More storm debris from Hurricane Ike.
Putting together invitations for a friend's India-themed engagement party to be held during my upcoming trip to SoDak (can't wait!):
Not the greatest picture, but this is a 'thank you' necklace of ceramic beads and bronzey fresh water pearls for my pen friend Cindy, who sent me a very generous package of lovely stationery this summer:
What are you working on?
Late afternoon in a Houston city park
Jessica over at Turkey Cookies is launching a Monday soup swap to kick-off autumn! As soup is one of my favorite things, I thought I'd join in.
Uncle Louis is the one on the left, as a youngster
As my sister said, it seemed like he would live forever. Yesterday we lost our great uncle, Louis, 86 years young, one of my dear Grandma Helen’s brothers. It still seems a bit unbelievable to me, as deaths so often do at first. Louis was a lifelong bachelor, full of stories and tall tales, big dreams and clever inventions. We spent a lot of time with him, since he came down often from North Dakota to spend a few months every year with our grandma. Much of our time was spent around the kitchen table playing cards, snacking on donuts and drinking percolator coffee while Grandma and Louis (and their brother Frank) beat us most of the time. My earliest memories of Louis are from my pre-school days, when we would visit him, his brother Steve, and their father, our Great Grandpa John, at their bachelor pad in rural NoDak. Louis liked to sing and play the guitar and reminisce about old girlfriends from his soldier days in WW II. More thoughts and emotions are filling my mind right now than I can express here. Louis, you will be greatly missed, along with Grandma Helen and Uncle Frank. I pray you are all reunited now, laughing with each other and telling jokes again.
The winds of Hurricane Ike began on Friday afternoon and by late that night we were sheltered in our interior bathroom with cushions and blankets, listening in disbelief to the newscasters on our battery powered radio throughout the night. This was our first hurricane experience; coming from up north, I felt as though I had no context within which to place my expectation of the coming storm. The winds at first just sounded like a blizzard to me, which isn't terribly scary. Obviously, it was so much more than that. Today I'm thankful for safety, cool weather after the storm, and my dear hubby with whom I rode out the storm. You can read more of our hurricane story and see more pictures on our new family blog.
Memories from spring as we very slowly ease into autumn - our pink magnolia budding last February.
I recently found this tiny 1961 Cottonbelt Route rail employee's daybook for 99 cents on ebay. It arrived yesterday and I was quite amused by the motivational quotes on every page, which read a bit like fortune cookie slips but also seem so much more grounded than some of those silly motivational posters found in offices today. It also recalled my great uncle Frank, who worked for the railroads in North Dakota and enjoyed it thoroughly, as well as another family ancestor who was unfortunately killed one winter while working on the rails in NoDak. Oh, and let's not forget some of my memorable Amtrak adventures - some of these quotes would have been useful to share with their employees!
I thought I'd share this photo of my little nephew for Love Thursday over at Shutter Sisters. This was back in May on a busy day at Mt. Rushmore; he'd been becoming more and more steady on his feet and had a great opportunity to walk unimpeded on the flat, paved viewing patio. He was clearly delighted with himself for toddling along so well, moving as quickly as he could and eluding his parents' grasps when they tried to catch up with him. He had us all in giggles. I snapped this picture when he paused long enough to look at the toddler girl in the green dress, who looked as though she'd ever so much like to join him.
