Category Archives: flashback

Mar18

Family time

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Sean drove me down to my brother Ken’s to get my van which he had inspected. It still had a bunch of sleet/snow on it, so Ken and his pal knocked it off-Sean did a little. He’s not much on pitching in. I swear I didn’t teach him that if you get my drift. We gave my nephew Kenny his presents for his upcoming 11th birthday on the 23rd. He liked the rock and roll t-shirt we found for him at the Gap store (he only wears short sleeved shirts) and a little cash. I also made him an Art Trading card and he liked that too. I forgot to photograph it. I have one for Tori all made up for her 8th birthday on April 11th. Then Sean played Playstation2 with Kenny and I talked with Tori while she watched The Disney Channel-her eyeballs were glued to it. : ) Tori and Colleen went to a rollerskating event and Sean and I stayed to visit with the two Kens a little longer. Ken got out the video of when he was cleaning an engine that he had taken out of my Ford Montego back in 1983. He was only about 15-16 yrs old. Then there were footage of him in his prized 1964 Ford Falcon (I know a lot about Fords) and he was peeling out making the tires spin and the exhaust filled the air. The guys got a good laugh.

Ken said he was worried about my mom too and the quality of her home life, said she was pale with black circles around her eyes when he saw her on Friday. He and his pal walked around her yard (after they plowed her driveway) and also saw some damage on her house and her shed roof caved in from all the sleet/snow’s weight. He said he’d fix up the outside but not the inside. I knew I’d have to persuade her to get rid of things. Ken said mom is so stubborn. Makes you sit back and look at your own acquired stuff-speaking of which…

…our basement is a bit discombobulated as Brian spent the day making a path for the furnace guys. Some of my neatly stacked Christmas things got moved here and there. I was going to postpone them coming as I thought we had more to move. I see a few more things that may be in the way. We acquired a lot of junk
stuff in the last 20 years. Oy.

Feb20

Cape May, NJ and other beaches, etc.

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The crusty snow is still around us. I keep taking trips down ‘memory lane’ and today it’s ventured to the beach. I’m having sinus problems now (especially on the right where I had the new crown inserted), so I wish I was taking a deep breath of fresh salt air. We are experiencing warmer temps today, so that means the heat won’t run as much! Yeah!

When you live in suburban Philadelphia, taking summer trips to the New Jersey shore is just something that you do almost every year. If you don’t go just one year, you miss it!

I love Cape May where the streets are lined with Victorian houses. We stayed in one only once-Poor Richard’s Inn– (the room we stayed in on the second floor has been redone since 1999).

Poor Richard’s Inn, Cape May, NJ

The parking is horrible, but to sit on the porch on the second floor and watch the people go by at night was pretty neat. So was using the bathroom down the narrow, winding staircase (reminded me of a cover of a Nancy Drew book). The beach was a stone’s throw away.

Sean and me a long time ago

Lately we’ve headed to the beaches of Delaware and Maryland for a change of pace. We live about an hour closer. My brother and his family go to Ocean City, MD every year. It’s a huge place and you hardly feel crowded out while sunbathing and enjoying the ocean. Unfortunately, the Jersey beaches tend to get crowded-well Wildwood has such a wide beach, so not so much. The boardwalks are usually crowded at night. People walking off sunburns and eating fattening foods like salt and vinegar fries or huge ice cream cones seem to be in a happy, but tired daze. I love to look out on the dark expanse of beach and to hear the waves crashing on shore. Sometimes there are bands on the beach and that’s a cool experience to stand in the dark watching the lit up stage. I also love to walk by the outdoor restaurants and check out what people are noshing on.

I always have to go to the cross stitch shop on 8th and Broadwalk called ‘Salty Yarns’ when we vacation in OC, MD. It’s a pretty decent shop and I always have to get ‘a prize’ to remember my trip to the beach.

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I have some bananas that need to be used or tossed. I figure if I make a cake that will get my mind off my sinuses. I found a recipe for a pineapple/banana cake. Yum! Toto is watching over that piece I just cut!

Pineapple banana cake

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Ice falling off vehicles has been a terrible hazard around these parts! There have been a few people on the news, one of which was a 2 yr old boy-so sad-his lips were all swollen from a hunk of ice that flew off a van (his mom said the size of her windshield) and crashed into their windshield! Mom is 38 weeks pregnant. Was she ever lucky just to have cuts on her face.

