My mama’s birthday is next week. She would have been 94 years old. Her favorite color was pink, so I am in the habit of looking for pink gifts in January.
Pink shimmer snowflake.
I was stopped in my tracks by this lovely pink snowflake in front of a shop named The Funky Tulip.
Charming
It is a great day for swinging in a pink swing. It is almost 60° on the mountain!
Lured to the window by sparkling pink.
I was drawn closer by the display pink decorations in the window.
Of course I had no choice but to pop inside. Pink and sparkle together gets my undivided attention.
Sweet box
I found more pink furniture and items inside.
Pink!!!
If you love pink, this is your kind of place. There were other colors too but I ignored them.
Dreamy dress. If I were thin!
I will keep thinking pink this month as I remember my mama.
The pair of Storytellers’ Chairs have returned to the mountain fully restored and ready for more. I have been busy saving the stories as well. Legacy isn’t just about things.
In the 1960’s the chairs were a plush green. They sat in my grandparents’ livingroom overlooking Hibriten Mountain. My maternal grandfather was the main storyteller.
Grannypaw in green
In the 1980’s the chairs were covered in a rosy velvet. They were in my parents’ home in Charlotte.
Daddy in rosy Hong Kong
Now, they are a lovely blue and sitting in the family room of my parents’ dreamhouse in the mountains of North Carolina.
New blue and the Zebra, too.
You may recognize the Zebra table nearby. Having these important family heirlooms restored and placed here makes me feel like more time circles have been completed.
I have fond memories of times with the former owners of these chairs. I miss my precious relatives who are no longer living. I especially miss my mama, Dottie Ann/ Kiki and her younger brother Uncle Jim both of whom we lost in 2025.
Uncle Jim and Dottie Ann/ Kiki/ Mama
These family pieces being restored and ready for more years with our family brings me both peace and joy.
Many thanks to Blue Ridge Upholstery in Vilas, North Carolina for doing such an excellent job for us.
Sometimes we must make decisions that our people do not understand. The need inside is so strong that the pulls from outside must be ignored. That is where I have been for the past year and a half. I know I belong on the mountain, despite the challenges.
My family gifted me a battery port and solar panel to keep me connected even during power outages.
This is the best give of all. Maybe they cannot understand my decision, but they support my decision.
One of our family traditions is to ride around town looking at Christmas lighting and decorations. We found a new favorite this year.
We visited the known hotspots along the main streets. There are two streets with rows of giant, blow-up Santas with an occasional snowman. There is a neighborhood of assorted lighted balls hanging from the trees. We even found a street of blow-up nutcrackers in town.
We visited the usual yard near us with dozens of the old-type of plastic lighted figures. (I have posted on this one before.) The choir on the bleachers was missing this year, but the snowmen, ceramic look-alike trees, toy soldiers, teddy bears, angels and a nativity scene were present in the presentation.
My husband and son found our new favorite while looking for something else. That is how life works!
This neighborhood was developed in the hundreds of acres of nature that surrounded our home for decades. I was glad to see the sparsely populated development in the previous woodlands getting into the holiday spirit.
Several of the yards were over-the-top lit up. There was even a lighted herd of deer where a real herd probably bedded down back in the day. They had a good assortment of Santas and snowmen and lights of all colors strung across roofs and trees. Just when we were getting to the deadend of the road, we spotted a bright glow on a hill.
Wowza! The over-the-top yards got topped by the most ecclectic grouping of lighted figures ever. These folks did not stop with tradition!
There was a gingerbread house with two dancing cookies.
The tree in the middle of the yard held colorful lighted ornaments. There were several angels. The gold one had flapping wings. The lighted mailbox’s door opened and closed. There were cute teddybears here and there.
The giant word JOY was behind the tree and Merry Christmas was down in front. Big lighted candles and snowflakes were scattered about. These images were fancy versions of the expected holiday decor.
This should have been more than enough cheer to spread, but these folks were not done yet. They had more to say this holiday.
Front and center of the glowing menagerie stood the three stand-outs of the ensemble. A golden Statue of Liberty glistening beautifully was noticed first.
Beside Lady Liberty was the silver Eiffel Tower, and beside it was a big, glowing Ferris Wheel.
