Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passsed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:  

[ed: Dad stopped mid-notebook with directions to continue with another notebook he started. He referred to this notebook as the Lehman notebook, but out of the 3 notebooks I have, none of them have that written anywhere on them.

In this second notebook, I can see the signs of Alzheimer's that I missed with Dad. Most of my focus was on my mother after her stroke, This notebook is a bit harder to decipher the writing. Not Dad's usual  bold, neat penmanship, but hastily written. Lots of things crossed out. The notebook begins with a directive or a notation.]

Insert forgotten much that I can't remember

My Life as I Remember and Lived It

To The Son, and Grandson, my Daughter, Daughter-in-Law, Granddaughters, and my Son-In-Law. It's as the title states. And before anyone can have a life there must be parents.

In a little town in Italy called Torre di [ed: le] Nocelle in the area of the city of Naples, Achille Todisco was born to my grandfather, Joseph [ed: Giuseppe] and Saveria on May 22, 1889 [ed: the correct date is March 22, 1889] He was my grandparents third child. He had an older sister named Angelina followed by Joseph, Achille, Alberto, Alfredo, and a little sister whose name I never hear nor when she was mentioned , did anyone in the family ask nor did her brothers and sister mention her name. They just referred to her. [ed: through genealogy research I found the sister. Her name was Alfonsina Emma Eutilia. She was born in 1893 and died in 1896 at the age of 3 years old] Our parents did not talk about their lives in Italy with us. Once in a while they would so so among themselve or in sotto vocce  indicat whom they were talking about but not in our presence.

My Grandfather Joseph, I think was a shoemaker and he evidently did well economically as he manage to send the eldest daughter and [her] three brothers to America. And may have done better as his sons sent money to their parents.

Angelina came first She married a man name Manuel DeCristoforo. And each brother when my grandfather was ready and asked his daughter, he sent each member of his family to her. Each lived with Zia Angelina until they married. Uncle Joe came first and Achille came next he was 16 years old when he came to America. In fact each brother was 16 years oldwhen he dame. Each had a trade and each was sent to a person who apprenticed them had the trade of barber, tailor. Grandpa was a shoe maker he not only repaird shoes but he also would have a person put his or her foot on a [ed can't make out the word] paper and measure and make a pair of shoes.

Uncle Joe was the first to get married he was a barber and when I met him as a child he had his own business. In Framingham across the side of the street of the town hall.

He also had other barbers working for him and in the back of the barber shop he had another room where women did the latest hairstyles for women.

He also owned his own home. Zia Angelina was not happy with Uncle Joe's wife. He married Aunt Clara a divorcee with two daughters. Two lovely girls. He did not adopt them.

Uncle Fred was a shoemaker and he had a shoe store wehre he sold shoes and also made them and repaired them. He also owned his own home in Wellesley. He married a lovely woma whose name I have forgotten. [ed: Esterina] She died young leaving four boys Tootsie, Charlie, Arthur, Freddy and Ellie. Zia Angelina was not happy with this marriage as Uncle Freds wife was closely related to the Todisco a close cousin [ed second cousin]

Alberto [ed another brother in Italy] did as I remember visit America. I was a few years old at the time and he was a handsome looking guy rather shy and he had his son with him. At the time he had come to say goodbye to my parents as he was returning to Italy.

Wordless Wednesday

T Stands for Valentine's Day

A couple of weeks ago, I started thinking about what to get Himself for Valentine's Day. I think it's so easy to come up with ideas for women, but men? Not so much. Himself doesn't wear ties, jewelry. Doesn't drink hot beverages. Has enough geek tee shirts to clothe a small nation. Though chocolate would be appreciated, it's more or less a fall back gift. What to do?

Himself enjoys gardening and last year started a garden using straw bales. He also bought an Aero Garden and has started some tomato plants. Ok, a gift that has to do with gardening. He's got lots of gardening tools and if he needs to know something about a plant, or growing, or fertilizing there's alway the Interwebs for the information. Surfing the Web looking for ideas for gardeners, I hit upon plant stakes made from flea market spoons. Perfect! Instead of flea market spoons, I found open stock flatware at Walmart. I decided instead of teaspoons, I'd opt for soup spoons as they had the greater surface area. They came in packs of 4 so I bought 3 packs for 12 spoons.

I used Arches Text Wove from the scrap box. It's a nice, soft paper and would mold to the bowl of the spoon. Or so I thought. When I went to position the first drawing, I saw how the bowl of the spoon was angled so the drawing would point to the ground and wouldn't be seen. Oops. But it worked fine on the back of the spoon. A Sharpie pen was used to outline the drawings. I debated painting them with acrylics, but opted to use colored pencil instead as the drawings are so small. less than 2 inches by 2 inches. Tore the paper to fit the spoon better, because of the curvature of the spoon the paper wouldn't really lie flat so some of the labels have small pleats. Glued it with Modge Podge and sealed it with 4 or 5 coats of an acrylic sealer.

