Our Grandma Benoit was born Edith Maude Giasson on November 2, 1914 near Aroma Park, Illinois. Her father Frank was of French-Canadien ancestry, like her future husband, and her mother, Josephine Posing, was of Luxemburger ancestry. She had three older sisters—Hazel, Millie and Irene—and two younger brothers, Franklin and George.
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During my visit to Fort Collins, CO in September, my Aunt Pam and I had lunch at one of our favorite places, the Silver Grill. Afterwards we decided to check out the shop next door, Walnut Creek FOCO. It turned out to be everything we love—a mix of vintage and locally-made art, clothing, jewelry, and household items.
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Simon is now 15 and has taken up a hobby dear to my heart, used record shopping. He has a lot of music interests but I’d say he’s most focused on the late 60s and the 70s. He also plans to catalog our family’s collection, which includes not only my own Neil Young and John Prine records, and all of Jim’s records, but also my dad’s and my uncle Mike’s records, and even a few of my mom’s records. Plus a lot of CDs. No surprise that it contains a lot of classic rock.
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Originally published May 23, 2008
I can rarely pass up an unusual purse. This one has been crafted of some kind of wool pompoms and black wire and totally rocks, quite obviously! This is my latest fabulous find at My Sister’s Closet—the consignment store in Edgebrook that, of my favorite secondhand stores that haven’t closed, is my very most favorite.
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About half of the books I’ve read and the TV shows I’ve watched in the past decade could be described as cozy historical series mysteries. It’s comforting to revisit familiar characters over and over. Often inserted into the chapters are descriptions of clothing ensembles and shoes, jewelry and guns inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
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Originally published Nov 11, 2008
Jim and Toni and I went to the 2nd play in our subscription series at Illinois Theatre Center this week—”The Subject Was Roses.” Great acting in a family drama about the blame game. ITC is a unique small suburban Equity theater that has been in their town for 30+ years, headed by producing director Etel Billig, who always entertains. On the back side of the theater, which is in the old downtown shopping center, is a mural that has a cool painting of the Billigs.
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My first job after college was as a Stagebill theater program editor and between drafts I had some down time for my own projects. I discovered girls mystery collectors’ forums and online auctions and decided to make my own website about Nancy Drew and other girls’ mysteries. So I looked at the source code of other websites and taught myself HTML.
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Our collection of holiday ornaments, like all of our possessions, are the combined hand-me-downs of my family, Jim’s family, and things we have acquired in our two decades (!) together. Among my favorites are the Santa and Mrs. Claus that I believe came from my Grandma Judy.
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