Happy Birthday

Thirty five years goes by so fast. It is hard to even imagine that it has been that long since the beautiful baby that had a "huge" head came into out lives. A third daughter, it was a very happy day. We so appreciated her easy disposition and calm ways with a toddler a year old. She was the baby everyone wants, adorable but also easy going and almost never cried. Now she is experiencing her own four boys. Thirty five years goes by so fast. Love and hugs, Mom

Teal says Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Teal

Teal dressed up for the holidays and here she is showing off her latest costume, called "star bright". What do you think, it is very understated but doesn't consist of much fabric.

Thanksgiving Rememberences

Every Thanksgiving that I can remember involved going to my grandmother's and then my mother's house(the same house) for dinner. I watched my grandfather at the head of the table, while I was at the far end (the children's table) and waited to move up. I moved a little as there were more cousins younger than me, and then my uncle took over the head of the table after my grandfathers death. The goal was always to get further up the table where the good conversation was held. I had gotten maybe almost half way when I had a child of my own. Since she was little it was decided by the "makers of the name tags" that I needed to sit near her to help her, and therefore I lost all the progess I had made and was back at the children's table. After three more kids and no movement up at all I finally ended up eating at the children's end and then moving my chair after I had eaten.
The other constant at Thanksgiving were the after dinner movies. The old movies started when my mother was dating and of course they were silent but it was always fun to see everyone when they were much younger and still had hair. The few good memories of my father I have are in those movies when he is waving at the camera and smiling. The movie projecter would come out right after dinner usually run by my brother, David and people would start ordering what film they wanted to see. Eventually the women would end up in the kitchen with dishes and the men would end up upstairs in the living room with cigarettes and cigars and the kids would continue to watch the old movies of their grandparents, parents, and of themselves. It was what we expected every Thanksgiving and it was a family tradition. I give thanks for all those Thanksgivings and all the people that were there and no longer are with us. Happy Thanksgiving, Mom, Bobsie, David, Hock, Gigi, Dad, Bampa and Aunt Ada.

Grandson at Fourteen

It seems unbelievable that fourteen years ago Tuesday my first grandchild was born. I was a young grandmother at 44 and loved every minute of it. (well, almost every minute) I remember being at my mother's birthday that day at my aunt's house. We were all there talking and singing happy birthday but I had a really hard time paying attention because I was thinking of how long my daughter had been in labor and wondering what was going on. I finally left the party and sure enough that is when the call came that Forrest Brewster had been born. He was the most beautiful baby I had seen for a very long time (since my last child had been born) and I say that with no predjudice. I have loved being a grandmother and seeing that little bundle grow up. Fourteen years old is when, in many societies a boy becomes a man and I could not be prouder of the young man he has become. Fourteen years has flown by and now he is taller than me. Happy Birthday to my first grandchild.

The Rest of Two Weeks

I need to go back to work for a rest. I have clothes shopped for me, Christmas shopped, made curtains, made a quilt, cooked every night but one, cleaned out closets, cleaned out cabinets, washed and ironed curtains, read a book, napped several days, watched all of the Oprah shows, walked the dog most days, picked up leaves and more leaves, and more leaves, had kids over for dinner, and who knows what else. All this in nine days and at the same time have worked quite a few hours from home. It has been a great vacation and it started off with a few days away. I have decided that I am safer at work, sitting at a desk and not taking too much risk. I am covered with bruises from falling down stairs, going the wrong side of a pole while the dog went the other side, and falling on a rake in the yard. But, I am very relaxed. I will do this again, two weeks is great!

Finally (after 20 years) took 2 weeks off from work. Got Dave to say he would take a couple of days off too. Then came the big decision, WHERE TO GO? We discussed everything from down south to Canada. We were to leave on Sunday and return late Tuesday. Decided to go to Western MA. I always over plan a vacation so I wanted to just get in the car and drive, see where we went, but we needed a direction. Come the day before we were to leave we decided to do the coast of Maine, since neither of us had ever been there. As we traveled up we stayed at Freeport the first night and did the LL Bean trip the next morning at 6:30. I have always wanted to see Acadia Nat Park so I started heading that way and sure enough we checked into a motel near there and got a pass that night. We did get a little lost driving around the park at dusk but managed to find a place we wanted to see the sun rise the next morning and were we ever glad we did. WOW!! It was absolutely beautiful. We spent the next 3 hours in the park, visiting Sand Beach (another beautiful site). We were the only ones there walking on the beach. The weather was in the upper 50s and we were so relaxed. Got home around 3 p.m. and realized we had only been gone for 48 hours. These are great little get aways, I felt as though I had been gone for a week.