Frame job completed.......

Some of my handiwork in which I framed this piece last weekend. It is an old document.  It was signed by the Pope for a blessing to the anniversary of a marriage.  It was done in 1959.  I lay in a basement for many years all rolled up tightly.  It took rolling it onto different sizes of tubes to get it to finally flatten out for me.  The material is more of a woven paper and it would spring close fast with great resistance.  The photo was pasted on there with natural glue and allowed the photo to get crumpled as it aged.

This is what was written under the photo when I had one side of it loosened.  I don't know what it means but it is a part of it's history.

Mr. and Mrs. Domo Pagliai  is the name on the document along with Pope John. They were probably some of the Italian immigrants that came into this area to work in the coal mines. There were two large communities of people in the area who lived near the mines.  The owner really had never seen it before now as it was too tight for them to unroll.  I mentioned to him that the painting and lettering was all hand created and he was really excited about it then.

Just for fun I went back and will show you my archived photo of the document before I started.  I had it for months working it out of it's almost permanent shape.

I am framing crocheted names today and I will share them later.  A woman makes these for wedding gifts and she is so sweet I consented to frame a couple more for her. We made it to Tenebrae service last night and are looking forward to Easter service tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by my post.

The Bridge......

Six miles from us is the Des Moines River and stretched across that river is a former railroad bridge.  The bridge was dismantled and the steel sold for a large sum of money. The bridge was a 13 story high bridge.  Funds were found to rebuild a bike bridge across the concrete piers that were left standing.  An art bridge was created and an artist created a decoration that makes you look like you are riding into a coal mine as you cross the bridge.  There were many coal mines along the Des Moines River.  At night all of these beams are lighted and it is really is a tourist attraction.  The bike trail runs over it so we have a lot of bikers in town during the summer.

The frame is an old one given to me for the purpose of mounting this photo of the bridge.  The older gentlemen really didn't know the history of the frame but it was in his attic from his wife's family.

I had to repair one corner of it to clean up a worn down corner.  It wasn't too hard to fix and above you can see it in disrepair.

Being very interested in history, I took shots of the various writing on the back.  I haven't asked the guy if he knew this as a relative or maybe the frame did come from a farm sale bought by his late wife.

The people who framed the original item probably had glass, a photo and cardboard as a backing.  There was nothing in the frame when I received it.  As practiced still today, paper is placed on the back to keep the dust and bugs out of the picture.  You can see that the frame cam from Denver.

Also you can now see that the date was 1918.  The use of a newspaper for paper backing was a good way to date the frame job.

The thing that is now a mystery is that the paper headline looks like the Reds beat someone in baseball.  I don't know it it is the Cards but it is a short word. I am sure sports buffs could find on the internet somewhere the actually game that was played on April 15, 1918.

I am mentoring the new art instructor today and doing tech work on the side.  She needs to spend a day in there to get an understanding of the who, what, when and where of things.



I thank you for stopping by my blog today.

The Garden Colors..........

Our weather has become cool which means the tulips will last a lot longer.  I have had years were ice storms would take them out in a couple of days.

Thanks for stopping by my post today.

Wednesday's Wandering.........

The river birch is shedding a very large section of it's bark.  To think I bought this tree by accident thinking I was going to have a regular birch tree.  It is getting to be very big and it is a great specimen tree.

It is Wednesday already and I am still a transition substitute teacher.  I was notified yesterday that this little gig could last for two more days to two more weeks.  The kids are at least not mad anymore about their regular art teacher moving away with her minister husband to start a new church in South Dakota.

We are having a mass evacuation drill today.  It takes a lot of planning to get a high school and a middle school out of the building in case there was a real bomb threat or a gas link, or a chemical threat.  Everyone rides buses to another location, we count heads continually and report in continually until we finally get back into the classroom.

Have a good day everyone and take care.

The blooms keep coming........

The color and the smell is wonderful in my yard right now.  I sometimes have allergic reactions to these things or a form of asthma.  Each spring it is different for me health wise.  I guess the mowing of the yard is the most damaging to my lungs but that too is varied from year to  year.

I am in the art room again today.  Students were frustrated that their teacher left before the end of the year so they were a little bit testy with me.  So far today they are being a lot better and will survive the change.  I told them that the teacher replacement is coming in a few days so they need to get use to change one more time.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Monday's Mentions..............

Just checking in on a busy day.  I am a transition art teacher for a teacher that left and a new art teacher that has been hired.  I will be in the old art room for about three days before I go back to being sub and tech again.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Sunday's Stuff.......

My pink redbud tree is showing off against the blue sky.  It is hard to photograph these branches close up as the full tree with flowers is so stunning.

The rain caused this flowering bush to fill out with blooms.  Sometimes with flowers, the rain can ruin them, but the moisture really caused the blooms to open.  This is my unidentified shrub that was given to me thirty years ago.

With all the pastel colors on the previous photos, I will end with this peach beauty.  I have only three or four of these and they pop up out in the middle of the orchard area.  I don't know what I was thinking when I  planted them there.

I have a lot of new iris plants coming up now that will eventually bloom for the first time.  I transplanted successfully five peony bushes from my wife's old home on the farm.  They are pushing through quite well.  I also planted the rose bush from my wife's home place that I rescued from a rubble pile. It was still in the bucket in the basement and it was still alive.  I have never seen this rose bloom and it is an old fashion one.

Thanks for st stopping by my post today.  I trust you Sunday will be a restful one.