Show and Tell

I decided to take this Show and Tell opportunity to share some new things I've acquired in the last few days.

If you have followed my blog through any Christmas seasons, you know that I've recently begun collecting nativity sets. I can hardly wait to add this to the display next Christmas. But I love it so much I may just put it on display right now.

Here is the story behind this new acquisition: My second of three brothers lives in England, and has for his entire adult life. He received his Ph.D. in Intertestamental Studies from Manchester University over 30 years ago. He is a brilliant scholar and does a lot of traveling and teaching with his expertise. He often gets to present papers in Israel. I remember the day I realized just how highly revered he is in the field of study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

A few years ago he brought my parents one of these beautiful olive wood carved pieces of the Holy Family. When he was home recently and we were having lunch at my folks' house, I asked him if, the next time he went to Israel, he'd get me one and I'd send him the money for it.




He was in Israel for several weeks recently and, even though I knew it and read all of his Facebook posts about his time there, I never thought of my request to him for some reason. Then - my SIL came for her annual visit a couple of weeks ago - just before she left, we went to lunch and she presented my sister and me each with one of these beautiful pieces - as gifts. I was so thrilled. It was carved by an elderly man in Bethlehem. What a treasure!




In an entirely different direction -- recently I shared with my regular readers that I'd be showing gifts that I ordered for myself.

Let me start with a little background. DC and I have been married almost 38 years. We have had our share of "stuff" in our years together, but that has not included marital discord, thankfully. About the only thing we've disagreed about in any significant way is some of the ways our money has been spent - as if that were something unusual, eh??

My sweet husband has quite a few hobbies and toys - and all of them are what I consider costly. He is not reckless in the least, but sometimes over the years I've complained a bit about his spending on these pasttimes. His response to me was always, "Well, get yourself something you want!" My hobbies, on the other hand, didn't cost much - yarn, fabric, embroidery floss, even patterns (in those days) didn't add up to much. I hate to shop, so he's never had to worry about me getting carried away in that way.

But again, if you know me at all, you know that books are my passion. If you look on my sidebar, you'll see that books have had a part in 12 of my posts over the years. So - all that to say this. I spent a considerable amount of money on books these last few days. And here's why --

I can't remember exactly when I discovered Anne of Green Gables, but I remember reading probably 3 of the series when I was in junior high, most likely. It wasn't until I was a mom that I decided I needed to read them again - and that was when I discovered that the series went far beyond her antics as a girl; that they went into her adulthood and motherhood. I was so thrilled to find that she finally did marry Gilbert and was a delightful and creative mother.

Recently one of my Facebook friends, who is a missionary in Nairobi, Kenya, was given the entire series by her mom and was enjoying them immensely, and commenting about them every day. That gave me an itch I had to scratch! I went to Amazon.com and found the set - and ordered it. It is sitting here, waiting to be devoured. (Side note - we might get to spend a day in Prince Edward Island when we go to Maine for Kev's graduation next month!)




During that same era, I went through a rather lonely time in junior high. Dad had left the pastorate for a leave, due to health reasons. We lived out in an area of the Twin Cities that wasn't very populated. We rode the bus to a large school and didn't make a lot of friends. The library became my best friend - I would stop by there on my way to the bus almost every afternoon and grab a book off the shelf, check it out, and read it on the way home. That's when I became friends with Sue Barton. I enjoyed her life as a student nurse all the way through being in charge of a nursing program. It was good clean romance, with a bit of career education along the way. This began my love affair with series - when you finished a book, there was always another one about the new "friend" you'd made.

Recently I discovered a publishing house in California (Image Cascade Publishing) that has as its mission the republication of out of print books that we loved growing up. So now, on top of Anne with an "e" and her 8 books, I have 7 Sue Barton books to read.





As if that weren't enough! I think I was in 7th grade in Minnesota when I found Beany and the Beckoning Road on the library shelf one day - for some reason it struck my fancy, so I took it home. Then I realized it was the 4th in a series, so I began back at the beginning. There are 14 books in this series, and I believe I've read them all 4 times - I remember sitting on my front steps while Kristen took naps and enjoyed them again in the 70s. By this time, I realized that Lenora Mattingly Weber, the author, set these books 50 miles down the road from me in Denver - I had read them before in Minnesota and Nebraska and that piece didn't register with me when I moved to Colorado, until I re-read them.



I got so excited - I wanted to find out if she was still in Denver and if I could possibly meet her somehow. My research (not as easy as it is not with the internet) led me to the fact that she had died only a year or two earlier in 1971 at the age of 76. I was sad to think I'd been in Colorado when that happened, and wished I had started my quest sooner.

