Thursday, January 13, 2011

Seeing Clearly…

 

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Hello, dear friends!

Oh, what a beautiful day it is today!  The sun is shining, the birds are hopping and chirping outside my kitchen window…if it wasn’t sooo cold outside, you’d think it was spring!

Yesterday morning, I was absolutely enchanted by a bunch of sweet baby birdies just outside my window in my climbing rose bush…the bush seemingly alive with all these little things…I tried to capture them on film as they played and sang…but it just didn’t work!

But, it inspired one of my projects for the day…

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Another page for my heritage album…capturing just a moment…sweet birdies reminding me of another songbird that I love…

Estella Stapley

My great-grandmother, Estella…a woman blessed with a beautiful voice and a beautiful soul…

Orley Glenn & Estella Stapley younger

I felt bad cutting her sweetheart out of the picture, but this particular image of her seemed just perfect for my page…

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The beautiful Deco-style lady in the window comes from a new image available soon from Crafty Secrets’ on their “Designing with Vintage” CD…

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…and one of Emily Dickinson’s lovely poems…”The Robin”…

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A sweet little song to go with my page…remembered by my mother.  I think I’ll write it on the back…Estella used to sing this, as did her daughter Velda and my mother Karen…

“Birdy with the yellow bill

Hopped up on my windowsill,

Cocked his shiny eye and said,

     ‘Ain’t you ‘shamed you sleepyhead?’”

I think maybe tomorrow morning, I’ll be waking my girls up this way….(do you think a couple of teenagers would appreciate that very much?!)

Another project with the Vintage Valentine Kit from Vintage Street Market…as I looked through the packet, trying to come up with an idea, this happy little vintage Valentine…

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…reminded me of someone I was never able to meet…

Her sweet expression and blond curls reminded me of my mother’s little sister, Judy…

Judith Lynn Ostlund, Fall 1954, 3.5 yrs old

…and what a surprise when I opened that lovely little vintage Valentine to read the sentiment inside…

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…an adorable little poem…and it was signed by…

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Born in 1951, a child for “whom we had been longing for quite a few years”, wrote her mother Velda.  Much younger than my mother and her brother, Glenn…a prayer answered, and a joy added to their family.

Karen & baby sister Judy Ostlund, Oct. 1951 (My mother, Karen with Judy)

However, just before she was  3 years old, they began to be concerned about her eyes… “Nothing to worry about”, assured their doctor.

After some time, and continued worries, a specialist was consulted…cancer in her eyes…and blindness.

A nightmare period of time for the family…long trips to specialists…surgeries, x-rays…the removal of one eye.

Yet, the family remained faithful, happy even…Life was meant to be enjoyed…family time was precious.

FAM_110_12_01--Ostlunds, 1955

  Even without her sight, Judy was filled with joy.  She loved everything around her—especially nature and animals.  She loved nothing more than cradling a baby chick or a puppy in her arms…feeling their soft feather or fur…memorizing each little detail…so that she could “see” them…and her family tried very hard to give her every opportunity for these experiences…

DSC00588_edited-1 (All items on layout, except photo of Judy, are part of Vintage Street Market’s “Vintage Valentine Kit")

Much wiser than her years, she loved “observing” people in her way…

”A laugh”, she said, “is like the ripple of a stream when you are really happy; but when you’re not, it sounds just like the wind blowing through a dry cornfield.”

…and…

“Trying to get someone to do something he doesn’t really want to do, is just like trying to pull bricks out of a wall with nothing but your bare fingers!”

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“People say I’m blind, but they can only see to the wall…I can see to the ocean if I want to!”

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A life so sweet…but not meant to last long.  Here for just seven short years…but how many things did she teach her family? And what an inspiration to me—so many years later--to really SEE the things around me…

Judith Lynn Ostlund portrait, June 1958

I will take more time today to watch the birdies outside my window…I will marvel at the sunrise and the sunset even more than I already do. 

