Blessing Day 1958

The only thing different about getting a baby ready for their Blessing a million years ago–or 52 to be exact–and doing the same thing today, was that when you took the picture back then, it was in black and white–like the whole world was back then.

As you can see they still had the hand made shawls and poofy white dresses and the flowery little hats. Then the family comes together at the church and the baby is given a name and a blessing. The name I was given was Meliauna Kirby…and no, I’m not Polynesian. My father loves Hawaii and he was in a mood. So that was that.

Mom had the last word though, and  insisted on calling me Launi. I’m thinking it must have suited me better. At any rate, it was easier to pronounce. And so…as you know…

it stuck.

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Things To Love…

right this minute~

Enchanted places for wood sprites…

the ability to improvise…

learning to properly pucker…

magical combinations…

impromptu button festivals…

Sugar-sweet–orange on purpose–tomatoes…

early mornings in our lovely valley…

a bit of fowl reading–ha ha…

the return to hat–and pumpkin season…

getting all the pieces to finally fit.

How To Melt a Heart…

in eight easy steps.

First, make sure you have their attention.

Next, act very, very sweet.

Be patient…

kind…

and persevering.

No matter how difficult it may seem…

be brave…forge ahead…and I promise…

you, my love…

will win.

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Looking Up

This moment~

A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from our lives.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Happy football weekend everyone!

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Nature’s Bounty

One of the most amazing things—for me–about summer,  is that around just about every corner, we are blessed with fruit and vegetable stands. So on the off chance that the gardens don’t do so well, we can always run down the street and grab a bushel of tomatoes to can…or pears, or peaches, or apples. This one is about a block away from our house.

But if you want a slightly different experience, you pack up the kids and head on over to the local Farmer’s Market. This one at our Thanksgiving Point often has more things than produce–but it’s always an adventure. Jewelry, wood work, furniture and even clothing were all over the place–mixed in with the fruits and veggies.

The little gal chose a hand carved wooden spoon for her treasure.

I was drawn to the peaches, apples and real, live local honey butter. Yum is just not a big enough word.

We gobbled up a loaf of banana bread from this gal and then went back for more. I tried to pretend we weren’t the same people who had just been there…I thought maybe a foreign accent would help…but she totally caught on. So we bought two more loaves.

Hey, they were small, ok?

While we nibbled on the banana bread the sky started looking a bit strange…

and dark…

and rainy…

and cold.

As it started pelting down, we hightailed it to the car asap with our bounty so we didn’t get soaked. I mean seriously, who wants to drive all the way home in sopping wet, sticky clothes? Nobody–that’s who!

Ummm…wait.

Oh, never mind.

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