Keepers of Memories

Aunt Jane and Uncle Ivo did not have children of their own. 

I never knew why for sure.  This was not a topic discussed by that generation, other than in whispers.  I remember asking my mom "why" once, but don't remember the answer.  I was pretty young at the time.  I really need to remember to ask Aunt Yvonne, mom's youngest sister.

Jane and Ivo - 1946

You would think that since there were no kids to fight over the estate, that for once there would be no family squabbles.  Unfortunately, that isn't the case.  One family was closer to Jane and Ivo than anyone else, so I always assumed they would be the beneficiaries of their estate.  That is what happened  - and rightfully so.  One person has quit speaking to everyone else in the family because of this.  I want to shake her 70+ year old body and say "grow up".  It was theirs to do with as they wished.  Period.

Jim and I find ourselves often taking on the roll of caretaker of memories.  We like to preserve the past.  Our kids will be left with the task of deciding what to do with our addiction when we're gone. 

Sorry guys!

Iron Bird Feeder

This iron bird feeder was hidden away underneath one of the sale tables.  Jim spotted it first.  It was love at first site.  We have no idea how old the feeder is or where they had it.  They had a farm in Lohman, so I'm thinking it might have been there.  Or maybe their back yard.  I just don't know.  There is an iron spike that sticks into the ground to stabilize the feeder.  One.  There used to be four.  The remaining one will probably break off soon, but the feeder is heavy enough that it isn't going anywhere as long as  it is sitting solidly on the ground.  We need to put on our thinking caps and figure out a way to repair it, but for now, I'm enjoying just seeing the birds flock to their new/old restaurant.



This carpenter's box had to come home with us.  It is rustically primitive.  Since I don't know its story, I've had to come up with my own.  I'd like to think this box belonged to Ivo's dad.  I can just see him loading it onto the back of his buggy or model-T at the turn of the century as he headed out for a long day of work.




Carpenter's Box turned Game Chest

  We were outside loading up some of our purchases, when I happened to walk back into the auction hall and the auctioneer was holding this skillet in the air.  I raised my hand to bid and he said SOLD!  I got it!  I've been wanting a good old, already seasoned, cast iron skillet this size.  My friend Patti at Osage Bluff Quilter says she has been watching for a Wagner #11.  This one is a Wagner #12.  Close enough?  Although I've yet to fry chicken in it, I've used it several times.  Love, love, love it!


Iron Skillet

These pillow cases were my steal of the day.  They were preserved in a plastic bag.  The auctioneers had thrown them on the table with old linens, bath towels, and such.  It was towards the end of the sale and they were the last thing I planned to bid on.  By this time the auctioneers were lumping things into piles and these were added to a pile of towels and pretty much worthless kitchen stuff.

Since I was the only bidder, I'm pretty sure I was the only one who knew what treasures that pile of stuff held. stuff.  The auctioneer said, "who bids $2".  I raised my hand.  "Do I hear $3.00".  I kept my hand in the air.  "$2.50"  I kept my hand in the air.  He finally looked at me and said "I already have you at $2".  I didn't care.  I was taking no chances.  Finally, I heard "SOLD for $2 to # 159"

Lace edged pillow cases

 I like to think Jane & Ivo's neighbor lady, Mrs. Gadd, crocheted and embroidered these beautiful pillow cases.  They are too pretty to use.  I will probably display them on a quilt rack. 

Shame on the auctioneers for not valuing what they were selling more.

Embroidered Pillow Cases

My new favorite yellow coffee cup was also included in that $2 pile of handiwork. 

As I sit here blogging and sipping coffee, I think of the need to start documenting the stories of the many antiques and family items we have chosen to preserve.  Hopefully my children and grandchildren will want to carry on the tradition of keepers of memories.

Triplets

I have a problem.

I can no longer get my my t-shirts, or in the case of these cool Missouri mornings, my much needed sweatshirts, over my swelled head.  So I grabbed my warmest blouse as a substitue, and darned if the buttons didn't all pop off the minute I slipped them in the button hole. Not a pretty sight at all. 

You see, I recently received an award.  Not once.  Not twice.  But three times!  If that doesn't make a person feel special, I don't know what will.

Deanna picking wild flowers and weeds

Originally, Just Stuff From A Boomer, gave me the Liebster Award.  Like her, I had no idea what it meant.  She was kind enough to do the research for me.  Here is what she said:  "Because I had never heard of this award, I did a little detective work and discovered that liebster in German, means "beloved". 

The Liebster Blog Award is designed to bring additional recognition to those bloggers with less than 200 followers.  If you receive the award, you should link back to the blogger that nominated you and nominate 5 more blogs.  And, also, don't forget to let them know you nominated them.

