Family…a Link to Our Past, a Bridge to Our Future…

"In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.”  --Alex Haley

I’ve always been drawn to my ancestors…those who came before me, those who made me who I am…

I’m fortunate to belong to a family that appreciates these things, and from the time I was a young girl, I’ve been told the stories, showed the pictures, taken to the places where the stories and pictures took place…a wonderful childhood…

“The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.”  --Thomas Jefferson

My blog experience so far has been an extension of this great love of mine…I love to create vintage-style cards and be reminded by the images I use of my family…those here now, and those long gone.  To me, it’s another way to preserve these memories, and share them with my family…and you.

Today, I made a card with one of my favorite old family photos…

This is the Ostlund Family, taken about 1906.  My grandfather, Dow, would be born 6 years later…I love this sweet family scene.

My great-grandmother, Anna Brandley Ostlund, the mother in the photo,  is very dear to me.  I was so grateful to have been able to know her…

She was born in 1882 and had such an amazing and full life.  I love these early photos of her…

She was born to Johann Theodore and Marie Elizabeth Braendli, both Swiss immigrants, well-skilled in the  baking arts.  They ran a bakery in a small town in southern Utah when Anna was a girl.

                             {Anna & her brothers}

In her life, she would live in a chicken coop for a time due to hard family circumstances while her father was far away in Europe (her mother wouldn’t write and tell him…didn’t want to worry him!), lose her mother when she was still a young girl, leave the west for a new home in Canada when she was 16, run a frontier general store…

Marry a handsome barrister, Hjaldermar, of Swedish parentage…become a wonderfully loving mother and grandmother…and end her life in Arizona, surrounded by family who loved her.

Many more stories for other days…

“Family faces are magic mirrors.  Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future.”—Gail Lemet Buckley

When I look at Anna,

I see my the woman who’s eyes and nose would instantly turn red with emotion whenever we walked into her home for a visit…I see my mother who resembles her so much (my mother has her nose and eyes, which turn red the same way when she’s emotional…I love that!)…I see my youngest daughter, Anna, who is named for her.

Thank-you for letting me share my feelings and more of my family memories with you…

One more card before I go today…

“Together is a wonderful place to be”, it says…perfect, isn’t it?  This beautiful image is from Crafty Secrets’ “Family” Vintage Postcard Kit.  Instead of making a wall hanging out of it, I decided to place it on a card…maybe this will go to my Mom (so many of my cards end up with Mom!)

Some lace, grosgrain & gingham ribbon, glitter (of course!), Dazzling Diamonds, and that’s about it!

Hope you’re having a beautiful weekend, and I’ll see you back here soon with something new…

***Just wanted to add a bit about our on-going theme on modesty...you can read what other Mothers have to say by going here....

I have so many thoughts on the subject that I'll be sharing with you in weeks to come.  To go along with my earlier words on this post, when I look at the image of my great-grandmother....modesty personified. 

There is something so inwardly--and outwardly--beautiful about a modest woman.  There is a glow.  Confidence that she knows herself and what she's meant to be.  There is no need to go along with the trends of the day, to conform to what society tells her is "normal".

This is the kind of beauty I want my daughters to possess.  Classic beauty.

Julie

A Sweet Baby...and a Big Pot of Beans

Happy Saturday! Hope you're all having a wonderful day with family. We've had fun today--hardly home at all. I love busy days, but I DO love being home...especially on days like today. Suddenly, it really feels like fall! It's chilly, and even my cozy flannel shirt wasn't warm enough today at my daughter's soccer game.

Just got one project to share with you today, I've got more in the works (too many more!) but nothing ready to show you yet!

I love these new Vintage Postcard Kits from Crafty Secrets--what's not to love?!!! This one, "Baby Girl", is just filled with precious, vintage images. This one is especially dear to me--looks just like the cover of my old, satin-covered baby book. Wish I could find it...it's around here somewhere!

I sponged the edges with my favorite "Vintage Photo" ink, surrounded the chipboard with pink pom-pom trim, added just a touch of Dazzling Diamonds to the star-shaped image at the bottom.

Here's a close-up of my favorite part--I just thought to add a little sentiment in the old-fashioned looking baby name beads and to put them on safety pins. Love the way it turned out! Then I added another vintage touch--those sweet paper flowers I remember so much as a little girl. I used to love these, and had a little basket filled with them.

Now, I'm off to fix dinner. Been cooking pinto beans today, and we'll be having huevos rancheros for dinner. We like to do breakfast dinners once in a while--a fun switch!

I'll share my Grandma Smith's bean recipe with you--very simple, and SO delicious!
Here's a young picture of my beautiful Grandmother--LONG before she was a grandmother... I just love this picture, so thought I'd add it here.

Ruby LaPriel Riggs Smith


My Dad tells me that almost every Friday, she would cook up a big pot of pinto beans, and then they'd have a simple meal of deliciously soft and warm corn tortillas, the beans and some homemade chili, which I usually prepare with it. I'll share that with you next time I make it.

I love cooking traditional family meals for my family--helps me to feel connected with the generations past. This is one of those for me--simple, but special, and I think of my Grandmother each and every time...

Here's what you do for some of the BEST beans you will ever eat!



Take a 4-lb. bag of pinto beans--rinse them well and add to a large pot of water. Add a fair amount of salt (a few shakes!) and let them soak, covered, overnight. As soon as possible the next morning, bring them to a boil. Add a stick of butter--yep, that's the secret! Then, just let it simmer till the beans are nice & soft. Heavenly!

(You can obviously use a smaller bag of beans--I just do a big bag as my family loves Mexican food, and we'll probably use the beans for 3 different meals throughout the week.)

My husband likes to take some of the beans, mash them up and make refried beans--I let him do this part--makes him happy!

Well, that's it for tonight. Hope you have a wonderful evening with those you love. I'll be back soon with something new.

***Funny how things all seem to be connected.....I was just reading over my post to see if I'd messed anything up in my hurry to get it done, and I thought of my Grandma Smith again...and remembered my Mom telling me this little thing... This won't be interesting to anyone else but my family, probably, but I really wanted to add this here.

I was the first grandchild born to both sides of the family--a big deal was made, of course! Once, my grandma convinced my young parents to leave me with her for a while & go do something together--don't recall what they did, but after they left, she called & arranged for a photographer to come to her home and take portraits of me. I have probably 3 or 4 sheets of proofs from that day--I love them! Here's one I'll post, taken on my grandparent's bed, all those years ago. They are both gone long ago, Grandma when I was only 3 1/2 years old, but I still have a little girl's memories of her...So a "sweet baby" and a pot of beans have a connection after all...and I started this post thinking they had nothing at all in common.....