A Haven for Vee

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Revisiting Mesannie

It was not well visited nor much commented on so I decided to have a giveaway *on this post.* So easy to do when comments are low. In this case, there were 21 comments and two of them were mine. As some of you know, I'm whacky with giveaways. They are often silent giveaways and one doesn't even know that there will be a giveaway. At this point in my blogging, I am not looking for numbers and I like blessing my regular commenters.


In this case, no longer having my darling husband who used to reach into the bowl to select a name (he really enjoyed that), I have resorted to a number generator. My winner is number 7, discounting my own comments. Congratulations to Sue from Pear Tree Lane! 


Contact me, Sue, just to say whether your addy remains the same. I am ordering a paperback copy of The Last of the Saddle Tramps from Amazon using your address as the delivery. Nice and tidy that way. 😇

I loved the book. It was an easy read and is an excellent peek into 1950s Americana from one coast to the other. Mesannie amazed me. The people who helped her along the way amazed me. Her proposal of marriage amazed me and her wonderful animals amazed me. I was struck by the goodness of God to an old woman who saddle tramped from Maine to California with a couple of horses and a trusty dog. And that He granted her so much additional time: twenty-five more years!

Mesannie and Art Linkletter circa 1955 (I think.)

Thank you for revisiting Mesannie with me!






Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Beauty Tips Part Two


Well, my friend, as things in my chemo journey have continued, I find that I am in need of some serious beauty tips. And because I am out of blog fodder, so terribly generous and loving, I am sharing my discoveries.

Disclaimer: Perhaps you should take all this in a spirit of humor and with a great deal of salt because...
1. Here I am this past Monday, aka:Chemo Day #4
2. Heavily diffused
3. On a Steroid High
4. and obviously no expert!

So be forewarned, I am on this steroid high and feeling mighty chatty. My sister was in charge of transportation Monday. Good.  I need not to be driving when I really feel like flying. Seriously, I feel as if I could zip down a runway and take off all by myself. It. is. bizarre. Anyway, at one point, toward the end of our day, she looked at me and said, "You are seriously hyper." No kidding, Sherlock. 😉 I probably should request that my dose be reduced next time.

In my first Beauty Tips post *here,* I shared a couple of videos. This time, I am sharing a Sharon Danley Make Better. While I sometimes cringe over Sharon's self-described "soap box moments," I have really learned a lot from her tips. She is a trained make up artist; I trust her talents.



My current issues:

no hair
no brows
no eyelashes
splotchy chemo skin
uneven lips 
puffy steroid face

I am paying close attention to what Sharon is teaching me. It is going to take me a lot of practice. I have not spent this much time on make-up since I was first learning as a freshman in college. But I do prefer to look human and well. And I don't these days without making my face up. (If you dropped in on me on an ordinary day, you would find me looking pretty awful and perhaps even looking ill.)



I was practicing eyes and lips. Yup. Practice needed. This is my blond wig. Monday (first photo), I wore the salt and pepper wig with flips at the shoulders. This is a bob, which I prefer. I also have a gray halo for wearing with hats. I'll show you that another day.

Here are some of my new, favorite products. Not all were recommended by Sharon.

The Maybelline SuperStay Matte Ink™ is a recommendation from Sharon. In the past, I have tried long-lasting lip color and found it too harsh. This lasts a long, long time, even through meals, and I have had no trouble with chapped lips. I follow Sharon's recommendation to remove it at bedtime and apply Vaseline™ for overnight balm. I use the Bert's Bees™ lip balm as a highlighter in center of lips only for daytime. There are many color options, of course, this is a toffee, though Sharon recommends reds. 

The Color Cleaner was recommended by Rock Star Mom Patti (second beauty video shared on Beauty Tips.) Love this product as it quickly cleans brushes between colors. It comes with a spare pad and one can flip the pad for a total of four sides. The pads can be washed. Of course, this does not eliminate the need to wash brushes every couple of weeks, but it sure helps for switching colors. Patti specifcally recommends Color Switch.™

Dolly Wink™ was recommended by Eyelineher Blog the first video shared on that former post. It is going to take major practice. I prefer hiding my eyebrows under the bangs of my blond wig. I have no brows whatsoever. Some very sparse eyelashes on top lids remain. I think I have one lower eye lash on the left side and two on the right. Ha!


This set of brushes was very cost effective for under $10 at Amazon. I could not be more pleased with them. I have spent far more than that on one brush and these are good quality bristles. I am enjoying them. And I am also enjoying seeing my baby grand from nearly thirteen years ago holding them. I hope that he doesn't see this! He'll kill me. (Not my actual baby grand...big brother Sam grand.)

Lastly, someone, somewhere recommended purchasing a selfie light for iPhones to use for a make-up mirror that's light has gone, as mine has. (Wow! Short memory! It was Sharon Danley on this very video that I have shared. She is able to use hers on a hand-held mirror for close-up checks.)


It charges so requires no batteries

All lit up...just like me!

It does not fit on my make-up mirror so I use a velcro sticker and that works great.

So that's it, my friends. I am working on another post because I had another of my secret giveaways and one of you has already won. You'll have to check in to see if you were the winner. 

Have a great week...don't forget to check in the next day or two. (Two...it's in the can!)













Monday, August 12, 2019

Land of Enchantment

Do you ever spend hours on the WWW following trail after trail? What a silly question to ask of blog readers! 

On one of my recent wanders, I followed a link to Scott Gustafson’s site based on this description: amazing illustrator! 

What greeted me there so charmed me that I immediately asked if I might have permission to use one of Mr. Gustafson’s images. The answer came quickly...yes! Hence I am sharing with you. If you have time to wander today, please visit and see all the wonderful illustrations shown there. You’ll be charmed, as well. 


