A pair of rag rugs

As I've often mentioned in the past, my mom loved to make things. A Christmas angel. Her own wedding dress. A toy dog. A ceramic frog. My clothes. Slip covers for an old sofa. Drapes. You name it, she made it. Rag rugs are no exception. One year was the year of the giant crocheted rug of many colors. No, the rug pictured here was not made by Mom, but by my ex-sister-in-law (we're divorced) who saw Mom's work and made her own which I photographed on my visit to Memphis this past summer.

Back in the early aught-40s, there was no Internet, chockablock full of instructions and Mom was on her own. At that time, most homemade rag rugs were braided; Mom figured, why not crochet instead. That way she wouldn't have to take the extra step of sewing the plaited strips together. It worked quite well, though washing that heavy, 6-foot-diameter monster was a big of a problem.

One day at her favorite fabric store (Phelps by name, back in Jax Florida), she came across a new rug-making gizmo that enabled her to use small pieces of cloth for a type of knotted rug. We both worked on this project, though it wasn't nearly as rewarding as the crochet. Took a lot more time to cover the same amount of floor and the result was really quite shaggy. I had never seen another such rug until this summer over on McCormick Street in an antique shop (above, below). Mom's rug was much more colorful, BTW; as I recall, it didn't hold up as well as the crochet.

My own rug-making was limited to a series of pictorial hooked rugs, but that was in another time and another world. I do have pictures however and might just post a two or three one of these days. In the meantime, if you are interested in rag rugs in their many manifestations, a visit to the Rugmaker's Homestead is a must.

Butterflies & Roses

In my world, butterflies are pretties for decorating & holding papers on the refrigerator. I hadn't realized how relevant they might be to my current life situation when I photographed the butterfly collection on display at the Samaritan Village (below) the last time I visited my mother there.

At the funeral home I saw more butterfly art on the walls and inquired the reason. It was explained that the background of the home was basically Christian and that these were symbols to indicate that affiliation while not making people of other faiths uncomfortable. According to The Google, the butterfly symbolizes the soul and/or resurrection.

I looked at the display with new understanding when the Dotter and I visited the Village to collect Mom's personal effects. Her garden gloves and plaque were still on the door to her room, though her name plate had been removed.

And on her empty bed was a single red rose. A lovely tribute by the nursing home staff.

Unexpected bronzes

It's an unusual collection of bronzes, especially for a funeral home. But then, this is the West. And what could be more historically western in Prescott than the Ruffner name! After making arrangements for Mom at Wakelin-Ruffner, I took these pictures. Saddles. And more saddles.They make rather strange-looking objects without an intervening horse!

There were quite a few name-brand cowboy and western bronzes, as well.

And, at the entrance, this splendid Uncle Sam. I know Mom would have liked him -- and would have then spent a few minutes figuring out how to make a better one. There was also much butterfly art on the walls; I'll talk about that tomorrow. In the meantime, the funeral home has posted a my brief biog of Mom here. BTW, I miscounted the number of great grandchildren -- it's 8.

Mom is Gone

I got the call last night at about 9 p.m. She died quietly, in her sleep, as she wanted, though she lived longer than she wished -- she was very, very tired. A remarkable woman, Mom lived two months past her 104th birthday. Somehow, I had expected her to live forever. I had one final visit with her yesterday.

Note: In case you haven't read it already, the dotter wrote a lovely tribute to her grandmother, my Mom, back in December.

Estate Sale: Downsizing a Life

The sign went up as we left after pricing the leftovers of a life whose scope has been steadily shrinking over the past handful of years. First, to fit the retirement apartment, then the one-room assisted living suite. But her last illness has put Mom into a nursing home for the foreseeable future. A helluva way to spend her 104th birthday.

And I am so thankful that out-of-town family showed up anyhow! Here, my dotter and her cousin, the Other Niece from Memphis, who really saved my life. I don't think I could have closed out Mom's place by myself. They, plus the wonderful bro, did all the heavy lifting.

Prices on the assorted brick-a-brac and remaining furniture were extremely modest; merely an incentive to keep lookers honest.

I also thank the bro for inserting a light moment in an otherwise very grim and gloomy day. He has always had that talent. The dolly had carried all the pictures and other family items to the cars for a trip to my place.

Such an oppressive emptiness! But Mom couldn't stay; she is very, very tired.

Mom's 104 Today

You wouldn't believe it to look at this picture, would you? That's not her boyfriend, it's her son, my bro. Tomorrow night, grandchildren start arriving from Memphis and Alaska; the plan had been a party. Unfortunately, Mom is in the nursing home tonight, following a brief stay in the hospital. We all hope that she gets back to her remarkable self soon. It's a sad day.

