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My Love Affair with Disney~Part 2

28 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

  

As I said last time, I’ve been in love with all things Disney for about as long as I can remember. Consequently, we have a LOT of Disney memorabilia around our house.

 

One of my favorites is this plate.

 

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Approaching the year 2000, Disney erected Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice’s hand with the wand stretched over the top of Spaceship Earth at EPCOT (we affectionately call it “The Ball”). It was there for about 18 months, and we were sorry when they took it down. They never had the “2000″ on Spaceship Earth – only on this plate. If anyone is into “collecting,” I suppose this will be a collector’s dream in the future. But we enjoy looking at it, in any case.

I think most have heard of Norman Rockwell. His paintings – especially for the covers of magazines years ago – are famous. My Aunt Jessie was a collector of things, and plates and figurines were in her collections. (Please see my posting for July 21, 2013, titled Aunt Jessie’s Plates, for more information on her collectables) While I have some of her plates (she had hundreds!!), I was also interested in the porcelain figurines she had. I’m sure you remember Norman Rockwell’s Self Portrait painting. It’s one of my favorite things he did. Aunt Jessie had a Rockwell figurine of that same thing, and here it is.

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How does that relate to Disney? Well, Disney’s artists have fashioned one of their own Self Portraits in porcelain, and here it is. I am amused by it, and think it is really cute. It sits proudly on a shelf, just below Norman Rockwell’s version.

 

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Another Norman Rockwell painting is called Puppy Love. While I don’t have a porcelain figurine of Rockwell’s, I do have Disney’s version of it. Here is the front and back view of it. I don’t ever remember seeing the “front” of it in Rockwell’s painting or porcelain – only in Disney’s figurine. Really cute.

 

Our youngest daughter, Janet, gave us this Mickey figurine many years ago, and it has a special place in our house as well as our hearts. While it’s called Mickey’s Adventure, I like to call it “Let’s Fly Away!” It’s so light-hearted and fun. It is a treasure, for sure.

 

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Another piece of artwork by that same artist is this figurine of Lumiere and Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast. Another whimsical Disney thing for us to admire and enjoy. (Sorry, I can’t remember the artist’s name [Ron something-or-other] – just very heavy stone with the figurines atop)

 

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There are more Disney treasures for me to share, but that will have to wait until next time.

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

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My Love Affair With Disney~Part 1

21 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Will

 

I’ve been in love with all things Disney for about as long as I can remember. I believe the first Disney movie I ever saw was Cinderella – and I was sold! As I grew older, I kept wishing there was some way I could – personally – have a copy of Cinderella and watch it whenever I wanted to! Fast forward to this hi-tech generation, and I have Cinderella on my bookshelf! Of course, I don’t watch it all the time, but it’s there for the watching if I care to. I usually have to do it when Fred is gone!

When we moved down to Florida, it was more-or-less with the intention of either or both of us working for Walt Disney World, so we could visit the parks just any time we wanted to. God may have wanted us down in Florida, but His plans for us did NOT include working at Disney World! And His plans are so much better than ours!

So we content ourselves with annual passes to Disney World. Fred jokingly says they are our Christmas/anniversary/birthday (and any other special event in our lives) gift to each other. They are rather expensive. But we get free parking with them, and we can come and go just any time we want. Sometimes it’s for nothing more than to have a supper meal there. And we consider if we stay about two hours, we consider it a “visit to the park.”

In 1999, we thought it would be fun to keep track of how many times we went to a Disney park during that year (38 times). And we’ve kept on with that tradition. Our peak year was 2005 when we went 64 times! If it’s raining? We don’t go. We know we can go another time.

And on our anniversary each year, we stay at the Shades of Green resort, and go to each of the parks, one each day. So you can see – we REALLY like Disney!

Because we’ve been enamored with Disney for so long, we have quite a bit of Disney memorabilia around our house. And we thoroughly enjoy it all. Our youngest daughter, Janet, worked at a Disney Store once upon a time, and she supplied us with quite a bit of Disney stuff. One of my favorite things she gave us, were figurines of some of the characters from Disney’s 1939 original Fantasia. I enjoyed them so much, that I had a friend (who is a wood worker by trade), fashion a shadow box for them. That box and those figurines now grace a wall in our house. I think they are adorable! Unfortunately, I have broken one of the pieces, but have substituted another Mickey in its place. And another friend who worked for Disney, presented us with “Mickey’s House” snowglobe that rests upon the top of the shadow box.

