I Needed That... and a Little Bit of History

Until just a few days ago, this is how I kept my pens and pencils on my desk:

Clever, yes... I love that vintage flower frog, and love the idea of using it in this way. But it was not very practical. My pens and pencils were always toppling over, and some were too fat to even fit properly without bending the wires.

Then, on a recent trip to "Oldwill" (as Jack calls it), I found this:

Perfection!

Now, for the history... the people in the photograph are my Great-Grandparents, August Ray and Eunice Pearl (she went by Pearl most of her life, and is the reason we chose Pearl for our Katie's middle name). August and Pearl grew up on neighboring pieces of property in Oklahoma. Their fathers "won" the rights to those pieces of property in the Oklahoma Run. Growing up as neighbors, and classmates in their small country school, and both being part of large families, not only did August and Pearl eventually marry, but one of his brothers married one of her sisters (or maybe it was the other way around, I can't remember).

They later sold their farm and property because of financial difficulties related to drought and the railroad cutting their land in half, and moved out West during the Dust Bowl years, looking for a financially stable place to raise the last of their 9 children. My Grandma has memories of that long, hard trip, with all of their belongings strapped to the car, and the following years being made fun of by other kids because she was an "Okie".

The other branches of my family line immigrated around the turn of the century, so I am a true representation of the Melting Pot that is our Great Country.

In the future, I am planning to design a completely indulgent line of samplers representing the four countries of my Great-Grandmothers (England, Denmark, Norway, and the USA). I'm very excited about the idea, but a bit daunted by the research I'll have to do as well!