Christmas 2012 all around the house...

Intarsia wooden Candle Made by my Sweet Bill. 

My most favorite purchased ornament is this Madonna of the Poor and baby Jesus.  I just love it!

 Light Bulb Santa I made and painted.

 Mantel that Bill made for me.

Sand Dollar ornament I painted 

 My son Danny's grade school picture that I made into an ornament.

This is a toy soldier gift tie on that my Sis-in-law Linda tied on a pkg, many, many years ago.  I have put it on my tree ever since... 

 My Little table top tree in the front windows.

Animated girl and Hallmark snowman that sings and moves.

I love this tree top Angel.  She is so beautiful and I put her on the table

so I can enjoy her.

 This is a violin on notes that I drew and Bill cut out of aluminum for me to paint.

 One of the many Wooden Christmas angels that I would draw and Bill would cut out for me to paint.  This one was made in 1981. 

My dining area in the kitchen with the mantel Bill made for me.  On the washroom door is a Santa wreath made from hymnal music pages and vintage Santa pic in the center. 

 My tiny little tree setting on a bookcase shelf.  Under it is a wooden quilt square Bill made for me.  His picture is on the right and he is painting one of his other crafts....

 My youngest Barbie School picture way back when....

Beautiful beaded ornament made by my daughter Christine and a felt Santa that I made. 

 Daughter Christine's school picture taken the same year as the others.

This is a felt and sequin tree made by my Mother ever so many years ago, I have several of the felt ornaments that she made - I miss you Mama....  

Coffee table books

This is a Milkweed Pod ornament that I made many years ago.
 I hope you enjoyed seeing just a few of my special ornaments.  
Thank you for coming and I hope your CHRISTmas is heavenly!  God Bless all of you who like me, are celebrating the first Christmas without a loved one.  I love and miss you Bill, the love of my life. ♥

Vintage Card to Serviceman

I hope everyone is enjoying a star-spangled weekend before the 4th of July!!  I am sharing a vintage card from the 40's for a serviceman that I purchased in the early 70's at an estate sale.  I knew of this woman's house as she lived near my in-laws, never married and was a Sunday School teacher.  She had many wonderful cards and book and I was fortunate to obtain these cards from the past that were never used.  I have two of the same as the one I am featuring.

I think it is amazing how brilliant the colors remain!  The envelope is yellowed but the card is perfect.  I have several more cards for different occasions and I just love them all! I hope you enjoy seeing them as well.  Don't forget Pink Saturday over at Beverly's How Sweet the Sound, Look for me in the list of participants with pink hand palms...http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com

Do come again soon, Hugs, 

Upcoming 51st Anniversary

Last year at this time we were planning our 50th Wedding Anniversary and now we will be seeing 51! Thank you Lord!  I found some prose I wrote for my Hubby in November of 2002 among my journals and will share it with you.

                MY BILL
   ©Kerrie O'Hearn Marquart
                11/2002
The bluest sky, the most beautiful bird,
The reddest rose, the sweetest song.
The softest breeze, the gentlest rain,
The far off whistle of train.
A Summer day in a country field,
The buzz of the bees, the smell of the earth
Turned fresh from the fields.
The sight of a foal racing 'round the ring.
The green of plant sprouts, the cut hay in the field
The sun glistening on a strong, tanned back...
    Remind me of youth and YOU.



Our grandchildren with us last Anniversary
February 27th 2010


And Written at the same time but could very well have been written today! More memories of when we were very young and living on a farm with our little ones:

"Remember fishing on the riverbank for Silver Bass and Cat Fish? Baiting the hooks for tiny hands and never getting to throw your own worm in?
What great memories of the farm and you.  We were happy, weren't we!  I remember when the first foal was born, you were so excited!  Remember when we were snowed in and the neighbor brought us milk for the babes?

And little Christine and I selling our squash by the road, My father sitting under the big Maple tree, "Eary" the bull getting loose?  And my poking him with the broom handle until he went back in the barn!  And that ugly black milk snake that Christine and I stepped on while he was sunning himself on the back step?  And remember the storm that brought the tree down into our farm kitchen.  How about ordering 10 chicks that Easter for our little ones and getting 100!!

