This house is in our neighborhood. It’s just behind the bank and across the street from the grocery store. It is a sight to beho- ho-ho-hold!
One thing I noticed our first season here was the attention to yards. No really here and Michigan people on the whole tend their yards more than say in Tennessee, South Carolina, or Florida. Why I don’t know, but they do. I suspect it has something to do with the awful winters they generally have here and the Midwest ethos. I throw in the last part because there’s awful winters in upstate New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island (all place I’ve lived) but they don’t pay attention to lawns like Michigan and Wisconsin do.
This lawn attention carries on to holiday decorating. I showed you our neighborhood at Halloween, now let me introduce you to it during the Christmas season. There is a street here in Kenosha called Christmas Lane. It’s known for the over the top Christmas decorations. It all started as a friendly competition between two neighbors. They tried to out do each other every year. It got so competitive that tarps were put up so the other fella couldn’t see what was coming until the great reveal! Eventually the whole street joined in the spirit of lighting up the night.
What follows are highlights of our neighborhood and of Christmas Lane. You can click on any picture to be taken over to my Flickr account and there see even more photos.
We are simple folk who go for a few simple strands of color. T he big bulbs like I remember being on trees of my childhood.The view down our street.Neighboring decorated housesThis one was done in all white lights but I liked it!Santa and his light reindeer!This looks like the Griswald place!This house on Christmas lane has a miniature scene in the window every year.Santa is on his way. I really like how they lit the windows in the background.Some look better a bit out of focus. Reminds me of watching the tree as I fell asleep on the couch as a kid.
An ornament Aaron made for me when he was in elementary school.
Our holiday decorating has scaled back over the last few years. Trust me years ago when Aaron was little we went all OUT! I mean I even changed to Christmas themed dishes and no room in that large house was left undecorated! Today it’s a tree, maybe a bit more in the living room. No dishes are changed. Last year we even down sized our tree.
This year I came home from working the late shift to find the house decorated. I couldn’t lift, I couldn’t stretch so Mike it did all! I was thrilled. The lights were up outside and the tree was tastefully decorated inside with just a few of our most favorite ornaments. Having gone to a smaller tree less is needed to complete it.
So enjoy a tour of a few of our favorite pieces. Some maybe battered from years of use, others may not be perfect but they are to us.
Golden Violin – Aaron played the Violin for years this ornament was purchased to remember those times from elementary through high school.A wreath from preschool – do you see a theme developing here? Yep a gift from my son. He made it while in preschool.This Santa was on one of the presents Aaron got for his first Christmas.Couldn’t find a Wolvie one but Aaron liked Spidy so with great decorations comes great responsibility – Spidy guards our treeWhat Navy family’s tree isn’t complete witout a three masted schooner?I’ve not had a tuxedo kitty in my adult life but this one of several of my kitty ornaments. It’s a hand painted egg one from Russia. I like it very much and gives me hope that if the Cold War came to an end so can many other horrid things.
That’s it for this year’s tour. Next year I’ll highlight a few more. Until next time!
I found the photos I made back in the Christmas season at the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center in Townsend,Tennessee. On an usually warm day during the holiday visit my mother-in-law (Donna) and I went over to Townsend to see the decorations in the cabins. Her garden club had done the decorating for a previous year and we were curious to see this year’s decorations. The men were golfing and this would feed my shutterbug. However I downloaded the photos onto my netbook and forgot about them. Until I found them yesterday.
Thus you are getting Christmas at Easter. I have to say much of this isn’t new to me growing up in the Appalachians. Honestly some of the things I’ve seen used or chatted with people that used them in their childhood. Several branches of my family has lived in the Appalachians since receiving land grants for their service in the American Revolution. Much of this speaks to my roots in the area and my genealogy research.
