Five Things I'm Looking Forward to Doing on the Weekend

It's Friday and time for Friday's Fave 5 once again.  My focus for this Friday's Faves is going to actually be the weekend.  Yes, I'm REALLY  looking forward to some things that are coming up in the next few days and most of my efforts this past week have been aimed at what I have planned for the weekend.  Not that I haven't enjoyed the beautiful weather this week or the chance to rest up a little after the spinning retreat last weekend but still, I'm REALLY excited about the upcoming weekend.  So-----let's begin our Fave Five countdown, shall we?

1.  Tomorrow I'm heading off to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.    It's one of the biggest fiber events on the East Coast and it's less than 2 hours from my house.  I missed it last year so this year, I'm definitely going.  The Commander has been snagged to be my designated driver (I'll be too overcome by wool fumes to function coherently) and I'm already working up my "Plan of Attack" for which vendors to head for first.

2

2.  I get to spend some time with my daughter and son-in-law this weekend.  After the Sheep and Wool Festival, the Commander and I will be heading over to our daughter's home to visit Laura and Jason.  It's pretty much a straight shot over to their house from the Fairgrounds so Laura pointed out that it would be fun to get together since we'd be so close to their home.  And the weather is supposed to be in the 80's.  How perfect is that?

3

3.  We're all going to celebrate Mother's Day early with a visit to a new restaurant that the kids have discovered.  Laura was regaling me with stories about this neat lodge up on a mountain north of their home when we were on our trip down to Raleigh.  She kept going on about how great the steaks were and how reasonable the prices were.  Well, since I'll be out of town on Mother's Day, Laura decided that tomorrow would be the perfect time for us to head up to this great restaurant and celebrate our Mother's Day early together plus get the chance to see how good the food is firsthand.  My mouth is watering already.  Plus I know that after all of that walking around the crowded fairgrounds, I'm going to be famished.  The food prices are always so high at the Festival and the lines are so long.  Thank goodness that we can avoid them this year.

4.  On Sunday, I'm flying down to San Antonio, TX where I'll be rendezvousing with my sister-in-law, Rose.   She's going to be flying in from Detroit and we'll meet and the airport and then head over to our hotel which will be right on the Riverwalk.  Rose has never been to San Antonio so she is going to have a real treat.  My nephew is moving down there in a few months and Rose wanted to see what the area was like.  Plus she will be continuing on with me to our next stop.

5

5.  After a few days in San Antonio, we will head over to the Houston area to spend time with Jason, Laura, and my little grandbaby.  Rose hasn't had the pleasure of meeting Mika yet.  I can't wait to see how she has grown.  I can already see how much she has changed just from the pictures and from Skyping.  She is going to be dedicated at her maternal grandparents' church on Mother's Day and I'm so happy that I will be able to be there for it.  Plus, I'll be able to celebrate Mother's Day with my son.  So I'll have celebrated Mother's Day with my daughter this weekend and my son next weekend.  I'm doubly blessed.

6.  Oh, I have to throw in one more "fave" for good measure.  On this date, many, many (heh, heh) years ago, my baby brother was born.  Happy birthday, John!

What are your "fave five's" for the week?  To see what others are writing about for their Friday Fave Fives, visit Susanne's site at Living to Tell the Story. 

(Sheep photo courtesy of this site.)

Seasons Change and So Do Siblings

My brother's birthday is tomorrow.  I think he's reached the peak of the 50's and is starting down the far side but don't tell him that I told you.  After all, I'm still the big sis, which means that I'll always be older but c'est la vie!  That's him up above after one of his birthdays.  He got quite a nice haul, didn't he?  Not a video game in the bunch but I'll bet he got many months of play out of that stash.  And dig that fedora!  Not many boys could pull off that cool look.

Anyhow, thinking about his birthday got me to thinking about our years growing up together.  He's my only sibling and we didn't exactly see eye-to-eye when we were younger.  I think it all started with the fact that I was the only child for the first 5 years of my life.  Then along came this pipsqueak.  To make matters worse, he was born with a broken collarbone so he got a lot of extra attention those first few weeks at home while I kind of faded into the woodwork, a position that I was NOT used to finding myself in.

