Treasure Trove

Wedding of actor Arthur Lake to Patricia Van Cleeve at Hearst Castle. My grandmother is a bridesmaid, far right :) and I believe my greta aunt is second from left.

In the process of researching our family genealogy recently, my uncle learned that my Great Aunt had passed away on Jan 1. I am not sure why no one on my side of the family was notified earlier but recently my 2nd cousins had a memorial for her ( which I was sadly unable to attend). In addition, my 2nd cousin Trevor, has been scanning in lots of old family photos and sharing them with my uncle for his genealogy work. Since I had expressed such an interest in the genealogy and also he knows that I use lots of old photos in my artwork, he has been forwarding to me all the photos that Trevor has been sending.. 

It has been AMAZING (to say the least) to see glimpses back in the rich history of my family. Something I had only heard stories about and seen the occasional picture of. Sadly my Grandmother suffered from Alzheimers and passed before I was really old enough to ask many questions. 

I have received dozens and dozens of pix over the last few days so I have just pulled out a few of my favs and the more interesting (famous people) to share here... so the rest of the post will just be cool old pictures with simple captions....

these two photos are from Scotland of my Great Grandmother, Marguerite (Moll) Draper. She looks like a doll :)

My great grandmother swimming with Charlie Chaplin off of Heart's yacht on a trip from NY to CA! Amazing!

My great grandmother at a "Baby Doll" party at Hearst Castle. c1920's

Joan Crawford at same "Baby Doll" party.

Ugh, Blogger is being a pain letting me post these pictures. I hope they turn up ok even if they are going wonky...

My great aunt, my Great Grandfather and my grandmother at Heart Ranch for a BBQ.

I have tons more and will share some more favorites another time. Hope you get a little bit of a kick at looking at them as I did....

campin...

Just over a week ago we went on a family camping trip up to Gualala, CA. We had beautiful weather and it was so nice to unplug and relax. Here are a few shots from the redwoods and the beach. Lots of inspiring places and sites. The first 2 shots are of the "cathedral tree" which was so cool and peaceful.

a little overwhelmed...

I NEED MORE SPACE!!

I have been diligently (ok, in between card making) working on purging out my studio/ office in order to meet that goal I set to be ready to WORK in there by the time Hannah goes to school. I have gotten rid of a lot of stuff either donating, trashing or packing into JUNQUE packs. On one hand I feel proud of what I have accomplished ( you can actually WALK in there) and on the other hand it seems like there is no end in sight. I guess I need to get even more ruthless and make another round through the boxes and things. I just feel frustrated because I want to work in there but if I am in there I feel like I should be cleaning and organizing. The other problem is that I have literally NO wall space in that room. Its a "dining room" with three walls of windows and one wall that has 2 doors (one is blocked off with shelves) and a built in china cabinet which we need for dishes. I have big shelving units over desks on two of the walls and shelves in the window seat nook too. How can that NOT be enough storage? Ugh. Some one come help!! I will pay you in art supplies. LOL

Ok, I needed to just get that rant out. I wanted to share this picture that I found when I was working out in the storage shed ( I think some fabric is destined for there.. boo). It was in an old suitcase filled with framed pix from my Grandmother. I do not know who many of the people are and I am hoping that my Dad might. This one was labeled but also recognizable to me.. it is my Great Grandmother dressed as a doll for a costume party given by William Randolph Hearst in the 30's. Wow! Isn't it cool? I have more pix of my Great Grandmother and my Great Aunt and Grandmother at Hearst Castle, etc. Its an interesting history that I wish I had had enough sense to ask about when I was younger and they were still alive.

hocus pocus

If it seems a little early for Halloween, well they were putting up CHRISTMAS stuff in Target today!! ugh.. I hate retail. Anyway, this is my little witch. She keeps talking about dressing up as a ghost for Halloween but I am sure she will change her mind 5 times between now and then. I did get her a fabulous witch's hat today so we'll have to take more pictures but this was a fun little photo shoot.

Thanks to all of you for your well wishes about my Mom, She found out today that she has 2 "nodules" on her lung that "appear benign". They have decided to watch them until December to see if they grow or change or hopefully go away. She is having some other health issues and we are waiting for some test results on those. I hate worrying, and waiting. I am sure she feels worse because she "feels" yucky but at least she is in relatively good health and takes care of herself.

one about the wee one

It has been brought to my attention that my blog has been lacking in pictures of the wee one as of late. I guess this summer I should be posting pictures of her every week because she is changing so quickly and in may she went up nearly 2 shoes sizes!

