kind of danger

Do you know how to make a paper airplane?
My husband can seize a piece of paper and wrangle it into a small winged wonder that zips and soars.
Not me.
It seemed a deficit in my resume as a grandmother.
It seemed I SHOULD know how.
Martha Stewart to the rescue.
Her book of crafts for kids is an anthology of wonders and has TWO paper airplanes to master.
Of course!
I should have known I would need two.
One for distance and one for stunts.
The distance flyer soars fast and far.
Its pilot obviously thrives on danger because mid-flight usually includes a flip and the whole world is upside down.
The stunt flyer loops.
And in such a giddy, unpredictable way.
Sort of like a boom-a-rang.
It is just as likely to circle swiftly round and buzz past your ear as it is to loop to the left or right.
That's the kind of danger I thrive on.

still

Do you remember when it seemed as though everyone was painting on something wooden? On some country plaque or wooden angel or bear? There were shops all over that sold pre-cut pine pieces. They carried every possible shade of paint in little flip top bottles, stacks of pattern books and had classes galore.
An artist, Sherry Nelson, was producing books then.
She painted birds and butterflies, rabbits and roses, and all kinds of other garden beauty.
I loved her work and painted this large plaque to hang above a door way, back in those days of wood.
It was based on a pattern found in her book, Critters In My Garden.
Even though the country look came ( and cluttered up our lives) and went (crowded out by the next inevitable style), I love this painting and it hangs on high in my entry still.

mostly wooden

I used to paint things.

Mostly wooden. 

Things like Welcome signs.

This one was for my daughter's first 'place of her own.'

It was inspired by a Cecily Mary Barker sketch in the fly of one of her books.

The sketch had no color so I just went with the two colors my daughter was decorating with then.

A fairy blithe and bold with an armful of summer.

calico cuteness

Vintage calico cuteness for the girls of summer; A pink frock for one, and a fluttery top for the other.

one size fits all

Do you remember clothes you wore when you were a teenager? Or wished you wore? Or wished you hadn't worn?
I think clothes are a pretty big deal to most teenage girls.
I remember something that I wish I had worn.
Wish I had owned.
Still do.
It was a dress sewn by my sister.
I could sketch it in an instant.
I thought of it as The Granny Gown.
It had a peasant vibe.
Soft pink calico, with a scooped gathered neckline, an empire elastic gather and floor length.
It had a nightie vibe too I guess.
But isn't there something appealing about that?
The style of the dress, so softly gathered, was almost one size fits all.
And almost an any occasion style too.
It could be worn to school, to a party, to the beach, to church, shopping or to bed.
Now that is beyond versatile.
A wardrobe in one.

logo for life

Have you ever noticed that loving someone alters how you see everything around you. You are drawn like a magnet to all that reminds you of them. That is heady stuff if they are close and constant, but if they are far away it feels a lot like grief.
I remember when my daughter was away at school for a year. Far away. I couldn't bear to watch the TV shows she had loved. I couldn't cook her favorite meals.
There just seemed to be so much that reminded me of her, or the lack of her.
She has children of her own now, and I find myself just as smitten by them.
What they love becomes dear to me for their sake.
My little granddaughter loves hearts. Almost every art project is adorned with hearts, drawn in her own distinctive backwards loopy heart-ish way.
I've never been fond of hearts. Perhaps the heart happy eighties with country hearts stamped on walls and whittled out of wood are to blame.
It is strange then that I have felt a growing affection for heart shaped things. It is like recognizing my little granddaughter's signature, her logo for life.
Her love of hearts truly says something about her nature. She loves. Generously, with all her heart.

I love wooden things (because my Grandma did) and when I saw this necklace, wooden AND heart shaped, I happily pounced on it. I am imagining it restrung with gauzy pink ribbon.( my granddaughters favorite color)

sold

The souvenirs people wedge into their suitcases and cram into their take on luggage have a way of gravitating to the bottom of toy boxes or end their days languishing on dusty shelves in thrift shops. Treasures have a hard time holding their own it seems.
While foraging at MCC I saw amidst the seashell plaques and toothpick holders, a treasure from Timbuktu or somewhere else equally distant.
This tiny wooden trio.
They were glued with gusto onto a slice of tree limb.
I loved the little house and the trees so Erzgebirge but not on the ugly bit of wood.
Too bad.
They seemed glued on pretty tight too.
Could they be pried off? 

"What do you think?" I asked my sister, handing it over for her appraisal.
There was a fumble and she promptly dropped it on the floor.
Off shot the house.
Sold.