Kristi’s birthday is March 1st. So we celebrated with her, Theresa, and the twins last night at the Elk’s Club in Lancaster. We packed up the dogs and birds, loaded a few clothes and a little food into the RV and headed out right after lunch.
The trip from Ridgecrest to Lancaster is about an hour and thirty minutes. Just a nice desert style drive, or so it seems until reaching Lancaster and its rather heavy traffic. Fortunately, Bob knows Lancaster like the back of his hand and finds the easiest streets and best turns to bring us to the Elks without a problem.

The Elk’s Club serves the greatest prime rib on Friday night so we all indulged in large slices of medium rare beef. Then sang “Happy Birthday” and shared a little cake.

Eric and Danica can only sit still so long so soon they were out of their high chairs and running around the dance floor. There is a wall with mirrors that truly fascinates them and keeps them occupied by staring at the images. I walked over to Danica and she didn’t turn to look at me. She just acknowledged that Nana was in the mirror. Too Cute!

We towed the Smart Car which we then drove to Cosco this morning and bought a few items to take back with us. Everywhere we go, we are asked if we like the car. The answer for us is always, “You Betcha” or something less Minnesotan but just as affirming.

Tonight there is another party for Kristi with Theresa’s family and some of her close friends. It will be in Glendale and I plan on going. Bob choos.es to stay at the RV, work on his computer, and babysit the animals. Tomorrow sometime after breakfast, we will head back home

Yesterday was stormy, cold, and quite grey. After all these years on the desert, a day without sunshine leaves me with an unusual restlessness. For some women this would result in a a good closet cleaning or floor scrubbing time. Not me. I find such a day is made for finishing a novel, answering email, or simply sitting back and thinking.

So I spent yesterday doing exactly that. I finished reading Still Summer by Jacquelyn Mitchard, answering e-mails , and well as to thinking, I actually forgo that for googling. I googled educational sites, and gossip columns, and finally I looked up vintage ads. Vintage ads was a direct result of a whisper on my last post by Kenju at Imagine , she had commented, ” What a sweet print and how nice it was that you found it. My mom had a magazine ad in our kitchen that had a child in it who looked just like me at age 3-4. It got tossed out, accidentally, and I really wish I had it now.” So I let my mind wander. Hmmm maybe I could find the ad that she remembered. So not even knowing her age or what she might have looked like, I used my intuition to choose some interesting ads with young girls of that age that might have been the one that Judy’s mother misplaced.

The following were among my favorites Maybe, just maybe I was intuitive enough to find the one Judy was looking for and if not at least I found this great site for nostalgia seekers called Yesterday Paper. These old ads will bring back fond memories for many of us. If you find a favorite or one that reminds you of your childhood, I would love to hear from you.

On the advice of the weather gods and cautioned by the Channel 4’s Weatherman’s dire forecast of winter storms, Bob and I cancelled our RV trip to Lancaster. We had high winds on Friday and nearly freezing temperatures all day. This morning we were told that Palmdale (close to Lancaster) received a small amount of snow. Although I was disappointed that I would not see Kristi and twins, I am glad to be warm and comfortable at home and not walking dogs in the sleet or rain. Ugh, I hate to think of how much dirt they would bring in after each potty break!

So homebound for awhile, I took time to look over my recent writings and this comment from Mary at Momma’s Corner to my post Fruits of My Labor caught my eye. Mary is wise and astute and deeply understanding of human nature. She wrote, “You have made your work area not only efficient but still managed to keep things around you that mean a lot to you.”

Indeed she had caught something that I was truly not aware of. . . my office is both a place to work and a place to hold photos I have taken, awards I have won and treasures I have collected. No wonder, I feel so comfortable in here. This is my life!

One of my favorite things in the office is this picture. My Aunt Mary had one like it in her living room and when I was very young, she told me that the little girl reminded her of me. Every time I visited, I found myself staring at the picture to see if there was a resemblance. I was pretty sure there was and it was such a warm and wonderful feeling to think Aunt Mary thought the girl looked like me.

