She was lovely. She had the face of an angel, the heart of a true lady. However, I never knew my grandmother. You see, though she died much too young, she lived on through my mother's storytelling. Every evening at dinner, I was sure to sit at table with my grandmother along side me. My mother would often recount routine days, memorable events or little anecdotes about her family. With every turn of the page of the family album, I conversed with my beloved Marie, Maria de Los Angeles, mi abuela.
I had a faint understanding of my grandmother's life and to this day, I am still not sure what she did outside of her domestic duties. She did however dabble in the theatre, singing and perhaps performing for the sheer joy of the stage. Her persona is as faint and delicate as the pink tint that was gently dabbed on her photographs but her beauty is ever so strong in my childhood impressions of this beautiful woman.
Glitter Graphics
She had style and grace. In the following picture, I get a sense that she loved fashion, fun and that she celebrated well. She and my grandfather were a dashing couple...
Personalized Glitter Graphics
Her admiration for theatre, song and dance was handed down to us. I danced in my earlier days, did some theatre and fortunately, there is another beautiful Marie in the family, my stunning cousin Marie from Dancing in Tattered Shoes. Marie is a talented, burgeoning writer and if you want to chuckle and get an idea of the storytelling talent of our family, visit her blog. She was a dancer as well that ventured out into our Spanish heritage through the passionate and colorful world of Flamenco dancing...
To both my grandmother Marie and my cousin, I send you these lovely pink petunias from my garden to celebrate the delicate tint of life that lasts but for a moment however enchants us for an eternity...
Aux deux Maries, je vous aime! Anita
All photos property of Castles Crowns and Cottages. Please do not use these photos without the permission of the owner.
41 comments:
I do so love old hand-colored photographs!!! Thank you! Cathy
These old photographs are wonderful!
Hope all is well!
Love,
LuLu~*xoxo
Good morning Anita, That was a great post....loved the music with the pictures of your grandmother! She looked beautiful but mysterious! I loved how they put the pink tint on the picture. Like you, I had never met my maternal mother but my mother was not yet 4 yrs old when she died. There is only one picture that exists of her and it is one of her as a child. You are very lucky to have such beautiful photographs! ~Hugs, Patti
I love these pictures! I admired the pictures I had already seen of her. :)
In answer to your question, I'd have to say Waterhouse's Blue Ophelia, and Burne-Jones' Depths of the Sea. Don't force me to choose between them, as it would be like choosing between kids ;)
Dearest what beautiful photo's and what a beautiful girl your grandmother was...well, I saw a picture of you and you look like her...!
I love the music to go with the post ...I love spain..its our second home I always say..there is a little town near Sevilla where we hope to live one day..
Have a lovely day..
If you want to see a little photo from Sevilla click on the image on my blog..."lets travel to far away places..;)
How lovely is your posting. All for the love of grandmothers. She is beautiful, it seems that her energy dances off the page and when I added the music it was magical. I have the feeling she knew how to live life with vibrance.
I loved my grandma Mary from Scotland a small town girl and my grandma Anne from Assiniboia Saskatchewan...a wheat farmer. Thus, I received the middle name Mary-Anne.
I love this post! Don't you love the way they used to tint photographs? You have a wonderfully talented family, Anita.
XOXO,
Bonnie
I really love this post. My mother always tried to keep family history alive by telling us stories about the family, the war and so on. I think that is how story tellers like yourself are born. I love to hear about your past and backgrounds, the photos and the music even enhance the story. Thanks for sharing. Have a lovely day!
What a sweet post! I loved hearing about your beautiful grandmother! What a treasure! :)
Thank you for sharing. :)
Oh she is so beautiful. I love old photos. Lovely post by a lovely Lady. **blows kisses** Deborah
Thank you, Anita. I hope that someday I can live up to our grandmother's name. I too have heard stories of her and wished so many times that I had known her. I pray our day to meet her will come when our journey here is through. She was a lovely woman, as are you. I only wish you would have posted a photo of yourself.
By the way, I am working on a short story my father used to share about himself. I'm sure you will see it within the week.
Love,
Marie Elizabeth (thought this signature was most fitting to this post)
Wow Anita,
The photos are amazing!!
How great was your grandmother!
What beauty and grace!!
That must be where you get it!
Thanks for sharing, and for visiting me today!!
Rosemary
Hello my Dear! Thank you for your prayers. We need them. This post is just beautiful. The photos of your grandmother are stunning!!
Hugs to you and Mr. B
Nancy
How beautiful! Your grandparents were a lovely couple indeed! Thanks for sharing such beautiful photos and precious memories:).
Blessings,
Kim
Such a beautiful tribute. Simply lovely and very touching.
Lovely post and pictures were beautiful, petunias are gorgeous too.
xxx
Anita,
Thank you for sharing! I need to upload some pics of my ancestors as well,,,,,,I love your old photographs,,,,and as always, the music!!!You always paint a lovely story my dear!!
