Vintage Friday

This photo is made from a negative almost seventy years old. A few years ago my mother's cousin gave her an envelope of negatives from when my mother was very young. This is a picture of my mother's grandparents sitting in their kitchen. I can't get over the stove and sink. The couple are sitting together having a cup of coffee, probably on a Sunday afternoon. My great-grandmother died before I was born, but I do remember my great-grandfather. This picture brought back fond memories for my mother and it gives me a glimpse into this families life many many years ago.

Wonderful Women

Reading is one of my favorite things to do. Mrs. Smith, my first grade teacher is the one who taught me to read. She had the alphabet hanging above the blackboard in the front of the classroom. Each letter had an object that started with that letter. She made it all seem so wonderful. We would write our letters and then learn the sounds each one made. She had books everywhere for us to borrow. Of course we used the Dick and Jane series.

Mrs. Smith was a small woman with glasses and dark curly hair. She usually wore dresses with a belt and black heels. Sometimes she wore a suit but took the jacket off and hung it on the side of her chair. There was always a thermos of coffee on her desk. She must have had allergy problems because I remember her voice was often scratchy and she had a hankie tucked in her sleeve.
I don't know very much about her except that I loved her then and I still do. I only saw her once outside of school and that was at a craft fair many years after I graduated. I reintroduced myself to her and told her how much she had meant to me and how I loved school because of her.

Mrs. Smith was a kind woman. She didn't loose her temper very often, but when she did it upset me. I didn't like to see her angry. She did encourage us to play together and not leave anyone out.

Mrs. Smith will always be one of my favorite women.

Not just a box

My mother made this box a very long time ago. I can remember her gluing the pictures to a stained cigar box and then sealing it. She kept it in her top draw, filling it with different things at different times in her life. I remember when it held jewelry and gloves. It also was home to other pictures. Most recently she used it to hold her collection of vintage hankies. She had dozens of those precious hankies. For me this box holds memories of childhood. I still enjoy looking at the pictures and thinking about the people in them. Each one has a story.

Wonderful Women

It's hard for me to think of my gramma as a young woman. These pictures show her as a woman just starting on life's journey, before she became a wife and mother. Before things got hard and she had to make difficult decision's. Eventually she was left alone to raise her three children, my mother being the oldest. I don't know very much about this woman. Her name was Helen.
I called her Little, and I loved her more than I can express. She taught me so much and was a huge influence on me. Little was the one that taught me to sew and bake. We had tea parties and played dress up. She was always" Mrs. Magilicutty". She would let us wear her dresses and beads and had big purses to keep our extra beads and gloves in. When we baked cookies it was always messy but I can't remember her getting mad about it. She liked oatmeal cookies, I liked chocolate chip.
Little taught me to crochet when I was in first grade. I remember she gave me pink yarn and a G hook. I had to make a chain of single crochet. I worked on that chain for days. She would check it and pull out the mistakes, and eventually I became pretty good at it. One morning I woke up and the pink chain had turned into a pink rug for Barbie. I was thrilled!
Little got us ready for school and packed our lunches. Sometimes she put my sandwich in a bread wrapper instead of wax paper. I was so embarrassed when she did that. I would open my sandwich in my lunch box so no one would see. She always packed us a snack, usually Hostess cupcakes, my favorite.
Sometimes she would let me sleep in her bed. I loved it!. She would rub my" piggies" until I feel asleep. She did this my whole life, even after I was married. She was the one who took care of me when I had a migrain. She would rub my head for hours.
My gramma's birthday is in March so I will be posting stories about her all month. I want to make a scrapbook about her also. I have so many good memories of her I want to share with my granddaughters. I have them call me Oma in her honor. I want to be the kind of gramma she was and live up to her example.

Happy Valentines Day

My husband went to Archivers, bought the supplies and made this card for me. Who could ask for anything else?

C'est drole.

This is funny!

A Happy Change

When I started this blog I wanted to write about my life and the things that were happening around me. I am very happy with this blog but I haven't made it personal. I didn't know if it would be interesting to anyone including me. However, I have so much I want to write about even if I am the only one who reads it.

As I am approaching my 50th birthday I am noticing a lot of changes in myself. One of the biggest ones is that I now want to surround myself with loveliness. I can't remember feeling like this before. It is a very nice feeling. I like to look at old cards and photos, they are filled with a gentle beauty. I want to add lace to everything I make. I sometimes just want to touch the lace. I keep saying I am becoming a girl and I like it. I don't know what I'll be writing about from now on but I do know I am excited about the future of this blog. I hope to add a little loveliness often.