  Every day was an adventure, Every day in love with you, the kids, the animals.  Those good memories lighten my heart that has been heavy.  I love you Bill with all my heart!"

What are your wonderful memories of youth and starting out as a young wife and Mother or Husband and Father? I hope that you also keep journals and can look back one day and read them as I have mine.  It is comforting and fun!

Thank you for stopping by and for sharing my joys.  Come again soon and if you like pictures of wildlife, birds and nature, Christian Inspiration, and crafts, do visit our other blogs. Links are in the sidebar.

♥Kerrie♥

My heart to yours...

Wedding Blog Party

FRIDAY'S

JUNE-WEDDING CELEBRATION!

The picture above is of my great Neice and her fiance soon to be married in July.  Their invitation is unique and so like the way they are.  Worth sharing. It is shown at the bottom of this page.  Printed on cardboard stock with a postcard RSVP included, the front is a beautiful flower left up to you to color.  I thought this was so creative.
Do they look happy or what??

Celebrating the 50th Wedding Anniversary this year and they said we were too young-LOL!  Don't forget now, go to Angelic Accents Link is below and you will see a list of all the participants for the Wedding Blog Party!

A June Bridal Party!!

Link to http://www.angelicaccents.blogspot.com/ to see all of the participants!!

Our Wedding picture from February 27, 1960

Announcement and my something blue~ garter.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND AND GOD BLESS ALL OF THE MARRIAGES, MAY YOU HAVE A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE!

SENTIMENTAL SATURDAY

MAMA...

Mama was a little person short of stature, short of height

But what she lacked in size, she made up for in might.

She never wore makeup and never did her hair

But her goodness shown in those big, brown eyes

And you couldn't escape her stare.

And Mama always heard what we were up to out of sight

And I never knew how she did that

Until I became a mother myself!

Mama was a hard worker, working long

                                and keeping house

But her hardest job was raising us and

           subduing a troublesome spouse.

But she took it all in her stride

     living on little but spreading it wide.

And she never gave up on us

   no matter how her patience we tried.

Where do little Mothers find

                    such strength to carry on?

I don't know how they do that

 but I'm sure glad I have one!

©Kerrie O'Hearn Marquart 2/14/94

  My mother was a remarkable person who lived to be 90 yrs. old.  I think it is awesome that she in one lifetime went from horse and carriage to seeing men on the moon and beyond.  Her father died when she was only 12 in a vehicle accident.  She had wanted to be a teacher but when she was 15 she was taken out of school and sent to work in a shoe factory to help support the large family.  She loved her work and would continue for most of her life, returning as late as age 79 to teach young people how to do the fancy stitching that she had done all of her life on the uppers of the shoes.  She raised 5 children and never complained about what she did not have.  But treasured the small things in life that gave her happiness, always smiling with sparkling life-filled eyes.  Mama did crafts, oil painted, did china painting, crocheted the most wonderful things and loved being busy.  I miss my Mom a lot and in my heart she will forever dwell.  I tell her how much I miss her though she cannot hear, the Angels will tell....

REMEMBER YOUR MOM ON MOTHER'S DAY AND TREASURE HER!!

More Momentos from the Past...

In preparation for our 50th coming up, I had asked my oldest daughter to find some things that she has had in safekeeping for many years now so we could display them at the celebration.  I was so happy that she still had every item I asked for and more!  She is the historian of the family.

The rings in the heart box are my original engagement and wedding band in white gold. After 26 yrs. Bill bought me another solitaire diamond.
The locket has my three children in it when they were little and Bill with our son back then.
The perfume was Coty's Paris that Mom gave to me before the wedding.  She also gave me the little stick pin cat with green eyes and covered in real mink-ha!
My friendship ring from Bill that I wore before we got engaged when we were going "steady".