I remember my Granny Rolen (maternal great grandmother) showing me how she spun thread to weave on her loom. I’ve heard stories all my life of her large loom that was in the attic of “the old house.” That house burned, the loom with it I’d guess in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Every time I see a loom in an Smoky Mountain display I always think of the demos she did on how to spin and long to see her loom that burned.The outhouse. Yes I’ve used them. The church I attended growing up that’s all they had. It wasn’t unusal to see old outhouses going untended among outbuildings at farms when I was growing up. I remember my Nannie’s (maternal grandmother) neighbor kept up their outhouse and turned it into a shed where they kept their lawnmower. That’s always struck me as funny.I remember a story my Nannie telling that her mother challenged her to learn to harness a team to a carriage like Nannie’s friend could do. Intending to show her mother she could do it without her stinky ole brother showing her how she went out to hook up the team. Well they bolted, Nannie went to the house and left her brother to catch the team. “Served him right for not ever teaching me until Mama said I needed to know.”Once while visiting my Nannie I went to tour Forbidden Caverns with some cousins. When I got back telling her about all we saw – fish without eyes, neat rock formations, and an old still. To which she said “It was some of your kin that ran that still back in the day.” Truth be told if your roots go back to the depression era or later in the Appalachians the chances are your kin had something to do with bootlegging too. It was a way many families made ends meet in tough time. However be careful of my great-grandpa and his brothers they were revenuers and lawmen.I’ll just say I’m not sure why they have pine cones on the stove. Putting that decoration choice aside let’s look at the coffee pot. I’ve seen pots like that all my life. I even have one we use camping. Coffee from them is great and always has a distinctive taste, not like drip or even electrically percolated. Use it over an open fire and it’ll have a nice smoky note to the coffee.I know this isn’t the best picture but I wanted to share. I’ve never seen a tree this big in the Smokies. Back in the early to mid 1900s lumber was a commodity for the Smokies partly from the old growth forest giving large trees to make long run planks. All those are gone now but I found it amazing there were once trees that big in the forests I grew up knowing. I can’t imagine what my great grandparents saw with a forest that contained those trees.
Here’s a few beauty shots I make of the decorations and place. The stagecoach rules amused me. If you want to see more of the pictures from that day click on any of the photos here. That will take you over to my Flickr photo stream where you can surf about.
Hope you enjoyed this Christmas for Easter post. As I always say I love to hear from you here or any where – don’t be shy!
This week will be taken up with family doings. So I’ll be back to regular posts after the Jan 3rd. In the mean time you can go read a good book. I am see…
Christmas morning photos are never pretty, never flattering, and honestly they shouldn’t be. They should be memories of good times, great presents, bad presents, and the gratification of the anticipation of that Red Ryder BB Gun or whatever was the equalization for you.
So after making our morning photos some of me need years of distance before I post them on the internet. However these have years behind them…
We often confused the TV with the Tree
This was my folks house in the ’70s. Apparently we either gave gift offerings to the TV or often confused the TV with the tree. That’s Samson there in the floor. He was my beloved cat I got in 1976 and my folks had him well until after I was married. He was HUGE. He was the runt of the litter so name was meant to be ironic but he grew to be 4 inches between the base of each ear. At his healthiest he was a lean muscular 30lbs. One big lover in the house and the terror of rabbits, snakes, and birds outside on the farm.
Thought you needed another photo of Sam about 1979
Thought you needed another photo of such a fine feline fella. Best as I can guess this is Christmas of ’78 – ’80. We have always gotten our pets Christmas gifts – a tradition that carries on today.
Life was good with a ballerina, baby boy doll, and new rocker that fit me
My life was good getting nice toy hauls. But I remember that robe. I hated it. It was frilly and stiff. My grandmother had an idea that Christmas morning pictures should be pretty. She’d even get up and dress for them. She wanted us to dress for Christmas dinner. It’s because of her we made pictures of the dinner table (how would she feel of our Pizza Roll lunch & out for dinner tonight?) Still I make picture of dinner tables but these are at least amusing
Nannie dressed for Christmas morning photos
As I said Nannie dressed for Christmas morning pictures and this morning my son showed the same trait by dressing for early morning unwrapping of presents. As a kid he told her he was sorry she got only clothes but this year that’s what he got, clothes, by his own request.
Speaking of dressing for the holidays – can you be too matchy matchy in holiday sweaters? They think NOT!
Speaking of fashion I too made some dubious choices. First off note in the late 70s I made the duckface before the duckface was cool! Also yes, that’s my name in patchwork on the legs of my jeans… what can I say it was the 70s.
