Sunday, February 20, 2011

amongst friends #67

Heritage~

Attention All Amongst Friends friends- Even if you don’t read this in its entirety, please read the new guidelines for submissions. Things are changing slightly again, but hopefully it will clear things up for everyone and make it easier for me to get it posted for everyone to see.

We are going to call this week a ‘Bi’ week. I am posting Heritage here now. I will post Recycle by Thursday morning. For this week only, you have until Wednesday, to get me your Recycle pictures. Then on Sunday, you will need to send me your Love pictures. I think what has happened is that everyone waits to see the weeks collage before sending me a photo for the next week. Since it is most possible for me to write and post the pictures on Sunday I need all photos by Sunday morning in order to post it by Monday morning. So again, for only this week, I will accept all Recycle pictures until Wednesday night, and then Love pictures should be to me by that next Sunday morning. I am hoping this will clear things up for everyone and we will be back to having fun in no time! J

So, here we go with Heritage:

Linda has a lot of heritage going on in her picture. I will let her tell you about it.
“My heritage picture is of a quilt my mother made for me that I plan to down. She hand-appliquéd the sunbonnet and it was machine quilted. The Native American fan was handed own to Jimmy by his Uncle Brian, it was part of his regalia. The drum was one I bought at a pow-wow we attended with Aunt Susan (she and I are of Cherokee descent- Eastern Band) and Uncle Brian (who is Ojibwa). I love turtles and it so happens that Jimmies father is Pawnee. The small Mandela was given to Jimmie by his father and the little plaque of the native chief was given to me by an old friend. So its (the picture) is kind of a celebration of where we come from and things we will pass to or that have been passed on by loved ones.”

Jenny’s picture is very interesting to me and I wish I understood it better. All I know is that the picture is of She and Frank’s first bike. Maybe she will clear up on the inclusion of the picture.

Rayma’s story is really nice. The quilt was a gift from a client, which makes it pretty special. When I heard that the client had been working on the quilt for two years and was waiting for just the right person to give it to, that made it even more so. I know from personal experience that Rayma is a wonderful person and I am certain the quilt made it into just the right hands!

Debbie always puts thought into her descriptions and I love that. She sent in a picture of her Mom and had this to say. “We are all a reflection of the legacy our parents graciously give us, this is my definition of Heritage. Living life with kindness, compassion, and caring... this is the legacy my mom gave to me and what I strive to teach my children.” Debbie, I just want to say, it shows. J

Jocelyn’s picture is different and it’s a great representation of heritage in my opinion. She said “I took this picture Christmas of 2005. This has been a family tradition since 1985. My dad and my Grandfather built this brick oven for roasting the Christmas Eve pig. Every year for Christmas Eve my family gets together at my Moms and my Dad and Grandfather would prepare the pig and then put it in the brick oven early in the morning and watch it all day till it was ready around 6 or 7pm. My Grandfather passed away in 1997 and my Dad still keeps the tradition alive.” Jocelyn, I am a girl set on traditions; I think this one is wonderful.

Joanne sent in a picture of her Mother too; my Grandmother. While Joanne didn’t send an explanation of her own, I can say that family heritage is important to my family, on both sides and I am positive that the importance of it was passed down from those who came before us. I remember so many things about the life of my Grandma (though not nearly enough) but the fact remains, each day is a gift and one never knows when the opportunity to spend time with those you love will be taken away.

I adore this photo Sheila send in. You can tell that it is vintage and that there is a story there. She said “This picture was handed down to my Mother by her Great Aunt Flether and my Mother handed it down to me. Meet my Grand Parents Effie Lee and Joe Luke.
Both Passed away when my mother was a young girl.” Sheila, I am assuming these are your Great Grandparents at best, please tell. J

Sandy sent in a lovely photo and said, “The handkerchief was passed to me because it was my grandfather's (who died when my dad was 15). I keep it in an old Bible -1847 - that belonged to my husband's dad, who I never met.” Sandy, I’m amazed and the shape its in. It is beautiful.

Karen sent in a picture of her Mom, dressed in her finest J for St. Patrick’s Day. This too, is my Grandmother. Karen didn’t include a description either but I will tell you, I doubt I ever met a woman more proud of her Irish heritage. And it was passed down to each of her children and then to the Grandchildren. We are all extremely proud to be Irish.

Which brings me to my picture. J Enough said! J

You might also guess that Jerri and Karen and I are related as Jerri’s picture is of her son’s tattoo. I told you we were proud of our heritage, didn’t I? J

Kelly’s picture of the baby book is actually her Mother’s. I only wish I had such things. It’s a great treasure!

If I were to say who was most creative in their photo for Heritage, I would tell you my opinion was Renee’. The photo is an orangutan. When I asked her if she would explain the picture to me, she said she was walking through the zoo and read the sign stating these animals are 97% genetically the same as humans and knew it would be her picture for the week. She actually sent this to me a couple weeks early. I think heritage means something different to many and obviously there are many ways to express it. I think a lot of thought went into this idea to make this connection and it’s interesting. 2 Thumbs up for thought! J

I saved Janice’s picture for last because it brought tears to my eyes and is a beautiful reminder and tribute to her heritage. It really is a lovely picture. She said, “This picture of my hand, Valerie's hand and my Mama's hand was taken on the morning of her death. We had been praying most of the morning and just loving on her while we could.”

So, what do you think? We are missing a few folks this week and I hope you will join us again soon. This week was an emotional one for amongst friends but it was a nice reminder. At least I thought so. I hope you enjoyed it. Remember you have until Wednesday to get me your Recycle pictures, then Love by Sunday. The next week we will begin the alphabet- the letter A and work on that for a while. Well see how it goes. Have a wonderful week.

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