Kitchen Costuming

As this is Memorial Day, I wanted to write a tribute to my Dad because he passed away three weeks before I was born and I never got to know him.

James Marion Winter was in the Army during World War II and the Korean War.  The only stories I have of him were through my mother and I’m sure her memories became sweeter with time, painting him bigger than life for me. I know he was a captain and at one point used to run cable lines ahead of the troops for communication purposes.  There was a time during WWII that he was doing his job high above the ground when a mortar shell exploded nearby knocking him down.  He managed to live through that but sustained injuries from vertebrate crammed into his brain.  He either had a benign tumor already or developed one from his injuries.  He lived for years until the headaches became so severe that doctors at Fort Simmons Army Hospital in Colorado decided to operate.  Unfortunately, the doctors in 1953 did not have the skills and resources for delicate brain surgery like they do today.  My mother was nearly nine months pregnant with me and had an eighteen month old child back in Arizona.  It did not surprise me that she wanted to keep his memory alive as her knight in shining armor.

I had no real emotional connection with my Dad until Saving Private Ryan came out.  The opening scene took place at a military cemetery.  My thoughts were flooded by a similar memory of my sister and I in our twenties roaming the cemetery in Denver looking for my Dad’s grave.  From that moment in the movie, I began to cry.  Tom Hank’s character became the image of my Dad and the tears were non-stop as I held my son, Shaun’s hand, through the entire movie.  I found the emotional connection with my Dad that day as I literally sobbed for another two hours when I got home.  I have never been able to see Saving Private Ryan again.

The horrors of war take a toll on everyone.  Please be grateful for all of the men and women who serve this country so we can live the lives we have.  Savor your memories of those who have fallen and never forget that they did this out of love for this country and their families.

I have spent quite a bit of time working on one of the pages to this blog.  Please take some time to check out “My Family” page as it has lots of interesting information about my two sons (and a couple of their small video projects).  Thanks!

Update 5/5/09:  The fledglings seemed to have successfully flown the coop!

Hot, sweltering weather is the norm here in Glendale, AZ.  I just can’t wait! Oh yeah, I guess I don’t have to because it was already 102 degrees last week. 

Well I know I should be making costumes, but before it gets excruciatingly hot and sweaty around here, I need to get my patio cleaned off. Besides, I can always sew with the air conditioning cranked downed to 80 degrees (recommended temperature, more like 75 degrees for me).

I am working on a few posts, but need to get some things together first.  In the meantime, I am on Starling fledgling watch as I wait for the new babies to emerge from the tree only to be chased to their deaths by the three cats that live outdoors.  Hopefully, I will get there as the birds emerge before the cats get them in their sights.

I know we are all connected, but most of you that are commenting on this blog look very much alike. When I sent out notices to my friends and family that I started a Wordpress blog, I also sent them the information on how to get their adorable little faces here too.  But, alas, they all ignored me so I decided I needed to do a post about gravatars.

Actually, David was the one who figured out how to put an avatar picture up first.  Man! I was surprised to see his picture with his comments the first time.  I looked all over the registered profile page to see where one adds a picture for their avatar, but there was nothing.  Wow, I thought this guy was really magic (most of the time he is), but then found out that he had just received an email about gravatars.

What is a gravatar?

“A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things.”  And of course, as far as I know, this is the only way to get a picture on your comments and it is a free service.  Therefore, go to http://en.gravatar.com/ and sign up.  You will be able to then go to any Wordpress blog that allows pictures and see your own unique self when you post a comment.

For Halloween this last year I wanted to display a pirate flag.  The book Pirateology had a design I really resonnated with.  These are the colours of a fictious female pirate by the name of Arabella Drummond.

The pattern was a hand drawn copy transferred to Wonder-Under and ironed onto muslin fabric.  It was then easy to cut out and iron in place on the black fabric.  I sewed a running stitch about 1/8 inch along the muslin edges.  The skull and swords pattern appears on both sides of the flag.