Patriotic Remembering

Today is Memorial Day
and the time to remember
those who have served
our country.  We think of
our fathers,
Elom and Elder,
who left loved ones
behind; thankfully
both made it home
from the
war and went on to
raise families of their
own.
Thank you!

We think of those who
made it home, but have
had injuries to deal with.



We think of our young
neighbor, Benjamin,
who is currently
recovering from gunshot wounds
recieved just a short time
ago in Afghanistan.
Thank you, Ben.

Knowing that there was a parade in our town honoring and
remembering those who have served and those currently enlisted,
we knew it was the right thing to go to show our support. 
Even Miss E got into the action by waving the flag and
clapping for the guests of honor!












Following the parade,
we headed home to make
an impromptu lunch with
hot dogs, potato salad
and the typical holiday fare.

But there had to be cake
with the patriotic colors of
red, white and blue. 
And Miss E had to help with
the decorating of said

cake.  The beauty of being
a grandmother came out
when she wanted the
strawberries to go where
she wanted them to go

and going with that
instead of in rows
like the flags' stripes
might be placed. 
She also insisted that
there be candles on the

cake, so we went with that, too.

And what song
to be sung with
the presentation of the
patriotic cake?
To the tune of
"Happy Birthday to You,"
we sang:

Happy Red, White and Blue,
Happy Red, White and Blue,
Happy Red, White and Blue,
Happy Red, White and Blue!

Thank you, again, to those of you who have served

to make our country safe and strong, past and present.

The Crafting Gene?

I've had my hunches for quite a while now that Miss E just might

have the crafting gene that I seem to have been born with.  She asks

for crayons, paper and play-doh whenever she visits. She knows her

colors and has her favorites.  (Not white, that's for sure - she always

wants it taken out of the pack and placed away from the other colors.)

Recently, we had a just-the-two-of us Girl's Night
and there was a secret plan of making her Mommy a gift.
I purchased (at the local thrift shop) an 8 x 10 white picture frame
and brought out the bin of pom poms.  Miss E had fun sorting
them into pastel colors, sorting out the reds, greens and bright
blues to the side.  Then out came the glue - she couldn't wait to get
going with that!

All around the frame went the pom poms.  I put the glue down
and she stuck the pom pom on the glue.  And so on until the frame
was covered.  Yes, I thought to myself, she is keeping going until
the project is complete!  This took about 20 minutes, and she
was still ready to craft more...so we moved on to the wrapping
paper for the gift then and there.

Two flower-shaped cookie
cutters were used to print
on the white paper.   She
wanted purple, so I mixed
together the red and the blue
paint.  A cork was used to
print the flower centers. 
The paper was ready, but had
to wait overnight to dry.

The first thing we did after
breakfast the next day was
to put the picture in the frame,
then into a box and then came
the wrapping.

It's ready for giving to Mommy now, and Miss E was pretty

excited about her secret gift even though her glance looks a

little ??? in the picture.

Can't wait for more adventures in crafting with Miss E,

that's for sure!

Jumping for Joy - Graduation Day!

Congratulations to our daughter
upon completion of her
Master's Degree
in
Math
and Science
Education awarded this past
Saturday!  Hoot-Hoot-Hip-Hip Hooray!


She has been working the past two years
in a program through the Illinois Institute
of Technology (IIT) and the Museum of
Science and Industry in Chicago.

Life has been busy busy for her,
to say the least.

Miss E got in the spirit of the day by wearing her

Mommy's special glasses.

Congrats to you, dear Anne!

We're all so very very proud of you!

Re-Fashionista!

Somehow, I just can't seem to let a good piece of clothing go! 

Take a look at what Miss E is wearing as she stands on the chair: 

it used to be one of my Mom's favorite shirts.

    (This is what the shirt looked like before I chopped it up.)

Using Butterick B5020, this is the finished product.

    



On a couple of the embroidered flowers I placed a backing of orange and hot pink fabric.

Also, green fabric was placed behind some of the leaf shapes.

To make the shoulder ties, I used the same pink and orange fabrics.
You can see the underside of the dress with the colored patches here.

