Easter's on it's way!!

Yes, Easter is around the corner and our family is planning on getting together.

I couldn't resist one of my "clapsaddle postcards" to put up. Isn't she beautiful??

I'll add one of my favorite pics of the grandkids a couple of years ago right after they found all their eggs.

Aren't they cute??...I'm sure we will have another precious one to post after they have had their fun for the day....we also have another little one participating this year! He is two....

Doesn't he look mischevious...he's actually really very sweet, just likes to get his way. In a few months he will be sharing the family time and his mother's time with a little brother or sister. Yes, she has her hands full. I love each and everyone...

With a grateful heart...

Enjoying our beautiful weather!

My hubby, Ron and I have been travelling a little bit lately and enjoying the beautiful weather we have had. We went to Arizona last weekend (4 days, 3 nights). My husband is a western nut and loves the old west. The Festival of the West in Scottsdale, Arizona had a 4 day festival including anything you could want or desire in leather and chuck wagon products. We just looked and reminisced how it must have been in the "old days". There were several actors from some of the old western movies and we were able to meet them and enjoyed talking with them. Clint Walker, my favorite was there and it was great to visit with him talk about his Cheyenne character that he played. Very nice, gentle man. We also saw Ty Hardin, Hugh O'Brian and Bruce Dern. I never knew who any of them were until I set in on some of my husband's favorite westerns on the "encore-western" channel at home. We only went 1 day (it was 85 degrees). The next day was Sunday, normally I don't shop on the sabbath, but I had to check out the enormous antique mall nearby as we were leaving the next day. I had a blast! I got to look at everything and came away with a few treasures...the lady that checked me out was so sweet and she even loved the items I picked out. She said "you have very good taste". Made me happy and we chatted and had fun looking at each item.
The next day we headed home and was glad to have had a little break away from the remodelling. Last week though, I had a moment to visit one of our local antique malls. I was on a search for a brooch pin for one of my daughters. Never found it, but found one of those neat corner cabinets that one of my friends, Rebecca from A Gathering Place has just recently redone and I think one of her friends has a pink one too. I love the architectural designing of it and wish I had a corner to put it in. This one had a drawer in the middle (which is different than I'd seen) and was already painted white. I really liked it and it was for sale $350.00 (ouch!) ..Soooo...if anyone is looking for one there is one here in Paso Robles, CA.
Our weather here has just been beautiful! The last few days have been in the upper 70's-80's. I really want to go outside and plant something. April is around the corner and this is birthday/Easter/anniversary time for our family...something about every 5 days during the month. Looking forward to that special family time. With hugs and hope you find that great find you are looking forward....many blessings to you and your families....will post some more soon and put some pictures up!!

~Fun and memories from the weekend~

Well, what a busy week this past week has been...I have had so many choice experiences that I don't even know where to start. We are still muddling along on our house and we are seeing progress and it looks so nice. I still have to dig to see which bag holds my different clothes, be it blouses, shirts, workout outfits, jeans, socks or whatever, and it is driving me nuts. I know it won't be much longer, but it is so hard to walk by the "unorganized" and not try to move or put it away.

My oldest daughter and I had an opportunity this past weekend to go out of town to the northern part of California to a class she needed to attend. She asked me to go along with her and we had a great time. While she was attending her seminar I went by my favorite "gigantic" antique mall I found about 3 months ago in Roseville. I had a blast, if I do say so myself. I found just a few treasures to accompany me home. My daughter wanted to see my "day's faire" and loved it all and wanted to go back with me the next day. It is amazing to me how different the mall looked this time, from 3 months before with new and different things to look at. I was a little dismayed when I pulled into the parking lot and saw it was packed, but there was plenty for all. I was able to browse and assess so many beautiful things. I came away with just a few things...

I had been looking for a lovely oblong vintage dresser mirror that wasn't overly big. I was very pleased to find this one as they are hard to come by. It was the day though for dresser mirrors, as I saw a few people looking for them. Mine is so pretty with beautiful relief style roses made of gold metal on each end. It will be perfect on dresser with my vintage compact collection (I think I have 4 or 5). The other pieces were priced so reasonable that I couldn't pass them up and in excellent condition. The little guilloche pin with rhinestones around it was displayed by the vendor on this old photograph and thus came with the pin.

The next day we headed home, but not before strolling down memory lane, as we lived in North Highlands in the early years of our marriage and soon after the birth of my oldest daughter. She wanted me to show her the old house we lived in and then the base my husband was stationed at. We found the house very easily and then went onto the base nearby. In 2001 the base closed for full time operation and no longer had the activity we experienced when we lived there. Parts of it house "civilian" activity now and some parts are "military". I explained to my daughter how we would go pick up my husband when he would fly in from his missions (90 days on 30 days off). Those were hard days when he was gone and we worried about him so much. His missions were in the southeast Asian area and he spent time in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, etc. He had a few close calls and flew his last mission in 1974 right before the war ended and we were transferred to Berlin, Germany. As Shellee and I did our own tour of the base, it felt like it had only been yesterday when we were there. The memories came flooding back. As we rounded the end near the runway, we noticed the airplane my husband had flown on during those days. Along with others that were now "mothballed". I felt a little emotional and proud all at the same time. My husband served 26 years with the Air Force and 14 of them were away from his family at times. Those were hard years. Anyway, I called him to hear his voice and asked him if he could remember the number on the tail of the airplane. He wasn't real sure of the number, but when I mentioned it, he said it sounded familiar. I told him I'd take pictures and my daughter and I went inside to the museum to ask if touring the airplanes might be available. The docent said 4 times a year the airplanes are open and invited my husband and his family to come up April 18th to do that. I was so excited for him and very proud of "my airman". He is so humble and does not immediately talk about his time in the military. Thought you might enjoy pictures of his airplane (EC-121) and the museum area we will tour and check out in the future.

