the bobby soxer and i...

(portrait by joseph martin: martin studio)

when i was in high school,

i spent a lot of time with

(mary ann (mcclure) blackwell),

"mim".

on various occasions 

she commented i reminded

her so much of shirley temple...

to which i always

tucked my chin,

tilted my head,

flashed a big smile,

and

poked my cheek

twisting my pointer

into my sole dimple.

(i was quite familiar

with shirley temple...

growing up,

she was my favorite!!!

i had seen "all" of her movies-

dozens of times.

so, when mim 

said i looked like her,

i thought she meant

my curly hair,

my big eyes,

and my chubby, little-girl face.)

hence, her comparison

always made me

giggle.

~@~

it wasn't until

my sophomore year in college

that i realized she meant

i REALLY looked like 

shirley temple.

i was in my dorm studying

one night

with the television 

turned to 

the american movie classics channel.

i wasn't really paying attention

to our t.v. 

until i heard an advertisement 

for the movie, 

the bachelor and the bobby soxer,

which was to air next

co-staring...

 shirley temple.

i remember thinking to myself,

"the bachelor and the bobby soxer"...

i've never heard of that one.

i continued studying.

a little later,

my roommate, susan bennett,

came in from night class.

she put down her things,

grabbed her toiletries,

and 

told me she was off to take a shower.

while she was gone,

the movie started.

i looked up

to see a grown-up

(well, my aged)

shirley temple.

i was shocked!

i did look like her...

like uncannily so!

when mimi said i reminded her

of shirley, she wasn't kidding.

~@~

i couldn't wait for susan

to return from her shower

so she could validate what i was seeing.

finally, she returned, but

the movie had gone to commercial.

she proceeded to tell me about

her day and night class

with her crush, 

vish.

when she paused,

i turned her attention to the t.v.

me: does she remind you of anyone?

susan: who?

me: the girl in the movie.

(i pointed at shirley.)

susan: YOU!  she looks

just like you!  who is that?

me:  shirley temple.

susan: really?

me: yeah.

susan: wow,

she even dresses

like you 

and has the same do!

it was true;

i always preferred 

the classic look over 

the-look-of-the-day.

from her hair to her bobby socks,

we even shared style.

-looking back,

i was probably the biggest

nerd on campus, ha!-

~@~

when i awoke this morning 

and rejoined social media

i read

of shirley's death 

and was immediately, immensely 

saddened.

my doppelganger 

had died at the age of 85.

my cousin, theresa,

had posted a status update 

to facebook,

"rip, shirley temple,

hope you land on the sunny beaches 

of 

peppermint bay!"

i couldn't have put it better

myself.

shirley temple black,

may you spend eternity

enjoying: 

Lemonade stands,
Everywhere
Crackerjack bands,
Fill the air,
And there you are,
Happy landings on a chocolate bar.
See the sugar bowl
Do a tootsie roll
In a big bad devils food cake

and never, ever

have to experience another 

tummy ache.

love and God's blessings, 

dani xxx

oh, brother...

as i wrote in a previous post,

i was thrilled when, for Christmas, 
meester berrong gifted me 
with a brother pe770, 

embroidery machine 

i'd been eyeing.

it was a proverbial breeze
to set up and start using.
however,
not so long after doing so, 

i started experiencing 
a few kinks.

(immediately, john told me 
to take it back

and get a bernina,

which his sister has 

and loves.

he went on to say 

he was going to get me 
the bernina for Christmas 

but wasn't sure 

how serious i was about 

embroidering.)

anyway, i worked through 
those first kinks 

with the help of youtube's 

vince arcuri,
who retired from the military 
and took up embroidering 
as a hobby.

if not for vince 
and his experience 
with the brother pe770,

i would have been totally lost 

when i started experiencing issues 

with my machine.

~@~

i embroidered and sewed 

pillows for my front porch 
and monogrammed
a couple of scarves  

experiencing only a glitch 
or two. 
however,

the third scarf was a totally 

different experience.

doing everything the same 

as i'd been doing, 

i hooped my fabric, 

lowered my presser foot, 

and pressed the button 

to start embroiderying.

when it started it seemed fine, 

but about 20 stitches in,

i noticed my embroidery arm 

wasn't moving...

hence, i stopped the process 

and found my machine 

had pulled my fabric 

down into the bobbin

chamber.

my machine was eating 

my scarf!

further, the only way

to get the scarf

(and wad of thread)

out of the chamber

was to cut it:(

hoping it was an isolated 

incident, i took in

a deep breath, 

re-hooped the fabric,

cleaned the machine, 

and

tried again on the other 

end of the scarf.

the same thing happened.

i thought maybe it was 

a fabric issue...

(like, maybe the fabric was too 

delicate or something)

~@~

unfortunately, 
that was not the case.

on friday night

my machine ate

3 of the next 4 

projects i attempted.

so, first thing saturday morning,
i called

to see if i could still 

return it.

the customer service representative 

told me i could...
as i was still under 90 days.

so, that's what i did.

afterwards, john and i went 

to evansville to the bernina store

and ordered a new machine.

~@~

i'm sharing this because 

several of my readers 
and fellow facebook'ers

messaged me about the type 

of machine i was using

and if i was pleased with 

the machine.

the bottom line is 

i would not recommend

the brother pe770!

(when it works,

it's great;

but,

the other 30%

of the time...

not so much:/)

after losing several items 
i had purchased 
to embroider,

i knew it was time to 

invest in a better machine.

~@~

so, stay tuned.

i am supposed to receive 

my bernina

on tuesday.

i hope to report 

a much more positive experience!

love and God's blessings,

dani xxx

mosses monday LII...

a time to refrain

from embracing...

(ecc 3 niv)

fall came.

john went often

to visit mosses,

to listen to mosses' music,

to share in an afternoon toddy.

however,

for the most part,

i was only able to

talk to mosses each evening

on the telephone...

as i had back-to-back

bouts of shingles.

that was the first Christmas

in sixteen years

i was unable to celebrate

with mosses.

~@~

i know that there is nothing

better for people

than to be happy

and to do good

while they live.

although i was unable

to physically be with mosses

that Christmas,

john went to visit him.

he took mosses

a bottle of makers mark,

and

he took jean,

mosses main sitter,

a snow angel...

as we felt

 jean had been so good

to our mosses.

i, however, saved the gift

i had for mosses.

~@~

(there was the year

we gave him a whiskey bottle

hummingbird feeder;)

shopping for mosses

was always fun.

he had everything

he could ever want or need,

so,

i was able to shop

for things

"outside the box".

this particular year

i had been shopping

when i saw a hooded sweatshirt

by the mossimo company.

"moss"

was appliqued on the front of it!

it was such a unique

and perfect gift!

i didn't want to send it with john.

i wanted to take

it to mosses myself.

so,

mosses and i set a date

for me to do just that...

for later,

for when i was well.

(to be continued)

love and God's blessings,

dani xxx

ps. on my side-bar

you will find earlier entries

entitled,

"our love story"

in ascending order.