Decorators in the Making

Look at these three beauties, April, Amy and Cathy, my girls, my beauties, my prizes! Everytime I see this picture, it makes me smile.

This picture was taken by their daddy while I was supposedly napping in the bedroom right next to theirs. Let that be a lesson to all you moms out there! I know Cathy recently had a similar experience, and I'm betting that when "BB" gets here, April will experience it too! And Amy, watch out for Miss Kayla, especially when her "cousins" come for a sleepover!

Now the only thing little that remains from this picture is one little white chair that has somehow escaped the Little Red Riding Hood syndrome. "This chair is too small and she broke it!" Now a whole new generation of little ladies, Catie and Carly and Claire, love to lay claim to it each time they come over for a visit. Pappa and I aren't too sure how much longer it will last. The joints are getting looser and creakier (kind of like Nanny and Pappa's) each time it is picked up and set down!

Who knew way back then that these three little girls were just practicing their skills as decorators. We sure didn't. But I can tell you one thing, they all have a nack and an eye for decorating. Each and every time I go to one of their homes, I come away super impressed. So girls, I'm glad we didn't get mad, we just got out the old Zenet B from Russia and took a picture instead!

Thank goodness for cameras.


Love you!
Mom
xxxooo :)

Eureka! I finally found it! Here are the pixs of some of my "handiwork". Claire's school bag which I gave her today, and she was so so excited to see. And "BB's" receiving blankets. I can't believe it actually worked this time. Now hopefully, my blogs will have a visual interest to it.

Now I need to figure out how to allow non-bloggers like my 2 beautiful daughters, April and Amy and niece Andrea, to respond!

Love you all!

Sewing Up Dreams

For the first time in many weeks I managed to carve out enough time in my day (not to mention good lighting, as in daylight), to do a little sewing. Nothing fancy. Just straight lines, I almost excell at straight lines.

I sewed Claire a bag with a drawstring. She needs the bag for Kindergarten for her shoes and smocks and whatever else the teacher in her wisdom requires of parent's of kindergarten children. I also sewed 9 soft and comfy receiving blankets and 2 burp cloths for my Daughter April and her Husband Nick's baby, whom we lovingly refer to as "BB". Not items of any great import that is for sure, but as I was sewing I couldn't help but dream dreams for what lies ahead for both Claire and "BB". All of life's lessons -- everything from the elemental need to be swaddled and learning to pass your own burp to learning to be a Doctor, which Claire thinks she wants to be. Sewing up the hopes and dreams from a Nanny who only wants the very best that life can offer her beloved Grandchildren. All of them, Claire, "BB", Cameron, Carly, Catie and Caroline too!

As I was sewing I recalled something my dear friend Helen Johnson, now deceased, and one fantastic and real seamstress used to say. (She sewed me some beautiful dresses in my day, not to mention my wedding dress, and all the girls their graduation dresses and the beautiful Christening Gown worn at all 4 grandchildren's Christenings, and soon Miss Caroline will wear it too, and hopefully "BB" too), but I digress. She always used to say, "I say a prayer for the bride and groom with each stich I put into a wedding gown". I always remember that as I sew and you can believe me when I say it, that as I sewed each of these simple items, I said a prayer for Claire and "BB" too.

Sweet and Happy Dreaming Claire and "BB" it's all yours for the taking!

Love,
Nanny
xxxooo

A Sunflower for Miss Carly

On the eve of my beautiful grand-daughter Carly's 4th Birthday I can't help but think how quickly her four little years have gone. From the moment she came into the world, we have been blessed by her presence in our lives. I cannot imagine life without her.

I have all these lovely images in my head. Her first breath. Pappa and I were at her birth, the only one in her family, except of course for her mommy's birth! Her huge giggles and smiles as an infant. Bathing her in the kitchen sink. Helping to care for her when her mom was recuperating from surgery and being there the first thing in the morning to see that smile as big as Texas. I remember crying all the way home from Cloverdale to Richmond when I left to go home. Her Baptism at Our Saviour Lutheran, and all the wonderful pictures of her siblings, friends and cousins sitting on the church pew right at the very front of the Sanctuary, the very spot her Nanny and Pappa sat when her mommy and daddy were married. Carly sitting up on the rug, inching her way forward to pick up the book that was sitting on the floor -- and the look of delight and accomplishment in her face when she reached forward and picked it up. And when my father died, baby Carly being there for us to snuggle and love when the void was too much too bear. This loving child, who seeks out my lap when I'm sitting down always commenting on the cross I wear around my neck saying "Pappa made that" or simply the word "Jesus". Or asking me again, "how come you have spots on your teeth?"