Welcome to the Land of Enchantment © 1991, Scott Gustafson. Used with permission of the artist. For more information please visit www.scottgustafson.com

*Please enlarge to see the details.

How fun to see so many old favorites...Mother Goose, The Gingerbread Boy (one of my earliest favorites), and look there! It's Paul Bunyan strolling through those far hills. Last I saw him was in Maine.


Now, I would like to ask you a question or two: Do you prefer books with illustrations or are words alone enough? How did you feel about this when you were a child? Do you have a favorite illustrator? A favorite childhood book?

You might be surprised to know that I prefer books with illustrations even at my advanced age. Currently, I am rereading Stillwater Calendar by Gladys Taber.  I am delighted with the illustrations and often look for those matching certain paragraphs and am disappointed when not finding them. I also noticed that some of my favorite adult texts have illustrations...Jan Karon books for example. 

Oh, and if you do visit Scott Gustafson’s site would you be so kind to tell me what illustration you like most? Thanks! 

Many thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Gustafson for their kindness and generosity. 




Friday, August 9, 2019

Of Saddle Tramps and Cemetery Stories

A few days ago, my sister arrived to help me with a big chore. I was feeling better after several days of feeling poorly and so I wanted to power wash the garden room fence.
Exciting stuff! I was really looking forward to it! 



She was about to change into her work clothes when I said, "Of course, we can't wash the fence behind the tomatoes." 

And that's when the day took a different turn. 

Sis was completely unwilling to do any of the project if we couldn't do it all. Honestly, I keep telling you how stubborn she is. 

Now we had an entire day before us and nothing to do except twiddle our thumbs. 

Somehow we decided to go visit the graves. As many of my readers know, I like nothing better than wandering about in a cemetery. I had further interest in visiting the cemetery because John's gravestone is supposed to be set any day now. (It has not yet happened.) I remembered that I wanted to show Sis two graves that have amazing stories. Of course, it is true that every grave is a story, but so many are not ours to tell. The first is an old story ending a hundred years and more ago so I am sharing with you as I did with her.




Grave motifs are very interesting. This anchor is a favorite of mine. (If interested, you can find more about motifs *here.*) There's a lamb below that is also wonderful so, naturally, I didn't photograph it. And that's where the story of the Greene family stone begins...with this little lamb named Dora Belle who died in 1882.

 How we loved our
Little Darling
No human tongue can tell
She was a lovely 
Daughter 
We called her Little 
Belle

In 1885, tragedy struck again when an only son died at 9 months of age. 

John lost a baby boy long years ago. When he showed me this grave, he was particularly moved by the words about little Charles. He thought the family expressed great faith and I think so, too. I also think they expressed great honesty with the words "But God saw fit those hopes to blast..."






The third part of the story ends with the unthinkable when the eldest and last child Ora May passed just weeks later, also in 1885.

That's a whole lot of tragedy for one family to endure.

The Parents


Screen Capture from Find a Grave with further information


I hope one day to meet these folks in Glory. I feel as if I have adopted them as family. I visit them quite often. It makes me happy to know that whatever sorrows they suffered in this life were melted away as they met so long ago "an unbroken family at Jesus' feet."

⚓ ⚓ ⚓

We didn't know the exact location of the other grave with a most fascinating story, but Sis is good with photos and clues and she figured it out easily. (I knew the story, but had long forgotten where the grave actually was.)




Last of the Saddle Tramps? You can see why John and I were so intrigued when we first stumbled upon it. I am not sure how Mesannie pronounced her name, but I pronounce it to rhyme with Bethany. 

A bit of research provided some information. Mesannie lived one town over and around the time I was arriving in the world, she was told by her doctor that she would be leaving it as she had only a few months, perhaps two years, to live.  And that only if she were willing to go home and live a quiet, careful life.

Obviously, Mesannie was a woman with considerable spunk because she said to herself: Nuts to that! If I only have a short time to live, I'm going to do what I want to do! (I have since learned that she felt led of God to do what she had always wanted and set out a fleece before Him to see if it would be okay.)

Using her funds from selling her cucumbers to a pickle factory she bought a horse and struck off for California! There was no one and nothing to keep her in Maine. (Oh I hope that John has met Mesannie in Glory. His mama was probably selling her cucumbers to the same pickle factory back in the day. He loved telling that story.) 

Source: Pixaby



Prior to finding Mesannie's gravestone on one of my jaunts with John, I knew nothing of her nor did he. After some online research, we learned exactly where she had lived. John just so happened to know one of her neighbors and asked him if he had known her. Yes, he had and he called her  "Mess Annie." She was also known by the name given to the road she once lived on seen below. 


Jackass Annie Road

I romantically imagined that we would find an old homestead looking this way...


from Pixaby

Nope. There were many beautiful new homes overlooking the White Mountains, but no old homesteads. Wherever Mesannie lived on that road, the traces are long gone.


By now, I was suggesting ice cream, but Sis had other ideas. She was not willing to let Mesannie go so easily and so 
off we went to the town library where Sis surmised that there would surely be a copy of Mesannie's book. Book? Oh my goodness, yes, Mesannie had written a book of her adventures. Praise be.

We learned that, apparently, there had been a copy of the book, but it mysteriously disappeared and never made its way back to the library. Someone felt that he or she had more of a right to a town story than anyone else. However! The librarian told me that she had a personal copy and, since she knew where to find me, she would allow me to borrow it. (The librarian is my daughter-in-law's boss.)


I won't tell you the rest of the story. Let's just say that you can figure out from her dates that the doctor was proven wrong. Very.


And that's how this post ends...



Oh no. That would be just too mean. Here are a few more pics...



Mesannie Wilkins Heading for California


 Mesannie and Her Crew


The Journey

All this leaves me wondering: what do I really want to do...

What about you? 😉