This project reminds me of one of my favorite children's picture books:

I Had A Favorite Dress by Boni Ashburn (illustrated by Julia Demos)

in which a little girl has a dress that she loves and her Mama keeps altering
it into other clothes as she grows.  Miss E is going to have that happen as long
as her MeMo can operate a sewing machine!

In case you are interested in how others are refashioning clothing, check out
this website:
http://refashionco-op.blogspot.com/

Happy Re-fashioning!

"Happy Days" Jukebox (P*S*C* #48)

 Ii

Take a look at the lovely woman on the left: she's the daughter

of an inventor who changed the way a jukebox worked!

She is shown here in front one of the Seeburg jukeboxes at the

50's Grill restaurant near Golden Valley, Minnesota.

She is Wes's mother and here she stands in front of a Seeburg

 "Classic M100 C Model" jukebox. 

Her father, Carl Gunnar Johnson came from Sweden to America

from Trensum, Blekinge in 1910 as a 17 year old young man. 

Eventually he worked at the JP Seeberg Corporation in Chicago.

By the late1940s, Seeburg manufactured its popular

"trashcan-shaped" series of jukeboxes - and you have seen these

via the opening scene in the popular TV series HAPPY DAYS

in which the Fonzie made Henry Winkler very popular and Richie

Cunningham warmed the hearts of young nerds everywhere.!

The invention of CG Johnson involved the record-cleaning brushes that would swish
over the record and clean the grooves in it before returning the record to the holder.
Look closely and
you can see the little brushes in
black. You can also see the Seeburg
brand label to the right. 

Why is it that we love to return to the music and memories of the 1950s?
Is it because it was the decade we were born in?  Is it the songs?  Is it the
icons such James Dean and Elvis Presley?  Is it the burgers, fries, milkshakes,
and malts?  Is it the fashions....the poodle skirts?

Whatever it is, I like the 50s memories!

Chocolate malt, anyone?

Now About that Dala... (P*S*C* #48)

Chances are good that if you come from Swedish "stock" you will know what a Dala Horse is.

These wooden horses have a long history.  Around 400 years ago in the Dalerna Province in 

Sweden, woodcarvers fashioned these horses as toys for their children.  In January this year,

Luther College students gathered to take a class in Scandinavian arts and learn the craft of

carving.  Their horses have been on dispay in the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis,

ending their "run" shortly.  (As in today!)  Joining in the exhibit were others who had carved
horses independently or with their fellow woodcarvers --- not sure how that worked exactly.

Here you can see some of the carved horses.  Note the THING ONE and THING TWO

on the top left.

Grade schoolers also got into the Dala decorating!  The yellow one (left) done by Cindy used

a lot of trimmings and rick rack - a girl after my heart for sure!

Humor was apparent in many of the Dala renditions.  There was an Elvis Presley-ish horse that was titled "You Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dala" and a Dala Llama. Here we see the Dala Parton horse

complete with ample "bosombas."  Yes, they were carved right into the Dala!

Wes and his Dad enjoyed the exhibit.  Perhaps they, too, should take up the craft of woodcarving?  Some of our friends have:  Bill, Don and Kass and Mary to name a few.

Together they stand behind the huge carved Dala horse that was meant to be signed by names of visitors to the exhibit, as well as those who contributed their carvings to the show.

There was no room left for us to pen our names here.
Surely that means this exhibit has been a smashing success?

In all, there were well over 100 entries from all over --- near and far. Young artists, college students, grandparents, famous and not-so-famous, all had something to say with their pieces.

I especially liked this yellow Dala in an original carving rendition called "Nobel

Peace Prize Horse" and personally signed by former president

Jimmy Carter.

Let's hear it for the Dala Horse and the universal language of art!

Springtime in MN: Pink Suitcase Chronicles #48

Pink was happy to accompany us as we travelled north to Minnesota over the weekend! She basked out on the deck of Wes' parents apartment amidst the cheery red-checked ice cream chairs that we took on as a little project. We did leave her behind, though, as we celebrated at a Bavarian Restaurant the birthdays of two special 86 year olds...

...visited the American Swedish Institute (ASI) museum to see an exhibit of wood carvings (more on this in a future post), toured the grounds of the U of M Landscape Arboretum,

dined on burgers and fries at this grill,

and hosted a birthday party for a bunch of cool seniors.

Now we are once again home and filled with gratitude that

we have these dear people in our lives.