Hi, friends!! I hope everyone is enjoying these last few weeks of summer vacation and enjoying the warmth of the sun and the beauty of each day. Before long these warm summer nights will be fading ever so quickly into the familiar cool fall days and frosty mornings. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE living in a geographical region that has 4 seasons and I truly love each season…and yes, especially winter! I love snow (and CHRISTMAS)!
I have to first apologize for not being as active in my blogging posts these last few weeks. At the end of July, my beloved grandfather who has been one of my guiding lights in life passed away 4 days after turning 95. His unexpected passing, left me to reflect on his life and how fortunate I was to have had him this long, but more importantly how lucky I was to call him Pop Pop. Those reflections shook me to my core and I miss him so much. But I also, want to take his legacy of hard work, his zeal to live each day to the absolute fullest, his knowledge of never ever taking your health for granted, and his optimism for looking to the future with me. He was the only person that could talk to me about biochemical pathways and reactions and how proper nutrition can impact those pathways.
Now, the reason, I mention this is because most people have no knowledge on chemical or biochemical interactions with foods, supplements etc., but my Pop Pop loved every bit of it and equally loved that my background was in Nutritional Sciences so that we could talk about Nutrition forever.
My Pop Pop was an AMAZING man who was so UNBELIEVABLY smart, that many people probably never knew how smart he was because he always remained humble and never wanted that kind of attention on himself. I know of so many people who met him were always left beyond impressed with his wit, his humor, his intelligence, but yet he remained humble. He would rather down play his intelligence than have the attention on him. He loved good clean jokes and always, always remembered the punch line leaving everyone hanging on the last word until all in unison burst out loud laughing at his jokes. He was a brilliant businessman; he knew the value of hard work; you have to work hard in order to be successful and passed those skills and work ethic to his children and grandchildren.
This generation is known as ‘the Greatest Generation’ is all gone in my family. Just like that…it’s gone. Everything that I have always known is now gone. My Pop Pop broke the mold when God made him he was a unique and incredible light in this world. Even though he is gone he will never EVER be forgotten. His blood runs through my veins and hopefully, someday when my husband and I have children, that same blood will course through their veins.
I found a note of his dated a few months ago asking “DID I GIVE ALL I COULD GIVE, ALL I COULD GIVE, IN THE TIME THAT YOU GAVE ME?
Yes, Pop Pop if you only knew the kind of impact you had on your family and everyone around you and the kind of impact you had on me. You made this world a better place and you gave it your all. You may not have known that when you were here on this earth, but I can only hope and I am pretty sure that now you know what kind of gift and honor it was just to know you and love you. You were definitely a light in this world.
After a lot of reflecting, tears, and looking at old pictures and recent pictures of him, I can’t help but feel that this blog of simplicity with lighted glass lanterns and utilizing what you already have, somehow seemed fitting.
When I see any kind of Lantern, I can’t help but think of long ago… a different life time, a different functionality of its purpose. Now, in homes, we use lanterns as a decorating piece or a display of some sort instead a means to guide one safely home. So, I wanted to utilize items I already had in my home to simplify and use some things up and make use of items that would otherwise be sitting on a shelf in my storage room getting no doubt dusty.
So how did I get this design look? I bought this glass lantern at Kirkland’s and I knew that I had the perfect place for it on my kitchen table top. I also had extra green decorative moss from a previous project left over. I simply placed some of the moss inside the lantern and tried to make it evenly dispersed on the bottom so my candle wasn’t lopsided. I placed my leaves candle from Bath and Body Works (one of the absolute favorites). I also had a round wooden plate that I only use for decorative purposes and placed it under the lantern so the glass bottom wasn’t sitting on the wooden top of my brand new kitchen table!
Seriously, that’s it! I was able to use up leftover project material and I now have a beautiful yet simple centerpiece that will carry me right into fall!
LEMONBERRY & FIG 