I guess you could say that my attitude toward life in general (and my brother, in particular) could be summed up by the above photograph.  It all stunk!  I found life with my brother to be about as palatable as my Mom's overcooked peas I'd try to force down my throat.  My brother, on the other hand, attacked everything with gusto.  Grrrrrr!

To make matters worse, just as he was getting cuter and cuter, I was getting dopier looking.  I was getting the dreaded "buckteeth", my eyes had gone bad so I now had spectacles, and I was chunking up.  Mom still insisted on dressing us up in ridiculous outfits and my sunny disposition continued to go south.  I became the bossy older sister and we became the "battling Looses" - always fighting over this or that little turf war.  When we'd go on long car trips (an annual summer event), our mom was reduced to stacking pillows from seat to ceiling between the two of us in the car, figuring if we couldn't see each other, we wouldn't fight.  We usually hadn't made it more than 10 miles out of town before the pillows had tumbled like the walls of Jericho and we were going at it and our dad was massaging his forehead.

But somewhere along the line, things began to change.  I think it happened when I was off at college.  He started to become human.  By the time I had graduated and he was now off at college, our relationship was entering a new phase.  I was actually starting to like my brother and miss him.  Go figure!  The years continued to go by, he graduated and got a job out East, I joined the military and suddenly we were doing things like sking together and sightseeing around Europe together with Eurail passes.  And you know what?  We were having a good time.  He wasn't such bad company.

When I got married and had our first child, my brother was one of our first visitors.  He was a pretty proud uncle and still is!  I was pretty thrilled to be able to show off our daughter to him and have him there to share in our joy.

When he got married, I was thrilled to be asked to be a part of the wedding party.  My "baby brother" had grown up and was starting a family of his own.  I was so proud that day and so happy for him.  And when his sons were born, you would have been hard-pressed to find a happier aunt.  I love those boys!

Another amazing thing ---I discovered that my brother and I share the same quirky sense of humor.  I guess we were so busy fighting as kids that we just didn't realize how much alike we were in so many ways.

As the years have continued on, we've both banded together to take care of our mom as best we can.  We've become an informal "care team", trying to make the best decisions for her as multiple mini-strokes have robbed her of her independence and much of her cognitive skills.  While Mom was still able to travel, he even made some of the annual pilgrimages with Mom and me out to Minnesota to visit the relatives, stopping in Wisconsin to visit Dad's grave.  I'll never forget the time we had on our last visit with Mom and Aunt Maxine, as they were both exhibiting the beginnings of dementia  and how many late-night trips to a diner John and I had to make for some apple pie a la mode just to save our sanity. 

He and I battled the "wildlife" at Mom's house (long vacant while she lived with us) and we sure worked hard together trying to get her house ready to sell.  What a job we had getting it all cleaned out and spruced up.  It wasn't exactly a "walk down Memory Lane."  It was more like a "nightmare on Elm Street."  But we pulled together and got it done.

So here's to you, John.  We might have gotten off to a rocky start but somewhere along the line, you became the best brother a girl could ever ask for.  Happy Birthday!

Short and Still Sassy

Today marked an annual ritual - Fresca's Spring trip to the groomer for her summer clip.  Right about this time of year, she fully resembles one of those Chia pets and the house becomes adrift in clumps of white fur.  I try to keep up with it all, I really do!  But no matter how often I vacuum the floors, wipe down the furniture, and brush the dog, I simply can't keep up with the volume of Fresca's coat.

Lately, the Commander has been dropping not-so-subtle hints that it might be time to take Fresca in to be shaved down.  So today was the day.  I was rather dreading the drive over to the groomer with her because she's not exactly the calmest dog in the pack and usually bounces off the insides of the car on the back seat while I drive.  Plus they are still doing major construction on a big chunk of the route I was going to have to take and I knew that this would set her off even more.  She'd take it as a personal affront that heavy equipment would dare try to produce more noise than her.

We got there just fine and the groomer even finished her ahead of schedule (hmmm, maybe they just got tired of listening to her "talking" to them and figured they'd speed up the process).  Back I went and sure enough, as soon as she spotted me, the vocalization reached fever pitch.  One poor Yorkie looked like he didn't know if he should faint or run for cover.  I paid my bill as fast as I could and Fresca dragged me out the door.

