Remembering #4

Yolanda writes this about her mother ~

Antonia Suarez Yrigollen
Born March 21, 1917 died June 26, 2008, age 91.
She was a strong 4 ft. 11 women. She was born in Abilene Texas the oldest of 4. She ruled our house with a firm hand. Here life was hard, because she grow up in the depression, but learned survival skills early in life. My dad said even as little as she was she was spicy hot like a chile when she got mad and could do anything just like a man. She worked on airplanes during the war & she was a wonderful seamstress, crocheter and all around handyman. She never drank or smoked. Always eat the right foods and had a beautiful figure and her appearance was important to her. Always a lady. It's only today that I can appreciate all her warnings about the world and my part in it. When I do anything crafty I see her hands in my hands and see her face. Even though she was a very serious person, when she got older that seemed to melt away and she would let us hug and love on her. She loved See's Candy and would hide it if we gave her a box. I'm blessed to have had her in my life, she taught me self respect and don't give up!

I had the privilege of meeting Mrs. Yrigollen when she was in her 80s. Even at her age, she was a vibrant, beautiful woman. Not only is she missed by her children, but her grandchildren as well. She obviously did a great job as mother and grandmother.

Remembering #3

Patty Blackburn made this lovely altar for her father, Tony Chavez. Just before the Dia de los Muertos event, Patty told us about her dad and why she placed the particular items on the altar. Of special interest to me was the shell casing that was given to Patty from the 21 gun salute at her dad's funeral, the miniature American folded flag, and the Purple Heart she made to represent the real Purple Heart medal that her dad was awarded. The skull to the right of the altar is covered in copies of Tony's obituary. Patty took extraordinary pains to make sure the altar represented her love for her father. This is what Patty wrote about her dad ~

Meliton A. Chavez aka Tony
1929-2007
My Dad was born in Puerto de Luna, New Mexico. He joined the army at 17 and served in WII & Korea & his life was forever changed. He was quiet and kept to himself. My parents moved to California, raised us then eventually moved back home to New Mexico. We really became close when I had my kids, we would talk on the phone often. He loved cars, collecting baseball caps, loved sports and was an avid Lakers fan! Dad was a life long smoker and eventually lost his battle with lung cancer on May 7, 2007.

Remembering #2

Remember always that you are just a visitor here, a traveler passing through. your stay is but short and the moment of your departure unknown. ~Dhammavadaka

Candace Goldwater was an artist and philanthropist. She was also an avid knitter and spent many happy and sometime hilarious hours teaching those of us less talented.

Candace was funny and warm and humble. She seemed to have a great capacity to care about others, but more than anything in the world, she loved her family. She was so talented, but she would much rather showcase other people's talents than her own.

Candace died of breast cancer after battling that disease for many years with everything she had. This is a photo I accidently caught of Stephen, Candace's husband, looking at the mini-altar made in her honor. Even after five years, Stephen misses the love of his life.

Remembering #1

The big day came and went. I think all of us had a transformational experience as the result of building our altar for Dia de los Muertos. If you click on the link, it will take you to an abbreviated slide show of the event.

After we finished putting up the altar at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, we went to a local restaurant for lunch before we had to be back when the exhibits opened to the public. As we sat around the table, each of us shared a bit about the people we honored. Over the next few entries, we will blog about these people, starting first with Brandon Wedel.



Lisa writes that Brandon was born on 2/28/1983 and died 2/19/02. She provides these details ~

Brandon was killed in a car accident, he was riding in the back seat of the car and upon impact broke his neck. Brandon died 9 days before his 19th birthday, so February is a very tough month to get through for our family. Brandon was a free spirit, he could be a real pain in the neck, hard to handle, but would also light up a room when in walked in. He truly lived his fully, even though it wasn't for very long.

Brandon was a fan of music, very diversified from classic rock, reggie, alternative, Merle Haggard and also some classical. The Grateful Dead was one of his favorite bands.