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and to end on a happier note (while I hope the music has helped)
Jo, my heART winner received her goodies-they all arrived in New Zealand fine. Thanks for the nice post Jo!

Feb17

Photo Hunt-ANTIQUE

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I have two things, one I know a little about and the other I know nothing about. Bri thinks the binoculars belonged to his grandfather. I like how worn and used they look. I found the beaded oval piece at a tail gate sale and just liked it because it was old and handmade. I wonder if it was on a dress or hat or what decade it came from? These are little treasure I keep tucked inside my curio table.

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field binoculars

Beaded piece

Feb16

Sparked a memory

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This is a rewrite as wordpress got the hiccups when I was in the middle of writing before.

 

Bill Henley, one of the NBC10 tv guys, was in a community service ad this morning and mentioned the Crystal Tea Room. When we were little kids, especially around Christmastime, mom and my grandmom would take us first to John Wanamakers. This was a top notch store in downtown Philadelphia. We first had to drive down to 69th St and then take the el train which was fun and scary at the same time. When we reached our destination, we usually caught the light show on the main floor. Then we headed up to the 9th floor where the Crystal Tea room was (mom updated me with this info). It was so elegant and beautifully decorated. We usually had tea sandwiches (which I still love) which consisted of chicken salad, tuna, deviled ham or cucumbers. And I believe we had soup too. The menu was quite brief, one side of a menu. For dessert, we had a snowball with the fake holly leaf to adorn the top. We thought we were special. The snowball was vanilla ice cream rolled in coconut. The store was smart to have the art supply/toy area near the restaurant as we always got a drawing tablet and one of those fat ink pens that held about 10 multi-color inks.

 

Here is what the tea room looks like today, very much like what I remember:

Wanamaker’s Crystal tea room

Feb12

Art card for Sunday

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Series-Family snapshots-#2

Engaged!

I was sorting papers and found a very yellowed copy of Bri and my engagement announcement from December, ’82. Bri’s aunt had sent it to us over last summer, but we had a few of them already. This was kicking around-so what did I think to do-make an art card! I was going through my Princess Di look featuring short hair with brush over bangs and the Victorian style tops. Town talk is the name of the paper.

Feb10

Photo Hunt-Broken

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This is a mosaic frame that I made from broken pieces of my grandparents good china as a Christmas gift for my mom. There wasn’t that much left of the china (a few dessert dishes) and I was into mosaics and had this lovely photo of Ruth and Alan.  My grandfather Alan died 6 weeks after I was born, so I only know him through photos like this. He use to write short stories and tried to get a few published, but never did. I know if blogs had been around back then, he would have enjoyed writing in one.

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Mosaic frame I made

Feb8

Art cards are awesome!

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Art card sample
(this one’s for Sean as he is a ‘good egg’)
I was telling you about art cards in my previous post. At 2 pm today I gathered my materials and got to work. It took me a while just to get the cards the right size! I used pretty heavy duty ‘homemade’ paper with gold flecks in it. I also utilized one of my old picture books and cut neat ‘things’ from it. I’ve made 6 already! The first five had the same theme and I will reveal them to you after I share them with my pals. #6 is an old photo of my mom as the central theme. I’m still working on it. I’ll probably give it to her. My creativity faded after a few hours, but I am excited to make more!

On an interesting note, I had posted names of people from my past and actually heard from a woman who I use to babysit in the 70s. She didn’t remember me. Actually her sister must have googled her own name and my post came up. Brian said what did I expect, the last time they saw me they were like 7 and 4. ; )

So sorry to hear about Anna Nicole Smith. I’m curious to see what happened and hope it wasn’t drug related. We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando almost 2 yrs ago and just can’t think of anyone going there to do themselves in. I feel bad for the little 5 month of girl she left behind.

