Pictures from the Past

This week, collecting old family photos from the garage and various closets, I came up with eleven storage boxes of pictures and frames.  That is just too many if you don't have a library and/or you are not an historian.  It was time to pare down.

Beginning the process, with two sacks of miscellaneous black garbage sacks already filled with photo clutter and ready to be taken for disposal, here is the start of the editing:

Some of the photos I unearthed were sweet, evoking sentimental emotions, such as this studio shot taken in about 1935 of my mother, her mother and her sister( left to right).

The back of this photograph is in my brother's handwriting and says "Lela Hugeley Motley, married to Thomas Jefferson Motley, May 30, 1883" (my great grandmother from the paternal side of the family).  This was likely Lela's Motley's wedding portrait (born Novermber 23, 1859, Died July 22, 1921).

And, of course, there were pictures of home life and my kids at various stages of their childhood. I won't bother to show scans of some of those photos.

But I have to include this bizarre photograph of the tombstone for my great grandfather's FOOT from 100 years ago.

Now why in the world would one have a memorial to a part of one's body that was amputated?  Curious, but the proof is in the photo.  You wonder what the story was behind that foot...

The good thing is that several days later, I'm down to five boxes of pictures, and ready to further prune, scan and discard even more of these photos.  Thank g-d for digital cameras and scanners.

English Gardens and The Traveling Woman Shawl

Spring brings to mind, among other thoughts, the connotation of gardens.  My British friend talks about the English garden, and it took me on a search for what exists in an "English garden".

From this site:

As castles gave way to fortified manor houses in the later medieval period, the garden became a simple green space surrounded by hedges or fences. Games such as bowls or tennis took place on the lawn.

The next stage of the English garden came after the Reformation. Many landowners enclosed common land to create parks for keeping deer or cattle. This 'natural' landscape gave way to formal gardens near the house, still sheltered from the outside world by hedges or walls.

So that helped narrow down some information.  Then a search for images of English gardens brought up pictures of flowers, shrubs, small hedges, water gardens and small ponds including foliage, and a general sense of beauty and well being.  There are formal gardens, with areas cordoned off for specific plant placement, and informal gardens that include a more free-form type of planting.

In October, 2010, fifty or so travelers will visit some English gardens in London, Bath, and Wales.  I am excited to be part of this group.

We travelers will visit not only gardens, but also fiber shops and woolen mills.  Our host and podcaster Heather Ordover of Craftlit, the podcast for people who are too busy to hold a book, along with tour guide DianneRJ from Ravelry will be taking a group of crafters who love books, to London, Bath and Wales to see the sites.  Information about the fiber tour can be found here through Holiday Vacations.  I'll be on that bus, likely with knitting needles and fiber in hand, while we visit local yarn shops, museums, and castle gardens. (It is all about crafting, reading/listening to classic books, and Jane Austen, you know.)

Since it will be cool weather in England and Wales, of course we TRAVELING WOMEN will need various warm outer clothing and knitted accessories to help ward off the mist.

So which of my shawls will go along with me?  Perhaps the "Traveling Woman Shawl". Description of the shawl from designer Liz Abinante says:

Being an indecisive individual, this shawl is named after two things. First, the song “Travelling Woman” by Bat for Lashes (she’s British, hence the extra “l”). “Travelling Woman” is a song about a brilliant woman with a promising future, who loses it all because she fell in love with a man who had too much potential, and not enough substance. The edge of the shawl represents the dangerous web of love, as well as its highs and lows. Along the bind off edge, the shawl can be blocked to subtle points, or straight.

Second, the character Angela Montenegro on Bones. If you’re familiar with Angela’s character, I think the song selection makes sense: she’s artistic, a believer in love, and just the type who might get in a little too deep before she can find her way out (she did get married in Fiji to a complete stranger, after all). This is the second in a series of patterns based on the characters from the Bones television show.

The Traveling Woman Shawl is a free download found here on Ravelry.  I am about half-way through it, using Ella Rae Lace Merino yarn.  And definitely my Clapotis Shawl will go along, too.  Can't wait!

Liquin - A Good Thing

This is a product anyone who paints with oils will like:

Liquin, a...

reliable favorite (formerly known simply as "Liquin") is a general-purpose low gloss medium that improves flow and transparency. It mixes easily with the brush or knife, smoothes brushwork, and is also suitable for textured oil techniques. Liquin Original approximately halves the drying time of oil colors, resulting in a drying time of anywhere from one to five days, depending on climate, colors used, and film weight. It is not recommended as a varnish or final coat.

Applying Liquin is the final step used on the Day Lily, started in July, 2009 and what I'm considering now "almost finished".  The Liquin finish keeps dust off the picture, and lends a warmer glow to the oil colors.  This picture was taken prior to using Liquin since pictures on my camera tend to create a "shine" on the picture after Liquin is applied.

Orange Day Lily, 2010, NMcCarroll

30" x 40", oil on wrapped canvas

Prior progress on the painting of this canvas can be viewed at Floral Art, Etc.  (The original photo of the day lily from our garden will also be shown on that blog posting.)