Fashion Friday

Here it is New Year's Eve of 2011 and what to do for Fashion Friday!  I was looking through files on my computer and saw this picture of Ray and me when we were very, very young and before we were married.  I cannot even remember the reason for being all dressed up but I do know it was not a New Year's Eve.  However, it could have been!   Ray is wearing a gray pin striped suit with a double breasted jacket.  I think it may be the same suit he wore in an earlier picture of us at a dance we went to in Galesburg, Illinois, at the branch of the University of Illinois where Desi Arnaz' orchestra played.  Carol wears an off the shoulder long gown that I believe was an iridescent dark red with a corsage of gardenias at her waist.  She carried a small purse.  This was taken probably in 1948 or 1949, many moons ago.  (Click to enlarge)

Sherry and Barclay's Gift to All

This would be my favorite gift this Christmas.  Sherry talked about working on her "project" for quite a few weeks and I had no idea what it could have been.  This was the result - a lovely picture album she put together on Snapfish.  One was made for each of us - the three girls, Bill and Ann, and me.  There are twenty pages of pictures taken over the years from their wedding in 1975 through the eventful 2010 that had Molly marrying Doug and Hannah going to the Peace Corps.

 

Adding to this very special gift was the poetry written by Barclay which is his specialty at each gathering and which is used as their Christmas card each year.  Their friends and relatives look forward to Barc's annual poem. The picture above is on the last page and is the one taken when we all went to Portland for Barclay's 60th birthday in 2009.   I must admit that this gift brought tears to my eyes.  It is beautiful.   Good job, Sherry Kay!   (Click to enlarge)

Back Home Again

I am back from a lovely Christmas with my family in Chicago hosted by my oldest granddaughter and her husband, Norah and Chad.  The trips down and back were just great - good roads and not a lot of traffic.  What a difference in weather from the east coast.  There was a lot of snow fall in Chicago over the time we were there, but going and coming was not affected.  In the picture above of the kid's beautiful tree, you can see the snow through the window of their condo.

The entire family, of course, was not present at least in person.  Here we are all sitting around talking to Hannah in Africa.  We talked to her three times over the holiday and she sounds just wonderful.  She was with some of her Peace Corps friends and had had vegetable lasagna for dinner.  There was also pheasant but she is vegetarian so didn't partake of that.  And she said it was very, very hot there.  She has so much to tell us and it is so sweet to listen to her.  Also there were Molly and Doug, the newlyweds from Portland.   And Bill and Ann from Kansas City completed the family circle. 

A few of the Christmas things - first above is a Christmas dog in her Santa suit.  Her name is Lacey.

Some Christmas cookies - Norah and Molly made and decorated them.  The grocery store was out of regular food coloring so they bought neon.  Don'e they look cool?  And they tasted just great.

The Christmas puzzle - worked on mainly by Sherry and Molly with an occasional piece found by me.

Some darling mittens that look like sock monkey hand puppets that Molly got.  I'm not sure who gave them to her - maybe Ann.

A card I made for each of the four couples using a picture taken in 1957 of Sherry and Bill on Santa's lap in the Block and Kuhl department store in Peoria.  I found the cute little snowmen half price in the scrapbook section at Michael's.  Thought they turned out kind of cute.  In another post, I will show you the "project" that Sherry worked on for Christmas for each of us.  It is wonderful.  Hope you all had a happy Christmas!  (Click to enlarge) 

Fashion Friday

On this Christmas Eve, 2010, our model for the day is Bill when he was a student at KU in Lawrence, KS.  He is looking very spiffy in a plaid hip length coat with a fuzzy collar and I am sure he wears jeans.  Completing his outfit is a western hat that was most likely a Christmas gift (I probably bought it for him) and he seems to be well pleased with his new outfit.   I am getting such a kick out of this picture!  And, also, if you look to his left, there is that little doll that I just posted a picture of the other day.  This photo would have been taken some time in the early to mid 70's.  I will try using the post options and have it appear on Christmas Eve, which is almost a week away from right now.  Hope it works!  (Click to enlarge)

Bringing Christmas Wishes

We will be in the morning to go to Chicago for Christmas at the home of my oldest granddaughter and her husband.  All will be there except our Peace Corps volunteer and we will hopefully get to talk to her Christmas Day.  Her mom heard from her yesterday after quite a spell and all is going well.  She is in the city where she will be spending Christmas with her PC friends.  I just wanted to put up a wish to all of you who read my blog and who I look in on, also, for a Merry, Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy 2011 coming up.  This blogging is a joy and getting to know people from all over is such fun.  Take good care of you and God bless.

I have prepared a Fashion Friday and think I have it set to post automatically - it's kind of a cute one so I hope it shows up. 

Like Soup?

In an earlier post, I mentioned going to a mini retreat at Linda's (which was a really great time).  Everyone brought some food along for breakfasts and lunches - we went out to some fun places for dinners.  Linda made a couple of "batches" of really good soup.   I had a bowl of this cheesy soup and loved it.  She had already printed out some recipes so I took one.  Super easy prep - not a lot of the usual slicing, dicing, peeling, just open cans and a plastic bag.   You do have to chunk up the cheese and I did cook chicken breasts, but think  leftover turkey!  I made some last week and shared it with my daughter and her DH.  Yummy!  At lunch the other day with some of the girls, I mentioned I had made it.  Someone else had made it also and just left out the chicken and it was still good.

Linda's Cheesy Chicken Soup
4 cups cooked chicken breast (could use leftover turkey)
3 1/2 cups water (or you could use canned chicken broth)
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 can cream of celery, undiluted
1 pkg (16 ounces) frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
2 cans (14 1/2 oz.) potatoes, drained and cut in smallish pieces
1 pkg. (16 oz.) Velveeta, cubed

In a heavy pan or Dutch oven, combine the first five ingredients. Bring to boil. Reduce the heat: cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in the cheese just until melted (do not boil).
Yield: 7 servings
(I cooked my chicken breasts with some celery and onions and used the stock in place of the water called for)

The reason I took a picture is to send it to my son for a project he has developed that uses exchanges of recipes for donations to charitable organizations - sort of like an organizational cookbook on line.  Very smart idea and he is honing the final results. 

Enjoy the soup!

The Three of Them

Here's a cute picture of the three girls some years ago.  I can't pinpoint the exact year, but I think Norah may still have been in high school and Molly in junior high with Hannah maybe in kindergarten.  This was back in the days when all three had bangs.  My, how everything has changed since then.  We will all be at Norah's home this Christmas - except for our Peace Corps volunteer.  We are hoping and praying she has some good friends to spend Christmas Day with and we think we will be able to talk to her on the phone.
(Click to enlarge)