Jan6

Photo Hunt-MEMORY

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I went through my old photo album last year (that mom has at her home) and pulled some memory provoking photos to scan and enhance. This is a birthday party for my brother Don and me. He is holding the ‘Puck Luck’ game and I am smiling big next to him. My dress was a peach chiffon. Most of the kids are from the neighborhood, a few are from school and one is a cousin. Don and I shared a few birthday parties as we are one year and nine days apart. I believe this is 1965 or 1966. My mom still lives in this house. Can I name all the kids? Yes, but not the older girl in the back with the glasses-she’s an older sibling of someone. : )

Dec30

ABCs of me

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When I got up this morning there was almost a near disaster. I knocked into something on the end table and it hit Brian’s coffee mug (which I begged him never to place over my cross stitch stuff). Most of what was left in the mug went on the rug (oh great) and an old mailing envelope. I found a dot of coffee (so far) on a scrap piece of white aida. Whew.
Brian decided to move his childhood desk into the bathroom in the basement. He has some attachment to a rather ugly piece of furniture. It doesn’t look right in there. The reason he moved it is that I want to set up a big table for crafting in a finished room we have. The problem is the room is loaded with junk-mostly old toys! So he just pulled the desk out and everything fell over. I sure hope I can use the room and my allergies won’t get the best of me. I can at least start projects down there and store my gifts on the table. I can’t have them in my small bedroom anymore.
Brian had on the funeral service for Gerald Ford earlier. One funeral was enough for me in one week. I wonder if Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford were there as they were pals with the Fords? Katie Couric and another reporter were saying that Ford and Jimmy Carter were friends too. I didn’t know that.

The ABC’s of me -nabbed from Barbara’s blog, Mainly Stitching.
A – Available or single?:
Married a long time : )
B – Best Friend?:
Bri as male, Mom as female
C – Cake or pie?:
Devil’s food cake with white icing or
yellow cake with chocolate icing
D – Drink of choice?:
Always brewed iced tea with lemon and the pink stuff
E – Essential item I use every day:
My computer.
F – Favorite color?:
Aquamarine
G – Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms?:
Neither-bad for my crowns
H – Hometown?:
Media, PA
I – Indulgence?:
A box of chocolates I make last a few months
or gift moola that I can blow in on anything
J – January or February?:
February because of Valentine’s Day
K – Kids and names?:
Sean Matthew
M – Marriage date?:
April 14, 1984
N – Number of siblings?:
3 brothers
O – Oranges or apples:
Apples all the way
P – Phobias or fears?:
Big spiders, low laying snakes
Q – Favorite quote:
Take it one day at a time.
R – Reasons to smile:
A funny show or movie that tickles me and whoever is watching it. Giving a gift someone really loves.
S – Season:
Spring.
T – Tag 3 or 4 people:
Anyone who reads this and wants to try it.
U – Unknown fact about me:
I couldn’t hardly type before we got a computer in ’93.
V – Vegetable you don’t like:
okra
W – Worst habit:
Procrastination-but I usually do whatever I am holding off doing.
X – X-Rays?:
Had a few
Y – Your favorite food?:
Chocolate or lobster
Z – Zodiac sign?: Scorpio

Dec28

Sad end of the year

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The three of us got up at the crack of dawn-no light-not our time of day at all. It’s cold and dark. But we did it for our family and to remember dear Aunt Berenice. We took separate vehicles as I went to get my mom and the guys had to be at the church a little earlier. It was nice to have quiet on the way down and not hear complaining about the early rising, etc.
B had 11 members of her immediate family there before her closed casket (what she wanted). They were pretty good, but Aunt Sue was a mess. She and B had been like sisters. The entire 25+ yrs I have know her, I haven’t seen her that upset. It was a nice mass with the priest recalling a newlywed B cooking ham and cabbage for the first time and forgetting to take it out of the can. : )
Mom and I didn’t go to the cemetery, but we drove around a little. Mom wanted to see the house that she lived in for 15 yrs in the same town. We were holding our breath, and lo and behold, it was still there and being renovated much to our surprise! I think that made my mom feel good.
We went to the family home (B’s daughter, s-in-l and two kids lived with her). Gerry, her daughter had beautifully decorated the entire place for Christmas-every nook and cranny. I was wondering if she would and she had started a few months ago. I never saw so many Christmas arrangements! I don’t plan to take my stuff down until January 6th or so-we call it ‘Little Christmas’. I go to a lot of trouble to decorate and taking it down too soon just won’t do. The only things that may come down earlier are the outdoor stuff.
So we visited a little and then headed home. Mom wanted to see her old friend’s house in the same town. We didn’t know that Bri and Sean were following behind us. They were wondering why we were turning here and there. Ha!
I left about 2:30 from mom’s and got stuck in a lot of traffic. I stopped off at Borders to get a few 50% off calendars-a watercolor one for mom and crochet, Victorian fairy and origami ones for me!