#2 of 52: Space, Spells, Sisters and Systems

Tags

austin kleon, bookblock.com, bullet journal, eccolo, jackie morris, leuchtturm, robert macfarlane, ryder carroll, the lost words

So I’m running out of space on this website. In fact, my dashboard tells me I have already done so. I don’t have a premium package anymore, as I downgraded my services last year when I really wasn’t sure what would happen to this blog. That means no new pictures until I can delete some old posts, which I am slowly doing. I’d like to keep the posts I actually wrote, and delete the links to books I enjoyed, or the Friday cartoons. Re-read them if you want, because some posts from June of 2012 will be disappearing soon.

I promised I would talk about notebooks this week, but before I do that I want to talk about a beautiful book my sister sent me for Christmas: The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane, illustrated by Jackie Morris. This heavy and huge book is a picture book, a self-proclaimed spell book, of magical words that have vanished from the language of children. Essentially it is a collection of poems about certain words, like acorn, heather, raven, and wren, to name a few. The poems are glorious and definitely meant to be read aloud. But the real wonder of this book are the illustrations. Jackie Morris brings the natural world to life , interspersed with beautiful floating alphabets in whimsical fonts. I hadn’t heard about it at all but my sister is much more in tune with new titles and the latest publishing marvels. So it was the perfect surprise on Christmas day. It is very special, as is the sister who gave it to me. She continues to surprise and delight and support me, and I only hope I do the same for her.

Okay so let’s talk about notebooks! It’s pretty much the same system, with a planner and a journal or three. 🙂

My most used journal is the Eccolo World Traveller discussed in this post. It is almost filled up and I have loved writing in it and pasting things into it. I will probably start another one when it is filled (there are three blank ones on my shelf!)

I am also using one of my custom Bookblock Original notebooks to organize my blog posts. I jot down ideas for each week as I think of them, with my overall aim to have some sort of coherent plan for the year.

As for my planner, I have HUGE news!!! In December of 2016 you may recall I wrote a blog post about my plans for 2017, to use a Leuchtturm 1917 Jottbook as a bullet journal planner. And I used it all through 2017! And I’m still using it! I can’t believe I actually stuck with a planner for over a year. Very proud of myself. I don’t have a lot of appointments/tasks to keep track of, but it works for me. Who knew the simplest system would work the best? I still love my Filofax binders but just can’t bear to carry them around with me. My bullet journal weighs nothing and I don’t feel bad if I don’t look at it for a couple of days, because there are no wasted pages. Ryder Carroll is a brilliant man. I’ve heard he has introduced a Bullet Journal app to support the analog journal but I haven’t tried it out yet.

And here’s another piece of huge news (lowercase huge): I have added a log book to my journal system. I got the idea from Austin Kleon from his post On Keeping a Logbook. My writing is long-winded (bless you reader if you’ve made it this far!) and often I find myself running out of time for my long journal pieces. Right now I’m still trying to write a coherent journal entry about Christmas – the joys of getting together with friends and family, tempered by the power being unable to stay on – and then something amazing will happen in my day that I just have to write about (saw David Letterman’s new show for NetFlix, My Next Guest. The guest was Barack Obama and what he said about voter apathy really got my cylinders firing). In the past I would tear into a new journal or have two, three or four journals on the go. But I may have solved this with a logbook: I can at least write down a brief description of what I want to write about later. This has the obvious benefit of prompting me to remember it and empties my brain so I can focus on other things. I love Austin Kleon’s newsletter; I almost always have something to copy into my journal, or to send to David, as Austin has an eclectic taste in music. If you haven’t already done so, check him out. Oh I almost forgot – the notebook I am using as my logbook is the Colouring Notebook. Today is January 14 and I haven’t missed a day. They say it takes two weeks to form a habit so this bodes well!

Hope you all had a great week. Happy journaling.

 

The Colouring Notebook and a Different Kind of Advent Calendar

Tags

advent calendar, coloring notebook, hannah braime, journaljoy

Hi everyone. Tonight I wanted to tell you about a Colouring Notebook that I purchased on a whim; I saw this video and promptly went to the link and ordered one. I don’t do that too often but I just had to have one.

