Another year bites the dust!

Yeah, another Christmas bites the dust! Two more days and we have a New Year, which I seriously hope is better than last year.  It seems like I just put up all the decorations and soon will be taking them back down.  Where did this year go?

Christmas was very nice with thoughtful parties given by Tara and one the next day given by her in laws. We thoroughly enjoyed both.  The girls liked everything we bought them with exception of the smart watches which cost the most and received the lightest reaction.  Note to self next year stick to things they ask for. 😉

Bri and her drone, aw oh neighbors look out!

Fun with bows

Kaity and her Wubble, still not sure what that is

My New Year's resolution started early, learn to sew!  Ruth gave me some lessons over Christmas and I have been trying to get used to it. It is getting easier.  My first two projects were super easy ones, a table runner and a candy roll pillow. My new project is sewing a pair of espadrilles, that looks a little tricky but with snow flurries predicted this week sandal season is way off!

My pillow project

Autumn table runner

I am getting the dadmeister back today. Ruth and Tommy have had him all week giving me and Jim a much needed break.  Not that he is all that much to handle but it is still the fact we have someone else in the house to take care of and look after. Tom and Ruth generally take him every other weekend but because Tommy had the whole week off they took him for the whole week.  They have been huge help to us and dad looks forward to his alternate home for sports therapy and pet therapy!

dad getting pet therapy

Tara and Kevin have two dogs and a cat too, so when I need pet therapy I go over there. Mr. Fluffy loves me and the feeling is mutual.  And the new dogs got accustomed to me right away.  One dog (Vanilla)was in my last blog, this time it's a picture of Susie rocking a Christmas bow.  Since there are no mutts anymore ( check the paper for insane prices on crossbreeds) I decided that Susie looked half Whippet and half Labrador , which makes her a Whipador.  Vanilla is a Shepard ,Shar pei mix, so I guess that makes him a Sheppei. 😕

Susie the Whipador rocking her bow

This new year we will hopefully soon finish painting the darn house! It is taking forever!  Yeah it's big and all and the weather is NOT cooperating! Now we have a cold front this week and maybe even flurries!  I wanted it done for Halloween, then Christmas, and now it looks like New Years is a wash!  Maybe it will be done by Valentine's Day? Speaking of red things just when we thought we were weird to paint our domes like mountain tops someone painted theirs to look like apples complete with stems!  Here's too originality!

The apple domes

Giving back

This is the time of year when we are supposed to be charitable right? That is the main theme of A Christmas Carol.   I have been just giving money as the ONE time I volunteered for a Christmas Charity I was burned!  I volunteered for Salvation Army Christmas Joy.  I had thoughts about happily doing that every year. We gave poor people gifts for their kids UNDER the age of 13 and food baskets.

The FIRST woman I got wanted to know what we had for her 14 year old son. I said we don't give to kids that age as they don't want toys. The Army people had told  EVERYONE that was the rule, NO gifts for kids over 13.  She made such a big stink over it! I finally said look we received tons of motorized scooters. Even though we really aren't supposed to have gifts for older kids  I could give you one of those if you thought he would like it.  Well if you AREN'T supposed to then why are you"?!  Oh man, I wanted to hit her! The woman volunteer in front of me whipped around and said to the evil bitch, "seriously", when she is TRYING to help you?!!  Oh, OH👿 The evil person said nothing but just had this obnoxious look on her face.

The next time I went to take a person to the toy room, I said I DON'T want ANYONE who has a child OVER 13!!!!  I helped other people that day, all who were so nice and grateful but that one person soured me so much I never did it again.

Dad had a similar experience delivering meals for the "poor".  He and a friend went to one house that seemed pretty nice and there was a Mercedes in the driveway. Hmmm😕 they tried to not make much of it till they went in the woman's house. " Oh, yeah, she said" put it in the back room with the "others". They went to the backroom and it was filled with gift baskets!!  They never volunteered again either. So many people can really use the help it's awful when one bad apple has to spoil it for the ones who truly need and deserve it. Ugh, evil people suck!

