On a roll ...

The clean up your act bug has me organizing yet another space - my home office! I found a great storage cabinet with woven baskets at Pier 1 today. Now instead of everything piling up on my desk, I have a drawer to put it in until I can deal with it. I love the new look and will enjoy my newly designed space!

Rainy day project

Nothing like a rainy day project - especially a closet organization project. Found this shoe cubby at Lowe's for under $50. Brought it home, put it together, and voila! It corralled 25 pairs of my favorite casual shoes. Freed up some floor space for some big tote and duffel bags. No more shoes lying around and empty boxes piling up! Plus, I can see at a glance what I've got to choose from!

The Art of Autumn

Here in Florida, fall is still months away. But the colors, shapes, smells, and textures have been on my mind. Yesterday I finally gave in and got busy. I dragged out my beautiful, dark colored oriental rug and laid it down in the entry. I cleared off the top of the hand-painted chest. Next, Mom and I took off down 4th Street.

It's too early for Halloween, I was focusing more on fall harvest items. I love pumpkins, fall leaves, spicy scents, dried berries, and nuts.  Found almost everything at the neighborhood Pier 1.

It might be 90 degrees outside, but fall is showing its brilliant colors inside our home!

From Nebraska to Wisconsin

Melanie and Adam and the four boys are living and thriving in Milwaukee now. They have a new home and a big new church. They have lots of new friends and neighbors, and even family living nearby. There is lots to do and see. They are far away from remote Gordon!

The boys like to run, jump, throw things, and climb trees. They like toy guns, super heroes,  and any kind of ball. They eat all day, play hard, and go to bed early.

We enjoyed our visit. We have a new love of frozen custard. I need to practice up on Scrabble. And Allan liked Milwaukee beer!

Family Gathering 2012

 

We Are Family

After over a years worth of planning, our family came together on an island on the Atlantic side of Florida to celebrate our parents sixtieth wedding anniversary.

We came from near and far. All of us.

 It was the biggest family reunion our family had ever had. We were 53 strong.

There were new babies and spouses to meet. Stories to share. More memories to make.

Big family meals. Group picture session in matching t-shirts. Afternoons on the beach and pool. Even a family video.

Nobody wanted to leave and go home.

A little bit of Tuscany

The painters finally showed up last week to paint our house. I got to choose the color. Allan and I looked at paint chips on a recent trip to Lowe's. I knew just what I wanted. Isn't it great! A pretty yellow/gold with umber tones. Looks like Tuscany to me!

Memory Lane

 We're working on a pictorial family history to present later this summer at our family reunion. I am going through and picking out the family slides while Mary Jo is digitizing them and Allan is loading all into his computer. We are putting them in order and will begin to edit them and add text and sound.

The thing that stands out is how close a family we were. And how fortunate we were to have each other. We felt loved and protected. We shared adventures and outings that continue to this day. We were taught that family time is special and important.

 We were an Air Force family and traveled the world. We enjoyed meals and swimming at the Officer's Club at various bases. We went to Armed Forces Day celebrations and worshiped at the base chapel. We shopped at the base exchange and commissary and sometimes went to base schools. All but one of us was born in a military hospital.

 We lived all over the United States and two overseas tours to England and the Panama Canal. We loved to move. The most exciting assignment was to Florida. Who knew all those years ago that most of us would end up still there!