127 Dresses

Katherine Heigl thought she had a stuffed closet in "27 Dresses."

Our daughter is flying to NJ in a week and taking with her an extra suitcase stuffed with over 100 little dresses. 

The suitcase weighs a ton, even though the individual dresses are light as a feather.   They're made from pillowcases.

Students from the local Catholic high school sewed 100 or more pillowcase dresses for children in Africa.   Teenagers working for and donating to youngsters they will never meet.

Nothing warms my heart more than seeing young people give to those less fortunate.  

The dresses will travel from NJ to Africa by way of the Salesian Sisters.

They're a bit wrinkly (the dresses, not the sisters) because they've been in a suitcase for a while.  In Ziploc bags.

 I love this one. 

Perfect little sundresses for needy little girls in a faraway land.

I love the simplicity, practicality, and adorability of this gift.

If you'd like to make one, simply Google "pillowcase dress" and several links pop up.   This would be an easy beginner project for mom/aunt/grandma and daughter/niece/granddaughter.  Or any mix of the two.

Imagine what could be done with a fitted sheet.  Those stretchy, can't-fold-the-darn-thing corners ought to be good for something. 

Closing Out May 2011

The last day of May is almost gone.  In half an hour, it will be June.

I have some fun and touching photographs from May that didn't get squeezed into any blog post, so I'm posting them now.   Random, but valuable, moments.    They don't have a long story with them, just a line or two.

Reminders that life can be remarkable. 

     ~             ~              ~             ~              ~
   
The final launch of the shuttle Endeavor occurred in May, leaving behind its last, beautiful plume. 

Interested residents at Southland were wheeled outside for a view.

They guy on the far left in the yellow shirt loves chocolate.  Just a little factoid. 

When Mom arrived home from the skilled nursing facility, she found some flowers from her sweetheart.

She was happy to admire them from her glider, wearing her favorite slippers.  

I think Rudolph and his brother are the coziest things I've ever seen.

The next morning, Mom went to Mass, and she and Dad got to sit side-by-side again...after three long months.

It's a little tacky to take pictures in church, so I persuaded my husband to sneak over and do it.   Mass hadn't started yet, so we were OK.  I cropped out all the disapproving faces.  

Yesterday, there was a cookout at Southland.  We took several pictures, but in every shot, Dad's mouth was busy eating.  This was the best of the batch.

Not the most flattering picture of my father, but you can't say it doesn't look like him. 

One of my favorite pictures this month was from my trip to New Jersey.  Two Salesian sisters were taking an after-dinner stroll in a light drizzle. 

The blooming trees, the wrought-iron bench, the stone cottage, the pinwheel umbrellas, the sweet sisters.  It's just charming.   

My brother was here the end of April, but I'm including this picture in May because I just ran across it again and realized I never shared it with the world.  We skipped out late one night for some soft serve ice cream.

I believe it was after our wine. 

Yes, I'm in my pink, fluffy robe.   This is the kind of loony stuff I do when my brother, the ex-clown, comes to town.

Hope you enjoyed this fine production from the ballpark.

See you next month!

In the Middle

Over Mother's Day weekend, I was in New Jersey visiting our daughter, the almost-nun sister.  I debated not going because, just a few days before I left, Mom went to the hospital with a blood clot in her calf.  They caught it early, and within a few days she was doing well, so I got on the plane.

My husband and father took great care of Mom while I was gone.  This eased my mind.  (My husband also, unbeknown to me, wrote a post for my blog while I was away.  If you missed it, click here.  It's a real winner.)

I thought of Mom often while I was gone.  Certain images/activities brought her to mind.

Like a polished tree trunk that is used to display the Bible.  Mom loves Scripture and, as a teen, I remember seeing her read the Bible.

It was a wonderful, unspoken witness.  The Book was often left open, like this one.    

Braiding my daughter's hair is an activity that brings Mom to mind, because she used to braid mine.

I would get pigtails.

For my own daughter, I french braid.  She's gracious and allows me this luxury, because she knows I love to play with her glorious auburn/golden/red hair.

That and the fact that, when she finally dons her veil, she's going to have her hair chopped short.   AWWWW! 

                      

I thought of my Mom when I saw this baby calf and its family.

