Sep28
Video of the Week #117: Judy of the Blue Eyes
Category Archives: Nostalgia
Sep2
Wasserspiele
When I was nine years old, my parents, who were German immigrants and still had relatives there, took my baby brother and me to Germany on vacation. It was their first visit home in ten years.
Schloss Hellbrun, photo by Nicholas Even
One of the highlights of the trip for me was crossing the border into Salzburg, Austria. We toured the famous salt mine, and visited the fabled Hellbrun Palace, built in 1613–19 by Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, Prince and Archbishop of Salzburg.
photo by Zairon
Schloss Hellbrun is also famous for its Wasserspiele, literally “water games.” Hidden among the gardens are fountains, a series of practical jokes devised by Sittikus to be played on his guests. If I remember correctly, I was among a throng of tourists absorbed in the workings of a miniature mechanical village (pictured above)tucked inside a little grotto on the grounds when we were suddenly squirted with water. (My parents stepped back with baby Billy just moments before. Obviously, they knew what was coming.)
Below are more statuary and trick fountains in the gardens. (Click on the photos below to enlarge and reveal the photo credits.)
Photo by Matilda
Photo by Matilda
Photo © 1971markus@wikipedia.de
Photo © 1971markus@wikipedia.de
Photo © 1971markus@wikipedia.de
The crown below rises and falls with the pressure of the water, symbolizing the rise and fall of power:
Photo by Matthias Kabel.
Below is a video (narrated in German) which shows the Wasserspiele in action.
Aug9
Rest in Peace, Glen Campbell
April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017
Mar18
Fear of Driving
This article was first published on Doing Life Together.
I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 19.
I got my first learner’s permit when I was a senior in high school. My dad took me out driving several times in his huge Buick LeSabre. Our sessions usually ended with him red-faced and shouting at me, and me crying. At the time, I didn’t understand why Dad was so frustrated.
The day of my scheduled road test was also the day of the first blizzard of 1970. I had no experience driving in snow. Even though Dad promised the test course would be plowed by the time we got there, this was not the way I’d imagined it. I pictured myself driving us to the Motor Vehicles office on non-scary, dry roads. I didn’t want a last-minute lesson on driving on snow-covered roads. So I refused to go. Dad said I could call and reschedule, but I just…
View original post 678 more words
May24
Art of Quilting Show at the Gilbert Historical Museum
For twenty-seven years, I’ve lived seven miles from the Gilbert (AZ) Historical Museum, and never visited it. That changed last month when a friend invited me to accompany her to a quilt show there.
The museum documents the story of the farming community, which sprang up in the early 1900s when the Arizona Eastern Railway established a rail line between Florence and Phoenix. But it also preserves the memory of our country as experienced by our grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great grandparents.
This is an R.E.O. Speed Wagon. I know, right?! It was named after Ransom E. Olds, the founder of Oldsmobile.
Full of charming artifacts, the museum catapulted me into memories of my extended family, particularly my aunt’s in-laws, who farmed in New Jersey. I will intersperse pictures of items from the permanent collection amongst the photos of the quilt show.
Model T Ford
You can click on the smaller images to enlarge and see the captions.
Detail from bottom center of larger quilt.
Raffle quilt. I bought a couple of chances for it. I hope I win!
Silent auction items, including antique quilt blocks.
Some of the items for sale in the gift shop. I bought a hand-made pincushion made from a ceramic cornucopia.
On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings, a group of quilters gathers at the museum to work.
Hand-appliquing.
Another quilt-in-progress.
Fabrics lying on a bed, waiting to be incorporated into another quilt.
Old Singer treadle sewing machine.
Parlor organ.
Who wouldn’t want a laundry room equipped with these lovely washing machines, fully loaded with mechanical wringers?
Saddle
Yo-yo quilt.
Child’s rocker.
Beautiful fashions.
Hankies.
Feather hat to die for.
I think this contraption has something to do with moving bales of hay.
Detail of larger quilt.
Can’t bear to give away those cute little baby dresses?
A mother made a quilt for her son with images of things important to her husband as a boy.
A grinding wheel, and behind it, a devise used to separate cream from milk.
And these are typewriters, my dear, for writing term papers and business letters and book manuscripts before there were computers.
And these are telephones. Before you could put them in your pocket.
Seeing the crazy quilt below triggered a memory from my childhood. When I was a little girl, an elderly friend of my parents gave them an old crazy quilt like this, heavily embroidered silk bordered and backed with burgundy velvet. My mother gave it to me to use as a bedspread on my bed, until it deteriorated into shreds. Knowing what I know now, I wish I’d had the option of saving it. I suspect it was already pretty worn out when we got it.
Beautiful hand-embroidered and -trimmed linens.
World War I artifacts from the Military exhibit:
Let us never forget our men and women in uniform who have perished in service to our country.
West Point cadet
Marine dress
Navy middies
The quilt show runs through May 30, 2016. It was so worth my $4 (senior discount) to see it. And the museum is absolutely charming. I’ll be back again. And the quilt show is an annual event! See you next year, maybe.
