WUPPERTAL - MY HOMETOWN

Hello my dear friends,

have you ever been to Wuppertal? - No? What a shame. Because you`ve missed to see one of the most exciting Cities in Germany.

I`ve just listed a Photo Disc with Images of Wuppertal and the Schwebebahn.

Click here.

Wuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in and around the Wupper river valley, and is situated east of the city of Düsseldorf and south of the Ruhr area. With a population of approximately 350,000, it is the largest city in the Bergisches Land. Wuppertal is known for its steep slopes, its woods and parks, and its suspension railway, the Wuppertal Schwebebahn. Two-thirds of the total municipal area of Wuppertal is green space. From any part of the city it is only a ten-minute walk in one of the public parks or woodland paths.In the 18th and 19th centuries, Wuppertal was one of the biggest industrial regions of continental Europe. Wuppertal today is still a major industrial centre, being home to industries such as textiles, metallurgy, chemicals, pharmaceuticals (Aspirin was invented in Wuppertal in 1897 by Bayer), electronics, automobiles, rubber, vehicles and printing equipment.

Wuppertal in its present borders was formed in 1929 by merging the early-industrial cities of Barmen and Elberfeld with Vohwinkel, Ronsdorf, Cronenberg, Langerfeld, and Beyenburg. The initial name Barmen-Elberfeld was changed in a 1930 referendum to Wuppertal (“Wupper Valley”). The new city was administered within the Prussian Rhine Province.Uniquely for Germany it is a linear ciy, owing to the steep hillsides along the river Wupper. Its highest hill is the Lichtscheid which is 351 metres above sea level. The dominant urban centres Elberfeld (historic commercial centre) and Barmen (more industrial) have formed a unified built-up area since 1850. In the following decades, “Wupper-Town” became the dominant industrial agglomeration of northwestern Germany. In the 20th century this conurbation had been surpassed by Cologne, Düsseldorf and the Ruhr area, all with a more favourable topography.

And the race is on!!!

 Well, after a very tense night, the winner in the Iowa GOP Caucus was named Mitt Romney with a VERY close race with the runner-up Rick Santorum. The difference was a mere 8 votes!! And Ron Paul didn't do badly, either, coming in third!! I must say, every time I looked at the numbers, the names changed around between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum!! It was super close!!

Perhaps I need to be out scrounging out pieces of memorabilia!! Who knows what it might be worth some day? I know there was a woman in the news, about 12-14 years ago, who saved every scrap of advertising mailed to her and sold it all for a hefty little sum!! And this was way before President Obama was elected or even thought of running!! I can't remember what it was but if it makes the 6 o'clock news here it had to be more than a kick in the pants!!

That got me thinking about the other items that might be out there, political buttons, souveniors from elections past that are now collectable!! And OLA.com is the perfect place to list them!! After all, you can list tons and only pay $8 per month!!!

So, I picked out just a few!! Take a peek!!

 For instance, I found this nice Elect Johnson & Humphrey ~ Vote Democratic at Classic_Chloe's! And she has others to boot!!

Sparky44_1999 has this great Decision 92 , Election 1912 , Card #68 , AAA Sports , 1992 (Lot1196SC) in his store!!

 4lllls has these two Campaign Buttons in their store!!

I found this great Vintage POLITICAL PINBACK BUTTON 1992 ELECT ROSS PEROT, PRESIDENT in Bchaflingers!

Looky, here!! A great souvenior!! A Carter Mondale 1980 Election Campaign Pocket Knife, Carter, Mondale, Collectible Knife, Campaign Knives was found in DebsVarietyShop!!

And last but not least, I located these great WHEATON N.J. BOTTLES Elephant & Donkey 1968 in the store Morerivethead84!! Wonderful!!

OLA.com has a great variety of political items! Just come on over and check them out!! Or list some more!! Remember, only $8 per month!!

And if you are just browsing for whatever, stop on over at our store, KornKountryTreasures!! Lots of variety there, but nothing political!!

Thank you!! Have a splendid day!!

New Hampshire, you are welcome to the ads!! Sorry!!!

Hello from the newbie

Hi folks,

I am KRAUTROCK. Or Dirk in private life. Born in Wuppertal (Germany) in 1962, married in 1984, and moved to the United Kingdom (Carlisle, England) in 2003.

I am running my own companies since 1995 (Music Agent, Photographer, Teacher in Adult Education, Online Seller, Market trader, ...).

My hobbies are Music, Movies, Nature, Travel, Food, and much more.

Not sure what you expect from me here. My idea was to give you an inside view to Photography, Art, and Music from my point of view. Let`s call it the European way.

Shown image: Schwebebahn (Suspension Railway) in Wuppertal.

So, that should be enough introduction for today. I am more than happy to answer all your questions. And I really hope that my following blogs are not too boring. ...

Love and peace,

Dirk

Flying

I just listed a Flying Pig model kit in my crittercache store at Onlineauction.com, and as I was listing it, thought...hmmmm....I wonder what other flying things can be found at OLA.com??

Well, lets just see, shall we?

Here's Flying Slingshot Alien from yogibear66

A fabulous flag-flying eagle from neatstuff333

Unique video about building and flying radio-controlled model airplanes from cornerconcepts

Beautiful silver and amethyst butterfly pendant from jewelrybychristopher

Fun Angry Birds poster from magman!


So many fun, unique and imaginative flying things at onlineauction.com!!

Postal Rates Going Up

When I went to the post office today to mail out some packages I ask when the rates are going up. I was told the new rates start on January 22, 2012. I ask for a chart of new rates and was told they do not have one yet but that he would make me a copy of his which he did and I thanked him.

