Memoirs

It is always fun to be with my granddaughter, Claire, great-grandson, Malik and great granddaughter, Leila.  They go to a wonderful school where their mother and uncle went.  In fact, Mr. Dodge, not only still teaches but was there when my granddaughter, Claire and grandson, Matt went to school.  They have a lovely practice of allowing family to have lunch with their children so Leila asked Wes, Deb and me to join her for lunch.   She buys her lunch but Deb packed cheese and crackers, bit of cold tempeh, apples and grapes and ice tea for us.  Leila brought a girl friend to eat with us and we had a lovely time.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Quiet day.

Grandson-in-law, Shaheed dropped by to say hello and we had a really nice visit.   In the evening, we had a nice dinner at home and then watched movie:  Sunshine Cleaners.   In the past, often ate dinner while watching movie.  Good thing we did not do that tonight as this was about a couple of girls who started a cleaning business and cleaned crime scenes!   Some pretty graphic scenes!

Wes and I went to Mass at nearby St. Patrick’s church and when we got home he and Deb handed me a Mother’s Day card.  Lovely card but most amazing of all was that inside was the agenda for a writer’s summit!  It was a Storyteller’s Summit that the College of Communication and Journalism of the University of Florida had prepared.   There were well known authors, and editors and agents from Florida, Georgia and NYC!   I had a hard time processing the information that Wes and I would being going to spend two days together at a conference for writers!!   I could only stammer my thanks. Read the rest of this entry »

Feel good about the fact that I have made arrangements for what needs to happen at home while I am spending a month with Wes and Deb.   Was rainy weekend and I fretted the plane would have to take off in a storm.  Not to worry; beautiful day with blue skies and lovely puffy white clouds.  Matt arrived in plenty of time.  Yvonne had purchased tickets on line, printed my boarding passes and paid for luggage.   Still, I was just a bit nervous and chatted to Matt the whole time.    Touched down in Charlotte, N.C. and spent a couple of hours touring the airport and getting a bowl of soup before boarding a plane for Gainesville.  Arrived at six to find Wes waiting for me; again a happy drive.   A warm welcome by Deb really was the frosting on the cake.  Out to dinner at the Jones (restaurant) and had a relaxed evening.  So glad that Deb chose to take vacation now as we three can enjoy our time to the max. Read the rest of this entry »

The events of September 11 are etched indelibly into our hearts and minds. We remember the horror and disbelief with which we watched the destruction of the twin towers, the clouds of black smoke billowing above Manhattan as a wave of people sought safety.

Imagine, then, if we could travel back in time to the crucifixion of Christ and be a spectator to those events. I think of the battered body of Christ, shrunken and drained by the pain of His final hours. His hair is matted with blood from the puncture wounds of the crown of thorns so roughly forced upon His head. Every rib stands out in His gaunt frame, and gaping ragged holes tear his wrists and feet. The side wound, where the spear was thrust, is sharper and cleaner. Perhaps it was in the tomb that they lay this broken body on His mother’s lap so that she could mourn quietly and privately for just a little while before they wrapped Him in the burial cloths. Did she think of the first time she held Him, when all soft and sweet in swaddling clothes, He began His journey to do His Father’s will? Her heart almost bursting with sadness, did she also remember how she feared they would lose Him because of Herod’s edict to kill all males under the age of two? The trip to Egypt to escape this massacre must have been a lonely one. With no time to lose, they could not wait for a caravan that would afford them some protection against wild beasts and thieves along the way. They could take little with them, and only had time for a hasty farewell to their loving families. With the memory of the fear of that time, of the sorrow of having to leave loving parents when she was so young, also came the memory of the love and gentleness of Joseph. Of how he would stand with his arm around her shoulders as they both lovingly gazed down upon this perfect infant. How His love and confidence in them shone from His eyes and played upon His lips. Read the rest of this entry »

Leaves of orange and red remind me of a little creature that started out as a ball of rough orange fur and became one of God’s most beautiful creatures. How much he brightened our lives!

It all began when our children were small and we lived in a lovely, old, weather-beaten farm house in the middle of 90 acres. My brother used to love to hunt in the woods on the property and often would stop in for a cup of coffee afterward. At that time, we had four children ranging in age from four to eleven, and we all loved to hear John tell stories. He would often take our youngest, Chris, to pick mushrooms in the nearby woods. He loved to repeat the story of how he showed Chris where bugs had nibbled on some mushrooms. He told Chris if the bugs could safely eat the mushrooms, so could we. Tiny Chris looked pensive and then said, “Unless we find dead bugs.” Read the rest of this entry »

After a wonderful month with loved ones in Gainesville, Florida the time came to return to Ohio.  I had left the cold of Ohio to reach the warmth of spring in Florida.  Upon my return, spring was in full bloom in Ohio so I had the pleasure of two springs this year.  I hated to leave, but knew loved ones were waiting for me here as well, and new adventures to discover awaited me.  Wes had taught me a lot about blogging so now I can keep my blog up to date.

