Sparrow Salvage
One of my very favorite blogs.

Grace Madel McAfee Parry

Here is a drawing that Mrs. Parry did in junior high school around 1927. I luckily inherited it this week. She was an amazing woman. She was a teacher in a one room school in Eastern Texas. She was an equistrian. She traveled. She was ALWAYS positive and never had a disparaging word to say about anyone. She would turn a negative into a positive and so patient. She watched my two youngest children when I worked. She would make the kids the priority every day. She would play games with them all day long. One day when I was picking up Dylan (he was about 4) she told me that she and Dylan counted to 690 while he was on the potty. She would sit for however long it took for them to do whatever they needed or wanted to do. Even if she watched them all week long she would always tell me she would be glad to watch them so that Ron and I could go out on the weekends. And she meant it.

I looked through my previous postings & surprised I hadn't posted a picture of her. Since I have Mr. Parry below it's only fitting that I have Mrs. Parry too.

Bathroom

A constant work in progress. Still not quite happy with the results but it's getting there. The bones are done but I need more interesting filler. I couldn't make last weekends flea market in Clark County where the Barn boys and Cindy participated. The good news is that the flea market season is gearing up soon! I also see on BH website that the "Glitter Queen" (the lovely Linda and her gorgeous husband Ludmil of Willow Nest ) will be gracing us in August from Texas!!!

The Greatest Generation

Elfed Haydn Parry. My father-in-law passed away, January 4th, 2 days shy of his 90th birthday. He was a Welsh immigrant and proudly served in WWII. He was a member of the "Greatest Generation". A generation that believed that through hard work anyone's dream can come true. A generation that was proud to be an American. A generation that believed in morales and manners. A generation that only blamed themeselves not the government for making misguided choices. A generation that took responsibility and was responsible. A generation that believed in families and strong faith.

He served his country, owned a jewelry store in the Proctor district in Tacoma. Was a Grand Mason (not sure if that is the correct title) and also ran for Tacoma City counsel back in the early 70's. He was extremely opinionated and not very tactful. He didn't win. That may have been a good thing. Ha. He also had his own radio program on NPR called "Yesterday's Sunshine". He loved the music of the 20s. He had amassed a record collection of over 70,000. These were 78's. When the Canadian government found out about his collection & that he had hundred's of Henry Burr's 78's they traveled from Quebec to acquire them for their museum. Many of the records he had were the only ones left that they knew of in existence. Henry Burr is a big deal up in Canada. He was the most prolific recording artist in the early 1900s. Mr. Parry was extremely happy to have these records in their museum/archives.

We grieve for him but we also are very happy that he is now finally back with his Gracie who passed 4 years earlier & not a single day that passed since then that he didn't speak of her with tears in his eyes. They were married 8 days after meeting each other. They were together until her death for over 60 years. They are together again.

OMG

I figured how to make a hyperlink below. Dang, life is good.

Ink and Peat

Last month on House Martin blog, home to "Ink and Peat" fab store in Portland, I had to have some of the lovely Christmas items pictured. I contacted Pam, the owner, and she was lovely and wonderful enough to send them to me! My present arrived today and I couldn't be happier.

These are pictures from her site. She does floral arranging as well as having a to die for shop. Please check her out at House Martin

My hopes...

These are my recent "hopes". The first is to finish one of the downstairs bathroom, the main one, or as Maddie had named it, "the broken bathroom". It has always been in some sort of disarray for a couple years. I keep changing my mind on wall color, wallpaper, etc. But I think I have finally made up my mind. I have purchased many years ago 2 very large vintage french dictionarys. Larousse Supplement I believe they are dated the late 1800's. It's beautifully illustrated (black & white and a few color plates) and yes, I am, using the pages as wallpaper. I struggled with this for awhile because I love these books but I love seeing it on the walls. It is perfect. Now I can shower, primp and learn french!

Now the second "hope", Laurie Meseroll is doing more paintings & I love the one posted here. Not sure yet how big & how much, if I can afford it, but it sure would work wonderfully on my very chic french dictionary walls! So I am working on attaining this picture. Check out her blog http://www.folkart.typepad.com There is a painting of some farm girls, this might look good on one of Joe & Jermonne's (of Barnhouse fame) walls. Hint hint. Ha. And of course you can find Laurie & others at http://earthangelstoys.com and tell Jen that Kathy in Tacoma sent you! Why aren't they hyperlinking??!!! Oh well, copy & paste away.

Tip Toe

A favorite picture I found of Maddie taken in 2001. I did a bit of enhancing and I think I like it better...maybe.

Oops...one more then good night

Good Night Brits

Did I ever mention I love photo booth pictures?