As soon as we got back home, she insisted on going out into her backyard area where she pranced about, hoping that one of the neighbor dogs would come out and take notice.  When Fresca has her short clip, she always gets a little more spring in her step (if that's even possible) and even MORE attitude.  Heaven help us all!

In honor of Fresca's grooming, today's free graphic is an old valentine my Mom received years ago.  I love the little dog by the chalkboard, don't you?

Friday's Fave Spinning

I’m writing this Friday’s Fave Five from a gorgeous restored Victorian mansion somewhere outside Philadelphia.  And therein lies the bulk of my five highlights of the week.  Shall we begin?

1.  I headed off this week for a 3-day spinning retreat headed up by the fun and very knowledgeable owner of The Spinning Loft in Howell, Michigan.  Since it was to begin at 9 a.m. on Friday, I decided to roll into town Thursday evening and just stay an extra night at the Bed and Breakfast that is hosting the event.  I am SO directionally challenged.  I was supposed to take an exit that apparently was immediately after another exit off the turnpike.  Well, I missed it and after a long drive away from Philly, as I was approaching New Jersey (luckily I recognized landmarks from when we recently drove to New Jersey for a wedding), I decided I’d better call the Commander and ask him to check on Google maps for me.  You see, I had forgotten to bring the GPS and just had the written directions.  Sure enough, he informed me that I was way beyond my exit and needed to turn around and go back almost to where I had exited the turnpike.  Happily, it was a beautiful day and the rush hour traffic hadn’t gotten too bad yet so I made it eventually to our B & B.

2.  The Bed and Breakfast…..ah, what a wonderful old house.  It’s called Shearer Elegance and is run by our instructor’s mom.  The woodwork in this place is incredible.  Here are some shots of my room.  Incredible.  And I’m happy to report that there isn’t a ghost in sight.

3.  There are spinning wheels of all shapes and sizes and makers here.  For a spinner, this is a real treat.  Some of these wheels I’ve only seen in magazines so to be able to see them up close and personal is great.  It’s fun to hear the other spinners explain why they chose their wheels and what they like and dislike about them and to actually have the chance to really look the wheels over.

4.  I was a tad intimidated by heading out to meet spinners who I didn't know who already knew each other but everyone has been great.  Here we are practicing drop spindling out on the patio on a beautiful afternoon.  What has been especially wonderful has been that they are all eager to share their knowledge.  Fiber people are some of the most generous people with their talents that I know.

5,  So today we've been learning how to spin different short-hair wool breeds.  Since I'm just learning how to spin on the Schacht Double drive Matchless, this is a great chance for me to really learn, especially from Beth, owner of The Spinning Loft, who is such a good teacher (and a hoot to boot).  Here's Queen Beth holding court this morning before class.

To read what others are writing for their Friday Fave Fives, visit Susanne's site at Living to Tell the Story.  Now, I'd better get back to my spinning.

I Have a Bone to Pick

Photo Courtesty of PublicDomainPictures.net

Are you enjoying the beautiful azaleas in bloom right now?  There are some absolutely gorgeous bushes in our neighborhood.  There are shocking red bushes with flowers the color of Jean Harlow's lips that seem to say "Kiss me, you fool!"  Then there are the ethereal pink azaleas that remind me of Ginger Rogers swirling in layers of pink chiffon, circling the dance floor in the arms of Fred Astaire.   There are blood red flowers so thick on bushes that you expect the Red Cross to pull up with the Blood Bank bus or Count Dracula to show up, whoever gets there first.

And then there's our yard --with the white azalea-flowered bushes.  Do you know what white azaleas say to me?  They say "Hey, I ran out of imagination halfway through the plantings in this subdivision so I think I'll just plop these boring, white azalea bushes here and be done with it."  Honestly, with all the wonderful vibrant colors available, why in the world would someone pick white for an azalea planting?  To add insult to injury, when the azalea blossoms start to die off, the white ones turn a dirty yellowish brown color.  Ugh!  I'd like to find that landscaper and give him a good shake while shouting, "Give me color or give me nothing!"  Thank goodness that our azalea bushes are at the back of the house and not in front, trying to compete with their showier cousins because if they were out front, I seriously think I'd consider spray painting them.

