Road Trip: Unpacking the Antiques

We arrived back home in Maine Sunday afternoon after an amazing month-long road trip through the Southern U.S.  We unpacked the things that had to be unpacked and then fell into bed at 7:00 p.m, exhausted from the long drive from Tennessee.

Imagine our surprise when we woke up to this.  On April 8th! This should NOT still be happening - even here in Maine. After a month of green grass and palm trees, this is a difficult adjustment!

It was fun to unpack the few antiques that I purchased "down South" though. This vintage pillow is my favorite. It was a bargain at the original price of $10.99 but was marked down to $8.00. Needless to say, I grabbed it. You can't see it in the photo. but there is vintage rick rack around the edges.

I've written quite a few blog posts about my long distance love affair with South Carolina and I have the perfect spot for this pillow. It will remind me of happy times in the low country every time I walk through the living room.

I also was lucky enough to find three Shawnee Pottery miniatures to add to my collection.

These tiny (<3")vases and pitchers were produced from 1937 through the 1940's and given away as premiums at stores and movie theaters. (Back in 2011, I wrote a post about my collection, with lots of photos, which you're welcome to revisit here.)

I can't resist these little replicas of the full size pottery pieces so popular in the 1930' and 40's.  Years ago I found the perfect wall case for them and love the touch of whimsy thy add to our kitchen.

Since we've downsized, I'm very careful not to give in to my love of old things too often these days. But, I did have to have this little oval serving dish.

When my Mom passed away in 2014, I inherited her large California Ivy platter. I love to use it because, when I do, it brings back happy memories of Mom serving meals on it when I was a child in the 1950's . The little oval platter I found on this trip will be a good compliment for the larger platter.

The Poppy Trail California Ivy pattern was introduced in 1946, the year my parents were married, and remained in production until 1984. I was excited to find another piece and at $4.50, it was a good
buy.

There were gorgeous old tobacco baskets at so many of the antique shops we visited down South. These were on the porch of an antique shop in Wears Valley Tennessee.  I love them and wished I could have thought of an excuse to buy them all!

But I bought a HUGE one when we were in South Carolina last year. You can read the story of how I finally got my tobacco basket to Maine here.

As you can see, I really don't have the wall space for two of them. It still killed me to leave such gorgeously aged ones back on that old porch in Tennessee though.

Here are a few of the antique shops we stopped at on our road trip. Especially in Tennessee, they were everywhere.

Here in Maine, many of our antique shops have closed so I was in my glory with so many to stop at.

I loved all of the 1930's green kitchen appliances and cookware displayed in this "kitchen".

And I especially loved antiquing in sunny 70 degree weather!

All of the flowering bushes were in bloom in the states we visited.

And now it's back to this . . . UGH!

It's way past time for winter to go away for good.

Until it does, I'll just have to close my eyes and pretend I'm back down South!

This post is linked to:

Homestyle Gathering #13 at Serving Up Southern

Flaunt It Friday #443 at Chic on a Shoestring

Farmhouse Friday 101 at The Painted Hinge

On Eagle's Wings

I have been away from the blog for a couple of weeks as our family mourns the death of my Mom. Alice. She passed away peacefully in her sleep on the evening of on April 16th, surrounded by her family and her favorite Spring flowers. Mom was 92. Aside from my sisters and I, she leaves two sisters, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren who will miss her very much.

  

 I wrote about how strong my Mom was as she battled the effects of two strokes in my 2/23/14 post entitled Amazing Women #2: My Mom. She remained strong, and an inspiration to use all, right through her last days, which were spent comfortably in hospice care.

 

A granddaughter's hands...

 

At Mom's service, we asked the soloist to sing Amazing Grace and Let There Be Peace On Earth, as well as one of her favorite hymns, On Eagle's Wings:

  

And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand. 

 

As we grieve, what more could we wish for our Mom than that?

 

Mom & Her BFF

On Monday, Mom's dear friend, Paula, and her husband, Dick, drove up from Massachusetts to visit with Mom for the afternoon.

 

 

Mom and Paula are both originally from England and always have had a lot in common.

 

 

It takes a long time to grow an old friend. 

~John Leonard

 

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.~William Shakespeare 

 

Joanne, Mom & Paula



Mom continues to improve a little more each day from her two strokes and ensuing pneumonia. Her progress still seems like a miracle to us.

Today Was a Gift

Mom was awake and able to sit up and talk today.

We all made the most of the chance to spend more time with her...
 