I have been watching JournalJoy’s videos for a while now and always enjoyed them. A few times I have been tempted to buy a notebook she has reviewed but usually the companies either do not ship internationally or the shipping is prohibitively expensive. But this time everything was in my favour; Colouring Notebook ship internationally and right now the price is only $14.95 US! You can order one yourself at https://coloringnotebook.com/. You can choose blank, lined, or dot grid. Mine arrived in a little over a week. The postmark on the package said Ukraine.

I have some adult colouring books which I use on occasion but as soon as this arrived I started colouring in it right away. The 100 gram paper is very smooth and creamy. There are about 50 beautiful illustrations in it, interspersed with lined pages for writing. I will not be using my fountain pens in it due to feathering, as mentioned in the video. But my gel pens look fantastic in it, for writing or for colouring. I used my Staedtler Triplus 0.5mm markers for colouring and there was no bleed through.

I’m thrilled with it and would recommend it for a Christmas gift or a treat for yourself. It adds a new dimension to your journaling. I didn’t post any pictures of mine as I thought the video did a wonderful job.

And the second thing I wanted to talk about was the Hannah Braime Becoming Who You Are Advent Calendar. I get weekly emails from Hannah and her site is an amazing resource for journal writing and self-awareness. Her articles and classes encourage authentic living with compassion and courage. Her weekly emails are free for subscribers, as is her library with tons of thought provoking material.

I signed up for her Advent Calendar where I will receive a prompt each day, focusing on the year that has passed and the year to come. I’m so excited! Maybe I will write about them in my new Coloring Notebook. 🙂

New Journal (s!), Old Desk

Tags

eccolo, rolltop desk, william hannah

Last Monday I wrote about my struggle to choose a new journal after finishing my Franklin Christoph notebook. I was torn between my William Hannah Kingfisher and a large Eccolo journal I bought at Staples. The truth is I couldn’t decide so I chose both of them!

Let me explain. I LOVE the William Hannah notebook and it will become my daily journal. The paper is amazing for fountain pens and the notebook just makes me happy. BUT – I have a love of pasting things into my notebooks and I wanted the Eccolo (pictured above) because it wasn’t so precious, and it was larger than the William Hannah, so I can stick all kinds of stuff in it without feeling I’m ruining the pages. So both of them have been brought into my rotation.

Here you can see the Eccolo. I’ve pasted pictures of old desks and tea sets from old issues of Victoria magazine. You can just see my journal entry peeking out. It’s quite personal so I felt the need to put the magazine cutting on top of it.

Here’s another page from the Eccolo. It’s more rough and tumble than the William Hannah but my heart really belongs to the William Hannah. I couldn’t show the pages because they are ultra personal. But trust me, that journal now goes everywhere with me.

I thought you might want to see more of the desk these journals are sitting on. This is my rolltop desk, which I have owned for more than a decade. In my previous home it lived in the living room and was rarely used. Now in my present home I have a much larger office and I can use both of my desks. You’ve seen my black desk in a few posts, and my computer and extra monitor live on it. When I work from home I use the black desk. It’s just a simple desk with a very large, flat top, perfect for typing. However my rolltop desk is perfect for writing and I am so happy I can use it in my new setup.

I took this photo without too much thought, apparently, as I cut off the drawer that is underneath the lock. When my office is completely set up I will take a better picture. For now, this is the top of the rolltop desk. It is made out of oak and is a rich brown colour. The lock works and miraculously I still have the keys!

I have a banker’s lamp on the top (thank you Christine!) and I try to keep it relatively clear of stuff. Right now I have my letter box, a few books and a card file stationery box.

You first saw this desk in my post about my glass pen. Here is the main part of the desk. I have a white desk blotter to protect the writing surface. The banker’s lamp gives a lot of light but the cubby holes can be a little dark so I added the fairy lights and the candle holder (with a battery operated candle) to further illuminate the area.

I have my glass inkwell on the left, with some small notebooks just above it. I keep my Harrod’s pen set and some page flags in the next slot, followed by a couple of ink bottles (Gypsy Rose Deep Ocean and Noodler’s Raven Black). You can also see my glass pen sitting in the pen rest built into the shelf.

On the right side you can see another ink bottle (Waterman Inspired Blue) and a resin stamp box in the shape of a stack of letters. On the top shelf is a notepad and a tin model of a typewriter. Behind the typewriter is an amethyst. The drawers contain various office supplies that are small enough to fit in them, like post it notes, page flags, paper clips, scissors, etc. Finally I have a blue leather pen case and my ampersand paperweight on the desktop. And that’s my writing desk. I try to keep the surface clear so I can write whenever I want, and keep my computer desk covered in the latest project, either work or home related. So far it’s working out really well.

