THEN AND NOW...

There's no getting around it. We are all headed in the same direction!

I found this sweet picture in the newspaper. Its fascinating to see that adorable cherubic face transformed into an older woman. Although her youth has faded her essence is still there. Her eyes still twinkle and her mouth still turns up at the corners. What a "cutie" then and now.

OK... I will admit it, most days I read the obituaries. I know, it sounds a bit macabre. Once in a great while I will actually see someone I know but the real reason I read them is for the stories. You get a little glimpse into people's lives. Those born in the 20s 30s and even 40s have a much different history than the younger generation. They grew up on farms, they fought in wars, they valued education and hard work and most of them had rather large families. But its the pictures that really bring the details to life and the best pictures are the "before and after" 

So in honor of mother's Day here are the "before and after" pictures of two very sweet women... my two grandmothers.

Meet my maternal grandmother Mary. When she and my grandfather fell madly in love a jealous friend tried to keep them apart. Heart broken Grandma took to her bed until my grandfather figured out the lies. He traveled for two days to declare his love and all was forgiven. They had 13 children and spent most of their married life in Mexico City where my grandfather was a religious leader for the Mormon Church. Grandma was a widow by 50 but carried on, staying until she was 90.  I remember she had the softest skin. 

This is my paternal grandmother Clara. She raised her seven children in the Mexican Colony of Chihuahua. They were poor but grandma was a hard worker and a thrifty shopper. As a child, my father ate a lot of pinto beans and bread and no matter how hard my mother tried, she could never make them quite like Grandma. She loved hats and would watch and wait until the one she wanted was finally on sale. She was only 60 when she left us. It still makes me smile to remember the jelly beans she carried in her apron pocket... just so I could find them.

I would be lying if I said I don't fight aging. I do and I don't like it one bit. I have often said, "I would like my 65 year old brain in my 25 year old body." That's not going to happen, at least in this life. So, I have made a conscious decision to accept where I am on the "road" ... wrinkles, tummy and all. Maybe I will even throw out the scale!



I hope that when it is my turn to be featured in the "obits" someone looks at my "before and after" pictures and says "Isn't she the cutest little old lady?"









 

THE LIBRARY

"The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, and all the sweet serenity of books"  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We're down to the last couple of weeks of school and its time for all the books to come floating back into the library... Monday is the due date! Its gratifying to see how reluctantly they hand me their last book and even more gratifying to see the progress they have made in reading. Most don't fully comprehend what a "gift" the ability to read is. 

Its honestly "magic" to see the transformation from the little 1st graders with their skinny sixteen page primers to the 6th graders who are truly voracious readers. 

Yesterday I cataloged, leveled, spine labeled and covered fifty brand new books. They're so "pretty" in their new jackets and the look on a student's face is priceless when he/she realizes that they are the first to get to read a "new book." But the nearly hundred old books I deleted, with their tattered and ratty covers, pages falling out and spines broken, are a testament of how much our students love to read. They have, quite literally, loved them "to death."

Illustration by Scott Gustafson

Do you know, Peter asked, why swallows build in the eaves of houses?  It is to listen to the stories.     JM Barrie - Peter Pan

 "THE AUNTIES"

 The art of Inge Look

Inge Look (Ingeborg Lievonen) was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1951. As child she and her family lived in a seven story apartment building in the city. It was literally teeming with tenants... so many people, personalities and smells. The two that quickly captivated Inge's attention were Alli and Fifi, two older women who's exuberance for life was contagious.

She refers to them as the "Aunties" and they became the inspiration for her very popular cards. The motto for these two fabulous old ladies is... 

"Time is not money and spending it isn’t a sin."

  

As an adult, Inge became a professional gardener but later in life she embarked on a second career reaching into her childhood for inspiration for her paintings. Her pictures are a reflection of her optimistic outlook on life.

She has painted over 300 postcards, designed stamps and illustrated children's books. Her work will soon be available for purchase on this site ...

 http://www.ingelook.com/site3.html

Today Inge lives and works in Finland where she is garnering a worldwide audience. 

I ran into one of Inge's picture on pinterest and posted it in the top right corner of my blog. Then I went snooping to see if I could find the artist. I had to travel "down a rabbit hole" but there she was.  What a delightful collection!

MY NEW CAR

I haven't owned a "new" car in years. I know that sounds pathetic but as long as it runs I'm good to go. Well my Toyota 4-Runner no longer runs. I just had a new fuel pump put in and now it need a new water pump and timing belt. It deserves a rest... it almost has 400,000 miles on it. 