Like I said we have lots of table photos for Christmas dinner. In this one mom looks like “Kill me, just kill me now.” Which I went hunting for smiling mom picture. Didn’t find one until I started doing Christmases at my house. LOL!
That’s FUNNY!
I looked through Mike’s old family photos. They were laughing, except one where it looked like Len was trying to get out of the photos.
There’s more blasts from the past on my flickr account. If you are really curious you can click on any image here to go there and cruise around.
As always glad to hear from you here, on Twitter @marylouiseklund, google + under my name and of course on Flickr. Won’t be posting real regularly over the next week but once life returns to a routine after the holidays. Here’s wishing you a great New Year!
I got burned out on Christmas over a decade ago. It was a time when I was working full-time, well more than full-time. December was a big push month there so I worked 80 hours a week. On top of that I had to act cherry at corporate functions, school functions, and such. It seemed every weekend was booked by the start of November. So the holiday push for me started with the Halloween costume selection and ran until mid January when the mass annual training event was over at work. I now know why Scrooge was all “Bah Humbug!” he was over worked.
As Aaron has gotten older we’ve worked to slim down our holidays. We spent two Christmases in Florida with no trees, no decorating, and time with each other. Oh yeah, with spectacular sunsets on the beach too. That’s now the Christmases by which I measure my Christmases.
The first real tree I’ve had in decades. Where’s the nice smell everyone talks about?
Since lounging on the beach isn’t always an alternative we’re trying to learn to strike a balance between festive but not overdoing. This year I was dragging my feet on putting up a tree. We agreed to do a smaller one. Instead of getting an artificial we got a real one. It’s only 5 ft our old artificial one was 7 ft. It’s not as wide at the bottom and sits on the foot locker that now holds ALL the Christmas decorations. That’s right Mike and I went through our decorations with the idea of keeping only our favorites. In the small foot locker is the storage for all the Christmas decorations we’re doing. However, Mike got cold feet on selling the decorations that didn’t rate space on the tree. So they went into a container and storage until grandchildren or Mike consents to let them go.
In the end I was happy with the result.
I have to admit that in the end I was happy with the result. It’s manageable. It took less that two hours including going out to buy the tree. That’s better than the hours we spent before. The animals don’t bother it any more than they did the artificial one. However I’ve added sleigh bells to the decorations so I can shout NO! when I hear them jingle. Now everyone I’ve talked to that sings the praises of a real tree carry on about the wonderful smell. Well this tree has no fragrance. Nope none. I thought maybe I was just not smelling it being here all day but no return from errands still no smell. Mike bought those pine tree car deodorizer and now they decorate the tree to give the smell. The end story is I think we’ve solved the house decorating issues. No Christmas dishes, only the manager scene Mike made and a small tree.
Outdoor lights fall totally in the Mike domain. I merely turn them on and off.
Next comes outdoor lights. When we first moved here I was all for them. I mean they show beautifully in the snow. In January I came to a bitter realization. There’s more snow and below zero temps when it’s time to take them down. Oh and they freeze to the pole, shrubs, and banister as they melt the snow then you turn them off they go cold in a wet spot and freeze. Removal wasn’t worth putting them up to me. I was raised with no outdoor lights. Heck we lived on a farm, no one could see them. Best we could hope for if we put up lights that the cows noticed. Today Mike does it because he wants it. They are totally in his domain. I just turn them on and off.
A bit more about the lights. I don’t like big showy Christmas lights. Being raised in the energy crisis I see them only as a waste. A few for holiday cheer, okay. Enough that you could be seen from a passing airliner – TOO MUCH. So we have a simple display with the classic big bulbs. However, Mike wanted more lights this year. I guess it makes up for 2 ft less of tree. Except the adding of two more strands of small indoor/outdoor lights kept blowing the fuse in the main strand. So he had to settle for our small tasteful display.
This year every holiday card was hand decorated by me. No two were alike.
