soldiers, companions

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"You ask of my companions. Hills, sir, and the sundown, and a dog as large as myself." Emily Dickinson

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June Monday Mailers

I have been super busy lately and don't see a break until at least Friday!  I played Mahjong last Friday, Saturday Sonny & I took a drive over to Concord Mills; Sunday we met Marianne for a delicious lunch buffet and then went cruising on the lake.  Monday, I played bridge.  This morning I was up really early (for me!!) and was in charge at the Soup Kitchen.  We served 125 people chicken salad, tuna salad and fruit salad - a great meal for a hot day!  When I got home, I made more chicken salad (I was on a roll!) to take to our Newcomers Bingo for Charity tonight.  My family - mom, 2 sisters and hubby - joined me for a great meal and fun Bingo games.  We weren't lucky at the Bingo games .... until the last one (played 12 games) when my sister, Angela won the "cover the card" grand prize.  She got a $75 gift certificate to The Chop House in downtown Mooresville.  After that, they raffled off the remaining bingo prizes.  Our group did pretty good.  My mom won first and picked out a necklace that she gave to me.  I won next and picked a bottle of Chocolate Wine.  (I've heard it's pretty yummy - I'll let you know.)  Next Sonny won but gave his ticket to Marianne.  There wasn't much left to choose from by that time so she picked a pair of earrings and gave them to me!  So, I did pretty good with bringing home the loot.  Tomorrow I play mahjong and then on Thursday, I have Stamp Club.  Whew!  I have got to find some time to work on my swaps for Convention!!

I've been so busy that I forgot to mail my Monday Mailer on Monday.  I used a retiring stamp - Cheep Talk and made a cute birthday card.  What do you think?

I was also trying to use up some of the retiring DSP.  This paper is from the Hostess 6"x6" stack (In Colors).

RECIPE

Stamps:  Cheep Talk, Party Hearty

Cardstock:  White; In Color Hostess Stack

Ink:  Concord Crush, Brushing Bride, Pear Pizazz, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade

Accessories:  Signa White Gel Pen, Poppy Parade Ribbon, Corner Rounder

This is the Monday Mailer I received last week from Laurie.  It uses the Sail Away set.  I'm so in love with this stamp set!!  And, I love the way she did the birthday sentiment using eyelets and the Bakers Twine!

a family gathering

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(enlarge this to see the photographs in detail)

There are recognizable faces to readers of this page- the great lady, Nancy Astor, her niece, one of our favorites, Nancy Lancaster, along with the famous Langhorne Sisters drawn by John Singer Sargent.



I love these sorts of walls-this one in the dining area of Elizabeth Winn's London flat. The flat was photographed for  The Englishwoman's House-a book published in 1984.  Elizabeth Winn- Nancy Astor's great niece wrote the piece about her home for the edition and of  this photograph she says- The walls are "plastered with black and white photographs of my family past and present, which makes it very nostalgic for me." Not mentioning her famous connections, Winn shares one of the intimate spots in her house that must have been a great joy and perhaps a bitter sweet one too. Images of  loved ones past- loved and along with them the up and coming-much to love- generation that will carry on the name, the stories, the photographs. I don't know if the wall still exists or if the family photographs have been broken up and passed along to the next generation in Winn's family.  It really doesn't matter. Doesn't that wall exists for us all somewhere?



I well remember a room with polished log walls where my great grandmother slept. It became the room where she could usually be found when I went out for visits.

She wasn't holding court as some might think-rather she was holding a place for all her loved ones -many scattered away from home- in that room.



The screen door to the log house-always open-the doors always unlocked. Come in.



Step onto a long enclosed porch where every variety of plant & seedling was lined up along a shelf that ran across the length of window. Just beyond that shelf-the bathroom, an addition at some time in the house's history-when I don't know-for once upon a time a privy had existed out on the grounds just beyond the house.



From the porch to the kitchen, I enter & am accosted by the fragrant odors of baking pies, cakes, always baking. Lots of baking was done there, someone-one of four of my great aunts always seemed to be baking.



From the kitchen and on to the bedroom where MaMa is keeping  faith with her memories.



There- in the room along with bed and sofa and chair-is the Family.

There in that room "plastered" everywhere are the images of her daughters and her son-my grandfather.

From that generation to the next-there are the grandchildren- my father and the other grandchildren added to the logs .

