags.

Indeed, their company motto is "When your own initials are enough."

I don't want a Kelly bag.
I don't want a classic quilted Chanel bag.
Louis Vuitton totes?  So passe!
One day I would love a big ole Bottega.

Advertisement from back of  a recent New York Magazine 

 I was blown away to see the above ad.  Just as my 5th grade teacher taught me, if the ad is on the back of the magazine you know it's important.  Check out how they are making home furnishings now.  And look at that pillow.  I'd take just the pillow alone!

Last spring I had the opportunity to visit their Manhattan store on 5th Avenue.  What a lovely ambience.  Some older women were in there buying Bottega luggage.  As if!

Take a guess as to who now owns the Bottega company?

Gucci.