Nana

My Beautiful Nana passed away Tuesday May 13, 2014.

She was 94 years old.

She was an amazingly smart and beautiful woman. 

I would like to honor her by sharing some photos of her and her life.

 This was the photo from the last time I saw Nana at my cousins wedding June 1st 2014

 One of the many sleep overs I had with Nana, we painted our nails and took bubble baths and watched Dick Van Dyke, Golden Girls and Bewitched, she always made apple slices before bed. 1988?

This is us at our lake house. She loved being out side. 1990?

 Nana's College graduation as a public health nurse from Mercy College in Ann Arbor MI 1944. 

 This is the spray of flowers my mother sent for the funeral. She loved spring and loved flowers. 

May 16th 2014

Her casket with the flowers laid by the family. May 16th 2014

 Dorthy "Nana" Gove was the youngest of 3 children born in Clinton, MI January 5th, 1921

 She and her siblings at the age of 3 1923

 She and her sister Mary Eleanor 1945

 Such a beauty 1946

1945 

 She became and a Navy Nurse stationed in Chicago and met my Grandfather Clarence Glover at the officers club. He quickly married her  and whisked her away from the mid-west and took her to his home of Orangeburg South Carolina. 1946

 She, in black, and my Grandfathers sisters in South Carolina 1948

 They loved the beach and getting tan. 1949

 She raised her three children in Georgia. That is my father holding my aunt's hand. 1957

 Nana is in the black dress bending down in the front of my grandfather's 7 sisters. 1970?

 This is her and her beautiful home in Charlotte, NC where her children spent most of their lives. 1960?

 She loved holidays and having the family together to make sure they were getting enough to eat. 1981

 Christmas 1979

She also loved her grandchildren and spoiled us so. These are my cousins Carson and baby John 1984

Wrapping up All the Elf Duties

I made these hearts from a T-Shirt of my husband's grandfather. He passed over a year ago, and I felt like I could finally bring myself to cut it up and it would be appreciated.

Here are the super cute snowmen  I made. I love the faces, I am so glad I found the carrot noses.

Everyone on my gift list will be getting some form of these super cute fabric baskets. I am not entirely sure what folks will use them for, I guess I envision bread or crackers or wrapped candy.

Here are my awesome cards, I love how they turned out. I enjoy writing cards, especially to the family I don't talk to normally. I also take so much pride in the process of coming up with an idea and then the creativity that comes after that. In this case I was able to carve stamps and get my hands dirty mixing inks which is always a blast for me!

I also whipped up a few more of these super duper cute and re-usable gift bags. I know you can re-use the paper ones but, I intend on using these for many years!

So for this year my elf duties are all wrapped up. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

This Elf is Tired

Hosting Thanksgiving for 6 seems like a cake walk when I think of the size of other families. My In Laws and Grandmother and sister In Law is coming.  All I want to do always sneaks up on me the weekend before. I think Iam prepared and then, it hits me. I painted the chairs, set a table, hauled out all the serving dishes. Of course having the In Laws for Thanksgiving makes me feel like I need to do deep cleaning.  

Then I wanted to get my Christmas cards done.  Christmas shopping needed to be done, which usually includes me making gifts.  

Then there is all the baking that must be done.  

Now I understand why my grandma was so grumpy during the holidays.  I hope Iam not grumpy, I sure do know that this elf is tired!

Happy Growing

Its been hot here and our Earth Day Garden has been growing. We had to move them off the stoop they got to be so big. I hope that we can get to them before the squirrels do. 

Our yard has turned into hay and started to crack. It is amazing to me that it can rain for 7 months straight and then this summer it is already dry. It seems like it just stopped raining. People don't really plant much into the ground with out a ton of topsoil or using container gardens. It has been quite lovely here. It is hot but, with out humidity and the constant breeze. I am rather enjoying it. We have done quite a bit of traveling, which I hope to share images soon.

 I am quite proud of our maters:

I am also quite proud of my Tater:

She turned 10 the other day! Kuma Bear, Tater Tot, Sweet Tater, Baby Girl, Fat Ass...is one happy dog.  This is her favorite bone and has been with us for many years. She is doing well for her age, she is a bit stiff, lazy and sometimes grumpy. Who can blame a 70 year old! She still loves to play at her age, get dirty, and eat. She is my protector and best friend. 

I love having her by my side and she seems to love being there too. She is such a well behaved happy buddha! She sure has grown since we got her, back when hubby and I started dating. Its hard to imagine life with out her. Happy Birthday Kuma!

