Thursday, July 31, 2008

Found Treasure


When I was in Idaho, I found this old photo on a shelf in one of my closets--this is a photo of my Dad's parents when they were dating. It was taken around 1924 or so, I think. Aren't they a cute couple? Click on the photo to get a close up view--I think this was taken in Colorado, in Estes Park, where one of my Grandma's brothers owned a lodge. Look at my Grandma's boots--I think those were hiking boots! They often would go on day trips with a bunch of family and friends and did a lot of "outdoorsy" things back then. My grandfather was a very sweet man and loved me very much, I am told. My parents both used to tell me that my Grandpa would proudly parade me around his neighborhood in my stroller every time my parents visited, and would be very upset if no one came out to tell him what a beautiful baby I was. (I was their first grandchild.) Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away at the young age of 57 of pancreatic cancer, when I was 4 years old. I have vague memories of him and haved wished many times during my life that I would have been able to know and love him a lot longer. My grandmother was the most wonderful grandmother a child could have. She was an absolute doll, and always so kind and loving to me and my sisters. She and I were very close. She died when I was 25, 30 years ago, but I still can see her in my mind as though it was yesterday, and I miss her terribly to this day.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Taking a Break!



I'm on my way to Idaho to see family and to check on "The House That Doesn't Want to be Sold" so I probably won't have a chance to post anything for a few days. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Be back soon . . .

Thursday, July 24, 2008

ANOTHER ATC



I needed to make something special to put inside a dear friend's birthday card, so I came up with this today.

Monday, July 21, 2008

TMTA - "Nostalgia"


I'm a bit late for this (I was gone all day today and just finished this ATC Monday night) but I wanted to post my entry for the TMTA challenge-the theme is "Nostalgia" this week!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Sunday Funnies

This is really funny (at least I thought it was!) - these guys were pretty cute kids! Oh, I used to love watching this show when I was young!

Friday, July 18, 2008

TGIF - Quotations

I thought I'd try another challenge, so I chose TGIF -- this week's theme is Quotations.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Clear Skies!

From this, taken on 7/11/2008 at 8 am:


To this, taken on 7/14 at 7:40 am:



Although today is Tuesday, I am thinking of Monday right now--Monday is not my favorite day of the week for varous reasons, but yesterday was the absolute best Monday!  We woke up to blue skies and puffy white clouds, the sight of which no one in our area of northern California has seen in too long.  The photos above are ones I took when I awoke yesterday morning--I felt like jumping up and down, I was so happy and grateful!  With all of the awful California wildfires the past few weeks, the air here has been horrible.  I've never in all my life seen it this bad, and for such a long stretch of time, too.  Day after day has brought smoky air, a blood-orange sun both at sunrise and sunset, and burning eyes and throats, not to mention breathing problems for so many.  My youngest grandson has asthma, and at the tender age of 2, has already taken more trips to the emergency room than I can count--so naturally, we were very worried about him during the smoky days.  Fortunately, even though she had to use his inhaler a few times, my daughter was able to keep him indoors and out of the hospital during the past couple of weeks.  I have similar issues due to too many bouts of bronchitis over the past 15 years (and, no, I am not and haven't been a smoker), so I was very uncomfortable and scared, too.  I just kept thinking, Jann, you need to think about the poor firefighters and the people who have either lost their homes or have been evacuated, and pray for them and stop worrying about yourself.  So I did try, but it was still very depressing to see the ugly gray and brown skies day after day.  At any rate, my hubby and I were able to go back out and start our evening walks again last night, and although it was such a simple thing, I was just filled with joy at being able to do that!  I think we tend to take so much that we have for granted, and yet are terribly upset when we don't have the things we're used to.  So today I will just be happy for what I have right now and not worry about what I don't have, and I will breathe a sigh of relief and pray a big Thank You to God, over and over!

Monday, July 14, 2008

TMTA Monday - "Games"


Here's my entry for this Monday's TMTA challenge to create an ATC with a game theme:

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Sunday Funnies

Here's an early clip of Dan Rowan and Dick Martin before their "Laugh-In" days. Silly, but historic, in its own way!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

"Mind Wide Open" - Contest Results!


Hop on over and visit Mind Wide Open to see what wonderful art all the entrants created!  This is a new and exciting blog and, although I would love to have been able to enter their first contest, I hope to enter others in the future--and ANYONE can vote--so visit their blog and take a look!  I am amazed by the amount of talent that's out there . . . so many, many great artists sharing their work online!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Ten on Tuesday - Favorite Movie Characters



Click on my title to visit the "Ten on Tuesday" website.

Here's a list of 10 of my favorite movie characters for Ten on Tuesday this week:

1. Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

2. Mark Thackeray, "Sir" (Sidney Poitier) in TO SIR WITH LOVE

3. Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman) in RAINMAN

4. Vianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche) in CHOCOLAT

5. Primo (Tony Shalhoub) in BIG NIGHT

6. Benny (Minnie Driver) in A CIRCLE OF FRIENDS

7. Fiona (Jeni Courtney) in THE SECRET OF ROAN INNISH

8. John Nash (Russell Crowe) in A BEAUTIFUL MIND

9. Dorothy (Judy Garland) in THE WIZARD OF OZ

10.Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) in NORTH BY NORTHWEST

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Sunday Funnies

A clip from the pilot of the old Andy Griffith show . . .

Thursday, July 3, 2008

"The Stars and Stripes Forever"


"Hurrah for the flag of the free!
May it wave as our standard forever . . ."
(John Philip Sousa)


HAPPY 4TH OF JULY, EVERYONE!
Celebrate the wonderful and numerous freedoms we all are so blessed to have here in the Good Old US of A!

"Maude and Marilyn"





I was going through a little box of my trinkets today and came across the first little art slide, just as I was wondering what I could write a post about. It's very hard for me to spread my art supplies out and create right now because we are still staying with family . . . I soldered these microscope slides a couple of years ago. The first image is of a stage actress from the early 20th century, named Maude Fealey. The second, of course, is Marilyn Monroe--I made this piece for my youngest daughter, who loves Marilyn and has a large collection of photos and memorabilia related to her. My daughter keeps this piece on her counter, and so I grabbed both and took a couple of photos. I loved creating these and had fun soldering them, (although I am self-taught and it was quite difficult), and I would love to take a class someday so I can do more with it. I am a great admirer and fan of Sally Jean, who does beautiful, BEAUTIFUL work with solder! I hope to do more of this in the future . . .