On the left.
My paternal grandmother, Mary Alta Kerr, born February 7, 1895 and her brother and sister. I need to do more research, dig around in a box, to get info on her siblings details. I know she called her sister “Sis”.
This is the grandmother who taught me to knit when I was little. No date on the photo. She looks to be 5 or 6? Maybe 1900-1901?
Mary Alta Kerr Hendricks passed March 13,1979 and is buried in Morrisonville, Illinois.
Grant Bar and Restaurant Wednesday night-
This molded plastic Santa, lit from within, had an expression that caught my eye.
Perhaps he feels overwhelmed by the frenzy of the Season?
My friend V gave me a really cool device that converts old slides and film negatives to a digital file. I used it when I was teaching photography and helped a colleague preserve some wonderful pictures of her family.
Tonight I started thinking about my own slides I found while cleaning out a drawer and brought the file converter out. After re-reading the steps to use the converter, I was successful. I won’t do a whole slide show today but wanted to put this 1966 picture up of me with my family. I’m the one on right front (eighth grade) and I am sure my mother and I sewed our fashion choices on the old Singer sewing machine.
Certainly next time I can center the cardboard frame more accurately. I left that exposed pipe in, too. In an upstairs closet, are forgotten metal carousel trays of slides to convert but just did the 24 images tonight.
Once you get a rhythm it doesn’t take too long.
What I’ve noticed is a LOT of the slides I’ve kept for decades are not worth converting into a digital file for posterity.
But did I put them in the trash? Not yet.
Will save some of those treasures for a future post.
Thanks for the great gift, Vincie. 
My Uncle -Robert E. VanSickle Durand, Illinois from my Grandmother’s Album 
My Uncle John, Uncle Robert my Grandfather Judd and my Mother, Marian
Dovecote, a vintage boutique in Aspinwall Pennsylvania, located on Brilliant Avenue. What a great address. Brilliant!
My friend Vincie and I were shoe shopping at Soothe the Sole on Brilliant Avenue and Holly (at the shoe store) suggested we check out Dovecote right across the street.
Here’s what we discovered –
The boutique is definitely eclectic and affordably priced. Scroll down for more details. There are vintage items, consignment items, handcrafts, antiques, jewelry, home decor and holiday fun. Sports team theme including black and gold potholders and darling onesies with hand sewn embellishment, adorable ruffles.
The felted Mr. Rogers created by Artist Christine caught my eye, and the Pennsylvania ceramic platter would be cool to serve from at a dinner party.
from their website
This vintage book of directions for making Macrame Plant Hangers or rather Macrame Pot Hangers and this huge twine were in the donations my friend Donna gave to my art teacher friend Bob.
In the seventies, I never used such a thick rope but instead a thinner white cord and some wooden beads.
Macrame belts were holding up lots of bell bottom jeans when I was in college.
Do you or have you ever done macrame?
This morning, when I heard today’s date, I realized it was on this day, eighty years ago, that my parents married. (Well I had a bit of help as my friend counted the decades by tens.)Although they passed away in 2000 and 2002 I was thinking about their wedding day all those years ago.
Durand Illinois. August 28, 1939. Not sure who took this home movie but here are a few shots from the screen. Roy Joseph Hendricks and Marian Van Sickle and family members in photos below.
Durand, Illinois September 1, 1916
I have this old, approximately the 1960’s, PATONS 65 cents pamphlet with knitting patterns for Bazaar Items. Corn cob slippers, tea cozies, toilet roll covers and poodle bottle covers to name a few. I see that the same booklet can be purchased on Ebay for about four bucks now.
Not sure if anyone still has a dolly or poodle sitting on top of their toilet tank with a spare roll of toilet paper hidden underneath.
