Through her eyes....a past I never knew

I would like to start this post out with a most beautiful photo of a young lady on railroad tracks located in Jewel Mountain, Tennessee sometime in the late 1930's perhaps? This was a poor coal mining town and this photo was taken before she married. Vibrant, strong, beautiful.

This woman turns out to be my maternal grandmother. I never met her because she passed away at age 40, when my mother was only 19 years old. I think she is absolutely stunning.

Several months back I was digging through my paternal grandmother's hope chest and found an envelope that had a pair of glasses in them. I knew my grandmother never had such glasses, as she was a simple, minimalist dresser. Clean lines, simple styles that were classic. That was the grandmother I grew up with, not one to wear such fancy frames on a daily basis.

I, however, like a bit of fancy and retro, so we made a great team!

I remembered these glasses as my mother showed them to me years ago when I was still living at home. They belonged to my maternal grandmother. The mystery was....how did I end up with these frames? I do not recall my mother giving them to me. I did know my Pop Pop (she married him twice.) He was a rogue, a coal miner, moonshine runner and general hell raiser from Tennessee. Which made him utterly adorable and the man could do no wrong through my eyes. But what was life like through my maternal grandmother's eyes? Would I have called her Mee Maw, or Mom Mom...from the south I doubt "Grandmother" would not suffice. What was life like for her, what was she like, and how did she see things?

How can you not wonder about a grandmother you never met, and are now wearing her glasses and looking through at the world as she did?

I do know she had a hard life, often a single parent raising my mother. She was also sick all of the time. Something that worries me a bit, but we have better technology and medicine these days.

Well I can tell you she didn't see very well with the script that was in there. I could not even look out of them they were so strong! However, I fell in love with the glasses and didn't know what to do with them. So I just packed them away with other little treasures I have. One day I started to see so many folk selling vintage frames such as these so you can get your own script put in.

Isn't the detail on these 50 year old frames just amazing?
And they do look like brand new. Cost me only $40 to get my script and installed in these.

Peek-a-boo! Here they are on me with new lenses. They are just to beautiful to not use.

Below is the house my mother and grandmother lived in during the 1940's in Tennessee. As you can see they lived quite posh. NOT. It is amazing the structure still stands and little about it has changed.


Here is my grandmother - her name is Hattie - wearing the actual glasses I had refitted. And I still cannot help but wonder how life was through her eyes.
I feel very fortunate to find the frames and even more fortunate to ability to wear them. I love them dearly and cannot help but to think I would have loved her so much more.

Thank you Nana....

Please ad me...and introducing Mt. Doom

Hi there, it's me again...

I got to go to the top of Mt. Ruapehu also known as Mt. Doom from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It really did not look like you were on planet earth while up there. Needless to say it was nothing less than awe inspiring and my mouth was once again hanging open in a very unlady like fashion. We started to just tape it shut or use rope to keep it closed. Rather unsightly it was.

Meet Mt. Ruapehu aka Mt. Doom

One day I just got the bug to finger paint. I was looking over the "Mt. Doom" photos and looked at the pile of tubes of paints I had. I had a blank canvas too. I didn't want to take this to seriously and just started to splatter color on the canvas in my lap while at my desk here. My fingers just raced across it with little to no worry about the outcome. I think this was just a "stress release" exercise and I needed something more "hands on" to keep me busy. This was the finished product. No brushes, no rinsing off colors, I just went for it. After it was done, I thought it actually looked pretty good or at the very least, interesting. Now I am not saying it looks that good, but for having 10 minutes of fun with finger painting, I was satisfied with the end results.

Of course having the privilege of standing on top of said mountain at sunset, I caught some killer photos of the sun going down behind some incredible clouds. Middle earth, I finally made there!


Nothing can prepare you for such a stunning ending to an even more incredible day in New Zealand.