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~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

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Wheat Weaving

14 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

There are a few crafty things I enjoy doing – some I’m rather good at, some that try my patience at times, and some that I do because I have to.

One of the things I feel I’m rather good at doing is crocheting. I enjoy doing it – can practically do it in my sleep, or rather do it and watch TV at the same time. I enjoy making things for new brides, such as pot holders and kitchen towels that can attach to the stove handle or a rack on the cabinet door. I crochet the top of the towel with a flip-over “handle” that includes a buttonhole, then I add the button for attachment. Unfortunately, my hands are becoming a bit arthritic, and the really tight hold I use for the pot holders have become uncomfortable.

I was into scrap booking for quite a while, but was rather slow at it. I had set up the card table in our home “office” but that left very little room for anything else in the room, what with the computer desk, my sewing machine table (with machine), and two file cabinets. So all that equipment is now out in the garage in a storage cabinet. Perhaps someday I’ll get back to it, but not right now.

But there are other crafts that just don’t interest me. Quilting is one of them. The people I know who quilt are enthralled with it – and usually turn out some really gorgeous quilts, whether small wall-hangings, or full-sized bed quilts. I attended a quilt “show” once, many years ago, and asked that they show me one that took very little time. It was rather uninspiring and plain. When I asked how long it took, I nearly dropped my teeth when the answer was….wait for it….nine months!! I can crochet a full-sized afghan in three weeks!! So that one is out!

When we arrived in Germany for our second tour of duty, I found some of the women in the wives’ club doing something called wheat weaving. I had never heard of it before, and it fascinated me. Not so much that I wanted to try my hand at it, however. But I thoroughly enjoyed the items that were made. I admired the skill involved in the craftsmanship, so much so, that I purchased two of them. Surprisingly, they have held up for over 30 years now! No moisture or moves have damaged them, and no critters have invaded our house to devour the wheat.

I have hung them on the doors in our house – the “double wedding ring” is on our bedroom door. The heart weaving is on the guest bedroom door. I still enjoy them, even after all this time.

What do you think?

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Paw Prints

7 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

 

 Fred and I have arrived at the point in our lives where several things have happened:

1… I no longer cook as often – nor do I desire to

2…we both thoroughly enjoy eating out often

Consequently, servers at a bunch of restaurants and eateries know us by name, and smile at us when we enter their establishments. I don’t want to say that they fight over who will get to serve us, but they all seem eager. We must tip well…..

One of our favorite restaurants is Cracker Barrel™. We enjoy their food – just good old country home-style cooking. Their prices are reasonable, and the same food for the same price is for both lunch and supper. Since we have cut down on how much we eat, since we are older, we are pleased to find that we can order from the “kids” menu, as it is advertised as for “kids of all ages.” And it includes a drink with it. We have had several servers suggest that we get two kids meals instead of the same thing off the main menu and split it, as it would be cheaper for us. That says a lot about the integrity of the place, to us. And keeps us coming back.

But there is another aspect of Cracker Barrel™ that we enjoy – and that is the “store” part of the restaurant. I have purchased several t-shirts from there, and they are always top quality material. I’ve purchased other clothing for our grandchildren there, and found the quality to be quite good. They have some of the fun, old-time toys that we played with as children, still available.

So all-in-all, we find our experiences at Cracker Barrel™ restaurant to be most enjoyable.

Some years ago, as I was perusing items in the “store,” I saw something that really caught my eye. It was a 6″ square tile, or plaque, of an animal paw print. Fascinating! One was of a grizzly bear cub (unbelievable how huge a cub’s paw print is!!), and the other was a grey wolf. I purchased the grey wolf paw print, with the intention of purchasing the grizzly cub print soon thereafter. However, as with most things you see in stores – if you don’t get it right then, it probably won’t be there the next time – and the grizzly cub paw print was gone when I next looked for it. I was so disappointed.

