I don't think they're cowboy hats. They're pins. They're more like a roughrider hat that the cavalry wore. I thought they might be part of a uniform. The other metal pins and tags say S.&.W.E.C. and M.R.E.P. CO. Those are white rocks of some sort - with sparkly gray running through them. I don't know if that's a ladies purse or some sort of ditty bag for men. The coin purse is double clasped. The center leather piece is missing from the frame, but I can see where it was stitched at one time so that it was a shallow coin purse one side and a longer one on the other. It's about 6" long. The paint brush is as soft as baby hair and doesn't look like it's been used. The red tip on the end looks like it was put there for a reason -- dunno. Those other metal things (I forget what they're called) are like victorian souvenir advertisements. One says "Dog On" Good Whiskey (there's more writing on the back -from Kentucky; the other is from the Alaska -Yukon - Pacific Exposition - Seattle 1909. Thanks for your input.

We've got a 1920s Chicago bungalow. We've found lots of odd stuff. Maybe not treasure, but... We found an old 1950s metal horse . He's a stallion - which I find humorous as I think he was a child's toy. He's wearing a western saddle and bridle. About a foot high and long. Weighs quite a bit. Also up in the attic is an old 48 star flag. The previous owner was a WWII vet. The flag has seen better days. We're not sure what to do with it. Great for us but not very "exciting" is the quarter round trim we found up there. The front three rooms (family room, dining room, bedroom) had all been carpeted. We spent weeks pulling up old carpet and padding and then had the floors refinished to the original golden oak color. The POs had taken the time to pull up the quarter round at the bottom of the trim. Rather than throw it away they stuck it in the attic. They even bundled it by room, all neatly labeled. Gotta love POs like that! Nothing was cleaned out of the garage. Tons of old heavy gardening tools, shovels and rakes generally. The rafters of the garage are filled with scrap wood. We've been pulling it down bit by bit. Some of it is old 2x4s. The true 2" x 4" kind. We're hanging on to those as we hope to do some remodeling at some point and they might come in handy. Found an old (1950s?) kids sled up there. We also had a mystery box. Finally pulled it down earlier this spring. Ended up, it was filled with potato sacks. ?? I've kept them as some have really cool graphics on them. I'm guessing their 1940s or 50s. I need to find a way to clean them up a bit though. Also found a cool piece of a glass window with the word LUNCH engraved in it. It's quite big and heavy, must have come from a restaurant (maybe that explains the potato sacks?) It's broken on either end. I'd like to take a stained glass class to see if I can fix it up. It would look really cool hanging in the kitchen.

One of my friends owns an apple orchard, and due to the reduction in the bee population in recent years, has to rent bees every spring. The beekeeper can pretty safely market the honey that is produced as "apple blossom honey." However, at the slightest hint that all is not well with the bees, the beekeeper packs up his hives and hightails it out of there, leaving my friend's orchard virtually bee-less. I used to buy honey at a farmers market in southern California. The honey was all different colors and had very different tastes. I asked about it, and the "honey lady" said that indeed the hives were simply placed in fields of whatever crop was named on the label. Not 100%, but close enough. I told her that gave me an image of a rural paradise teeming with flowers and bees, and she said I wasn't too far off in her case, but that is not always true. She said that quite good honey is produced in suburban areas, but you can't be sure of where or what the bees feed on. I surely miss that honey, I've never found as good here in Massachusetts.

Vee, I didn't grow up with English boys but I really didn't notice the Englishmen I knew as co-workers, friends, and male relatives of friends as being as allergic to female company as you describe. Maybe the ones I knew had outgrown it. :-) I did notice the shyness of both males and females, though. As for American guys having 'trophy' girlfriends and wives: sure, there are those but I think gals were/are just as likely to collect 'trophy' boyfriends and husbands. The quarterback of the football team was always more popular than a defensive lineman (a necessary but less glamorous position); the guy with a 'hot' car impressed the girls while the poor fellow who had to drive his parents' car on dates was a 'drip'. I was probably a typical snotty female in some respects: I was mortified when I was a senior (12th grader) in high school and a sophomore (10th grader) boy asked me to an important dance. He was too young for me. I think it's funny now that I have a husband six years younger than me. Annpan, it's true that Americans are obsessed with the appearance of teeth. Martin Amis (Kingsley's son) said that before he dared go to the US he had to get himself 'an American smile'. Looking at YouTube video clips of singers such as Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) and David Bowie before they had their teeth fixed always draws comments from younger Americans nowadays. How could these guys dare sing with such teeth? As if shiny, white plastic chompers are a prerequisite to singing talent...apparently so in their opinion. Americans are just about as obsessed with body hair as with teeth. It wasn't always so, but it is now. Females should have hair in three places only: the head, the eyebrows and the eyelashes. Males are allowed facial hair in addition. If you're wondering about the other region where hair usually grows...that's just ick, ick, ick! Hair removal is big business in the US. Mudlady, I've run across that parental attitude you describe that sons are always more important than daughters. I think it must be a holdover or throwback in American culture and not the norm as it is in certain other cultures. I never felt that I was less important than my brothers, but I was the only girl and youngest child and that probably made a lot of difference. Ah yes, cars had character back then! I can barely tell one make & model from the next nowadays. My first car is only a fond memory but I still have my second car, a metallic-blue 1966 Plymouth Satellite with a 383 engine, 5-speed manual on the floor. Lots of girls never learned to drive a standard transmission, but they missed out on loads of fun! I'm glad I grew up in the heyday of American car culture. As frivolous as it might seem, it signified freedom to me more than anything else could at the time. I didn't think anything of jumping into my car and driving alone from Iowa to Texas. I drove from Paris to Istanbul one time, too. It was marvelous.