Too Darn Hot!

That Cole Porter tune has been running thru my head the last few days.

The temps have soared in the PNW, and I am a sweating, lethargic pile of uselessness. :)

My sewing room is the hottest room in the house, and since the weather won't be letting up for another week, I am moving operations downstairs to the dining room table.

What's really sad, however, is the week before my vacation my machine was being serviced. Then I was gone for 8 days. Then I came back to this awful heat.

Excuses, excuses, i know....but I ain't sewn a gosh-durn thing in over a MONTH. And that is ridickerous.

I've got a few thangs lined up though.....and it looks like an excellent week to trace patterns. :)

P.S.

I have been devouring Gloria Swanson's autobiography
"Swanson on Swanson"

and it is delicious.

Out of print now, but I got a copy from amazon for a penny plus shipping.

I love my Grandmother!

I just returned from a wonderful week in Idaho with my family.

"Families," rather.

One blood related, the other "I think we met in the cosmos and sought each other out when we landed here" soul brothers and sisters.

And although the trip was filled with debauchery, giggling and mischief-making, I must say the highlight was the full day I spent with my Grammy---who just turned 91 on Friday.

I cherish every moment spent with her.

We had lunch in the cafeteria at the assisted living center (she moved there with my step-grandad about a year ago), and I got to sit at a table with 6 other 90+ folks.

It was neat to say "How do you do?" and hear it in return.
(I rarely get to practice my etiquette.)

She is still sharp as a tack, and has an infectious loud laugh, which her three daughters and myself inherited.
When we all get together it is a riot.

One time, the squawking and howling got so loud her husband ran around with a basket and checked under our chairs to see if we'd laid eggs.

After lunch, we looked thru photos in her apartment. I later snagged a bunch from my mother, who had some copies.







There she is.
What a looker.
Seriously.

That was taken when she was about 13 in the early 1930's.

These are a couple from the late 30s:





As a tall, raven-haired beauty, she was very popular with the boys in college....they were always asking for dates.

She plays this down alot when people talk about it, but evidently she was quite the catch.






She met my Grandad when she was in nursing school.

He's the dashing one on the left.





This is from 1944 in Silverton....my great uncle Tom, my Grammy, and my Grampa.




In the mid 40's my Grammy and Grampa lived in the backwoods of Alaska.

He was an air traffic controller.

Looking thru these photos, it astounds me that her hair was always coiffed.

How on earth did she manage that? While raising three kids in places like Nome without indoor plumbing?












This is later (maybe in Anchorage by this time) in the mid 50's with her daughters.

My mom is on the far right.





When I told her there is a whole society of women out there who love this kind of vintage fashion, she looked at me like I was nuts.

"Why??" she asked. "Are you all putting on a play or something?"

She used to frost angel food cakes with buttercream frosting mixed with orange and lemon zest. I had totally forgotten about this until she brought it up in conversation yesterday.
So that is what we are having for dessert this evening.