I'm soaking a basin full of antique linens, lace and doll clothes. They become yellowed with age.....

They clean up very nicely using this product called Vintage Soak!

You can order some here or find it at your local quilt shop, if you have some family treasures to enjoy!

Crafting and scrapbooking heritage....

This photo album belonged to my grandmother, Dora Schroeder. It is a beautiful album, made for photos which were rare and treasured items.

My grandmother and two of her brothers are in these photos. But what is the dark textile in the corner?

A pair of mittens knitted for my grandmother by her mother as a Christmas gift. The year was 1912. [Note: I had to lighten this in an attempt to make the decorative stitches around the cuff stand out. They are still hard to distinguish. The mittens are actually very black and probably seldom used...being saved for "best" and treasured as they were from her mother!]

Work in progress....a 5"X5" acrylic painting of figs and a landscape. I like this one which worked on in my spare time last week!

It is good to be home again....enjoying my garden and my friends here.

"Stop the words now, open the window in the middle of your chest and let the spirit move in and out."---Rumi

******************************************************************************I read the quote above on my friend Macrina's Facebook page this morning, right after opening as many windows in this house as I can. The morning air is cool and wonderful. Later we are expecting a heat wave..

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[Despite Rumi's advice, I shall have to resort to words for this post!]

I've been checking up and visiting friends from when I lived in Little Rock. A wonderful break from working on Mom's house!

My friend Sandra hosted me and the two blogging friends, Cindy and Vicki, who write "Stick Horse Cowgirls". What a lovely evening, enjoying conversation and food in the ambiance of artist Sandra's beautiful home! Thank-you ladies!

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Then I checked on a friend who had once given me a wonderful birthday party [think an evening with everyone we knew, her fabulous homemade Middle eastern food, music, dancing and "cake blindness" from all those candles!] .... my friend Sandy.

That is when I learned that life moves us on....or rather sometimes brings us "full circle". When I rang the doorbell where Sandy once lived, it was answered (this time, I had stopped by from time to time and no one was ever home....the phone # no longer reached them) by the husband, Joe, who had lived there with her. I could tell that things were different....(hmmm Joe is getting gray, aren't we all!!!)...

They are now divorced and each has remarried. They parted on friendly terms, the children are grown. Sandy is now married to her high school sweetheart from Panama. [He had been attending the Catholic boarding school in Arkansas, Subiaco. Sandy was a student, in those days, at Mount St. Mary's high school for girls here in Little Rock. They met at a Subiaco dance where the girls came by bus from Little Rock. ]

After graduation, he had returned to Panama, they lost contact, she married Joe....

Maybe I will hear from Sandy one day, and learn how she found her lost love...I left my e-mail....meanwhile I know she has a good life, being an open and adventurous spirit!

Our recent heat wave caused some sun scald on my tomatoes, especially the Ananas Noir, which after all are from Belguim where it is cooler than Arkansas. SO, I had to pick a few before they were ripe and cut off the scalded parts. Not wanting to waste the rest of each large tomato, I researched a legendary recipe, "Fried Green Tomatoes". The result was that I found this video on line!
How to Make Fried Green Tomatoes

I love the directions and demonstrations he gives. I can do this and enjoy the process to making a wonderful summer treat (and again in the fall when frost threatens the tomatoes!)!

So, off to the kitchen to try this!

Later--wow! these are over-the-top delicious. Maybe it is his method, the wonderful (easy)sauce or my just waiting so long for lunch! LOL!

Journaling amidst morning breezes!

It is so good to be home this morning, outside my studio door with coffee and my journal.

The smudge tool was fun to use to add the visual morning breezes! The day will heat up later, but a new cool morning will be there tomorrow! I hope all of you find a refreshing place just to BE for a moment today!

[Fashion note LOL!: the floral T-shirt I am wearing is by Jim Thompson, my daughter brought it to me from her honeymoon trip to Thailand!]

