From My Heart: 05.08

For me, May conjures up many fun times, happy times, sad times, days to be honored and memories of times past. Here are a few from my vault of Memories of Mays. First, this Merry month of May, my blog is dedicated to some special relatives in my life...people who are part of my happy days and sad days, as well, but the best thing is...there are many more Mays to celebrate. To my Mother who taught me to color (of course… inside the lines) and to love fabrics, every texture and every pattern. To that end, I’ve taken that love to my paper, pencils, colors and scissors to my love of scrapbooking…so I can tell My Story. Mom & Me, Thanksgiving 1992

I also dedicate this month’s blog, as well, to an extraordinary woman who has been like a mother to me, my Tis, who had that wonderful, colorful set of dishes we all know as “Fiesta.” It seemed with every meal she cooked I was able to eat on a different color plate. Now how cool is that?

My Tis still has these dishes, with all the colors, saucers, cups and they are as colorful as when I was 10 and that was a long time ago!

May is such a fun time full of color, blooms and blossoms with flowers blooming everywhere so I also dedicate this month's blog to my mother's mother, Annie. I choose to believe that I inherited her green thumb!

My grandmother's favorite flower, which always ran a close race with pink roses was any species of the day lily. Day Lily, from the Greek words (hemera) "day" and (kalos) "beautiful." She loved them because they would open at sunrise (and no doubt she was up and about tending to her "chores" ) and wither at sunset, when she could be out in her gardens pulling a weed or watering her beloved flowers. These are from her original day lily garden at the "old house" where I spent so many wonderful summers with her and my granddad and my cousins, Chris and Fred and now these day lilies have a home at my home and in my heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More on my ongoing love of flowers... I found this unique bloom on an "adventure walk" and couldn't resist the lovely blooms coming from the dark green foliage...even without rain here in South Texas. I've no idea what it is but it's not an heirloom and it's not growing in my yard! Actually the photo was taken in Leander, TX., at no other than, a gas station.

Here it is May and the waters are turning clear and warm just inviting us to dive in to see what is beneath. I don't mind if you take that dive... as for me, I choose to stay on land. The fear of what’s beneath, you know? Having grown up around the Galveston coastal area, I am for sure that I did everything in my power to stay out of the water no matter the cost. That included, Phys. Ed. Swimming Class in High School, at the cost of an A, just to keep my blonde curly hair (also inherited from Mama Rush) from getting wet... lest EVERYONE, including my beloved Mama Rush

would be calling me Lizzy...she called me Tizzy Lizzy, but I was for sure the kids would call me Frizzy Lizzy...grrrrrr. Now I wasn't alone in that evading the water...my dear friend Phyllis Ann was right there with me. Now she doesn't have near as curly hair as I do...in fact now she has the most beautiful silver color hair one could ever want!

May in Texas is surely for heat and sun lovers but as little kids, May would find us packing our school sachels for the year (we didn’t have backpacks back then) with little broken crayolas to play with over the summer and glue that no longer stuck to anything but the lid! Just thinking about the crayolas brings back wonderful memories. Yep, those good old days of school, memories of little chocolate milk containers for just two cents, picking out my favorite lunch kit, recess, eating glue (well, not me, of course) and scribbling with my beautiful box of colors like any first grader would.

At the start of school as a third grader, that’s when Mom bought me my very first 64 box of Crayolas. I was so excited to see there were other colors since my Box of Eight (which sold for a nickel, I might add) contained only black, brown, blue, red, violet, orange, yellow and green. Those colors are still the same in the Box of Eight today. Their meanings: Red: The color of passion, bright, fiery red can evoke a gamut of powerful emotions, from romance to anger! Orange: This citrusy shade energizes a room. More subdued shades of orange can create feelings of happiness and well-being. Yellow: the color of social connection and creativity, possibly because it enhances concentration. Studies show that people linger longer in rooms painted yellow. Green: The color or nature, evoking feelings of abundance, comfort, and also being in the center of the light spectrum, balance. Black: Black falls into the neutral color category, but is actually a combination of all the colors in the visual spectrum. As the absence of light, black can symbolize secrecy (darkness), but because of its intensity, also represents positive traits such as power and authority. Blue: Blue is serene, sedate and restful, from blue skies to deep blue oceans, staring at a wall of blue has been shown to lower heart rates and blood pressure. White: Well, I'm going to use grey to describe white; otherwise you wouldn't know that white symbolizes purity, cleanliness, and has the effect of opening up a space or making it seem larger!

Now being off my subject a tad...back to those BIG BOXES. . . 64 Crayolas we loved to check off our supply list preparing for the first day of elementary school, have come a long way…50 years long. This is the 50th anniversary of the 64 Crayola Pack and I still love the smell of a new box of colors. Happy 50th Birthday, Crayola (1958-2008).

