this little life of mine

See It Sunday: Rose

One of my grandpa's roses. Used the Diana effect on Camera+. Cheers!

Sepia Scenes: Grandpa's Hat

Sepia Scenes: World's Fair

Sepia Scenes: Vintage Rubber Stamp

I don't think the lady who used to host Sepia Scenes is blogging anymore, but I always enjoyed this meme, so I've decided to just keep doing it on my own. This past weekend my mom and I started cleaning out my grandparent's house. We discovered several treasures including this old rubber stamp that my grandfather apparently used for his work. It doesn't have a date on it or anything, but I know it's pretty old because my grandparents moved out of Dayton in the early- to mid-70s, I think around the time my grandpa retired. Also, this box only cost 8 cents for third class mail! Ha!

You Capture: Black and White

Yesterday my mom and I went up to my grandparent's house to collect my dishes and generally go through some stuff. 

There were lots of really old, interesting things to go through. Here's a cute little pitcher/vase:

And here's a collection of miscellaneous keys:

This, um, I'm not sure what it's called. Shot? It's not a bullet, but it's used in a rifle. My dad used to make these when he'd go hunting. It has to be pretty old because my dad died in 1981, and I don't know if grandpa went hunting after that. I know he didn't do any hunting after he moved to California, and that was in '95.

We found several pocket watches, too. Here's a cool one that lost it's glass. But it still works!

Cheers!

 

Beautifying the Front Yard

Our front yard has been looking a bit ragged around the edges lately, so mom and I decided to replace the edging and freshen it up a bit. The old edging was just some plastic stuff we bought probably a hundred years ago, and not only were many of the pieces sunk down in the ground to the point of being totally buried and overgrown with grass, many of them were broken and faded and just plain nasty! So, I enlisted the help of my professional basketball player cousin (and his truck) to pick up seventeen concrete edgers, some black plastic edging, a couple bags of bark and a couple bags of gravel. 

This morning, mom and I headed out to what we thought was going to be a long, tough day of digging and sod cutting. We prepared by slathering on the sunscreen, chilling bottles of Vitamin Water, and donning garden hats and gloves. 

As it turned out, however, the whole process went smoother than we expected. The old, plastic edging pulled out of the ground super easy, and the new concrete edgers fit perfectly in the dug-out space. After just an hour and a half, we added the fresh bark and called it a day.

Oh, there's still more to do, but we're in no hurry, and also it's pretty hot out, so we'll take care of the other little project another time. Like, maybe next weekend. 

In the meantime, here's some pretty pictures:

Oh, and Happy Earth Day! It was two years ago today that we had half of our backyard landscaped and had our little Madrone tree planted. Here's what it looked like April 22, 2010:

And here's what he looks like today:

Everything looks really good; we only lost a couple plants, and we're not really heartbroken over them, so it's no big. We tested the drip system, and it's working perfectly! We just need to do a little trimming and we'll be set for the summer! Then we can spend our free time day tripping to SLO, the beach, or just chillin' in our own backyard:

Cheers!

K is for Kangaroo #bloggingfromatoz

I've always loved this darling little ceramic kangaroo. It originally belonged to my dad, and now it's mine. I guess it was intended to store loose change or jewelery, and a man's wallet could fit in the little pouch the kangaroo is carrying. I don't know why he's wearing boxing gloves. 

I particularly love his smile. He's always so happy and he makes me happy, too!

And, no, he's not for sale. 

 

 

Sepia Scenes: My Grandma as a Young Woman

 Marie Elizabeth Hoffman Johnston 1915 - 2011

Labour Day BBQ

I don't think I've grilled anything for five or six years. I used to grill a lot when we first moved into our house, but then it seemed like it was suddenly windier than usual, and fire and wind scare the crap out of me, so I stopped. Recently, however, I've really wanted to cook food outside over an open flame. My old BBQ is a rusted out mess, and all our supplies are old and useless, so I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to spend money I no longer have to buy all new gear and getup, so I thought all was lost until I saw this:

 
An all-in-one disposable grill! It comes complete with the grill pan and grill, charcoal and lighter sheets so all I had to do was buy food and light a match. So. Dang. Easy! And perfect timing since two of the bell pepper I've been waiting on finally turned red, and I've been dying to roast them, so I roasted them first, then did the corn.

 
 
 

Then I did the steaks: a bone-in New York for me and a nice, thick sirloin for my mom.

 

OMG, everything was delicious! The corn was so sweet and tender, and the steaks were a perfect medium rare. My roasted red peppers came out fabulous as well:

 

It was really great to be outdoors grilling food again. Yes, it was windy, which made me a little nervous, but it was still fun. Especially since the clean up was a snap! We just waited for the coals to die down, then threw the whole thing out. Probably not very eco-friendly, but for as often as I grill, I think it was worth it. 

30 Years

I was hoping to come up with a intelligent, poignant,  beautifully written tribute to my father on the 30th anniversary of his death, but all I can seem to do instead is break down into gut-wrenching sobs. You would think that after 30 years, it wouldn't hurt so bad to think about him, to remember him, but somedays it hurts worse than it did that first year or two after he died.  Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever fully recover from that loss. Most days I realize I probably never will.

I love you, daddy. And, I will miss you forever.