I have been looking for year round volunteer services too, something with animals. Although an animal shelter could be dangerous as I'd want to take them all home!  My best volunteer job in the past had been at the "Clearwater Marine Aquarium", yes the home of Winter the tailless dolphin and her friend Hope.  I worked for them prior to their star dolphins, then the Star was Sunset Sam, another dolphin who had beached himself and was rescued and saved by the Aquarium.  I loved Sam and would visit him every day as soon as I came to work.  He was a prolific painter.  All the staff would laugh when I took it upon myself to analyze his works.  The painting I bought mom and now my sister has was " A self portrait" (according to me), mine was "dolphins in Sunset" and my daughter's is "Sam and Panama", it actually LOOKED like two dolphins and a plus sign!  That was right after the aquarium found Panama and she became his tank mate.  The last painting he ever did was distressing, muddy brown sludge over the canvass. I looked at it and blurted out ," I don't know, I diseased intestine maybe?"  He died a week later and I think he was trying to tell us something!  Mom had called me after watching the news, " I just saw this and don't want you to read it in the paper" and she told me he had died. I cried and cried.

  I did get to go to his funeral though, to this day it was the best I ever went to. There were 4 speakers and a priest and we all signed a giant card with his picture on it saying what he meant to us. The priest was surprised at the crowd. He had been to human funerals where no one showed up and here was one for an animal and 100 mourners were there.  He was worth it.

Another fun volunteer position was at RI Park Zoo in RI.  There was a friendly, fun group of people
volunteering there. I would give tours to school groups or take our "Zoomobile" out and take a few animals to schools or birthday parties.  It was so much fun.  I really wish I could find something similar here, but I've drawn a blank.  Maybe the new Year will bring fresh ideas.

Today is Jim and my anniversary, 22 years today and will be celebrating later. It is also another anniversary. Three months to the day that mom died. This will be our first Christmas without her. And she LOVED Christmas!  More than most kids. So that's hard and I know dad is feeling it too.  I really want to wish every a very Merry Christmas and hold loved ones close, you never know what tomorrow will bring.

A Tale of 10 Scrooges

I have been binge watching " A Christmas Carol". So far I have seen 5 different versions and the 6th is on cue for later this week.  I'll bet I have seen in the past just about all the versions except for the silent ones in the 20s and a few of the newer ones I refuse to watch. Some are awesome some are so so and some just God awful!

The oldest version I've seen is the Seymour Hicks one from the early 30s. It is an acceptable version and has the shortest running time.  There was some unique scenes only in this version but they didn't even show Marley's Ghost, you just heard his voice. I guess replicating a ghost was beyond their level of expertise at the time.

The next is the Reginald Owen Scrooge made a few years later with wonderful special effects for that time period.  Mr Owen replaced an ill Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge and I wonder what that would have been like. I'm sure Mr. Barrymore would have crushed it!  The Owen Version isn't my favorite but I like it for other reasons.  One is they have the Lockhart family as Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cratchit and their lovely young daughter June playing one of the Cratchit's children. June would later play Timmy's mother in the TV series Lassie and the mom of "Lost in Space", a silly SciFi series obviously trying to garner Star Trek's fan following.  Also in this version the horse drawn Carriage Scrooge uses to make the rounds is in the Carriage Museum in Florida! We've been to that museum and it was exciting seeing this and other historic carriages. According to AAA magazine it is considered a Florida Jewel. I agree!

The early 50s "A Christmas Carol" starring Alistair Sim as Scrooge is by and far the best version and also the most accurate. It came out on premiere day (Halloween) to lukewarm reviews stating it was too scary. Too scary for Halloween? How times have changed!  This is the ONLY version that completely tells why he is estranged from his nephew Fred.   He blames him for his sister's death as she died having him. This is ironic as he was estranged from his own father for the very same reason!  Scrooge's mother died having him and the dad blamed Scrooge.  I get so annoyed at the versions showing Fan as a younger sister!  If their mom died having Scrooge and Fan is much younger well how in hell did that happen?  That's impossible! If you're gonna change a story at least keep the basic facts right!   This same unfortunate occurrence  happened in my family. My great grandmother died having my grandfather  and his dad was so upset he put him in an orphanage!  He was later taken out and raised by aunts.  And I don't even know if he ever saw his father again.  Sad.