The next chore we set out to evaluate was the holiday letter and card. I’ll be honest I’d forgone them the past few years. I’d bought cards with noble intentions, but nope didn’t do it. We like to do a news letter and honestly like getting non-gooshy ones from friends. There are people we don’t contact often and it’s nice to hear what they are doing. Still writing a letter that is informative, fun, and covers the year for three people without exceeding a single page is difficult. I attempted it this year. For those who got a copy – I’m sorry if I didn’t achieve my goal but enjoy your personally hand decorated letter. Yes I decorated each and every card. Each was unique, yep just like those special snowflakes I despise. Some had Christmas themed decoration like the one in the picture. Others had snow scenes with sleighs and skating penguins. I know I was asking for stress making cards and doing a letter. I mean I’ve got a closet full of nice cards I’d bought the last few years paving that road to hell with my good intentions. Yet what motivated me this year were the dumb foam stickers. I know my inner child was giddy with the prospect of using them. However in the fifth hour of card designing my inner child had fallen asleep and the adult Scrooge was still sticking away. But once done the inner child again strutted about proud THEY had made the cards this year. The bottom line to improve this was make it something I wanted to do. Thin down the list to people to less than 50. Okay it’s doable, maybe sell the stash of cards and each year make it an inner child project. Heck, my list is smaller than Mrs. Astor’s because I don’t have her servants.
Gift Wrapping is now very basic – paper and a label.
Gifts another area that’s been rethought the last few years. Wrapping gifts, something I used to take great pride in as a newlywed. I loved decorating the presents instead of just wrapping them. Then I kept it up to make it special for Aaron. Then presents because placing an order, hounding for lists rather than get one thought gift. I got jaded. Honestly we are lucky if we want something we get it or save for it. The things we save for are too big to put on a list. Try new windows for the whole house as a gift item on your list, really beyond how do you wrap it who wants to spend THAT much? Our answer has been to get back to what’s important giving. With those who were amenable to the arrangement we’ve forgone giving gifts to each other and donate to a charity of our choice in the person’s honor. I’m proud to say that we’ve helped people, rescue animals, sent kids to orchestra camp, and much more.
Still we give small gifts and more to Aaron. So wrapping is necessary. I try to do it all at once. I shop then I wrap. When I wrap I now take over the dining table because sitting in the floor now kills my back after an hour or so. My dining room is now a mess as I wrap gifts very basic – paper and a sticker label. Don’t forget we have several people with December birthdays that’s why the other wrap is out.
In the end I think I was a victim of myself. My trying to do too much. Make it all an event, all festive, all over the top I see that in hindsight. My advice to those starting to feel burnout. You don’t have to do it all. Sit down with those you share the holiday with and be honest, what’s important to your celebration and what can you cut. Do all the gifts have to be a work of art or are they happy with paper and a label? Do you need to make cookies or is that something you’re doing just because you think you should? How much decoration is festive and how much is a chore? Make some decisions so what you do is meaningful not a something that you drop your head put your shoulder pads forward and push through. I wish I’d realized that before this year. I might have actually enjoyed many more holidays beyond the two at the beach.
Poor gingerbread man can’t run away as fast as he can with only one leg. **mwahahaha** pardon the evil laugh…
In the end no one is perfect, no one can do it all but you can do what makes it festive for you and yours. That’s where we are finally going this year. If we’d done this earlier maybe we’d discovered the beauty of the Durkee Mansion years earlier. Still I’m thankful we’re finding our balance, it’s about time.
As always I want to hear from YOU. Feel free to comment here, on Google+ (+mary louise eklund), Flickr (Mary Louise Eklund), and/or Twitter (@marylouiseeklund). Not on Facebook, I don’t go there any more. You can e-mail me at either of my email accounts marylouiseeklund at either yahoo.com or gmail.com. I try to make it easy to find me. Also if like this rate it and use as many of the share buttons there as you’d like!
Until next time – I hope you are enjoying the season instead of being stressed by it.
Today was the last day to tour the Durkee Mansion here in Kenosha. It’s been decorated for the holiday season. We’ve talked for five of the last seven holiday seasons (two of them we were on active duty in Tampa) we need to go tour the historical structure in our town. However, holiday season happens and it’s never simple and by the time we looked up it was over and the house was closed.
