Counting the Stars: The Book of June

Today is my Mother June's birthday. She is 86 years old. In 2007 I made this book for her (I actually made 4 of them at one time). I interviewed her via email and took excerpts from a scrapbook my cousin Toni made for my Grandmother's 90th birthday.

I visited on Sundays and drove my parents around the various places they lived over the years (so I could get pictures). Since they were born just a block or so apart, the book became a book about them and their extended families.

"When I was almost 4 years old, Daddy bought the grocery store and we moved there." Memories of the store by Mom and her 3 siblings.

Mom says "we didn't go to the doctor. We were the great generation. There was not much money. Lots of moonshine, smoking and booze were the thing in the thirties." Her Dad Vista was a hard worker. He passed away at age 42. Mom was only 12 years old and was told he had a nervous breakdown.

Mom's Mother took over the store. There wasn't any Social Security at that time. "We had the store but everyone was hurting with the Depression. Our neighbors needed help with food and we were there." A prayer said at the table:
"A little head, a little heart
Bowed down in simple prayer
Thank the Lord for food and drink
And loving daily care."

Mom trained her graduating year of high school (in 1943) to run the lathe and drill press and even learned welding. After graduation, she went to Akron, Ohio and made pieces for fighter planes.

After the war, Mom married James William Reeves on September 5, 1946.

Mom and Dad's first house together was next door to Pop Pop Harry & Grandma Maries'. This was the house I lived in until age 5. When my parents built a new home 1 mile down the road, my Grandparents built a new house next door.

The 4 children.

Dad's brothers.

(Inside back cover) These are the kinds of candy sold at Vista Mullan's Grocery in the 1930s. (Penny Candy) Mom remembers eating spearmint leaves, orange slices, red dollars, peppermint sticks and tar babies. The favorite spot in the store for the kids was the candy case. Grandma Marie was sometimes forced to slap their fingers when they took too much.

(Cover) "Counting the Stars" is the title written by Grandma Marie under the photo of June taken in Akron, Ohio, at age 19. Mom said she didn't open her mouth as her teeth were crooked, but she couldn't hide the smile. June had fun as a child despite the hardships of the Great Depression and loosing her Dad at a young age. She wasn't sure what lay ahead, but looked forward to it with that sparkle in her eye.

Leaving Mom

Fall used to be my least favorite time of year. It reminded me of the time I first started grade school. I was 6-in 1st grade-and cried when I got to school. My sister Terry-a 6th grader-was called to comfort me. It wasn't so much that I didn't like school, rather, I didn't like leaving my Mother. I was an adult before I got over this.

Pictured here with Mom just before her 86th birthday. 2011

Life's Railway

When Mom was a child her Dad's cousin Mae Penman played the piano and all the family sang this song. Mae's husband Frank worked for the railroad. Mae had a pass to ride the train from Westernport to Cumberland and she would take Mom and Mom's sister Margaret with her. The conductor would often return the 25 cent fare to the girls. These were good memories for girls who grew up during the depression.

The song is called "Life's Railway to Heaven":
Life is like a mountain railroad with an engineer that's brave
We must make the run successful from the cradle to the grave.

This song is on the latest CD by Brad Paisley and has been recorded by all the country greats. Yet it is older than they are. . .

Did you know Basic Grey makes beautiful digital designs now? This is one of the journaling blocks. . . just add your journaling, print and cut out for the layout!

Butterfly Award

It's always fun to receive an award from an on line scrapbook friend. Thank you Denise of Lala's World.
Denise makes fun layouts of her children and other crafts. A more recent layout of she and her husband was a favorite. Thank you Denise.

I am to pass this award onto 6 friends:
Marilyn of Treasuring Memories Marilyn is a fashion designer by day and her paper pages assume the same lovely designs.
Solveig of Mammasols Scrapping Cottage Solveig is a nursery teacher by day and her unique designs and colors are fairy tale like.
Carmen from Scrap Joy Carmen is a lovely lady who does beautiful layouts of her adventures with her husband and scrapping friends.
Keandra of I'm Talking Serious Scrap She is a fantastic artist. She designs her own embellishments and alphas and puts them together in such a fun way--always to honor her family and friends.
Tracey Garden of Grace That title perfectly describes her work and her personality.
Anna Pictures n Papers Anna takes beautiful photographs many from her hometown in southwestern Virginia.

Now I am charged with answering these 12 questions about me:
Favorite color: Green
Favorite song: "When You Say Nothing at All" Allison Krauss sings like an angel.
Favorite dessert: Natural Peanut Butter on Graham Crackers
What wizzes you off at the moment? Not sure what that means. . . My large cat blocking my monitor?
My favorite pet: That large cat "Sugar"
Black or white? A little of both.
Biggest fear: Wasting time.
Best feature: Creativeness.
Everyday attitude: Go for it!
What is perfection? Living life to its fullest.
Guilty pleasure? Overnight trip with Bob.
When you're upset. . . I'm irritable, probably look that way and don't pay attention to others.

Now be sure and visit my friends blogs!

Greek Islands Restaurant

In May I attended a professional workshop outside of Chicago and spent most of my spare time in my room studying. I ventured out twice, once (you guessed it) to an Archivers and another to the Greek Islands Restaurant. It was such a lovely place.

Journaling: "I so enjoyed my Sunday lunch at the authentic Greek Island Restaurant. The service, the bread, the coffee and baked vegetables were superb. I picked a winner!"

The background in this layout is a linen guest towel on which I inked a vine pattern using a heidi swapp mask.

It rained sideways nearly the whole time I was in Chicago. I had to carry my camera under my coat. Here I am prior to leaving the hotel.

