It’s eight weeks today since we lost Carla. I still very much miss my golden girl. I can’t believe it’s almost two months already. Having a puppy is a good distraction, but it’s not the same. And in some ways it makes me miss her more since she was always so good with the pups.
I still miss you, girl. It’s not the same without you…
Memories 7:45 pm
Did I mention we had a patio put in in the last couple of weeks? Well, we did. It’s stamped colored concrete, and, though it was a headache to deal with the “Patio Guy”, it was worth it. We put it to use tonight to have our neighbors over for a cookout. They deserved it. A couple of my neighbors watched the boys for us last weekend so Hubby could put in some face time at work while I was gone. I was very grateful that they stepped up and volunteered when we needed it. I have great neighbors.
It was kind of funny because we pulled our kitchen table outside onto the patio to eat at. We are planning on buying one but hadn’t quite gotten there yet. Our kitchen table worked just fine. Actually it helped us decide which table to get. I think this one. What’s cool is they have folding chairs that match so when we have more company we’ll have more chairs without their taking up lots of space.
We really had a great time. Only lasted a couple of hours, but it was great to chat and eat and watch the 7 kids all play together in the backyard. Kids have such a great time when you let them play as a group. It just amazes me. They are fun to watch.
I thought Hubby might get these posted, but he’s been really busy finishing the basement so the carpet could go in Thursday (yeah! done, beautiful…). So it’s a little past Christmas, but enjoy anyway.
On Christmas Eve we took the boys to church where they had the nativity set up complete with live animals.
So here we go. Animals found in the stable with baby Jesus:
Goats and sheep…sounds about right:
Donkey…maybe the one Mary rode in on:
Camel:
Yak? I’m not sure, but, you know, cow-ish kind of animal…close enough:
But, this. This, I’m sure, is what you’d find in Bethlehem 2012 years ago. I present to you the Christmas Kangaroo:
She’s adorable. And so soft. And great little paws. She’s seven months old. It was really neat to see her and touch her. But as part of the nativity, I’m just not sure about that.
Memories 1:18 pm
Jim from Serotonin Rain was our guest last night on the tail end of his cross country travels. It was a real treat to get to meet and visit with him last night. Lots of interesting discussions last night about churches, accents, computers, and so on. Good stuff.
Here are the guys looking very serious after those heavy discussions about Texas accents.
Thanks for making us one of your stops, Jim. You and your wife are both welcome to come stay if you can talk her into going with you next time. 
Faith and Family and Memories 8:13 pm
Today has been my 34th birthday. It has been a wonderful day. We went to Bob Ev@ns for breakfast as I love their raspberry crepes. (I’ve got to get a new skillet so I can make my own!!!) Then we did a nice long drive out to our favorite apple orchard. There we picked a bag of gala apples. The trees were abundant but because of the sudden abundant rain of the last few days many of the apples were split open like tomatoes do when they get too much rain. We also picked up a box of peaches. Those I will tackle tomorrow to freeze for peach crisp in the dark months. And the boys got to pick out the first small pumpkins of the autumn.
On the way out Sam found a little yellow butterfly on the gravel. He picked it up and carried it to the car and revived it by setting it on his half-eaten apple. The boys watched it stick out its proboscis and suck up some juice. The brought it home and set it outside. It still didn’t survive, which made Sam sad, but we were all moved by his compassion for a tiny yellow butterfly that at least had a chance because of a little boy who noticed him and cared for him.
The afternoon was spent watching the boys catch caterpillars and grasshoppers in the backyard, discovering damage to our young apple trees by the rabbits (the only bad part of the day), making bread, and Brian mowing the lawn. Dinner was grilled shrimp followed by cheesecake most beautifully presented to me on our fine china drizzled with chocolate and strawberry sauces and garnished with homegrown raspberries. Yum!