Fast forward a year or two, and we went on our first cruise with Fred’s family to Alaska (please see my blog of November 11, 2012 titled Our First Cruise). Our final stop was in Anchorage, where we celebrated Fred’s dad’s 86th birthday before departing for our respective homes the following day. As I was browsing through a gift shop in the hotel, low-and-behold – there was the grizzly cub tile!! I snapped it up as fast as I could – I wasn’t going to let it get away from me this time!

So now they sit proudly on a shelf in our house, and I am amazed by them, each time I look upon them, and thank God that I was able to gather these “things” to myself for nothing more than enjoyment.

Such a fun memory for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Lady and the Cross

24 Jul

Sunday Memories

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

I know the July 4th, our country’s Independence Day, has come and gone, but it’s never out of style to be patriotic. Because of the service to our country that my Father, my Father-in-law, my husband, and his brother have done, I find myself fiercely patriotic. I weep when the National Anthem is sung or played. And I am not ashamed of my patriotism.

Many years ago, while in the church choir, we were given a song to sing that touched my heart so much, that I’ve never forgotten it. I would like to print the words below and hope you feel the same patriotism I’ve always felt.

The comparison between our Lady with the Lamp, and the Cross of Christ is absolutely breathtaking.

 

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In New York harbor, stands a Lady

with a torch raised to the sky.

And all who see her

Know she stands for

Liberty for you and me.

 

I’m so proud to be called an American,

to be named with the brave and the free!

I will honor our flag and our trust in God,

And the Statue of Liberty.

 

On lonely Golgotha stood a cross

with my Lord raised to the sky;

And all who kneel there

Live forever

As all the saved can testify.

 

I’m so glad to be called a Christian,

to be named with the ransomed and whole!

As the statue liberates the citizen,

So the Cross liberates the soul.

 

Oh, the Cross is my Statue of Liberty.

It was there that my soul was set free.

Unashamed I’ll proclaim that a rugged cross

Is my Statue of Liberty.

My Liberty!

Credit to Lillenas Publishing Company

Composer and Lyricist Neil Enloe

Arranged by Tom Keene

 

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Fight Your Battles

17 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 

 

During a recent stay in the hospital, Fred and I came upon a plaque on a door that says so much to us, that we wanted to share it with you. It is so very true, and applies to any and all battles in your life. Here’s the picture of it we took:

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We happen to believe that this statement is quite true. You might find it a strange place to find this statement – in a hospital – but it defines the hospital. You see, it is Celebration Hospital/Health in Celebration, Florida. It is part of the Florida Hospital chain, and is founded by the Seventh Day Adventist denomination. I’m not sure that all the employees they hire are believers, but every single one that came in contact with me – up to and including the housekeeping personnel – left me with a “have a blessed day.”   And several of the nurses were talking together about the “spiritual” feel to the hospital, and how that makes a difference in their work atmosphere.

I had felt that before – when I had my total knee replacement last year. The nurses were saying the same thing that time, as well.

Although the hospital has pictures on their walls of Florida scenes, many of them have scripture verses along with them. One area has one picture for each of the days of creation. Impressive and beautiful.

I suspect that if more of us – not to mention our national leaders – would spend more time on their knees, asking God’s help with our problems, we would be in much more calm situations than we are in now.

God is my anchor. My battles will be on my knees.

 

 

Anchor for the Soul

 

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Family Treasures~Part 6

10 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

There are some family treasures that are treasures to me, but I don’t have them with me. But I would like to tell you about them.

I’ve mentioned before that my Dad worked in church work (Southern Baptist) all his working career. Looking at some of those in the “religious” field these days, you might get the idea that all pastors (my Dad was not a pastor) and church workers are rolling in the bucks. Let me tell you – it is NOT so!!

Consequently, being the farm boy he was in the beginning of his life, he would go deer hunting every season to bring his family meat to eat. We really ate well. Occasionally, Mom would go with him and they would bag two deer – we REALLY ate well those years.