The airplane my husband flew on.........

The front of the museum at McClellan Air Force Base....

The other airplanes on display with another shot of the airplane in the back right corner Ron flew on....

Hope you enjoyed the weekend with my daughter and I....will write more soon. I feel really blessed in my life and thank God every night before I go to bed.

St. Patrick's Day

~~St. Patrick's Day~~

I love Ellen Clapsaddle cards and love how they can be used for almost every holiday time. I have a few I have collected and these are my beauties for St. Patrick's Day. Hope you enjoy them.

Kreativ Blog Award

~Thank you, an award from sweet Rebecca~




1. I love having God in my life.
2. I love my family, each and every one.
3. I love the health that I enjoy and I am thankful, too.
4. I love living in a free country.
5. God's love unconditionally.
6. I love friends that are "really" friends.
7. I love to vintage shop and admire the day's faire.

I have very few blog friends right now and they already have the award..

My sweet Grandmother

Frances Victoria Albin Heinkel Denison...1925

Today is my grandmother's birthdate...as I reflect on this day and her, many things of my childhood come to mind. She was the most talented, kind, spirtual, regal lady I've ever known. She taught me many things and took time with me. From my earliest recollection of her, I always remember her devotion to family. Her life was not easy. She came from a family of nine children, 7 girls and 2 boys. She was born and grew up on a farm in Kansas. She married the love of her life in 1926..she looked so happy on her wedding day. She had a son in 1927 and my mother in 1928. The year of 1928 was a hard year for her. She was expecting a child at the time her husband became very sick with pneumonia. He died March, 1928 and my mother was born in April. She still had another small child which was almost two. He became sick with pneumonia and he too passed away that December, 1928. Grandma was grief stricken by all the tragedy that year and decided she needed family and her and my mother moved back to Great Grandma's home. There she tried to piece her life back together and in a couple of years met her soon-to-be second husband. They eventually married and she had 2 more children. Life for Grandma was taking care of her family and was a dedicated homemaker all her life. She could cook anything and set the most beautiful table at holiday times. She could sew beautifully and her needlework was a "work of art". I remember the beautiful dresses she sewed for me for school. Little lace edged collars, covered buttons around the yoke on another dress. I loved those days. Sleepovers at her house were always fun, with board games and the sharing of her many hobbies. She loved the "arts" and education. Her real passion seemed to be depression glassware. I think she had a piece in every pattern. I, being her first granddaughter, she collected and presented to me a set of "green cherry" depression glassware for my 16th birthday. I so treasured them and still do. I have added to them and have them displayed in a special cabinet. She has passed that collector gene down and interested me in that passion of hers. Although I didn't collect as much as her, she taught me "what to look for and check for authenticity". I loved learning from her. She collected and passed down a different set of depression glassware to each one of her granddaughters. A kind of legacy of hers. She was so interesting and had many interests, aside from her depression glass collecting (which she was able to do with Grandpa), she could sew. She made 2 special hand embroidered baby quilts in pink and blue for her first great granddaughter and great grandson. Just for fun she entered them in the local county fair and received first place ribbons on both. My oldest daughter was the recipient of the "pink quilt". What an honor.

As I reflect back on my grandmother on this day, her day, I do so with love and admiration. I'm so thankful she was in my life...Love you Grandma...

One day at a time....

It has been some time since I have written anything on my blog...I had good intentions when I started out and I do have many things to share, but life has been a little bit more hectic for me lately. My mother was sent to the hospital on Sunday, Feb. 22nd and I really wasn't sure if she was going to make it. She has dementia and it seems to be progressing rapidly. She told her caregivers she did not want to eat (symptomatic of Alzheimers). They can loose the ability to swallow. Once at the hospital and 4 more days, help was given and she started to bounce back. It has been a roller coaster ride, but she has since been released to a convalescent home and is receiving treatment and responding well. I have been visiting her every other day. She asks me to take her home. It is hard to leave her, but her understanding and reasoning are gone, I'm told. She is strong, though and loves music time and seems to interact with the other residents. Then we have been doing some renovations on the house and carpeting will be laid this next week. So the house is a little torn up too...(we have been working on it for a few months).
My hope is to write more and share some pictures of things in my life and things that make me happy. Some of them are buried right now in the storage bins until the carpet gets done and the room set back up. Won't be long.....