This wonderful illustration is my moms artwork. She loves drawing animals and fairies. This is a whole set called "Wedding in the Northwoods. It consists of about 20 animals and their clothes. She has always as long as I can remember, taken her time to do her art. When I was young she would sit with a crow quill pen and a bottle of Black India Ink. For extra pin money my mom would hand illustrate and ink, then frame wedding invitations. She used this extra money for underwear and socks for us her children and for rummage sales and the Goodwill.
I can remember the Goodwill in Portland when I was young. There were stacks and stacks of depression glass plates, salt and pepper shakers. If I was good my mom would give my sister and I either a quarter or a dime to spend. My sister and I would head towards the back of the "better goods" department and pick from the boxes of beaded, metal mesh, and embroidered purses. Usually we had a dime and bought a beaded purse.
I was the youngest of three and when in afternoon kindergarten, so I would go with my mom to the As Is section of the Goodwill and wait for it to open. I remember once when the as is had a whole bin of dolls, my mom said "Rhonda, when the doll opens run in and pick up as many of the china dolls as you can" I became the artful dodger that day and loved doing it. We never saw as many dolls as there were that day, again.

Mothers Day in Retrospect

I was trying all day Mothers Day to post a message but alas, my mom was here and the time just slipped away.
My Mom knows me better than anyone, most moms do know their daughters and have a connection that is unexplainable.
As we were cleaning up from a simple breakfast of homemade blueberry muffins, orange juice, and coffee, my mom who is visiting for a week, handed me a precious scuffed green book cloth journal. Speaking the words I have heard often that accompany a special found gift she said"I have had this for so long and loved it, I bought it at some tag sale a long time ago and thought is was time to pass it along" As I open the aged cover of the journal and stared in wonder at the beautiful age-stained manilla pages I let low key "Oh mom this is so cool" There gracing the pages, were pencil sketches from 1910-1920 France . The sketches were jewelry rendering (drawings) done by a French woman with meticulous and loving care.
I am posting a picture to share with you the special gift I received.
R

Cob Web Cards

About a year ago there was a huge paper toy auction in the mid-west. It was also posted on eBay. This is one of the images that I saved. It is called a cob-web or a spiderweb card. I may have that name wrong, I do forget a lot lately. Hmmm. Maybe it is called a honey comb card. That could very well be the right name.
Anyway it always give me pause to reflect on the time and care given to create the seemly simple things. When at a closer look you see how complicated they really are.

Honoring my mom

This week just seems to be a week of honouring my Mother. She is a wonderful talent artist and a very ecentric woman. Her imagination is whismical and her sense of humor is fantastic. She is a collector extrodiare. She once tried to count her collection, to make a list. She gave up and just said "Well, I guess I collect collections." I am posting a picture of what she calls her religous wall.
She has kept a journal, an art journal for ever, not daily entries, just ideas that come to her, quotes she likes, web-sites for me to look up and things she feels and learns. She once wrote a Soap Opera in her journal and recently told me about it. This will be read only after she passes on. She told me to not judge her by what she wrote, then she said it was pretty good stuff!

I think that this , of the photographs I have taken, is one of my favorites. It represents a life goal accomplished, both for myself and my mother, as well as my sister. As we were leaving the elevator after going to the top of the Eiffel, with my parents waiting for us, I saw this bird, framed beautifully by the ornate iron of the Eiffel Tower. My sister and I walked across the bricked courtyard, laughing and realizing where we were, while my Mom was crying from one of the bases of the tower. She was so happy her daughters had made it to France, and with her.

I named this blog after my store Vital Elements. I closed the doors about 3 years ago. The name was hard to create for me. My store had nothing vitally elemental to live your life, it had things vital to your heart and soul.
I had beautiful candles with names like Madagascar spice and ocean breeze from a company called Pacifica out of Portland. I had the most gentle Japanese incense and also some from France. The best line of soaps from France and Italy. There was always just the right pillow, or picture frame to use in your home. I had wonderful cards and a case of very special blown glass writing pens from Italy and journals from around the world to share your thoughts in . Four cases of the beautiful jewelry from Moose Creek, Silver Seasons, and me Retro Rose Designs. There were beads and little boxes and a whole rack of special small things that were very affordable. My staff was wonderful, I had the best. Ironically all our names started with Rachel, Robin, Renee, and me Rhonda. When they were filming Practical Magic, Adian Quinn was a special customer as was Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConahey. The set designers came in and bought special papers for a book to be given to the director. I was luck enough to visit the set and get a tour of the amazing greenhouse that still is one of my favorite movie places, the kitchen and living room where all beautifully decorated. It was a fun time in my life. But, the best of the best about VE were the customers that supported me for 5 years, they shared their lives, loves, and losses with me. There were tears and hugs and laughter.
I have never written much about my shop. I loved it. It was a goal, a dream realized, lived and said goodbye too.
And now another business is gently nudging its way into my life.
I do have another goal by 55. I manage to succeed when I write them down on paper.
If I can find pictures of Vital Elements I'll share them with you.

This is the beginning of another blog. I suppose I need this one to because I like the graphic layout better than livejournal. I have no idea how to create or to get people to link me from here. Oh my another journey.
R