Show and Tell Friday!

The wonderful Kelli over at "There's no place like home" has started this friday feature, here's what she had to say:

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!" Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, a new antique find, an old love letter. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there's a story behind your special something, that's even better!

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My husband and I are avid sky watchers and we absolutely LOVE astrophotography. We're not great at it, but we have managed to catch some really good shots.

Saturn and you can see the rings on the left side

Jupiter and it's moons

Moon

Sun spot I caught on camera

Night sky

There is nothing like taking the telescopes out on a clear night and watching the sky for hours....we just love it and it's a great family hobby, the kids each have their own little telescope and they enjoy looking for the planets and stars.

Show and Tell Friday!

The wonderful Kelli over at "There's no place like home" has started this friday feature, here's what she had to say:

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!" Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, a new antique find, an old love letter. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there's a story behind your special something, that's even better!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Have you ever been in a dust storm??? I had never in my life been through any until we moved to Arizona. A few months ago on the way back home from shopping we drove through one, it wasn't too bad but still amazing to see.

Yesterday just as we were getting ready to head to the kids school for the Meet the Teacher, a huge dust storm blew through the base. The winds were up to 56 mph and it was hard to see walk through it, you have to keep your eyes closed because that dust really does hurt. It was so bad that it made the news.

Here's the pics I snapped.

And we even made the news:



The kids thought it was awesome but when you're driving it's pretty scary when you can't see 2 feet in front of you. Just another one of nature's amazing things.

Sadly there are still hundreds of people without power from this dust storm.

Show and Tell Friday!

The wonderful Kelli over at "There's no place like home" has started this friday feature, here's what she had to say:

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!" Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, a new antique find, an old love letter. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there's a story behind your special something, that's even better!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

If you've been reading my blog for a while, then you remember that back in May of this year, I went home to South Africa. Home to my family after being away for 10 years. It was wonderful and I brought back so many great memories, but I also brought back some typical African souvenirs for my home.

I thought I would share some with you today.

These glasses were given to us by my brother Miguel and my sister in law Hayley. They are the big five and I just LOVE them!

The big giraffe wooden spoon and fork were given to us by Hayley's mom, Auntie Val. Aren't they just the cutest things? She also gave us some amazing placemats, I'll show you pictures of those another time, I forgot to snap the photos.

We picked up this Giraffe at a local flea market. Seriously, if you love african stuff, you would go absolutely nuts in one of those flea markets.

Couldn't come back without an african drum could we? Curt actually brought back some smaller ones to give as gifts to his Chief at work.

This giraffe painting is waiting to go up on my wall.

The ostrich egg in front, I brought with me when I moved to the States 10 years ago, it not only survived the air trip but it's survived two kids and some military moves LOL

One of the things you'll find a lot of back home, are the vendors selling these oil canvas paintings.

My dad and stepmom got us this one while we were at the coast, they were actually selling these at the hotel we stayed in.

I just need to get some wood framing so that I can hang it up on the wall.

This is one of my favorite pieces from the whole African collection we have. My brother Paul and my sister in law Lilian got us this one, at the same hotel and same vendor as the one above.

Just to give you an idea of how big it is, Jasmine is holding it up from behind and it's completely covering her LOL

It's just gorgeous, I can not wait to get it up on the wall.

So there you have it, just a few of my African Pieces that make me feel closer to home.

Show and Tell Friday!

The wonderful Kelli over at "There's no place like home" has started this friday feature, here's what she had to say:

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!" Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, a new antique find, an old love letter. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there's a story behind your special something, that's even better!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

So today I thought I would show you my husband's jet....his pride and joy, his F-16. My husband is a SSGT in the Air Force, a Crew Chief, a mechanic for these amazing machines. He works extremely hard, sometimes 14 hours a day, Saturdays and Sundays. It's not the first time that he's been called in to work in the middle of the night if one of the jets is broken and has to fly the next day.



It's a mighty powerful experience when you get to step this close near the airplanes, you can't help but be amazed at their power.


It's even better when you see your husband's name on the actual jet, right under the cockpit. The kids were so excited, they couldn't wait to tell everyone.