WOWZA!
There is a story here. I hope I get to hear it before I leave town. I will let you know if/ when I do. It is going to be difficult to stay away until I know what inspired such a display.
Merry Christmas readers. I hope you each have an over-the-top holiday with events full of twinkling lights and dancing cookies and liberty.
I opened a special package this morning. The gifts were given by the two beautiful daughters of my soulmate, Sandra who died in July of 2024.
Treasures from Sandra
Sandra’s two girls were about the same age as my son and Rose. We went to the same church for decades. Our families were involved in many of the church’s children’s activities together.
This meant that we spent alot time laughing together. Things never go as planned when young ones are involved.I remember vividly when Sandra and I were supposed the be helping with the Christmas program. The two of us were sitting on the floor out of sight of the audience facing the stage. I think our role was to mouth the words of the songs for the young performers to mimic.
Mayhem broke out on stage. Angels were everywhere. Hay was pulled out of the manger and thrown. Lines were forgotten. Wings were bent, halos were tilted. I think someone picked up rubber baby Jesus.
One of us looked at the other and mouthed the word, ” Fiasco.” We both burst out laughing while doubled over on the floor of the sanctuary. Modeling singing and mature behavior became impossible.
This is who we were together. One word or facial expression was all we needed to communicate. Sandra’s photo is by my bed. I miss her every day. Sometimes when I see something hilarious I start to think…” I need to tell Sandra.”
Now, she is my angel. Her symbol for me is the hummingbird. She is missed greatly but somehow I feel her with me.
Her girls sending me these treasures is proof that she is still doing things here. How did they know to give me a Nativity pin and an angel? Maybe they heard the ‘Fiasco Story’ from her or maybe Sandra told them what treasures to share with her buddy Flower?
Before I start this post, I would like to announce that I have been blogging via my phone for the past year or more. This is my first time back on a computer on the mountain. Boy, did I see past mistakes! Between the tiny screen and the tiny keys, it was hard to see what I was sharing. I have finally moved back to a computer because the book I am writing got so big it needs Scrivener for me to control it. My printer has decided to work as well, so this has been an exciting morning. There have been other technical difficulties, but that is nothing new.
Back to the three signs. Dismiss these if you wish. When events go way beyond coincidental, I call them signs from the Universe. That is what I say happened last week. I have posted about the copy of the letter that was sent from my mother to my aunt and back again. I also shared that the envelope from Canada did not have a date stamp. That catches you up for the rest of the story.
The next day two more related events occurred. The Universe knows that I am slow. First, I found the envelope that my mother mailed the copied letter to my aunt in. It had a date stamp of Dec 16, 2005. That was twenty years ago yesterday. My Gran died in 1995. Thirty years before that. I guess my Mama had been too busy to go through the box and read all the letters until then.
Both envelopes for mailing the copies back and forth.
So the third time I saw the letter I realized I needed to look closer than just to write a summary on a post-it note. That’s when the surprises started. The first paragraph blew my paternalism theory for the book out of existence.
The first sentence was, ” Well ’tis done____ for better or for worse! The letter goes on to describe their efficiency apartment and includes a hand-drawn map of it. This map is the only thing I remembered from seeing the original letter in the box disguised as a book. My goal then was just to get them in order.
The next several paragraphs glowingly described things in the apartment. Then comes the sentence, “I wish you could see my ring! … It’s platinum with five diamonds. The engraving is exquisite. It has EMD – DIP 5.10.’29 on the inside.”
Here comes number two bonus of the more than coincidental events. My sister called to tell me to look for some things I had found earlier and bring them to her over the holidays. I really wanted to do it later, but was afraid I would forget. I stopped what I was doing to go find that box and stick it in my suitcase.
The box in the box.
I opened it to be sure it was the right box and there inside that box another little box. Written on the top was “Wedding Ring (Broken).” I opened the box to find two pieces of a platinum ring with only one diamond left embedded in it. I got out my jeweler’s loop and looked inside it.
There it was! EMD – DIP on one piece and 10. 29 on the other.
My Gran’s wedding ring mentioned in the letter.
Believe what you wish. I am just sharing the facts.
floweralley 