Heirlooms

I get a lot of joy from my family heirlooms.  Last Thanksgiving we served turkey on a platter that once belonged to my Great Grandmother, Leila Grace Witherspoon Webster.  The platter was from her wedding china, hand-painted by her sister in law, my Great Aunt Blanche Webster.

The carrots and stuffing were served in bowls from the set of china my Dad bought just after World War II in "occupied Japan".  The gravy was in my Grandma Finch's gravy boat & the rolls in George's mother's silver bread basket. 

I like to imagine my Great Aunt Blanche (I knew her) painting a set of china as a wedding gift for her brother Ed and his wife to be.  I picture my Daddy leaving his navy ship to shop in "occupied Japan" for a gift for his future wife.  My parents didn't get married until 1948.  Did Daddy have my mother in mind when he picked out the china?  Or did he picture someone else to be the recipient of this gift?  Or was it really intended for his mother, my Grandma?  It is her gravy boat that I use & it is not "fine china".  Grandma was a wonderful cook & in the tradition of many great cooks, never used a recipe.  I gave up trying to learn to make her light fluffy biscuits when she kept saying things like, "you just add the shortening until it looks right".   Would she be happy that the gravy I put in her gravy boat is homemade and not something from one of the  prepackaged gravy mixes?  And would she be proud of my homemade biscuits, even though they don't hold a candle to hers?  I can visualize George's Mom excitedly catching up with her college age children just home for Christmas from BYU as she set the table & used her pretty bread basket.

"Heirlooms are a conduit of love passed down through the generations."

For Mary

I was sick for a few days last week and spent my time on the couch watching TV.  I discovered the fun of watching HGTV and seeing all the amazing redecorating ideas for homes.  I have been wondering what I can paint or recover or "repurpose"!  George may ban me from this channel since I keep coming up with project ideas.  I have tried to convince him that it is better than spending hours watching the Travel Channel....you know "best Hawaiian Beaches", "best spas in the world", " the world's most luxurious hotels".  Those of you who know me well, know how dangerous that could be!

Anyway back to the point, I was talking to our daughter Mary tonight and telling her about this sudden urge to change something when she reminded me that she hadn't seen the changes I HAVE  ALREADY made to the house.   She hasn't seen the new paint in the dining room or the piece of furniture I inherited from my Aunt Mary & she hasn't seen her Dad's dragon that he got in China last May.  So this post is for you Mary!

Smiles

Here are a couple of things that have made me smile the last few days. Blogging helps me notice all the little joyful things around me in my normal, everyday life.  That is a blessing!

Watching four little birds enjoying my bird feeder!  There were actually five when I noticed them, but the little guy waiting his turn on the top of the feeder must have given up.

Matt and Scott deciding on their own to clean the basement with absolutely no 'encouragement' from their mother, who has been known to be a terrible NAG!

BC

BC is our 16 year old cat, cleverly named by our little children because she is a 'black cat'. That's what can happen when you allow your children to name a pet!  I recently read a couple of good quotes about cats that seemed a perfect accompaniment to a picture of our geriatric old girl!

The problem with cats is that they get the exact same look on their face whether they see a moth or an axe murderer.  Paula Poundstone

Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose. Garrison Keillor.

 We joke that BC is like a stuffed animal except one that you have to feed & clean up after.  Now in her "golden years", she spends most of her time sleeping in the exact same spot on a couch downstairs. Sometimes though she startles us with an ear splitting "meow" and when we go to see what horrible thing has happened to her, we discover her standing in front of a closed closet door that she absolutely needs opened that very second.  If her breakfast is a few minutes late her complaints could wake the dead.  Dare to disturb her sleep and she gives you a snippy little meow that I'm sure is cat cussing.  

I think her purpose the last 16 years has been to remind us of OUR purpose in life...which is to take care of her every need. 

 

Dogs look up to you; cats look down on you; pigs treat you as an equal.  Winston Churchill 

Maybe we should get a pig!!!

Let Me Call You Sweetheart

On Valentine's Day we went out for dinner with our friends Sandi & Don.  They were our neighbors in Barcelona and we're lucky to have them for neighbors here too!  We were enjoying a perfectly lovely Italian meal at a new restaurant when suddenly we looked up to see a Barber Shop Quartet at our table!  They gave Sandi & me each a rose and started to sing "Let Me Call You Sweetheart".  Our romantic husbands had arranged this.  George & Don definitely qualify as sweethearts!

Being sung to by 4 handsome strangers does present some dilemmas.  Who are you supposed to look at....the handsome young guy wanting to call you "sweetheart", or should you shift your eyes from one singer to the next, trying not to spend too much time looking at any one, or were we to gaze lovingly into the eyes of our own sweetheart husbands?  Sandi and I solved this problem by mostly just looking embarrassed !  

What a romantic thing for our husbands to do for Valentine's Day!

Cirera

Cirera is our Catalan Sheepdog.  We got her when we lived in Barcelona and she is very much a part of the family. Before we moved back to the US in 2000, my father in law asked me if we were going to bring her back to the US.  I was shocked at this question.  I would never have even thought of leaving her.....it would have been almost like leaving one of the children!  Cirera means "cherry" in Catalan, which is the language they speak in the NE corner of Spain.  It is a separate language, not a dialect of Spanish....actually one of the 4 official languages of Spain but that is a topic for a different post.  The breeder named her Cirera because she was little, dark and sweet.

Cirera is a great dog but slightly weird.  For instance, she is terrified of my meat thermometer and of the camera because they emit scary beeping noises. When I use either, she makes a hasty retreat to the back yard. When we have a windy night, she seeks shelter in the bathtub.  If there is thunder and lightening she escapes to our closet to build a  fort by kicking my shoes, and anything else on the floor, into some sort of barricade. Her one experience with sheep ended badly with the shepherd  laughing hysterically at the "sheep dog who was afraid of sheep."  She also likes to sleep in confined places.   We have a good sized house but here are two of her favorite places to sleep.

 Sheepdogs are common in Barcelona but rare in the US.  Estimates are that there are about 100 in this country.  I read an article that said that they were not dogs one would pick for their looks.  I was somewhat insulted as I think she is quite attractive.  Who wouldn't love this face?