Brian ran an errand after dinner while I cleaned up and Alex explored the yard some more. He discovered mating monarch butterflies in our tall grass and a large praying mantis. Calls from family and friends wishing me a happy day. Boys put to bed, a walk around the neighborhood and a sit on the back deck watching the most beautiful sunset and being grateful for 34 years and all my many, many countless blessings. I want to hold onto this day-the beauty of it, the joy of it and most of all the blessings of it.
Memories 11:51 am
It sure looks like it by the amount of food in the house. I’m hoping having faith that it’s enough.
I was stressing about all of this a few days ago. I’m feeling much better about it now-especially after doing much of the grocery shopping (one more trip tomorrow) and working on the list of things that need to be done tomorrow and asking people to bring chairs. 60 people ought to be able to entertain themselves, right? And we’ll have the basics for a meal and everyone will bring a little something to contribute. The kids will have some pirate gear to mess with. The dogs will not be able to keep up barking/pestering everyone all night long.
This is going to be fun!
Note: If it’s not obvious from the title sad memories ahead. Please feel free to skip. I do this for me.
When Dave died I added a category called healing. I’m an optimist.
But tonight is just grieving. I suppose it’s part of healing, but tonight it just hurts.
Hubby just left for an HOA meeting (fun, fun). And tonight is the exact kind of night when Dave would call. Brian’s not home. That’s usually when Dave would call. He didn’t mean to. He’d have no idea Brian would be at such and such meeting. I’d talk to Dave for the hour or two it took for Brian to get home and I’d turn the phone over to him when he got home. It just happened that way…a lot.
So many of my memories of Dave are of talking to him. I talked to him a couple weeks before I had Sam. Brian had taken Alex to his dad’s house to spend the weekend to give me a little quiet time before the baby. I was working on a girl baby quilt l which now hangs in my sewing room. We probably talked for two hours while I worked.
I remember our apartment in South Carolina. Brian worked two jobs-electrician by day and newstand clerk by night. Dave often called then…he was touring with a very small theatre company at the time. We were good company for each other. Me in an empty apartment in a town where I hardly knew anyone. Him on the road with a bunch of people he was tired of.
He was touring when Brian and I were married. His parents told Brian that Dave never asked them for help except when it came to our wedding. He told them it was so important to him to get to our wedding. I don’t know what was involved but they obliged. I’m grateful. I remember dancing with him at the reception. He asked so kindly. His mom says she has a packet of pictures Dave took at the wedding to give to us. And a bunch of other stuff he saved that were memories of all four of us. She says we’ll be surprised at what’s in there.
I just miss him…and it hurts.
Memories 8:11 pm
We found out today that Brian’s friend and roommate from college was killed yesterday in a motorcycle accident.
He would have been 33 on Monday.
Dave was a really dear friend to both of us. He’s been part of our lives as long as we’ve been together. He was in our wedding, helped us move from South Carolina to Ohio and then from our apartment into our first house.
He talked…a lot. My mom even remembers that about him. It was hard to get him off the phone. But that made for really good company when Brian would travel. A couple of times Brian had to call my neighbor to check on me because he’d been trying to call and the phone was busy for hours. Oops.
He was the nicest guy. He would do anything for you. He was good with our boys-even gave them some of the best kids books that had been his favorites as a child like Make Way for Ducklings. He liked my lasagne. He’d send Chicago pizza and hot dogs for birthdays and Christmas. He had a good sense of humor. He flew kites with Brian. He loved to grill on his Weber Grill. He had made a ton of friends in his neighborhood. He had gotten big into Renaissance Festivals. Brian met him at one near here last fall and he was all decked out including sword.
He had a little sister, Julie. Julie was born with disabilities, and it was hard being the big brother sometimes. But he loved her and was protective and he was really heartbroken when she passed away a few years ago. Now his parents are without their children. I know them. They had adopted Brian and me. We’d go to visit them when we were up their way. When I think about their pain it breaks my heart and I know I can’t begin to know what it really feels like for them. I think his mom and just recently started to figure out what to do without Julie. She had gone back to teaching. Now who knows.
