Happy 85th Birthday, Daddy!

Today, eighty five years ago,
my daddy, Robert Alexander,
was born!

Wow! 85 years!

That's a very long time ago...

imagine all those decades

and all that has

come to pass in them.





Here he is as a Naval Aviator.

Of all the things he enjoys,

 remembering his Navy days

and his Navy Pals

is one of his top "likes".

He left Tulane University for the service.



When he was gone in the Navy for my first birthday, he sent me this drawing.
I still have it!



My favorite remembrance of him was in my eighth grade year.

He had been taking pictures

 (he has been a professional photographer for over 60 years)

somewhere and while driving through a town he spied a department store

with a mannequin in the window.

The mannequin had on a pink dress.

Long story short...

he bought it for my eighth grade graduation dress!

Right size, right color...hit the bullseye dead center.

I was delighted!



Here's the dress, second from the right.



When I was a senior in high school, I was co-Editor of the high school yearbook.

I was also taking a Home Economics III course,

and in those days we had "home" projects that were due every six weeks.

Another long story short...

I had an annual deadline AND a reversible vest due the next morning.

We had both completed at 8 a.m.

Daddy sewed the vest.

(I hope my home ec. teacher, Mrs. Davis, isn't reading this.)

Daddy gets up every morning with something to do.

He never just sits (I think that's genetic.)

After a Burger King breakfast...he's out and about.

Always on the computer, taking pictures, doing something..

He just purchased a saxophone (he played many years ago)

and has formed a quartet to entertain his friends at his apt. complex!

I could go on and on, but I will part with this...

Daddy, thank you for all you have done for us over the years.

We love you and wish you a wonderful day today!

Happy, happy 85th Birthday from us all!

I Am Trying Not To Lose My Marbles!

Speaking of Fathers and their day...my grandfather had an amazing collection of marbles. Thought you might like to see them...he kept them in a large glass container just as I do. Some of these would be approaching 100 years old.

This is a vintage lithograph that I had framed. I display it above the marble collection. These beautiful posters were used each week to illustrate a Bible verse in children's Sunday School classes.

#1 Grandson separated the marbles into colors for my "photo shoot".

Blues...

Some of my favorite blues...

Greens...and some favorites displayed on an old flower frog.


Love the earthtones...some are Bennington pottery marbles. They were made at the end of the day when all other pottery molds had been filled...the leftover clay was made into marbles. I have some wonderful blue ones also. They are pictured further below.

I really love the oranges and yellows...

Steelys (pictured below) were heavy and the ones used to shoot the others.

Swirls...

Then the infamous sulphide incident...

Quick story...when my son was 4 years old, he came in and said, "There's a chicken in this marble". "Sure there is," I scoffed. "I'll show you," he said. I heard him outside hammering...I thought, "Isn't he something, trying to build something...wait! NO! Not the marble!!!!" Yes, he was trying to get the chicken out of the marble to prove to me there was indeed a white one encased in the glass...I held it up to the light...there that sulphide rooster was...but he wasn't worth nearly as much as he was 5 minutes before.....ugh.

Can you see his outline in the pic above?

Bennington pottery marbles...

Some flea market marble finds...displayed with some miniature books and my grandmother's mini dictionary (top of box).

Could it be genetic that I love round paperweights? They are just big marbles!
Hope you have a good week...it's just hot as all get out down here in Mississippi. We sure could use a little rain...it'd make the tomatoes grow!

Join us at Treasure Chest Friday!

Don't lose your marbles,

Accordian Cards & Paperbag Summer Scrapbooks

I completely forgot about these two simple summer projects! You might enjoy one or both. Both are items that scrapbookers have been doing forever so you might have already seen them. In case you haven't....the first came about several years ago when #1 Grandson had to make a little scrapbook about himself for school...old Grandmother loves these challenges...so it was off to the scrapbook paper stash and photo boxes!

Assignment: Make a book all about yourself!

Finished project...starting with 1st birthday. There are some other pics on the back of the accordian.

Above is our Last page...a remembrance that even though we may suffer here on earth..there are surely better days ahead.

Sides are closed by red eyelets that I pounded in and tied with ribbons & beads.
The next accordian project was a Father's Day card for the Hubster.

It features old photos of his father who was lost in the Korean Conflict.

This card was shorter, but as meaningful.

Below is the Condensed (mercifully for you and me)..Tutorial for Accordian Cards

For the school assignment: I measured scrapbook paper and cut the "pages" into 8 1/2 inch long strips by 5 1/2 inch high strips. I cut 8 different colors of cardstock to make the pages. (I used white here for demo purposes.)

I folded the strips in half...so each page was about 4 1/4"x 5 1/2". "Martha" introduced me to the bone folder. I used it to make the creases very crisp. (Crisp creases are "a good thing".) You could use something else but they don't cost much and are great to fold cardstock.

Next, I glued the right front side of page one to the inside of page two. See above.

Page three was glued in two places, as pictured above. Does this make sense? I think the pics are easier to understand than my directions...BTW: I am directionally challenged. So it is with great effort that I do tutorials.

