Gratitude & Little Henry

After somewhat of a drought this summer, I'm happy to report I've felt a :: RUSH :: of creativity over the last week or so, and have been busily working in my art journals, being open to the process and letting the creativity f.l.o.w.

I also attribute my continued affection toward art journaling to the amazing wealth of inpiration I find in my artist friends:

• Effy Wild
• Samie Kira
• Stephanie Gagos
• Tamara Laporte

..spending time catching up on their amazing work through their blogs, facebook groups and social websites on NING. Please take a moment to see the WEALTH of information, classes, youtube tutorials, workshops & private coaching that some of them offer!! 

And here's my latest spread about my 17 year-old father's favorite photography subject: his littlest brother, Henry and their family dog circa 1937 ~

Farquhar Family: Julia

Our dear grandmother was an actress & a performer at heart, illustrated by her glamorous pose and the "come-hither" expression in her eyes. Having a great sense of humor, no doubt she was simply joking around for the camera!!

At her happiest on stage, julia was born in an era where good methodist girls did NO SUCH THING! And although I can easily imagine she had dreams of bigger stages, I am grateful that she was able to satisfy at least PART of those dreams by devoting as much time as possible singing in the choir, also as a soprano soloist, acting in church plays, performing piano recitals and even accompanying a silent film or two, I've been told.

PERFORMANCE was the breath in her body, the light in her eyes and the fire in her heart. Sadly she was tied down with 4 young children by the time she was 30 and dealt with much stress and strife in her homelife throughout the decades. I have a strong feeling there was alot more beneath the surface, a true ARTIST, if anyone took the time to really know her. I love her and acknowledge her bright spark and the creative juices that flowed through her veins.

Thank you, mimi, for that part of you... inside of me. XO

Butchers, Mummers & Baseball

...are all part of my family's legacy in the greater Philadelphia/NJ area specifically referring to my grandmother, Julia Kelly Cook's father (she eventually marries into the Farquhar clan) and her three brothers, all pictured below.

A copy of a copy, and still legible, is this article from an unknown Gloucester, NJ periodical of an unknown date, yet it's clearly one of my favorite pieces of family ephemera. Not because it's about an entire town's gratitude for my (paternal great-grandfather's) family's contributions - though that's certainly, quite SPECIAL - but because it gives me a clear sense of

who they were,
what they did,
and what they loved
... all in 1900!

Charles Sr, center, with a hat, surrounded by his family!

Charles Sr is absent from this photo but his three sons are here along with his daughter & his wife. Harry is in the bottom row, next to his sister (my grandmother, Julia), Charles Jr. is in the back row on the right and Martin is next to him. My grandfather, Joseph Willis Farquhar, their brother-in-law, is next to martin. Just behind Julia is Charles Sr's wife, Anna, mother of those amazing children!

(Cook is not only my father's mother's maiden name, of German origin & initially spelled K-O-C-H but also my married name, which is Romanian & spelled C-O-C-A.)

a message just for me!

a message just for me!, a photo by cookievf on Flickr.

Last week I took a short drive with my mother while visiting her in Vermont (following some garage sale signs, actually), came around the bend to a very special "spot" that I shared with my dad in the late 1990's and was greeted by this beautiful tree!

It's located at the base of a long, dirt driveway and at the top is a VERY old, stately home, usually vacant, with a wrap-around porch, orchards, fields of wildflowers, a 180 degree view... and sunsets that would take your BREATH AWAY.

...thanks, dad. xo

A Family's Pride for "Our" WWII Veteran

A little background history on naval aviation in the US:

By the end of WWI, Naval Aviation had firmly established itself as a premier fighting force for our country. At this time, approximately 100 pilots were being trained each month. As the nation entered into WWII, Naval Aviation and Pensacola was again called upon to produce the much needed flight crews to support the war effort. Naval Aviator production grew to over 1000 pilots a month and the Navy's aircraft inventory swelled to over 130,000 aircraft and during 1944, NAS Pensacola trained an all time high of 12,010 pilots that year. It is said that the War in the Pacific was largely won by the heroic actions of Naval Aviators aboard the carriers that wages war both at sea and during the island campaigns supporting the Marines and Army ground forces.

His story:

After college, my father joined the Navy and waited to be called. Upon graduation from Springfield College, with a degree in Phys.Ed., he returned to his hometown in New Jersey and taught the same while coaching Basketball. I recently learned that during this same time, in addition to teaching and coaching, he also travelled the short distance to Philadelphia and was a dance instructor (in his spare time) for Arthur Murray Dance Studio.