Beany Malone was a young girl whose mom had died. She was the youngest of a rambunctious family of 4 kids with a dad who was gone a lot for his newspaper job. She became the "mother" of the house, as she loved to cook and take care of her family. They were written beginning in 1943, with the last one finished in 1969. In the meantime, Lenora was writing another series about two young girls in a large Irish family, who actually babysat for Beany when she had children of her own - they were written from 1964 to the last one published in 1972, after Lenora's death. These books, though written so long ago, have timeless themes. They are so clean and wholesome. I hope I can get my grandgirls to read them and love them as I do.

I never could find anyone else who had ever heard of Beany - and I asked everyone I knew who loved to read as a girl. One day I found The Beany Malone Cookbook at the library - I was so excited, because the book contained recipes for all the things that Beany and her siblings cooked in the books. It had not been checked out for years before I found it, so I asked the library if I could possibly buy it from them. No dice. My SIL, Becky, who used to blog, knew of my passion for all things Beany, and had heard the recipe book story. She drew my name that Christmas and got me probably the most amazing gift I've ever received - she found the book somewhere in a used book store on the East Coast - I can't remember how she did that pre-Google! But she did and it is a treasured possession.




Imagine my excitement when, one day I was reading the Denver Post and found a little piece on the editorial page with Beany Malone's name in the headline. Oh, my word! The woman who was "Beany" to her grandma all those years ago was trying to find copies of the cookbook, which was out of print. I called the newspaper who got me in touch with "Beany" - I told her I wasn't interested in giving up my book, but I sure was interested in talking to her about her grandmother and the books.

That all led to a Beany week-end in Denver - there are fans all over the country who actually were keeping in touch by computer, discussing the books. I joined for awhile, but decided they took it way over the top seriously, trying to get themes out of the books that were way too intense instead of just enjoying them.

But I was excited to join them for the get-together. We met at Kathy's ("Beany") house for a meal - she still lived in the duplex where her grandmother wrote her books in the other half. One of the events was a trivia quiz - I had re-read every book, but the minute details they asked on this quiz were outrageous! I couldn't believe it.

We did a bus tour around Denver to all the places that were part of the books. What a fun time we had. I never kept in touch with them after that, but it was enough for me to know I wasn't the only person in the world who loved Beany Malone.

And now - I have the books for myself - and now I have to figure out where to put them! I hope someday to get the Katie Rose and Stacey series - they were the babysitters. It'll be awhile, though!

For other Show and Tell stories, please head over to Cindy's place at My Romantic Home.

Show and Tell Friday

This was my first "Friday Show and Tell," which I did back in November, 2007. I thought I'd re-run it, since I have many new friends since I first posted it. This picture of my husband's great grandparents with their children (his grandpa and sisters) hung on our wall for quite awhile before I learned the amazing story behind it.

The picture was taken in probably 1891 in northern Wisconsin. Great-Grandpa Wickstrom was a logger and had built the log house for his family. Grandpa Odin Wickstrom was the eldest of 7 and had the two sisters at the time of the picture, with another one on the way. He was 6 or 7 at this time.




Remember the show "Growing Pains" with Kirk Cameron, Tracy Gold, Joanna Kerns, and Alan Thicke? One night my daughter, Kristen, who was a teen at the time, was watching the show as she did every week. She noticed this picture in the opening collage and recognized it as one of the pictures hanging in our den. The word got around the family quickly and we all tuned in and paid close attention to the opening credits.

With some detective work, it was discovered that the picture had been hanging in the Wisconsin State Historical Society in a display of log cabins built with that particular roof design. The show's writers chose to use the picture in the beginning of their show.

Anna died with the birth of her 8th child, who did not survive either. Great Grandpa Nils' sister married Anna's father after her mother died, so his sister became his mother-in-law!


For more Show and Tell stories, go to Cindy's place, My Romantic Home.

Friday Show and Tell - and Twin Update

It was my senior year in college. I had to spend the summer there to finish my student teaching and officially graduate. Nobody could stay in the dorm and I could not afford to rent an apartment; possibly a room. I had a job on campus, but it wouldn't provide an abundance of money. I began asking around to see if I could find something I could handle financially. A local girl was in one of my classes - in fact, we were the only two elementary education majors in the John Bunyan literature class - it was mostly religion majors. I took all of my electives in the English department. This girl told me she'd do some checking.