Wes and Deb and I had a wonderful breakfast together my last day with them and I savored the time we had together.  Deb had to leave for work, but Wes and I had another cup of tea and he had to leave at nine for a meeting at school.  Thus, Claire took off from work to drive me to the airport in her Jeep.

Claire and her trusty Jeep

It was a smooth and fun ride and I loved being with her.  When I said I hated to leave, Claire said, “Well, Grandma, this Jeep can turn around any time you want”.  How tempting!  She stayed with me to Security and then with a kiss and a hug left me to continue my adventure. Continue here to read all about my exciting adventures...

In order to have a good garden, we need a good start.  Often the ground is hard and needs to be broken up, hoed and raked before the seeds can be planted.

How like that is our life!  In order to have a beautiful life, we need to cultivate relationships, whether with others or with ourselves.  We need to break through the hard ground of pride or lack of self-esteem.  Just as over the winter, the ground becomes dry and hard, we go through emotional winters that harden us.  This hard layer prevents the seeds of love, compassion and understanding from ever sprouting.  We need to turn this over, break up the clumps of anger, resentment, and hurt.  We need to rake the rocks of despair, disappointment and hopelessness out of the soil.

We are then ready to prepare for planting the seeds that will bring beauty and wholesomeness into our lives.  When planting flowers or vegetables, we begin by deciding what we want to grow, what we want to reap.  We visualize how we will arrange our garden.  Usually, vegetables are planted in rows, but flowers often are planted in a myriad of patterns and designs.  Gardeners map out how they want the garden to be designed but they must take into consideration that some plants need a lot of sun, while others require more shade. Read the rest of this entry »

It is hard to believe that almost a month has gone by since I arrived in Gainesville!  Tomorrow I fly home!  Each day has had something special even when we did not go anywhere but enjoyed being together and feeling surrounded by love.

Last night, we went to a restaurant called 706 in Gainesville and had a super dinner.  It was Jazz Night and we enjoyed the music while we ate.    Wonderful to be with Wes and Deb – they made a toast to my visit and I made one to them.   Deb chose a truly wonderful wine; I had great salmon dinner.   It was a lovely way to wind down.

Wes started the morning with a meeting.  He and Deb left before I got up but he left a note that he would be back before lunch or call.  Last night as Leila and I had a chance to chat, she mentioned that she would be very happy if I were to have lunch with her at school.  Parents can join their children for lunch any day; just have to check in and wear a visitor badge.   When I called Wes to tell him about the lunch, he said he would come right away; I had to make sandwiches, pack corn chips and tiny raw carrots and put iced tea in carrying cups for us and as soon as he arrived we left.   We arrived just as Leila’s class walked to the lunch area and Leila walked with Wes and me. Malik eats earlier so no way we could join him but his dad did.  Malik passed us on his way back to class and flashed a big smile and I yelled hello to him.   The children are allowed two guests when parents visit so Leila chose to girls  and they giggled and talked as we ate.  I took my camera and got pictures of the three of them.

Leila having lunch with friends

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A very special day this has been for me!   Wes made eggs in hearts and turkey sausage for breakfast and then took me to St. Patrick’s Church for Mass at 8:30. Each mother was given a beautiful rose as we left the church.

Upon returning from church, I had the fun experience of learning how to take pictures with my new Nikkon camera that Wes and Deb bought for me yesterday for Mother’s Day!   There are so many beautiful flowers and many of them do not grow up north.  So pictures of them, of angel adornments, of Wes and of me!  Later when Leila came over I got a couple of really good shots (she is so pretty and so photogenic) of her in the rocker on the front porch.

Leila on the front porch

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A wonderful, wonderful visit is drawing to a close and when I fly home on Wednesday, I will be taking a lot of beautiful memories with me.   I have long looked forward to being with Wes and Deb, and spending time with Claire, Malik, Leila and Shaheed.  Ever since I began spending about a month per visit with them, the experiences have varied.   Basically, though, it is a mix of relaxation and activity.

It would fill a book to recap everything, but the highlight of this vacation was a weekend trip to Savannah, Georgia.  We stayed in a darling bed and breakfast near one of the 22 historical squares which are named but all have trees, walks, shrubs, etc.  Some also have monuments as well.

Savannah Bed and Breakfast Inn

We packed the short time with a lot of different activities, which included a lot of walking  but also a lot of driving to places like the Boneventure Cemetery where Johnny Mercer is buried.   Mass on Sunday at The Cathedral of  St. John the Baptist in Savannah was breathtakingly beautiful and that was followed by a river boat ride (to celebrate Wes and Deb’s seventh wedding anniversary – I was here then as well – on Monday).  The ride included a lovely brunch highlighted with Georgia peach cobbler.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

Thanks to Wes, my blog has been redesigned and he is teaching me how to work with it, so I expect to do a much better job of blogging from now on.