Basement Treasures

Last week, three days of my life were spent unearthing the basement.  I used to vacuum the basement weekly and attend to the cobwebs and little messes that would accumulate.  Over the past three years, however, between the hecticness of life, kitchen construction, and having various visitors living in the basement (humans - not bugs, rodents, or otherwise); the basement has been out-of-sight -- out-of-mind.  When Pete went down to use the bathroom - "the men's room" let's say - he found that I had a bit of leak on the eastern wall most likely due to the large pine tree whose roots reside right next to my house.   This, of course, was going to take some action on my part and part of that was cleaning out the basement just in case there was any ensuing construction in the near future.  More on that in the future - not any time soon.  Anyhow, I cleaned and toiled and labored and what kept me going was finding a few hidden treasures in that dungeon of mine.  Not the expected treasures like my depression glass collection, or a favorite old book, or picture albums, but treasures that had long slipped my mind.

 Cousin Ryan made this turtle for me. 

Isn't it adorable?

 I'm not sure where this doll/figurine came from.  I know that I had it on my shelf in my bedroom as a little girl for a long long long time.  It was really cool to discover that "Haiti" was written on the stand.  It makes me think of the wonderful Haitian friends I made.  I hope and pray that I will be able to return to Port-au-Prince soon. 

I think I was made to be a missionary.  I am most alive and most effective when I serve God this way. 

 Oh these are precious; still in their original frames.  These are my grandparents' wedding photos.  I believe that they were hand painted to achieve the color. 

What a beautiful couple they are.  I miss them greatly.

 In this picture of the wedding party, I believe my Grandfather's brother, Charlie, is in view.  He died on the shores of Normandy. 

 Who could ever forget these dolls?  The two on the left were "snuggle dolls" - pull the string on their backs and they would snuggle away.  On the right, my Mandy doll. 

I'm still a snuggler :)

 This was a really something special to find, my Indian Princess garb.  My name tag "Ishpeming" and my vest with all of the patches.  Dad and I had a grand time in this YMCA program.  I am so glad he decided to do that with me.

 A hand-drawn map of the Maltese Islands given out by the Maltese Bureau of Tourism.  My grandparents gave this to me when I was doing my elementary report on Malta.  The map is really stunning now that I have 'older' and 'wiser' eyes to look at it.  I wonder if Mom and Dad will pick up a new map on their trip to Malta?

 The capital city Valleta.

 The Maltese Cross

The cross is a symbol adopted to remind Christians of our Lord's saving death - and with an empty cross his resurrection! Otherwise it is a quite neutral symbol, often in its form of equal sized arms, used in art due to the symmetry of design. Even as used by Christians, Christian artists have been inspired to produce many variations on the theme. Christian countries used the cross as the main symbol of decorations awarded to those who served the nation.

The Maltese cross, used as an identifying insignia on the habit of the Knights of Malta, was for the purpose of identifying themselves from their enemies. The Knights of Malta, also known as the Knights of St. John or the "hospitialers" was a religious order founded by Amalfitian merchants around the year 1070. The purpose of the order was to aid and care for pilgrims making the journey to the Holy Land. In 1136 the knights became a fully militarized order. The Knights driven out of Syria had been fleeing years of persecution by Islamic forces acquired Malta as their Sovereign Land from Charles V of Spain in 1530. This is the time that the Maltese Cross evolved into the present day form. The cross is described as a white eight pointed cross.

The eight points of the cross are believed to represent the eight vows the knights had to observe:

1) live in truth;
2) have faith;
3) repent of sins;
4) give proof of humility;
5) love justice;
6) be merciful;
7) be sincere and whole hearted;
8) endure persecution.
(courtesy of http://www.choppers.com/iron_cross.asp)

 A portion of the map showing where St. Paul shipwrecked

in 60 AD as described in Acts 27 & 28.

 Two typed letters from Mrs. Gutowsky in 5th grade.  Now that I am a teacher I have NO IDEA - NO CLUE - how she was able to write such personable letters.  I LOVED finding these tucked in my cubby.  She was a phenomenal teacher.  I wish I could tell her today!

 A page from the book I wrote titled, "I Get Scared When. . . "  Apparently I thought I had seen a shark at some point.  For the record, I have never seen a wild shark - not even off the coast of South Africa where Discovery's Shark Week is filmed.  Go Figure.

 A page from the book I wrote about Michigan Apples.  Whenever I have to consider the species/variety of apple I am looking at, this picture still pops in my mind. 

 The whole collection of "warm fuzzy" notes I received on my birthday in second grade.  Mrs. Spiteri certainly had a way of making each of her students feel loved.

 These special notes from Peter who REALLY missed me when I went away to college.  Truth is, I missed him more.

 And the final treasures . . . since this is the "family" blog . . . are a few pages from this book on the things I love.  It still is true today.

Jesus (glad I had my priorities straight)

 My family (Mom, Dad, Myself, Tim

(pete-you were still a twinkle in heaven at that point-1980)

 My grandparents - notice how everyone's hair color was spot-on!

My Aunts and Uncles.

Don't worry cousins, I am sure that I meant my Aunts & Uncles and all of their kids!

So, you just never know what you are going to find in the crevices of the dungeon - there just might be some treasures.  - T

Love the warm weather!!

Faith playing with her camper in the camper! (thanks joy)

1,2,3 GO

Playing in the pool at nanas

In Faith's class at school they learned about growing things and they planted grass now she "cuts it's hair" to keep it maintained. Its so cute!

We have a busy few weeks and i'm sure there will be some more great pictures to show everyone! Love to see more pictures and stories on here! Hope everyone will come up for the 4th this year! Who remembers the water balloon launcher?? What was/is your fav 4th of july experience??

We remember you . . .

on this Memorial Weekend

Marvin Nadeau, Pilot and 2nd Lieutentant, Army Air Corp, World War II

Joseph Apap, US Navy, World War II

Peter Ulrickson, Corporal, Marine Corp, Vietnam War (killed in the line of duty July 9, 1969 in Vietnam)

Charles Apap, PFC, U.S. Army, 134th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division (killed in the line of duty July 15, 1944 in Normandy, France), awarded the purple heart.

Camping Camping Camping

I'm really looking forward to going camping with everyone in July.  Hopefully we will be able to do this each year, we could start a new tradition, wait a minute, it's not a new tradition - it's a revived tradition.  I remember all of those good times when the cousins went camping together.  Do you remember?

I remember . . .

• being at an art fair and buying a Jacob's Ladder and then sitting next to Aunt Carol when a bird pooped on her - it was shocking.
• going to Yellowstone Park and seeing a bear and making a song up about it.  I also remember visitng one of the falls at the park.  It had a big rock formation jutting out from behind the water.  I was 2 years old (Alaina's age) and I kept thinking to myself that I didn't understand why the rock wouldn't fall.
• making Grandma laugh so hard at the "garage sale" jokes that she, well, umm, how should I put this?, tinkled
• touring Lake Superior
• making forts out of Grandma and Grandpa's lounger chairs that bent in two places to make a teepee shape
• celebrating birthdays on the picnic tables
• riding our bikes at the campgrounds
• building big fires together

We had so much fun and I am so excited to see the tradition is being revived and carried on to the next generation.