I hope you enjoyed this quick tour of my desk, and thanks very much to those who gently encouraged me to make my choice of the next journal (or as it turns out, journals) that I will be using. Happy writing!

Back to Basics and a Look Book

Tags

bookblock.com, lg pocket photo printer, look book, staples optiflow, writing

Hello my friends! This week I was reminded of some basic truths about being organized and focused: write stuff down. As I’ve mentioned my new job is challenging; there are a lot more things to keep track of and I have at least three times the amount of email to wade through. I tried using the Task feature in Outlook but I found that when I got super busy I ignored it. Then I tried creating an Excel spreadsheet but found the same thing: when busy I felt I didn’t have time to type up the task. And too often I was missing critical things in my email. So I grabbed one of my journals (the alphabet notebook discussed in this post) and on the bus on the way to work did a brain dump of all the things I could think of that needed to be done in the office. I didn’t stop until the bottom of page 2. And once I was done it felt great! So much lighter. And throughout the work day I could focus on one thing on the list at a time. I highlighted the ones that needed to be done right away. And marking them off as they were completed was awesome! Such a simple concept but so powerful. We have blank books at work for notes and such but I thought using one of my own would make me more invested and it seems to be working. Hurray!

Another area where I needed focus and organization was picking out furniture for our new house. We sold or gave away most of our furniture before the move. Seems pretty straightforward but we have a limited budget and I wanted to make sure we spent the money wisely. So we started looking at furniture in different places: Pier 1, Wicker Emporium, Structube, Bombay Company. I took pictures of pieces that appealed to us. I made notes of what we agreed upon, what we loved, hated, were indifferent to. I had lots of photos on my phone and wanted to transfer them to a notebook where I could make notes. So I created what I call a Look Book.

I chose one of the Bookblock Original notebooks (blank pages) and got my LG Pocket Photo Printer out. Remember that gadget? It still works great. I love how small but clear the pictures are. Perfect for my journal. In the picture above I’ve created a simple index on the left and pasted my pictures on the right. I can then put model numbers and dimensions next to the photo, as well as where we found it and how much it was. A great way to compare prices and the photos really jog the memory.

Here you can see in closer detail the notes I’ve made about a certain piece. After viewing the piece in person I would look it up on the internet for the specifications, as well as any other pieces available in that line. I like furniture that matches!

I used a black Staples OPtiFlow pen.

Here’s a bunch of photos from another store, ready to place in my Look Book. I even printed a couple of photos of the cats, which will go in my regular journal. Love that little pocket printer!

You don’t have to start a separate journal for a project such as this; I could have added these pages to my regular daily journal. But I wanted to keep these separate because I don’t know how long it will take us to a) find all the furniture we need and b) agree on what to purchase! It’s also a nice keepsake of one of the many house projects David and I will undertake together. How wonderful to be able to look back on the process a year from now, or 10 years from now.

Update: we went shopping in yet another furniture store yesterday (Ashley Furniture) and bought furniture for the TV room, kitchen and dining room. Because we had already done some research I think it was easier for us to pick a style we liked and to know that the price we paid was a fair one. Of course we had to order everything so having the Look Book will help us greatly as we continue the search for furniture and accessories for other rooms, so we can keep the general style consistent throughout each room.

Just one more great use for your journal!

Meeting Ourselves #giveagirlajournal

Tags

#giveagirlajournal, jamie ridler studios

I recently became a subscriber over at Jamie Ridler Studios, mainly through finding her on YouTube, and because she was talking about a Do Good initiative she was launching called Give a Girl a Journal. And that initiative launched today. Jamie, a creative living coach, has asked journalers to share how they came to journal and why this practice is so important to them. Here is my story.

My earliest memories are of pretending to write. I would find a magazine that mom and dad were finished with and I would cover the page with gibberish. I filled in the spaces between paragraphs and around words; all of the white space would be filled with my scribbles. I felt very important and wise, writing down “words” before I even knew what they were. I saw my parents writing grocery lists, journal entries, expense reports, client summaries, letters and Christmas cards and I was determined to do the same, even though I had no clear idea what they were doing. I just knew I HAD TO WRITE. My hand had a life of its own. It still does.

