decoration day

my quiet round little maternal grandma 
called Memorial Day, decoration day.
every year we took flowers to the graves of
family members.
most years we had family come to visit too.
since i lived on the family farm that meant 
not only did i get to see and play with 
those who came,
but i was also in the cleaning and prep
work for that time.

things haven't changed much.
we took flowers to the cemetery.
we had made bouquets with some of
mom's silk flowers. 
then we had a barbeque too.

it was a good day.
i think it was hard for dad, understandably.
he and mom always did this together 
and this year we were placing flowers 
out for her. 

and boy howdy did we do it up right.
bird and i set the pots of flowers we had made
while daddy sprayed for ants. 
pesky varmits.
the we stepped back to admire our efforts.

 it may seem a strange tradition to some,
but it's what i grew up doing.


after lunch was cleaned up we 
got on our grubby clothes and
went to work on the pool deck.

 sanding the deck

 bird giving out information

 a 'roller' tree. : )

clean up time.


there is still more to do for the pool,
but we got started at least.


 

happy first anniversary!

one year ago we celebrated a new 
family in the making. 
our oldest daughter married the 
love of her life. 

it was such a fun celebration.
maybe we could get everyone 
together again sometime.

happy anniversary bride and rmg.
 

it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

it's a great day.
thank you.

phone calls from kids,
flowers from kids,
lunch with good friends,
many birthday greetings via card, email, facebook.

i am a blessed woman. 

i know earlier this week i mentioned 
not feeling like celebrating.
perhaps some people might think i am
unhappy more often than i really am.
life is a gift. 
i know this.
and i live with the glass half full.
just once in awhile grief sneaks in
and slaps me in the back of the head.
not often, say every few weeks or so.
and that folks is just how it is.
it's normal, and to be expected.
this is what grieving is like.

95 % of the time i walk about
with my head held high
and my heart full of joy and thanksgiving.
i KNOW i am blessed.
amazingly. 
good hubby,
healthy productive children,
good home,
plenty of food.
all our needs and most of our wants.
loving family members,
great friends who will drop their agendas 
if needed to help others out. 
and those friends aren't just in my town.
they live scattered across the nation. 
wow!
all these gifts are possible because of 
Jesus.

i know this.
i am blessed. 

oh and there's also YOU.
see, i am blessed.
 
 

coming through loud and clear

sometimes i get weary.
weary of all the have-to-dos of life.
lately i've been weary of elder people care.
yes, my mom is gone, but there's still dad.
and mom's sister.
although she's not as needy.

yesterday bird and i took our aunti
up to put flowers on the graves of her mom,
son, grandparents, and baby brother.
it's 90 miles from us. 
we didn't get to do that last year because
we were waiting on mom to feel better. 
(she never did feel better)
plus i did have a backyard wedding that 
kept me hopping.
this year, we made it a priority. 
and it was a good day.
we know how to have fun regardless
of the scenario.
we had lunch, my aunti bought mine 
in honor of my birthday.

today bird and i take dad
to see a doc, who is 60 miles from my house,
so 2 hours from dads. 
they will come here for lunch
then off we go.
gonna see what a specialist has to say 
about his shoulders and neck.

all good things to do.
but sometimes you just wanna stay home
and ....????
work in your yard.
plant flowers,
chase the daughters dog out of the 
flower bed where the zinnia's just came up.
or read a book, magazine.

this morning my devotions were on task for me.
"do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,
but with humility of mind regard one another as 
more important than yourselves."
Phil. 2:3
going on in verse 4, different version,
"don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested 
in others too, and what they are doing."

coming through loud and clear God.

bleh..

i have a birthday this week.
i don't feel like celebrating,
i miss my mom.

makes me sound like a child.
well i am.
i'm the child of my parents,
who's heart is broken.

the wind began to blow..

brown-eyed-handsome-man and i made the 
cross state trip this week.
the pick-up was loaded. 
which gave the wind a great "handle" 
to whip is about for 3 hours.
but we made it safely.

our return trip we battled wind ..
again. 
however living in the 
"south wind people" state 
this is to be expected.

a few hours from home we had
entertainment from the sky.

first we saw a small funnel forming to the south.
but it went back up, 
then came down,
did this several times.
pretty soon a funnel formed to the north.
this is it in the next pics.

