Raising Canes

 While at a family gathering, I noticed that my Aunt Mary and Uncle Ron both had old canes.

 Mary's cane, which is hand-carved was from her grandfather Thomas Henry Long.

 Her husband Bill said she left it in a shopping cart recently, and he had to go back to Walmart to retrieve it---I totally understand.

Her grandfather is seated on the left.  He died in 1940's so the cane is at least 70 years old.

Not to be outdone by his sister, Ron said his cane was from their father Roy Long.

I wish had photos of Roy and Thomas with their canes. . .I will keep looking.  But, this is grandpa about at the age when he would have used that cane.

I do have a photo of my other grandfather, Wes Wicker, with a cane on the far left of the photo.  He was injured as a young man in a horse riding accident and walked with a cane on and off for the rest of his life.

Mother used her father's cane, and we inherited it from her.

That cane meant a lot to her, too, but she put an address label on it so she'd be sure to get it back. . .maybe Aunt Mary should do that, too.

Grover's Photo Collages

In addition to clocks, Grover occasionally made photo collages. Above is one he made with our dog Griffin. . .OK, we housed Griffin, paid his bills, but he was Grover's dog.

He made the one above for our 19th anniversary.The one above and below were for a reunion we had in the Smoky Mountains in 1997.

Photo collages must be a genetic hobby----below are photos which my daughter Rebecca made for me a few years ago.

Rachel made this one last year of my Princess Leia photos.

And, Leah put together a new photo grouping for me a few weeks ago.

Thanks to all of you for the wonderful photos and the memories.

Grover's Clocks

My father-in-law Grover, loved making clocks with photos and other memorabilia. I've given most of them to the girls, but here are some. The one above was to honor Eloise's golfing.
This one includes his driver's license and various cards.

This clock has photos of Eloise as a girl and teenager---it hung in his hall at the apartment.




This one he made for me---it hung in my kitchen for many years---made of family recipe cards.


Carrie Berry was one Ellice's nieces or cousins.
Here's a dump cake recipe from Ethel Morgan (Clifford Morgan's wife)
Ellice Smith Morgan's cookies.

The egg nog is probably from Alice Alderson Fry.

He made this from one of our records for Rebecca's birthday.

Nativity Set

I love my Nativity set which my mother (Louise Long) and my father (LeRoy Long) made for me in 1977. In the early 1970's, my sister and mother went to "Ceramics" where they painted "greenware" and had it fired in a kiln. My sister Jane and her husband Harry hand-painted theirs, but Mom just put a white glaze on hers. No offense to the Provost Nativity set, I LOVED the pure white. So, in 1977, Mother presented me with this set.
Dad made the manger out of barn wood which he found in their community--Lake Sherwood Estates---the barn, which was abandoned from an old farm, later burned down. I love the rustic nature and knowing that it came from a barn near their house. Also, I loved knowing this Nativity set was something which Mother and Dad created together---each with their own skills (if you knew my dad, you'd especially like the "star" light gerry-rigged together out of an assortment of wires and plugs).

As my children will attest, the Baby Jesus is not part of the scene until Christmas morning and the 3 Kings with their camels don't join the Manger scene until Epiphany. When the girls were little, I used to march the the Kings and camels around the family room, inching them closer and closer. This year, they are just on another piece of furniture.

One of the things I don't like about Christmas is all of the fan-fare is before Christmas in our culture. I am more of a purist, I guess, and prefer the 12 days of Christmas between Christmas and Epiphany as it is supposed to be.

Eloise's Rag Rugs

This is Dave and Harry sitting at their desks in Louisiana (1945). Grover, their father, made the drawings in the background. Behind Dave and Harry are rag rugs which Eloise made.
We have one of the rugs. Eloise told us it was made of strips from her brothers' and sisters' suits. I was always curious as to how the rugs were made.

When we were in Nauvoo, a Mormon historical community, we saw how the rugs were made.
These looms look larger than the one that Eloise used to make the rugs.

I love the textures in the rugs and the whole idea of recycling, but I especially like our rug knowing it has clothes from the Frys.

Louise's Bazaar Crafts

My sister inherited our mother's "craft gene." So, I hauled some of Mom's crafts and instructions to Jane when we were in Texas. I did photograph much of what I took to Jane's so I could share it at some later date.

At our church bazaar, a woman had a booth with a towel like Mom used to make (see above photo). For the crafty people in our family, here are the instructions and a photo of some towels Mom had read to crochet.

I couldn't find any of her potscrubbers, but here are the instructions:
I do, still have her wash cloths, though. I think she'd be disappointed in me if I "saved" them. So, here they are before they get too grungy.