Make your accordian as long as you like but end as pictured above. I cut eight strips which gave me 18 pages...you may need more or less. Just begin and end correctly no matter what the length. The shorter Father's Day card had 3 strips of 6"x 12 1/2" strips. I ended up with 8 pages.

A reminder of what we were doing here!

Tutorials are NOT my thing!! Moving onward and upward....Brown Bag Scrapbooks are next...I used smaller bags than lunch bags and got the colored ones at Michaels or Hob Lob.

I have made several of these for new mothers for their hospital stay. I went ahead and added all the information so that all they had to do was "fill in the blanks"...for instance, I made a caption on one page that read, "This is the hospital where I was born". All they had to do was snap a pic and glue it in the appropriate place. I made a page for people that visited or were at the hospital for the birth to sign. All kinds of little bag books can be made for a special occasion...this isn't taking the place of a larger scrapbook...it's just a fun memento for something like prom, summer camp...drivers license, first date, etc.
After stapling the number of bags needed together on the left end, I covered the spine of the "book" with a piece of cardstock and scrapbook paper. I glued it heavily, clamped it and let it dry overnight. You may want to do this step at the very end...if so draw yourself a little pencil line on the left end of each bag to remind yourself to not cross over the line so you will have room to staple and glue.

This little book is our 2005 Summer book of memories. You may wish to turn some of the bags so that the bag opens to the right. I added pictures, tickets, other reminders of our days together in the bags for safe keeping. You will tie all the bags together at the end, so there's not much danger of losing anything special.

Pictures were taken all summer and then we took one afternoon to compose the book. I was once a Creative Memories Scrapbook rep...so I have a motherlode of stickers.

First trip down the hill by herself!

Summer baseball and MS Braves tickets from games with Gu.

I made holes in each of the end bags and attached eyelets. I threaded twine through the two bags and added beads to both ends of the twine. I made the twine very long. When the bow is untied, you can pull the book's pages apart without having to unthread the twine.

I could kick myself for not doing this every summer....life gets hectic....things happen...and all of a sudden you blink and everybody's grown and you think..."What was I thinking not to savor the moments? Why didn't I write down that funny quote that someone said?" When it's quiet and dare I say, lonely...it's those moments that you'd have the time to look back and remember that summer that grandson got his driver's permit or the time granddaughter asked me for all the world to hear in Big Lots if I had on my underwear?

I don't know what's holding you back...but carve out a little niche of time...to savor and preserve. Someday somebody will thank you...you might even thank yourself!

Preserve those memories,
Angela

* Grandson Gets His Driver's Permit (and I live to tell about it)

I vaulted out of bed. Friday was the culmination of weeks of testing, reading, studying and gathering information for the REALLY BIG day for Grandson...I couldn't be late. We were meeting his mother at 7:15 (am) to pick up his birth certificate. I didn't have to call him twice for breakfast...he was ready in a flash.

Out the door we flew, met his mom, secured the document and then it was on to the Drivers License station. We jumped out of the car (in order to stand in line for 25 minutes) and were positioned third in line. We were behind a young man in a demonic shirt of some sort and in front of two Bikers for Jesus.

It looked like an after Christmas sale at the mall when the door opened. Taking a number, it wasn't long before they called us to the desk. Boy, had I outsmarted everyone in the county...this would be a piece of cake. AND I could make the funeral I was supposed to attend later in the day...it was a GREAT idea getting to the station so early... we had all our paperwork... but wait...WHAT?! This lady said we were missing a document from the DRIVERS ED TEACHER! Now, for those of you who don't know it..that DE instructor is no less than MY Hubster...grrrrrrr. Out of line, back into the car, up to the school to get said document.

Arriving back at the testing station, we took another number...NOT #3...I might add. As I took the number (#104 I might add) the lady at the desk casually offered, "Oh, the testing computers are down...would you like to come back another day?" "Another day? Surely you jest," I proffered. Nope I was determined...this was a BIIIGGG day. Come back another day...please...Not on your life, lady. We sat....and sat....and sat. Finally our number came up and all the testers were civil servants.... except ours...we got the highway patrol lady. She peered over her glasses at me...a date was missing here. Oh, help me...I thought I'd checked everything a hundred times...there were reams of paper here...just fill in the date and be done with it. (Somehow she knew I was his grandmother. I think she sensed my panic and determination to see this thing through to the end.)

Then we got the lecture about the man who didn't wear his glasses and got a $200 fine. Grandson had his new glasses perched strategically on his nose, so he was all ears (and eyes). Then she said it...the computers had come up but they were down again...did we want to wait? Sure we do...we've only been here since 7:30 and it's now 9:15...yes, yes, we will wait. And wait, we did...and waited and waited.

Suddenly we heard his name called and the lady shouted, "Hurry, the computers are up. Go!" I was standing, yelling for all 1,000 people in the place to hear, "Don't hurry! Take your time!" The testing lady said, "Go, go now!" He turned and looked at me perplexed, did he hurry or take his time? He hurried. (I meant take your time on the test.)

