A New Perspective

When a person reaches my age it seems that all your perspectives change.  When I was a young married wife with small children, I looked at the future as if the distances were astronomical and required a telescope.
And now looking back, the years have shortened so that no looking glass is needed.   The years past seem like such a short time.

I have been sorting all the photos of our children, and looking at them when they were babies and pre-schoolers.  I realized the other day that I never dreamed about all the things that those babies might accomplish in their lives - education, good jobs, world travel, families of their own.  They were just funny little babies with cute little faces and personalities.  They were such fun!

When I looked at Randy's pictures.  He is our oldest child, so of course there are hundreds of baby pictures of the first child.  He was a pretty funny baby.  From the moment he could react to us, he was a child of a myriad of facial expressions - most of them funny.  And from the moment he could talk, he loved to talk and tell stories.

Hmmm - as I look at Randy's pictures from baby to adult, I realize he is still pretty much that same way.
Let me present some pictures to prove my point.

Here is Randy, about 18 months old, telling a story with all his funny expressions.

Grown up Randy with the same expressions, telling a different story (I think).  Although, he is probably
saying, "Why do you ask?"  This is his standard response when you ask him a question.

And now we see Randy digging in the dirt and trying to do some gardening.

Yep, he's still digging.

Randy loved the party games, often leading the game.

Different balloon, entertaining a different girl, still leading the game.

Styling the cool vest look.

.Uh Huh.

His first Christmas, wearing a bib, and loving the presents.

His I don't know which Christmas, still wearing the bib, and still loving the presents.  (Actually this was the Christmas before Avery was born and she is twenty.  As you can see, the not-yet-born Avery received presents even before she arrived.

Now here is baby Randy taking his first steps so that he can model his new suit.

And here is the grown-up Randy (well, I'm not so sure about that) modeling some kind of suit.  I'm fairly sure from the back drop that this is a photo from Abu Dhabi.  It is hanging in his office.  The firm where he works designed Ferrari World Theme Park in Abu Dhabi.  I don't know about the outfit he is wearing.  It must have some desert connection.  I'm sure Randy can explain this picture if he happens to read this blog.  That is if he is still speaking to his mother!

All of this is just to prove to all you young mothers out there, that all those fun things that you see in your babies may still be making appearances when those kids are all grown up.

And that is a good thing in Randy's case!

Creating Some Christmas Fun

This past week I have been busily involved in a craft project that has been a lot of fun.  Let me tell you what I have been up to.

Last spring I purchased this little hand made sunflower at the local Goodwill Store.  Don't you just love it?
It is made from a craft wooden spool, a cinnamon stick, some cotton fabric, and a button - so cute that I had to try to make one.

So this last week I decided to modify the sunflower project so that I could make some Christmas type flowers that I could use for small friendship gifts or party favors.  I like to have such a project every Christmas so that I can give these little thank you gifts to friends - fun enough to say "I love you, friend,"  but small enough not to be reciprocated.

So I used these materials to create my Christmas flower pots.

1 1/2  red polka dotted satin ribbon
Narrow green checked satin ribbon
Black drawing pencils
Old wooden spools of thread that I already had
Old white buttons
Christmas design scrapbooking paper to cover the spools

I gather-stitched the red ribbon to create the round flowers.  Then I glued on the white button in the center of each flower using Quick Grab glue.  I covered each spool top and bottom with round paper discs, and then a strip of scrapbooking paper around the cylinder.  I punched the hole in the paper on top.  I stitched a loop of green ribbon for the leaves.  When all this was finished I used the Quick Grab glue to glue the flower at the top of each pencil with the leaves glued right beneath.  Then I simply stuck each pencil lead point down into the spool flower pots.

Please notice that the pencil/flowers can still be pulled from their pots and used for writing. These can be used on a desk or by the your phone. Since this is true, I created note pads that can be used along side the Christmas pencil.  To create these I used the following materials:

Folded green card stock
Small white note pads
Rubber stamps (Gift box and Merry Christmas)
White ribbon

So the project is finished.  I have made 22 sets.  I hope my friends enjoy them.  And I hope that they make for very festive place settings at our next Christmas luncheon.

Remembering My Brother, Jack

Yesterday, December 3, 2012, my oldest and only remaining sibling, Jack, passed away in Greenbrae, California.

Jack Edward was born in Anderson, Indiana,  on May 14, 1927, the first child born to Mark and Gladys Green.  Jack would become big brother to four siblings:  Clyde, Dan, David, and Phyllis.

Being the only girl and the youngest in the family, and being nine years younger than Jack, I was always rather in awe of this older brother - my hero.  And while he always teased his brothers, he was  very kind and sweet with his little sister.

As tiny tots during the depression, Jack and Clyde along with Mom and Dad, lived with our Grandpa and Grandma Lininger.  Families had to do that to survive the depression.  Jack was always especially fond of both Grandma and Grandpa.  Jack and Grandpa Lininger were actually a lot alike.  Grandpa was very creative, mechanical, inventive, and an excellent craftsman.  Jack admired his skills, and had a lot of the same talents.

Jack graduated from Anderson High School in 1945, and was immediately drafted into the military right at the end of World War II.  He was sent to Germany, but never served in battle, as the war ended that summer when he was drafted.  After Jack finished his military service, he came home and immediately enrolled at Indiana University in Bloomington.  I was only nine years old when he left in 1945, and Jack never was to live at home again - only coming home at holiday times.

It was always fun when Jack and all the boys were home for the holidays.  Jack was always the great tease and kidded his brothers and our mother unmercifully.  Mother loved it when all the boys were home.  We all loved the laughter and fun.

After graduating from Indiana University where he was in the Kappa Sigma fraternity, and was editor of the yearbook, Jack married Dori and moved to Indianapolis.  Dori and Jack moved to Californina where Dori, a jazz pianist and vocalist, could pursue her career.  While they were married they lived in the San Francisco area and had three children: Richie, Karen, and Chris.

The marriage ended.  The children grew up.  Jack remained living in the bay area.  Richie works in the computer industry.  Karen, an artist, is the widow of author, David Foster Wallace.  And Chris works in the film industry as a cartoonist.

Jack was remarried to Stephanie, and they lived in Greenbrae, California.  Jack and Stephanie used their creative and craftsmanship skills to operate a home and furniture rehab business.

Stephanie has been a loyal and faithful wife to Jack, taking care of him through these last years of illness.
I feel very grateful to her for taking such good care of Jack as his health failed .  I am also grateful to the Nursing home facility that provided compassionate care during his long illness.  Thank you, Stephanie, we look forward to having you with us in Indiana whenever that is possible.

As I remember my brother, Jack, I remember that very handsome guy with a unique sense of humor who loved to tease everyone.  I remember a guy who was artistic and creative, a guy who loved cars and photography - a guy who loved a good laugh.  I imagine that he is somewhere having a good laugh on all of us because he beat us to a better place!