So I did it... I bought a new Kia Sportage. I did this with the help of my daughter. No men involved just two women in a male dominated industry and we nailed it! Great car, perfect color (black) and a payment so low I'm still shaking my head. I'm  sure the "car buying angels" were hovering, saying... "You go girls"

MY MOTHER'S HANDS 

The relationship between a mother and a daughter is complicated. Sometimes it feels like we are the same person and sometimes we are not even on the same page. 

My mother

My mother was gifted with her hands... she sewed everything she wore, she knit, quilted, crocheted, tatted, embroidered, re-finished antique furniture, wove baskets and did needlepoint.  

At 70 she learned to spin. Not satisfied with that alone, she carded and dyed wool and then spun the fleece into yarn. Finally, with her loom, she wove the yarn into fabric that eventually became a dress. It makes me tires just writing about it.

I think I was seven

My mother expected that I would follow in her footsteps. I tried... I really, really tried, but my heart wasn't in it. I sewed, I knit, I did some needlepoint... it all just seemed like a lot of work to me. It took me years to understand that my mother LOVED the PROCESS and I LOVED the FINISHED PRODUCT. 

Every stitch, every turn of the wheel gave her pleasure. And when the project was complete she would rest for maybe an hour only to begin a new one. She is what is known as an "artisan"  She valued quality and craftsmanship and things were somehow elevated in value if she made them with her own two hands.

six brothers    

My mother left this world without understanding the differences in our personalities and she was gravely disappointed that I didn't do the things she did. I grew up surrounded by a family of artisans and for a long time I wasn't sure where I fit.

My brother Don Bluth, maker of American Tail,
Land Before Time and Anastasia






Then one night my oldest daughter came home from one of her college evening classes where they had discussed personalities and  said, "Guess what... I found you."

"You're an Idealist. You see the world as you think it ought to be. You make it a beautiful place in your head not with your hands" 

Wow! If there was a name for what I am there must be others like me. I wasn't a failure I was just different. A genuine feeling of relief washed over me.


I am a dreamer and a lover of beauty. I am thrilled when someone else has the skill and patience to make something of quality... a piece of fine furniture, a photograph, a beautifully decorated room. When I go into a quilt shop I don't want to buy the fabric... I want to buy the finished quilts hanging on the wall. My artistic eye allows me to see it and appreciate it. My children laugh and say ...

"Our mom's not the worker bee... she's the designer bee."

With a new sense of value and an infusion of confidence I began to "fly"   Beauty, in all its forms, is everywhere and I am constantly on the lookout.  When I see something where all the elements are combined in such a way that the effect is stunning, it takes my breath away. I have come to realize that my talent lies not in the doing but in the recognizing. 





Now the interesting part of this story is that my daughter, who helped me to understand all of this, is cut out of the "same bold of cloth" as my mother.  She is an amazing "artisan"  with a real passion for piecing and quilting. My mother taught her some of it but when she stood in front of a huge quilting machine for the first time she instinctively knew what to do. There it is again ...

 "LIFE'S A CIRCLE"

BLESSED AND BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY 
Daffodils 

CALIFORNIA

The written word is so delicious! One of my favorite poems...

             

           I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
          That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
          When all at once I saw a crowd,
          A host, of golden daffodils;
          Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
          Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

      

          Continuous as the stars that shine

          And twinkle on the milky way,

          They stretched in never-ending line

          Along the margin of the bay

         Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

         Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

          

                                              

                  


          The waves beside them danced; but they

          Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
          A poet could not but be gay,
          In such a jocund company:
          I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
          What wealth the show to me had brought:

          For oft, when on my couch I lie

                            In vacant or in pensive mood,                         

          They flash upon that inward eye

          Which is the bliss of solitude;

          And then my heart with pleasure fills,

          And dances with the daffodils.

William Wordsworth

HAPPY SUNDAY

DISHES IN THE DETERGENT 

"The great giveaway"

Coming out of the depression and then World War II, women were resourceful and companies were clever with their marketing techniques. 

In the 1950s Duz Detergent began a promotional campaign which involved including a piece of 22K gold-trimmed Golden Wheat dinnerware in each box of laundry detergent. 

I vividly remember my mother opening a new box of detergent and pulling out an amber glass. She was always so excited. Companies gave away dishes, glasses and even dishtowels. 

With a little patience and loyalty to the brand they could collect "service" for the entire family. 

Love the 50s!