A lovely baby's baptism certificate, in German....



baby clothes and sisters' shoes.....

one pair scuffed from the toddler Ella learning to walk...the pink pair never or lightly worn as baby Margaret died from Scarlet Fever....there really are some bittersweet moments to remember! [Those pennies were in the box with the pink shoes, 1921]

Generations.....

A scanned collage of family photos, cards and letters from a box brought here from Mom's. If I haven't been blogging often or visiting your blogs this summer, it is because I have been on a trip to the past, making discoveries and spending wonderful time with people I love, my family!

Clearing out Mom's house, packing, sorting and moving a lifetime of memories has had my focus and energy. I have found some time to paint and will be back eventually with photos of my works. [Must remember to take the camera along when I go this time!]

Just home from over a week in Little Rock. I'm looking forward to a great evening with these 2 gentlemen, my hubby and friend Karen. We love this Midsomer Murders series (which we reserve through the library), not for the murder, but for the quaint village scenery and armchair travel.

An even greater surprise today, was that when I opened a package waiting here for me, my friend Sylvia had sent us a spare set of this series....wow! Thanks! Many hours of fun await!

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The garden is really putting on tomatoes right now, so I headed out the back door and picked a lot. Some were almost overripe! One new (to me) heirloom this year is the "Ananas Noir" or "Black Pineapple" from Belgium. I don't see much black about it. Hmmm. It is supposed to be acidic and tart.

I think my favorite is still the "Cherokee Purple" for great taste! My "Purple Smudge" heirloom is very mild and non-acidic. Oh, I just love them all! With fresh basil, of course!

Dear Readers, please go to Caribbean Destination Wedding Blog and read my daughter's post.

Then VOTE for her. The voting ends July 16th. You can vote every 4 hours and help her even more!!!!

YES, that IS a photo from her own wedding in Negril, Jamaica!

Today is cloudy, rainy. I have time to spend in my art studio. Here is Gemma's canvas book from the round robin which we are doing. I am working on a double pink page with collaged and stitched watercolor, antique lace, acrylic flowers and who knows what else...I've only just begun, LOL!

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Besides doing art work, I am organizing things from Mom's house....More treasures from the past....

A child's cloth book of ABC's. Circa 1920's.

Little toy watch with silk ribbon band ( such a feminine and elegant face), old (1950's) child's fan from Japan with hand-painted roses, and two, 10 cent first- class postage stamps which celebrate letter writing (and reading). The quote under the Gainsborough says, "Letters mingle souls."-Donne.
[How long ago was postage just 10 cents?]

Saturday, we took a break from working on Mom's house.
We took my daughter and the grandkids to my brother and sister-in-law's home in rural Clark County, Arkansas.
We had a great time!
Swimming in a salt-water pool, getting to know the chickens (hens and rooster) and cows.
One calf was only a day old!
Granddaughter Lilia got to drive a Kubota. I will have more pictures eventually. [It is hard/impossible to edit the size etc. on this computer]

Later.....here are a few more photos! [The first shows my hubby and daughter on the walk across the Arkansas River at Little Rock on a pedestrian bridge, which we did before going to the country!]

Treasures turn up when clearing out Mom's house.

This antique indigo and red doll quilt was made for my mother about 1925 by my grandmother. It has a cotton batt and is tied rather than quilted. There is also a small cotton gingham doll pillow with embroidered trim.

These are on top of a cotton gingham apron with white cross-stitch embroidery, my grandmother's handwork.

In the background is a doll chest made by my grandfather for my mother. It is now in my art/sewing studio.

Some of these items will go to a museum in western Oklahoma.

A few photos from our weekend at home with daughter Laura and her family. [Artwork above a watercolor by granddaughter Lili, who is loving my studio!]

Friends came by to see everyone!

We "horsed around" with the energetic grandkids!

More wonderful friends and a boy out of the bathtub!

Early morning trip down to the backyard and garden....

"B3" picked a cucumber, looked at it for a moment and said, "pickle!"

More little offerings from the garden, on a towel decorated with red "yo-yo" flowers!