At some point in time the powers that be decided to make musical versions.  The Albert Finney one gets great reviews. I have no idea why. He has no voice AT ALL and croaks out tune after tune. Yuck.  Then there is the better Kelsey Grammer version, it has it's moments and at least Mr. Grammer can sing.  The best musical one if you ask me is the "Mr Magoo Christmas Carol".  It is animated, has a cute story line,  wonderful songs and stars Jack Cassidy as Bob Cratchit.  He was the father of teen idols Shaun and the recently departed David Cassidy and was a fine actor and singer.

 Another animated version stars Jim Carrey as Scrooge. This is the scariest version and must have been mind blowing on the big screen in 3D.  Even on a regular TV the special effects are
spectacular! One scene has Scrooge being chased by red eyed demon horses pulling a hearse, small kids must have been scared out of their wits!

My favorite of the newer versions is the George C Scott one.  This gets lousy ratings and again I am clueless.  He is one of our finest actors ever and certainly delivers in this telling!  The whole cast is awesome and Tiny Tim for once really looks like he's dying.  Maybe it was politics I don't know. And yet they always give that Bill Murray abomination glowing reviews. Ugh, really people?  Although I pretty much hate all the versions that skew it to modern times.

One actor in the George C Scott one was in one of my favorite shows from the 80s. It was called "The Equalizer" and starred a very Bond like British actor- Edward Woodward. He plays the ghost of Christmas present and at one point stares down Scrooge and tells him off, figuratively ripping him a "new one".  I loved it!  By the way here is the opening sequence of the Equalizer.  If the pounding music and frightening imagery doesn't make your hair stand on end check your pulse!

The last version I will watch this week stars Patrick Stewart as Scrooge.  If Captain Jean-Luc Pickard can be Scrooge why not Kirk's William Shatner?  His halting and monotone delivery may have been quite unique, or funny.  This is one of the better new versions.  I like  Patrick Stewart and read a story on him once about his miserable childhood at the hands of his abusive father with severe PTSD.  I wonder if he called on those memories for his excellent portrayal of a man hardened by a heartbreaking childhood.  I imagine he did.

The snow domes

We have been busy busy! Poor Jim has been painting the house since August and still isn't done.  I have been helping- a little by doing the low areas. I don't do ladders.  Because it is all concrete and there is no roof the footage to paint is estimated to be 6500 feet of painting. That's a lot of paint. Especially when you have to do two coats. Plus we have been hampered by weather. All summer is rainy season and you have to have three dry days before you can paint. Ugh, frustrating!

Jungle Jim of the snow domes

But finally, FINALLY we are seeing the light and are nearing the end! We decided to make them snow domes.  Painting the peaks white and swirling it down to look like snow caps.  I mean if you're going to live in a weird home why be normal?  But actually it looks pretty cool! Starting tonight north Florida is supposed to get a winter weather pattern and even flurries, so there may be real snow on the snow domes!

Snow domes

Our little flying squirrel is all comfy in his bird house in the barn. There has been a bug problem though but now with the cold front he should have it all to himself.

Rocky all tucked away

I have been doing other little projects too like freshening up the cord wood pump house.  All the  brown stain had faded and needed another coat.  Maybe when we are all caught, whenever that will be, up we can sit back and rest.

Pumphouse door before

Door after

Front door after

Added to the "fun" is a major holiday approaching.  I am finally done with that too, decorations were up long ago and all gifts have arrived and are wrapped. 🎅 I started late this year and it worked out better so I will be doing that from now on. Plus if you buy things in "July" try returning them in December! And all the great sales don't start till the end of November.  I can see why people wait, it makes much more sense.

