I tried to wander around the house finding all the stuff I’d want to show you if you were wandering around the house with me.
My Great Grandma Teckla was a writer and painter. Here’s a portrait of my mom she did. I have no idea what the characters in the upper right hand corner are, but I’ve noticed them on other things she’s done. Makes me wonder. Also, this is by far one of her worse works, but I love it because it’s my mom painted by her grandma. Or “Grandmother” as Mom calls her.
My mom is a cross-sticher in her spare time. She bought this book full of cat counted-cross-stitch and so the room I’m sleeping in is full of cats. This is my favorite.
Speaking of cats, my dad’s cat (because, let’s be honest, the cat and my dad are inseparable) has a hook so you can hang him for easy storage.
My mom also designed and made this piece for my dad’s mom, my Grandma A. It’s the chorus of a song Grandma A used to sing us to put us to bed and surrounding it are all the things that, in the song, the old woman asked to help her move her pig. Mom matted it in purple, because that was my grandma’s favorite color, and the thread is old thread from my Grandma’s mom.
Just for Exador and Christian, here’s a photo of a vicious pit bull mauling, where Mrs. Wigglebottom, as a puppy, got a hold of my mom’s rocking chair and tried to eat one of the runners.
And last, here is the wheel of the cradle we’ve all been kept in as newborns, for four generations (my grandma D, her sister, my mom, her sisters, all of us cousins on that side, and my nephews).
And here’s the cradle. My Grandma D. was born in 1921, just to let you know how old it is. It’s surprisingly sturdy, but babies tend to outgrow it quickly, as you can imagine. It really is just for tiny babies, before they start to be able to even roll over.
Tiny Cat Pants 
Pound Puppy!
That siamese is pretty. Is it a mix? Look a little thick in the face to be purebred siamese, but it could be.
Dolphin, who knows? My brother was all the time bringing home animals he procured under slightly shady circumstances claiming they were purebred. He may be–he acts like it, more like a dog than a cat–but he’s a lousy representative of the breed. He’s got a couple of white spots and crossed eyes, nothing a breeder would keep in the gene pool.
Was Teckla a missionary? Where did she grow up? (Everything about that painting says “spent time in China as a kid.”)
No. She was the daughter of immigrants–my great great grandmother from Sweden and my great great grand father from German and she grew up in Hyde Park on the south side of Chicago.
I’ll have to ask my mom what she knows about it.
Hmm…she might have been part of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, then, which was part of the settlement house movement and taught classes in fine arts, etc as part of their assimilatory strategies.
Is there any way you can get a clearer picture of the characters?
I could do that. I’ll go get them from both pictures that have them that my mom has hanging up.
That runner from the chair that Mrs. W attacked looks like you could use it to kill vampires.
Siamese are the most dog-like of cats, I’ve read. And it’s true.
And as for Speaking of cats, my dad’s cat … has a hook so you can hang him for easy storage , I am cracking right up. Because if there were white mittens and a white stripe with a big brown belly spot on that cat, you’d think it was mine. Meezers are nuts.
Thank you for the photographic home tour. It made me smile.
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Hi what book is it that has got the ginger cat sitting in the shadow of the window?
Does anyone know where I can get the patern
Hi Simon,
I’m sorry. I don’t. My mom made that over twenty years ago.