Exactly 120 years ago today, they all showed up. Where the night before there had been nobody, on this day they were everywhere. They came from every corner ...
from Germany...
...and Illinois
...and Indiana, just to name a few. They came to a land of few trees and big skies and put down roots.
They lived and they loved...
...and they raised big families
And for generation...
...after generation...
...after generation...
...one thing seemed to define them.
Wheat.
Wheat fields surrounded everything.
Their homes.
Their towns.
Roads from farm to market ran through corridors of wheat.
Combines and wheat trucks shared space with cars and pickups in the driveway.
And so because September 16 always seems to make me a little wistful and nostalgic, here is my latest.
Look what I got! The first attagirl for Reading With Scissors from a real customer.
Linda sent me this picture of the Blessings book sitting on her mantle. I love the way it looks next to her other books and book ends. And by love I mean I think I'll ask Linda to take pictures of all my books.
For lo these many years my family has met in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for Thanksgiving. But met is really not the right word. We gather. Some, like yours truly, drive north from deep in the heart of Texas. Others drive south from the mother country of Oklahoma. Some, like my cousin who offers her home to all of us, already live in the DFW area.
I like that word--gather. It evokes the sound of hymns and prayers and laughter and family, all in six little letters.
Some of you may recognize the glittery end papers on this book. They were a runner-up in the Blessings contest, running a close race to the eventual winner, Thanksgiving paisley.
And here is my first Christmas book. I like its old-fashioned font.
My mom taught me at a very early age to love stories--especially hers. Twas... is the beginning to every story. The possibilities are limitless. Twas the night before Christmas, obviously, especially with these endpapers featuring a vintage Santa, but it could just as easily be Twas a dark and stormy night..., or Twas brillig and the slithy toves..., or Twas in the moon of wintertime...
Twas..., you hear that word and realize that you're taking the first step on a long adventure, you take a deep breath, and you lose yourself in a story or a million stories.
For one...Those of you who voted for the dark scrapbook paper on the Blessings book, you got your wish on this one and I think it's beautiful.
For another...I wish you could all come over for Thanksgiving dinner because the colors of this book are even richer in real life. The pages are really oxidized into a gorgeous ochre color. They were more brittle than most books--not that the broke off into my hands or anything, but they did leave this very slightly rough edge as I folded them, which is pleasing to the touch. You can almost feel that rough edge in this picture.
But the the most important reason I like this book is the word Bounty. It sums up my life. I have been blessed with more than enough for as long as I can remember--not just food and clothes and that kind of stuff, but love, and family, and serendipity. (Also sometimes deer legs.) My life is bountiful!
Here is another book I made. Harvest is another of my favorite words.
It reminds me of when I was a little girl and I would go with my mom and grandma to feed the men in the field as they cut the wheat. Here is a picture of my first harvest.
My favorite part of this book is the cover. It looks like wheat to me.
Here they are next to each other.
It's funny that the book on the right is 20 years older than the book on the left. The pages on the right are still a beautiful cream color, thick and supple. Bounty and Harvest. It's nearly Thanksgiving. (Happy sigh.)
The plain truth is though I have possessed a few talents in my life, I have not been able to pass them on to my kids. I used to play basketball pretty well. Them not so much. I can also play the piano. Them not at all. And, of course, I can dance.
But they have one especial talent that totally escapes me--the ability to memorize entire scenes from a movie and recite them over and over at the dinner table. Don't spend all your money at the Red Box. Just invite my boys over and say "Caddyshack" or "Nutty Professor," and let the fun begin. I guarantee they will have you in stitches and rolling on the floor in 30 seconds or less and they will keep you that way for the rest of the evening.
My entire repertoire of scene recitation, on the other hand, consists of the first 12 seconds of this clip from the most awesomest movie ever to come out of the 80s, Airplane.
"Johnny, what can you make of this?"
"I can make a hat; I can make a brooch; I can make a pterodactyl."
Cracks me up every time!
I like to think that Johnny from Airplane is my muse. Stephanie, what can you make from this book? I can make a flower; I can make a word; I can make a pop-up card. I can make...
a turkey!
This gentle fellow is made of a combination of techniques. The body is an autumn-flavored RDCB that I smocked.
You can see the smocking a little better in this picture.
Even the ends of a book look good smocked.
The feathers are the same cones I use to make wreaths. And the head is a vintage Thanksgiving graphic printed on one of Barb's dictionary pages.
You can't see it in the pictures, but he sparkles because I added a sheen of gold glitter. Why? Because I can!
He makes a really nice companion piece for the Blessings book I (ahem, we) made.
