AYM/1

 Jeanne's layout---"The Original 7" and "Players---poker, ping pong and pool."

Janet's layouts:
Opals are one of my most favorite stones, no 2 are alike. The opal maybe one of my favorite stones because my birthday is in October and it may not, I can’t say for sure.  I’ve pictured some of the Opal jewelry I have. The ring at the top came from Mom Zimmermann. Her birthday was also in October. The flower ring at the bottom was one I had a jeweler make. When I was 16 my parents gave me the stone and I got to pick the setting, I sure wish I had better taste, it is pretty large.

Here is my mom back in 1944 wearing a string of pearls that my dad gave her. I now have the pearls and they are still are kept in the original box the came in. Ron gave me a necklace of pearls with matching earrings and here is a picture of me wearing them also. Mom Zimmermann gave Jackie a pearl ring that she told us she bought in high school. Here are all the pearls and a brief explaination of where they came from. Some day they could be past down to the next generations.

Lauren's layouts that Pam did: "Kittens" and "Lazy day at the lake."

Karolyn entertained us with another layout about her awkward years. She brought the orthotics to show us. They looked like some kind of archaic devices. She also had the doctor's note that explained why she did poorly in gym. On her "P" page, she has sketches of dresses she designed when she was 12, along with some patterns from her mom's collection. She is lucky to have the most awesome memorabilia from her childhood to work with.

Nancy has caught up with several layouts. Her "K" is "Katie's glasses." It's so cute to see Katie in all her crazy glasses when she was a little girl. "Laundry is therapy" tells about the amount of laundry she does each week. She finds it fulfilling to do it.

 "Merrill" tells about Nancy's daughter-in-law. "Needlework" tells about her love of stitching and showcases some of the pieces she's done.

 "Oldies" is all about the musicians she's loved during her life. "Peggy" is a layout about her best friend and sister-in-law who passed away several years ago.

Here is the layout I did for Connie and her journaling.
Old Things
When I think about “old things,” I don’t automatically think of myself! Rather, many family heirlooms come to mind. The hall clock has been in Jack’s family for over 100 years. His parents gave it to us when we built our house in Devon Park. The entry hall was the perfect place for it. When we remodeled our present home, we made sure to include a spot for the clock. There’s something comforting about the sound of the chiming every half hour. I love that.

The clock in the dining room graces the mantle. It has been in my family for 3 or 4 generations---dating back to the late 1800’s. For as far back as I can remember my mother lovingly cared for the clock---winding it twice a week---just as I do today.

This desk belonged to Jack’s great-grandfather, Herschel Marshall. After restoring it a few years ago, we placed it in our den. Although it’s an interesting and cherished piece, Jack has “junked it up” with his computer and other work piled on it. Still, it’s beauty shows for all to enjoy.

Jack’s family purchased the washstand over 100 years ago. It was already an antique at the time.

Perhaps these “old things” lack a great deal of monetary value, but the family history and memories they provide are priceless!

Parents

To say that Jack and I hit the jackpot when it comes to parents is an understatement.  The examples they set for us made them wonderful role models.

John and Virginia Potter were married over 50 years. John was in poor health for much of that time. Virginia was devoted to him and his care until his death in 2007.  Her dedication to making him happy and comfortable was admirable.

My parents, Ernest (“Pat”) and Bertha Patterson, were lovingly committed to each other for over 60 years. That devotion played out when my father died nine months after my mother of a broken heart. The thought of living without her was too much to bear.

Both Jack and I feel very lucky to have been blessed with the parents we had.

 I must have done the journaling on my desktop as I don't have it at the moment. I'll post it later.

 

Here is the journaling for my layout.

"On the Roof"

Even now it’s hard for me to believe. In this day and age where children are not allowed out of their parents sight---not even in their own backyards, we were allowed to play on the roof!! It’s not quite as ominous as it sounds---or really, it is.

