My Oil Painting Era

I came across this photo this morning - I'm not sure if it is the original from which I copied or if it is one of my paintings. The picture hung in the beauty salon I owned back in the 70's when I was into oil painting. Your G'ma Ruth loved the picture so it was only a matter of time before I copied it in oils for her. I painted another copy for my friend, Opal, also. I could never find a signature on the original, so I never knew who to credit. Your G'ma had her painting hanging in her bedroom and it was given to her hairstylist before G'ma moved to the assisted care facility. This woman was always so good to G'ma Ruth and always went "the extra mile" for her. I hope that it is as special for her as it was for G'ma.

Happy Thanksgiving !!

I have been a "bad blogger" of late !! I know there are still many things within these walls of my home with "history" and lots of childhood and early years memories to recall. I will get to more of those things as days come and go. Today, being Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the many good recipes my Mom had. A family favorite has always been this Sunday Coffee Cake. The recipe originated from a newspaper sometime in the 1940's. Mom's friend, Luella, served this at one of those great Sunday dinners that were so memorable when I was growing up. My collection of recipes are not well organized. Some are hand-written on scraps of paper - a few in Mom's writing. This one, among others, so old and used so many times, it is faded and discolored. These are my favorites !!

Douglas' Girls

I've always liked this photo of us four "girls" !! It was taken in the summer of 1995 -- Your Dad's favorite four women in the world !! Making the trip to Iowa is no longer the same with all of the older generation being gone. When your G'ma Ruth and I sat next to each other at her oldest grand-daughter's wedding, she made a statement about she and G'pa Paul being "the old folks, now". I now know how she really felt when she made that statement !!

Cherubs

As I was going through drawers and boxes of stored things,"trying" to find more stuff to put in the garage sale, (and rid myself of clutter), I came across these little plaster of paris cherubs. Actually, the condition they are in, they should have been thrown out years ago. Once again, I will probably place them back in the bottom of one of my lingerie drawers where they have been for at least 40 years !! I was around 5 or 6 years old when I saw them in the "dime store" and Mom bought them for me. My sister picked out something that day also, but, I can't recall what it was. These were hung over the head of our bed that day and always had a place on a wall in my room when I was growing up. Memories of days gone by -- how do I rid myself of tangible evidence that those days really happened ??

Having a Garage Sale

I took this photo last Friday morning before my friend, Sharon, and I opened the doors for our garage sale to begin. Clothes racks and boxes from under the tables were pulled out onto the driveway. Being a couple of retired ladies, we were able to spend several days preparing and setting up. We organized and priced every item and had several comments from attendees as to how pleasant it was to go to a sale that was more than just "piles" of things. It was a lot of work, but, at the end of three days, we felt we had made enough money to make it all worth while. AND, now, off to spend the money on Christmas shopping !!!