Boomer is one of my newest friends, and I have to say I enjoy her blog immensely.  As a fellow baby-boomer, I find myself walking down memory lane with you more often than not.  You're the best!  I've linked back to you and sure do hope every single one of my 61 (actually 12 if you go by comments left ;) followers head over to your blog right this minute... I mean after they finish reading this post.

My dear friend of many years, Iggy, surprised me with an honorary mention when he himself received the same award from Betty.  Iggy's blog is the first one I ever followed.  His is the most educational, heartfelt, sincere, kind... great blog around.  Although we have never met, I consider Iggy one of my best friends ever.  Do me a favor and check him out.  I guarantee you will be glad you did.  You might want to bring an umbrella, though.  Because he recently sprung a leak in his bathroom!  Thank you Iggy.

And then it happened.  My friend from Wales, Tori,  also nominated me.  When I think of Tori, there is no way to come up with one word to describe her.  Inspiration comes to mind.  Then brave.  Then amazing.  Tori has taken her followers through the agony of losing her eyesight and the fears and tribulations that accompanies her journey.  She wows us with photos of her sweet dog Kero and posts projects of her knitting and other projects.  I am humbled by Tori.  And I thank her for the award. 

Now I have a difficult job ahead of me.  I need to nominate 5 for this award.  Drum roll please....

Steve of Third Half of Life

Betty of A Corgi in Southern California

Patti at Osage Bluff Quilter

Travis at One Word, One Rung, One Day

 (Travis has a little over 200 followers, but I'm nominating him anyway since I never was very good at following rules.)

Cheryl at The Farmer's Daughter

I hope you will check them out.  Trust me... you will be glad you did!

Fallball

I will preface this post with:  I am not a sports fan.

But somehow when my grandchildren are part of the sport, I become a sports fan.

I become a yelling, crazy lady.

Football and Fall in Jefferson City, MO are synonymous.

Grandson, Travis, plays for the Jefferson City Jays Freshman team

He is number 60

He is awesome

The team is awesome

They won again last night.... 54 to 6.  Yep, that is definitely a win.

So I'll leave you with some football pictures. 

I'm embarassed to admit that I don't even know who they were playing.

But I know who number 60 is!

Together Again



I've had this utility cabinet for a few years now.  It first belonged to my grandma, then my mom, and now me.  It is kind of like a magic cabinet - it holds way more than anyone would ever think possible.  Canned goods, paper goods, canners, canning supplies and other odds and ends.  It is amazing!  And the best thing about it is that it has history... my family history.  Love it.





Utility cabinet with an endless capacity for holding stuff

 As I mentioned in my previous post, we spent Saturday at my Aunt Jane and Uncle Ivo's estate auction.  Imagine our surprise when Jim spotted a twin to our cabinet.  A twin!  I can only speculate here, but I am assuming that when this family of eight children divided up their parent's possession's, mom took one of these cabinets, and her sister, Jane, took the other.

There are two of them!

And now they sit side by side, with a concrete wall separating them - just in case there are any hard feelings or unsettled sibling rivalries still exist.  I did hear them whispering to each other last night after they thought I had gone to bed.  Something about "remember when..."

For $35 and a little heavy lifting, we were able to rejoin these two

Back seat of our truck after Jane and Ivo's estate auction

The reason all this junk is in the backseat of our pickup was because the bed was already full to overflowing.

The bed of the pickup - filled to the brim

So..... like it or not, folks, there will be more auction posts in the coming weeks. 









What a busy last few weeks it has been around here.  This weekend was certainly no exception.

My late Aunt Jane and Uncle Ivo's estate sale was this past Saturday.  My head is swirling with thoughts about that.  We did come home with some things that are treasures to me.  More about that in a post soon to come.  I promise.  Especially since I am pretty excited about some of my finds.

Sunday we went to the Heritage Festival in Columbia, MO.  Our friends, Bernie, The Osage Bluff Blacksmith, and his wife, Patti, the Osage Bluff Quilter, were there, demonstrating the almost lost art of Blacksmithing.

The Blacksmith had quite a crowd watching the embers fly as he hammered and pounded red hot mounds of iron into things like forks, dinner bells, crosses, and all sorts of things. 



Patti had her hands full answering questions and selling the wares.  I hope they had a successful couple of days.

 My mind is still boggling at the amount of work that goes into making the period costumes, setting up shop, working all day, taking everything down at the end of the day and dragging it home, only to return the next day to do it all over again. 

Patti & The Blacksmith

Jim bought this torture hook.  He claims he will be using it to turn meat on the grill.  Uh huh.

When we left the festival, we decided to head 15 miles or so up the road to Clark, MO.  Patti was telling us there is an Amish community there that sells furniture, wonderfuol baked goods, and stuff.  Even though we knew they would be closed on a Sunday, we decided to take the short drive before heading home.  We were glad we did.