My grandparents owned a restaurant and lived above it in a 2 bedroom apartment. Off the kitchen was part of the roof. You can tell by the picture below that there is a fence. But what you can’t see is that to the left, there is a wall, equally as high as the fence. It wasn’t really a wall, but another part of the roof. It was easy enough to climb up there. Since our parents in those days just let us “go,” there was no one checking up on us. They were just glad to have us out of their hair.

That part of the roof had no rails whatsoever. Us older kids, Barbara, Ronnie, Janice and Jennifer, would all carefully creep up to the edge and look down. It was really far to a kid’s eye. I have no idea how far it really was, but let’s put it this way---a fall to the concrete below couldn’t be good.

Jeanne and Matthew are in this picture taken by me with my little Kodak Brownie camera---I must have been about 11 based on their ages. (Typical bad photo by me---I just about always cut off my subjects---and of course, then, you didn't know it until you got the photos developed. The rest of the kids were probably in the photo too.) Since I was the oldest and always supposed to look out for my younger brothers and sisters, I would never have let Jeanne and Matt climb up there. I guess when it came to the “older” kids, I didn’t do a very good job, but I still remember the dangerous thrill of being “on the roof"---oh, and the ice cold water and Welch's grape juice grandma always had in the "icebox."

"calling Placeback"

Isn’t calling “placeback” a universal rule? Growing up in such a large family, it was not only a rule, but a necessity. If you didn’t remember to call “placeback,” you lost your spot on the couch or in the bathroom line. We only had one couch and one bathroom for 9 people. If you forgot to call “placeback,” the only spot left was the floor.

Whether you actually called “placeback” or not, always caused a fight. You had to get some of the other kids to back you up when someone stole your spot. And, it didn’t really matter where you were---you needed to call “placeback” everywhere---in the car at the drive-in, in the tree house, at the ball field---just any where that you wanted to be sure to get your same spot back. I think we kids stole each other’s spots for pure meanness!

When I was a teenager, I called “placeback” when I got up to go to the bathroom. When I got back, Janice had taken my spot on the couch. I said, “get up, I called placeback.” She said, “you didn’t call placeback.” Jennifer backed her up---the twins lied for each other all the time. That’s when the fighting started. I yanked Janice off the couch. We started punching and wrestling around. Mom walked in the front door. She still had her purse on one arm and sunglasses in the other hand. About that time, Janice shoved me onto the living room chair---which broke! Mom started hitting Janice and broke her sunglasses. Mom was livid! Aha! For once, Janice got in more trouble than me. And, by the way, I distinctly remember calling “place back.”

Stephanie's layout started with "oh, oh, oh, oh, oh" the start of 'Hangin' Tough'---a song by The New Kids on the Block. She tells of her experience with her dream of meeting the boys! "Pink Party" is about her 35th surprise party that her friends gave her.
 
Judy's layout:
Olives:  As far back as I can remember I’ve loved olives.  My favorite is green, but I eat black almost as much.  I loved going to the Italian grocery stores down on “The Hill” and buying there Olives, Salami and Italian bread, something that started with my Uncle Ted. He made a meal out of these things.

When I went to Italy in 2010, one of our stops was in Montaclino. We went to a place called Banfi, they make wine and olive oil. They had lots of Olive trees and I was in heaven. These trees were in almost all of the towns we went through all over Italy.

There is something very calming about

the ocean to me. When I’m on a sand beach watching the waves come in, floating along on a Cruise Ship, or looking out of a hotel room and seeing no end to the water.  Way back (about 50 years ago) I wanted to work on a Cruise Ship, but I never took the step.

One of the things I think about is how all the sea shells I have collected over the years spent their life in the Ocean.  I have 3 round jars full of sea shells in my kitchen that I personally found over the years and every time I look at them it brings me back to that calming place “The Ocean”.

"Pacifier" is the other side of Judy's page.

The younger people today call it by other names, but when my children were born it was called a pacifier.

Both Emily and Victoria had them (thank God), but when it was time to give it up, here is what their parents did.

Emily buried hers in the back yard.

Victoria left hers for the Easter bunny.

Everyone has an opinion on them and most think they should not be given to kids, but for me, if it makes them settle down, go to sleep, I’m all for it.