Summer Sunday

The day started with a canoe ride.

Water was cool and still; an eagle glided overhead.

Tranquil start of a new week.

Painting Class

Every child is an artist.

The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. - Pablo Picasso

Today I led a painting class at my friend's day care. I came armed with paints, brushes, and other fun artsy stuff to play around with. They made polka-dot backgrounds with cork, stamped designs with bubble wrap and scraped paint with a rubber comb. Some flowers from my garden in a shiny red vase are the subject matter, and see how different each person's finished paintings are! I loved listening to the chatter among the girls as they worked on their paintings. I hope they had as much fun as I did!

Grandma's Attic

I'm so excited to have discovered more of my family history this week. I've heard some of the names and stories before, but it made more sense as Mom and I looked through old photo albums that were in my Grandma's attic. We found infinite boxes of pictures, scrapbooks and even journals that were brought by relatives when they sailed to America from Germany in the 1800s.

This blog photo shows some of the treasures from Grandma's house in Illinois that I brought back to my home in Wisconsin. I'm a little embarassed that all last week was spent getting rid of stuff in my own basement! I really tried to be selective in my Grandma's attic - but tell me who can resist keeping her Great-Great-Great-Grandpa's wooden handled fork. Or Great-Grandpa's baby socks. Or postcards sent during her Great-Grandparents' courtship. Forget trying to leave behind the Haviland wedding china, tin play tea set, skeleton keys, engraved pocketwatches, rhinestone necklaces and clip earrings. And there is always room for a box of vintage firework sparklers.

My husband-the-stuff-hater was a good sport as he helped me unload my car last night. We enjoyed looking at my Great-Grandpa's farm accounting journal from 1904; he had taken dancing lessons - I love that! All the stories and memories attached to these treasures warms my heart, so I'm not going to worry about where to put them just now. Hearing the old stories again and learning new ones with my mom, aunt, sister and cousins this week was good for the soul.

Now I'm just waiting for dusk to get here so I can light the sparklers in honor of my Grandma's 90th birthday, which would have been today.