Anyway, I was out working at our family business today, taking pictures of product for some upcoming literature and we decided that we needed some pictures of H for the website. After all she IS the only grandchild and pretty darn cute of I do say so myself. She was "on" today and I got a bunch of really great shots but will just post a few here so as not to bore you.

Also, I have to share a story, because basically I suck at documenting her milestones except in pictures that basically take up disk space and my Mom keeps telling to write down the funny stuff she says before we forget.

Recently, after much discussion, my hubby had the big "V". We explained to H basically WHY Daddy had this done and that he had to be careful about lifting things for a couple of weeks or he would hurt himself. She has been kind of bummed that he can't give her rides on his shoulders or swing her around but she has been pretty understanding. Today, she was having a temper tantrum about some VERY IMPORTANT 3 year old thing and burst out into tears. Greg finally decided she needed to go to her room if she was going to scream and cry and if she didn't move it on her own, he was taking her. Usually this is enough to get her to go but I guess she figured she had Dad's "condition" on her side and she could just sit there and cry. He made his move to pick her up and she yelled out, "But daddy, you'll hurt your penis!" he held it together pretty well, removed her to her room and returned to find my Mom and I doubled over with laughter. He's such a good sport...

Out of the mouthes of babes....

back on track

Ok, thanks everyone for your patience. I am back from my run up to San Francisco to help my aunt. She is an electrical contractor and on Monday she had an accident while using her hole saw. It torqued and shattered her forearm causing her to need surgery to put it back together with steel plates and a screw in her wrist. Amazingly, they were able to do it as an out patient procedure but it still caused us to have to be at the hospital ALL day with NO INTERNET (c'mon people.. what century do we live in with no Internet at the hospital?)
Anyway, the first night was pretty rough and she was in a lot of pain. There is a very awkward cast on it causing her to have difficulty finding a comfortable position to sleep. We managed to get her set on a good routine of pain meds and propped her up with a bunch of pillows. I stayed the following day and night and headed home late yesterday afternoon in quite the rainstorm. Thank goodness I was driving the truck with has good tires and 4WD. Anyway, thanks to those of you who have sent well wishes to us. She had a great surgeon and I imagine she will be up and at 'em in no time.

In other news.. I FINALLY got this new banner posted to my new friend Heather's blog. I have been working on it for some time but it took me awhile to actually get it posted since I had to go out of town.

Heather is super talented and sweet. Check out her blog (which I just added to my links) and be sure to scroll down tot he AMAZING bridal shower she threw for her daughter!

I was delighted to return home to open up my banner from the Heart to Heart swap. I was very excited to open up the package and see a very fun box created by Tracie Lyn and in it was this whimsical banner from Syd! I love it and already put it up. I will try to get some pix tomorrow.

Finally, this piece in the heART swap was never claimed despite a couple of emails to the winner so I am going to re-draw for it AND this fabric ornament. Unfortunately, I will not be able to get it to a new home in time for Valentine's Day I guess that is ok.

If you would like a second chance to win this tag and the ornament and some other goodies from me, please leave a comment to this post and I will draw a name on Valentine's day to win. You MUST leave contact information if I cannot contact you thru your Blog profile to be eligible. I'm sorry to be this way but I'd like to be able to easily contact the winner.

Cheers!

its all good

My Dad came through his procedure fine. He sounded really chipper and feeling good when he called me this afternoon. He was on the table for about 2 hours, where they placed a stent into another stent which is already in a third stent! He said that he was having no drug reactions or headaches which is really good and he was very chatty. If all goes well tonight he should be able to go home tomorrow. Thanks again to those of you who have send well wishes and support.

In artsy news, above are pictured the Halloween trick or treat pails I made for the wee one and her little buddy. They are altered paint cans inspired by the one Joleen made for her charge last year. I also have been doing some more soldering. I really need to find a bottle of the cleaner used to clean the junk and flux off the finished pieces. Hopefully I will have some pictures of soldered goodies to share tomorrow.

a quick update

Just a quick update and thanks to those of you who have sent well wishes and hugs. My Dad is having another angioplasty and possible stent(s) placed today. He has had this procedure before and it is considered to be fairly routine but still has its risks. I will post an update when i hear anything.