leona

next week my maternal grandma, leona (or lee lee, as my grandfather - last picture - used to call her) turns 90. an achievement indeed.

familial traits are funny things. i certainly look like a strange mixture of my mom and dad, but most of my family agrees that the person i really resemble is my grandma.  i'm pretty sure i'm the only one that inherited her nose (although i come by some pretty strong nose genes from all sides of my family! we're nosey people, i guess!) and we both have the ability to give a look that can stop a child from misbehaving halfway across a restaurant! in other words, no one is left in doubt of our displeasure! after my last set of pictures on this blog my mom even commented that i pose like my grandma! i'd like to think i've inherited her legs, which last time i checked are still just as svelte of ankle as they are in these pictures.

i remember the first time i came upon these photos of her and my grandfather when i was teen. i was pretty obsessed with classic movies from the 30's, 40's and 50's.  katherine hepburn was my idol. when i saw these pictures of my grandma - most of them taken to send to my grandfather while he was away in the navy during world war two - i thought she looked like she had just stepped out of one of those movies! i still think she looks like a movie star.

my grandma was also quite the skilled seamstress, making many of her own clothes (like lots of women during that time) and even some of my mom and aunt's clothing. my sister had borrowed her old kenmore sewing machine a couple years ago to sew curtains for her apartment and after using it a few times had pronounced it broken.  this past christmas we pulled that old machine out to see what was what and it turns out it had just been threaded wrong! my grandma, at 89 years old, after not touching a sewing machine for decades, showed us all up by deftly threading her machine and setting it right without missing a beat!

but whether she was sewing her clothes or buying them from a store, my grandma always had, and still has, a great  eye for fashion and quality - a trait that, unlike her sewing skills, she did  pass down to the women in her family.

i'll be gone all next week visiting my family and getting ready for my grandma's surprise birthday party (don't worry - i didn't spoil the surprise! she still shakes her head wonderingly anytime anyone mentions "the internet" and she probably thinks a "blog" is a minor, but unfortunate skin disease) so the blog will be quiet(er) than usual.  when i get back i get to enjoy the thrill of packing up and moving apartments - a task i'll be happy not to do again for quite some time! so needless to say things may be a bit dead around here. but i'll try to get everything back up and running as soon as i can! plus i'll have a whole new sewing room (all to myself!) at our new apartment so i'll be excited to break it in.

hope you all have a good couple of weeks (can you believe its almost august?!?!)

xx