Aunt Mary passed away when I was a teen-ager. I don’t know what happened to the print, but I knew if I ever found one at a yard sale, auction, or antique store I would buy it. I half-heartedly looked for one over the years, but did not find one until about four years ago when I visited my daughter, Dawn in Oregon. Dawn and I love to antique shop together so it was not surprising to find ourselves in a little shop in LaGrande. As we searched through treasures, I mentioned Aunt Mary’s print and began to describe the girl, the birch tree, and the robin. The dealer who was half listening to our conversation, smiled and pointed to the back wall. “Is that the one you are talking about?”, he inquired. Oh yes, There it was in all its sweet sentimental glory. I was so excited and equally thrilled when Dawn offered to buy it for me as a gift. What a wonderful gift to receive and I promised to pass it on to her someday.

When it was time to return to California, I carefully packed it in the center of a large suitcase, tucked clothing securely around it and prayed for gentle airport luggage handlers.

As you can see it arrived safely and has been given a place of honor in my office. There is a little beanie baby robin that always sits next to it. The little robin was a gift from my grand daughter, Jade, after she heard the story about Aunt Mary and how back in the day, I looked like the little girl in the print. She found it at an auction and insisted I take it home to go with the print. It will always be right there bringing back special memories.

The change in plans has left me with time on my hands so I decided to find out what I could about the print. I googled spring - robin - girl and sure enough I found the print on Ebay. It is called Spring Song of the Robin and it is the work of a German artist by the name of Simon Glucklich. It was painted around the turn of the century and prints of it were very popular in the 1920’s. They were sold by Sears and Roebuck and other mail order companies. The colors are often changed. The hair on the little girl can be brown, blond, or even red.

The most interesting fact that I found however, was that it is thought that the girl is Glucklich’s blind daughter. In the early prints her eyes are closed. In the later prints, the eyes are open. I checked my print closely and although I had never noticed it before her eyes are shut. At a glance, it looks more like she is looking down, but on closer scrutiny the eyes are closed.

I am anxious to know more about the artist, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of information on line. I have found about three other works by him and have heard there is one called Autumn Song of the Bird. How fun to find that one, too and if you know more about Spring Song of the Bird please let me know. Since it was so popular during the 20’s and 30’s surely others remember it hanging in a parlor somewhere.

Just think of how many folks, during long winters, have looked at this print and longed for Spring. Maybe, just maybe looking longingly at it and wishing for an early Spring might be just what we need to bring the Robin and his promise of warm weather our way.

Woke up at 4:45 this morning to the ring of my bedside phone. It was ADT letting us know that the burglar alarm had gone off at Bob’s shop. Bob immediately got dressed and went over to meet the police. It must have been a slow night because there were three patrol cars waiting for him. Two policemen were outside and one was in the shop.

The window had been opened and the stick that held it shut had somehow been jimmied. The alarm is extremely loud and the police thought it went off as the thief went through the main room setting off the motion detector. I bet it really sounded loud to that sneak. I hope his heart was thumping and his pants wet. The good news is that he left through the same window and he left empty handed.

Bob was home in less than a half hour and of course by that time the sun was coming up and there was no more sleep for either one of us. We drank our first pot of coffee, had breakfast, and still plenty of time before my exercise class.

About halfway through class, I longed for my bed, pillow, and quilt. I could really have used two more hours of sleep. A stop for coffee after class however, had me wide awake and so full of energy that I came home and shampooed both the carpet in our bedroom and the one in my office.

Tomorrow, I will clean the motor home, pick up groceries, and get ready for a trip to Lancaster. We will have dinner with Kristi, Theresa, and the kids on Friday night and do some shopping over the Presidential Holiday week-end.

I could no longer live with the clutter in my office. It seems that ever since the Christmas holidays . . . yes that far back, I have ignored the mess or found creative ways to stack various objects higher or attempt to hide them more creatively.

Yesterday, I decided that this monument to chaos had to go and so I rolled up my sleeves and dived in determined to restore a certain amount of neatness to the room. I started with the book shelves and filled three boxes with books that I believe our local library will be able to sell or give away. The old printer gathering dust under my desk is on its way to Goodwill and what seemed like tons of papers were sorted, filed, or thrown away.

Today, Bob and I went shopping and came home with a new chair for my desk and now as long as I don’t look in the cupboards or the closet, I have an office to enjoy.