The Twins Ruffle Some Feathers~BY Gabby Angel

Another fun memory of the twinnies 🙂 I was reading something and noticed a petting zoo advertised  just the other day. That really brought this memory to mind. Some of our adventure and stunts really were quite innocent … But ended up causing us big trouble. This happens to be one of them … Hang on everyone for we are off to the petting zoo 🙂

It was exciting, we were gearing up for a day trip to a petting zoo maybe 50-60 miles away. Autumn and I were about 9 yrs. old, the oldest girls and also the most responsible. 😉 We started out early in the morning, everyone happy and geared up for a fun time. It was just us twinnies and two sisters, Mom and Dad just knew they could handle this one…or so they thought. 🙂 We all were settled in the car, a station wagon of course and singing and doing some chatting on the way…everything going well. Oh yeah, except for several are we there yets and how much longer, and when will we be there ? Finally, we arrived at the petting zoo! We saw so many different animals, got to pet and feed them, pose for pictures with some…Which of course Autumn and I loved, we were a bit of the divas back then when it came to pictures. We especially loved the baby lambs who were soft and made cute sounds.

There was a lot to see and take in…Behaving pretty good so far. OK, well except for a bit of showing off to some of the other visitors who were intrigued by the “twin concept”…Giving us compliments and also Mom and Dad. We were little hams and a tiny bit show offy. Oh my, but I do make us sound vain which we weren’t…we just reveled in the admiration. 😉 It was really only a little dancing about and a few bars of our favorite song…Well, Dad got us calmed right down with “the look” and his promise of some singing on the ride back home.

We finally came to upon our most anticipated animal … The peacocks! The beautiful colors of the male’s feathers caught our eyes and both Autumn and I thought there was something special and magical about the peacocks. We were allowed to give them food, but no petting because they didn’t like that. One minute everything was fine and the next a small ruckus broke out … The twinnies thought it was OK to pick up some feathers from the ground and the peacocks thought not! They just turned on us…Weren’t they are friends? The sounds they were making, the feathers getting ruffled just scared us silly. A few more guides and helpers rolled in to calm things down…The look on Mom and Dad’s faces, we were going to be in some big trouble!

Crying because no feathers were collected and upset at the rumble of it all, the little sisters were pretty good kind of looking at Autumn and I in surprise and maybe disgust perhaps. We were nicely 😉 asked to please move along to the last exhibit, alas with still some sniffling over peacocks gone wild and No Feathers!

Last exhibit was the ponies, we got to pet them and have a little ride…giving Mom and Dad a short break. 😉  It was fun, more pictures, more posing and off to the car to head back home! Autumn and I were only given a short lecture, what a relief because Mom and Dad understood sometimes peacocks really can get excitable after all.

The little sisters fell asleep in the car…Autumn and I were chatting and singing softly with Dad, before we knew our house appeared and another adventure over! 🙂

Twin Rockers BY Gabby Angel

I was dusting and rearranging some things today and focused on my little rocking chair. Again, as so often happens more memories and such loving thoughts came rushing through my mind. A little rocking chair from childhood, so loved and well used! Autumn and I each have one of our own. Loving to have and share memories is so special to me.

It may perhaps touch others reading this and bring back somebody else’s loving memories. We received our little twin rockers when we were between 2-3 years old from our parents. I have a special teddy bear given to me by my husband Dave setting on my little chair. I lost Dave to cancer 8 years ago, so it’s quite a special teddy bear. My little rocking chair just fits so well in my bedroom and makes me smile for both memories. Autumn has hers in her bedroom, too at her own house.

These little rocking chairs gave us so much happiness and many hours of pure joy and fun. We would sit in them as kids, rocking our dolls. Maybe we felt like we were being like Mom in the large rocking chair she used to rock the little sisters as she had done us before them.

It was just sometimes so silly how we attached ourselves to our rocking chairs, pretending all kinds of wild adventures we were rocking off to! These memories are also caught on many home movies and photos. Along with each little sister that came along who received their own little rocking chair, too. Autumn and I being twins and the oldest started out the rocking chair adventures with quite a bang.

Dad, I recall used to get quite the laugh out of us and the pretending. Also, many a time telling us to behave ourselves and tone down the wild rocking. A few times he would take them away for their own time out, as we had our own. One time and I do remember this one clearly. Autumn and I got it in our heads to take our blankets and drape them over the rockers we had turned upside down. We thought it just great fun to create our own secret hideout, Mom and Dad thought otherwise of course. We certainly did keep our parents busy. What one of us didn’t dream up, the other one would. We did proceed to be more careful as time when by, being safe and behaved with those little rocking chairs. After all, parents were usually quite often right!

So many hats were also worn by us twinnies as we rocked. Each hat took us off to another exotic location…We just had a blast rocking ourselves all over the world. I was pondering this thought and wondering if any one else reading this might have their own childhood rockers.