Kristen & Grammy:  Hand in Hand

Andi, Mom & Kristen



Grammy with Rob and Kristen Underwood



Mark & Joanne with Mom



The Whole Gang:  Cheryl, Robert, Andrea, Hank, Mark, Joanne, Kristen, & Mom

 

 

 

 

 

 







"Grammy" & Kristen say Goodbye

 

Each day together seems like a new miracle...

 



Some Things Just Can't Be Explained

According to Mom's doctor, things sometimes happen that medicine just can't explain.

 

After being told on Tuesday that our Mom had only days to live due to aspiration pneumonia, we got a call from the doctor early Thursday morning saying. "You may want to get in here...your Mom is wide awake and talking. She no longer shows any sign of pneumonia and her temperature is normal".

 

We all rushed over. Mom was indeed awake and alert, after days of high fever and non-responsiveness. The doctors said that we should just enjoy this gift of more time with our Mom, and we did. Joanne and Mark even brought Mom's cat, Tabby, in for a visit. (Mom calls Tabby her "pride and joy" and there is some light-hearted debate in the family about where the cat stands in Mom's affections in relation to her daughters.)



On Wednesday, Mom's condition had been so critical that my son, Rob, took the train to Maine from NYC, arrived at 1:30 a.m. and went to visit "Grammy" with me at 2:00 a.m. Thursday morning. Joanne and Mark were already there.  Six hours later, the fever had broken and Mom had spontaneously beaten the pneumonia...without antibiotics.



The doctor said that he is unable to explain Mom's recovery. He shared that this was only the second time in his medical career that he had seen anything like this happen in a patient in Mom's condition. He warned us to enjoy these moments and not get too hopeful, but it feels like a miracle to have this time with Mom.

And maybe it is...

On Thursday morning, my husband, Hank, took off the gold cross he has always worn and placed it on my Mom's neck.



She has been awake since.

 



  

This morning, Mom is sitting up in a wheelchair visiting. Her feeding tube has been restarted. Her left side is still weak and her speech is slurred but she is back with us for now. We're amazed and incredibly grateful.

 

 

Who knows?

"There are only two ways to live . . . one is as though nothing is
        a miracle. . . the other is as if everything is."
                                                                                            - Albert Einstein

 





Amazing Women: My Mom



Mom in 1st grade, Bradford, Massachusetts



Our Mom had a serious stroke right after the holidays and she, and our family, have been on a physical and emotional roller coaster ride since then. Mom is 92 and the stroke has affected her ability to move the left side of her body, to swallow, and to articulate her thoughts as clearly as she'd like. Luckily, the stroke left her cognitively intact.

I feel as if I have been away from this blog forever and miss both the creative outlet it provides and the friendships I have formed through blogging. I've written many posts in my head during the past six weeks but haven't had the emotional energy to put them into words.

Mom as a baby in Bradford, England

Over the past month I've come to learn a lot about my Mom that I overlooked when she was well and I took her presence in my life for granted. I learned what an incredibly strong woman she is and I'm humbled every day by her patience, positive attitude, and will to live.



Mom is a member of the Greatest Generation. Her young British parents, seeking a better life for her than the mills of Yorkshire had offered them, sailed with her to America when she was 3 years old. Mom was a child during the Depression and a young woman coming of age during WWII, when all of the men her age were overseas. 

Mom at Hampton Beach, N.H., 1943...age 22.





Uncle Arthur , Dad, Mom, Aunt Marion, Bradford, Mass., June 1946

After marrying our Dad in 1946, Mom was busy raising four daughters in the 50's, 60's and 70's.
(We definitely gave her a run for her money back then...)

Our family in 1967...Cheryl, Andrea, Joanne and Nancy with Mom & Dad

Mom was trained as an artist and continued to paint in oils when she found a free moment. She sewed all of our clothes at night after putting us to bed. She always had a passion for antiqueing, repurposing, and home decorating that she passed down to her daughters... and which continues to inspire the creativity in each of us to this day.

 

We saw Mom's strength when Dad, and then Nancy, got sick...

 

And I saw it when we I caught her "exercising" her stroke-weakened arms and legs as she lay all alone in her room at Maine Medical Center. When I asked what she was doing, she managed to tell me that she was "doing my exercises so that I can go home".  I just stood there and cried.

 

Mom on 91st Birthday at Texas Roadhouse...
She rode the bull!
 

Now I know how my sisters and I ended up to be such strong creative women.
It is because of the example Mom set for us.

So now, as I visit Mom each day, I whisper to her what I wish I had said to her more often over the years...

"Thank you, Mom...I love you."