Hugs,
Shell
What a lovely tribute to your grandmother Anita. She sounds like she was one special and talented lady. I love how people live on through the stories of their relatives. Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed seeing the pictures. Your grandmother was beautiful!
Mon chere amie!
I loved this post about your grandmother!! What fabulous photos of her, she was gorgeous. Oh to dance to music like that! what a celebration of life Anita. Your words bring her to life for all of us. Thank you so much for sharing her with us!
Bisous, Sherry
She had the spannish eyes...oh, yes...;)
Bonita abuela! Bonita avó! Beautiful grandmother :)
Anita,
Wow, what incredible old photographs. When I was little I used to always go through a large drawer of her old photographs. There is something so magical about them. Your grandmother looks like she knew who she was, and I am sure that she was very talented. The music, the photos and the people take you down your imagination in what could have been.
Karen
So glad to catch your blog while I'm in town for a few days!!! What a wonderful tribute to your lovely grandmother.
YOu're so fortunate to have these family treasures ... my family escaped Germany in WWII, and left everything behind, so I have no visual history of my family.
Enjoy your weekend events!
Anita,
How wonderful to have this heritage and to celebrate it so joyfully!
Merci,
Marjorie
I am in awe. This was beautiful to behold thank-you for sharing these spirits with us. Blessings dear friend.
Hola Anita, lo siento para no te escribir.....Yes, I am still in spain, and have very limited internet access, I am able to get the free wifi in town up on my roof, but it comes and goes with the wind, and I am never sure how long it will be there....so it is kind of a pain, but today seems I was able to have it a bit longer, at least long enough to put an entry in my blog. I come home sunday the 9th, so I will send you off an email toward the end of the week and hopefully we can get together before your busy life starts all over again! Hope you are well!!!
julie
Bonjour Anita!
Wow, these pictures are amazing and this holds special meaning for me. My grandmother was so precious to me, sadly she left this earth 5 years ago. It's nice how our grandmothers still live on through beautiful memories like this.
Hope you are doing well my friend. xOxO deb
Fabulous post!Thanks so much for visiting me today! I have added your name to my give away...
hope you are having a happy day.
xoxo Lidy
Oh, how beautiful she was! What an amazing gift those photos are for you. So much loveliness in your family. Thank you for sharing!
Blessings,
Lorianna
this took a little bunches of creativity ...I so loving the glitter pictures...how'd you do that?
hope you are soaking up summer
Yes, your grandmother and grandfather were a stunning couple. Such beautiful pieces of your history, even with a pink tint.
Blessings,
Christi
Oh my goodness! At first I was just looking at the photos and thinking how lucky you were to get such gorgeous ones, because I tend to find mean looking or stern old women more than anything else. Your photos are such gems! Then I saw it was your grandmother, wow!! She was a beauty.
Hi Anita~
Your blog is lovely! Thank you for all your kind comments and visiting my blog! You brighten my day~ I love these photos...
xoxo Noel from Fanciful
Dearest Anita~ I LOVE your pictures ... it is incredible that you have so many and that she took that many picture during her life. At that time , pictures were not very availabe... and .. just crossed my mind.... do you know why most old pictures the people did not smile? It was because they had to pose for a LONG time, some of these could take 20 minutes before the photographer actually snapped the shot.... I can not imagine holding a smile for all that time...sigh, grin.... she is lovely.... just like her grand-daugther....
Anita,
Thank you for visiting me while I was out of town. I have a little story to tell you too. After dinner one night I asked Eric to take us to "Ben and Jerry's" for ice cream. While we were waiting in line, there was a man in front of us being waited on..OK...get ready...On his right forearm was a tattoo and it read "Pelayo", I thought to myself, isn't that Anita's maiden namez? I wanted to ask him but he was kinda intimidating. But isn't that weird that after all these years we started to correspond and then I see that name out of now where?
Anyways...glad your back blogging and obviously so am I.
tootles,
bunny
Wow! What a beauty your grandmother was! I love the color-touched photos...so pretty.
I didn't have my grandma long enough either...and she lived about a gazillion miles away as well.
Have a wonderful Pink Saturday!
Hugs,
Spencer
What a beautiful woman your grandmother was! The photos are priceless... I can see that you cherish them! Thank you for sharing!
Hugs, Christina
Anita,
We were in Palm Springs CA. We were staying in a very nice resort and the rabbits and roadrunners were everywhere. The man with "Pelayo" on his arm was an older gentlemen, you know the kind...the "Viva La Raza" kind...lol Stay tuned for the unavailing of the dining room, hence all the green decor on my sidebar.
tootles,
bunny
ps. I think you look a lot like your mom, but I can see that your mother resembled your grandmother...beautiful ~
Anita,
Oh what lovely photos and wonderful stories of your grandmother. She was so beautiful. Stunning!
xo Cathy
Gorgeous post!!! What a beautiful way you have with words my friend!
xoxo
Judith~
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