I was looking at it and I had to get back in line as I had questions. When I need to mail something that will fit in a small flat rate box that says if it fits it ships. I save postage for my customers using that as some items fit in it but are heavy so it is a good thing. Well that rate is not on what he gave me, and he did not know what it will be when rates go up. My husband is trying to send a post card to a friend and he does not know what that postage is. I do not know and it is not on the chart either.

Tried to look it up on the internet. One site said 42 cents and another site said 31 cents. USPS did not even have it listed. Guessing games at this point. Don't know what to do now but take it to PO and let them tell us. Now I had another question for him. How do we find out what a stamp is worth?

I am speaking about stamps without an amount on them and the ones I have go way back to like the 40"s and 50"s. I inherited then and never thought about it until a woman was in the PO putting those kind of stamps on letters. Now a 1 cent stamp has 1 cent on it but I have a bunch I have no idea of value. I am not a collector so I need to do research and when I find out what they are worth I will start using them. I imagine I will have to use different denominations on one letter to make the postage right.

Just thought I would let this be known as there are probably others with stamps that have no value printed on them. Interesting for sure. I have seen some stamps for sale on OLA.COM and wonder how they find out the value of them. Maybe someone will comment on this blog and send me in the right direction to do my research.

Thank you for reading my blog and comments are appreciated. If you can help me with my search please comment here and I will check back.

Media over the Years

Media has changed so much over the past 100 years! We have gone from sitting around the radio in the living room, glued to the little box with the big sound to carrying cell phones that provide music and information to us at the touch of a finger!! The changes in types of media has been a wild ride to say the least!!

Here at OLA.com, we have all types of media for you to choose from: cassette tapes, records, cd's, 8 track tapes, VCR tapes, DVD movies to mention a few!! Just look at what I found!!

 From Krautrock, we have a Lux Radio Theater on Audio CD-R! I just ordered two of these, the first cd and the 2nd!!

 Mostly-oldstuff has a lot of cd's like this Hotwired - 11 Track Soup Dragons CD for your listening pleasure!

 

Remember the old 8 track tapes? Well, I found some like this

STATLER BROTHERS (WORLD) 8 TRACK TAPE at Rawleysprings! Not everyone got rid of their 8 track tape players!!



One of my hubby's favorites

6 VHS tapes KOLCHAK: the Night Stalker 1996 MCA  was found in Morerivethead84's store!

This great Ringo Starr 7" 45 Record Oh My My /Step Lightly- Apple records was found in Plusizeglamor's store!!



JRFleamarket has this

LINDA LEW & TOMMY - 2 TRACK CASSETTE - CASSETTE listed!!

And the BMX Nicole Kidman, Guilty Conscience Anthony Hopkins, A Killing Affair DVD was found in Debsvarietyshop!!

Our store, Kornkountrytreasures, has a lot of old record sets like this

Perry Como 45 RPM Record Set.

So, whatever it is you are looking for, check out OLA.com!! Lots of great sellers and great prices!!

Thank you!

The World of Collector Plates

What is a collector plate? Is it some symbol of a life gone by? Is it a piece of art or is it just another dish? Why do people collect plates? After all, you can only have so many, right? Wrong! I’ve known people who just enjoy seeing a work of art on a piece of porcelain or china! And after all, these are smaller than a full picture!!

I have no idea who started the tradition of collecting plates. I know that my grandmother had a few that were given to her by my grandfather’s sisters and she passed them down to my mother. I think pretty plates were kept as “special” plates. In her day, I don’t think there were plates with art like a picture, just floral patterns or possibly birds and the like.

My mother loved dishes of any kind! She was more into the individual, one of a kind plate, rather than one in a series showing a picture. She had a "plate rail" all around the dining room and even then ran out of room! So I have inherited a lot of old plates from her that I dearly love. Why? They remind me of her and my grandmothers. I even have a wooden plate and bowl that Daddy made back in the ‘60’s and Mom painted a Pennsylvania Dutch type folk art on them!

Now you can find all types of plates! I love the Rockwell series, the Hummel plates, and plates that tell a story. These have become very collectable! We also have plates that show a particular part of life gone by such as some barn plate, one that I'm going to show you!

Just take a look and see the wonderful world of collector plates! These are but a few of the wonderful plates out there for the serious collector!

This is a beauty! NIP! Shoreline Sentry Danbury Mint Lighthouse Plate E4617 from Maxwellur60!

And I love old barns! This is the Franciscan Porcelain 1983 Bucks County Barn Harris Hien Collector Plate from Redheadedgoddess! And she has others!!

And who doesn't love the picture of the proud eagle in flight? This is

AMERICA'S PRIDE-EAGLE- MIGHTY SUMMIT 3RD issue from Linman.

Of course, I am partial to the blue and white of Currier Ives! I have this in a trivet! This

CURRIER IVES- HOME IN THE WILDERNESS is being offered by Pwittstuff.

This darling plate is the

Dearest Kiss ~ John Grossman ~  Victorian Keepsake Plate listed at Classic_Chloe's!

This is a marvelous set of TWO plates!

2 BIRD PLATES Swans ? Cranes? Egrets? signed Hunnik offered by Morerivethead84!

Rockwell is very popular! Here is Norman Rockwell Collector Plate - Worlds Away – Knowles offered by Judys99999! And she has other Rockwell plates, also!!

 And here is NORMAN ROCKWELL / LIMITED EDT./ WAITING ON THE SHORE offered by Plusizeglamor! She also has others!

This is one of my favorites!! A beautiful rendition of a Native American couple! This is Through the Years by Don Ruffin that is in our store,

Korn Kountry Treasures!!  

So, whatever your fancy, take a moment to browse through the collector plates on OLA.com! There are a lot listed and some wonderful finds!! Check them out!!

Thank you!!