Five Layouts Finished

Paper, scissors, tape, Cricuts, stickers, photos - all over the kitchen and living room.  Looked like a tornado went through.  Not a tornado, just Aimee, my daughter-in-law, and me scrappin'.  Yesterday we scrapped the day away.  I've been working on my oldest grandson's album.  I had several one page layouts that needed corresponding pages.  I was excited to finish five pages.  Aimee worked on her nephew's first birthday pages and then worked on her own son's first birthday pictures. She's using Creative Memories PicFolio album.  His pictures are absolutely beautiful and the album is turning out so well.

here's my accomplishments

9 months

13 months old

4 years old

Across the bottom it says "After the rain every child loves to splash in the puddles."

5 years old

Almost 6 years old

Looking at older pictures sure brings back some wonderful memories.

I'm glad I decided to scrap for the boys.

Write down those memories, they may soon fade away!!

Snapshots of Life

There's a really neat blog you ought to visit  Eighteen 25.  A blog with such cute crafty ideas, decorating ideas and photography tips. Just a fun place to visit. There's a fun photo challenge going on now that's called Snapshots of Life.   Every Wednesday they'll announce a specific time on Thursday that you stop and  take a photo of what you're doing at that moment.  Then post the photo on Friday and a link on their blog.  What a cute idea!  Sounds like a lot of fun...a fun way to take a little peek into other's lives and to see their blogs.

The first assignment was for 5:00 p.m. on Thursday...

I was cross stitching something for Christmas. Every year I stitch ornaments for my four grandsons and for my two children's Christmas trees. Sorry can't disclose what I'm stitching...it's a Christmas secret!

 I haven't stitched in almost a year. Probably last Christmas in fact. But, it's something I really enjoy doing while my husband watches TV at night. So I dug everything out, found the pattern I wanted to use, fabric and floss and I'm stitching away!!

The Beauty Of Fall

It's a chilly 32 degrees this morning.  A beautiful sunrise and frost on the pumpkin!
 My kind of weather.  I'm a cool weather person!
 It's time to show a few fall pictures.

beautiful leaves and gorgeous blue sky

Black-Eyed Susan

my favorite fall flower

yellow mums

mums and pumpkins

fall decorations

the picture is blurry I took it out of the car window

this breakfast just looked like fall

English muffin, almond butter, and Mayhaw jelly

Not fall colors. But a sure sign of cooler weather.

Me wearing slippers around the house instead of my usual bare feet.

Enjoy fall!

Don't take it for granted.

It will soon be gone!

Treasures on Thursday

SHOES

 Tiny and Sweet

My Shoes

In the 50's if was very popular to have your baby shoes bronzed.

They were then attached to a base with a photo frame. The frame deteriorated but Mom kept the shoes. 

My Daughter's Shoes

Sweet memories of  her on Sunday morning with her

ruffled little dresses and these little shoes.

My Son's Shoes

He was a chubby little one and was so adorable in the 

little sporty outfit that went with the shoes.

We found these precious little leather shoes in a box of things that belonged to my husband's mother. They melt my heart. Lovely little things with those sweet little buttons. We don't know anything about them. Who wore them or how old they are. But, since they were with her mementos I feel they were special to her.

Vintage shoes fascinate me.

These shoes were in the Jefferson Historical Museum in Texas.

Look at these handmade shoes. Someone put many hours into

fashioning these shoes for this little baby. Maybe his mother or grandmother.

I imagine whoever made them thought of the baby as they made every stitch.

It's very sad that the baby only lived to be only two.

It's funny that I like shoes so much. I don't really

 have many pairs, just the basics.

And, I'd rather go barefoot!!

House Of The Seasons - Jefferson, Texas

Now, let me show you why The House Of The Seasons is so remarkable. Yes, everything in it was beautiful, but this is breath taking. The home takes it’s name from the cupola where each wall contains a different colored stained glass that creates the illusion of the seasons of the year. I wonder what inspired this man to build such a beautiful home.

This picture was taken at sunset. The sun reflecting through the windows shows the beautiful red windows. We heard on our last day that they do leave a light on at night and you can see the colors on each side. I'm sorry we didn't know about that until it was too late.