My parents wedding portrait hanging amidst all these photographs.

Onward to the great grandchildren- my own generation and forward. Mama is keeping faith with the family by adding pictures of every sort-with many spilling out onto her mantle.

Often-if she is not sleeping, I might ask for a story from her or my father or mother about one of the pictures-



"Now who was that? "



"MaMa is that you? "



"Where is my picture?"



"Was  I born when that picture was taken?"



"Now how am I kin to them, Daddie?"



Hearing and hoping to remember that strand of our story so on my next visit I can share it with her- and so on from there to the next.

It's my story.

It is all a memory of course-

The wall is gone-long gone-as is the  house- as it was known to our family.

There is a private family cemetery where so many gather together again- but for me- it is that wall that I think of and remember.

It's my story and I think of it and often I dip back to those days-

the stories

the Family

and that wall.

(photograph by Derry Moore are from The Englishwoman's House)



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The Winner Could Be YOU!

I received some good news today from Ashley.  She may be coming home a little earlier than she thought!  Of course, with the Army nothing is written in stone so I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch!  But, she may be leaving Iraq the first of August instead of the end of the month to set up the clinic at Ft. Hood.  I've got my fingers crossed!!

Yesterday I had a really nice day.  Sonny and I started out by taking the boat out for breakfast to a restaurant on the lake.  After a little bit of a ride around, we headed for home before the lake got too crowded and the sun got too hot!!  In the afternoon Marianne and Mom came over and we went down to our neighborhood pool to "veg" out.  It was pretty warm so we ended up staying in the water most of the time but it was a lot of fun.  My mom is like a kid in water so there was a lot of splashing around and playing.  It was good for her.  One of her good friends had died the night before and this helped to get her mind off of that.  A storm came up around 5 so we headed back to my house to get dressed.  We met the rest of the family in town later for dinner.

I have made a few more cards using my retired sets - Chic Boutique and Eastern Blooms - to share with you. 



I've decided to have a drawing at the end of the month for the cards I am making using retired sets.  A few of them will be used for my Monday Mailers but the rest could be sent to YOU!  Just leave me a comment and July 1, I will put all the names in a hat and draw one .... or two .... out and send them to you!!

RECIPE:

Stamp:  Chic Boutique

Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy

Accessories:  SU Markers, 1 1/4" Striped Navy Ribbon, Oval Punch, Embossing Folder

 RECIPE:

 Stamps:  Eastern Blooms, Swirls & Curls Verses (hostess)

Paper:  Marina Mist, Early Espresso, White

Access:  Pearls, Markers, White Taffeta Ribbon, Corner Rounder, Polka Dot Emb. Folder

RECIPE:

Stamps:  Priceless, Eastern Blooms

PAPER:  Wild Wasabi, Tangerine Tango, Beyond the Garden DSP

Access:  Rhinestones (non SU), Mat Pack, Paper Piercing Tool

I don't know if you can tell but I've been photographing my cards in a little better light.  After I cleaned out my retiring stamps, I had an extra shelf so I set up a lightbox area in it.  Here's what it looks like:

 I have an Ott-Light that clamps to a table (thanks to Margaret) so I clamped it to the top of the shelf and hung it upside down to shine onto my card.  I just have cardstock behind the card but I can change it out to a dark cardstock if I need to for a white card.

Guess I need to tack that cord up but the switch is midway down the cord and I need to be able to reach it.  So far, it's not bothering me draped down to the outlet that way.

Where Does The Time Go?

Sorry - didn't realize I hadn't posted in several days!  I get to doing stuff at night and next thing I know, it's midnight.  So, I turn off the computer thinking I'll post something the next morning.  But, the next morning, I get distracted blog surfing, playing mindless games of Hearts and Spades, and who knows what else I'm doing.  Then I realize it's lunch time!   Most of the time, I just don't know where the hours in the day go.  

