friends/family | Beth Emmott

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Stand Up To Cancer

September 5th, 2009

For all my friends and family members who have or are fighting cancer:

“In 1938, the March of Dimes asked everyone to give up ten cents to cure polio. It sounded crazy at the time, but it worked. Now we’re launching a drive to collect 10,000 five-dollar donations in four weeks, getting us $50,000 closer to ending cancer. To help us spread the word, please embed this donation widget on your blog, share it on your Facebook page, or e-mail it to all your friends. One person’s five dollars can make a huge difference. To learn more, visit su2c.org at the link below.”

http://www.standup2cancer.org/su2c/five

Jonna

August 22nd, 2009

My nephew, Jonna, will very shortly be deployed to Afghanistan. He expects to see action very soon. It is his choice, how he wants to spend his life. It is not easy for the rest of us, as proud of him as we are. His grandmother’s reaction when she heard he was signing up was, “He’ll be very good, he’s bright, intelligent, can climb trees like a monkey and sit still like a ninja”.
God speed Jonna.
with love.

Strasburg Railroad

August 3rd, 2009

Saturday was hot and we decided to get out of town. Jane and Drew came up and we drove to Strasburg PA in Lancaster to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and the Strasburg Railroad. Bob has been into model trains since he was little—this led to the model building and set construction he does with his photography. I featured his model trains on one of our holiday cards. A chance to see the BIG BOYS has been on the list for a long time.

Oiling the Strasburg train

We also stopped at the Strasburg Train Shop which is a very large model shop, had lunch at the little cafe nearby and drove by the Red Caboose Motel where one could stay overnight in a real caboose if one so desired—we didn’t but it’s something to see. Nearly 50 refurbished cabooses, all painted with their original colors and logos (we’re designers so logo’s are important) set up in the Pennsylvania Dutch country side is a hoot.

Pipes and Terrariums

July 28th, 2009

A few months ago I was going through some old photographs at my mother’s and came across the pictures below of my grandfather, Curtin Hummel Reinhardt (Gramp to me), taken in about 1940.

I knew he was a man who always had hobbies and that when he did he got into them in depth. I knew that he collected fish and when my mother met him he had over 29 aquariums at home, the one in the second picture and the rest in an enclosed porch. I didn’t know he also had terrariums like the one beside him on the table. I believe my father was the photographer, taking pictures of his dad with his things.

Curt Reinhardt with his Terrarium.

Gramp also carved pipes. In this photo he is holding one of them. A picture of my mom, his future daughter in law, is on the table behind him as is a humidor with more of his pipes. (I never saw him smoke a pipe.) Beside him is the terrarium he is working on in the second picture and my Dad’s dog, Muggsy. continued . . .

Bartram’s Garden

July 13th, 2009

There is a wonderful garden in Philadelphia, Bartram’s Garden. It is listed as the Pre-revolutionary Home of John Bartram, Botanist, Naturalist, Explorer—The oldest living botanic garden in America. John Bartram (1699-1777) traveled the eastern North America from Florida to Lake Ontario, collecting plants for his garden. He identified over 200 native plants and was appointed King’s Botanist by King George III.

Saturday Jane and I attended a Botanical Illustration Meet Up at the garden. Artists, mostly botanical illustrators (which I am not—but I was welcomed) come together to draw/paint specimens from the garden. Many worked on cut samples inside where they could study their plants in a more controlled setting.

Jane and I spent most of our time outside—sketching and photographing. It was a most beautiful day, unbelievable for July in Phila. Jane worked on Franklin altamaha, a plant Bartram identified in Georgia in 1765. It now exists only under cultivation—no longer in the wild. I worked on a bed of onions with their wonderful greens twisting every which way and on Oak leaf Hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia, another of Bartram’s discoveries.

Towards the end of the session we joined the group where we worked on Bee Balm, Monarda didyma, which is reported to have been used to make tea by the colonists after the Boston Tea Party. Other supplied blossoms were Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium fistolosum), Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata, also collected by Bartram), Love-In-A-Mist (Nigella damascena) and Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro).

Globe Thistle

Globe Thistle in the garden—the bees were very happy

It’s raining…

November 14th, 2008

Well, we had fun with the Quiltmakers of Boyertown and saw some very beautiful quilts.
As soon as we got in the car we turned on the radio to check on the Phillies and discovered that out in Boyertown we got lots of static—but the Phillies did win the World Series and Obama did win the election. The economy is still a mess but we spent Halloween in Washington – actually Arlington, great party, discovered “Chevapchichi”—Thanks, Vlad and Jeannie. Bob and I had minimalist costumes – I carried a wrench and Bob a candlestick and we went as the game “Clue”. Cooper was Anakin Skywalker and Fletchie was the Hulk!

Happy Halloween!

Our studio is coming along—the semester is almost over—my students drive me nuts sometimes and I’m sure I do them! Actually they are great and keep me on my toes—the future is in good hands!

It’s raining but tomorrow we are going to dinner with friends, known as the Rude People—all the women went to Moore College of Art and Design. This is a different group than the women from Moore with whom I go on Flower Hoaxes but some are the same and all enrich my life.