You look up from the first floor right above the flirting chair through a well-like opening. You can see to the very top of the cupola. If you look close you can see tiny stars painted on the ceiling in the cupola. Stars, of course, because we are in Texas you know! We were told that the young men in the house liked to jump over this railing onto a mattress on the bottom floor. The girls would hang onto the railing and drop. Several lower points of the railing are broken. I hope it was a huge feather mattress, because these were at least 12 - 14 foot ceilings!

Look at this isn't it gorgeous. The dome features hand painted murals depicting four maidens holding baskets of fruit and flowers representing the seasons. The colored glass can play tricks and give off different color illusions, so the artist who did the restoration, had to work for weeks in the middle of the night with a lamp.

About this time we were told that we wouldn't be able to go up into the cupola area. The steps were very narrow and dangerous. We were so disappointed. But, after touring the second floor the lady who was leading the tour said that if we promised not to fall down the stairs we could go up. We couldn't believe we would really have the chance to go to the top. Excited does not adequately describe how we felt. More like ecstatic! As we climbed the stairs every few minutes, our guide would yell back down, "please duck your head, hold the rail and don't fall!"

It was more fabulous than we could have imagined!! This bench sits around the opening. Look how all the colors reflect. Can't you just see someone sitting there in a beautiful gown reading a book or daydreaming.

 

The very top of the cupola. There stars are not very big, just a couple of inches, but they show all the way from the first floor. It's hard to tell, but it's painted blue, with darker blue in the center area and yellow stars.

THE WINDOWS

blue for winter

green for spring

amber for summer

red for fall

And looking down from the the cupola.  GORGEOUS!!

My pictures really don't do it justice. The colors were so vibrant and alive. I felt like I was in a dream world with color swirling all around.

See that Widow's Walk around the copula. We actually got to go out there and wall around. One of the stained glass windows raised. So we just had to duck our heads a little to walk outside. So exciting!!

On the front lawn is the largest magnolia tree in the state of Texas over 200 years old and 90 feet tall. Such a majestic tree for such a grand home

 

My sister and I had the very best time there. We will always cherish the many memories we made on this trip.

Good Bye Jefferson.

House Of The Seasons - Jefferson, Texas

I thought this would be my last post about Jefferson, Texas.  But since I have so much I want to share, I'll break it up in two posts.  I wish I could just publish every picture I took in and around my favorite home. But since I took about 90 pictures, that's not possible. So I'll just try to pick a few.

The highlight of my trip was being able to tour the...

HOUSE OF THE SEASONS.

I know I will not find the right words to describe it. How about beautiful! lovely!! splendid!! gorgeous!! exquisite!! magnificent!! marvelous!! awe-inspiring!! majestic!! grand!! Can you tell I got out the thesaurus. But it's true, this house fits all these descriptive words!

A three story house built in 1872 by Col Benjamin H. Epperson a prominent lawyer, political leader, president of the Memphis, El Paso Pacific Railroad (later the Texas and Pacific) , and confidante of Sam Houston. When he built the house, Epperson was listed as one of the wealthiest men in the state. Throughout most of its history, the House Of The Seasons has served as a residence. It has also been used as a boarding house and as the main building of Jefferson College, a World War II veterans' college.


The House is decorated to reflect the interior design fashion of the 1870s. Many pieces of furniture are original to the house, having been purchased from Miss Jeannie Epperson, Ben's daughter, in 1974.

This is the front entryway hall. The piece of furniture in the center is a "flirting chair". The young lady and young gentleman would occupy two seats and the chaperon would sit in the third. It was considered a little risque because the men could see the ladies' neck.

This beautiful ceiling is hand painted on canvas. The original ceiling was covered with sheet rock and damaged too much when the sheet rock was taken down. Enough of the ceiling was salvaged to be recreated on canvas again. There are pieces of the original ceiling framed and hanging in this room.

Gorgeous fireplace. The oval screen in front is metal and is beautifully finished. Bet you can't guess what's it's used for. The ladies of the time wore heavy makeup that had a lot of lead in it. If they sat too close to the fire and became too warm their makeup would run. So this screen was placed to protect their face from the heat.

Most of the windows are original to the house. Older glass has a wavy look to it when you look out. There are many beautifully etched windows in the house. These also have stained glass at the top.

The beds in house were very short. We were told that in this time period the people were much shorter and smaller than we are today. So much beautiful furniture in every room.