The Kemper Center was built on the Durkee Mansion grounds
We made the effort today, with more presents to wrap but the bulk of the holiday chores done we decided to take time to tour the home. We were justly rewarded for our small effort of getting off the couch and turning off football. Okay that wasn’t a small effort as the two games had Bears in one and the Pack in the other. Still my photography hobby was greatly pleased to see such lovely decorations in a restored Victorian home.
The colorful trim painting I’d expect to see on a Victorian home.
The entrance of the mansion has all the detail painting you’d expect on a Victorian home. Yet I thought the entrance somewhat stark for a Victorian home. Later with talking with a volunteer I learned what it was missing. The once elaborate and breathtakingly ornate wraparound porch with all the lattice work detail of the period is long gone. The plantation windows (the large kind that go to the floor where you walk through them when open) that we saw in the parlor and dining room once opened to this porch. Glimpses as to what the porch looked like can be seen in the early graduation pictures of the Kemper Center School for Girls. They posed on this ornate porch. Today the windows are just large windows with iron grates at the bottom on the outside
These windows once allowed entry and exit to the ornate wrap around porch
The home was said to be a stop on the Underground Railroad. The Durkees were abolitionist. Mr. Durkee’s brother was involved in finding railroad “stops” in the Kenosha area for escaping slaves. The Mansion has a root cellar that is accessible by a trap door in the floor of the pantry. Lore holds this is where the Durkees hid slaves they hosted as a train stop on the route to freedom. Currently the door is under a large pantry armoire and not visible to visitors.
The house isn’t furnished with original furniture. Instead it is furnished with period correct pieces donated by the community. The restoration and care of this lovely home is a community effort. It is so sad that we have missed out on seeing this treasure for so long. The holiday decorations are also donated and done by volunteers. Each room had a podium explaining the room function and listing the volunteers who had decorated it for the holiday. Much of the decoration was Victorian inspired with the heavy draping of many fabrics and the ornate nature of the decorations. It was set to be a feast for the eye. I did enjoy finding areas to highlight with my lens eye and appreciate the efforts of everyone who donated time and materials.
Morning Room or Ladies’ Parlor
The main area of entertaining guests would have been the main floor were the parlors and dining room were located. Then the third floor where the ballroom was located. Unfortunately the ballroom is now closed off and houses the furnace and other mechanicals to service the home. I so would have loved to have seen a restored ballroom decorated to the nines for Christmas. Though it did seem odd to me that the two main entertaining areas were not adjoined but rather required passing through the family’s floor.
The other odd thing to me was the home faces away from the lovely view of Lake Michigan. They must of had a spectacular view sitting there in the middle of their ten acres. Only the bay window in his room can glimpse the lake. I would have highlighted that view from my home and ballroom much like the Vanderbilts did at the Breakers in Newport. Okay maybe not as ornately as the Vanderbilts but orientation wise like they did or the Ringling home in Florida does the Atlantic.
Here is where the Durkees would have hosted their guests.
Back to the main floor. There were three parlors. The guest parlor that would have showcased the best the Durkees had to offer in furniture, decoration, and such. This was to the right of the foyer or entrance hall. The hall was where the guest would have given their cloaks, gloves, and gentlemen doffed their hats. Also calling cards would have been left there by each guest. Straight back from the foyer was the ladies parlor where Mrs. Durkee would have enterained lady vistors. Back and to the right was the gentlemen’s parlor where Mr. Durkee would have entertained male callers. I’m sure much political discussion went on in that room given Mr. Durkee’s career.
All of these parlors were accessible by the Butler’s Walk a hallway that ran through the core of the house and connected with the servant’s hall. I did find the ceiling in the servant’s hall lovely and today it’s where you can view photos of the early graduating classes from Kemper and get a glimpse of the house’s porch.
A stained glass window in the dining room
One of the striking features of the home’s main floor was the stained glass windows. They were glittering with the bright winter light streaming into the dimly lit home. One thing we take for granted now is good lighting. Early light bulbs weren’t as strong as we are used to today. Nor did one light a whole room, instead one lit the area where they were. One of the mad extravagances of George Vanderbilt at his Biltmore home was fully lighting rooms with electrical lights. Still the pleasant cozy dimness highlighted the lovely colors of the glass in the windows. Check out my flickr account for some shots of the other windows.
