Luna's Baublebilities

My baby turned 16 yesterday. 

I'm not sure whether she's been kissed yet or not . . . .









She totally looks kissable - which is part of my angst today.  She is of dating age now.  I have to start letting her out from under my wing a bit.  I can set reasonable curfews and I still reserve the right to say "There is no way you will be going there with that boy" if she starts spending time with a real creeper or - worse yet - a charmer.



O.K.  we will speak no more about these things.  My blood pressure is rising and my jaw is clenched and . . just . . . breathe . . . She's going to the prom next week.  Ben is neither a creeper nor a charmer and his mom is at least as much a mama bear as I am.  I know that Bry & I are not alone in the safe driving/ responsible behavior/ morality department - at least with this particular date.

So - my title mentions treasures as well as angst.

Obviously my daughter is the first treasure.  (Bry' side of the family will recognize Aunt Molly's attitude and features in that photo.  We named her well, didn't we?)

The second treasure  is extended family.

My cousin, Michael, came up for a visit this weekend and asked if he could take me out to lunch yesterday.  We haven't been well connected far many, many years (neither side of my family seems to be good at or comfortable with maintaining tight connections) and I was afraid that he had some sort of horrible news or something that he needed to convey.  Instead it was just a very nice fun lunch date.  We talked and laughed and I had a great time.  When we walked back to work, he took a big box and few bags  out of his truck to give to me.   They were full of treasure.






 My dad and his younger brothers


The box and bags contained pictures of my dad's side of the family spanning the years from when my dad and his siblings were young to when my cousins and I were little.  There are some older photos of ancestors that I will need to identify somehow.  I also have a big project before me in scanning and distributing all of these wonders to extended family members who may want copies.






The school pictures are my favorites.

My Dad - the fearless older brother.

(With GREAT hair!  Why couldn't you have given ME that hair, dad?  Why did Adrienne get to have it and not me?)




Uncle Kermit  - can you see the mischief in his eyes?

I totally see my nephew, Derek's, features & expressions in there.  I love how adorableness genes (and attitude genes) keep cropping up in families.







 Uncle Howard - smart and determined. 













And Uncle Lynn - the baby, the overlapping generation, child of the 60's - teen of the 70's.





The pictures do awaken some angst - I wanted a house full of blue-eyed, blonde haired boys, too.  I'm not sure why.   I'm sure I never could have survived it.

Gramma had 4 boys and always wanted a girl - she spoiled me just a bit (in a good way) because I was the first girl baby she really got her hands on.





This boy is pretty cute, though.  He brought the expansion pack for our set of adoreableness genes AND he has enough mischief & energy for four.








I feel pretty rich today.





 . . . .

For my birthday yesterday, I went to work.  That's right - I didn't want to take the day off.  I really enjoy my paid day off every week and I particularly love the Holiday season at the Arts Council.  It was a pretty quiet morning yesterday, Hilary and I focused on staying on top of the inventory pouring in for the holidays and getting it displayed in the store during the morning.  We had a few visitors throughout the day and then something happened at 4:30 and we were inundated with shoppers.  I actually had a LINE at the checkout counter!

Hilarly and I stayed busy 'till after 6:00 wrapping packages (yes, we do free gift wrap for purchases from the gallery) and helping customers check out.  It was a mad house with constant chatter from the credit card processor and tissue paper crinkling non-stop as we stuffed boxes and curled ribbon.  Our little shop did almost $800.00 worth of sales in under 2 hours, most of it through debit and credit cards which add an extra step and a few extra minutes for processing each sale.  This much traffic in a normal retail setting would have been very stressful for both customers and the people running the checkout. 

But not at the Arts Council!  Our customers were all very friendly and chatted with each other while they waited.  I heard strangers giving each other advice on gift giving and talking excitedly about the beautiful things in the shop.   Hugs were ditributed among customers - even I got a hug!   And with every sale I entered in the compuer, I knew that a real person in MY county was getting paid to do something they love.  The work of North Country hands was being validated with evey check written, every nickel dropped into the cash box, every beep from the credit card machine.   Come January, when heating bills are due and winter is making good on its promise to stay, our artists will be getting their Christmas Commission checks and their long winter will suddenly become a little warmer and a little brighter.

The SLC Arts Council Gift shop and Gallery is located at 51 Market Street in Potsdam. It is on the block between Jreck's Subs and the Clarkson University Bookstore (used to be Westons for you old timers) on the same side of the street.  It is the sparkliest window in town and we have beautiful gifts ranging in price from $5.00 to $1,500.00 representing the work of over 240 North Country Artists.  We offer gift certificates that can be used for either goodies from the gift shop or classes offered throughout the year.   You will find pottery, stained glass, jewely, mittens, scarves, hats, woden boxes and bowls, paintings, photographs, quilts, sculpture, lamps, ornaments and magnets and many other lovely things. Normal hours are 10-6 Monday -Friday, 10-4 on Saturdays but we do have a few specail hours for the holidays.  Check them out on the SLC Arts Council's website.

The rest of my day was wonderful, too.  I got more Facebook birthday wishes than I can count, Molly had fun at call backs for her musical - she thinks she might get the part of the Queen - we'll find out today and Maxx had a fun afternoon with gramma and grampa, who picked him up at school so he didn't have to ride the bus.  Bry and the kids took me to dinner at Hotel Grande, where we met Meemo, Nate, Jo and Derek for a wonderful meal.  Hotel Grande is about as close as you can come to 'Mexican' food this far North and the little boys were amazingly well behaved so it was a great meal.   Mom gave me some cash and some chocolate and ran off with the check before Bry could get up to pay for the meal.  Maxx gave me a pair of lovely, warm plum leather gloves which go well with my aubergine winter coat, Molly gave me a beautiful bead from ADKlampwork (another Adirondack glass worker!) and Bry gave me a Llewellen's Witches Calendar which Ive been wanting for years.  It lends some cred to the joke that I want to be a Buddist Mormon Witch when I grow up. 

It was an excellent way to spend my big day.  I'm so grateful for my wonderful family, my perfect job and the sweet friendships I enjoy.






. . . .