Today Jim and my dad are out shopping all day. If I had the energy I'd run through the house screaming!😂 It is frustrating have a 91 year old control freak set in his own ways living with you and there are times I NEED a break!  I am so thankful my brother and sister in law take him every other weekend and this weekend is theirs, yahoo!!!

An all Octopus Holiday

Anyone who knows me well knows I love octopus.🐙 I don't really know why. Maybe because many scientists have said they are so unique they are the closest we have to an alien living on earth. Maybe because they are the darling of the Steampunk world. Or maybe because they are flat out brilliant!  Probably the most intelligent creature on earth. They have beaten dolphins and Chimps in tests yet all scientists will say is they are the most intelligent invertebrate. Well big fat hairy deal! That's hardly a compliment.   I don't know why people won't rate them higher but lets face it chimps and dolphins are cute.  Although the later smiles entirely too much.  If I ran into a human who smiled that much I would run screaming in the other direction!  People have been hinting at their intelligence with  commercials like the battery one showing an octopus taking a picture of a scuba diver with the 8 cameras it had stolen.  Or the recent Geico one showing an octopus trapped in the back seat of a car calmly unlocking the door and letting himself out.  Yet they're the smartest invertebrate, only?  Doesn't seem fair.

So when it comes to gift giving everyone knows they are safe with an octopus. This birthday I received three, a big one for my garden from dad, a blue glass paperweight one from my brother Tommy and a very realistic octopus bottle holder from Tara.

It used to be difficult to find octopus anything. Now they are everywhere. I have octopus kitchen towels, statues, jewelry and at least 10 ornaments on my tree. So I must not be the only fan out there.

In addition to my blue octopus I also received a sewing machine and gift card to Joanne's fabrics from Tommy and Ruth!  They also took us all out to eat!  It was very much appreciated but they already had me at Octopus.

It Takes a Village to assemble my village

We all had a case of boredom last week so the three of us decided to put up the Christmas decorations. I was tired of looking at Harvest stuff anyway and it was just a few days early. Traditionally I put everything up right after Thanksgiving.

Fixing the lighthouse

I sure was glad to have an extra set of hands this year. Usually I end up doing it mostly myself.  Dad helped put up my little village and he was on glue detail. I must have been in a rush last year to put things away as several pieces needed repairs.  It looks much bigger in person than in the picture and takes a while to get everything hooked up and synchronized. 

My favorite pieces are the tugboat and the Time's Square building which only had numbers for the first few years of the 2000 decade. So I have been making some extra pieces for missing numbers. No one has noticed-I think.  

Then we tackled the tree.  Jim assembled it then let me and dad do the fun stuff.  Although apparently I'm not very good at it as nearly every ornament I put up dad moved saying I put it in the wrong spot. Ah, okay.  No wonder the tree looked so different every year I was growing up!

The last thing is always the outside lights.  I don't do ladders so everything is low and I have my star shower going with gingerbread men and other Christmas items. I don't know how the people get these to cover the entire house!  They must have 6 of them!  One just shows on a little section of one of the domes. Hmmm😕 But it still looks okay.  

Also last week was my birthday. I spent one afternoon with my sister Bert and she made us a nice lunch.  And it was nice talking girl stuff instead of hockey football and fishing!😩 Then Jim took me to a French restaurant that was in an old restored church.  I had my favorite-escargot! Yum!🙌 And filet mignon which was awesome. They tried to talk me into Creme Brulee but since I was taking half my dinner home that wasn't possible.  Next time!

At the French restaurant with my fun drink

And of course Thursday was Turkey Day.  I think it's a silly holiday and if we hadn't been invited over to my daughter's we probably wouldn't have done anything. But it was really nice and I'm glad we went.  Kevin had a huge spread OMG, it was like a buffet!  If my Greek mother in law had still been alive she would have told him in Greek he made enough food for 40 sheep herders.  It certainly was!  And everything was delicious.  

