Thursday, June 24, 2010

"He asked....she said yes!"


And a new son-in-heart will be added to the family....











Christa & Robert ~ Engaged June 24, 2010




Sunday, June 20, 2010

"And How Would You Like Your Toast?"

I probably would have gone my whole life without someone asking me that question.
But I spent this weekend over at the Morris's with Nick and Mitchell,
and my little 10-year old friend, Mitchell, decided he was going to make me breakfast.
Eggs over easy and toast.
And I was asked to decide.... "crispy or extra-crispy?" on the toast.

Crispy was the choice so Mitchell carefully adjusted the temperature.

So now I'm spoiled...
the next time I go out to breakfast
I'll hope my waiter takes such care to detail
and is concerned about how I'd like my bread toasted!



enjoying the fruit of his labor

Mitchell spent a good part of the weekend trying to coax
his new pet into a photo shoot.....it didn't work.
 I did wake up this morning to her sleeping on my legs
 and if my camera was within reach,
I would have snapped a shot behind my back.
Missed opportunity as she was an elusive one when the camera came out.

Nick had some friends over and they took some time to ponder life...


And then Nick (who had lasagna waiting for me when I arrived Friday!) 
pacified me with a photo shoot...

So after a weekend of "hanging with the boys"
I made my way home
to this delightful surprise 
left behind by some other little friends visiting from Ft. Myers....

So thanks, Kayla, David and Tara!
You bought a smile to my face!

Well, after this weekend surrounded by young people special to me,
 I found myself
walking around my place
 and singing...
"my heart overflows with the good things!"



Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Kissed By An Angel




Anniversary is such a celebratory word.
Calls for a party.
A festive gathering.
~~
But today is an anniversary of passing.
A more solemn occasion.
One month. Today.
~~
I shared with someone this past week
the manner of my mom's passing.
"Ah," she said, "your mom was kissed by an angel!"
~~
And I believe she was.



Friday, June 4, 2010

As Promised...

     I want to share with you my memories of day 2 of our
JeanMarieHelme memorial weekend.
But I have to admit, the past two weeks have been such a blur and so much was packed into the last 14 days, that I have to rely on my photos to help me with what happened when. So you are getting much more than a 2nd day report.... (check out Mish's blog on our actual 2nd day at Donna's... see here)

       In these last 2 weeks, there were 3 full days on the road, 1 day of airline flight, a viewing, a funeral, grieving, laughing, visiting...


(Childhood friends~my brother, Jim, and Bobby)

 meeting a new Great-niece, Lucy (great in the literal sense)...
                                                        
seeing old, familiar city sights...

Note the hot dog cart across the street~yum!



      During the Jersey weekend, there was a multi-opinioned discussion on "who really is a 3rd cousin once removed" (Gene, have you figured it out yet?), porch rocking, shower scheduling, iced-coffee drinking, flea market bargain hunting...

Danny manning his stand with Donna looking over his shoulder (lol)

Baby Bria hitching a ride

Robert checking out the video games

and there was Cake Boss stalking (see here)!

      On the road to Mo, I spent a night at a high school friend of my daughter, who is the mom to a number of young foster children as well as her own, and I marveled at her motherly skills (see here). I played detective (thanks, Vic), and got the #'s of two friends from my St. Pete days who now live in various areas of West Virginia, just to say "hi" as I drove through their state ~ even though I was in WVA for just a measly 5 minutes.

      And in the last two weeks I drove over the St. John's, Savannah, Santee, Cape Fear, James, Potomac, Delaware, Susquehanna, Ohio, M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i (!) Rivers, just to name a handful, and I canoed down the Big Piney River with Hope and Charlie (I love rivers, by the way!)...
      


        
       I spent 9 glorious days in a little town nestled in the Ozarks with my daughter, son-in-heart, and granddaughter...


A budding photographer

  I meet a number of their wonderful friends...
Charlie and Hope with some friends
Hope with some neighbor friends

        And in this militay town, I realized there is truth to the cliche - "there's nothing like a man in uniform!"  They were everywhere!!! The phrase "eye candy" comes to mind.  (Hmmm... can I even use the words "funeral" and "eye candy" in the same blog!?  Somehow, I have a feeling that my Mom wouldn't mind...lol.  If she was there, her eyebrows would be raised quite a few times, with a head nod towards the uniforms walking by)....
                                                                 My mom with a man in uniform (her firefighter ~ lol)

       I spent a number of hours in a barn breathing in the scents of leather, feed, hay, and the sweet aroma of horses, watching in amazement the bond between Hope and her horse as other horses whinnied from their stalls...


        And I participated in a search for a band of wild horses that roam the area known as the Ozark National Scenic Riverways (so you can imagine how beautiful that area was!).  And the search was successful (see here)...
      During this day, as Charlie, Hope, and her friend, Trinity body-surfed the mild rapids in a crystal-clear river.... 


...Michelle and I explored a trail armed with our cameras.  We must have passed no less than 20 caves carved into of the side of the mountain as we hiked under granite outcroppings.  (So there you have it, Brother Jim.  I did go on a hike and a mountain was involved...lol)  Beauty was everywhere....




         On one of the days in Mo, we had a Nana/Hopers time (see here), and our outing included a special lunch in a silver-clad diner on Historic Route 66...
And amazingly, our waitress, who was a young woman, had a "Nana Bun".  What are the chances of that!...
  Many smiles these past two weeks as incidents such as this occurred!

   So many wonderful memories wrapped around the occasion of laying my mom to rest.

   And now I'm back in Florida and there is no noise of the walker coming down the hallway. 
 Her absence is keenly felt. 
She was a unique woman, a good mother, a fun Nana to her grandchildren. 
 She made an unforgettable impression on all she met.
  She will be missed by many!
And her memory will be cherished!