Tea Time

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Celebrating Drew & Courtney

A wedding in July!!!

Let the festivities begin...

Many blessings to the two of you

as you continue your journey together!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

My fields and My forests

Don't be alarmed by My fields and My forests

they're here for only you to share.

Moody Blues

(caps: mine)

Above is my high school yearbook quote...

from an inner-city girl, no less, growing up surrounded by buildings.

I wasn't alarmed,

and now I must share...

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Palm Sunday

My faith was nurtured in the Catholic Church

and 12 years of Catholic education.

(the 13th year was a time spent jumping into the public school domain at

Woodbridge High ,

but that's a whole other blog for another time)

During my early elementary school years,

we always had a Bible storybook,

neatly protected with a brown grocery bag bookcover,
(you remember those?!)

tucked away in the bin under our seats.

Quite frequently,

I would pull out this book to look

at the artwork and read the corresponding story.

In my memory, one of my favorite illustrations was the one

of Jesus' "triumphant entry into Jerusalem",

a picture similar to this...

and, therefore, one of the stories I read the most.

I loved the fact that He entered on a donkey,
which is said to be an animal of peace.
I so admired the humbleness of that act.

The picture in my book showed the crowd
laying down palm fronds,
making a path for the Prince to enter.
It's said that palm branches symbolizes "goodness" and "victory",
and many churches today distribute palm fronds on this day
as a visual reminder of the victory to come.
(My siblings and I would take these fronds home
and "creatively" turn them into crosses,
which just meant making a small slice with our thumbnail
in one frond and inserting another frond into that slice.
If we were so inclined,
we would cut up the fronds into smaller pieces
in order to make a number of crosses....
yes, we were very creative!)

So, thinking back,
I will say this was one of my favorite depictions
of the life of Jesus.
Where He was honored as the Prince of Peace
and given the glory due Him.

And I knew, looking at this picture,
that He entered Jerusalem willingly,
knowing what was ahead for Him.

Willingly,
for each of us!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

A Special Day

Today would have been my Mom's
87th birthday.
And to celebrate, I'm going to treat myself
to a french dip sandwich at
Old City Subs,
the sandwich that I credit to helping get her appetite back.

~~~~~

My mom was an unforgettable character,
but I do have some momentos around my home
that are constant reminders of her.

One of them happens to be one of those objects that you say to yourself
"if I have a fire, I definately have to save that!"

It was the last present that I received from my mom.
A small trinket, something you can pick up at any dollar store.
Yet it is priceless....a treasure.

And the best part of this trinket?
When you lift the lid,

it plays...

You are my Sunshine
my only sunshine
you make me happy when skies are gray
you'll never know, dear,
how much I love you
please, don't take my sunshine away.

As I said,
one of my treasures!

~~~

When my mom passed away,
some of our sunshine was taken away.
But we have our wonderful memories and
following are some of those memories via emails
sent to my sister and girls
while she was with me during her last months.
They are posted here just for posterity sake,
and I'm sure will be esoteric for some reading them
who did not know my mom or her humor.

~~~

3/18/10

Love Happens:

Just got Mom/Nana settled on the couch in the living to watch a Jennifer Anniston

(according to Nana, she's been waiting to watch it ...lol).

So, set up the couch, got her pillows, blanket, table, drink.

She got all settled, pulled the covers over herself, I started the movie, the credits start,

and she says she has to pee.

She's worse than the 3 year old being bundled up in a snowsuit...lol

OK... she's back.

On with the movie.

3/4/10

Nana/Mom says I can't go anywhere tomorrow
until I have my room done....

she says I have too many shoes for one person!!!

LOL

2/14/10

A conversation on the phone between Nana and Uncle Jimmy

after I told him Nana called me to her room

to see a cardinal outside her window,

and he told me that he has seen two cardinals up there in Jersey...

Uncle Jimmy, "Did you see a cardinal today?"

Nana, "Yes, there was one outside"

Uncle Jimmy, "Well, I sent it down to you from Jersey"

Nana, "oh yay?"

Uncle Jimmy, "yay...I sent it down with a message. Did you get the message?"

Nana, "a message? Oh yay, I got it."

Uncle Jimmy, "Good, you got it. What did it say?"

Nana, "Send money!"

2/1/10

To Christa:

I was cleaning up Nana's room,

and I had to put your football in the toy box in her closet.

But I buried the toybox under suitcases.

So I was saying "oh man, I forgot to put the football in the toy box"

She said, "don't worry, I'll take it home with me".

I told her she wouldn't get away with that one,

because you had your name in permanent marker written on it.

She said, "Oh well" in a sing-song voice.

Christa’s response:

HAHAHAHAH! WHAT DOES SHE WANT WITH A FOOTBALL ANYWAYS!?!

Me to Christa:

Exactly!!! She is too funny.

She wasn't joking either.

I know there are kids that play outside her door....

guess she was thinking of them.

Maybe she was going to play with them...

I wonder is she knows what a blitz is! …lol

Christa:

HAHAH! SHE’S SO FUNNY!

YOU SHOULD ASK HER..TELL HE IF SHE KNOWS WHAT A BLITZ IS SHE CAN HAVE THE FOOTBALL AHAH

Me:

Noooooo... she probably knows what it is!!!

She's a sneaky one with what she knows.

10/19/10

So, I’m watching Hitch with Mom/Nana. There’s a blond actress in it…..

So she says “she looks like Jane”.

“Jane who??”, I ask.

“ You know, the one that was dating that singer “, she says.
(that's supposed to clarify who Jane was!)

“She looks like Cameron Diaz to me”, I say.

“THAT’S who I Said!” she says emphatically.

LOL

Christa’s response:

Hahahha! That is so funny!

did she give you the NJ look while she said “that’s who I said”

Me:

she sure did

10/12/10

A commercial comes on with Penelope Cruz in it.

Mom/Nana says…”she goes out with so many guys and still hasn’t gotten married!”

“Yep, she went out with Tom Cruise”, I said.

“Yea, and that one that goes around without a shirt all the time” she says.

(Meaning Matthew McConaughey)

How does she know these things ?!?! LOL

8/23/10

So, Mom/Nana said she is going to get her sneakers on tomorrow for an outing.......

"steamers" here we come!

8/9/10

Nana's been eating good the last two days...

So I told her pretty soon she'll have her strength to go to the beach...

she gave me one of those Jersey looks.

So I told her I'll put a parachute on her back and put her out the window...

she gave me a "that's corny" look.

So I told her I'll put her in a chair and lower her out the window with a rope and pulley....

she gave me another "that's corny" look.

Then I told her I'll go down the block to the firehouse and have the firemen come and carry her out....

Then her eyebrows went up and she said "That sounds like a good idea!".

Mom with her fireman
~~

12/14/09
From Donna:

Ask mommy if she likes her Christmas card...Jamie made me do it...lol

10/9/09
To Donna:

Mommy is asleep and mooning me....
I'm tempted to take a picture.
Maybe paint it orange first. hee-hee

(I'll leave out the mooning pics that Donna sent back!!)

~~~

Mom, you are missed!!
Making me cry and laugh
all at the same time.

Happy Birthday!