Once I learned to write I never stopped. I wrote stories and poems. I wrote in my diary about the wonder and pain and sharp edges of being a girl. My notebooks were my best friends because they always listened and never judged. They have been with me for every decision, every celebration, every obstacle, every miracle, every sadness and every triumph. They remain my best friends, still listening without judgement. I still write stories and poems and my notebooks are still my safe place, my world, my greenhouse, my lab, for ideas, plans and schemes. My journal is freedom, the one thing that endures.

Everyone needs a safe place to meet themselves. And through Jamie Ridler’s initiative, Give a Girl a Journal, we can Nominate a Girl to receive a journaling package. Or for $20 USD we can Sponsor a Journal for a nominated girl.

And it’s not just girls who need this; you might remember the post I made about the young man who lives beside me who is facing life with an inoperable brain tumour. I gave him a journal because it was the best gift I could give him. Young people in our community need tools to get through the process of becoming who they are. We know the power of our journals and we should share it. Join Jamie Ridler’s campaign and give a girl a journal so she always has a best friend to hug tight to her chest, and hear her inner voice.

Winnable Executive Flip Through

Tags

journal pages, winnable executive journal

I don’t think I’ve done this before: a flip through of a finished journal. This is my Winnable Executive Journal in brown. I finished it a couple of weeks ago. I see videos of flip throughs on YouTube and they seem popular so I thought I would give it a go. My journals are fairly consistent; I rarely doodle or add ephemera so the pages are filled with my writing. So if this post is boring let me know and I won’t make you suffer through another. 🙂 At the same time this is a private part of me that I am sharing. I thought long and hard before opening the vault. I hope it’s useful at the very least.

This is a typical page. Here I am discussing Halley (our cat) and one of her vet visits.

I think this page shows my thought process on how I was going to do an ink review. I like to use different fountain pens throughout my journals.

I frequently add quotes to my journal pages.

I often write out articles I enjoy and want to keep. This one was on getting through panic attacks.

A postcard I bought in New York.

I remember we were discussing the blood moon last year, so I looked it up and wrote down the details for our region. We couldn’t see much in the end, due to overcast weather.

Another article I enjoyed, this time on building up confidence and self-esteem.

I printed out this breathtaking article on bookstores of the world. Just look at that staircase!

Another great quote, this time with a great graphic.

Another great picture I wanted to keep.

Notes from the NaNoWriMo workshop at the library.

And sometimes I get other people to write in my journal. 🙂

So that’s it. It was difficult to find a page or even a portion of a page that didn’t have private details on it. But I wanted to share, and it was good for me to open my journal up and let it breathe in the world. I hope you enjoyed the walk through my words.

My Christmas Journal

Tags

celtic colours, christmas, journal prompts, journaling

In my December 9th post I mentioned One Book December and how it has inspired me to start a Christmas Journal. I’ve been working on it and I wanted to share my progress so far.

I did end up using my Celtic Colours journal. I decided to fill up the TWSBI with Waterman Absolute Brown to use as my primary pen for this journal.

Here’s the first page. The paper seems super absorbent because the TWSBI usually puts down a thicker line. But the brown ink looks amazing on the tan paper.

Here’s the contents page and I left an extra blank page for all of the entries. So far I have written about making our traditional tourtiere with my father, exchanging gifts with friends, my family’s Christmas celebration this year, some samples of wrapping paper from the gifts this year, and some Christmas journaling prompts.

I really like this page. I love wrapping paper and in the past I have put pieces in my everyday journals over the Christmas season. So I definitely wanted to capture that in this dedicated Christmas journal. I think it adds some much needed colour to otherwise boring brown pages of writing.

On this page, for the journaling prompts, I decided to change up the ink a little bit, incorporating some red and green.

I’m only up to page 14 and have lots of ideas for this journal. I want to talk about family traditions and treasured memories of past Christmases. I thought I might take photos of my favorite ornaments and paste them in. Even though it would make the journal bulky I might include some favorite Christmas cards too.

I’ve been conscious of having an audience for this journal some day, so there are recipes and observations and facts, details of family celebrations and gifts exchanged. Not a lot of emotion in these pages but that’s ok, I have my every day journal for that. I wanted this book to be a positive memory keeper for myself and for others who might read it down the road. We have so much to be grateful for and I hope my writing reflects that sentiment. Merry Christmas everyone.

