REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

dia de los muertos the art of remembering - Week Three - Mom and Dad's Wedding

I was the fifth child of Allyn Francis Streur and Emily Ann Huxtable Streur. They were married in July, 1919; my mom was 20 and dad was 19 and they were married in my paternal grandparents home in Holland, MI. Dad liked to say, "Our celluloid collars were melting." 

As part of Rebecca's dia de los muertos the art of remembering project for the month of October, I wanted to recall an event I did not attend but just loved to hear about. Mom died in 1968 and dad in 1979. This wedding picture hangs on a wall near the foot of my bed, so I see them every day just as you see them here. My parents had a tumultuous marriage, to say the least, but they stayed together and I like to remember them this way. 

My maternal grandmother made my mother's dress and it hangs in my closet. I periodically put it on a mannikin so I can see it's beauty and feel what it might have been like on that long ago sultry Michigan day. We had my parents 50th wedding anniversary at our house in Torrance in 1967. Some of mom and dad's relatives, including my uncle Russ, who was my dad's best man, came from the east for the party. 

Life was very hard for my parents, as it was for so many people who met and married in WW I and then faced into the depression. They had five daughters and I am the "baby," age 74, and my mom always introduced me as "her baby," even when I was a married lady with kids myself. 

This is a SoulCollage® card I made for my parents for the community suit several years back. 

I always put my parents wedding photo on my own ofrenda each year. Though they were of Dutch heritage and to the best of my knowledge never heard of dia de los muertos, this day has become part of my own tradition and I've got lots of my Dutch relatives placed in honor there.  

Now here's a slight change of subject, but in a comment last week on Stephanie's blog, I mentioned a book I recently read that was so relevant to our own celebrations this month, so I want to share it here, too. A few people have e-mailed me to say they have read it, too. It is called The Butterflys Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe, and reading it as I began my own remembering time, it was a very special read. 

How Lucky Am I To Have a Job I Love So Much?

Meri at Meri's Musings has a meme on her blog that she calls Share the Joy Thursdays. 

I haven't shared before, but I heard about the challenge on a favorite blog of mine, Rebecca's Recuerda mi Corazon. 

The question Meri asks is, "What brought you joy today?"

I had to say that it was my work as an archivist at Chadwick School where I currently work three days a week. I was the Director of Communications for 16 years before that, and though the archives were part of my job description, I never had time to do it justice. 

Now I do. This is Homecoming Week and there are all kinds of events happening everyday. On Saturday is the classic football parade, Homecoming Court, alumni gatherings at the game, and that evening, while the kids are at the Homecoming Dance, the alumni gather for the annual Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame and a dinner. Four former athletes are being inducted this year from the classes of 1951, 1960, 1965 and 1983. My job is always to make the tribute boards which are on display at the alumni event. 

Preparing begins weeks earlier when the names are announced. I begin researching for photos and writing about the athletes and then I scan everything and print it out. Most alums usually provide background information for me and more current photos to go along with the vintages ones I keep in the archives. 

I am a scrapbooker and the tribute boards really are like giant scrapbooks--and I absolutely love preparing them. So, that's why I'm joyful today. I so enjoy getting to know the alums and their families--then--and now. So, here's the end product of what made me joyful for several days, actually. 

It is such a privilege to work with archival materials and to help unfold the lives of people I usually don't even know. How lucky am I to have a part-time job I love so much? 

 

The Redondo Beach Art Group Presents a Two Weekend Show "Power of Art"

For the next two weekends, the Redondo Beach Art Group will present its dynamite annual art show. We are returning to the old AES Power Plant in Redondo Beach and when you combine this incredible power plant and art, entertainment, food, opportunity drawings, two silent auctions and much more, you won't want to miss it.

If you go to the Redondo Beach Art Group's website, you'll be able to see all the details. I have three pieces of art in different galleries (Meet Me at the Power Plant, Project Earth, and Hidden Redondo) and tonight I'll know whether any of my smaller pieces made the cut for the Jewels gallery.

