learning to love you more (assignment no. 53)

Advice to Alissa at age 17:  

1.  You might never again experience the depth of family that you have had at this church you have attended all your life. You will move on to a new spiritual family in 5 years, and it will feel weird at first.  It's not a parting, but an extension.  Good things are ahead.

2.  That boy you like is leading you on.  Just because he acts like he is in love doesn't mean he is.   There are better boys to come, and soon he will be just a "blip" in your story.

3.  Don't lose touch with Jenny.  She is the truest of friends.

4.  Don't fight with Dad about the cereal.  Let him win so he can still feel like he has authority.  Soon you will move out, and you can eat whatever cereal you want.

5.  Rescue all those beautiful relics from the milkhouse on the farm.  One day you will have an eye for vintage items, and daydream about roaming around all those barns full of free antiques.

6.  When Laura finds a new best friend, don't let her go so easily.

7.  Don't let Jeff and Dave make fun of your music.    They think Nickelback is cool!  What do they know?  In ten years, they will just be discovering what you have known all along.

vintage mint sheets

As a 12 year-old kid, I went on a brief foray into the world of stamp collecting.  Mainly I would just carefully steam the stamps off the letters my family would receive, and delicately place them into my wax-paper-lined stamp-collecting book.  At the time it all felt very official, and I would often marvel at the little vignettes and old-school typography.  What a find today, to come across a book full of mint sheets from the late 60s. Given to me years ago by my Grandpa Jantzen (and purchased long before I was born),  the collection is entirely middle-eastern in origin, and worth decidely more than my own initial collection of individual stamps.  I really love the vintage illustrations and fonts, and am already dreaming up ways to showcase them properly in my home.

A sheet of stamps from Israel.

Futuristic images of satellites on these stamps from Ras Al Khaima (United Arab Emirates)

I adore these bright brontosaurus stamps from Fujeira (U.A.E.), dated 1968.

These stamps bear the name, "The Mutawakelite Kingdom of Yemen," and are dated 1967.

I love the rich colour of the portraits featured on these stamps from Dubai, 

celebrating Children's Day, 1968.

Two more sets of stamps from Fujeira (U.A.E.) featuring weather balloons (?) and locomotives.

These feature a metallic silver background, dated April 1969.

small town, alaska

Some of my favourite small towns are in Alaska.  I've travelled there numerous times, as a crew member of the Dawn Princess, and in my travels with friends and family.  From the sweetest used record store I've ever visited, to the candy store (aptly named, Ketchicandies; be sure to get some of the chocolate-dipped Oreos) to the sweet hikes overlooking the salmon ladder and fridgid ocean vistas, I like everything about these towns.  

learning to love you more (assignment no. 42)

5 events from1984:

1.   Eating popsicles on the porch with Mom on a sundrenched august afternoon.

2.   Getting my first pair of (really big!) glasses and actually seeing stuff.

3.   Dancing to Beach Boys songs in the living room with Jeff.

     4.   Wandering onto the kill floor of a local butcher, and seeing a live cow hanging upside down from a hook in the ceiling by its tail.

     5.  Asking Jesus to 'come into my heart' on the brown couch with Dad, after asking him how someone could fit inside there.