Photos – Page 15 – Organizing Threads

June 5, 2014June 15, 2014

Lost and Found

A long time ago, in that other lifetime when I had a toddler and a baby, I considered getting my ears pierced. Having grown up Mennonite, when my parents never even had wedding rings, jewellery was a little suspect. I liked pretty things, but preferred rings and things to be small and unpretentious. And so I couldn’t quite decide — did I want to have my ears pierced or not?

I’d almost decided not when, for Christmas, 1979, Volker gave me a pair of opal and gold earrings. I have a fondness for opals, the way they aren’t just one colour, the colours seem to move inside the milky whiteness of the stone.

These were tiny, quite unpretentious. Hand-made by a man I’d known in highschool they’d cost a ridiculous amount of money for the financial shape we were in. They were beautiful. I got my ears pierced.

In March 2013, in Santa Clara, the evening before I was getting on the airplane to return home I realized one of my earrings was missing. I figured I’d lost it while playing with Mina. I did a search, but couldn’t find it. I felt so bad. Those earrings are very special to me; after all these years, to have lost one….

I was so relieved when Trina sent me a message the next day that she’d found my earring! I had to wait till my next visit to California to retrieve it but that was not a big deal, as long as I got it back!

Well, recently again I realized one earring was missing. Again I looked for it. I found the back, but not the earring itself. Again I felt so disappointed. But then I decided that I could take the one remaining earring to a goldsmith and have him/her make a matching earring for me. No, it wouldn’t be the one Volker gave me, but I’d still have a set.

That evening, as I stepped on the mat in the bathroom I felt something under my foot — Yes! it was my earring! Relief flooded me again. I was so grateful that I had the original back.

But I wonder, should I put them away to ensure I never lose them? No, I don’t think so. It may happen some day that one (or both) are lost for good. But I never put them on or see them in the mirror without remembering the man who gave them to me and the love they will always represent.

June 4, 2014June 4, 2014

Wordless Wednesday

May 13, 2014May 13, 2014

Pass it on

I remember the year that my mother made clothes for my dolls as a Christmas present. We didn’t get a lot for Christmas; as small children we each got something, but even that stopped by the time we reached our teens.

But one Christmas, when I was four or five I knew my Mom, after we kids were in bed, was still up sewing. I don’t know if I knew it then, though I did later, my Mom did not like to sew, she sewed because she had to! So Christmas morning I awoke to a wardrobe for my doll — I don’t remember how many pieces, but I know along with the usual dresses there was a little coat — that impressed me!

As I have four older brothers and two younger I felt obliged to keep up with the boys and didn’t spend a lot of time playing with dolls, though Mom tried hard to encourage me. My brothers also had a doll each, but they were more inclined to other kinds of play; though they would sometimes play “house” with me.

Barb with dolls and dog — Barb and friends

I enjoyed sewing much more than my Mom ever did. When my kids were little “Cabbage Patch Kids” were all the rage. I started making soft sculpture dolls for sale. For her 5th birthday I made Trina a large doll she named “Randy.” Not only does she still have that doll, but Mina loves to play with it.

Trina's 5th birthday -- with Randy, her new doll. — Trina’s 5th birthday — with Randy, her new doll.

Trina loved sewing even more than I. She not only sews, but designs and drafts patterns to sell as well. Although she made a doll for her new daughter, she also worked with Mina to make her own doll (after reading the book “Fanny”) when she was only four years old.

So where will Mina take this tradition?

May 7, 2014

Wordless Wednesday

May 5, 2014May 6, 2014

Two Volkers

This has long been my favourite photograph of Volker and our kids; now, it seems, it is a favourite of our grandchildren too.I took it after Peter and Laura Burkard’s wedding – Trina had been their flowergirl – one year before Volker’s death.

Since moving into their new home Trina and Gary have had family photos sitting on the floor of the stair landing. Little Volker has just learned to climb those stairs. This is what happened:

Trina says he has very little interest in any of the other pictures, just the ones with Grampa in them.

Mina recently was “missing Grampa Volker,” so that photo is now hanging in the children’s bedroom.