A very busy couple of weeks are keeping me from my friends here in Blogland. Having returned from a five day trip to Pennsylvania, I've had only two days to regroup and get ready to take care of some precious children.

They will arrive today!
No, not that many!

I'll be taking care of two little boys - Coy age two and Andrew, ten-months old. Now, that could feel like a whole bunch of little ones. However, just two of our grandsons will be coming from Virginia for six days while Mommy and Daddy take a little vacation of their own.

This will be the first time our two youngest grandchildren have come for a visit without their parents. Am I up for this? Granted, I'm not as young as I once was, but I think I'll be okay with all those diapers and getting up during the night and potty training and fishing toys out of the potty...yes, Daughter tells me that's what the younger one does now - throws his toys in the big 'potty'.

To add to the fun, our other two grandchildren will be here at times. Nicholas, age four, is normally with me two days a week while not at his pre-school and then there is Kathryn, age six - she is tracked out of year round school at this time and will be here while their mommy works.

Soooooo, what can I say? I will miss you all until next week.
I will need to give my undivided attention to these little ones...and I will LOVE IT!

I would like to remind you that many of my friends will be posting their family photos this Friday. Please don't forget them!

I will not have time to post an up-to-date list of their links, so please just visit these bloggers from our past Favorite Family Foto Fridays. Whether they are sharing their photos or not this week, you will love their blogs.

SHEILA at Sheila's Scrapbook

CLAUDIE at Bubblin' Over

ANGELA at West Virginia Treasures

LORETTA at Short and Sweet

JEANNE at Backyard Neighbor

SHERRIE at Sherrie's Stuff

MOLLY at Molly's Country Memories Home

MONTEE at Palmetto Girl

ANN at Life at Ann's Place

MALISA at Moonlight Hollow

ANGELA at Miss Molly Cottage

CAROLYN at Wings of Eagles

TARA at Life As It Is

APRIL at Straight From the Heart

CLASSY CHASSY at Expressly Corgi

SUE at Just Practicing Random Acts of Kindness


Until next week!
~ and if you don't hear from me then,
I'll be resting!!

Welcome Spring!

Well, Spring of 2009 came in like a lion. Now, wasn't March supposed to go out like a lamb? I think so! However, at our home it went out with a bang! We were outside filling the bird feeders when a ferocious wind blew in and we heard bangs and booms - that's when we lost power - just after dinner. Not quite sure when it came back on. Today we have cooler temperatures, but a lot of sunshine. Tomorrow morning could be down to 32 degrees. Makes me wonder what this Spring will bring.

I usually schedule Friday's post in advance, but, because of our power outage, I'm just posting my family photo for this week.

This fun photo is my maternal grandmother Clara, my granddaddy Kelsey and my great-aunt Helen. It was taken shortly before my grandparents were married in 1917. Only remembering my grandparents when they were 'old' to me, it's hard to think of them having fun and being daring as they are here on a railway coal car.


My friends have posted family photos from their family albums. Spring on over to see what they have to show you!



SHEILA at Sheila's Scrapbook

CLAUDIE at Bubblin' Over

ANGELA at West Virginia Treasures

LORETTA at Short and Sweet

JEANNE at Backyard Neighbor

SHERRIE at Sherrie's Stuff

MOLLY at Molly's Country Memories Home

MONTEE at Palmetto Girl

ANN at Life at Ann's Place

MALISA at Moonlight Hollow

ANGELA at Miss Molly Cottage

CAROLYN at Wings of Eagles

TARA at Life As It Is

APRIL at Straight From the Heart

CLASSY CHASSY at Expressly Corgi

SUE at Just Practicing Random Acts of Kindness



Thank you so much for visiting us this Friday.
Come join us!
We would love to see your photos!

“The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

~BABY DOLL PINKS~

Some of my doll collection - the ones dressed in pink, of course. I love dolls, but I don't buy them any longer...although it's very tempting to do so...just not enough room for them.

HAPPY PINK SATURDAY TO YOU ALL!

From the Past

This is a picture of my paternal grandfather taken in 1910. I think it's a remarkably clear photo to be 100 years old. This picture was most likely taken in Overland, North Dakota where they lived at that time. Love that bowler hat. Beside him sits my uncle - firstborn to my grandmother and grandfather. He was a twin. His sister died sometime before this photo was taken.


This is the same child, my uncle. The fancy clothes could certainly be worn by a little girl. This photo was on one of those old postcards.

The back of the postcard reads:
"Florence, this is our boy's picture. What do think of him?
He has got a chunk of bread in his mouth, guess you see that and a teddy bear in his hand - (ans?)
Ella & Tom"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you appreciate old photos from the past...
or are you more into photos from last week or last year? I know you will find which ever you prefer on one or more of these blogs. Each of these ladies posts great photos and stories each Friday. They have their photo albums open and they are waiting to share them with you. This Friday you will find some new links to follow.
Be sure to leave a comment.