Journal Field Trip

Tags

cadence, earl grey latte, good earth, healing through writing, monteverde prima, paperblanks, parker urban, pierre belvedere, prayer journal, seven seas writer, staples optiflow, stations of the cross, theory of everything, twsbi eco, ventaglio rosso midi

Do you ever have those days, where you are constantly replaying conversations in your mind and carrying around an anxiety about a certain situation? Well that was me on Saturday. And I knew I had to write it out or it would just fester. But I had lots to do outside of the house so I went on a Journal Field Trip.

I packed up my messenger bag with the supplies: journals (Seven Seas Writer, Paperblanks Ventaglio Rosso Midi, Pierre Belvedere Green), pens (Cadence, TWSBI Eco, both Parker Urbans, Monteverde Purple Prima, 4 different colours of Staples Optiflow, pencil case and some markers), glue runner, paper inserts, and scissors. My aim was to figure out why I was carrying this anxiety around but I also had projects to distract me if the words just wouldn’t come.So I ran a few errands, which included returning a movie to the library (The Theory of Everything – great film). I noticed my favourite library carrel was free so I settled in. I didn’t feel ready to confront the issue in my journal so I thought I would play with paper and glue for awhile. I’m going on a spiritual retreat soon and I printed the prayers for the Stations of the Cross for my Prayer Journal (I am using the Ventaglio Rosso Midi for this purpose). I grabbed the journal and the prayers but realized I had forgotten the glue runner and the scissors. That also meant I couldn’t work in the Pierre Belvedere journal either (keeping track of the solicited reviews for the blog). I still really wanted to write so I had no choice but to jump right in to what was bothering me.

Forty-five minutes later I stopped and re-read my journal entry. I felt freer, lighter. I checked in with my anxiety and found peace. This has happened to me before, of course, as I know the power of journalling to clarify thoughts and feelings and to let resentments and upset go. But this was a complicated burden I had been carrying for a while and I wasn’t sure one 45-minute session would do it. But it did. I left the library with new resolve and a much better frame of mind.

I ticked a few more things off my list and then I was finally able to go to my favourite coffee shop, Good Earth, for an Earl Grey Latte. My reward.

This time I found myself writing about the previous evening we spent with a friend, eating spaghetti, watching a movie and laughing. And of our plans to take some vacation in September and how excited we are about a last-minute treat David and I have planned for our birthdays. I spent about an hour an a half writing. By the time I finished the latte my hand and shoulder were cramping.

Two different writing sessions, same journal, same pen even. One intense, short and focused, the other carefree, long and playful. The second wouldn’t have been possible without the therapeutic first. I am just so grateful that I have this outlet and can soothe myself with words when needed.

I hope your journal can do the same for you.

 

 

New Ink and Some Wreck This Journal Pages

Tags

audacious red, diamine, harmonious green, inspired blue, matador, pilot iroshizuku, reid's stationers, sailor jentle, waterman, wreck this journal, yama-dori

A couple of random things for you today: I have two new bottles of ink and I have made some progress in my Wreck This Journal, and I thought I would share.

Yesterday we celebrated my sister’s birthday by going out for lunch and then shopping at Reid’s Stationers! (She actually loves the place too; I wasn’t being selfish!) We were on an ink mission of sorts and the staff were really wonderful and swabbed a bunch of inks for us. Diamine Matador Red is really amazing; think the red flags in a bull ring, or the colour of blood – vibrant and bright. And the Sailor Jentle inks are lovely; we looked at swabs from the Colors of Four Seasons collection. My sister settled on a bottle of Yama-Dori, which is a breathtaking turquoise. We both bought bottles of Waterman Inspired Blue, and I picked up a Harmonious Green as well.

I’ve said this before but buying French ink is like buying French perfume; I feel spoiled and fancy. And in comparison with other inks it is affordable; Reid’s sells Waterman for $11. And they sell Pilot Iroshizuku bottles for $40. I will probably buy a bottle of Iroshizuku one of these days but at that price you REALLY have to love the ink. I should buy some samples from Goulet before taking the plunge.

Anyway this morning I updated my ink journal and swabbed both of these. When we were comparing swabs at Reid’s yesterday I was struck by how bright the Waterman inks are. They swabbed the bottle of Waterman Audacious Red and I know I will never buy that ink. It’s too bright and pink for my taste. But I loved the blue and green.