Going down the free standing stairs
The second floor or family floor held five bedrooms. At the time they lived in the home the Durkees did not have children. Later when the Kemper Center operated the girls school this floor had classrooms, offices, and the Mother Superior’s bedroom. Today they all have been restored to bedrooms. They are lovely but in the interest of space I’ll only highlight two. The one that was the Mother Superior’s bedroom and one I just liked the furniture.
This is the bedroom with the largest fireplace and became the Mother Superior’s bedroom
This is the bedroom the Mother Superior later chose as her bedroom. I can see why on two counts. First it had the largest fireplace so it would be a warm bedroom. Here in the late 1800s I can imagine the winters could be brutally cold and being next to the lake I’m sure the wind was brutal. Next it just outside it’s door was the sitting room for the family area I’m sure that was good place for the students to gather between classes and she would easily keep an eye on them. At least those were my imaginings as I stood in the bedroom doorway. It was also a good sized room but not large like the master bedroom so I’m sure it was a nice size to be her private area. There are more pictures of the room on my flickr feed so click on any image in this post and go over to look about.
I loved this bed and thought the headboard and foot board were just beautiful!
The other bedroom I just thought the bed was lovely. It was decorated as a ladies room but there were men’s riding boots by the fireplace. **waggles eyebrows** What lovely horseman put his boots by her fire? **wink wink** Really who can’t see lovely decorated Victorian homes and not fall into a romance novel state of mind? Okay guys I get it you can do it but even I, the not really a romance reader gal, couldn’t help it.
The pump frame there is only for decoration this was a true dry sink from the original house
Now back down the stairs to the servant’s areas. I didn’t get any pictures in the pantry where the root cellar hatch is because the room was very small and often crowded given the historical significance of it. I did get a shot of ceiling in the servant’s hall. The floor was also very attractive being striped by alternating light wood with dark wood in the hardwood floor. This was a wide hallway where the servants would gather outside the small kitchen where the dry sink was located.
What’s a dry sink you ask. Well ignore that pump handle and spout there it’s just decoration. A dry sink had no water and no drain. You went out to the pump and carried in the water. You washed the dishes in the water you heated on the stove there in the dry sink pans. When you were finished you carried the dirty water outside. Thus the sink was truly a dry sink just a place to hold the dishpans.
Simmons Gym built in 1910
That concluded our tour of the home. On the way out I made a few pictures of the Kemper Center grounds including the Simmon’s gym built in 1910. The school was a very progressive one for women. The nuns taught chemistry, physics, horseback riding, pottery making, and many other things. The gym even included bowling alleys. The classes were small at the most 24 girls. The girls lived in dorms on the grounds. A woman who graduated from Kemper was well educated and knowledgeable about many things. They were finished ladies.
A real wild red fox strolls down the sidewalk in town.
Just as we were getting in the truck to go home I spotted a red fox, yes a real wild red fox strolling down the sidewalk of this historic lake front community. We sat in the car and watched him for a bit. The lady walking on the other side of the street paused to watch him trot along occasionally stopping to sniff here or pee there (gotta mark territory ya know). It was an odd thing to see as we can’t recall any woods near there for him to live. I guess he was just like us enjoying a day out in the sun with no snow and temps that weren’t really cold by Wisconsin December’s standards.
As I’ve said multiple times in this post there are more photos on my flickr account. You can also view larger sizes of any of these by clicking on them and going to that account. Also as always I’d LOVE to hear from you. You can comment here, e-mail me at any of my e-mail accounts (marylouiseeklund at gmail or yahoo) or tweet me @marylouiseklund. I’m also on Google+ as myself but you won’t get me on Facebook. My old account there is there but it’s dead. Until next time – Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and hope life’s treating you well.
So obviously keeping a blog with everything else I’m doing isn’t working. I’m rethinking what I’m going to do with all my social media and blog. I’m thinking of turning this into more of a personal journal than official writing blog. Apparently that will suit my style.