LAURA at Tomaries Cabin

SHEILA at Sheila's Scrapbook

ANGELA at West Virginia Treasures

DIANE at A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Words

JOY at Joy to the Blog

JEANNE at Backyard Neighbor

SHERRIE at Sherrie's Stuff

MOLLY at Molly's Country Memories Home

MONTEE at Palmetto Girl

ANN at Life at Ann's Place

MALISA at Moonlight Hollow

ANGELA at Miss Molly Cottage

CAROLYN at Wings of Eagles

TARA at Life As It Is

APRIL at Straight From the Heart

CLASSY CHASSY at Expressly Corgi

DAWN at Dawn's Day Break

SUE at Just Practicing Random Acts of Kindness



Thank you so much for visiting us this Friday.
Come join us!
We would love to see your photos!

“Beyond the East the sunrise,
beyond the West the sea,
And the East and West
the wander-thirst that will not let me be.”
Gerald Gould

~More Pink Finds~

More found Pinks from my treasure hunting trip with my husband, brother and sister-in-law a couple weeks ago.

Plush pink poodle slippers. Look at this darling wreath - perfect for a baby shower. The white part of the wreath is made by wrapping disposable diaipers around the wreath base. CUTE!
This pink flamingo is for our Pink Saturday hostess, Beverly!

Check out this long legged pink bird admiring the pink frames.

...and pink pigs! ~ soft and fuzzy
...and soapy pigs
and hula pigs

...and check out this pig with feathers! I thought of Jenny at the Red Bulletin Board when I saw this feathered flying pig. How do you like this one, Jenny?



HAPPY PINK SATURDAY TO YOU ALL!

~A Family Story~

At age 31, my great-grandmother Susannah traveled from Liverpool with three children to find a new life in America. She began the trip probably in March of 1882 with four of her surviving children ... one, an infant boy named George. Family stories say that after traveling by train from County Durham and a long walk to the ship, Susannah found that little George had died. Once on the ship, Susannah hid the death from the captain. Some say that the ship had left Liverpool and she concealed the death to avoid a burial at sea. Others say she left the ship before it departed and turned back to County Durham with her children and once there with others of her family, she sat before a fire, warming the baby's feet, trying to revive him. Losing this newborn child must have been a very heavy burden on her soul.

Finally making the trip, she settled in Kentucky with her husband and children. She was a baker and she took in boarders to supplement her coal miner husband's pay. He was also a carpenter and a Methodist minister.

Thomas and Susannah had five more children in the States. The first born here was my grandmother.

In this family photo with my great grandmother is my great-aunt Catherine at age nineteen. Catherine was born in 1895. Susannah was forty-four at that time.

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I have some friends who would like to show you their family albums and tell you their family stories today. They have their albums open for you to see each Friday. Some Fridays they show us vintage photos, some Fridays there are newer photos. The list of participants is below. I hope you will visit them and be sure to leave a comment!

MOLLY at Molly's Country Memories Home

JEANNE at Backyard Neighbor

ANGELA at Miss Molly Cottage

MALISA at Moonlight Hollow

CAROLYN at Wings of Eagles

JOY at Joy to the Blog

MARIAN at Princess of Pink

ANN at Life at Ann's Place

MONTEE at Palmetto Girl

SHERRIE at Sherrie's Stuff

TARA at Life As It Is

APRIL at Straight From the Heart

"Nobody can do for little children
what grandparents do.
Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust
over the lives of little children."
Ale Haley

Quill Pens and Berry Ink

I could not believe it when I came across this illustration of two little girls making ink from berries. This is just what I did when I was seven years old.
At this time Mother, Daddy and I lived on the very top of a hill in West Virginia. Ours was the only home on top that hill. Alone on our hill, I had no other children to play with. I loved to explore and listen to the sounds of the birds.

When I wasn't in my favorite spot watching the birds from a hammock between two big trees in back of our house, I spent some of my time searching for ‘ink’ berries growing on the hillside. I would slide down the hill, wade through thickets and bushes collecting berries, then squeeze them until the juice ran out, producing ‘ink’! Feathers from the birds were always easy to find. I would use them as quills, dipping them into the ink. Then I would write my secret messages! What fun!

Just looking at the illustration above, I could definately say that I was the little girl on the right. I usually wore rolled up jeans and sported scratches and bruises from fighting my way through thickets...and I was usually dusty and dirty from digging potatoes and gathering eggs from the hen house and a little purpley from squeezing ink berries. Perhaps the little 'princess' on the left was my imaginary friend to whom I wrote secret messages with my quill pens and berry ink.