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y 64-PACK!

Just in case you are wondering, here are the names of the colors found in a pack of 64 Crayola crayons. *Apricot *Aquamarine *Bittersweet *Black *Blue *Blue Gray *Blue Green *Blue Violet *Brick Red *Brown *Burnt Orange *Burnt Sienna *Cadet Blue *Carnation Pink *Copper *Cornflower *Forest Green *Gold *Goldenrod *Gray *Green *Green Blue *Green Yellow *Indian Red (renamed as "Chestnut" in 1999) *Lavender *Lemon Yellow *Magenta *Mahogany *Maize *Maroon *Melon *Mulberry (retired and replaced with "Mango Tango" in 2003) *Navy Blue *Olive Green *Orange *Orange Red *Orange Yellow *Orchid *Flesh (renamed as "Peach" in 1962) *Periwinkle *Pine Green *Plum *Midnight Blue *Raw Sienna *Raw Umber *Red *Red Orange *Red Violet *Salmon *Sea Green *Sepia *Sky Blue *Silver *Spring Green *Tan *Thistle (retired and replaced with "Indigo" in 2000) *Turquoise Blue

*Violet *Violet Blue *Violet Red *White *Yellow *Yellow Green *Yellow Orange. And here we have our new eight crayolas, named by 20,000 kids to introduce the 2008 Kids’ Choice Colors! AWESOME, GIVING TREE, FAMOUS, FUN IN THE SUN, BEST FRIENDS, SUPER HAPPY, HAPPY EVER AFTER and BEAR HUG! With all the news and its "doom and gloom" I find it refreshing that our young kiddos have identified colors that denote a 1)Healthy self esteem, 2)Responsibility to our world, 3) Believing, 4) Fun, 5) Value of Friendship, 6)Happiness, 7) Happiness Forever, and 8) Nurturing. As parents, what more could we ask? Job well done, kiddos!

As for color and me…it’s a unique relationship. My home is full of color from the walls that are candlelight yellow, to the big Queen Anne chairs I inherited from my friend Sallie, and recovered with HUGE cabbage roses in PINK , to the dining room that is Candy Apple Red. Wonder if that color is still around? THE CANDY APPLE RED DINING ROOM...WITH DOLLHOUSE... FOR A BLOG OF ANOTHER TIME AND MEMORIES PAST...to be continued!

So one would ask…why does she wear black and white all the time? Is that some sort of conflict going on? I consider it convenience in the work- a- day world, and a signature…wanting to be a bit different on the outside than on the inside. Now black and white is a blog for another day! Because look...here I am with the most beautiful little girl, just full of color and smile, having a fun day and I'm in black and white!

Also, this blog is dedicated to my sister (born in the Month of May, and who I call with affection, of course, "Nellie" - she's on the right (my baby sister, Karla on the left, is a whole other blog) in the wedding photo where I didn't wear black...wore brown (asked to by the Bride and it was such fun finding a different color for my wardrobe!) but moving on with My Story...Nellie was brought home just a few days after she was born on Mother’s Day, May 9, 1956. When my Mom and Dad brought her home I asked “why…why do you need her when you have me?” I have no recollection what they said but recently I was able to spend the night with her and on her birthday, May 9, the date our mother passed away I jumped into her bed and said: “Do you know the story of me asking Mom and Dad why they needed you when they had me when they brought you home from the hospital?” Well, at 5:30 a.m. she a) wasn’t real awake and (b) didn’t really seem to care but I quizzed on. After she mumbled something that sounded like “whatever,” I told her: “they brought you home so that when they were not here we have each other for times like these.” I think she woke up then because I heard her say: “Ohhhhhhh.” Then I went to work and, hopefully, for a moment on her birthday, she smiled.

Karla, Babs & Janell, 7.07.07 at my son's wedding in Temple, Tx.

Lastly, this is dedicated to my special cousin/big sister, Norma Dee. I don’t think there are official colors of “SHINY” and “BRIGHT” but she is that sparkling combination! While she has gone through a very difficult time this month, she will always remain the Shiny and Bright in my life. Never without sparkle, never without curiosity about life, never without talent in everything she does…she’s always ready to DANCE WITH LIFE with her SHINY & BRIGHT nature, her shiny and bright artistic talents and style - no you won't find just black and white in her wardrobe. She has something of every color and everything has that SHINY & BRIGHT FLAIR. So here’s an Awesome Bear Hug :o) to you, Norma Dee, for bringing sparkle to my life since I was not much past your knees wanting to go to the prom with you…you were so SHINY and BRIGHT!

PROBABLY ALL OF THE COLORS IN HER SHINY & BRIGHT CLOSET AND JEWELRY MAKING...just one of her many talents!