One More Halloween!

I didn't know if Mom would be up to wearing a costume
today -- after all, she is almost 104 and tires easily. However, when the subject of Halloween came up a couple of weeks ago, she asked about how she was going to dress. As I've mentioned in a past post, Mom was always one to dress up if there was an occasion.

Anyhow, this year she costumed light -- in a splendid cow-bedecked sweat I found over at the Noah thrift for all of one buck! Complete with a working cowbell in front and a braided tail at the rear. As a finishing touch, big homemade spotted ears to take the place of her usual earrings.

The occasion: another Trick or Treat event at Las Fuentes for kids from the nearby Y after school program. Mom and her fellow residents really enjoy seeing the youngsters in their wildly varied costumes.

Later: there was a string of Halloween pumpkin lights, among other decorations at Casa Sanchez, where I had dinner this evening...

...a dazzle of lights at That House on Park which goes all out to decorate for as many holidays as possible...

...and big blow-up characters on the balcony of one of the nearby faux Victorians. And, yes, that looks like Itt up in the tower, more than a little deflated.

Of course, there are, these days, a handful of folk who take the night of Oct. 31 more seriously, as Samhain, the pagan harvest festival and official beginning of winter. I saw these decals on a recent walk around town (all on one car, BTW.) Ironically, a couple of local churches that view the Halloween celebration as a pagan holiday scheduled harvest festivals in its place.

However, for the rest of us, the night is a time to thumb one's nose at all manner of scary critters and creatures. It's only fitting that in Prescott, a Halloween witch wears blue jeans under her black cape. Perhaps she's thinking rodeo...

All Hallows' Link: A New England neighborhood explorer and photographer has discovered an interesting trick of the light that she calls Alien Eyes. I'd be curious whether anyone has seen these x-marks-the-spot reflections in our town.

The Big House Party

The llama named Lawana on my keyboard -- what could be more symbolic of a young grandchild in the house? But the house has been full. First dotter and GD arrived, then came the Niece from Memphis and her dotter. What resulted? A lot of plain but pleasant hanging out together.

A GD discovering the cartwheel -- almost.

And getting decorated into clown mode by the Niece.

Dancing with the Memphis cousin.

And a lot of R*E*A*D*I*N*G! Dotter ordered the book, BTW.

There was a visit and dinner party for my Mom and her grandchildren.

All of this activity took place when the dotter wasn't frantically making final preparations for flying herself, GD, two cats and three turtles to her new home in Alaska. Who knows if she would have made her plane had the Niece from Memphis not been here to help! The dotter's entourage has arrived safely in Alaska, tomorrow night the Niece and her dotter do Othello, and we're visiting an antique auto show and another resale shop during the day. Great fun, wonderful company. A house party to beat all house parties!

She Sees Seashells...

...where ever she goes-- even in dry Arizona! Something like that. The fact is, I find them on my walks. And in people's homes (including my own.) A further fact: seashells were trade goods in these dry lands long before Arizona got its name.

This bit of folk art is hanging below a 2nd floor window overlooking one of the nearby alleys. Do take note of the mix of shells from the distant ocean with cactus bones.

The lady from the Valley who loves to garden made a little border with scallop shells the other day. Because I did almost all my shell collecting at Jacksonville Beach on Florida's Atlantic coast, I never found a single scallop shell, a major frustration. (But oh, how I loved those days following a storm, when all manner of interesting sea life was washed ashore, from jelly fish to sea urchins, not to forget the angel wings, sand dollars and, on rare occasions, a sizeable conch.)

Mom tells of how, as a young woman, she and her California crowd collected abalone from the rocks off LaJolla back in the early 20s, long before such activity became a conservation no-no. In fact, I was surprised when I travelled to New Zealand in the late 70s to find that all manner of small items -- buttons, earrings, jewelry -- were carved from abalone for the tourist trade. Our house always had a large shell on display; when Mom moved from Florida to Sun City, it was lost. I found the abalone above in a resale shop and bought it for her so that all would be right with my world!

Other material from seashells I've found locally -- these nacre beads at Koldoff's. This was to have been to be the end point of my post about seashells in my Arizona...

...then I remembered the cache of shells up on a closet shelf. My late husband had a jackdaw's eye for the interesting little items one finds in the thrift shops. Including little plastic bags of seashells. A few samples:

I suspect my grandchildren are all going to get their own little plastic bags of interesting seashells one of these days Real Soon Now! And if you'd like your own collection, I found this site with seashell wallpaper.