Friday, February 1, 2013

My Funny Valentine

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Valentine’s Day is approaching quickly now…February is here!

So, with few {relatively!} words and many {literally!} pictures, I have more of my Valentine journal to share with you today…

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Favorite images and quotes chosen

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All the pinks and reds of Valentine’s Day represented—along with hearts & flowers galore…

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Even a vintage spinner Valentine—remembering the girlish thrill of wondering just what would happen on Valentine’s Day…

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Colonial-style sweethearts and the Queen of Hearts, of course!

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So fun to play, once again, with Valentines like I did when I was a younger girl…

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But now, of course, I know who my Valentine—and that’s the sweetest thing of all

Julie

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Birthday Thoughts

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I always remember wishing, when I was a young girl, that my birthday had been just one day later…

Vintage birthday candle holders!

One’s birthday is a magical thing, isn’t it?  That month, that date…always carries a sweet music to your soul, doesn’t it?

Your own very special day.

A darling vintage birthday greeting card. #vintage #birthday #card #cute

The day after my birthday had just as much of that sweet music to me as mine did…

Baby Rudger Grant Smith, 1910

My grandpa, Rudger, was born January 31, 1910.  He would be 103 tomorrow…

Birth announcement for Rudger Grant Smith, 1910

To announce his long-anticipated  birth, his beautiful mother, Pauline, sent out postcards.  Beautiful, Edwardian, gilded postcards--and we have one of them…

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“Mother & son doing fine—son sends love to Aunt Pearl”, it says, in Pauline’s lovely hand…

Rudger grew up to be a wonderful son, a wonderful brother…

Rudger & Andrew, 1915

…a wonderful husband, a wonderful father.  And best of all?  A very wonderful grandfather…

Rudger G. Smith

I think one of the reasons he was so special to me—the reason I was always so thrilled to have my birthday the very day before his—was that he never failed to let me know how very much he loved me.

 Rudger with birthday cake

And that’s a very wonderful thing.

So on this birthday of mine—one year short of the age he was when I was born--I’ll  be thinking about that wonderful grandfather of mine as I enjoy the day with my family.  Think I’ll make sure they all know how very much I love them…

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…and then I’ll jump right into that birthday cake!

Wishing you all magical, wonderful birthdays—whenever they may be!

Julie

{birthday candles, vintage card & candle holder images found on Pinterest}

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Monday, January 28, 2013

Stitches in Time

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Kind hands, one day in 1892, placed this beautiful, pink sewing kit in Anna’s little girl hands…

Anna Meier Brandly young

We don’t know who the woman behind the kind hands was.  An aunt maybe…a motherly, caring neighbor?

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Whoever that good soul was knew that Anna’s mother had died just the year before, and perhaps she needed a little help beginning the life-long love of needlework that she was to have…

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Whoever she was,  Anna was very grateful, as is shown in the careful way she used, and kept, and handed-down this sweet memento of her childhood…

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And my mother and I are grateful, too.

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130 years old now, the little pink sewing kit hangs today in my mother’s room on her armoire…no hiding in a box or cedar chest…heirlooms always out in the open for all to love and touch…{it’s such a gift to FEEL history…}

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…loved through the years…a bit threadbare in places, but beautiful, nonetheless.

Here’s my young mother, Karen, about the age that her grandmother, Anna, placed the little pink sewing kit in her little girl hands, about 1949.

Here she’s holding Anna’s childhood doll that I’ve told you about before {even older than the sewing kit!}

Karen & her Grammie's doll, 1946 

That early gift of love from Anna to my mother possibly encouraged her love of sewing & creating that she’s enjoyed all of her life…

And then--

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When I was a little girl, I remember taking it into my room, sitting on my bed with it, and carefully feeling, with my little girl hands, the softness of the silk, looking through the beautiful blue bead as I held it up to the light streaming through my window--a treasure, carefully kept…

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…a silken cord-wrapped bracelet with simple blue glass bead attached…the perfect size for a little girl’s wrist…{I know.  It used to be my little girl wrist that would fit inside.  And Karen’s. And Anna’s.}

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The lovely pink, silk pouch with bone toggles, and just a little bit of embroidery left to be seen…

That still contains three VERY old pins…

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…and the little snips still kept in their own silken pouch…

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…still sharp as a razor {I tried them!}

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Such a sweet and precious little gift entrusted to one so young…but one who understood and kept it ever so carefully, so that it could be shared with those she would love in the future…

Julie