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And then, when my brother, Bill, was old enough to hunt with Daddy, he would go along, and they usually bagged two deer, again. I’ve used these pictures in other musings, but they bear repeating for this posting.

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One thing I’ve failed to mention is that Daddy eventually began butchering his kill. Albuquerque is cold in the winter, so Daddy would hang the deer in the garage, skin it, then butcher it. He didn’t always do that. At first, he would take the deer to a local butcher and have it done there. But somewhere along the way, Daddy discovered that he was not getting “his” meat back. Don’t know who was getting it, but it wasn’t us. So one year he set a test – he put a straw under the tongue of the deer. And guess what? The straw wasn’t there when he went to pick up his meat. That was the last time he let anyone else butcher his meat.

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One little footnote here – if you have ever wanted to cook venison, the recipe usually calls for soaking it in milk or something else overnight before cooking. Well, let me tell you…New Mexico deer eat only the “good stuff” in the mountains – pine nuts, etc.   So there is no “gamey” taste to the venison. Mother would make roasts, steaks, and the best chili I’ve ever had, out of that venison!! After butchering, the meat was wrapped and stored in our freezer until she was ready to cook it. Yum..

I know that in previous musings I mentioned that one year Daddy bagged an elk. Those things are HUGE!! Lots of good meat for our freezer that year.

What I’ve not mentioned is that Daddy had a stuffed deer head on our dining room wall. I don’t know why – except it was always just “there” – part of the woodwork of growing up in that house. It may have been the first deer Daddy ever bagged – I’m not sure. What irritates me is that, after looking through ALL the pictures and slides from my growing up, I cannot find one single picture of that deer head!

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What’s kind of funny is that there is a deer head in every Cracker Barrel we’ve ever been in. And the one in the restaurant near our house had one that could have been hanging on our wall! Here’s a picture of it………see the “ripple” on it’s neck? That is exactly like our deer head had! (I took this picture are our Cracker Barrel!) None of the deer heads in the other Cracker Barrel’s we’ve been to has the “ripple.” This one reminds me of the one I grew up with.

So, even though I don’t have the picture of our actual deer head, this one will do. This one is an 8-point buck, just like the one at our house.   Who knows – perhaps Cracker Barrel acquired theirs from my family. Stranger things have happened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Family Treasures~Part 5

3 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 

Last time, I introduced some things that were in my Aunt Jessie’s house. Since she and Granny lived so close to us, I spent a great deal of time at her house. When she died, I wished I could have just taken everything in her house and put it in mine. But then Fred said, “where would we put it?” and I had to let it all go. That’s probably the hardest part of it all – letting it go.

Jessie’s house
The stair-step divider between the dining room and the living room – Christmas candles made by Jessie
Jessie and her Geisha dol
The table top was one piece of wood

As I mentioned before, Aunt Jessie never married, and so “things” became the focus of her life.

Jessie told me this was a Duncan Phyfe drop-leaf table.
An antique display cabinet – dressed for Christmas

 

Grandpa started her on the road to loving antiques, and she never quit. She would go to estate sales around Albuquerque and pick up what she wanted. Occasionally, I would go with her on these jaunts. She furnished her house with some REALLY good antique furniture. She was, at one time, the President of the Antique Club in Albuquerque. After she died, Mother was given the name of an estate auctioneer that might be of some help to us. He came to Jessie’s house, and his gaze was going from this-to-that the entire time he was talking to us. He finally blurted out: “this is some of the best Victorian I’ve ever seen!” Jessie really knew her stuff.

 

We held the auction – and the auctioneer suggested we hold it in her house, as it was the best setting to showcase what was there, and so we did. He advertised the auction in papers in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Colorado. From what we understand, there were about 500 people who came for the auction – and they did, indeed, sell everything “down to the carpet.”

While I don’t have any of these antiques in my house now, here are some of the beautiful things Jessie had. We know they are scattered to four winds now, but we hope and pray that everyone who found something, loves and enjoys them as much as she did.

