fall shadow boxes

when the twins were much smaller than they are now

i had an idea that each fall i would take them on a

nature hike where they would

gather treasures and we would put

them all in a shadow box. i can still see their

tiny fingers picking up shells, leaves, and

sycamore bark from around our first home.

i remember joe being adamant that the

plastic fork handle be placed along the

bottom below the bird's wing.

hank's has tiny snail shells he

helped glue around the top of his

above the disintegrated leaf he loved.

my plans never went

beyond the first year (and i even have some shadow

boxes in a closet upstairs) but they still love looking

at them. maybe they helped fix an otherwise ordinary

day in their memories. it certainly

worked on me...

secret treasure

several weeks ago, we went to visit chris'

folks at their farmhouse in independence, tx.

independence has exactly one store. and nothing

else. independence is old. it was

founded in 1834 and their house was built in late 1800's.

it's a spectacular part of texas

for the trees alone. centuries old

live oak trees with gargantuan branches

that sweep the ground like octopus arms.

several months ago one blew over. evidently,

it had a sad, secret rotten center.

when it fell, it pulled up earth with it's roots.

hank, who's nine, was poking around and

came upon a lot of very old bottles.

old enough that some of them had roots growing

through their disintegrating, metal lids.

digging a bit, he discovered this one.

looking carefully inside he saw money!

he ran to

show us and we gently opened it. carefully

rolled inside was exactly $21.00.

here's the brow-wrinkler:

the bottle is old. it was buried deeply, with

other bottles with roots growing through them.

i did some research on other bottles

that had names and most were used in the 40's

and 50's.

the money is dated 2001.

theories?

mug i love...

my sweet friend, memory, gave me this mug years ago. it's my number one, rainy day,

cold snap, cup of tea mug. and i realized yesterday that many of the ailments that used

to just be funny from afar have come to fruition....

mortgages. warts. dandruff. ulcers. boils. toe itch. baldness. bloodshot eyes. rough

elbows. bad temper. athletes foot. mortgages. fallen arches.

goose pimples. headaches. termites.

let's not even discuss how many of those are relevant these days...

treasure.....

my parents were married in november of 1965. four days later, my dad left for vietnam. over the years my mom has given me a couple of things he brought back for her. an embroidered blouse that is delicate and feminine that i don't dare wear too often. funny enough, he also had black silk shirts made and monogrammed for each of them. his says, 'dirty rat sum' bitch' and hers' has a sweet and saucy looking kitty on it with, 'i love you'. there is no better match on earth than those two.

this past weekend she gave me my very favorite thing so far. my dad had gotten her a brass flatware set in bangkok. i had no idea it existed! it has never been used and some of them were still wrapped in tissue paper. anyone who has come by today has been asked to make guesses about what some of the more mysterious pieces could be used for. there are three different kinds of tiny forks that clearly won't escape roxie's attention in the coming years. chris and i soaked them all in soapy water, dried them and put them away.....most definitely to be used. forty four years later and here they lie...loved and cherished in texas.