Brandon had friends from all over Bakersfield, each very different and thankfully some very close friends that we still keep in contact with today.

We wish would be for Brandon to still be here with us, because we all miss him, but since that is not possible, my wish is to keep his memory alive and opportunities such as these are perfect, thank you to all of you for the helping me fulfill my wish.

Every year on the anniversary of his death and his birthday, we post a "In Memory Of" ad in the newspaper, this has become a tradition and at that time I ask people to share their stories of Brandon in his Guest Book that is on Legacy.com, this is also very comforting to me, I love to read what people write and it always amazes me that someone is usually always touch by the articles and write in the Guest Book, some don't even know Brandon or our family, but feel like sharing with us their feelings, I think that is awesome and Brandon keeps showing me even in death he still has the power to light up a room.

Staging

To view of slide show of us staging our altar for Dia de los Muertos tomorrow, click on the photo ~



Tomorrow is the big day at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, garden area, between the hours of 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

My heart is my altar

Back in the day when I could still run, a running friend of mine told me one fine morning, "My heart is my altar." She said that she carries it with her everywhere she goes. I thought of that phrase as I was making one of the mini altars that will go on the larger altar for Dia de los Muertos. Here's the completed mini altar for our dear friend, Candace Goldwater.





There aren't too many days that go by that I don't think of Candace. Everytime I pick of a pair of knitting needles, I think of Candace's skill at this art, and her patient tutoring of the novice knitters who had the privilege to "sit and knit" with her.

Candace had a great sense of humor and an eclectic spirituality. I'm sure she will laugh heartily wherever her spirit resides when she sees the yarn on those little toothpicks I turned into knitting needles. And, she would have really laughed if she caught a look at this ~



Not one of our better moments, paper-flower-wise, but I'll bet Candace would tape it to her refrigerator door to show off our efforts.

Getting there ...

Patty's working hard on her part of the project. Here she is at her studio. Intense, isn't she!



Patty completed two of the skulls she was working on and is putting the final touches to another one, plus a mask.



The sequined skull was labor-intensive, but worth the effort. Nice job, Patty!

Here is most of what we have completed. The yellow one on the bottom right was made by Savanah. I thought it was pretty groovy. I'm not sure if you can tell, but she put a spider web in the eye on the right.



Peace, sisters!

Work, work, work

Here's Patty hard at work on one of several skulls she readying for the Dia de los Muertos altar ~



One skull is covered in hundreds of seed beads, with flowers in the eye sockets. As you can see, Patty is painstakingly placing sequins on the other skull. Can't wait to see the finished project.

Here's another skeleton mask and skull of Patty's ~





The bottom skull is covered in obits of Patty's dad that "for some strange reason" she saved over the years. Maybe that strange reason was to decorate an altar. Mmmmmmm, the mysteries never cease.

Finally, here's a photo at my attempt to make a skeleton for my sweet dog, Rusty, who passed away about four years ago. I still miss him. He cocked his head just this way when we talked to him ~

Get along little doggies

Karen spent part of yesterday experimenting with making clay esqueletos del perros -- dog skeletons. I think they're cute!



I plan to work on some of clay skeletons myself this week. It should be interesting!

Friends and Family

The Bakersfield Museum of Art is offering families the chance to put up altars in their lovely garden on November 1st to celebrate Dia de Los Muertos. Several friends and family members decided to get together and put up a large altar in honor of our loved ones who have passed.

We have scurried about researching and gathering materials. Many of us are the artsy/crafty types with a strong eclectic spiritual bent, so this project is right up our alley! In the true spirit of Dia de Los Muertos, we are approaching this project with lots of fun, laughter, and remembrance.

Hopefully, this will not be just a one shot deal. Hopefully, we will gather for years to come to pay tribute on the Day of the Dead to our loved ones who have passed on. I'll be posting a few blog entries with photos and updates on our progress.

Here are a few of the skulls we've been working on today ~