The table top was one piece of wood
Jessie told me this was a Duncan Phyfe drop-leaf table.
An antique display cabinet – dressed for Christmas
A cherry-wood china cabine
An old pump organ and an antique wind-up record player
An old pump organ and an antique wind-up record player
The dresser in Jessie’s bedroom
The dresser in Granny’s room, with an ice-cream chair
An old “Secretary” with green leather pad

 

All these “things” remind me of my Aunt Jessie, whenever I see them. They might not have been in my parent’s house, but they are still family treasures to me.

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Family Treasures~Part 4

26 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

Previous musings have been about items in my family home, and last week I introduced some things that, while near and dear to me, were in my Aunt Jessie’s house. She and my Granny lived about 10 minutes away from us, and they were a huge part of my life – almost daily – for about 10 years. I loved their house as much as I loved ours.

As I mentioned last week, Aunt Jessie never married, and so “things” became the focus of her life. Grandpa started her on the road to loving antiques, and she never quit. She would go to estate sales around Albuquerque and pick up what she wanted. Occasionally, I would go with her on these jaunts. She furnished her house with some REALLY good antique furniture. She was, at one time, the President of the Antique Club in Albuquerque.

Whenever we go to Walt Disney World, and Magic Kingdom, and do the Haunted Mansion ride, I am always struck with the thought that Aunt Jessie would go crazy on that ride, with all the antiques they have in there!! Many of them remind me of some of what she had in her house.

Some of the antiques she had were of interest to me, but not all. I actually thought that most of her antique furniture was rather stiff and uncomfortable. But there were a couple of tables, a lamp, a mirror, and other things that I enjoyed, and have with me today.

There was just something about this pedestal table that intrigued me. And so I adopted it, and have enjoyed it all these years. There was a “ruby” glass lamp that usually sat atop that table, and it has a golden dragon chasing around the ruby globe. I believe that, at one time, it was a oil lamp, but now has been fitted with electricity. Beautiful.

There is a relatively small table that I have always enjoyed, with a marble top. It wasn’t until I had it “appraised” that I was told the top didn’t really go with the table – and realized that it really did not! It is rectangular, as is the table, but the marble hangs off over the corners! Never occurred to me! I’m definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer!

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There is a marble column stand that always stood by the foot of the small staircase in her living room that I always liked. She had a large pot with a plant in it, but I have the stand with another of her antiques on it in my living room. It is a silver-plated dancer, holding a bowl. Just the thing for decorating – which Jessie loved to do, especially at Christmas time.

All these “things” remind me of my Aunt Jessie, whenever I see them. They might not have been in my parent’s house, but they are still family treasures to me.

 

 

 

 

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Family Treasures~Part 3

19 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

I’m really having a good time, going back through the “things” that made up my childhood and growing-up years. They bring back such fun memories.

The previous musings have been about items in my family home. Today I would like to introduce some things that, while near and dear to me, were in my Aunt Jessie’s house. She and my Granny lived about 10 minutes away from us, and they were a huge part of my life – almost daily – for about 10 years. I loved their house as much as I loved ours.

Aunt Jessie never married, and so “things” became the focus of her life. Grandpa started her on the road to loving antiques, and she never quit. She would go to estate sales around Albuquerque and pick up what she wanted. She furnished her house with some REALLY good antique furniture. She was, at one time, the President of the Antique Club in Albuquerque.

As I’ve mentioned before, Aunt Jessie, Granny, and my Mother, all worked in the Rochester Handkerchief Factory in San Antonio, Texas, at one time or another. Mother told me that, eventually, Mrs. Rochester discovered that it was actually cheaper to go to Ireland for the fabric, take it to China for the cutwork, and then bring it to the United States to sell. They actually made a bigger profit by doing that. Unbelievable to me.

In any case, while in China, Mrs. Rochester would pick up items that she wanted – and that Aunt Jessie would like to have, and have them shipped back to the U.S. I’ve mentioned before about the hand-carved camphor chests.

One other thing that she brought to Jessie, that I have always loved, were Chinese scenes, formed/carved from cork. They have always fascinated me. And so, when Jessie died, I took two of those pictures, and they now hang on our guest bedroom walls. And they still fascinate me.

They might not have been in my parent’s house, but they are still family treasures to me.

 

 

 

 

 

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