Oh yes, our Carls is a big girl now, pumping herself on the swing, jumping so high on the trampoline with her strong little calf muscles, climbing up the green slide, making crafts at the table, pasting down items while counting as her preschool teacher taught her do, one, two, three, four, five, six, while her little finger tips turn white from pressing so hard. Going down a three story slide with her Pappa at the Walnut Grove Pool, through a tunnel, twisting and turning, sliding down, down, down, arriving at the bottom of the slide with the biggest smile you ever saw, asking to go again and again! She says she going to be a Singer when she grows up she says and I believe it -- she loves to sing.

This dear little girl with a face that reminds me of a Reubens painting, how we love her so. Carly Ann, Nanny and Pappa love you very much. Have a wonderful fourth year little one, we can't wait to see what you will do next!

How did we get so lucky?

Pink Roses for My Sister

It's my sister's birthday today and just like when I was sharing a bed with her (we did that until we moved to Vancouver when I was 12) when I first woke up, I said to myself, instead of to her, "it's Madeleine's birthday".

It's amazing to me that no matter how old you get and I'm getting up there, some things are never forgotten. A birthday was something to be celebrated, excitement of presents, whether yours or hers, no matter -- cake, candles, fun. Possibly a new dress that mom made for you if you were the birthday girl, and new black patent shoes to go with it, a package from our Granny in Winnipeg, gifts from your siblings and friends. The possibilities were endless and the anticipation almost as great as if it were Christmas morning.

My first best friend was my sister and my brother too of course, but he was a boy and 6 years older than me so our relationships were different. My sister and I played dollies together, went to Brownies, my mom was "Brown Owl", swam in the lake in Kelowna, we both hated the peach fuzz rubbed on our cheeks by our brother Richard in jest, rode the school bus together, or when we moved into town, rode our bikes to school together, tried knitting-can you say diaster, delighted in wearing outfits that were the same, and we slept together. On nights when we didn't want to go to sleep, and I'm sure that was most nights, we would talk into the night until mom or dad yelled up, "goodnight girls!" We had this silly saying, I'm going to stab you with my little rubber knife, and with that, we'd poke a finger in each other's back's and laugh uproariously. Dad and mom yelling up, "don't make me come up there!"

Looking back now you wonder, who were those little girls? Life goes on as it must, the mundane happens, wonderful things happen, sad things happen, but through it all that sisterly friendship lingers, haunts, delights. And on this day, August 11th, I thank my beautiful sister Madeleine for all of the love and patience, advice -- solicited and unsolicited, care and concern. You are loved and admired by me for all you do and for how you have carried yourself through adversity, hell and triumph! The pink roses I brought you today aren't enough. I love you Maddie, Happy Birthday from your sister, Allyson
xxoo

Apple Dumplings Piled Up to The Sky

I wonder if anyone remembers an old Disney cartoon and this poor starving character was dreaming of food, glorious food, and he sings a song about it, and one of the line goes, Apple Dumplings Piled Up to the Sky! Well I'm having nightmares about apples, way too many of them.

When we moved to The Grove as we call it, I don't think we realized it meant we had an apple grove, (and where the heck is the walnut grove anyway we still haven't found one? But I digress.) With only 2 trees, I guess a grove would be putting too fine a point to it, so not really a grove, thank goodnes, but we are blessed with apples galore and they are beginning to drop from the tree. The sad thing is, we don't even know what kind they are, but the "red" ones are ever so tastey (even if some of the apples have a few marks on the outside) and "green" ones smell heavenly and are looking pretty fine. Just ask my Grandson Cameron who took great delight at pointing out how heavy the branches were!

Since we don't have a freezer, as in the family sized one that used to take up space in our former laundry room, we will soon be overrun. Believe me two people can only eat so much apple betty, I know we've tried, or so much apple sauce and even though I was a baker's daughter, I don't make apple pies and the idea of running them through the juicer leaves me non-plused. So we invite you to dig out your favourite apple recipe and then come around for a bag of apples. We've got plenty to go around. So don't be shy!