Thursday

OK - Here are a couple more really fast sketches.
I was sitting on the front porch, waiting for the Gold Finch to come back and began sketching things around me.



Here's the Gold Finch. Sitting on (mostly) dead cone flowers.
They really love the seeds, so leave your dead (and dying) cone flowers there for them!

There is a teeny tiny little section of a fern that my son gave me for Mother's Day.
(oh, BTW, he says that he is doing "fine mom" at school...)
I did cry (just a tiny bit) today thinking about him.

I was reading Mystele's blog entry and the flood of memories washed through me...
Our babies grow up so fast, don't they?
And the tears were not just for my son - all those memories made me think about my mom too.
Wishing things had of been different, wishing this and that.
And then realizing, after reading this post (on finding your sparkle again Aug.20), that the time had come for me to be lighthearted again.
I have been so consumed with handling matters after the death of my mom, and consumed by family members that lie, cheat and steal that I feel like I have lost my "light hearted-ness".
I want it back.

I am going to take it back.
Right.
Now.

Wow- did I totally get side tracked?!?
And that, my friends, is JUST how it happens with me!
I can see my husband and friends laughing and shaking their heads right now...agreeing with me...
(I really DO do this a lot - get side tracked, that is)
OK - back to the sketches...
Sorry...


This page is just kinda a mix of what I saw with my eyes and what I felt with my heart.

The one on the lower left hand side is a teeny tiny portion of a seed head on a Purple Fountain Grass plant on our porch. I love those plants.
The seed heads bow gracefully in the breeze - swaying to summer's last afternoon dance...
The one at the top left is a section of another plant (name?) on the porch. I liked the spiked appearance of the seed pods.
And last, but certainly not least, is a picture of the tender roses that my hubby gave me.
I invited you to watch with me as they opened their tender little petals to us.
This is their final glory.
All thick and full and beginning to fade.

Treasures

Those of you who read my blog (and/or know me in "real life") know that my mom passed away in February of this year.
You could understand that, to say the least, it's been a gut wrenching journey since then. Besides all the standard probate checklist, I've had to try and deal with family members that have not always been upright and honest in what they're doing.
I'm not going in to that (aren't you glad?!) but did want to share a couple of treasures that going through my mom's things have turned up.
I crocheted for years and years - my mom and great grandmother taught me the standard grannies square when I was about 10.
I laid it down for a while but picked it back up when I was pregnant with my son (who is now almost 21).
I didn't want to do the regular yarn crochet and found myself drawn to the white cotton thread doilies that you find in antique shops.
So I began the loving journey of teaching myself this type of crochet.
Needless to say, my mom loved the lace that I made and all she had to say was "Oh, Callie! (my nick name) I love that!" and it was hers.
Those doilies that I so lovingly made for my mom have come full circle.
Below is a picture of a few of them...
I loved ( and still do) the intricate lace patterns and worked with some little bitty thread back then! My eyes are not good enough to work with such small thread now.




Again, I've said this before but I'm saying it again...My grandmother was a doll Doctor and a maker of dolls.
She and I must have been so much alike in some ways - always making things with our hands, sewing, quilting, drawing...you know - just being artists.
I found a copy of her "Doll Doctoring" manual.
I looked and looked and couldn't find a date on or in the book. It is about 3 inches thick and a veritable cornucopia of knowledge.
Everything one would need to know about fixing up a damaged doll baby...
And look at this box that I found - my mom's handwriting.
"Very Old Doll".
Indeed.

Look at her! My grandmother had evidently began the restoration process - you can see that she has had some "re-do" work on her beautiful head.

Look at those buttons that make the movable arms and legs...

The fabric of her body is so old that it's falling apart.

The clothes that were inside the box were too small for her - they may have been her clothes when she was younger.

But they are just as old as she is. Teeny tiny crocheted lace on one of the dresses.

Baking by The Book

While going through my mom's cookbooks, look what I found!
It's a "How to bake by the Ration Book" . It is date 1943.
There are readers of my blog that will remember this. I can't but am frightened that one day it may come to this...history does repeat itself, doesn't it?
Let's get past that scary thought...
Let's all do everything that we can to live a lean, scaled down life. Let's agree to try our level best to preserve - no Improve - our way of living for our children, our grandchildren.
Now, let's move on to the inside cover...which reads


Who said "No cake"?


And it goes on to give pages of recipes without sugar, without shortening and without eggs! Some use what they call "blessedly low amounts of all three".
I love looking through all of the old recipes that my mom has held onto all these years. A lot of church cookbook just chock full of good ol' down home cooking and baking.
My mom was one of those cooks (and moms) that thought you needed something of every color on your plate...
meat, yellow, orange, green and white...Dinner's ready! Oh, and three meals a day.
I never got to eat pre sweetened cereal until my younger sister was old enough to eat it (she is 13 years younger than I am). Wonder why mom allowed her to eat it and not the older sisters?
Oh well, a short trip down memory lane tonight.
I've got more art journal pages drawn, not colored yet as I wanted to scan them without color first. I've been working on a project for my buddy Jane Powell (Random Arts). I'll share later. I can tell you it involves a paper mache house, Sweet Tweet ATC's and rust strips...oh, and maybe bee's wax.

I've been away for a few days...

Haven't taken the time to blog
or really felt like it.
My mom was taken to the hospital last Tuesday,
unconscious and near death.
She had emphysema and COPD.
She had just recently caught a cold or virus or
something like that...
and within 4 days she was
in the ICU, so very ill.
Her lung health was so poor
the past year that she just couldn't
fight one more illness
and I am so sad to say,
that after 6 days in the ICU,
she passed away on Monday.
What a sad day for my family...

Her memorial service was today.
My mom kept a journal, off and on.
At the service today, the pastor
read excerpts from it.
I'll post them in a few days when I get it back from my sister.
What an awesome legacy the journal left to us!
To actually read about the faith, the firmness of belief that
your loved one had...
we knew this, that my mom was a faith filled woman
but to have it in her own words to share with others...
what a measure of grace for us.

So, please join me in raising a toast
to my precious mom...