For the first two spoons, I did Tomato, Tomahto as I sure he would plant tomatoes. We have chipmunks in the yard and they love the garden. I named one of them Timex. So Timex holding a sign: Free Lunch.  I wasn't sure what else Himself would plant. Casually asked and was rewarded with peppers and cucumbers.

I was able to complete two spoons, but the best laid plans aft gang agley. The days I planned on working on the stakes, Himself had snow days, or he came home from work early. So the day before Valentine's Day and another snow day, I had to try to get at least 2 more spoons done. So while he was out shoveling snow and raking the snow off the roof, I began working on the cucumber and pepper drawing. Later, when he would watch TV in the bedroom and nap, I'd be able to glue and seal the spoons.

He had transplanted the tomato plants to pots and put them on the dining room table as the chandelier has bright white lights to help with seasonal affected disorder, and the dining room window gets a lot of afternoon sun. I tested the spoons to see how they would look in the pots. Pretty good, if I do say so myself.

You would think with all the cups and mugs around here one of them would have a heart for Valentine's Day. Nope, so there is my trusty, blue Fiesta, mug emptied as I worked for T Day.

Finally got the spoons done and since I wanted to use them for the T Stands for post and because he sometimes reads my blog, I asked if I could give him his Valentine's Day present early.  So ta-dah! Plant Stake Spoons.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang are up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Happy Valentine's Day <3

Ditty Bags

Saturday, my Sister-in-Law and newlywed Niece-in-Law along with their menfolk came over for lunch and an afternoon learning and playing with essential oils.

I had some things I made, some lip balm and some sugar scrubs, and I planned on a make and take project, hand sanitizer/room spray, but didn't have any gift bags so they could take the goodies home. The first thought was to run out and buy a couple of gift bags, but remember my word for the year, Frugal? No buying things unless absolutely needed. What did I have that could be made into a little goodie bag?

I had white yarn and crochet thread. Perfect, I could make a couple of ditty bags. I found an easy crochet pattern here and since it was so close to Valentine's Day, an easy crochet heart for a decoration. I decided to use the crochet thread for a more delicate little bag.The ditty bag is 4 or 5 inches tall and just the perfect size for filling with small things. Is cute, no?

Garden Kites

Last week or so, I noticed that my garden kites finally flew away. See the vertical strings to the right of the picture? Those are all that's left of the kites. Ephemeral art, they hung on longer than I expected.

If you're new to the blog or just want to linger a little longer, you can read about the what and how of the Garden Kites here and here.

Because I didn't get out to take a picture of the strings before the snow started flying, I had to take the picture hanging out of the dining room window and only 2 of the strings are in frame. The vertical string on the far left was an image of St. Jude made in the hope of The Young One finding a good job that she would love doing and would make her financially independent. After 2 1/2 years of nearly there and lots of rejections, my prayers (and the Young One's) were finally answered.  Bittersweet that the St. Jude kite is gone. I really loved the little drawing. However, the message is clear. Time for St. Jude to help someone else.

Facebook Art Meme

Blue Morning Glories
Georgia O'Keeffe
1935

There's an art meme going around Facebook. Since I needed a blog topic for today, this will share double duty.

The idea is to occupy Facebook with art, breaking up all the political posts. Whoever "likes" this post will be given an artist and has to post a piece by that artist, along with this text. I received Georgia O'Keeffe.

While looking through her work, it was hard to choose one image. I chose two things I like, the color blue and morning glories.

As I sit and type, I'm wishful thinking Summer weather while a foot of snow is on the ground, more is gently falling, and another significant storm is predicted for Sunday night into Monday.

Painted in 1935, so long ago, and yet so current. I love getting lost in the flower. The deep blue and intense sun of the center of the morning glory. A much nicer view than the blanket of white forever stretching outside my windows.

This image was taken from WikiArt as there was also a fair use mark with the image.

Want to play along either on Facebook or on your blog? Just let me know, and I'll assign you an artist.

The Friday Five Good Things

9. February 2013, 3 years to the date, Ink intently
watched the snowstorm.

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Rearranged the living room furniture

2. The Patriots won the Super Bowl

3. Rearranged the living room furniture again. Rearranged it back the way it was in the first re-arrange. Looks like poltergeists were fooling around.

4. Tried a two ingredient dessert recipe. Apple pie filling mixed with angel food cake mix. Not bad for a low cal treat.

5. First major (and I hope last) snow storm of the season. Because of the deep snow totals predicted lots of schools were cancelled the night before. The college where Himself teaches cancelled classes, though the governor told all non-essential state employees not to report to work. Himself teaches at a state school and is considered non-essential so either way a snow day.  The Young One doesn't start her job until next week. Because the roads were so bad and The Eldest would have had to leave for her job at the height of the storm, and the governor was asking people to stay off the road, she called in. My chicks were safe at home.

How was your week?