This song just makes me happy! You know what makes me even happier? I have some family in town today and I get to spend the whole day with them, wandering out and about in London!! What could be better?
Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend!
Tag: family (page 8 of 13)
“It is a wise child that knows its own father, and an unusual one that unreservedly approves of him.” ~ Mark Twain
I know my father, more than that I unreservedly approve of him. He is wise beyond his years, his thoughts are measured, his words are carefully chosen, he doesn’t speak to simply hear himself. He has led me and guided me, he has listened openly and faithfully and non-judgmentally as my own thoughts and ideas pour out.
He masterfully takes the wheat from the chaff, holding on to what is worth keeping, while wisely letting the others blow away. All of these things attest to his character as a man and a person and as the kind of person that I want to be.
But, more than that, he has a tender heart, he is kind and kindness is so ingrained in his being, that being around him, makes you want to be a better person. It makes you hold your head higher, to make this man as proud of you as he could be. I am lucky, my father is proud of me, he loves me, he tells me, he is not a man to keep those things to himself. I know it, I never have to question it.
As I get older, as I move into another realm of my life, I hope that I grow more and more into being this man. To gain his wisdom, his integrity, his patience and his unquestionable kindness. If I have gained even one ounce of it from him, it will be enough.
Happy Father’s Day Dad, I love you!
(Image found)
I think that a person’s hands say a lot about them. Are they soft, rough, calloused, wrinkled, smooth? Are they small and fragile and young? Are they older and wisened by age?
My hand’s are my Mother’s hands. She is much smaller than I am, I always feel I tower over her, like Fiona Ogre from Shrek; but when we lay next to each other and place our hands palm to palm, they match. It always surprises me, I don’t know why, I am a part of her, after all.
Her hands have come together to work, pray, soothe, cradle, hug, hold, love, garden, read, cook, bake, clean, guide two little girls into womanhood and so much more. Her hands are always soft and tender and cool and when they are on me, all is right with the world.
Happy Mother’s Day!
“Let’s get together”, is one of my favorite songs from The Parent Trap. It came on Sunday afternoon right before I started working on Sunday dinner. I kept popping my head around the corner to watch it in between cooking. We made a roast with The Pioneer Woman’s “Crash Potatoes”, a fresh salad and a chocolate fudge cake for Sunday dinner, it was wonderful, if I do say so myself!
I have always been a Hayley Mills fan and this was one of my most beloved movies. The air of nostalgia that surrounds it, the time period, the clothes, the California ranch house, oh, the cast! Hayley Mills, Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith as the parent’s. Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello, singing the opening song! It doesn’t get much better than that!
It reminds me of being little. I can remember watching this movie with my family, all camped out, munching on popcorn, laughing, talking, enjoying each other’s company, just as it should be! Together!
We are keeping it simple as we make our way into this New Year. We went back to school today and I just wasn’t ready, I needed one more day to finally sit and just be. We were lucky enough to have my beautiful sister and her sweet husband visit us over Christmas and we just never stopped, we had so much fun, but now I am ready to just rest for a day or two.
We officially started our New Year’s resolution last night, inaugurating the event with two brand new mugs that I got in the Emma Bridgewater sale (my sweet sister bought me one, I got Mr. Michie the other: he has the running deer pattern and I have the holly one).
I know that the tea just tasted better out of that new mug, we talked and laughed and ate some chocolate and just “were” for an hour or so, it was a nice way to ease into today. It was as dark as night as we headed to work this morning, the sun didn’t rise till well after 8am. It was dark when we left tonight and bitterly cold, so the evening called for something homey.
We came home and I made a breakfast casserole dish that my sister makes, it was wonderful. The perfect way to use up leftovers, an easy and simple meal to make after a long day and it was comforting to boot.
I think we are just going to stay on this path of keeping it simple and quiet as we enter this new month in this new year.
This is one of my all time favorite movies and songs. It has been sung by hundreds of people, but there is something about seeing Judy Garland singing it, almost as a lullaby to her little sister in Meet Me In St. Louis.
The nostalgia of another time, the colors of the film, the scarlet red dress she wears to what she believes to be her last dance in St. Louis, it all culminates to create one of the greatest Christmas movie scenes ever.
Wishing you all a very Merry Little Christmas Eve. I hope Santa is good to you!
Aah, The Lawrence Welk Show, it conjures up many a childhood memory for me. Now, I am not that old of a woman, I am definitely, I would like to think, way too young to know what this show is, but yet I do. Saturday Night Live has a running skit in which they make fun of it and I laugh harder than I am sure others my age, because I truly get the joke. This was a show I grew up watching.
There is something so wholesome and sweet about the show and when you think back to TV way back then, when this was first aired, what a major thing this was to watch with your family, an entire song and dance show, with a full orchestra, colourful costumes, and huge sets. For many people, I am sure this was truly Hollywood magic, the first time they had ever seen anything like this.