It was the sweetest thing.  Small and a bit wobbly, it stayed close to its momma.

The repetition of life came to mind.  My tiny Mom was in Florida with 90 years under her sling.  I was in NJ with my own girl, who was now grown up.

Mommas and babies keep life going.

I thought of my Mom when we baked cookies for the Salesians Sisters.  She made rolled-out sugar cookies every Christmas, a tradition I've continued.

Whenever I'm working with a rolling pin, I think of my Mom.

As we were touring the retreat center, there was a display board with pictures of our daughter teaching a First Communion class.  She is an exceptional teacher.  (Her favorite pupils are high-school students, which tells you something right there.)

Teaching is one gift she shares with my Mom, (who was an English teacher.)  I took pictures of the pictures, because they warmed my heart.    

The final picture that brought my Mom to mind was this one...

Our daughter with her mom...and a statue of Mary behind us.

You don't have to be Catholic to appreciate the heart of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  She was an unwed teenage mom, who celebrated the joys and endured the heartaches that all moms experience.

And some agonies we will never experience. 

I'm blessed to be one of the few people I know my age whose mother is still living.  With my children on one end and my parents on the other, I'm the sweet cream in the middle of the Oreo.

I am so grateful to have been given the full life that my mom afforded me, and so proud to be watching my daughter pursue her own journey.

To my mom, I'm glad God gave me to you, instead of the family down the street.   I would have missed you.

A Weekend at the Convent

Have you ever spent a weekend with some nuns? 

I never had either.  Until our daughter decided to become one.

This past weekend, I had my second visit with the Salesian sisters, and I'm learning so much.

1.  This particular order - the Salesians - are called "sisters," not "nuns."  Nuns are cloistered, sisters are not.   Now we know.

2.  There are levels of training and formation: first you are an aspirant (meaning to aspire to), then you are a novice (meaning new or beginner.)  Our daughter is a novice. 

3.  The Salesian Sisters I've come to know are not like any nuns sisters I've ever met.  They have facebook accounts; they watch "The Middle"; they offer Cocoa Puffs for breakfast; they wear sneakers. 

And they don't wield rulers.  I didn't see a ruler the entire weekend.  Not even in the craft box I worked from to make some greeting cards.   

4.  These sisters have more energy than I do.  (Their mission is education and spiritual development of youth.)  Some are younger than me, some are older than me, but they're all up at the crack of dawn praying and receiving divine strength and guidance for their day.

While I was there, I rolled out of bed between eight and nine a.m.   I felt like a slug in comparison.

5.  Hospitality is one of their gifts.  These sisters are the most welcoming, care-taking, kind-hearted women.  While I was there with my sister and a friend, we had simple, but the most lovely accommodations.

Small things like hand-made welcome signs and fancy towel pockets...

And bigger things like a stone patio with a beautiful view.

The gray figure is our daughter.

And a wonderfully organized (the spices are alphabetized, I kid you not), industrial kitchen that we got to bake in.

They even had a KitchenAid mixer.  I was in Betty Crocker heaven. 

This baby has seen some dough.  Here, it's humming away on sugar cookies.

Which, upon completion, looked like this...

Sweet, sweet fun. 

6.  Where we visited, the Salesians have two communities - the retreat center/residency...

...and Camp Auxilium, the summer youth camp for which the sisters are known.

At the time of our visit, both areas were lush and green with blooming trees and friendly creatures.

Like butterflies and cows and bears (oh, my...)

I swear, this butterfly stopped and posed for me.

As did this baby cow, who was hanging out with his relatives in a nearby pasture.  His momma, on the right, eyeballed me suspiciously. 

7.  The black bear (and maybe his family) is still around.

The black blob in the center of this fuzzy photo is the local bear. (I don't have a telephoto lens, so, in editing, I zoomed in until the bear no longer resembled an ant.)  He lives peaceably with the sisters, coming close to the homestead only when looking for food in the Dumpster.

We baited him with an apple, to get a picture.  After a few hours, he appeared.

When he was close enough to photograph, I freaked out and ran into the closest doorway.   He's just so big.   And well...a bear.  

On my last visit, I caught a closer glimpse.  He looked like this...

8.  I think I'll just be happy with this picture.

More to come...