How about it…Anyone care to share? If for no other reason Autumn and I would like reassuring we weren’t the only wild and crazy rocking chair kids! Feel free to leave a comment, please…We twinnies are waiting to hear from you! 🙂

The Jewelry Boxes…Made with Dad’s Love~BY Gabby Angel

The jewelry boxes of which I am speaking were made by our Dad. Autumn and I were going on four years old when he made us each these handcrated Jewelry boxes. So beautiful and special, made with lots of love.

Dad had a worshop where he made things, puttered around refurbishing and creating. It was a hobby, not what he did for a living. I often wondered why not…He was so good at it. When asked he would explain it was his hobby, relaxing and something for pleasure.

These jewelry boxes were being made as a surprise for our 4th birthday. I have mine sitting on one of my dressers in my bedroom. Autumn has hers placed the same way, in her own home. These jewelry boxes have seen us both through the majority of our lives now. I opened mine earlier checking to see if a bracelet I was searching for was in there. It just struck me how many years I have had owned this beautiful piece of handcrafted love. How it had been taken with me on my moves throughout my life. Oh my,  if this jewelry box could only talk, I thought!

It was such a mainstay possession I felt guilty for a moment. Had I ever taken it for granted? Maybe once in a great while but very rarely. When I look at it I see love, so much love from Dad. Our Dad has been gone for 8 years, losing his cancer battle. We miss him terribly, it makes our jewelry boxes all that more cherished. While creating these jewelry boxes for Autumn and I he had to be so careful. We loved popping into his workshop unannounced and checking up on what he was doing. We were just always amazed at what we would find. Also loving to help ,we often took our little brooms and offered to sweep for him. Usually Mom could catch us in time, but not always.

Dad and Mom had been very careful during the time our jewelry boxes were being made. It was a total and complete surprise…They had pulled it off. For once the nosy inquisitive twinnies we could be, didn’t ruin our own special surprise. I remember we both unwrapped these and looked at our very own jewelry boxes…We just both flew to Dad and hugged him tight! Neither Mom or Dad had told us he made the jewelry boxes, we just knew. I laugh thinking of our young selves and some of our silly little secret treasures we placed there. As we grew and the age changed…what those jewelry boxes held. They are special kind of a two part box with a top tray with special niches and up lift that up, there’s a whole large area of space.

I have never seen anything quite like them and of course never will. These were very unique in design and made by Dad…With Love.

It’s OK to Color Outside the Lines… ~BY Gabrielle Angel

Sometimes Autumn and I did color outside the lines. It was OK with our Dad and Mom, too. When we got our first coloring books and crayons, there was a lot of coloring done mostly outside the lines. Could it be some of those pictures just begged to be colored in this fashion?

The nice part was our parents never made a big deal of “perfect coloring” on those pages of a coloring book. Dad and Mom both sat down to color with us, that was always fun. I have such memories of those good times. Autumn and I were both just fascinated with all the colors of crayons to choose from, so many awesome colors! 🙂 We really did share quite nicely I must say, no battles over who got what crayon. In fact, being twins we often helped each other out with this vast array of colors. What would be the best crayon choice, we would discuss these things. It was nice always getting each other’s opinions, it was and still is very nice having a twin sister to do this with. 🙂

Eventually of course we did start to color inside the lines in pictures, that is. Autumn and I seemed to put our own spin on colors and what would look best where.

I was thinking of this earlier today. I had been looking at a collection of pictures given to me over time by my nieces and nephews. I save these things, being sentimental over all their hard works and appreciating the effort they all made. I saw a lot of coloring both inside and outside the lines. Also some very unusual color choices, I liked that. All the nieces and nephews seemed to be free thinkers early on. Yay, that makes me smile and be feeling happy.

The expression “coloring outside the lines”, well to me it means to be free to express yourself. Be different, be unique and be who you are most especially. Dare to dream, think outside the box and of course always stay true to yourself. Those are just a few of the thoughts this expression brings to my mind. I wonder what it makes others think about? Anyone have an opinion or thought? I feel Autumn and I were very blessed from early on in our young twinnie lives.

We had a Dad and Mom who thought it was OK to express ourselves. We twinnies would have turned out so differently if we hadn’t been able to do just that. In chatting with Autumn about that, she agreed.

We also both remembered a birthday card she had given Mom a couple years ago. One of the lines in the card was, “Thanks Mom for telling me it was always OK to color outside the lines”. Leave it to that twinnie to find such a cool card for Mom and one that said such a right on statement.

I think those of us who really do color outside the lines are a bit more happier in this life. That is again my humble opinion only. I am now wondering what  anyone who happens to be reading this happens to think. If you feel like leaving a comment, please do! 🙂

Just Desserts~Written by Gabrielle Angel

I actually was indulging in a small piece of cheesecake with Autumn earlier today. Thinking we both needed a treat I bought us individual slices of pumpkin cheesecake and headed to her house. We both love it, why didn’t I buy a whole cheescake? Very simple, we would be tempted to eat a much larger piece! 😉 That would mean  lots more of exercise time, so I spared us.