It was only a matter of a day or two when I had a letter in my mailbox. It was from this girl's mom. She was inviting me to stay with them in their spare room that summer. Apparently, they had done this before, because the letter was filled with her requirements and expectations. She must have had some real doozies, because one of her expectations was that I would change the sheets regularly, and not throw my underwear into the ceiling light fixtures! But imagine my amazement and gratitude when they asked me to be their guest for the summer. God is so good!

Not only did they give me the room, but they fed me, and took me out to eat several times that summer. There were some things that were not ideal, but overall I couldn't complain about the accommodations, considering the financial arrangements.

Imagine my surprise when, on top of all they had done for me, they then gave me an amazing graduation gift. This woman had found a china pattern at Montgomery Ward that she really liked. She bought it in bulk and gave sets of china for all wedding gifts. She also gave me a set - and I was not getting married - I was setting up housekeeping as a single teacher with a roommate. What a generous gift!

(Note the zinnias from my yard - I love them)

Here is a close-up of the pattern.

Also included in the set were various sized serving bowls and platters, one large enough for a turkey dinner.


Amazingly, my sister stayed with them the next summer for only two weeks and they gave her a set for graduation as well. Years later, when this wonderful, uniquely interesting lady was doing some remodeling of her kitchen, she sent all of her extra pieces to my sis and me. We have enough of these dishes between us now that we can serve our large family holiday dinners on matching china.

Needless to say, I have visited this lady almost every time I've been back to that town in Oklahoma.

The twins are growing like little weeds - they'll be 8 months old on Sunday - unbelievable!

I love the way they interact with each other. They were both crying, rolled over on their tummies, and hugged.

Their hair is the same color - the sun makes Emma's look reddish.

They love their baths, with a maniacal kicking and splashing fest - and they love making funny noises - and they laugh gustily when you copy their noises back at them. Notice their sweet little hands??

For more Friday Show and Tell stories, stop by Kelli's blog, There Is No Place Like Home.

EDIT: It's a chilly fall-like morning in Colorado - 48 degrees at 7:30 a.m. I feel like crawling back in bed for a good snooze! I hope this isn't a harbinger of our winter to come! DC is at a golf tournament today for his job (poor guy). But seriously, normally it is a lovely fall day when he gets to do this. Providing I get myself going this morning, I think I'll be driving to the gym instead of riding my bike.

Friday Show and Tell - and Twin Update

Wow, what a week it has been for us - I am really tired, and have a little twin on my lap, keeping me company as I type. We'll have to see what happens here this evening!

This is #7, and probably the last episode, in my "I Used To . . . " series. When my kids were in the children's department at church, I realized that their cousins were having opportunities that my kids weren't because they were in a larger church. I could see how much fun they were having doing childen's musicals, so I decided that if we didn't have anyone filling that need in our church, I would take it on.

Our first attempt was small and very low tech. It was presented on Palm Sunday, and I still remember the thrill of the performance. This was before the days of even cassette accompaniment tapes - we had piano only. It was a wonderful story, and to this day I remember some of the songs. Two of them we used every Palm Sunday for years afterward.

I went to my favorite bargain store (predecessor to W*lmart, called Alco), and bought all varieties of cotton fabric, mostly striped. I made a dozen or so very simple costumes - just two straight pieces sewn together, leaving armholes and head opening. Add a simple tie belt, and you're good to go. I don't think I took any pictures of this first endeavor, or had anyone take them for me.

Then came the day that I went looking for those costumes for the next performance. They were nowhere to be found. After a considerable amount of sleuthing, I realized that boxes of used clothing being gathered for our Native American friends in Arizona and New Mexico had been gathered in the same room where I kept the props for the plays. I had a sickening feeling as I realized that our costumes had made their way to the reservation. I called the elderly woman pastor on our district, who had once worked with the Indian people and went down every year with the gifts, if she thought my suspicions were correct and the costumes had ended up down there. She said it could very well be, and if so, "Why, honey, they're probably wearing them and tickled to death to have them!" I knew I had to start all over again.

One year I thought it would be fun to have a choir performance instead of a play - I hunted high and low and finally found a pattern that would work for kids' choir robes. We had a marathon session of our young mom's Bible study group, where we cut out the patterns. Then we seamstresses each took about 6 robes home to sew. I was amazed at the difference in how they turned out - we made large bows for the girls, and small knotted ties for the boys.

Then one year we used the robes again for a smaller choir and a pageant on the side. That's one of my nephews doing the solo.

This isn't my favorite shot of myself, but I loved this outfit I made for the occasion. You seamstresses, please note the carefully matched plaid on the bias! And that's Kristen in the left background. She had accompanied at least one song with her flute.

