LaVonn's box

Like Marilyn and Nancy....my sister LaVonn also included things she found at Angie's house she thought I would like in my birthday box.  One of the things that caught her attention was a card Angie had addressed to Paul and me....but never sent.  It had a 44 cent stamp....so it had to have been in 2009...and LaVonn finished the task and sent it along.  Better late than never I always say.

But the best thing she found was an envelope of meticulous cutouts of my kids from photos I sent Angie. She did all kinds of things with these photos and I have a few of her projects.  What fun it was to line them up on the table and try to imagine where her plans were. I can picture her at her dining room table...or in her chair by the window....carefully cutting....or writing....while watching the birds.

Here's a Halloween collage Angie did of the kids a long time ago....and I still put it out every year. Each image of the boys is cut out and layered into a shadow box frame with spacers to give the collage dimension.  It's so clever!

This little cutout of Sam makes me melt.

But the very best thing in LaVonn's box was a bit of a mystery at first.  There was a box within the box....and inside that box was a carefully wrapped dried bouquet. LaVonn knows about my love for all things wabi-sabi....so my first thought was that these were dried flowers from Angie's....and that would have been sweet.  But no...it was way better than that.

If you are a follower of the blog you know I tracked a lone volunteer sunflower plant that grew at the end of LaVonn and Tim's driveway and bloomed long after the others had gone by. I posted about it several times during the various stages.....and I adored it. It was still there when I visited at the end of October.

Then...on New Years Eve the plant finally broke off....a perfect metaphor for closing out 2020. I wrote about it here in a post called "Fitting Ending" 

http://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2020/12/fitting-ending.html

Tim recently did his first lawn mowing of the season....and salvaged a few of the dried faded flowers before the mover chewed the rest up.....and LaVonn sent them to me.  

December 31, 2020 may have been a fitting ending....but THIS....is really the perfect ending. 

Thank you LaVonn and Tim! It's an odd gift....but maybe my favorite one of all!