There are some things that happen that make you say “Life will never be quite the same.” This is one of them.
Comments Off
I don’t know what it was about this Christmas, but it was wonderful! Really. The best in my memory. It was such a delight watching the kids open presents. They both enjoyed it so much and had such a delightful time opening stockings first then the rest of their gifts. They were thrilled to get nearly everything they asked for. And it wasn’t overwhelming either. They didn’t get too much stuff nor did they get much that they won’t play with after a week.
Other wonderful parts were having my parents here to enjoy the festivities. They went to church with us on Christmas Eve. The church even had a live nativity with animals to pet-miniature horse, camels!, a cow, a donkey, chickens, a barn owl and lots of goats and sheep. I’ve never seen such a thing. It made me think about how cushy our hospitals are now.
Christmas dinner was delicious. And everyone had a good day snacking (the kids love m&m’s for Christmas breakfast), relaxing and playing with their gifts.
I think the gifts I received were delightful too. A very cushy spa robe, lots of yummies for the tub (where I retired too after mom and dad went home and the boys went to bed), pretties for the house and a few other treats including homemade truffles made by my Hubby. The day after was a very relaxing day too which included a nap for lots of us, a chance to walk the dogs and a quick trip to the home center where I found a wonderful rug for the family room on clearance! (We’ve been doing a bit of redecorating in the family room to warm it up and make it cozier.)
I feel wonderfully blessed and looking forward to the New Year.
Comments Off
Around Town and Gardening and Memories 12:01 pm
I worked out this morning and then went to our closest Farmer’s Market down in Worthington. This works out because the library we use is down there too so I could make two stops in one. I didn’t pick up too much-green beans to go with fish dinner, beets (which I’ve never made myself, but I’m going to try), a cucumber for salads, tomatos and a half pint of raspberries which weren’t quite as sweet as I’d hoped. Maybe next time I’ll try their golden kind.
I have fond memories of red raspberries. My maternal grandfather had a huge patch of them. I could eat my way through them. Oh, so sweet and sun warmed. He had so many that they would make and bottle raspberry juice. It was almost like a concentrate.
He was an amazing gardner. He had two very large gardens-one at his home in town and another at his cottage in the country. I don’t remember what all he even grew except beans, dill and gooseberries (eww). It is unfortunate that I lost him before I learned to love gardening. I’m sure he could have taught me so much. He had so many that they would make and bottle raspberry juice. It was almost like a concentrate.
I lost my grandmother, too, before I was old enough to appreciate her gifts. They died within 6 months of each other-her first.
But she was a seamstress. She was Polish and was trained there to be a wonderful seamstress (a gourmet cook too, though that was a talent she gave up when she married my grandfather who only liked the peasant food). She ran a bridal shop when my mother was young. Her name was Kazmiera. Her friends called her Casey so it was Casey’s Bridal Shop. She made dresses and did alterations to ones there. She was beautiful when she was young-I have a picture of her with her hair in braids, twisted up on the sides of her head, working in the shop. Somewhere around here I have a matchbook from there too. It was closed when she her heart became too sick. She had one of the first open heart surgeries back in the early 60s, but she was never quite the same after that. Depression, mostly.
But, this morning was about sunshine and friendly vendors who work hard and lovingly to produce what I bought. And then I went to the library. I returned some things and picked up a few more things. I love being able to reserve books on line and then they are waiting for me to check out. But I also wandered around looking for a few other things on my list. I have my husband concerned that he is going to come home to find a bee hive in the backyard as I brought two more books on beekeeping today. Also, some other things. Alex, 5, has discovered Beverly Cleary’s Henry Huggins, so I brought home a couple more of those. Hubby and I are grateful for a break from all things Redwall. We just finished reading him book 7. They are wonderful books, but they all have very similar plots, lots of animals who talk with different accents (Moles say things like “Burr, Okey. Oi’d liken me sum a dat deeper’n'ever pie.”)
It’s wonderful to come home with so many goodies and only have spent a sawbuck.