The little white box with Bill's picture in it is what our wedding bands came in.  Also the little note in my writing and the paper announcement of our engagement.

And to my delight, she even had my garter!  I had forgotten all about giving it to her so that was a nice surprise.
We plan to show these things on a table with a glass dome over it at the party.

I am so thankful that my daughter is as sentimental and nostalgic as I am.  Her guarding and keeping these momentos mean the world to her father and me.

Thanks for visiting, do come again soon and also check out my other blogs in the sidebar.

Thanks to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for all the comments and new friends I found while participating in Pink Saturday yesterday!

The little horse figure charm is one Bill bought for me when dating.

My Sister Mary...

Please visit my sister blog http://kerrieskorner.blogspot.com/ To see this picture with a poem written to my sister. I have been gathering photos for my Autobiography and my brother-in-law, Mary's husband, has provided me with a wealth of photos including this one. I am delighted.  I had never seen this particular picture before.

I have many photos in baggies when they should be in albums!  So I am trying to organize them better in shoeboxes by date and separated by index cards.  At least they will be easier to work with once I am ready to put them into albums or scrapbooks.  I also keep shorthand books as journals or diaries as they are easy to handle and I can even write on them while sitting in bed.  I record poems, the days happenings and my little sketches to be enjoyed by my children and grandchildren some day.  A shorthand book will hold a year or more of memories. 

   If you have photos that are laying around, at least take your favorites and put them in scrapbook if nothing else so that they are protected and preserved for future generations.  We nostalgia lovers buy post cards and photos of strangers, how much more precious when we know the people in them!

HAPPINESS IN MEMORIES AND PHOTOS

HAPPY SUNDAY TO YOU ALL!

I have been working on my autobiography and looking through my photos to add to the book. I have no baby pictures at all. But this picture was my second birthday taken in the yard at the time. From left, my Mom holding the cake, myself, Daddy sitting and my brother Joe standing. Back row shows my sister, Teresa, my beautiful Aunt Anne, and my sister, Mary who is unfortunately blocked by my hand! My Aunt Catherine, known to us by the nick name of "Babe" is taking the picture.

I love old photographs, I wish I had more of our family. My brother in the picture is the History keeper in our family and also publishes "O'Hearn's Histories", a paper with pictures and articles on our home town in Auburn, NY and Cayuga County. He and his wife work hard to prepare the monthly issue and it has been a successful publication for many years now. Do visit his site at www.ohhistories@verizon.net. Joe has given me many pictures that I treasure from the past.

If you have old photographs in boxes somewhere, do put them into scrapbooks! Don't leave your heirs to wonder, "who are these people?" I surely wish I had asked more questions about photos and history of my family and my husbands family. Now there is no one to ask on his side of the family. My daughter Christine captured some of my Mom's memories by "interviewing" her on video more than 12 years ago. I am thankful for that. Okay, Photographers, Happy Snapping!!

Also note that my niece at http://coquettishfleur.blogspot.com/ is presently posting vintage photos that are a joy to view. Visit this site for beautiful pictures, hand made creations and links to other wonderful sites.

TEA POTS, COLLECTABLES

TEA POTS, A FEW OF MY COLLECTION. I love tea pots as did my mother before me. I have only a few left from a large collection that I let go through the years. My husband always bought tea pots for me to add to my collection. Among these are the pictured favorites. The small brown pot is one that was made in Occupied Japan. It is old! It also has a glazed kind of finish different than the other brown tea pot that is taller. The white with red and green is the last one I added and has Christmas design on it. The fishing creel look alike is also one of my favorites. The spout is a fish and the lid is the creel cover. My father-in-law was an avid fisherman and it reminds me of him.... My mother had a collection of whimsical and delicate pots. One was the head of a blue cat and it had a sugar and creamer that matched. I found a sugar bowl that matched last year but the cover was gone. We both collected miniature tea sets and I always tried to find a different one when I gave her gifts. They bring much happiness in looking at them. Do you have tea pot collections?? I would love to see them if you share in pictures.

Oh, well I better go, it's almost "tea time!"