Getting Ready

I'm getting ready for something.  Can you tell what it might be from this basket of goodies?  I'll give you a clue.  I'll be using everything that is inside the basket.  Here's another clue.  It's happening later this week.

I have my smaller supplies packed inside this little bag .

I emptied this so that I'll be all set to fill it with whatever goodies they have us working on.

I got out the Wood Beam polish and gave things a good rub down and buff.

And now Valentina is all set to be packed up in the car.  Yes, I'm heading out later this week for the Philadelphia area for a spinning retreat organized by the Spinning Loft.  Two and a half glorious days of spinning instruction, not to mention good eating and a chance to finally meet the folks I've been talking to up on Ravelry all these months.  I'm a little nervous (ok, a lot nervous) but I know that once I get there and meet everyone, I'm going to relax and have a great time.  I consider myself a novice spinner (and DEFINITELY a novice spinner on Valentina), so I know that I'm going to learn a lot this week.  I'm not sure if I'll have internet access in order to blog while I'm there, but if I don't, I'll be reporting on my adventures when I get back.

Our graphic for today is an old calling card that belonged to my great-aunt.  Hands and roses were common motifs for calling cards and this one is no exception.  I love the typeset that was used for Aunt Cora's name.  Quite ornate, eh?

Moody Monday: Nostalgic

Yearning to ditch the housework, the schedules, the worries.  Wishing it was as simple as grabbing my favorite toy and running outdoors to play.  Visit Moody Monday to see other bloggers' interpretation of the week's theme of Nostalgic through a photograph.

Calling Cards - An Elegant Social Custom

Today's graphic image is an old photographic calling card that was in old cards and papers belonging to my grandmother.  She grew up in Lismore, Minnesota and this young man was probably someone she went to school with.  He's quite the young dandy for someone from a small farming town on the Minnesota prairie.

I have become quite fascinated with these calling cards as I've been scanning the few that she had.  I knew that calling cards were used pretty extensively during Victorian times but I had no idea that there were so many rules governing their use.  For example, did you know that you often turned down the corner of your calling card depending on the nature of your visit?  The corner that you turned down was determined by what type of visit it was.  You also might write down some initials on your calling card which would indicate such things as "congratulations" or "With sympathy."

When you arrived at a home, you usually presented your calling card to the servant of the house who extended a special tray to hold the card.  The servant, in turn, would take your card to the master or lady of the house to let them know who was at the door and desiring to see them.  If the family wasn't at home, the card was left to let the family know that you had called.  A set of rules then governed how long after the initial call was made after which the person who had been called upon should then return the favor of the visit. 

There is a website called "The Art of Manliness" which does a nice job of giving you a history of the calling card and a brief explanation of the etiquette surrounding the use of these cards on their page "Gentleman's Guide to the Calling Card" .  If you'd like to spend some pleasant minutes looking at examples of the various kinds of calling cards, visit Days of Elegance which has marvelous pictures of calling cards, salesmen's sample books, and even calling card trays.
It's been suggested that calling cards might even be making a comeback as a means of giving folks a card that will list one simple way to contact you or learn more about you (such as a website address) when you first meet them, without inundating them with all of your personal contact information.  I know I've been using a variation of this idea by using Moo minicards at knitting retreats and other gatherings to exchange with new friends and acquaintances.  Some of these are almost works of art.

Scrapping the Day Away

I haven't been on the internet today because I was off scrapbooking from 9 in the morning until 8 tonight.  Can't remember if this was for National Scrapbooking Day or not but a large group of us all gathered in a hall and scrapped the day away.  Here's my friend Linda working away.  She had quite the day.  Halfway through the day, her computer ran out of available space.  So off she had to go to Best Buy and ended up with a Thumb Drive (is that what you call it) to put some of her storybooks on until she could get home later tonight to transfer them to her external hard drive.