And sometimes they are rewarded for their hard work.....they get a Jet Ride. Boy was my husband ever excited about this, he was like a little kid in a candy store...a candy store with very big F-16's inside LOL


Here he is before take off

A view from the top....see there in the distance? That's another F-16 taking one of the other crew chiefs for their ride

It's just one of the wonderful perks of being in the military, this and so many other things are what we sacrifice for. And to watch the happiness on my husband's face as he works on HIS jet every day is worth it for me.

Show and Tell Friday!

The wonderful Kelli over at "There's no place like home" has started this friday feature, here's what she had to say:

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!" Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, a new antique find, an old love letter. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there's a story behind your special something, that's even better!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

On the way home from South Africa back in May, one of our stop overs was Amsterdam which is just gorgeous. While sitting around during our 3 hour lay over, waiting for our next flight, we walked around the stores and I couldn't believe just how many things I wanted to bring home with me, but they're expensive and probably would have ended up breaking anyway, so I had to choose something small.

That's when I saw this:

And that is what I brought home, this beautiful little windmill that is hand painted in Holland.

What's great is that they also have a website where you can purchase all sorts of pottery from, I'm not sure how expensive it would be with shipping etc, but I guess I'll wait until we travel to South Africa again next year and purchase something else.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

If you want to join in, just go on over to the wonderful Kelli and add your name to Mr Linky.

Show and Tell Friday!

The wonderful Kelli over at "There's no place like home" has started this friday feature, here's what she had to say:

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!" Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, a new antique find, an old love letter. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there's a story behind your special something, that's even better!

If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your "Show and Tell" on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky.

What I'm showing you today, I already did back on my blog a LONG time ago, but I know that most of you wouldn't have seen it and it bears repeating.

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If you've been visiting my blog for a while you will know how much my Greatgrandmother meant to me, still does. I always think back about the times we spent together, the laughs, the jokes and all that she taught me.

One thing I love doing is cooking, and she did too. I remember spending hours watching her at the stove and learning from her. Those were some of the best moments of my life.

She loved collecting recipes and so do I, so when I was about 15 or 16, we sat down at the kitchen table and cut out recipes from magazines or newspapers to make this little booklet for me. I still have it and it's one of my treasured possessions. Now mind you all the recipes are in portuguese, because, well, because I'm portuguese LOL

Some of the pages are starting to fall apart, and at first I was thinking about redoing it, but then I remembered that my greatgrandmothers hands touched it, she tied the strings for me and I wouldn't DARE undo it. I hope to one day pass it on to my daughter.

Show and Tell Friday!

The wonderful Kelli over at "There's no place like home" has started this friday feature, here's what she had to say:

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!" Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, a new antique find, an old love letter. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there's a story behind your special something, that's even better!

If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your "Show and Tell" on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky.

So I'm going to tell you about something that brings a smile to my face and wonderful warm fuzzy feelings to my heart. This is my bread bag. I know, who uses bread bags nowadays???

But growing up I remember there was always one present in the house and before I left South Africa to move here to the States, I was given this one and I just LOVE it. It's not new, it's an old family one, it has the random fabric yellow stain that you find on old material and you can see that the stitching is very old.

As a matter of fact, if I remember correctly, this bag was used at home in Mozambique, which makes it definitely very old, at LEAST 32 years old.

The word on the front says "Pao" which means Bread in portuguese.

I remember growing up, my greatgrandmother would take the bag and head on out to the bakery, bright and early. She would come home and the smell of warm out of the oven bread just permeated through the house. I remember going to the bag, opening it and just staring at the wonderful portuguese bread that awaited me. The rolls were my favorite, so I would grab one of those for a snack.

Everytime I look at the bag, it reminds me of my wonderful childhood, and who doesn't like having those great memories around huh?

Show and Tell Friday!

I'm horrible at keeping up with meme's and features etc.....I have participated in a few of Kelli's "Show and Tell" Fridays and then I tend to run out of things to share or forget about it while running around chasing kids and dealing with everyday life.

Today I'm going to show you a book that is a true treasure to me.  It's by the Author "Lori foster".  Last year I was working with her, doing graphic designs etc. for her online Cafepress Store.