After dinner we played a fun card game with Kevin's mom Pat, and then watched Beauty and the Beast from Netflix which I still hadn't seen yet! It was pretty good, odd casting choices for some of the characters but still enjoyable. 

Uhhh, I ate too much Turkey

Yesterday my brother and sister in law took dad for the weekend. They do that frequently to give me and Jim a little break.  Dad said he feels like a child of divorced parents. The other parents taking him for every other weekend!  I added too that by saying when I dropped him off "he remembered his ball and glove so you can play catch with him and you don't have to pay child support this week!"😄

The pitter patter of little feet

 We had our little grandchild Ana visit this week and she is adorable and tiny!  She wore the littlest pair of Crocs I had ever seen. This was our first visit and we enjoyed it so much! We hope it was the first of many.  Our house is not child proof though and we found that out quickly.  We all had to watch her every minute as she was off and running and exploring.  One time I went in the kitchen to see her holding up two chemicals from the closet as if to ask me " which one did you want the bathroom cleaner with lye or the Windex?". AHHH😲 I then tied that closet shut with a string. She is so fast it's amazing how she can move so quick with those little legs!

Grampa Jim playing with Ana

Fun with a fly swatter

Wearing the dome blue print shirt we had made for he

dad Steve assembling her toy

Eyeing our gift to her

And she added her tiny hand on the tribe wall. She really LOVED painting on the wall, aw oh may have created an issue for other homes, but it was fine with us.

Teeny fingers and mom's undeneath

Me, momma Michelle an Ana

Sunset at Jenkins creek

One of our stops was a visit to Jenkins Creek.  Since there had just been an accident there(-a tracker trailer who's driver was driving too fast and erratically and ended up rig and all in the creek) I wanted to see if the creek was okay and it did look murky and none of us saw any otters or manatees but hopefully that was just a fluke and all is well.  Not sure how much Ana liked Jenkins Creek but she sure did love running through the parking lot much to the amusement of everyone watching.

 Speaking of the pitter patter of some other little feet:  I started to take my Christmas decorations out of the shed and scared the bejesus out of some nesting flying squirrels! Sorry fellas!  Till next time...

Happy Halloween!

I LOVE Halloween! It is by far my favorite holiday. Yet this year with everything going on I just never got that into it.  Other years I would make costumes and even go with the girls. Now one granddaughter is too old for it and the other will be on a date that night.  I had so much fun with them in the past especially when they were on military bases. No candy stealing there and everyone went all out with decorations. 

I didn't even take out my special Halloween tee shirts not even the gorgeous one I bought at Disney's Halloween party which we did a few years ago. That was by far the best Halloween ever!  This is the Boo To You Disney parade in it's entirety.

I had wanted a Halloween party this year but again with everything I just couldn't get the gumption up to hold it. 

One of my friends stayed with us this weekend and that was fun and gave us all a boost of cheer.  She used to live near me and Jim and mom and dad when we all lived in the same mobile park.  Tried to think of fun things to do.  One place we heard about is the Olive grove an actual olive grove where they hold parties and festivals.  They were even throwing a huge Halloween party but eh, not in the mood.  They had olive oil testing and I bought a delicious bottle of Black Walnut olive oil but at $18 for about an 10 ounce bottle it will be used sparingly.

my dad, me and Mary

Next we did the Airport Flea Market.  We usually don't find too much there we want but dad and I both came away with interesting hard cover books.  Dad's was about Ted Williams and mine was about UFOs. 

They also had a horse rescue there and we had a great time petting the horses and talking with the woman who owns the rescue.  One very shy one let me pet his nose before he bolted away.  Another was a beautiful Paso Fino that had trouble walking and an Arabian that was over 40 years old. It was very interesting and heart warming to find people like that that want to help animals. 