Pullara Preparations Begin for Dia de Los Muertos

Ah, it's Postcards From Paradise Sunday, but for the month of October Rebecca at Recuerda Mi Corazon has challenged us to share our preparations for Dia de Las Muertos via Dia de Bloglandia. As she says:

"so much more than the art of remembering our loved ones

dia de los muertos

is also a tradition

 that sings to the soul of the living, reminding us to...live wildly

straight from our hearts!"

I had company this weekend and lots to prepare for church, my religious ed class, and filling out paperwork for my pieces that will be in the Redondo Beach Art Group's Power of Art two weekend show, but I managed to do the following. 

Sophia the Art Mannikin asked to be part of the ofrenda this year so she began trying on clothes from her fall collection, settling on this outfit for this week. I did unbox all of the ofrenda materials and we were both delighted to find a vase we had forgotten about. And the sign around her neck actually resides permanently in a bookcase, but she's displaying it for now. 

This is the wreath I made on Friday night. The black wreath itself and the flowers were from Michael's post Halloween sale table last year. The bride skull came from the Dollar Store. 

Last year I bought this papier mache bride and groom at the San Pedro Day of the Dead celebration. On the ofrenda this year it will stand next to the beloved photo of my mom and dad on their wedding day. 

Those of you who know me know that I delight in finding, refurbishing and recycling used stuff--or certainly buying stuff on sale if I possibly can. I picked up this old school chair many years ago and painted it olive green. The metal vase is also many years old, from a Michael's sale table. There is a big dent in the back. Yes, the flowers were post fall on sale many years ago. And you get a peek at the courtyard of our townhouse in the Villa Redondo complex. 

Tonight I hope to have quiet time in the living room to begin writing memories of some of my family, friends and heroes and heroines I admire who have passed on. Death does not end a relationship. 

As Rebecca also says today:

"Dios mio!!!

WAKE UP!!!!!

 live brave, believe in good..

offer change, strive for a better world.

live fervoroso,

burning hot!

 

 

 

Joshua Tree National Park at Sunset

Because I am an archivist at Chadwick School part-time, I catalog many photos each year for historical purposes. I do not feel comfortable ever putting photos here that feature the faces of our students; you can go the website to see the kids. But, whenever our Director of Outdoor Education, Alan Hill, transmits outdoor trip photos, I am always amazed at some of the environmental shots he takes. 

Joshua Tree National Park in California is a wondrous place. When I was a kid, my mom loved to drive on local road trips and so I was first introduced to this area by her. She loved what she called The Lord's Candles, or what I believe are yucca trees that are called Joshua trees. JTNP is a destination for rock climbers and I have been there to see my eldest son and youngest son climb and my two eldest kids climbed there before they were five. It is one of the places Chadwick sudents are taught to climb. 

Here is one of Alan's photos of Joshua trees at sunset. 

Remembering Steve Jobs at Apple Computer

For those of you who read regularly at Sacred Ordinary, you know that the late Steve Jobs was one of my heroes so I felt so sad hearing on NPR as I drove home from work that Steve had died today. I posted this SoulCollage® card I made for Steve in an entry on July 13, 2011 I called "Steve Jobs at Apple Computer." He actually has a place in my SoulCollage Community suit along with beloved family members and other people, living and dead I am grateful for. I wrote there what he meant to me. 

Earlier in the year, Jan. 11, 2011, I made an art journal page for him in another entry called "Get Well Soon, Steve Jobs." In my journals, my art, and my art journals, writing about or creating imaging for loved ones is a kind of prayer, I guess. 

In reading the in-depth articles tonight about him, it makes me realize how little I really knew about him. I just loved his persona, his intellect, his futuristic vision, and how down-to-earth he was. RIP, Steve Jobs. And condolences to his family, colleagues and friends. 

I have seen this commencement speech he gave at Stanford University all over the Internet tonight, but in case you haven't seen it, here it is. He gives me hope that when my own time comes, I'll die as graciously as he did. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dia de le Bloglandia: Preparations for Day of the Dead

Thanks to Rebecca at Recuerda mi Corazon and Stephanie at Mango Studio, this is today's entry for the Dia de la Bloglandia Sunday challenge for the month of October. We are sharing how we are preparing for the celebration of the Day of the Dead--The Art of Remembering. Some of you who are not familiar with this Mexican custom can find out more about it any number of places, but I like this site called Day of the Dead in Mexico. 