This show was a part of my childhood. Growing up, if we were over at my Grandparent’s on a Saturday night for dinner, they would have PBS on, broadcasting a previously aired show and we would all watch it. Going to the beach house in the Summer, my mom and her sister would serenade us good night every evening to the closing theme. As we would lie in bed laughing hysterically.
It somehow gets into your bones this show. You know it is bad when on a Saturday night in College, you are the only person left in your dorm as you work away on a term paper and you turn on Lawrence Welk for company, because it makes you feel closer to home.
It is something, I have even indoctrinated my British husband in to as well. You watch the show and you just have to smile. My family has so many little inside jokes regarding this show, when certain cast members came on stage, I can hear what they would say about them and I can’t help myself, I just bust out laughing. My Nana, loved Joe Feeney and every time he would come on, she would mention what a beautiful voice he had, to which my Grandpa would roll his eyes. She would continue to say how many children he had, to which with a glimmer in his eye, my Grandpa would reply that is the only way his wife could get him to be quiet, he would wink at us and my sister and I would just bust out laughing.
You can’t fault Lawrence Welk though, you would be hard pressed today to find a show that is not only family based on screen, but one that was the same off the air as well. The holidays specials are always the best, the beehives seem to be taller and the dresses more sparkly, you just gotta love it. As we approach Christmas, I thought I would share with you a little childhood memory. Because if I was home on a Saturday night and this was on the TV, we would all have to watch a few minutes of it, just to share a laugh and a memory. Each episode is such a time capsule of that era and you just have to love Bobby & Cissy dancing around. Enjoy!
I couldn’t write this on Sunday, or the day before, or the day after. I couldn’t write on Sunday, because there was, I felt, nothing to be said, it was a time to reflect.
Sunday was a very emotional day for me, as it was for many. I worried if something was to happen again, how would I get home? I pray for the safety of my friends and family every day. I had family at the Towers that day, as well as in Washington and we were blessed to have not lost any one.
The passing of Sunday has not left me. My heart at times has still felt heavy with emotion for all that has happened. I know I am not alone, as my Mom and I were speaking about it yesterday.
Mr. Michie and I watched the news coverage from the States that day as well as the ceremony held in London. It was just too much, so we decided to go for a walk. The fresh air hit our faces and the gentle falling rain, lightly misted our hair and eyelashes as we headed down our chosen path.
We walked and talked and as we did this, we reflected on what we remembered from that day. I was at College and thought that it was unusual as I was heading to my second morning class of the day that the campus was a bit sparse of population.
As I walked in to my printmaking class everyone was huddled around a radio and that is how we learned of what was happening. Without having the visuals of it, my imagination was running wild as I heard all the noises from the day.
Living in such a media based society, it was odd to not be watching this in front of a TV. I could only hear what was happening. That was at times worse than seeing it on TV, it gave me the slightest taste of what my Grandmother must have felt as she listened to the news during the Second World War, her imagination was all she had to “see” the coverage they were reporting as my Grandpa fought overseas.
My Art teacher asked us not to leave, but, to stay and create a piece through our emotions. I excused myself when I could, to try and call home, the line at the payphone was long. But, as the caller finished and walked back down the line, it was like a meet and greet, everyone asked if they were okay, if their family and friends were okay? There were hugs and tears.
I walked in to work that afternoon and again, the same thing. We were all hugging each other, everyone checking on everyone else. As, I walked home, students on campus, who I had never even seen before were doing the same thing, everyone was reaching out.
That is what will stand out in my mind the most; is the generosity of spirit from that day. In the darkest hour, one of the brightest of human acts came through: KINDNESS. We all reached out to let others know we were there and we carried that with us in the days that were to come.
This poster states how I am feeling at the moment. I don’t know why but as my Nana would say, “my feet are itchin’ to go somwhere”. I am ready for some different scenery for a little while…
(Image by Katie Daisy)
We have ONE week left to go of school and I am so ready for it to be over! This last term has felt as if it has gone on forever. It feels too long to still be in school, I am ready to enjoy a little bit of a Summer break.
Summer meant a lot of things and happy memories in my house growing up. One such memory in particular was the summertime rituals my sister and I always did. We played outside, creating bike “roads” out of chalk on our drive way. We went swimming, we went to the library and signed-up for the summertime reading list.
We ate ice-cream and fresh peaches from the farm. We played an endless game of monopoly that we made span the entire length of our Summer break and we built tents. We built huge tents with old blankets and sheets, sometimes encompassing a table and chair and part of a couch in our giant fortress.
We played underneath it, hung out, read, watched movies through our special “spy” hole aimed at the tv, we just had FUN. When I saw this tent tutorial, I just loved it. It brought back all of those little memories. This is a lot fancier than what we built, but I think just as magical.
What a fun summertime project for you and your little ones. I can just see it strung with fairy lights, filled with cozy blankets and pillows and the perfect place to lay down and read a book on a rainy day, falling asleep to the gentle pitter-patter of the rain, with the magical glow of the twinkling lights overhead.
For the how-to click here.
All images are courtesy of Grosgrain Fabulous. Original Post from Cakies.