The shy wild west mustang 

Mary and a rescue pony

October blew by, November is here tomorrow and that will bring my 64th birthday and Thanksgiving Day in that order and hopefully more fun things planned.  Till then....

Clan of the cave people

The girls came over as planned Friday which they had off and we started our cave art project.  Tara was worried that maybe this would be a hindrance to selling it in the future.  If a potential buyer ever says that I will tell them buy a quart of paint and have at it!

The first step was to lightly sand the areas to remove anything shiny.  Then wipe it down and tape it.  I had bought some cave drawing art from Etsy.  16 pieces for $15 which I thought was a great deal!  They were all copies of the actual drawings in the french caves!

Cracks and my "tribal hand". We later added Tara and the girl's print

Kaity starting her painting. Gee, most folks get mad if kids paint on the walls.

Bri starting her wall

Big sister helping

I did the first paint step which was to paint in wall cracks.  Then we arranged our templates into interesting scenes. Once they were applied we painted around them, stippling 4 different colors of paint to try and get the cave wall effect.   My favorite figure is the mammoth!

Wall so far with mammoth, it will be carried down to the floor

Left wall so far, still need to add tribal hands

Our last step was to put up our "tribal hands" print.  I would like to include all family members eventually on our "tribe" wall.   The ones the ancient peoples did were fabulous and I wonder how they got theirs so perfect!  Maybe when that scene is done it will look nearly as good, hope so.

Cave art from the original masters

Tribal hands

In order to keep the cave theme I REALLY want the T-Rex they have for sale at Home Depot!  It was love at first sight.  I may have to wait for a used one though as Tara informed me all the Halloween stuff is put away! What's up with that? It's not even Halloween yet!  But anyway I could use him year round. After all nothing says Christmas like a 9 foot T-Rex wearing a Santa Hat.

I'm Chester, I work for Mr. Dillon

On October 14th I woke up in severe pain. My left knee wouldn't move and when I tried to move it the pain was excruciating.   I did NOTHING to cause it, didn't trip, didn't fall, didn't twist it, nothing.   Hmmm, very strange.  Went to an orthopedic doctor who thought it was a burst Baker's Cyst. I hadn't felt anything behind my knee and when it "bursts" the pain is supposed to radiate down. Mine was radiating up. Plus that pain is supposed to last 2 days. By the time I saw the doctor a week had gone by. 

I tried to make light of it so dad and Jim wouldn't worry as much. I told them I was Chester and I worked for Mr. Dillon. Anyone who grew up with "Gunsmoke" knows that reference.  Chester had a gimpy leg caused by an injury during the Civil War and he walked with a pronounced limp. In the mornings when I would hobble out of the bedroom I was greeted with "Good morning Chester" from dad and Jim.   Dad and I always watched "Gunsmoke" when I was growing up. My cat was even named Miss Kitty after Amanda Blake who played Miss Kitty the gruff saloon girl with a heart of gold.  It was a great show and held and I think still holds the record for the longest running drama on TV.

The other day I was feeling almost normal so I swam a little until I felt a pop and the pain was as bad as day one.  I know it isn't due to a bum knee or hip joint I have dad's hockey bones, yes diagnosed by a bone scan. They will never disintegrate.  So this is all very strange.  What is really frustrating😖 is that I can't do more around the house especially now that the weather is breaking and we are in for the beginning of "real" cold fronts. This is the time of year I love and love to be out doing things. I feel like a slug. 🐌 Hopefully this will all go away and I will be back to my hyper self.  The girls and I are doing an art project Friday here at the dome and I'm really looking forward too it. More on that later...

Christie Jane's Addiction

That is my call name on Candy Crush.  I have a gaming addiction. Or as Raj from "Big Bang" would say an online multiplayer monkey on my back. 🙈   I had the lap top for a while before I even went into it.  It seemed to be calling me.  I finally relented and have been playing ever since.  Sometimes for hours on end.  I am playing against people that I have no idea who they are with names like Agoz, Dadsthedad and Max the Dog.  Max the dog always asks me for lives and I always give him one.  I have grown fond of him and always check to see how he does in the rankings. He is usually in the top 5.  I have been there a few times and would get so excited. My dad would ask "what do you get for doing so well"? Ah, good question dad. Personal satisfaction?   There is no prize although sometimes you are rewarded with candy bombs or extra lives.  "They" want you to keep playing, who ever "they" are. 