When I pick up my daughters from school today, I will gaze at their freckles and pay attention to the sun highlighting all the different colors in their beautiful, long hair.  I will look more deeply into my husband’s kind blue eyes…

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Thank-you, my sweet Aunt Judy, for reminding me to see things a little more clearly today.

 

Julie

Monday, January 10, 2011

Beautiful Monterey

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Hello, dear friends!

Since Friday was the last day of the girls’ Christmas vacation (we live in an area where a lot of people have family in Mexico and need more time for visiting during the holidays!), we thought we should take advantage of that and enjoy one of our favorite nearby places…

…so come along with me for a lovely day in beautiful Monterey!

We’ll start in the quaint little town of Pacific Grove.  We went to see the amazing Monarch butterflies…but they didn’t want to be seen that day. 

(Image found on internet, since they didn’t wish to cooperate with me!)

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Every winter/early spring, they return to Pacific Grove,  and are beautiful to see. 

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But this day was far too cold and windy…they were snuggled up together in the trees in this butterfly grove sanctuary

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Pacific Grove is famous for it’s beautiful houses, exclusive golf courses, and of course…the ocean…

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Even though we were freezing, Annie and I just had to get out for a little walk on the sand. 

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Sarah didn’t think it would be smart to walk down the steep stairs and on the wet sand with her recovering sprained ankle, so she and her Daddy stayed up by the car…

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Just gorgeous…all this…just 30 minutes from our house…

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The tide was coming in fast…had to bring Annie back in from her cavorting on the rocks…

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Now into Monterey and to some of our favorite spots…

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Ghiradelli’s, of course!

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I’ve not been inside “California’s First Theater”, but I see it all the time…love how tiny and old it is…

Did you know that Monterey was the first capitol of California?

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   Much was centered here in Customs Plaza, just off Fisherman’s Wharf…here’s a few of my favorite spots in and around the old history-filled plaza…

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…my favorite old fountain…I want one just like this in our courtyard…someday!

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The door into this large courtyard is usually closed tightly.  I took advantage of the fact that it was WIDE open this day…no one in sight…like a sleeping, secret garden, just for me…

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Just look at this beautifully ancient and twisted tree…wonder what stories it could tell…

Some of the markers embedded in the sidewalks around the plaza…

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…I love this beautiful tile’s reminder of the Spanish influence here…

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And one of our family’s favorite things to do together in Monterey…bocce ball.

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(Can you tell that Annie was quite done with my photo-taking at this point?!)

Years ago, we came upon these bocce ball lanes just off the plaza, surrounded by beautiful lawns and tall, wind-twisted trees…we watched as the old Italian men gathered and played…

Soon, we had our own set of balls, and started coming here often…just part of our family days spent in Monterey…

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Now for my favorite part! 

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Old Fisherman’s Wharf…you can just smell the freshly baked sourdough bread and amazing clam chowder floating on the breeze…

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The sun was setting…pink and beautiful…

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…a few boats still out on the water…sea lions could be heard barking to each other on the rocks around the wharf…

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…a small peek at the shops and restaurants on the wharf…

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I love this candy shop—it’s been here forever.  Something so charming and carnival-like about the bright pink facade…and just take a peek at what’s happening through those windows…

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So fun to watch them making fudge, pecan rolls, peanut brittle…

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…and to watch the old taffy machine still twirling and pulling the delicious salt-water taffy…

Gourmet Salt-Water Taffy

(this image found on internet)

My Dad can never resist stopping in here and buying a bag!

And THE best place we’ve found for clam chowder…

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Old Fisherman’s Grotto!  All along the wharf, the restaurants have outdoor stands near their entrances, manned by an employee who beckons you as you pass by with a free sample of their own house chowder…they’re all delicious, mind you, but the chowder at Old Fisherman’s Grotto is far better, in our opinion!

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This isn’t a very good photo of our sourdough bread bowls full of chowder…it was dark by now, and the flash was too bright…and I was much too cold and hungry to keep trying!

Now at the end of our day, we sat here…

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…cold, but very happy…finishing up our delicious clam chowder and looking out at the lights on the water…

A very good day.

See you soon with something new…

Julie