For those who met or followed me on Facebook. I don’t do that any more. Ever since Facebook updated their system to track you even when you sign out, I stopped using them. I considered that an invasion of privacy and apparently so did the FTC. You can now find me on Google+ because it’s a system that turns off when you log out. They already had their brush with the FTC with Google Buzz and cleaned up their act. I’m me over there too, Mary Louise Eklund feel free to circle me any time. Also say hi in the comments.
I’m also on Twitter. Love it as I can shout out to the world from my phone when a thought is worth sharing. I’m marylouiseklund over there. Note one e for the end of Louise and the start of Eklund in that handle. Also over to the right my tweets run so you’ll see links I think are interesting shared there.
Now to tell you what I’ve been doing since August.
Three Gems – Jewelry Booth
Hmm, I’ve been doing craft shows selling my jewelry. I’ve had a booth with two of my friends Paula Lawlor and Jean Rabe. We’ve had great shows and really bad shows but in the end I just want to support my craft addiction. After the first of the year we plan to open an esty store. I’ll let you know about that when it happens.
Jean is moving at the end of January, her husband has taken a new job a bit south of here. He’s already moved there. I sure will miss them. Jean was a bit part of our writer’s group. She brought years of experience in writing and editing to our group of newbies. Now we’re on our own after January.
As for our little jewelry/craft group. We’ll go on with lessons learned from this year. There are some other crafters interested in joining us. After the holidays we’ll meet, choose what craft fairs we want to do starting in the Spring and start the application process for them.
Mike a the Emporer’s palace Tokyo
Mike had active duty in Japan. This was months after the big earthquake in northern Japan. He did get to go sight see once before the work started. We got to chat regularly over the internet. No we didn’t use Skype but instead Yahoo IM but the voice chat. I think he enjoyed Poland more last year because with that group he got to see more of the host country. Here he was on base most of the time working the night shift. Never know what you’ll get but the Navy still lives up to its promise of seeing the world.
Aaron in his first dorm room
Aaron moved out into a dorm at University of Wisconsin in Madison. He’s doing so well. He comes home regularly to see his girlfriend Sara. As a result we get to see him regularly. As you can see he’s having a great time a college discovering odd things like an old gas mask without the filter and public transportation.
Having a great time at college!
I rediscovered the fun of having ideas, doodles, plans, notes, and such all in one nice book. My new journal book of choice is a large moleskine with grid paper. The great thing about gridpaper is I can draw out floor plans of settings I create in my stories. I can do calendars, and such. Also when I take a notion to sketch it helps having a grid. I’m not a good sketcher but at times it makes me happy.
Yes we were THAT close to him
We didn’t just sit around all the time but did do a few things without going to a single theme park. We took an airboat ride out on a local lake. That was lots of fun. We got to see alligators and other wild life. I told Mike it felt like I was riding a couch across the water. I loved it and would like to go do it again sometime.
Leu Garden Roses
We toured the Leu House and Gardens. There they have a wonderfully historic house with beautiful gardens. Mrs. Leu loved roses and her rose garden was unbelievable! The roses were in bloom and I did enjoy making pictures of them until the mosquitoes came out at dusk! Didn’t see the rest of the gardens as we ran to our car to avoid the blood thirsty swarms! Next time going more toward mid day when the sun is high and mosquitoes are low.
Early Stages of the clean up from the plumbing disaster
Life’s not all been crafting, moving and vacation. We did deal with a huge plumbing issue that happened when the sewage pipe from the second floor cracked and drained through our walls and into our basement. The whole basement had to be redone. That took a while to get in order but our insurance covered most of the cost. THANK GOODNESS!
Grandpa Mac holding Baby Aaron
We lost Grandpa Mac this fall. He was Mike’s maternal grandfather, Dale McAllister. It was sad but a blessing Grandpa was freed from his body. He’d not been in good health and had to be in a nursing homes. We’ll miss him. The funeral service was excellent the minister recounted many of his funny tales make all of us smile remembering the man we knew.
As for writing, I’m working on a Steampunk novel. I’m using the characters from my two published stories. It picks up just after the Steampunk’d story. All of it takes place on the Plebeman estate. It’s been fun and soon the first draft will be done and sit on the hard drive to cool before my editing/rewrites. Then it’ll be out to betas.