I have noticed that when I have a string of bad luck and have been struggling with the same game a while "all of a sudden" I would get a game where everything goes in my favor. Hmm, coincidence? 
I have also noticed that many times I am left with only finding one more soda bottle or bear.  And a little figure would come on "so close only one bear" don't you "want" to continue? Of course I do! But it will cost you.  I started out NEVER buying extra lives or weapons. Then it started, oh one time won't hurt me. Then another time, then another till I would buy lives every time I got stuck.  So far this month I have spent $50 on lives or weapons!  I couldn't believe that total! Not like it is a huge amount or that we can't afford it but it is for something silly.  My new vow is to not do that again!  No matter how tempting. 

I was talking with a woman one day about Candy Crush and told her (at that time) I was on level 130. She said she was on level 700! So it goes on "forever".  There is no end, there is no spiking the ball doing the touch down dance, ever.  A little scary when you think about it.  I will still play every day but am now limiting it to 10 games a day.  I just played my 10th game and the figure asked me to continue. You don't want to quit do you?  No I don't.  But I will never again be tempted by you -evil candy troll!  There are other things more important than Candy Crush.  You will be relinquished to times of ultimate boredom-right where you belong.

The Last Detail

Yesterday was mom's interment ceremony. We were all nervous as we had never had a funeral at a Military Cemetery before.  This was something new for all of us. Mom wasn't military but since dad was she could be buried at Bushnell Military Cemetery with dad eventually placed next to her in the same vault.   We arrived early which we thought was a "good" thing. Turns out not, and the guard told us to go wait somewhere till it was our appointment time.  A little gruff but since this place handles several dozen burials every day they had to do it in an orderly fashion.  There would be no pushing to the front of the line.

When it was our turn the very nice director took us to a little covered area where we could all do personal stories or reflections.  At that point we were supposed to hand off her remains to the director and then part ways. But he made a phone call and got special permission to have us watch her interred.  He placed her in the vault, and sealed the door shut. There was a vase we could use and water for our cut flowers and Kaity placed them in front.  I'm so glad he made that phone call as it was a special moment of closure for all of us especially dad.   I don't know why he did this for us, maybe because dad is a World War II veteran and there are hardly any left. Or maybe dad crying when he spoke about his bride of 70 years. I don't know what the trigger was but we were all so thankful!

Then we all went to eat together and back to my home. It's funny but when my tile disaster was going on I felt so much pressure to finish it! I didn't know why, although I am not the most patient person in the world but this was extra.  I knew it had to get done, no tripping over unfinished tile or climbing over furniture stuck where it should not be, who knew that just a few weeks later I would be having my dad live with us.

He has been here over a week now and as long as he has three meals a day and his big TV in his room to watch all the sports he's happy.  He is very low maintenance. 

We have been getting little signs and symbols every day now that mom is with us. Today while at Publix we stopped a man with a World War II hat on. The man said he was in the Navy, dad said he was too!. Then he said he was in the amphibious forces, dad was too. On an LST, so was dad!  With hundreds of WWII vets dying every day what are the chances at that exact moment he would meet someone who was not only a WWII vet but on an LST just like him.  Jim thought that was a very strange coincidence and I did too.

