The Apples of Remembrance
About the Book
A mother, who grew up under austere Catholic rule in the fifties, recounts her life's experiences and emotional aspirations upon losing her five children to their father. Long after her mother's death, a daughter opens a suitcase full of her mother's diaries and discovers an opus erupting with sad and traumatic, if not horrific junctures; yet abundant with hopeful bits of bliss, personal triumphs, and poetic gratitude. The daughter finds, in retyping these memoirs, that her mother had intended all along to make her story known, whether just to her own children… or perhaps to the whole world. Her story will move you in all directions as you learn about the arduous love a very young mother has for her children with whom she never had a chance to grow up. She will take you on her journey into tumultuous relationships; artistic, medicinal, and spiritual undertakings; a courageous fight with cancer and consequence of a loved one's alcoholism and death; her infrequent, yet rapturous moments shared with her children and grandchildren. Everything she was and everything she did labored from a hopeful, yet empty heart as she waited a lifetime for her children to return to her.
Content
My mother would write from her heart whatever came into her mind. She would also sketch whatever she saw if it moved her. I (the one gaffawing in the poncho) have combined these writings from her journals and diaries, along with her doodlings, and photos of her and her children, and put them into story form, as chronologically as I possibly could.
Part of what helped with this unpublished project was that she had already outlined a timeline from birth to well into her fifties. Even posthumously, she was organized. Thank you, Mom, for making this easy on me.
The image at right is the street-side garden of Ola's Salmon Ghost Ranch, a fortress she and her mate built over a decade of fruitful, arduous years.
Excerpt from Chapter 21: Poetry
"I have carried in my heart much that needs release; for as long as you all have been taken from me, I have carried in my heart much, and waited, as I had been told to do by the husband of my life then, by the father of my children... to wait, to be silent, to be invisible.
"Now he is dead and in his grave and the flood gates of my heart have opened, untimely, say they, for the grass has not yet grown over his grave. Wait again, they say, like he said... wait. But floods do not wait, grief does not wait, and love will not wait. How long must I continue to be silent? Will my children ever want to know my heart? I cannot continue to be silent. If my own do not wish to hear, then never mind, I will only tell the world my story. The world will not find it hard to listen."
Baby's Busy Book
The Purpose of this Book
It was to be my grandson's first Christmas and I wanted to make him something from my heart. Something to show him how much I love and adore him, while giving him educational and memorable pleasures each time he opened it. And now, to my surprise and ultimate delight, he always brings the book to me - his Meemaw - to sit on my lap and read together. No one else gets this purely wonderful experience but just us two. Simply heaven!
The Construction
Baby's Busy Book (video produced by Meemaw) was so much fun to create! I had to sit criss-cross applesauce and think like a child to get through each page, but that just added years to my life anyway. I wanted to do something that had color, texture, and function. There are so many things for baby to see and do on every page, with a surprise sound and action at the end.
The Quest for Six Silly Stars
I searched high and low for the perfect greeting card to sew into the last page. My grandson loves this page so much, he's already worn out the battery in the card. So, once again, I had to search for that specific greeting card, having no luck with in-store or online avenues. I was sad to think I would not be able to fix this, until my hero of a husband found it in a Walgreens up North. Now the six stars can spin and sing and be silly once again!
The Breeze in the Trees
The Purpose of this Book
My grandson's cousin was on her way to this world when I conjured up this little book for her called The Breeze in the Trees (video produced by Meemaw). The story is not so much a tale but a means to calm and hopefully put baby into a dreamy, sleepy state so mama can peacefully enjoy her chocolate!
An Idea Comes to Life
After the initial writing of the story, I first gathered stock photos off the internet and rendered them into "cutout" formats for a more animated look. The picture of my grandson (above) is the only one of my own; if I had had more time I would have gone out and taken my own photos of beavers, foxes, and bunnies, but that's why we have the internet.
The Construction
I printed the pictures on iron-on transfer paper, printed captions on a background of a jpeg of the fabric I had scanned in, and adhered them to each page. The pages are made of organic cotton and padded with organic wool, then quilted and bound by the dynamic duo: Me and my faithful sewing machine!
The Whole Famn Damily
The Purpose of this Book
When my daughter decided to get a place of her own my mind went into high-gear-planning-mode for the three months leading up until Christmas to put together a cookbook that had all the recipes she grew up with at her fingertips. I wanted her to be able to use this effortlessly while enjoying foods she created by direction of someone in her family, and also to pass it down to her own children, and so on. But, of course, the eras in which we were both raised are quite different, and while I was sure she would, by now, have dog-eared pages that stuck together by splattered pancake batter with stains of tomato sauce and chocolate syrup, I have found that this book hardly makes it out of her pantry. Why? Two words: cell phone.
No worries... I have my own stained and beat up copy!
The Construction
Each page contains one heritage recipe and is combined into categories such as Breakfast, Main Dishes, Sides & Salads, etc., with some Gluten Free recipes thrown in as well. Each group is tabbed for easy reference just like the cookbooks we grew up with, and has extra blank pages at the end for handwritten additions.
The Whole Famn Damily is also spiral-bound so even more additions can be included. There is a handy vinyl pocket in the front of each section for those clipped or printed-from-the-internet recipes we don't have time to properly insert. Plus, the binder has its own pockets, front and back, for even more stuff!!
The Whole Famn Damily is a term GranPaul (my father) used to say when he was referring to his brood of nine kids! I never heard a bad word come out of his mouth; except once, when he hit his thumb with a hammer and muttered “Crap!”
Excerpt for Recipe Above
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash fish in cold water and pat dry, then lay in 13x9 inch glass baking dish. Mix together sour cream and mayonnaise. Spread onto fish, covering surface completely. Sprinkle cheese on top. Pour enough cold water into the dish to cover the bottom. Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and golden brown, making sure fish is flaky and not translucent.
Variations:
•Substitute sour cream with plain yogurt.
•Original recipe calls for Parmesan cheese but Dubliner is Randy’s cheese of choice. They are quite similar in flavor.
•Pair with asparagus and Hollandaise for a perfect match.
This creamy twist on a white fish dish was first introduced to me one romantic evening when Randy prepared a candlelight dinner for the two of us in our first camping trailer, Little Happy. We dined, drank some wine, then… well you know… played a game of Scrabble! HA!
WELCOME
See the latest stained glass mosaic wall or window hangings that capture light and color in a unique way.