Last Friday I joined a Newcomers group at the firehouse near me to play Hand and Foot.  I had never played before but caught on pretty quick.  The game is a version of Canasta.  I played Canasta a lot when I was a teenager in college.  Also many years ago, my sister, Debra and her husband, Jack, got hooked on playing Canasta.  Whenever the four of us were together, we spent just about every waking moment playing games - hearts, canasta, spades, Oh Hell .... you name it, we probably played it.   I have some great memories of our get-togethers and wish we could all be together just one more time.  Once when we lived in Alabama, Jack & Debbie came down (from west Texas) for their vacation.  We had a den in our basement.  I don't think we ever came out of that den the whole week except to eat and sleep.  We spent the whole week playing card games while our kids played outside or in their playroom.  It was great since our kids were the same age and sex and they got along great.  Another time, they came to Alabama and we drove to Gulf Shores for our vacation.  It rained every day that we were there except for one day when we drove to Mobile to a water park and to see some battleship.  We didn't let that rain stop our fun though.  We were camping - the adults in our pop up camper and the kids in the tent (and that's another story!!).  So every day we drove to the state park where there were covered picnic shelters.  We sat at the picnic tables playing cards while the kids played in the sand.  Whenever there was a break in the rain, we'd run down to the beach and take a swim!  Our kids still talk about that trip but mainly because we put their tent in an ant bed!!

I don't have any sneak peek items to share with you.  I actually haven't ordered anything yet.  I think I am going to wait until the catalog is released to buy any of the stamps.  So far, the ones that we can buy haven't thrilled me except for one which is a snowman one.  I may get it early so I can use it for Convention swaps.  I am also going to order the new In Color package.  But my new catalogs arrive next Wednesday!!  I am super excited.  If you are in my club or are a regular customer, I have a catalog for you.  If not, let me know that you want one and I will save one for you ($10).

I am going to concentrate in the next few weeks making cards with some of the Retiring Stamp sets.   Also, that is the theme for June's Monday Mailers - Old or New stamp sets.  There are a few of the sets that I am sad to see go - Party Hearty, Always, Pun Fun, Cheep Talk, Great Friend, Priceless, Pick a Petal.  I took a pretty good hit on stamps that are going away - lost about 25 not counting the hostess sets which I know won't return each year.  I'm anxious to see which sets from the past Mini Catalogs will make it into the new catalog. 

So today I used Chic Boutique to make a couple of cards.  Wouldn't you know it - I just got this set at the Used Stamp Sale.  Luckily, I didn't pay much for it so I'll be holding on to it and using it in the future.

 RECIPE:

Paper:   Blushing Bride, Pear Pizazz, DSP (from hostess pack)

Accessories:  Pear Pizazz Taffeta Ribbon

The dress forms are paper pieced using the DSP

RECIPE:

Paper:  Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze, Newsprint DSP

Stamps:  Chic Boutique, Autumn Days, French Background, Sanded Background, Bliss

Ink:  Cajun Craze, Basic Gray, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Versamark

Acces:  Clear Embossing Powder (on leaves in corner)

I sponged gray and crumb cake around the edges.

Let me know if you want to order any of the retiring items before they are all gone!!

Memorial Day

I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  Ours was nice - pretty quiet but we did spend some time with family.   Yesterday Sonny and I took the boat out on the lake early before the lake got too crowded.  We threw the anchor in our usual cove and read our books.  When we first got there, there were only about 4-5 boats but when we left around 2, there were probably 10-15 boats just in that cove.   Later in the afternoon, Marianne and Mom came over and we sat out on the deck and visited.  One of the chairs (mine!) was covered in baby praying mantis.  I've never seen such a thing! 

Unfortunately, in order to sit in the chair, I had to brush all of them off it!!  Felt like a real killer. 

Later Marianne's husband, Greg, came and Sonny cooked some burgers and hot dogs for us.  I made potatoes and a yummy peach cobbler!  After dinner, we took a boat ride.  When we got back home Angela (my other sister) had gotten off of work and come over to enjoy some dinner.  Then we watched the Coca Cola 600 race .... what can I say - we live in Race City USA!!

Marianne spent the night and we did some crafting today.  We both worked on our Button Farm mini scrapbooks.  It was a fun relaxing day.

Here is the Memorial Day card I made tonight.  It uses another SU stamp set that I bought at the used stamp sale for a steal ($4).  It is pretty old but a good one.  I'll be using it again soon to celebrate Ashley's homecoming.

Speaking of Ashley, I chatted with her on Saturday (instant message) and again today.  She didn't see any patients today and she said she's only seen a few patients the whole time she's been there.  She's read several books,  watched 3 episodes of Off The Map and several movies.  She's only been there since Friday!!  Luckily, she said they have a pretty extensive library since she only took 10 books with her.  She'll read all their books by the end of her 2 weeks!!