Great Gram in the Flood

Of the many stories about my Great Grandma, my favorite is about her in the flood. The cottage was on the steep bank of a creek, and sometimes the water was prone to rising suddenly. Usually there was time to evacuate to the relatives on high ground, but this time, they were trapped and had to be rescued by boat. Gram was waiting in knee-deep water on her front porch. In one hand she held the family bible, and in the other a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey. As they were helping her get into the boat, our wise grandmother told the firemen, "I have everything I need. What one can't handle, the other one will."

101 Days of Sunshine: Day 4 = Sequined Eyepatches & Preschool Gambling

When I was a little girl, before I went off to kindergarten, my mom and I had a sort of Thursday ritual.

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Furniture Make-Overs

Furniture upholstery- one of Janet Preisel 's many talents, which she taught herself by reading books. This was before the useful knowledge of all humankind was assembled on the internet. Some of the family furniture which we still use today was found at a yard sale or thrift store, looking like a pile of unloved firewood, with attached tatters of fabric flying like flags of distress on the way home.






Jason, on floor, Arlene holding Eric, Ron A. holding baby Karin,
me, Laureen, and Brian. but the main thing is mom's homemade
 storage sofa, covered in grey faux fur.  We used to take turns
with the daily chore: "Comb-out and Groom Sofa."

Mom always saw the item's potential, with a vision of what it could be, not merely as it currently was. With hundreds of items reclaimed, I only remember one time when Dad gave a $2.00 chair a Viking funeral in the backyard. It was too far gone for even his woodworking skills. When Mom rescued a piece of furniture, it didn't end up a three-legged sofa with a bed sheet over it like in a college apartment. We are talking fine fabric decorated with piping, buttons, tufting, and studs, with accent pillows. The electric carving knife in our house got more use shaping new upholstery foam than it ever did for holiday dinners.





Karin, a bit more grown, but not ready for her sister's coat, in front of the recovered grey fur sofa, now a sectional in a wild floral print.

When I finally bought a piece of furniture brand new, it was very easy and looked nice, but was anticlimactic without the search, the vision, and the creativity of the labor involved. It was just a piece of furniture, not an adventure. Perhaps when I re-upholster it...





 

A chair that Mom re-upholstered for Aunt Mae



 

101 Days of Sunshine: Day 3 = Row, Row, Row, your Couch Gently Down the Stream...

Once upon a time, there was a lovely young couple who had the crazy idea that leaving the hustle and bustle of city life behind in order to strike out on their own in the middle of nowhere sounded like a fun adventure.

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Nix the Weetabix!

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=VHj4OWp_XsY


 

Coincidentally to my sister's blogpost, Weetabix has a new banana flavor and it has the tag line - "Fuel for little monkeys." I know this, not because I am a fan, but from their website, searched just before I posted this. I was the one for whom my sister bought Weetabix while I was visiting her in Paris. I foolishly wanted to start my day with some wholesome grain-based goodness- simply from being a creature of habit- since I was happily at the Boulangerie for warm croissants each morning.

So, I tried Weetabix. Tried is the key word- as in "try to eat these ground-up wheat stems...pretend you are a cow while you chew them...perhaps that will help." (This is my own tag line and is not approved by Weetabix Limited- interesting that the UK has Limited this company after they have produced this chaff-based product.)  So, by the company's own advertisement, this is basically monkey-chow, as the commercial shows a child behaving like a monkey after eating Weetabix. They mercifully do not show any "flinging"' but it is implied due to the regularity caused by such a hearty product.

 If you have not tried Weetabix, first imagine the cedar shavings you would use to line a hamster cage compressed into a small brick, and decide if that would make a tasty breakfast. There are not enough bananas in the world...