Tag Archives: marchio

Deb’s Hand Made Smocked Dresses for the Girls

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Hand Made Smocked Dresses by Deborah Fillmer

I am continually amazed at the ability and care Deborah puts into each of her handmade dresses and other creations (see also her Etsy Store). If you are looking for some incredible heirloom quality dresses, or just a casual dress to wear to the Auburn football games (or insert your school name and logo here), I don’t know where you could find a better seamstress (she even creates christening gowns and the like).

Anyway, the above photo was just her latest creation for two of our nieces. Deb worked on these gems for about 3 weeks for a birthday present for Abby and Martha above. I can’t wait to see what she makes next. If you have any thought about getting something for football season don’t wait, there might be a waiting list.

Please Welcome My Nephew to the World of Photo Blogging

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Jacob Marchio Working on His Blog

I’m so excited to see my nephew, Jacob, starting his first blog, so everyone please jump over to his newly created blog at www.JacobMarchio.com and add it to your reader or leave him a nice comment on his first post. After saving up and getting his first Digital SLR camera, a Nikon D3100 (see the post here where we went to pick up his camera), he quickly realized that he wanted a place to post his photos other than his Flickr account page where it is sometimes hard to write in a whole lot of detail.

At this point I have helped a lot of people setup a new blog, but I am not sure I have ever had someone this excited about getting started. His blog will generally be posts about his photography and his interest in astronomy, and for his age, he is quite a talented photographer and astronomer. I am really looking forward to seeing how his blog develops over time, I hope you will check it out from time to time as well and give him some nice encouragement along the way.

Photowalk with My Nephew’s First DSLR a Nikon D3100 Camera :: Friday Feet

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Feet Reflection in the Pond

I think I was just about as excited as he was. Today my nephew and I made the trek over to my favorite store, Best Buy, and picked up his first Nikon DSLR Camera, a Nikon D3100 that he has been saving and working for (you have to love the lady in the background of the Best Buy shot, she was hilarious). My Friday Feet shot was a play on my previous Friday Feet post with my iPhone (Reflections on the Grey Days of Fall in the South :: Friday Feet), with a slightly different flare since my nephew came with me. This photo essay is basically his first few minutes with his new camera. After we did the grand unboxing we took it out on a Photowalk around the back of the property where there is always something new to shoot. My nephew is long on his way to becoming an incredible photographer, especially in the area of astrophotography, can’t wait to see what he can do with the D3100 since he has been using a Canon PowerShot SD1300 IS and taking some incredible shots with that point and shoot.

This time around we came across this orange blob gooey thing on a Cedar tree I had never seen before (see last photo). Turns out it’s called Cedar Apple Rust Fungus. Also known as Gymnosporangium juniper virginianae by genus name from the fungus Scirrhia acicola. Always something new, and apparently we want to keep the Cedar Apple Rust Fungus away from our apple trees in the back yard, good to know.

Jacob at Best Buy with His New Nikon D3100

Jacob with His New Nikon D3100

Nikon D3100 and Spring Thistle Weed

Spring Thistle Weed

Photowalk in the Woods

Water Lily in the Rain

Cedar Apple Rust Fungus

Spring Forward with Faces Ready for Some Warm Weather

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Today is that day, finally, where we get some light back in the day. You rarely hear so many people complain collectively about one thing as you do Daylight Savings Time. I’ve yet to run into someone who loves going back and forth each fall and spring, most would rather just stay on DST to give us a little more light in the day. So why do we continue to go back and forth, messing up everyone’s sleep patterns in the process? I am sure the general population doesn’t think about this, but every time we change, the Church body is the one who takes the brunt of the change on Sunday morning (I’ll forgo a long conversation about that). So why can’t we just do what Phoenix and Indianapolis does; just ignore the change, that would be awesome.

DST is another marker in the year though that reminds us all that Spring is on the way. Today, my photo of the day is my wonderfully photogenic niece, Martha, who makes me forget it is still cold outside right now. If you forgot to change your clock or just slept in today forgoing church, don’t worry, we will hold your spot for next week.

Tick Tock Goes the Clock by Jacques Marciano :: Poem

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Today I have a guest author, one of my nephews (published here under my given pen name for him), graciously offered one of his poems for this Saturday sidenote post. After reading several of his poems I realized that poetry is certainly not dependent on age for elegance and beauty.  My first thought was, not bad at all for a 12 year old poet, but I am not sure age has anything to do with well written poetry.  When Edgar Allan Poe wrote “To Helen” in 1831 he was only 14 years old, and it still to this day it is referred to by some as one of the greatest American lyrical poems ever written.

Tick Tock Goes the Clock was the first of several he offered, which will probably grace these pages for the next few Saturday’s.  I am sure he would appreciate any comments you might want to leave.

Tick Tock Goes the Clock

Tick tock goes the clock,
Twenty-four hours in a day.
Tick tock goes the clock,
Little time do we have to play.
Tick tock goes the clock,
Working, toiling, and laboring.
Tick tock goes the clock,
Getting up in early this morning,
Tick tock goes the clock.
Every second just flies away,
Tick tock goes the clock
Watching the sun’s bright leaving rays,
Tick tock goes the clock.