I took photos with three of my cameras today of a small treasure Frida skull and since my really good Nikon 35MM DSL is in the shop right now, I thought for sure my handy-dandy new Nikon point and shoot would do great. For some reason I don't understand, all those photos are corrupted because of a truncation and I can't get it to load on my laptop either. So, here I am with all these fancy electronic gadgets and I began to wonder if some voice on high was saying, your little quickie art work isn't meant to be out there. I have spent at least two hours fiddling with all this stuff and am using a photo I'm not particularly pleased with from an old Olympus camera, but here you have it.

Almost all the art I create is made from recycled materials and I picked up this little frame for 25 cents at the Church of Religious Science flea market on Saturday. The Frida image is a rubber stamp I did purchase at the Carson Rubber Stamp Convention this summer. I stamped on the back of an old greeting card and then mounted it on a recycled piece of black cardboard. I colored it with pens and oil pastels.

Why all this frugality with most my art supplies and why am I perpetually critical of all the art work I make? I guess the frugality came from my being raised by parents who suffered greatly in the depression and relocated from Michigan to California with four young daughters--and then along I came, the last unplanned baby. (All were unplanned, mom said, but all were loved.) Times were hard financially for mom and dad even later in my growing up years, but I learned to stretch a dollar until it squeaked. My dad was a sustainable "green" man long before it came into our consciousness and he taught me to take joy in thrift shops as I was growing up. He composted, and grew his own fruits and vegetables, and was convinced the American political system was going to hell in a handbasket. I've just taken the frugality to an extreme throughout my life; it's like a game to me in some ways, but now I am attempting to reduce my carbon footprint and recycle whenever I can--to help save the planet. 

My parents, God rest their souls, and all my ancestors and deceased loved ones, will be honored this year in my ofrenda which I'll put up sometime mid-month. I have found the dollar stores this year to be an especially rich treasure trove of frugal Day of the Dead ephemera. Our monthly SoulCollage group will celebrate Day of the Dead at our next meeting where everyone will bring photos and memorabilia of their beloved dead. We are all bringing a traditional Day of the Dead dish to share. A few of my friends have agreed to go to the big San Pedro Day of the Dead celebration in San Pedro on Oct. 30.  

Why am I so critical of my ability as an artist? I know these are not true assumptions, but I was not educated as an artist and have little innate artistic sense. But, these erroneous thoughts probably come from many teachers I had over the years who told me I didn't have the artist gift--but that I was a gifted writer. I'm so glad I was encouraged in that way. I want to honor those teachers, too, this month of October. I have never honored them before. Thanks, Rebecca and Stephanie.

Some of you have commented in the past that you are uncomfortable with the Day of the Dead festivities, but just remember we are celebrating our deceased loved ones. They are always only a thought away. 

Dia de los Muertos: the Art of Remembering

October is here and that means that Rebecca at Recuerda mi Corazon and Mango Studio's Stephanie at dia de bloglandia are encouraging all of us to remember our deceased loved ones and ancestors in a very special way. 

Rebecca says, "Beginning tomorrow and every Sunday in October Postcards from Paradise will be dedicated to collecting traditions and preparations for Dia de los Muertos.

the heart of this celebration 

is the very act of remembering.

because it is an art, the diversity is limitless.

please join us sundays and bring your

stories, photographs, art work,

memories, traditions, preparations, tutorials,

to encourage and inspire

as we prepare for dia de los muertos and

the blog tradition of

dia de bloglandia.

This will be the fourth year I will put up my own ofrenda and my monthly SoulCollage group is having a special day of celebrating this year. Some of us will also attend San Pedro's Day of the Dead on October 30. I hope you will check out Rebecca and Stephanie's blogs and consider joining in for dia de bloglandia. 

in our tradition,

people die three deaths.

the first death is when our bodies cease to function;

when our hearts no longer beat of their own accord.

when our gaze no longer has a depth or weight,

when the space we occupy slowly loses its meaning.

the second death comes when the body is lowered into the ground,

returned to mother earth, out of sight.

the third death,

the most definitive death,

is when there is no one left alive to remember us.

--victor landa