 

Nana's Quilt

Here is my 92 year old grandmother, I call her Nana. Nana is a piece of work. Her body is failing her but, she is very sharp. She remembers so much and lead a super interesting life. She started getting super fixated on things lately. He has always been feisty, but her fixation is the newest thing the family has noticed with her age.
She wanted these fabric curtains panels made into a light weight bed covering. She ripped out the old seams herself a year ago and started trying to pin it together. When I got to her house it was all laid out on the bed.
She had apparently asked everyone about who to take it to. They all told her that I might be able to help her. So right before I left NC I made this quilt for her.
It was quickly made and super basic. I simply pieced together two curtain panels and added a solid back and thin cotton batting . The cornice board is still up on the window in her bedroom from when she picked out the sweet birds in the 70's.
The heavy drapes panels had been taken down along long time ago.
She had a heavy comforter on the bed and couldn't move it around with her weak wrists. She didn't want batting but I convinced her otherwise.
I tried to tell her that the black acidic ink in the birds beaks were eating through the fabric. She did not care, she wanted the blanket. I did however spend quite a bit of time trying to patch some holes.
I think that it lightens the room and I have since heard her say so many nice things about it. I am concerned about it being washed and worsening small holes. I just hope that it lasts and my aunts don't wonder why it's so hastily done.

This is my Grandfather holding my Dad, Nana and Aunt Elayne
I would say 1952. I recently learned that women purposely would pose like this in the '50. I think it is awesome and I would look this amazing too.

Floating

Ive been craving water and to float. We got out on the lake in the boat last weekend. It was bittersweet, i was in heaven in the water, but sad to be leave my home and family here. I've been going to the lake with my dad since I was little. We never do much more than float.

Iam a water/ air sign and feel very connected to water. I always crave it this time if year. The ocean is a great fix. A lake is awesome when it is calm and few folks were out because the water is cold still. This is Lake Tillery, NC.

Helping Pockets

My grandmother fell in her home a few months ago. She is in a rehab facility and will be going home soon. She will need to use her walker at home, so I made her pockets for the walker and gave them to her for Easter. She seemed very pleased. I wasnt able to measure it myself, I think I'll make it a bit smaller if I ever do this again. I used heavy cotton and canvas and clear plastic for the pockets so she could see what was in the pockets. It took me abt 3 hours to make and it didn't cost me a thing, all from my stash. I loved making this.

Pretties

 I helped my mom polish silver recently before Thanksgiving. She keeps these hidden away in the chest most of the year. When she was a kid this is what her family ate off of every single day. They didn't own cheap stuff until she went off to college. This pie server above is by far my favorite. The etchings on the handle are absolutely beautiful.

 These are the dessert forks. They are so small and delicate most are engraved with either a M or a W.  I can tell the original set from the pieces bought in the 50's.

This is about the size of a soup spoon. I have no idea what this is really for. I love the cut metal part. I feel very fortunate that my family treated them with care even after eating off them everyday for 60 years or more. I would never eat off them everyday but, I will never part with them.

Shrek in Ice

 We went to Texas for Thanksgiving to visit my hubby's parents. They wanted to take us to do something cool. We went to the Gaylord Texan in Dallas. It is a huge hotel with an awesome lobby. This is the glass dome over head.

 

Palo Duro canyon replica had a giant twirling frosty. There were many other sweet decorations. There was a life size ginger bread house covered in candy, huge sleigh to sit in and trains that ran through a mini village.

 

Then we went to the convention center part of the hotel to see Shrek made out of Ice. It was 8 degrees in there. The block of dyed ice are carved for 2 months in a giant refrigerator by master carvers from China. In northern China, they make buildings and temples to walk through with lights embedded into the ice before carving. I think that would be so awesome to see. This was the most fun thing that we did in Texas.

It's crazy I look at Shrek carved out of ice and I see Mike Meyers. These guys are artist.

 I loved how intricate the detail and the work had been done. They had eyebrows and eyelashes. There were  about 10 different little scenes that had been carved and a giant ice slide and inner tube slide

That's me and my issued coat. It was really cold in there! I love Shrek and Donkey! The Gaylord Texan reconfirms that Everything is bigger in Texas.

My Playground

This is my Dad's yard and house.  The land was purchased almost  30 years ago outside of the Charlotte city limits, in what I always viewed as the country. Charlotte has grown in leaps and bounds since then and so have the trees on his property. The house is now in the Charlotte city limits and near one of the busiest parts of town. While in the yard you are unaware of how close all this is. His home is a true oasis.
The house is considered passive solar. The sun shines in the high windows in the winter months and heats the tile floors and slab foundation in the main part of the house. In the summer the sun doesn't reach the windows and the ones in the back of the house are opened and the the high ceiling fans pull the cool air off the creek below.
When the land was purchased the lower back yard was a marsh land. Dad carved a trench out and the creek dug itself over time to almost 6 ft deep in some places. The scrub trees have been weeded out and large hardwoods were left. The canopy is very high and the yard lends itself to wandering around on the blue grass. I grew up playing under the canopy and in the creek.
Dad constantly maintains and cultivates the yard. It will always be a work in progress. He loves mountain homes that have stacked stone and wood.  He is currently working on a bridge for a crossing over the creek to a path.