When dad was called up, he was selected for Naval Air Primary Flight Training Command, studying long and hard over the next 9 months, to become a pilot. He studied at some of the top universities on the east coast and was eternally grateful for what he called, "a million dollar education!"


Following several months deliberation, it was determined that dad's graduating class would not be needed for active duty, as our military successes increased and there was no longer a need to replace our downed pilots. My father would become a (fighter plane) Flight Instructor. Having gotten his wings, my parents could now go forward with their plans to be married. What a relief my mother must've experienced to learn her new husband would remain stateside and they could live off-base together!


... and they lived happily ever after, married for almost 60 years - xo

Happy Father's Day!

My father was a very special man.

Born 1920 in Brooklyn, NY, John "Jack" Charles Farquhar grew up in Gloucester and Haddonfield, New Jersey. His parents were well-respected in the community and founding members of the methodist church. They were second and third generation immigrants from Scotland and from Germany and those ancestors, like so many, worked their fingers to the bone to ensure that the successive generations THRIVED! For that I am eternally greatful.

In my father's family there was a shoemaker, a seamstress and several business owners: Philadelphia - a few butchers, a whiskey distillery, a textile dye house, a weaving mill for paisley scarves both here and in glasgow, scotland. New Jersey: a bakery in gloucester city, NJ, a grocery store and even a mayor, Samuel T. Murphy, who was also a member of the New Jersey State House of Assembly, Camden County in 1877. (my father's father's mother's father!)

My father was the middle child of five and quickly became a favorite son and brother with his sweet, easy-going nature. A much beloved child, he was filled with confidence and an extremely positive outlook which he maintained throughout the course of his lifetime, spanning 85 years. In addition to his great physical beauty, I can assure you, everyone who came in contact with him sensed his INNER beauty as well!

Dad was a star scout in the Boy Scouts, an accomplished gymnast, baseball and football player, popular with his classmates and voted Class President in his senior year at Haddonfield High School at the tender age of 16!

During the depression years, his parents scraped and saved so that he could attend Springfield College, MA as a Physical Education major. Dad was captain of the (exhibition) gym team, travelling extensively throughout the east coast performing highly stylized routines with a Triple Balance team and the team as a whole. Thanks to his "pack rat" nature, I have his scrapbook from college, his 16 year old Diary, dance cards, post cards along with BOXES of photos and have developed a clear picture of my father as a young man, of which I am extremely proud.

To understand why I have hesitated to write anything in any great detail about my father's life before today, take a look at this list of his interests/accomplishments:

knot tying, astronomy, camping, tree identification, gardening, growing roses, gymnastics, cub/boy scouts, acrobatics, senior HS class president, editor of HS/Camp/Church newspaper, cartoonist, crossword puzzle design, wordsmith, limericks, cloud patterns, Springfield College NEAAU - Tumbling Champion with a silver medal in 1941 and a gold medal in 1939, pilot, flight instructor, squaredance caller, dance instructor, lettered in both HS and college sports, camp counselor, circus acrobat, captain of college gym team, HS basketball coach, ballroom dancer, jazz aficionado, educational jazz radio show host (with parkinson's disease in his late 70's), competition badminton player, senior olympic SILVER MEDALIST (with parkinson's disease in his mid 70's), emcee, learned to ski at age 60, ski instructor to my brother and I (at age 61), spun records for college parties, jazz piano, big band jazz, classical music, "night course" teacher of Jazz Appreciation, son, friend, brother, father, husband, uncle, grandfather...

More pictures and stories to follow!

~ end of Part I ~

hiking near his home in VT with ever-present camera bag

I've been told...

....that I am a very sentimental person and, I suppose, that is why so many posts are reminiscences! Today is no exception!

June 2, 1945 my parents were married SIXTY YEARS AGO today. Even though my dad passed away in 2005, I still call my mom to let her know that I'm thinking of her and have told her I will always celebrate this day in my heart, forever!

They left quite a legacy of love that I'm blessed to be a part of.

I am back to more scanning/restoration of treasured family and ancestor pics. here's one from yesterday..

Treasure found! - I always WISHED I could find a pic of my parents dancing, and surprise! Both of them were "clear-the-floor" ballroom dancers in their day. An accomplished gymnast, Dad taught dance at sumer camp in Maine when he was only 19 years old. He also taught square dancing in the philadelphia area throughout my childhood. Mom, 86, recently told me there was NO WAY she was going to marry a man who couldn't dance ~ and boy, did he have the moves!! ♥