Scenic drive to Clark, MO.
We must have hit the returning home from church services traffic.  Buggies were everywhere. 

I'm pretty sure Ida and Eula didn't know these grass mowers were on the wrong side of the fence. 
They didn't look like they planned on going past the green, green grass of home.

Children were playing in many of the yards.  It looked like they were all dressed in their Sunday best, but as far as I could tell, not a single child had shoes on.  I had to smile and shiver a little at this, since the high temperatures yesterday were only 65.

I'm pretty sure Mr. Stinkeye here is saying he hopes everyone has a wonderful week!

Webcam 101 for Seniors

You are never too old to learn new things... and have fun doing it!

Yes I did



I took time time to sit on the screened- in back porch to enjoy the peaceful rain we are blessed with today.
Soup,  rain and a good book on my Nook (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson).  What a lovely combination.



Rain soaked Oak trees.  Are they really calling for temperatures to drop into the 30's tonight?

From the inside looking out.  My plants are soon going to have to find a home inside.  I could sit here all day.  What did I do with that sweater of mine?  I need it!

Comic relief

Six year old Grandson, Austin, posed for these pictures.

He proudly grinned when I showed them to him.

I wish I could be more like Austin, making silly faces and not caring whether my face is clean or dirty.

Coming full circle

My mom taught me to sew when I was pretty young, probably ten or twelve years old.  As I grew up a new store bought dress, or any other piece of clothing store bought, was a rare event.  Mom made everything.  Shorts, shirts, dresses,and jeans (which I hated because they just weren't cool!).

Kathleen, Tom, Deanna
How I wish I had this dress hidden away in my cedar chest!



Homecoming 1969.  I was dreaming of a "store bought" dress like all my friends would be wearing.
Lost on me was the fact that I was already wearing the dream mom had slaved over.



When I got married in 1972, I continued the tradition of making my own clothes, mixed in with store bought. 



Jim, Tessa, Deanna
Pregnant with Greg, I soon found maternaty clothes were a dream to "whip up"
No zippers and no fitting seams



The arrival of Tessa in 1974 gave me a reason to expand to children's clothes.  I was having fun!

Tessa - One Year
These little smock tops were easy and quick to make

Then Greg arrived in 1976.  I took a year  off work, so I should have had lots of time for sewing.  Hmmmm.  Boys clothing were not so much fun to make.  And boys clothes looked more home made for some reason.  But I continued making some of my own and Tessa's clothing. 

Then in 1977 I returned to work and discovered a time proven truth.  There are only so many hours in a day.  With a husband, restoring and remodeling a large old house, two kids and a full time job, I no longer had time to sew.  Nada!  The sewing machine was covered and stored, making an appearance only when a seam ripped or britches needed shortening, or to "whip up" a skirt or two for work.  But it was never far from my mind. 

This continued into 1980, when Julie was born.  By now we were designing plans for a new house and preparing to move.  My poor sewing machine was mostly lost in the chaos. 



Greg, Julie, Tessa
I'm not too sure where I found time to make Halloween Clown Costumes



Then something happened.  I hooked up with a friend, Rita, who was into quilting.  I was hooked.  I made a nine patch quilt, she and I took a class together and competed with who could piece together our "Trip Around the World" quilt quicker.  For the life of me I cannot remember who won.  Actually, we both did.  Rita and her sister spent one whole afternoon and late into the night helping me quilt the nine patch quilt.  It had become a sickness.  We couldn't quit. 

Nine-Patch Quilt in muted colors

Again, the sewing machine was never far from touch, but had become like an old friend that I could ignore, but would always be there for me.

When I retired in 2001 ( I think it was 2001...) thread and machines once again caught my attention.  Machine embroidery became my passion.  Towels, wash cloths, t-shirts, hats, bags... nothing was safe!

Recently I've begun sewing again.  I don't believe I'll ever return to the days of home grown clothing.  Bags, aprons, and quilt tops have become "my thing".


Earlier this week I was despairing about how to quilt this Irish Double Chain quilt I  pieced together.  But thanks to an evening of friendship and fun, I now know that I am going to having to dust  off my quilting frames and hand quilt  this one.


Double Irish Chain Quilt Top

 Here we are quilting away at Patti's.  It turns out my friends, Patti on one side, and Rita on the other, went to school together.  I still haven't figured out who half the people were they were talking about!  But what is said at a quilting bee, stays at a quilting bee.  We had a lot of fun visiting and adding some love to this beautiful quilt.  Patti's mom embroidered this quilt top.  What a special heirloom for her family.


Quilting with friends, Patti and Rita