Next big project will be an urban (but really rural setting) fantasy set in town I grew up in and my parents still live, Greeneville, Tennessee. I’ve been working on that story concept and plot for months. It should be fun to revisit the area but with a fictional twist of course.
As for genealogy, I’m still plugging away at it. I’ve come to terms that I will always have a filing cabinet of information awaiting input into my family tree program. I’ll always be collecting more documentation and always be behind. All this despite I only deal with dead ancestors and relatives. Such is the life of an amateur genealogist.
We haven’t had any snow that stuck to the ground until today. I’d been counting my blessings and hoping for a snow-less winter but that’s too much to ask for in Wisconsin. I count my blessings that it is late starting this year and hope for an early spring, say oh in March!
Hope the holidays are treating you well. Now that you know what I’m up to give me a shout out to tell me what you’ve been up to. You can reach me here, Google+, Twitter, Flickr (where you’ll find this photos in large sizes and many more from these events & other things), or at either of my e-mail addresses marylouiseeklund at yahoo.com or gmail.com. I try to make it easy to be found.
Many people paint a rosy picture of their childhood Christmases. In hopes of being a bit more practical I will admit there are many things I don’t miss about my childhood Christmases. Not that they weren’t great Christmases but there are some things I’m thankful I DON’T have to do any more.
I don’t miss getting dressed up to sit around the house. Yes, my Nanny (what I called my maternal grandmother) required everyone to look like a Norman Rockwell painting but better dressed. Didn’t work, I was uncomfortable in a dress or skirt and knee socks trying to play with my new toy. Give me jeans any day and I’m a happy camper, better yet sweats to just wear about the house enjoying myself.
I don’t miss having to make my bed and display my gifts. Well I didn’t HAVE to but my Nanny liked it. It did make writing thank-you notes much easier. Besides it’s easier to play with Barbies on a bed when you are in a skirt than in the floor.
I don’t miss the good china. Yeah it’s nice and I carried that stupidity to a new level when I was a young married woman by having specific Christmas dishes (well we used them all winter because they were winter themed). No really the meal tastes just as good on every day dishes and is much less stressful to do.
I don’t miss all the stupid school stuff. When I was in 5th and 6th grade our class went about singing to different places and putting on some odd variety show. We wore orange-yellow shirts with our names on them in fuzzy purple letters (our school colors were purple and gold but gold was expensive so orange-yellow stood in). I’d “blossomed” to a C cup by the 5th grade and they had to shorten my name to fit on the shirt. It looked like one of the girls is named Mary and the other Lou. I don’t miss that.
I don’t miss the oyster stuffing. I like oysters steamed or smoked. I don’t like them in stuffing. Enough said.
I don’t miss the cut up stuff in the gravy. Why my grandmother insisted on chopped boiled egg and chopped turkey giblets put in the gravy is beyond me. I like my gravy plain like my coffee. They’re both beverages right?
Really, this time of the year many people wax nostalgic about their childhood Christmas. However being the cynic with a good heart I don’t want to gloss over the stuff I didn’t like (besides Mary and Lou are still hanging around, albeit a bit lower now).
Yes, there are things about my childhood Christmases I miss. They can all be summed up by one miss—I miss the anticipation. I miss the build up to Christmas. The excitement was so much I felt was going to burst and squirmed with delight at that feeling. It built so much until on Christmas Eve night I couldn’t fall asleep and my parents would take me on car rides to get me to go to sleep . I’d be in my pajamas with a blanket watching the dark sky and Christmas lights go by until I fell asleep.
No for me it’s gone. I get glimmers here and there of the thrill. The closest sustained anxious feeling like that is when I race from the car to the bathroom in Target wondering if I’ll make it in time. (Hey there’s anticipation and squirming involved with great joyous relief when I get there). No the anticipation isn’t the same.
Still looking on the bright side, I get to wear sweats, not wear the girls names about in public, enjoy a plain gravy while eating off my every day dishes, and skip making my bed that day. All in all life’s pretty good.
Mary Louise Eklund 