Lori is one of those book authors that love the fans, love the readers and loves staying in touch with them, she answers the emails and the letters and she makes you feel like your opinion truly does matter.

One day I got a surprise in the mail and boy was I thrilled.....I'm still amazed to this day.

I opened the book and found this:

Signed by the wonderful Lori Foster, but of course the surprise didn't end there because, look what I found on the next page:

WOW!  Yeah imagine my surprise, a book dedicated to me by the very own author, and a WELL known author at that. 

This book has and always will be a treasure to me and it's one of those items that if my house was burning down, it would be under my arm as I run out the door with the family.

If you want to play along, just head on over to the wonderful Kelli's blog "There is no place like Home" and add your name to Mr Linky, while you're there go and check out the other wonderful treasures being shared :)

Show and Tell Friday!!!

The wonderful Kelli over at "There's no place like home" has started this friday feature, here's what she had to say:

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!" Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, a new antique find, an old love letter. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there's a story behind your special something, that's even better!

If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your "Show and Tell" on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky.

It's been two weeks since I've participated, life just got in the way as usual and between packing for a move next week, flying to my MIL's wedding and everything else in between, I didn't get a chance to do this, so I'm glad I have some time to join in today.

Again, this is another treasure I had shared a long time ago on my blog, but it's one that is so near and dear to my heart that it deserves to be shown again, if you've been one of my readers for a long time, you know how much I love and admire my greatgrandmother.

First let me tell you a bit about her. She was born in 1906 and when she was 4 years old her mother died of cancer. Her father then took on the sole responsibility of raising her and her older brother, until he remarried and then had another son. Within a few years, and when her older brother was 29, he was suddenly killed while out fishing. Apparently he was struck by lightning and fell into the ocean. Now my greatgrandma had been cooking and taking care of the house since she was a little girl, around 8 or 9. Her dad had to work so she would make sure he had his meals ready when he got home.
Unfortunately when she was 13 years old, she came home from school only to find her father had hung himself in the kitchen.

Such a tragic life she had and you would have thought it would be enough to keep her down, but it didn't, she was the strongest and most courageous woman I have EVER come across.
She married when she was 16 years old and her husband, my greatgrandpa, was 26. They had a wonderful life together, but he unfortunately also later passed away with cancer when she was just 40 something years old.

My bio was the family matriarch. She pretty much raised me and my brothers while our parents were out working, she cooked meals for sometimes 20 people, took care of the housework, the kids, anything and everything. One of the things I most treasure and remember was her nightly ritual. She would get ready for bed and then sit down, kiss the photo of her husband and pray, then go to sleep. This went on for years and years and years.
She got really sick when she was 94 years old, and I remember the day I left South Africa to come to the States. I kissed her goodbye and gave her a huge hug and told her I loved her, she just smiled back at me so sweetly and said "I love you sandra, you be a good wife and a good mother and I hope to see you someday soon".

That was September 1998!!!
March 24, 1999, I was laying in bed and the phone rang at 5am, it was one of my older brothers and I knew what he was going to say. She passed away a month before Jasmine was born.
My heart still aches for her and I miss her terribly, but I know she's watching over me and the kids.

I will forever be greatful for what she taught me, I am the woman I am today because of HER.
I have a few items that belonged to her, and I treasure them dearly.

This is my greatgrandfather. I have the original jewelry box which contains this pendant. It's so beautiful and I love looking it at it every chance I get. :)

This is an old old old pin that my greatgrandmother used to wear. She passed this on to my daughter Jasmine. I am keeping it for her until she's old enough to take care of it :)



This ring belonged to my greatgrandmother and was given to her by my greatgrandfather. I always loved looking at it, so when she passed away, it was one of the things that came to me. I try not to wear it too often for fear of loosing it. :)


And there you have it, and now I'm in tears again so I'll just skidaddle on out of here :)

Show and Tell Friday!!!

The wonderful Kelli over at "There's no place like home" has started this friday feature, here's what she had to say:

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!" Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, a new antique find, an old love letter. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there's a story behind your special something, that's even better!

If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your "Show and Tell" on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky.

I missed this last week, I had my mother in law visiting and didn't get a chance to come post with you all.

Again this is a treasure I had shared a LONG time ago but none of you were reading my blog back then so I thought I would bring it back and share with you.