The robes lived on for years as angel costumes, by adding gold or silver garland around the neck and bottom of the robes, when other leaders took over the musicals - as my children aged out of the children's group I stayed on for a few more years, then felt it was time for someone else to have the privilege! It's kind of like pregnancy - the performance is rather like the birth of the baby, where you forget all of the pain and labor. You swear you'll never do THAT again, but soon you are ready to "birth" another performance.

We did this next musical twice - it was so much fun. It was called "Get On Board, Children," and was the story of Noah and the Ark, with the premise of "What do you do on a rainy day in an ark?" if there are lots of children on board. You can see the replacement costumes I had to make for the ones that went on a trip to Arizona or New Mexico. The animal costumes were loaned to us by a church in Illinois. The kids provided their own footie jammies and brought the great variety of stuffed animals. I just noticed Pink Panther leaning against the baptistry in the back - do you think he was really on the ark?? (Oh, great - now I'll be singing that song in my mind all day!)

Here is Yours Truly doing a very rare solo as Mrs. Noah.

Another nephew designed the cover for the programs -

I found some really great cookie cutters in all sorts of unusual animal shapes, so the Bible study group again pitched in and made hundreds of decorated sugar cookies for a snack time after the performance.

I'll never forget the Christmas one we did called "Ebenezer, Jr.", which was a take-off on the Scrooge story, of course. We actually did this one twice as well. The second one ended up being my Swan Song - my last hurrah. My favorite thing to say about that play - if it is true that a lousy dress rehearsal means a great performance, this should have been the best ever. Kev was playing the teen-age lead and wasn't thrilled with the idea. He waited till the very last minute to learn his lines - and had to be prompted on a few, as I recall. The woman playing the mother in the story got sick that day and had to be replaced at the last minute - and we didn't exactly have understudies waiting to jump in with lines learned! But nobody else noticed all the problems.

It has been so much fun watching others take on the mantel and keeping children's musicals a big part of our church.

The twins got some new toys this week and have had so much fun experimenting and learning - and being happy for more than two minutes at a time!

For more Friday Show and Tell stories, stop by Kelli's blog, There Is No Place Like Home.

Have a great week-end!

Friday Show and Tell - and Twin Update

Today is #6 in my series called "I Used To . . . " It has been such a fun journey for me, and I hope you're enjoying it as well. This episode is about the matching outfits I enjoyed making for my family over the years. When Kristen was born, I began having fun making her outfits from the same fabric as mine. This was the first one when she was 4 months old.

The next one was for Mother's Day, when she was 5 months old. I can't get over how dark my hair got during each pregnancy.

This was our first Christmas with her - I'll never forget the excitement when I went shopping for this fabric and lace with my little monthly allowance - yes, I had an allowance. Sorry if you're young and think that sounds terribly uncool! That's the way it was.

When Kev came along, I didn't sew as much for him, but on occasion, I just couldn't resist matching the two of them. Kristen was 4 and Kev 2 in this first one.

We made this snapshot into a t-shirt for Daddy. Don't you just love the decorative garden hose??

I made these when Kristen was 5 and Kev almost 3.

I love this one of them standing in front of that Austrian Pine that's at least 30 feet tall now.

I should have shot this picture before they became a bit disheveled - they're trying on Uncle R's shoes - he's the tallest one in my sibling's shot that I showed in my last post - he wears about a size 13 shoe.

Then there was the Christmas when they were 5 and 3 - Daddy got into the picture this time. Doesn't Kev looked thrilled about his new plaid flannel shirt??

I don't have the year marked on this one, but I think they're about 7 and 5 in this picture - the outfits aren't totally matching, and I wish you could see them in their entirety - I think these are two of my favorite outfits I ever made - the patterns were extremely detailed (I am blanking on the name, but I know someone out there can refresh my memory - does Laura Ashley sound right?), and I was very proud when I finished them. That's our little dog, Fritzie, who was such a huge part of our family.

Last but not least, here is Kristen with two of her cousins and her Cabbage Patch doll, who is wearing an outfit matching hers. I hope to do a post on some more of the clothes I made to match her outfits for a different doll. She was 10 at this time.

The twins had their 7 month check-ups and they are doing just great - they are developmentally right on target - they aren't even talking about "adjusted age." The girlies are "talking" and blowing bubbles and rolling around, and Katie is really close to sitting up. They are about 10.5 and 11.5 pounds - are just about to grow out of 0-3 month clothes, and are in size 1 diapers. I love these two shots - holding hands . . .

. . . and playing footsie . . .

For more Friday Show and Tell stories, stop by Kelli's blog, There Is No Place Like Home.