The blue reminds me of Bleu Pervenche by J. Herbin, which I love. It’s such a gorgeous turquoise. And the green is very close to Monteverde Green. Love them both and I know I will use them in many of my pens.

So that was yesterday, and we did a lot more than shop for ink; I didn’t get her back home until past 6pm and I picked her up at 11am! More details will follow in my post on Wednesday because I’m writing it all down in my journal. 🙂

This morning I was up early (those darling cats of ours!) and I started catching up on my Youtube video subscriptions. The very first video was an update on the progress made in a Wreck This Journal. So I was inspired and for the rest of the morning I worked on mine.

I had so much fun! It was hard to “wreck” a journal in various ways but I managed it and it was great.

I actually did this, although you can’t really tell from the picture. My feet didn’t need to be wiped and they were clean as I was inside so there’s no evidence I jumped on it, but I did. I invited David to do the same but he declined. He laughed watching me do it though! As I said, so much fun.

Yup did what the instructions told me.

This was the last page I completed and I’m really happy with it. I’m feeling the effect of this journal already; much more liberated and free with journaling. Maybe I won’t be so precious with my other “fancy” journals. That’s the aim anyway. I will share more as I progress through the journals.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

 

My Mother’s Diaries

Tags

blueline, diary, handwriting, journaling, mother, mother's day, the brown brothers, zellers

I thought I would talk about my new Monteverde Prima in Tiger Eye today but then I changed my mind. This day is always a wildcard; I never know how I will feel on the day we celebrate Mothers. I haven’t mentioned my mother’s diaries before, probably because I knew such a post would be hard to write. I did talk about her in this post from May 2014 but today as I remember her and marvel at the 15 years since her death, I find myself reading her words.

For as long as I can remember my mom had a diary. They were usually coil-bound, the date stamped right on the front, with vinyl covers, the kind you buy in drug stores and Zellers in the fall and early winter, for the following year. Most of them are made by Blueline or The Brown Brothers of Toronto, and all are 8.5 x 5.5. I remember my parents discussing the weather, when we had the first frost, when we saw the first robin. And my mom would dig out past diaries and prove to my dad that she was indeed right about that Christmas it was so warm and green, or that year the power was out for 5 days straight.

When my mother died my sister and I wondered what to do with the journals. We cherish them but how to preserve them for posterity? We might not always live in the same city as we do now. We thought about having a complete duplicate set made somehow but we haven’t done anything so far. She has a few, and I have a few. They will be placed in the Box of Things to Save in Case of Fire (that I have organized in my mind).

1974 is the first year in my stash; our mother would have been 36, I was 4, my sister 16. In the photo above page flags mark particular passages that I want to share or just remember. Or maybe copy into my own journal.

Mother was very much a chronicler of events; there is no drama, no page after page of angst or indecision. Every day lists the weather, what she did, where she went, who she saw and every once in a while, how she felt. So different from my own journal writing!

Over the years my sister and I have read to each other passages from these diaries, on special occasions like birthdays or Christmas. Often it is a game of “Who is that?” when a strange name is mentioned; “Where were they?” when a reference to an unfamiliar place is made; or “What on earth can she be referring to?” And often the passages are bittersweet; details of the “friendship turning into something more” of my sister and her now-husband are delightful to read, but also remind me that no such entry will ever be written about me and my husband, as she passed away before we even met. The story of our “friendship turning into something more” has been written by me, in my own fashion and I guess that pays homage to this tradition. My sister also keeps a journal, again in her own fashion that is different from mine and our mother’s. But it’s nice to know the urge to write is the same for all three of us.

It’s amazing to have such an abundance of handwriting examples; one notices patterns and rhythms to the entries, and even secret codes (which we think we have figured out!) As I read them I can hear her voice in my head, which is sometimes hard but always comforting.

The rest of my mother’s diaries that currently live with me. They smell a little musty still, and some of them have sticky spots (something spilled from 8 year old me, or an accidental coffee mug topple?)  I would have to double-check with my sister but I believe we have a complete collection from the early 1970s to 2000. Thirty years of first snows, robins, vacations, birthdays, weddings, babies, storms and sicknesses. And love. Lots of love.

Nice visiting with you Mom. Miss you. And Happy Mother’s Day.