 

 it's more to the left of this pic. just in case you don't know what to look for.

 getting longer and lower to the ground. also a rain cloud got in 
between us making visibility more challenging.

heading back up.

 and it went back to the 'dark side'. okay the dark center of the clouds.
 

 and it left. thanks God.


meanwhile we also had the south funnel
playing games.
for a brief few minutes i wondered
which would land first?

 of course, this one seemed closer, and we continued to drive towards it. 

 getting a longer tail.

 oh my! by now we've reached the town and i'm hunting a safe place to get out of death trap pickup and inside a safer walled building.
we found one and waited this baby out.

 to my knowledge it never touched down.
thanks God. 
it returned to the clouds, so we returned to the road.
however....
we left our shelter only to hustle again under a gas station awning 
because rather large and heavy hail stones followed the funnel.
after another 15 minutes and the sky was clear and safe.

those are the longest tailed funnels i've seen 
with my own eye.
and those were sufficient to last me the 
rest of my life. 
 
 
 

just in case you wondered....

...there is such a large hole in my heart.
i sure do miss this lady.

i called dad recently.
he wasn't home so the answering machine got it.
got to hear my momma's voice again. 
i knew it was there.
i just forgot.

bitter-sweet.

not the best day for a grief-burst .
is there any good day for that?

however i am doing what my mom did 
so generously and often.
gonna do stuff for and with my youngest child.
and i'm happy to do so.

my mom taught her youngest child well.
 

birthday girl

today is our youngest childs birthday.
she is 23.
she made her own cake,
from scratch.
it looks great.
i get some tomorrow, hopefully.
 
she's packing up her stinky apartment
in prep for a move soon. 
we are packing up a pickup load 
to take to her soon.
sometimes this is how birthdays happen. 
life just keeps on going. 


this pic was taken just yesterday ....
or not.

 delightful daughter, 
i found slippers under your bed this morning.
not these, sad to say.
i also found the american girl bedding, etc.
did you want me to bring it?

: )

mother's day 2012

i had a good day.
wasn't sure a few months ago how i would feel on that day.
we were pro-active, made some happy plans,
it worked.

went to a car show saturday.
 i know a car show,
with my brown-eyed-handsome man,
bird, her hubby-the-hunter and dad.
oh also the attorney nephew.
anyway, we had a nice time.
although keeping track of dad is kind of like 
keeping track of birds grandson,
gotta keep an eye on them.
difference is dad isn't quite as fast as mr.z.

sunday they came for lunch. 
toss out the attorney and add my aunti
and her "son" poo the poodle.
us ladies joined forces, everyone made something
and we had a delightful lunch.

dad was very talkative
telling some of  their travel adventures.
didn't even take a nap.
he did snooze a bit outside in the rocker.
it was lovely on the patio.
mom would have enjoyed it.
the whole day.

mid-afternoon the phone rang.
it was a number that was vaguely 
familiar but not quite.
decided to answer it anyway.
"hello?"
" hi mom, its your son-in-love"

whew, good thing i picked it up.
he called in mom's day greetings.
yup.
he's really really good.
and guess what.
HE WAS THE FIRST.
he called before his wife
and siblings-in-love.
i loved his hoot of happiness when 
he discovered that.
the keeper, yes he is. 


to be fair i had gotten a very tender card
from the the teacher-daughter.
the wandering chemist-son had kept us informed
of his current adventures,
(not always easy in the middle of the gulf)
and called in mom-day greetings.
and the keepers wife called later.
then...we got a box of treasures on 
monday from the keeper and wife.
such treasures and adventures waiting to happen.


they sent some info re: hawaii
for us to peruse since we head there soon.
(can you see my happy dance)


they also sent some almond m&m's.
i munched and crunched and 
then broke a tooth. 


but it still has been a great mom's day.
hope you felt at least half as loved as i did.

                            aunti m. bird, and the glared glasses wonder. 

                                        dad and daughters.
 