These are very European looking to me. The first one looks like she has a very thick cockney accent and her name is Sibelle. The men look like they are German with names of Horst and Manfred. The last woman, not sure. Very 1930's mid-western dustbowl sturdiness. Her name is Vida.

More tweeked pictures

The bottom picture is my maternal great grandmother and father and the woman in the middle is my great great grandmother. From the old country, Germany.

Middle gnome picture is my Aunty Priscilla. She is my favorite aunt on my father's side. She has alzheimer's and my cousin tells me that she had applied her eyebrows with a sharpie. My poor dear Aunty. It took many a scrubbing to get those Grouchos off.

The top Queen picture, have no clue who it is, just a picture I got off of Ebay a couple years ago.

Back to my favorite thing...old pictures

A quiet day here so I thought I would post some old pictures of mine between doing the laundry and making room in my art room for another project.

I am sad that the snow has left us but I can't forget what a gift it was when we did have it.

Merry Christmas

Snow days

Nature's Snowcone

Yes, it's been snowing here in the Great Northwest like CRAZY. My family and I are absolutely loving it and can't get enough. I would love another 8 inches & be snowed in for the rest of the winter would just suit me fine. I can always find tons of things to do, projects to finish or fine tune, cookies to bake, recipes to test, etc etc. Now I love my husband to death but I think I would like him to go to work at least every other day. He's been home since Friday as I have and I am thinking yea, maybe every minute of every day together can't be that great on a long term relationship. We have been together for 23 years and known each other almost 30 but if we were snowed in for an entire winter I don't know who would be the one to walk out of here alive. Ha. Who am I kidding. It would be me. Ha again.

So we have been walking every chance we get and riding our sled with Maddie. My oldest son Justin joined us last night. The sled we have is one that I have had since I was about 10 years old and got it when we lived in Germany. There is no steering mechanism, you just have to learn to use your body to steer. Maddie had become quite good at it and I just use my feet to steer or to halt before careening (sp?)into a ditch.

The picture above reminds me of the snowcones I use to have everyday after school in Hawaii. The snowcone truck would be parked outside after school and I would always get a strawberry lilikoi flavored snowcone for 25 cents. The ones the sell here just aren't the same.

A very muddy game

Last weekend my daughter Maddie's soccer team had their first real muddy game. The field was so thick with mud that the ball would stop dead in it's track after a powerful kick. They were thoroughly drenched but they were enjoying it.

I never played any organized sports in school. As an adult I played a few years on a volleyball team. Women's and mixed. It was such a blast and I think had I done sports is school, I would of been pretty good. So that is a thing that I now regret I didn't do.

Collage

A while ago I was sifting through some items I saved from my son Dylan's 10th grade English class. I came across a poem assignment he did so I used it in a collage. The picture on the collage is of my maternal grandmother holding my mother in Germany around 1930. I forgot who the others were. The other child may be my Aunty Hanne.

Here is the poem my son wrote which is on the bottom left of the collage in transparency:

A Personal Poem

this daylight cannot compare
to the moon's silver stare
but i'll still be here
when the twilight comes

the trees will continue to sway
because the wind is at play
and it will continue to cheer
when the twilight comes

i can still hear the voices
as the sky rejoices
and sheds a peaceful tear
when the twilight comes

as we lay here tonight
it will be your turn to recite
and make it incere
when the twilight comes

Barn House Season Finale

Saturday was the season finale for Barn House. It was to say the least incredible. Of course. Nothing these guys do is any less. Cindy of "Queen of Tarte" was their special guest/vendor. You can see her touches throughout the barn. Natalie of "Vintage Sparrow" (ok, I have to learn how to make these a link to their blogs!!) was there as were others. I was in my absolute glory buying like crazy.

The barn had been tranformed into a forest filled to the brim with had to have beauties. Everywhere I looked I saw something I just simply couldn't do without. Alas the winning lotto ticket was not mine so I had to refrain.

Halloween is around the corner!

I love Halloween.

Last year I had a Halloween party for my daughter & her soccer team. I wasn't going to have another as it takes a bit of time pulling together all the decorations & to do something different this year than last years. A few projects going on but I think I am getting the itch as it approaches. I think I will make some plaster like ghosts out of sheets to float from the trees and have some eery (sp?)uplighting. We already put all the purple lights through the wisteria on the front porch with some figures hanging from them as well. The boxwoods are draped with orange lights & in the dark they look like pumpkins. A few ghouls in the yard. I still have the interior to do and the party favors and the music and food and...oh all the screaming crazy girls! It will be fun.

First picture is a part of a painting I have by Laurie Meseroll. One of many Halloween paintings by her I have. She is my fave.