When she finally got back, she began the process of transferring some of the things she had been working on over to the thumb drive to free up space on her laptop but suddenly, she got an error message.  Turns out that she had completely filled up that flash drive as well.  Poor kid!  She just wasn't having any luck.  Thank goodness that she had at least freed up enough space on her laptop that she could work on another set of digital pages until the end of our session.  Oh, that's my friend, Karen, another convert to digital scrapbooking working away on her pages.  There were three of us clustered together.  We always enjoy the fact that we don't have to lug all the paper supplies and tools to these crops.  All we need are our computers, power strips, and our imaginations.  And if we get tired of working on digital scrapbooking, we can always take a break and play some games on our computers or just walk around and look at what others are working on.  It's a great way to scrapbook.

Throughout the day, they drew names for door prizes.  Look what I won?  A set of pages with pre-made borders.  I still do some occasional pages the traditional way so I'll be able to use these or maybe I'll share them with my daughter.  We both love that color of green. 

As always, we have a wonderful spread of food for lunch and for supper.  Everyone brings snacks and desserts to share and food is brought in for our two meals.  So we can snack all day long if we so desire.  It's going to be bad news at my weigh-in at TOPS on Monday evening, I'm sure, although I really did try to avoid eating non-stop throughout the day.  I managed to do pretty well, too but didn't do so well at resisting the toffee cookie bars.  And drat, I made them so I knew how good they were, too.  By the time we needed to pack up our supplies and head home, the weather had really turned cold.  My, the wind was really whipping around and it felt more like early November than late April.  What happened to our lovely warm Spring days?

Here's a graphic for you today.  It's an old calling card that is actually an advertisement for a fellow who printed calling cards.  It was in amongst my grandmother's old cards.  The little card with his name was actually inside the little envelope but I took it out so it could be seen.  The little hand with flower bouquet looked to be a sticker that was stuck on the little envelope.  I'm guessing that it is from the late 1800's since most of the calling cards I have from my grandmother are ones she had as a young lady from that time frame.
Enjoy!

Friday's Fave Five "S"s

It's Friday once again.  Last Friday I plumb forgot what day of the week it was and didn't do my usual Fave Five posting.  This Friday, I wrote myself a note to remind me so I wouldn't forget.  The theme today is going to be around the letter "S", since all five of my notable things this week begin with that letter.  Let's take a look at what made my week memorable, shall we?

1.  Spring has arrived in all her splendor here in my neighborhood.  I've been enjoying taking walks around the subdivision and seeing all the trees in bloom.  It gave me the perfect opportunity to try out my camera.  The downside of all these flowering trees is, of course, the pollen.  My sinuses aren't behaving very well but I can put up with some sniffling and stuffiness at night for the beauty that is Spring.

2.  Sipping a delicious new coffee flavor.  I first read about this flavor on someone's blog but for the life of me, I can't remember who mentioned it.  If it was you, I'm so sorry that I didn't jot down a reminder to myself so that I could give you credit for introducing me to this coffee.  It's made by Green Mountain Coffee and the flavor is a Limited Edition flavor called "Island Coconut."  Yummy!

3.  Skyping with my extended family, including our grandbaby.  Boy, has Mika changed since she left here in February.  She even has little pigtails now and is definitely getting more of a toddler look than the infant-look she had when she left.  She insisted on standing with the aid of her parents while we talked on Skype and it was so cute to see her react to us as she peered at the computer screen.

4.  Scanning old cards and photographs - As part of my craft room reorganization attempt, I've been trying to file all the paper memorabilia that has accumulated in the drawers of my cabinets.  I have a lot of old cards, valentines, cartes d'visite, calling cards, and other memorabilia from my mother and grandparents, some dating back to the 1880's.  It's really been fun to scan them and read the old postcards particularly.

5.  Singing along with my Pandora radio stations - I just love Pandora and how you can create your own radio stations based on your favorite singers.  I have a Christian station, Celtic station, Crooners station, and Country Western station set up right now.  This week I had the Country Western music cranking through my speakers.  I don't much care for the slow, mournful tunes so I give a "thumbs-down" to those which means that my station usually plays the fast, upbeat CW music.  It's great to sing along with and really keeps me awake when I'm working on the computer, doing my digital scrapbooking for hours on end.

What have been your highlights this week?  If you'd like to join the Fave Five fun, visit Susanne's blog at Living to Tell the Story.  Have a great weekend.

