Saturday, August 25, 2012

The Thread of Life

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Born in a lovely, green and peaceful New York town within sight of Lake Erie, little Lois wasn’t destined for a restful, sedentary childhood.

The thread of her life would lead her to places she would never have imagined…

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Her parents, as was common in the mid-1800s, had the incurable desire to move farther and ever farther West…

…and so they did.

Stops and brief homesteading along the way, threading through Ohio and Illinois…but that wasn’t far west enough…

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Winding farther on and on…Lois and her three sisters traveled all across the prairie in a covered wagon, with only Mother as their guide.  Their father, a seaman, was off to the far reaches of the world…

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And the only lament she speaks of as a teenage girl through all of this?  The loss of a favorite chicken toward the very end of their long, hard journey!

Then finally, the Rocky Mountain West.  Finally, home…or so they thought.

A call to the seas…years spent joining their Father in his work in the Tahitian Islands…

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Next came years spent colonizing in California…then the thread wound them back to the Rocky Mountains….finally home to stay.

And through it all…through storms, hunger, fear, loneliness, hardship, sickness…

John, Lois and Baby Ida Pratt_edited-1 {Lois and her husband John Hunt, along with their beautiful baby girl, Ida…my 2nd great-grandmother.  1860}

…marriage and child-bearing…

…she remained gracious.  And beautiful.  And patient.  And loving….

A new page made today for my heritage album…

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My life is so much calmer than that of my great-great-great grandmother’s.  No rough seas or Indian-filled prairies for me to cross with my children…and I’m ever so grateful for that.

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But, the thread of my life has not finished it’s winding yet…and who knows where it will take me……………….

Julie

{background papers from Crafty Secrets’ “Creating with Vintage” CDs.  Key from the Tim Holtz collection.}

 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Keepers of Pins

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They sit on my shelf now.  On a shelf in my pretty china cupboard in the hallway.

I love to reach in and click the little light at night…all my pretty little keepsakes glimmering there so beautifully…

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I don’t know who had them before me…I’m sure they traveled around quite a bit.  Their former pincushion bodies long gone…

I know they were all four “born” in Germany around the turn of the century…maybe just a bit before.

Three I purchased in little antique shops here & there…

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…but this one I found at a yard sale.  I should say I pounced on it at a yard sale!  The man selling it looked a bit wistful as I asked him his price.  In my mind already, the price didn’t matter.  She was coming home with me. 

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“She belonged to my great-grandmother”, he said.  I smiled.  My mind, however, was shouting, “Then why in the world are you selling her?!”  But, on the outside, I just quietly paid the man...

…and she came home with me.

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A bit tattered and torn—she’s an old girl, after all.  Old, but beautiful.  Graciousness amid the tatters.  I love her.

She was my first.

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The other two half dolls (the name they go by), I asked my mother to make bodies for…I knew she would make them shine once more…

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New pin cushion bodies for these lovely vintage ladies…just perfect.

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Just one more left—I think I’ll take her to my mother’s house with me next time we make a visit.  I could try to make her a body she’d be proud of, but my mother will do the job much more creditably…and the doll will be all the more precious to me because of it.

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These lovely china ladies kept pins for others before they came to live with me…

But I’m so very glad that they sit on my little shelf now…

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Julie

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Monday, August 20, 2012

Enjoy the Journey

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I’ve had travel on my mind lately…

Santorini, Greece...what a dream

{Santorini, Greece at sunset}

Too late in the summer (and too low on funds!) to head off anywhere exotic in reality, I’ve been traveling the world over through my favorite of all escapes…Pinterest

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And yesterday, I acted out on my wishes a little by making a couple of projects…both using lovely images from Crafty Secrets

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy

{The Leaning Tower of Pisa….sigh!}

Love this pennant from the Creating with Vintage Typography CD!

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Lisbon, Portugal

{Lisbon, Portugal}

And this little card—just for fun…love those vintage ladies!

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So, whether you have some real travel plans to the far-off reaches of the world (lucky you!)…

London.

{Big Ben…London}

…or are just sitting at home & dreaming like me…

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…enjoy the journey!

daybreak on the seine, ... Paris

{Ah, Paris!}

See you soon with something new…

Julie

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