my life in color: July 2009

Friday, July 31, 2009

The other grands

I looked at this photo for a long time and still couldn't figure out who these kids were.
Until I ran across a photo of my grandmother Eva (mother's mom) as a young woman... something about the eyes... I took this photo back into my hands and sure enough, that's her second from left.
I can only assume that the others are her siblings. She had 15 siblings.
Yes. Sixteen kids altogether.

It is all so very scandalous.

My great-grandmother was quite a character.
She fell in love very young, but her parents forbade her to marry her sweetheart. She decided to bring as much shame on them as she could....

You see... every one of those 16 children had a different father.

Whichever salesman or gypsy stopped in town, she was there with open arms.. or should I say legs..

Her children never knew who their father was, as she was not telling.
Deliciously scandalous.
I love black sheep.

That's Eva on the right during WW2.

A really rare photo of the whole family: Eva, Paavo, my mom on the left and her two little brothers. I only wish the photographer would have gotten a little closer.

I like this photo of my grandpa Paavo, he was a carpenter.

I always remember him working on something.

Paavo died in 1979 and Eva in 1997.

I wish I had more photos of them...

On second thought I sthink I still have couple of my mom's actual photo albums downstairs somewhere... you might see some more.

Some time.

Heh.

potd 30.7.

Etsy orders ready to mail.
I think a trip to IKEA is in order to make sense of my packing and wrapping supplies.

Why?
Because of this:

Not quite as organized as I'd like it to be, heh...

The paper maché?

That was for Saara.
I got a great recipe from a swedish friend, and here I am mushing toilet paper...

..nice and mushy. The you just add wallpaper paste powder and start having fun.

This is Saara's project, she's making a miniature mermaid grotto.

Naturally we ran out of paper maché and had to tear up more tp.

Not as boring as you might think ;)

Thursday, July 30, 2009

potd 29.7.

LOL...

The early stages of making paper maché from toilet paper.

The former owners of my house...

...aka my grandparents :)

My grandpa Jorma looks quite dashing in his wartime uniform, don't you think?

Judging from my dad, I'd say this one of him and his mom (Elvi) was taken in the early 1950's.
Such a happy photo.

That's where our patio still is :)
Those summer dresses are the bomb.

Apparently my grandma really liked housecoats...

I wonder what happened here? Last frame on the film maybe?
Definately the 60's... just a few years before my grandpa died. He died in 1969, just two months after I was born. Young too.. only in his 50's. I really wish I could have known him. From what I've learnt from him by reading my grandparents wartime correspondence (yes, I own such treasures), we would have gotten along fabulously. My grandma was one of the pillars of my life, always there, whenever.

I really like this picture.

Looking at it, I'm trying to figure out which spot in the yard it is... which of those birches are still standing...

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

potd 28.7.

My favorite climbing rose is in bloom now.

The four sisters

Last Saturday Petra and I sat down to do something we've been meaning to do for quite a while: go through the giant boxes filled with my Mom's photos. Took us five hours...

The main reason was to find all the baby pics of my brother :) Once those were earthed up we came to the conclusion that little Julia does indeed have her daddy's ears and nose.
But that's a nother matter.

So, if you don't mind, for the rest of the week, I'll take you down memory lane.

I'll start with the four sisters.
There were also two brothers but I never knew them. One died in WW2 and the other when I was just 2.
We'll stick with the sisters.
My grandmother and her sisters.

This is my grandma Elvi as a wee little one. Niina looked just like her as a baby.
The girl standing is Elsa, the oldest, and the one with those lovely curls is Maire.
The boy is either Olavi or Niilo... I'm thinking Olavi...
Dates to 1919.

My great grandparents with my grandma.

This is one of my favorite photos because it has has all four girls.
Taken sometime in the 1930's.
Maire, Elsa, Elvi and the youngest Irja.

This one's from the 60's.
Elvi, Elsa and Maire.

And then we get to the sweet 70's. Looking at these photos I think people had to be colorblind...
The sad thing is that wallpaper like this is all the rage now.
That's our livingroom... very ummm... brown.
My grandma looks quite snazzy.

Elsa is holding the cigarette, I only now remembered that she smoked.

Elsa and Irja.
Elsa died in 1979, and this is how I remember her.
Whenever we'd go visit her she'd have anise candy for the kids.
I can't stand anise these days...

This is how I remember Irja, Maire and Elvi.
They were all very close and visited often.
Sitting in our garden, possibly for Elvi's nameday.
Shoes neatly in a row :)

Christmas Eve mornings I remember best. We'd pack ourselves in the car with bundles of presents and holiday flowers. My great aunts all lived in the same town a 40 minute drive away. We'd stop at all three, have coffee and goodies. Most years we'd stop at a few of their childrens' houses too.. It took hours, but was my favorite part of Christmas Eve.

Irja died in 1995, we were expecting her for Saara's christening that day. Bittersweet day that one.
My grandma died in 2001 when Niina was just a baby.
And Maire died 2003 or 2004.
Both Elvi and Maire suffered from Alzheimers disease in their last years.

I'll leave you with one of the funniest photos I found.
So we can end with a smile.
My grandma sitting in the garden swing in her quilted housecoat, stripy socks and sandals.

I quite like the lace ruffles, hehe..

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

potd 27.7.

Making good use of my Patricia Cornwell books...heh.

The doublesided tape I had used for the panels int his dollhouse room were not cutting it and I had to glue them... AND find a way to clamp them while drying.

Hey, it worked.