Scanning Old Images

I'm still fiddling away with my craft room, trying to restore order to chaos.  I've actually made quite a bit of headway and am down to the fine tuning.  Part of that fine tuning involves tackling the cupboards where I've just stashed big envelopes of pictures and paper memorabilia, without taking the time to file them or scan them into my photo storing program.  So today I started the scanning and sorting process.  What fun this is!  One thing I am quickly realizing is just what great quality the paper from years ago is.  The high school announcement above is my mother's high school graduation announcement from 1907.  That paper is just as lovely and pliant as the day it was put in her hands.  I'm not sure the paper we get these days would last as long.

Remember calling cards?  You probably don't although I confess that I had to order a set of them when I was commissioned in the Navy.  I don't think I ever used them but I had them, just in case.  This is a calling card from a friend of my grandmother's.  It probably dates back to the late 1800's.

Since we just celebrated Easter, I thought you might enjoy this little postcard that was sent to my grandfather in the early 1900's.  Aren't those little chicks just the cutest?

I couldn't resist this postcard.  My mom sent this to my grandfather years ago.  There's no date on it but I'm guessing that it was probably in the 30's or 40's.  I think that's going to be me when I head down to Texas in a few weeks.  They'd better hide the bon-bons.

I just have an older model scanner but it does a pretty nice job of scanning these images.  So I think in the next few weeks, as I work through these, I'll try to put up one a day to share with you.  Hopefully you can save the .jpg to use as a graphic, if you so desire.  Some of these are just too cute to hoard for myself.

Solomon in All His Glory

I was able to put my Canon A480 up for sale on Amazon and sold it within a day.  Fantastic!  I'm sure it will be a great camera for someone else who doesn't need the image stabilization feature but it sure was not for me.  Yesterday my new camera, the Canon PowerShot SD780IS arrived and I couldn't wait to try it out.  What better way to give it a workout than to go for a walk around the block on a beautiful day?  So here's a photo tour of our neighborhood in all its Spring splendor.  This is the white dogwood in our neighbor's yard right across the street.  I usually start my walk by crossing over and heading up the hill.

Next house up has a lovely cherry tree in their front yard that is in full bloom.  Isn't it gorgeous?

After I'd taken the shot of the cherry tree, I spotted these lovely tulips across the street so I sauntered over and snapped a shot of them.  They are a bit past their prime, as were most of the tulips I spotted on my walk but they are still adding some lovely color to the neighborhood.

While I was on that side of the street, I walked past this house with a lovely Easter Redbud tree in the front.  These gorgeous trees are all over our neighborhood and are just so beautiful against the bright green of the newly revived grass.

By this time I was at the end of our street and had the option of going into the little cul-de-sac where the subdivision builder's home is or to turn and head down the hill.  I usually do the latter but I had to snap this tree first.  I don't know what it is but I always enjoy the reddish leaves against the green grass and the graceful shape of these trees.

Of course, what goes "down" eventually has to come "up" and so it was time to start up the next street which is uphill.  I was rewarded with a shot of St. Francis in this front yard.

Several more houses up and there were these lovely tulips along the curb.  Don't you just love the yellow "bulls-eyes" in the middle of these?

Right before I had made a complete circle and was ready to start back up my street, I discovered this charming bed of phlox.  I've never had much luck growing it but I sure appreciate those who do.

Time to start back up my street.  Our subdivision is quite hilly so you are either going up hills or coming down hills.  That last climb back up to my house gets the muscles going but it feels so good when I turn into my driveway.  This cherry tree against the blue sky was the reward I got as I rounded the bend in the road.

Here's the view right as you round the curve before it's time to cross over to my house.  There are flowering trees everywhere.

As I crossed the street, I had to snap shots of two more flowerbeds.  Here is another lovely set of phlox.  Just breathtaking!

My neighbor's tulips are yellow mixed in with Paperwhites for a lovely Spring arrangement.

Now up my driveway and over to the side of the house so I can get a quick peek at the lilac bush which is sporting some new lilacs just starting to blossom.  Soon I'll be smelling their fragrance.

And here we are at home.  Time to unlock the door and soothe Fresca, the Wonder Dog who is quite put out that I didn't take her along for the walk.  I have to say that I'm very pleased with this little camera.  There wasn't a blurry snapshot in the bunch and the colors are amazing.  Hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into my walking path on a sunny April day.