Showing posts with label Remembrance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Remembrance. Show all posts

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Remembering mom...

Eleven years ago this afternoon, my mom left this life for the next, and I still miss her. The laughter, the conversations, the advice, just her presence. I have written about her many times, so this will be a brief remembrance.
Mom's "Glam" photo. She loved to dress up!

Mom loved a good joke. She loved country music, classics from the 40's and 50's, and a little rock n'roll from the 50's and 60's, especially Elvis. She was a yard sale fanatic, a great decorator, a bargain hunting queen! She loved her kids, her grand kids, her friends. She loved animals of all kinds, and was rarely without a pet in her home. She loved life and had a spirit of adventure. She is loved and missed.

Happy in her redecorated kitchen with her new Country Charm stove!

Mom holding me, and my aunt is in the background.
 Mom, sending you my love... today and always...

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Where do the days go?

It's mid-June already!  Unbelievable how the days just seem to fly.  This week my oldest son spent some time recuperating at our home after a health scare.  He was at work and started having severe chest pain and tightness.  His heart checked out ok, but they did advise him to take it easy for a few days.  It was most likely stress related.  It's definitely made him think about taking better care of his health.  It made me reevaluate some of my bad habits too.  My weight has crept back up again, I've been taking in too much sugar and caffeine, and not getting enough exercise.  Time to turn that around!

I meant to share the following a couple weeks back, but it got set aside in all the busyness of life.  I decided to take on the cemetery visitation my mom had always done. For me, Memorial Day weekend has always been a time to look back and remember loved ones who have passed on.  In actuality, I'd been reminiscing well before the weekend arrived.  I've been working on my Ancestry search again, plus I joined a site called Find A Grave.  This site posts photos of headstones from all across the country.  I was able to view gravestones of some family members who are buried in distant states. I wouldn't have been able to see them without traveling across the county.

I found my most immediate family members too.  Because of the kindness of a couple of Find A Grave members, I now manage a few of my family's memorial pages.  Some contributors chose not to transfer a memorial, even if it is your immediate family.  I understand this, as they have dedicated hours of time to find, photograph, and post the information.  I am just so happy there are people willing to volunteer their time to do this.  The memorial pages of family members and friends can be placed in Virtual Cemeteries on your own page, so I've created Virtual Cemeteries for each branch of the family.

During the Memorial weekend, my husband took the time to drive me to visit several of my family's graves.  I hadn't done that in years.  My mom was the one who always did the visitation of the graves.  I decided it was time for me to step up, and take it over, in her honor.  We took flowers, and PJ took photos of the grave markers for me to add to my Ancestry files.  There was a lot of walking, in 72 degree heat, so it was a stretch for me, but I did it!

I have to share the worst part of the day.  I was getting light-headed, so I sat under some trees on a contemplation bench, while PJ continued to look for my great grandparents markers.  I felt a little tickle on my arm.  It was a spider!  I knocked it off.  Soon I felt it again.  I looked down, and I was covered with little spiders!  Yikes!  I hate spiders when they're up close and personal.  Later, I found Paul had some on him too.  They were floating down from all the trees. So icky, but it was still totally worth being there.   In future, I will visit early in the day while it's still cool, and I will definitely avoid the trees.

Well, this is a seriously long post, and I still haven't shared everything I intended too.  It will all keep for another day.  I don't want to be putting you all to sleep! Have a beautiful day!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Mind Wide Open Contest

I had so much fun participating in this art contest. We all had to begin with the same image of a girl. This picture is the wall hanging I created, plus a closer look at the collage image.

Spending time creating this was really relaxing. My piece was a Remembrance of ladies in my life... Grandma loves purples, pinks and flowers; Mom loved anything Victorian, floral and lacey (the lace and heart were hers); butterflies and flowers are remembrances of Lucy (my mom-in-law).

You must go to Mind Wide Open and view all the entries (link is over to the right... just click on the image). There are 33 pieces of absolutely beautiful art interpretations. I had such a hard time choosing a favorite. There are many pieces I would love to own!