Ring out, wild bells

Hi Everybody!

Happy New Year  2017.

We are starting a new challenge for the new year at

Art Journal Journey

and this month the wonderful

ERIKA

is our host. She has chosen the theme

'Every Journal page tells a story', and writes:

*My AJJ theme is a twist on a phrase that we say in the US (not sure about other places, so whether this is a universal phrase or not, I don't know). The saying is "Every picture tells a story" and I am switching it up to  "Every journal page tells a story".  I think we  tell stories all the time, whether we talk about books we've read, movies we've watched, or told someone about an adventure we've had during our day, Our stories come from our past and things we find interesting in our present. Sometimes we even tell stories about our dreams for the future. We describe people we know, those we wish we could meet  or maybe  have just met.  Our stories are often non-fiction, but they can be fiction too. So this month I want to "see" your stories and hopefully get to read a little bit about them too.*

My first page for this theme is a hybrid page, using  a part of

Tennyson's wonderful poem

'Ring out wild bells', which is about the new year:

And now for the story. Last week I actually dusted off some of my 

books - I say some, as I have a lot, too many to dust at 

one time. As I picked up this one  I thought about

my Auntie Clara, a wonderful old lady,

who gave it to me in 1964, more than fifty years ago.

It opened at this page, and thus the idea

for my journal page was born. There is even a little

Bible verse in it, which she probably got

at Sunday school  as a child.

She was an educated, kind and caring lady, and  also my God-mother,

and sent presents every single birthday as 

long as she lived. She had no children of her own,

but a huge family of  God-children.

I spent a week every summer at her house in the country, 

which I much enjoyed. She wrote a dedication in each 

and every book she gave me, and several of my 

glass treasures were also from her.

This was evidently a prize she got at school in 1914,

and is one of my special treasures:

These ducks/geese were given to me by an ex neighbour,

I do not much like them, and they sit on top of the

bookcase in the hall, and look down on people:

I just hope they don't fall on my head one of these days!

These vases are all blown  glass from Bohemia crystal

in the Czech Republic.  They are all etched with pictures of birds, plants or fish.

These lilac ones change colour and look blue in electric light, 

they have a certain mineral in them, 

but I've forgotten what it is! And they are very heavy.

Ha! I just had a light bulb moment and remembered

that it's Alexandrite glass!

!

This is another piece from the 70s:

The glasses from the 1930s belonged to my great 

Auntie Fanny, another very dear person:

These are from the beginning of the 20th century:

 1930's again. This colour was evidently much liked!

These are more space age pieces:

I will put more photos up when I have taken them!

Have a great day - week - month - year!

Take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!