It's a handmade silk spanish shawl. It's beautiful all on it's own, but even more so because my grandmother gave it to me. My grandfather (my mom's dad), was a musician, he played guitar for some of the greatest fadistas of Portugal. You can find out more about Fado here.
On one of his trips to Spain, he acquired this Shawl which he gave to my grandmother, and she later on gave to me, years after he had passed away.

Not only is this shawl a gorgeous piece, but the sentiment attached to it is MAJOR. It's like having a small part of my grandfather with me, forever. I first got it in Portugal when I visited my grandmother there, then brought it back home to South Africa, and now to the States. It's one of those items that if the house had to burn down, it would be safely tucked under my arm as I run out the door. :)



It's just gorgeous!

Show and Tell Friday!!!

The wonderful Kelli over at "There's no place like home" has started this friday feature, here's what she had to say:

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!" Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, a new antique find, an old love letter. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there's a story behind your special something, that's even better!

If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your "Show and Tell" on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky.

I actually talked about my treasure back in August of last year but it's so close to my heart that I wanted to share it again for those that didn't read that entry.

Most of you know that we are a military family, so when 9/11 happened, within a few short weeks, less than a month I would say, my hubby was packed and sent out to Qatar. At the time, we had no idea where he was going, he was not allowed to tell us for obvious reasons, and the only reason I knew where he was is because I sort of figured it out......you know how the media is, they blab too much and one of the guys from the base we are stationed at, was killed there. I just put two and two together!!!

Anyway, here is my treasure:


My husband left on a sunday night, right after Jasmine fell asleep for the night. I remember holding him tight and crying my eyes out, I knew I would miss him, but you also have that fear of something happening, especially under the circumstances.

The above picture is of 2 letters, one for me and one for Jasmine. I had no idea that he had written these, but they were in his locker at work with direct instructions that if anything were to happen to him, that those letters were to be handed over to me and our daughter, who was only 2 years old at the time.

When after a few months, he returned, he then gave me the letters and I remember clutching them in my hand, not sure if I could even open them. With his approval, I opened the letters and read them, and then bawled like a baby.

I'm not going to post all that they said, but here is an excerpt:

Sandra:
I hope in my heart you are not reading this, because if you are then I did not make it back. You are my life and always have been.

Jasmine:
I want you to know that I love you!!! I am sorry that I will not be there for your first boyfriend or your first love, I'm sorry I will miss you going to school, I apologize with all my heart baby.

These letters will be with me forever, they are just a reminder of the sacrifices that our soldiers make, and I for one am thankful and blessed that I didn't have to be given these letters by a chaplain driving up to my house. I was able to read them, sitting next to my husband....but the impact of the letters are one which I'll never forget.

Some day, when Jasmine is old enough, I will give her the letter and let her read it, I can already tell you she'll cry like a baby, she is just like her momma cry for everything :)

Until then they are both kept in a special place and a daily reminder of how lucky we are to have our husband here where there are other families dearly missing their husbands, fathers, brothers. My heart goes out to them.

Show and Tell Friday!!!

The wonderful Kelli over at "There's no place like home" has started this friday feature, here's what she had to say:

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!" Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, a new antique find, an old love letter. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there's a story behind your special something, that's even better!

If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your "Show and Tell" on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky.

If you've been reading my blog for a long time, you may remember me talking about my greatgrandmother and what a HUGE influence she was on the woman that I am today.
I'm sure there's times she shakes her head at me and wonders what I'm doing, but I know that deep down she's proud and THAT means the world.


One thing I love doing is cooking, and she did too. I remember spending hours watching her at the stove and learning from her. Those were some of the best moments of my life.

When I was about 15 or 16, we sat down at the kitchen table and together we collected recipes from magazines or newspapers to make this little booklet for me. I still have it and it's one of my treasured possessions. Now mind you all the recipes are in portuguese, because, well, because I'm portuguese LOL



Some of the pages are starting to fall apart, and at first I was thinking about redoing it, but then I remembered that my greatgrandmothers hands touched it, she tied the strings for me and I wouldn't DARE undo it. I hope to one day pass it on to my daughter.