 

if you're lucky enough to live in the country, you're lucky enough.

bird and i spent the night this week with our sweet dad.
we both love being at the farm, but especially in the evenings 
and early mornings.
the sweet bird sounds, clear sky, ..it's just lovely.

 sunrise on the prairie

 farm home wrapped in morning majesty

 good morning gallardia.

 good morning yucca, or soap weed as dad calls them.

 wind caught my gown. yes i'm standing in the pasture in my jammies, jeans, and tennies.

 good morning God. thank you for this beautiful land.

father and daughter handy-"men"

what's wrong with this picture?

 besides being catty-wompass?

 well.. first this had to happen...

 and my nimble poppa lost his footing here, 
fortunately he caught his "kneeing". 
thanks be to God.
 

 the exhaust pipe blew off and needed back on.

 

 after scrounging around and only finding expired, tired old adhesives.... we used the next best thing....
gray tape of course!

 here these mountain goats are on their lofty hillside..
getting things fixed.

 betcha you're glad it wasn't you climbing up this broken ladder?
 it's about the age of Methuselah.....

they got it fixed, until the next good wind.
: )
but all in all, pretty good for my 60 yr.old sister
and our 83 yr.old dad !!!

ring, ring, rrriiinnnnggg.

3 phone calls yesterday
on 2 different phones.
all with in a 22 minute time span.

first call - 3:55 the chemist son from the far south
next call - 4:11 the bride daughter from the farther north west
final call- 4:17 the teacher daughter from the in state north east.

and they called in birth order even.
it's not unusual for 2 of my kids to call within 
10-15 minutes of each other.
but ALL 3!!

and it wasn't even my birthday
or mothers day.
or no major life event.

did they plan it?
nope.
i just got lucky.

even though i have 2 ears
and 2 phones,
it's still hard to talk on them at the same time.
so i made some return calls and gladly
listened to their adventures.

and then bird called and  said
"you've been on the phone for hours"!
yes.

dad called her wanting us to take him to the doctor.
so that's on today's agenda.
seems his shoulder (s) and back are the issue.
i imagine so, since he's torn both rotator cuffs, 
and has arthritis in his neck.

take off the momma hat,
put on the daughter hat,

rinse and repeat.

 
 
 
 
 

flowers, flowers, everywhere!

my 3 rose bushes are prolific.
i feel like i'm living the 'high life'.

 especially when i have roses in my bathroom.

now..that is a luxury.


 

May Day baskets

mom always encouraged giving.
time, money, talents, etc.

May Day baskets ranked right up there.
she and her siblings gave them,
so we did too.
i loved it.

as a child each year i would get a few stems of the lilacs
and make a paper cone thing.
then once they were put together i would sneak 
up on my grandma's porch, 
try to hang this droopy mess on her door knob,
ring the bell and
RUN!!!

i'm sure she knew it was me.

you see it was only her home
and ours on the farm. 
the closest neighbors were about 1 mile away.

when our kids were little we did may baskets.
usually it was a  potted geranium we had put in
a recycled tin can. 
tied a ribbon on, and 
they took it to a school teacher.

a few years ago mom's bible study ladies
made may baskets with their old silk flowers
and assorted ribbon and trim scraps.
i can still hear the excitement in her voice.
not only after they did it,
but in the planning of it.
seems the givers and receivers were blessed.

so...
this year bird and i decided to do
may baskets on the tables at the care home
where mom lived for 6 weeks.

i got some economical plastic cups,
made arrangements with the local florist
for assorted daisies and use space in her shop.
all was going according to plan...
except.
bird unexpectedly needed to go stay with
her charming grandson, 5 hours away.

so...that left it all up to me.
it got accomplished and just as i 
was ready to load up my car and deliver them,
my aunt showed up to help with that part.

there is nothing fancy about them.
just a bit of color with a tulip shaped note
"Happy May Day!"
in memory of Maureen B.

the nurses, staff and residents were
very appreciative.
one of the sweet nurses was teary eyed 
just thinking of mom.
and it was fun to sneak into a room and leave
the flowers in the room of one of mom's friends.
when she woke up i know she was surprised.
another of my aunts and a cousin were delighted too.

such a small thing to do.
and a sweet way to remember our flower loving mom.
this would have her stamp of approval. 
 
i'm sooo glad i did this.
also sorry bird missed out on the joy of it.
next time sister-bird. 

we weren't the only ones giving that day.
when i was ready to pay my floral bill
the owner blessed me by saying
"no charge. just pay it forward".

there is joy in giving.