Abigail Marchio's 6th Birthday Celebrated on the Farm

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Today Abigail turned 6 years old. The Marchio’s had a party for her and everyone had a super time. The party started with Christopher (or daddy as Abby calls him) grilling hot dogs for everyone.

Abby Marchio's 6th Birthday
The Grillmaster at work

There were lots of hot dogs to grill because there were lots of people, i.e. kids there. Gary and Trista Burch and their 6 children were there. They are staying at the farm with for about a week.

Abby Marchio's 6th Birthday
Sarah, Christopher, and Gary

Abby Marchio's 6th Birthday
Joshua Burch, Ansley Burch, Hannah Burch,
Abby, Martha, Trista and Timothy Burch

After hot lunch was over Abigail opened her presents. She received many presents, including a set of painted gardening tools from her brother Jacob, a tea set from ?????, toy horses from her mom, hand knitted socks from her Aunt Deborah, and shoes that light up from her Grandmommy.

Abby Marchio's 6th Birthday
Abby and her new gardening tools

Abby Marchio's 6th Birthday
Abby and her brother Jacob

Abby Marchio's 6th Birthday
Abby and her new tea set

Abby Marchio's 6th Birthday
Abby and her new horses

Abby Marchio's 6th Birthday
Abby with her new socks

Abby Marchio's 6th Birthday
THEY FIT!!!

Abby Marchio's 6th Birthday
Abby with her new shoes

Abby's Opens Her Socks for Her Birthday

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There is no feeling in the world like making a gift for someone and seeing a look of total happiness when they open it and really appreciate it. This is especially true when the look is on a child’s face. Today Abigail Marchio turned 6. Her brother Gabriel gave me some fuzzy yarn for my birthday about a month ago and I used it to decorate the top of the socks that I made for Abigail. Here is the result and her reaction. The pictures don’t need words.

Abby Marchio's Birthday

Abby Marchio's Birthday

Abby Marchio's Birthday

Martha Marchio's 4th Birthday

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Martha turned 4 years old on June 3 and we had a party at the farm. She received lots of presents and had a birthday cake with ice cream in the middle that her mom made. It was delicious! Martha is our niece (#4 in line at the moment) and apparently from the photo below she just came back from the voting booth and voted for Ben Hand. Enjoy the photos….

Martha Marchio's Birthday

Martha Marchio's Birthday
Can you tell she likes her presents?

Martha Marchio's Birthday
She is showing off the headband Auntie Deborah made for her.

Martha Marchio's Birthday
Martha, Daddy and Cake. What could be better?

Meeting William for the First Time and Visiting the Farm

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This past weekend Deborah took a trip to Alabama to meet her new grandson. He is perfect in every way, of course. After arriving in Atlanta on Friday afternoon, she made the drive to Montgomery, AL in time to have dinner with William and his parents. Here he is in his new hats she made for him.

The weekend was extremely busy and included a trip to the Marchio/Fillmer farm so they could meet him as well. The visit was wonderful, until Deborah was leaving and she accidentally backed over the Marchio’s dog Tanya. Miraculously Tanya was unhurt and the children learned a valuable lesson about being around cars that are potentially moving.


Sarah, holding William.


Dale cooking up beanie weanies for lunch.

Sarah and Chris have a beautiful family. Here are some photos of the family and the farm.


Sarah, Jacob, Abby, William, and Sara (William’s mom)


Abby


Martha


Abby and Levi


Gabriel


Isaac


Jacob


Jacob and the goats


Chickens


Deborah, Abby, and Martha

Alabama Heat // From the Marchio's House

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Ahhhhhhh! Alabama in July! The heat, the humidity, the mosquitoes… what more could anyone want? Except perhaps air conditioning. As we celebrated the Fourth of July with family and friends we were reminded of days gone past. Yes, those were the good old days… weren’t they?

Perhaps I should dig up an almanac to check the heat and humidity ratings from 150 years ago. I know when this house was built it had no air conditioning and yet people continued to live here. I’m sure they loved this house as much as I do; and likely they were even hotter than I am. At least I have the power of fans to circulate the heat and give the illusion of cooler air.

As many of you know the AC went out in our car a few weeks ago. We took it into the shop to have it fixed (which luckily only took 2 weeks!) and our AC in the house promptly died. Perhaps the Lord wants to remind us of the blessings of living in the USA where AC is the norm. After all, I could be living in South America with more heat, worse humidity, and mosquitoes the size of my head.

Well, until the Lord sends the funds to fix the AC I think I will just count my blessings- like Isaac. Here sits my sweet happy 6 month old. He is braving the heat by running a fever and an ear infection. Chris has dressed him in the appropriate attire for avoiding heat stroke… a onesie and a wet cloth on the head! Happy Fourth of July from the Marchios! – Sarah