I changed chairs so I could position myself to watch him take the test in the glassed in testing room. ( I am sort of a hoverer.) All the computers had phones attached...what in the world? All of a sudden everybody who had been waiting filled the testing room with Grandson. Most picked up the phone, but not him. Oh, no...he doesn't understand he's to pick up the phone. He was working like a trojan...you can't miss but 5 questions and still pass. Another day at this place loomed large in my mind. I don't think I can come back here again...it's rather depressing. After what seemed like an eternity, he picked up the phone! And just as quickly, he was through. He only used the phone for a second. Oh, no! He walked over to me and said, "They cut me off at the 27th question."

I was hot under the collar, "WELL, that's not our fault...they are going to have to do something about this!" I rose and went to the desk. "They cut him off at #27...that's not his fault...what now?" I questioned. The lady looked at me and very courteously said, "That means he passed."

"Oh, well, um, thank you." Another picture was needed (he blinked three times before...it's the glasses or maybe the camera I think) and suddenly, he had the golden card in his hands! We were finished and it was only 10:25. He read every letter and line on that card.

I whipped out my camera and took celebratory pictures, much to his chagrin and then as we were pulling out of the parking lot, I asked, "BTW, what was with the phone? Why didn't you use it?" He said, "That's if you need somebody to read you the questions. At the end, I just wanted to see what it sounded like." Oh, in that case....

And that was that....Go, Grandson!!!....you are now officially "permitted" to drive with a DE instructor! You have a very good one!

Being a grandmother is a lot like eating a box of chocolates (if I may borrow a phrase)...you never know what you are going to get on any given day...THIS day was chocolate with caramel inside! :)

May you arrive early for all your appointments,

My Great Grandmother's Handwork

I must say my life has been pretty low-key the past few days...I am still in the middle of "purging" my closets and I am not sure how much longer I can stand all the excess that is spilling out into the hall and other rooms. I am determined to do it right and this means I will just have to suffer "the visual noise" for a few more days!


While organizing my pictures, I thought it might be nice to show you some of my Great Grandmother Sallie Atkinson Whitfield's handiwork. She was quite the seamstress and a poet! (I may have inherited something from her, but not her height or build...can somebody say "skinny"...after 8 or 9 children?! Yikes)


As a teenager, Sallie sewed not only her own clothes but the clothes of her 8 younger brothers and sisters.I am privileged to have a precious blue stripe "day" dress and a blue checked gardening bonnet of hers. Below is a picture of a picture I quickly snapped in the hall, without proper lighting, behind glass and my battery pack in the camera was dying! However, it is my Granddaughter Gracie wearing her Great, Great, Great Grandmother's blue bonnet. (I will post a better rendition of this picture later! )



Miss Sallie began dressing china dolls in 1938 well after she was 60 years old. My own grandmother, Edna Whitfield Alexander, was able to keep that doll collection of over 60 dolls intact until a few years before she herself died. The china heads, hands and feet were from Germany and the bodies were muslin stuffed with sawdust. Grandmother Whitfield copied Victorian costumes from the famous Godey's Lady's Book. (This magazine was probably the most influential woman's magazine of its time. Hand-tinted foldouts showed the Victorian lady the most up to date fashions.) Her dolls ranged in size from 10-24 inches and were shown throughout the south and the east including Washington, D.C. Below are two pictures. The first is the cover of the National Geographic that included a picture of my grandmother and the dolls and the second picture is the one that actually appears in the 1951 magazine. (Grandmother is third from the left.)




A 1985 news article stated,
"Each doll wears the authentic hairstyle of her period and each little costume
hides tiny cotton pantalettes and slips trimmed with lace and ribbons. Accessories
include bonnets adorned with ribbon and tiny silk posies, parasols, fans and
handkerchiefs."


Some of the dolls from my collection are pictured below. If you appreciate beautiful detailed handwork, you would love to see these "up close" and personal!

I keep this doll under a hand blown glass dome. She is over 73 years old. Her black silk dress is beautifully beaded. She carries a silk purse and has tiny lace and flowers on her bonnet.



Many dolls were special ordered and purchased by ladies throughout the southeastern United States. Below is a picture of a doll with a note attached. My G Grandmother did not select this material and felt the plaid was out of scale to the doll. The doll was in a special collection in Springfield, Illinois.


Below are some of the smaller dolls in their day dresses.







The baby in the cradle was similar to a Frozen Charlotte doll. The cradle was made by my father for his mother's little doll. Many of the fabrics have faded over time.

I have a postcard featuring the dolls. The cards were sold in various shops around the south. You can see the various details of some of the dolls on the postcard below. One of my favorites is the doll in the green on the left with the purple parasol. (That's Victorian speak for umbrella!)



These little beauties were much trouble! They wore silk, which frayed easily over the years. They had to be stuffed with tissue when packed and everywhere they went they caused quite a commotion! However, you can see why I love them and try to treat those I have left in my possession with the very best of care. I hope GG Sallie would be pleased!