We saw a promising yard sale sign and thought we would stop there on the way home. I saw ladybug champagne glasses.  I showed dad and the woman asked who we knew that liked ladybugs. We told her about mom. The woman said that's a sign.  We know...

my mom's passing at age 92

On Saturday the 16th mom went to the beauty parlor and then to bingo. That Sunday she was in the ER, last night the 23rd. she died.  It was that fast and that shocking.  At age 92 we knew it would happen eventually, but she had always been our Energizer Bunny pulling miracles out of her hat and bouncing back no matter how dire the circumstances.   The results of her tests on the 17th were devastating, a massive heart attack on top of a stroke.  There would be no miracle this time.  Dad had always said please God let me live at least one day after her so I can take care of her. He got his wish, and with his diagnosis of stage 4 metastasized prostate cancer we didn't think he would.

I had never seen anyone die before, never knew the stages of death, never saw a last rites ceremony. It was fascinating and upsetting all at once.  I was with dad at Hospice where she had been taken. I just had a feeling that would be the night.  The nurse came in and said she was "actively dying".  I didn't really grasp what that meant.  Did that mean she had a day or two left? I found out that meant she had an hour or two! So the family was called in, Tommy and Ruth my brother and sister in law making it in from Tampa about 10 minutes before she passed.  I had whispered in her ear to hang on that Tommy and Ruth were on their way. Then I whispered again that the family was all there and if she wanted to pass she could and go to Heaven with her sister Trudy who she had told us in a lucid moment a few days prior was waiting for her.  It was a few minutes later she did.

It seems so strange that she's gone.  Last night when I took dad back to the retirement home to get a few things I would look around and see all her little knickknacks and it's just so sad.  We would remember things about her that would make us smile. Her "mystery rides" she would pile me and my sister in the car and just take off with no plan, no direction, just go.  It was so much fun and we saw parts of RI we didn't know existed. Not that it's all that big but most of RI is rural and gorgeous.

One great memory I have is when I was in elementary school: my french teacher Mr. Menard called me up to the front of the class. I thought oh God, what did I do now. But it was to thank me for having such a wonderful mother! Mom was head nurse in obstetrics and would cover for the doctors if they could not make it to the hospital in time.  Mrs. Menard's doctor could not be contacted and mom took over with a very difficult delivery! If mom hadn't been there it was very possible she would not have lived and he was so grateful and thankful!  I was so proud!  Up till that point I really didn't like my mom having a high profile career. This was the time of Ozzie and Harriet and everyone else's mom was home making cookies. My mom was up to her elbows in surgeries! I got a new perspective about just how important she was to the world, it wasn't about me.

She was unintentionally funny:   One year for Christmas she bought dad some coal that was on the Titanic. People would ask what she was getting dad for Christmas and she'd blurt out a lump of coal. Another time a woman approached us and asked how she knew mom, she knew her from somewhere, she had seen her somewhere and couldn't figure it out . She asked where mom worked and mom said :the state mental hospital". Her friend burst out laughing and said,  Oh yeah that's right that's where she knows you!"

One time she went with me to help my mother in law Koula move.  We were driving on US 19 and anyone who drives that road knows it can go from 75 to a dead stop instantly! And that's exactly what happened.  I slammed on the brakes and the huge Buick wagon fishtailed and was sliding right into the car in front! I looked in my rear view and a Greyhound bus was now sliding and fishtailing! OMG,  this is it, we're both dead!  I sharply turned the steering wheel in the other direction and now it did a 180 and was facing 4 lanes of traffic!  I peeked through terrified squinted eyes to see all 4 lanes stopped dead in their tracks! Like the parting of the RED SEA!   I was afraid to look at mom who I'm sure would be panicky and upset. Nope, she had a HUGE smile on her face, :That was great! That was just like in the movies!"  That was mom.

I am so glad our whole family which has had issues like all families have all came together to help in this crisis: my sister Roberta and her husband Steve, my brother Tommy and his wife Ruth who is a Hospice Nurse and was so valuable during this, my husband Jim, and my daughter Tara who had spent more hours holding it together with dad than anyone during this.  It's too bad it took a death to bring everyone together as a team but if that was a test we all passed.

The Prom at Salishan where they were king and queen. She was so thrilled!

Their last picture together

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Dad and Jim this morning enjoying breakfast by the pond