Friday, May 11, 2018

MY NEIGHBOR EDY



"Miss Entrekin" was everyone's 4th grade teacher...I barely remember her, but her daughter Edith lived in her mom's house on Dressen Street for as long as I can remember.

I have known her all my life, but she was my neighbor for the past 10 years.

She recently had a stroke and moved in with her daughter Crystal...she sold all of her belongings and her house too.

Until I went to her living estate sale, I didn't realize just what a very cool person Edith was.  I mean, I knew she was neat...but she is REALLY NEAT!!

She was so talented and creative...she made pottery, she sewed, she painted, she gardened, she cooked and she read....she was smart and feisty.

Her house is awesome and so we bought it.  I'm not exactly sure what we're going to do with it, but today...I want to hang on to it tight.

When she went to live with her daughter, I put her in my phone as "Edith"
yesterday "Edith" called and then she left me a text...only it wasn't her...it was her daughter calling to tell me that she had passed away.

I happened to be wearing her favorite denim shirt that I took from her closet

S.A.D. am I
I am really sad

I took some of her pottery that she made by hand...I just love this little dish in my window



she had a huge collection of copper....now it belongs to my house


large candelabras...I painted this one white

jewelry yet to be made


lots of pretty old bottles and perfume....she was very feminine

lots of vintage linens


her kids called her mummy....I love that so much...it is so sweet to hear her called that
Mummy...it fits her



I'm not sure what I thought when I was going through all her things and moving them across the alley from her cool house to my cool house....
but
I didn't really expect her to die
when she left that day I bought her 100 year old Webster dictionary...I didn't think it would be the last time I would see her

Look how beautiful she is...and her sassy earthy soul is woven in my life...I will cling to the things this beautiful woman made with her hands and gathered in her home...
I will miss her






Friday, March 2, 2018

UGLY BROWN UPDATE

When we first began this project, hopefully our last big one for awhile,
I made my mind up that I would exercise my patience and when it gets done it gets done

this was in late summer...demo day

this was in late February and the day I decided that I might not have meant
APRIL!!!!  
The marble has been chosen and quite possibly on it's way!

Progress on the niche for sure

ummmm....do I really have flowers and art in this niche 

giving a whirl at venetian plaster that in theory was going to be a very pale pink since this is the powder room just off the pink music/dining room.  
Our color intensity kind of got away from us!

well...yes, yes I do have art hanging...mirrors too!  I know I have to drive Mr. PV so crazy!  But getting the cart ahead of the horse kind of helps me not be so forlorn in long projects.  These antique mirrors have been in my guest bathroom for a very long time! 
Waiting Waiting Waiting

not waiting on me, that's for sure!

I think this ceiling pitch is going to be so cool!

a very rustic hewn beam with a very chandelerias chandelier!

I have found a tin retablo on eBay that has a $4,500 bid
NOT
so...my plan to amuse myself while the marble is on order and getting installed, is to paint her on a very large ugly painting that I bought at a recent auction.  The frame is to die for...

It's also a pretty good way to spend a very blustery March day!...and/or weekend!
depending how detailed I get on that dove!



Tuesday, January 30, 2018

WHERE ARE YOU GOING SWEETHEART?

 
A late in pregnancy cesarean surprise benefitted baby Theodore, but mom was a little late feeling better.  

She was so excited when the time came to be able to take a nice hot bath and this is what she told me....

I was so excited to be able to sit in a nice hot tub and just relax and while I was there, all alone and soaking in my tub, Honey read (the following) to me.  I just put her on speaker phone and she read to me and I think I will always remember it!

I think reading out loud, words, emotions, old stories...well...they are unforgettable.  It's one of the sweetest things I've ever heard about...this sweet moment between grandmother and granddaughter!

The following is a poem that my Aunt Irene wrote about her Papa, and Theodore August Pshigoda's great great great grandfather and name sake...this is why the story is so sweet

EMAIL:

Grace:  My Aunt Irene, Theodore Benton's oldest child and one of 4 girls was a wonderful poet.  All of her poetry was about her family and her son who had a printing company in Dallas, published a little book of her poetry and sent each of her children a copy and Gene (my brother) made me a copy and sent it to me.  I get really inspired from reading her poetry and I think you would greatly enjoy so, when I can get around to it, I am going to make you a copy (about 50 poems) and send to you.  She dearly loved her Father (Theodore Henry) and wrote about him and her Mother often....also her children and grandchildren.  I am enclosing one poem that she wrote about her Father, and my Grandfather - Theodore.  It is obvious from her poems that he was a good man and great father.  Everyone loved Grandpa Benton and he was affectionately  called "Toad or Toadie".  Talk to you later, Love Honey


My apologies for not responding earlier.  First, I was inundated with orders on my eBay store.  I do want to tell you that I am working on my present to that sweet little Baby Boy.  I didn't want to make him a little quilt just like his brother, Henry.  So I started a different one, and have been swamped and not able to work on it very much....but I will give you a clue:  It is Hiawatha ABC and has blocks representing Native American  items to match the alphabet.  Also, I will send him a little turtle amulet which is for boys.  I received a picture of Theodore and Little Theodore, I think which came from Gina.  I forwarded it to Uncle Gene, knowing he would be so pleased.  

My memory of my Grandpa Benton (Theodore Henry).  I loved him so much and he would teach me Choctaw words which I remember some.  One sentence I remember (spelling is what sounds like to me):  Katcha, me au, chum ki pully - which means: "Where are you going Sweetheart."  Grandpa Benton was also so happy and jovial and loved for his kids to come spend the week end at Plainview, Texas.
Grandpa was always a farmer and/or cattle trader.  He worked hard all of his life plowing and planting crops.  I think he raised a lot of cotton crops.  He and Grandma always had a garden and she canned and cooked a lot.  She always went barefoot and wore an apron with a pocket and kept her money tied up in a hankie and pinned inside the pocket.  They would sell eggs and milk.  They would raise and kill their own meat also.  We would go nearly every weekend and spend with them at their farm near Plainview - as well as all of their other kids and their children.  People would be sleeping all over the house.  Mother and Daddy would sleep in a bed and me, Gene and Eddie would sleep at the foot of the bed with our feet going upward.  Wonderful, fond memories.  Grandpa and his boys would play dominoes and the grandkids would play monopoly, etc.  It was later that Grandpa Benton started calling me "Many Feathers".  He always said I was smart and talented and like a bird with many different feathers.  He and Grandma always sent me little presents.  A couple of my favorites was a little porcelain doll and another was a little gold ring with a yellow bead center.  I always looked forward to gifts from them which was not always a holiday or birthday gift.....just a gift.

Grandpa, as a young man, went to an Indian School - called "Old Goodland" as well as my father.  My daddy was in charge of looking after a bunch of little boys who were going to school there.  Grandpa Benton, as a young man and even older in school played ball.  He was a very good player and a "star of the team".  Gina's Uncle Gene could probably add a lot information about Grandpa Toady Benton.  I never thought of Grandpa Benton having a drinking problem, but I remember lots of times that he and his sons would get a little "tanked up and have a good time".  As a matter of fact, kinda like Gina/Brian and her children get together and "wine-taste" LOL

Grandma and Grandpa lived on a farm just out of Plainview, Texas.  Hope this answers some questions.  Love to you and your little family, Honey