My sudden online silence for the last week came from one of those unexpected epochs everyone faces: a family funeral.

My great aunt passed away after a long period of illness and fading. I'm a bit removed from the primary mourning, being a great-niece, but it was nevertheless a week or so of big events and big feelings.

Let me show you a picture of my aunt when she was young. This is my strong, feisty, funny, resourceful, loving great aunt, who was a mother, a widow much too young, a hard worker and, yes, even a lounge singer :-). ( Continued behind the cut. )

I've now been "at home" for two and half years. The tale of why I'm at home is dull and tedious and not anything to worry about. And I fully intend to shoulder my yoke at work once again. This entry is not about why I'm at home nor about me and my professional work. It's about being a homemaker.

I've always enjoyed the past and history and historical clothing, but it's obvious to me that my interest in the mid-20th-century blossomed over the last 2 years, and, on reflection, it's not really a surprise. The kinship I feel with my grandmothers has become a real, solid object.

( More behind the cut )