Flashback to the end of May....
Mom and I drove to Georgia to visit my daughter. We went to granddaughter Lilia's dance recital. Here we are with Lilia and her roses after the recital!

Then Mom and Lilia at breakfast the next day!

Today we are still sorting and packing things at Mom's, moving her in with us by the end of the summer. All is going well with that!
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I am almost through with reading "Cold Mountain". I like it a lot, Charles Frazier writes beautifully..(I just skim through any violent or upsetting parts of Civil War civilian suffering, ....could fast forward if I were watching the movie, I guess.) I especially like all the description of pioneer ways, the natural world in the Blue Ridge mountains, early gardening for survival, etc.

Hope you are having a good Sunday!

Out and about in my "home away from home" for the moment, Little Rock, Arkansas, seems to mostly involve trips to donate at the Goodwill thrift shop. Of course, after giving them our donation, I have to browse in the shop itself. This is fun....and it is cool and air-conditioned! I picked up the hardback of "Cold Mountain"....partly because I love the intense blue cover with distant mountains (we have similar scenes near my other home). I have avoided this novel and movie since it first came out (afraid it might be too graphic or upsetting)...but will now give it a chance. It was only $2.00 and for a good cause...

Another "find" some dishes with the pattern name of "Ella's Rooster". As Ella is my mom's name and also my great-niece, these were meant to be ours!!!

I'm still loving tunics!!!! This Irish linen tunic with a bit of sparkle was in the window of a resale shop near the yoga studio where I take classes, AND they were having a SALE....so of course.......

Today I found a soft white cotton pleated tunic at Goodwill. It is so light and airy! Rather a cross between a tuxedo shirt and a peasant blouse! [natural pearl buttons, too!] the heat index climbs to 100 degrees and above...but I am ready!

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Another delight while away from home, is e-mail!!!! [so write to me!!!LOL!]

Today's e-mail was a wonderful letter from my friend Paula. I have her permission to share it with you! She tells me the manner in which she came to create this little vignette in her home....

"Sending you photos and descriptions of my latest treasures:

The three floats occupying the far right, center, and far left are the ones I found at the Potter's House thrift shop last week. They were tied together and had a macrame type cover that obscured the glass so I cut the twine off. What you see now is the imprint of the macrame protecting the glass. The sand would get on the glass and abrad the glass leaving it cloudy with many small scratches. The glass under the twine is smooth-this created the subtle pattern you see on those
three. These floats are probably older--maybe vintage. The other two are gifts from Martha Lew Featherstone, a friend of Joan Beyette's with whom I visited recently. The two from ML were collected more recently off the coast of Alaska, and, when I look closely at those floats, they have a seam line so they are newer.

Your "landlocked beachcomber" friend had great fun putting this together. I enjoy how the light plays off the different colors. I took this (photo) at 3:00 yesterday in natural light. I found the sign in the background for $1 at a flea market earlier this summer and placed one of my favorite fabrics behind it. These pale colors seem perfect for summer days.

Your friend,Paula"

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So thrift shops, flea markets and resale shops are where the treasures are this summer! Have you been blessed by finding special things just waiting for you there????

I am enjoying being home this morning! June 21st, the summer solstice.
I treated myself to some quiet time in my garden retreat.... just outside the studio door. This is a place of cool breezes and birds visiting. I wrote in my journal, read about Manet's still-life paintings and enjoyed a cup of coffee. [There is definitely a nice side to loosing one's day job!]


My silent companion, now twice mended, a little praying angel stands above an ornamental sweet potatoe vine.

Across the yard, in the sunshine of a layered vegetable garden, things are growing nicely. Small cucumbers growing almost before my eyes!

My first year to grow cherry tomatoes. They look so cute all lined up on the vine!

An heirloom variety, Anais noir, (or pineapple) tomato has grown a great deal while I was gone!

We are having hot summer weather now, I don't expect to have leaf lettuce much longer but was able to fill my salad spinner with enough for a large salad tonight!