Tuesday, February 11, 2014

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

Monday, February 10, 2014

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

Monday, February 3, 2014

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.