The Summer That I Was Ten-

"The summer that I was ten-
Can it be there be there was only one
summer that I was ten? It must
have been a long one then-"

Quote by May Swenson (1919-1995), U.S. poet.

I found this perfect quote for some ATCs I was working on, then got stumped into figuring out where, exactly, was I the summer I was ten? We moved a lot when I was young, and so the best I could come up with was I spent parts of that summer in Yakima, Wash and Fairfield, Wash. The first picture above is the summer I was ten. I'm sitting on our porch in Yakima with my friend. (I'm on the right, and I don't remember my friend's name.) But actually where I lived didn't matter, when I was a kid. The big memorable aspect of that year was that I formed a little darling "club" called the 5 and 10 Club! This club only had two members, me - the 10 year old, and Heidi - the precious 5 year old! For some reason those numbers, 5 and 10, were just so cool in my brain and I had to celebrate our ages with a club. At that time there were already seven children in our family, so for me to single out little Heidi for this club was pretty special for her. I sure wish we had more pictures of our childhood! I'd love one of this club!

Other memories I have about being 10 include the antique wrecked car we had out in our wild back yard! Oh that was fun to play in, and drive! Also, amazingly, I remember that being the year I got excited about studying clouds! That's a great summer memory: being outside with nothing much to do but appreciate the glorious clouds of central Washington. I remember the irrigation creek running through our property (we could NOT drink from that water, and I had no idea why!).... my pen pals.... the paths we trampled in the tall weeds to make trails....the little worms dangling down from the green apple tree....the bees.... the neighbor boy who would bravely hold a bee...the mosquitoes, and the times I watched closely as the mosquito bit me with that long pipe out of its mouth...the piano, the trumpet, the records blaring, the singing and dancing with all the kids....lots of just playing with kids, each other and friends. The one secret game I played with one of my brothers was "Little Lost Children". On a warm summer night, when no one wanted to play kick-the-can any more, we'd go out and just walk slowly around the outside the house, pretending, being somber, maybe snacking on some dinner leftovers. Oh, the summer I was ten. What a great age to be a kid! And I'll never forget sitting with little Heidi, our backs against her bedroom wall, planning and playing in our sweet "5 and 10 Club."

All these memories came because I couldn't resist entering the Brown Paper Bag ATC swap on Swap-Bot! There's been so much excitement around here lately in the paper bag department, I thought I'd prolong it! Our challenge was to make ATCs using brown paper bags in some way. So, here are my 2 sets of ATCs for my 2 partners. We were only required to make one card for each partner, but I was just having so much fun making little cards today, that I made each lady two. I hope they like them! The photo I chose is used with permission from Playing With Brushes' Flickr site. The retro girl with the chicks is actually a playing card Heidi sent me! The cute dress is from an original dress made by Heidi. Paper bags were fun to use in these cards, and seemed inspirational and unlimited in their usefulness in these cards.

The last picture shows the album I am working on for my daughter, Erica. Here she is on the cover with her new kitten, Sugar Baby! This album is by K & Company, and I'm keeping all pages coordinated with the gentle colors in the paper pad by Brenda Walton. So far I've finished 9 pages and I'm up to the summer of her 3rd grade!