Anyway, we got to chatting about desserts in general. Autumn thought it a grand idea for me to write a blog about desserts. I just wrote a blog about pasta recently, am I talking about foods too much perhaps? The pumpkin cheescake is seasonal in our area, yay! Autumn and I both love cheesecakes of all or any variety. Who is with us on this one? I don’t off hand know anyone who doesn’t love cheescake!

Being health conscious, I should say we favor fresh fruit! 😉 Of course I can’t lie, of course we both do love fresh fruit. But to be honest, don’t all of us just like a good dessert?

One of our Dad’s favorite was cream puffs and Mom made these homemade. So many different pies were also a family favorite in our home and brownies(topped with ice cream sometimes). Mom would also make homemade doughnuts, Dad would help her sometimes with those. That leads me to an Italian dessert strufoli, a deep fried dough which was later covered in powdered sugar or honey.

My husband Dave loved apple dumplings and so many other desserts. So not fair, he was tall and thin and could eat whatever he pleased. I know ice cream was Craig’s (Autumn’s late fiance) and eclairs was another.

Autumn and I were chatting about a very minor and few people who didn’t like desserts or sweets. How can people not like chocolate? We actually do know of a couple people who don’t like chocolate…Personally we think there’s something wrong with them! 😉 That is said and meant as our humble opinions only. Everyone is entitled to their own likes and dislikes of course…Of course they are. Anyone reading this care to let us twinnies know if you really don’t like chocolate? We promise not to tease you!

That reminds me of chocolate chip cookies, I believe they have got to be a #1 favorite cookie. I would make a batch a week for my husband Dave, then restrain myself from helping him eat them.

Anyone reading this care to share their favorite dessert with Autumn and I? Also, am I making anyone hungry? 😉 I almost forgot, our Dad also loved Boston Cream Pie and Mom would make that homemade, too. Our parents liked to take a walk each evening together. Dad used to joke about the walk was meant to help burn off those “just desserts” calories. 🙂

Dad really did have a wonderful sense of humor, Autumn and I sure do miss him and his awesome sense of humor. If dessert is being had in Heaven, well then Dad, Dave and Craig are all indulging big time…That makes Autumn and I both have a little laugh. I guess a little laugh should always be served up with “just desserts”…That makes it all that much sweeter! 🙂

What’s Your Favorite Pasta Shape? ~Written by Gabrielle Angel

I know, what a weird question for me to be pondering on. These are the random thoughts that go through my mind, does anyone else get these thoughts? Would anyone care to leave their opinion or let Autumn and I know their favorite pasta shape?

There are so many different shapes of pasta…The possibilities are endless. What got me pondering was making dinner earlier. My dinner was angel hair pasta with a tomato sauce laced with lots of mushrooms. Angel hair pasta’s real Italian name is capellini and does mean literally angel hair, isn’t that interesting? Angel hair is one of my favorite shapes of pasta, being half Italian Autumn and I were raised on pasta. 🙂 Not that this makes either of us experts, but our favorite shapes are pretty much the same. It may be a “twin thing”, but we both adore angel hair pasta.

So many choices, and no we don’t make our own pasta from scratch anymore by the way. I know, shame on us 😉 Other favorite shapes of pasta, let me just name a few. Lasagna, that’s always fun (and we both make a vegetarian version), spagetti (naturally since that is an original), farfalle (which in Italian means butterfly) the bow tie shaped pasta.

One of our Dad‘s favorite recipe he created was made with farfalle. Sorry to say, it’s a family secret so I won’t be sharing. 😉 Just a few of some of our family’s favorites are also tortellini, cavatelli, fiori (which is a flower-shaped pasta and means flowers), manicotti either stuffed with a ricotta cheese mixture or stuffed with meat. I am always intrigued with what the Italian meaning of some of the pastas are.

One of the more interesting pasta is gemelli, it’s a single S-shaped pasta. Guess what it means in Italian? Twins, that is just the coolest thing and just one of those things I just had to toss into this blog. Because of course as everyone knows (or hopefully does know by now) Autumn and I are twins! 🙂

Oh my goodness, so many pasta shapes…There really are just a multitude of them! Autumn and I both also favor the spinach flavored pasta once in awhile, it’s very good but of course not for everyone. I could never get my husband Dave to like it, believe me I did try. His favorite was my very own lasagna.

 So many years have gone by since helping our Mom make homemade ravioli, it really is fun to make. Mom always makes the homemade version. Again shame on Autumn and I, we get ours out of the freezer section. Our Italian Grandma would never have dreamed of strolling to the freezer section! The homemade version was “just the only way” for her. Being a good sport, she never scolded Autumn, me or any other sisters for racing to the freezer section. 🙂 So, as I’ve been rambling on here about different pastas, and I know many, many shapes I never mentioned.

Is this making anyone hungry at all? 😉 Anyone wating to or care to share your thoughts on favorite pasta shapes? Please do, Autumn and I would both be interested! 🙂