2011

1st Page

In our city of 50,000 people, many know Bob. Wherever we go, someone says "Hello Bob"! In his 30+ year career, he has published many pictures of people at work and play, sometimes in competition, and most of them in complementary situations. He photographs everyday people, like you and me. Most are not "famous". In a recent thank you note from a teacher and her students who had participated in academic games, one of the children wrote, "Thank you for putting me on the 1st page". That made his day. 2011

This photo was taken by one of Bob's fans at an event a few years back.

Llewellen Cemetery

I was inspired by my digital scrapbook friend Ann Marie to create a heritage layout.

Earlier this summer, my son Chris and I met my sister Terry and my Mom at the Frostburg Md. exit of I68 to meet Paul Knieriem who led us to the site of the Llewellen Cemetery on Dan's Mountain. John and Sarah Loar Llewellen and some of their children are buried here. I was introduced to Paul after posting the Llewellyn family photo (c1870) on Ancestry.com. Paul's Great-Grandfather is Elijah (b 1855--one of the oldest sets of twins). Mom's Grandmother is Jeanetta (b 1868). She is 3 years old in the photo.

Chris drove our 4 wheel drive up Dan's Mountain.

Here is the view prior to turning onto to the road near the cemetery.

The cemetery sat about 50 yards from the road. Chris and I each took my 85 year old mother's arms to help her to the site. The "cemetery" is actually 1 plot with 1 major stone. The parents and 5 of their children are buried here.

It's was a treat for all of us. Paul lives in Frostburg and is full of family facts.

2011

Historic Travelers

Bob has Fridays off so I occasionally take a vacation day then to join him. Last Friday we drove to historic Beverly, West Virginia near Elkins. There is a beautiful heritage center there, an historic cemetery and a Civil War battlefield. We even ate lunch in a place called "The Soldier's Skillet".

When we traveled to the top of Rich Mountain where the battle was fought, I started out by saying "Why would you have a battle 5 miles up a mountain?" Silly me, look at the view. I soon learned from reading the heritage center signage that the road was the original "Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike" the horse and wagon route from the Shenandoah Valley to the Ohio River. It was one the troops wanted to secure!

I got the idea for my journaling from one of the Heritage Center displays: "The Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike shaped the identities of the town of Beverly. As travelers on this road, we became part of the legacy, bringing it full circle."

The pin package and pins were purchased at the heritage center.

Check out this photo from the heritage center--the beautiful draping on the display is where I got the inspiration for my design.

August, 2011

Blog Giveaway Winners

Turns out I had enough books to fill 2 large flat rate boxes. The 2 winners (using Random.org) are Trina and Eileen. Each winner receives 10 or 11 books, some with a couple pages missing! I think you'll like them!

Thanks for your support!

My Scraproom and a Giveaway

Just before the start of summer, I painted my room. In that process, I cleaned and organized. Here's a closer look at my room.

This ribbon storage was Bob's idea. He gives me empty CD containers from work. I enlarge the holes in the ribbon reals and slide them onto the container. The ribbons are stored in containers by color.

I purchased the paper rack from a LSS when the owner was moving out of state with her family. Thank you Barbara from "Through the Grapevine". I think of you often and wished I'd stayed in touch. The green storage boxes on my bookcase hold lace, fibers and die cuts. The storage drawers hold brads, bookplates, paints and dyes.

The top of my paper rack has my favorite quote "Let a joy keep you. . . "

The clothes line above the piano holds favorite cards. The decorative storage cases on top the piano hold chipboard, corners and alphas.

I made the sewing machine skirt and cover (trying to hide some of the electrical wires).

It's not pretty, but the over the door shoe container holds more alphas. Another clothes line with a pretty decorative apron from my sister Terry. Please check my side bar for photos inside the closet (my scrapbook storage) and my corner embellishment rack.

Surplus organizers for electronic storage, adhesives, stamps and ink pads.

Sugar blocks the monitor and she loves the attention she gets when I push her down (she perceives that as petting).

Now for the giveaway: When I painted my room you helped me thin my stash. Now I'd like to giveaway scrapping related books. These are books with design tips, sketches and the like. For US bloggers only, I will pack as many books as I can get in a flat rate shipping box to a random winner selected from those who comment below! Thanks again for allowing me to share!

UVA

During our June vacation, we visited the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. We have a beautiful campus here in hometown Morgantown, WV and it wasn't a new venture for Bob and I to walk around a campus with many unique buildings. This campus is older and the history very interesting.

Thomas Jefferson's academical village has smaller structures around an open square of grass and trees connected with covered walkways-the "ideal community of learning" said Jefferson, the father of the University of Virginia.

This layout was inspired by one by Kim Garofolo Neddo on scrapbook.com

Catch the Wave

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory was built in the countryside of SE West Virginia where there was little interference from the outside world. The trees have grown and the huge satellite dishes are not as visible so we enjoyed the inside models and fun "Catch the Wave" exhibit. Green Bank, 2011

Lunch Bunch

I love summer Wednesdays when the school age students from CDC join us for lunch. I take pictures of them eating their healthy lunches and this year I asked the teachers if I could come to the center and teach a scrapbook class. Each child got an envelope of pictures. I had a big envelope of titles to choose from and food embellishments. Each child did their own journaling. They were so clever--the youngest writing "Yummy" on his page and an older child writing several sentences. I think one of the boys may be the next Tim Holtz. The captions on my page were actual statements from presents they gave me. August 2011

Carmen's doodling on the plate she made me is real art work. I received about 20 pieces of art work like this from the children!