You know I like the library. It was a small room with bookshelves down one wall and a desk and chairs across from them. I could barely get of a picture, I'm standing in the hall looking in.

Looking down the stairs from the second floor. I wonder who walked these steps, what they were wearing, and where they were going.

We thought this was interesting molding around these window panes on this door. What's so unusual is, that it was in the back of the house leading out to the porch.

The crowning beauty of the home coming up in my next post!!

Random Photos of Jefferson, Texas

I hope you're not bored with Jefferson, Texas, because here's some more random photos. There is just so much history in the homes, businesses and people. And to think that the residents today are taking the time, money and effort to reconstruct their town. Amazing!

 

We took a ride down the Big Cypress Bayou one afternoon on the Turning Basin Riverboat Tour. Remember it was very hot and humid while we were there, so this was a welcome relief to the heat. It was so beautiful, so peaceful and quiet. John Nance who is a noted historian in Jefferson, was our guide. He told us about the history of the riverboat business along the Bayou, stories about the town, and information about the plants and wildlife of the area. We did get to see several deer in the woods and turtles and snakes in the water.  Too many snakes for me! The boats for touring have history themselves. They were bought in 1985 from Six Flags Over Texas.

We also took a mule and wagon tour of the town. Our guide gave us a wonderful history of the homes and town. I wish I could remember her name she was great. But, I did find out the names of the mules - Pat and Ida. The white house out the front of the wagon is the Schluter House, built in 1856. After the death of several of their children in the house, the family moved. Then, the Schluter house became a boarding house for the wives of riverboat captains. They could see the river from the widow's walk and know when their husband's boat came into town.

Have you ever seen a stop sign like this? It's dated 1926. They are bolted in the center of the brick streets. The back side is raised about three inches so you can see the words as you approach. The back side says "keep right."  I tripped over these several times when crossing the street and not looking down.

There are so many gorgeous homes that have been restored in Jefferson.  You'll find over one hundred buildings in Jefferson that have been awarded historical markers, and there are over forty bed and breakfasts, along with two historic hotels. The restoration began as early as 1940. The Jessie Allen Wise Garden Club began looking at tourism as a way to preserve and promote Jefferson. Thirty-six women belonging to the garden club bought their first house, restored it, and then sold it. They have continued to do this and have restored over 150 homes. They were also helpful in getting a law passed that any new buildings in the historic area would be built to look old.

I wanted to show you a few of the different styles of homes.

Old Presbyterian Manse/Roger's House

It is considered to be the oldest home still intact in Jefferson, Texas. It was built by General James Harrison Rogers, a prominent lawyer in the town. Rogers made his law library available to East Texas lawyers and students who read law in his office.

This is an example of the gardens in Jefferson.

This one is behind the Roger's House.

French Townhouse - 1861

This house has the original tin roof. You can't see it very well, but across the point of the roof the tin is scalloped and decorative.

The Plantation House - 1854

The double staircases leading to the front door were build so the women went up one side and the men the other side. Therefore men could not see the ladies ankles.

Beard House - 1860

Noble A. Birge, one of the first settlers of Jefferson, and a prominent merchant and civic leader built the Beard House.

Captain's Castle

The Captain's Castle, also known as the Rogers-McCasland home, was so named by Captain Thomas J. Rogers, a Confederate officer and local pioneer banker. In the early 1870's, he combined two older houses, one already located on the present site (the back part of the existing structure) and the two story front portion. He moved the front portion across town on log rollers pulled by oxen from down on the river front. The moved portion, built in the 1850's, is said to have been one of the town's most elaborate bawdy houses during its riverboat heydays.

We saw several of these rock homes in town. One of the early citizens wanted to build a home for his son using rock out of a farmers field. The farmer said he could have the rock he wanted, but he would have to take all the rocks in the field. He built a house for his son and then several others. They are beautiful rocks making such pretty houses.

Captain George Todd House - 1893

Capt. George Todd (1839-1913) was a Confederate veteran, ex-district attorney, former state legislator, and senior member of East Texas Bar. He built this home for his family. Descendants still own and preserve the structure.

There were so many homes. I took lots of pictures. But, I'll quit here. There's one more home I want to share, but it will take a whole post because it's the best!!