So here we are. It’s Thursday, and that means Throw Back Thursday. Today’s picture is Amanda when she was about five and a half months old. She was so strong, and so motivated to get moving, much like her son, Quinn.
Author: Dackel Princess
My Cooper’s Hawk
On Sunday morning I was sitting here in my chair, with the last of the Olympics on, and my computer on my lap. You know, the usual killing time stuff, often done on the weekend!
Suddenly, I her a very loud thud behind me. I was fairly certain that a bird had flown into my window, as often happens, and was either dazed on the ground or dead from a broken neck.
I jumped up, and ran into my bedroom and pulling up the front shade saw one of the largest birds I have seen this close in many years.
I rushed the dogs from the room, grabbed my camera, and went back in to take as may pictures as I could, but also to determine if he was injured and would require me to call the Fish & Game Department.
He looked dazed, but I could not see any breaks in his wings, or legs. His eyes looked confused, and he sat there, taking stock of the situation.
Hubby came in and looked the bird over, and we knew right away that it was a Hawk, but what kind we could not be sure.
When I was a little girl we rescued a Red Tail Hawk with a broken wing. We rehabilitated it, until our neighbor called Fish & Game and we had to surrender the bird. That was a heart breaking day for me, because I loved that Hawk.
So, I knew it wasn’t like that Hawk, and after conferring with y friends we decided that it was a Cooper’s Hawk. Fairly common in the northern parts of America and Canada.
Then, my Hawk, shook his head, and flapped his wings, and in a moment, he was gone. I watched him as he flew away. His wing span so long and graceful.
He soared and so did my heart!
The Reunion – The Big Event!
The Saturday night of our Reunion, was a perfect night for it. It was hot, a little humid, and one of those nights that was made for outdoor partying. There was a tent (in case of rain), and the event was held at a classmates house. The yard was huge and gave all of us a place to roam around talking and joking with each other.
Think back to your High School days. You are in your teens, hormones are raging, and you are insecure and convinced that no one really knows you, or likes you and you are a vat full of insecurities! Well, flash forward, 40 years. It’s amazing how many people remembered me. How many people recalled nice things about me, and how much fun we all still can have together.
Oh, to go back and tell that teenage me, that life is good and everything would be okay. And that these people, did like me, did care. I guess the blessing of middle age, is getting together with your classmates and seeing that we all still have a great time together.
Several members of our class, who had missed the first 35 years worth of reunions, attended this time. It was so good to see them and catch up with their lives. My hats are off to the planners, the people who spent their day setting up and to the caterers. Everything was fabulous!!!
I volunteered to help with the planning of the next reunion. Five years will go by in the blink of an eye! In some ways I can hardly wait, but in other ways, I look forward to slowly watching my grandchildren grow up! Just think Savannah will be 9 in five years, and Quinn will be 5!
The Reunion – Class Of 1976 – Part 1
I remember back in 1976, thinking it was sort of cool that I was graduating during our countries Bicentennial Year. We had a pretty neat class of interesting and good people.
Flash forward 40 years and here we are. Older, hopefully wiser, but I was really pleased to see that we are still the same good bunch we were as kids.
Our Pre-Reunion party was at a resort in North Falmouth, on Friday night. Mel and I had gotten a bite to eat before people arrived and then we mostly wandered around talking, once the party began. So many familiar faces. People I have known and cared for all my 57 years. It was so much fun!
Then someone suggested we go outside on the patio for a picture. Then things really got interesting! As we stood on the patio, suddenly off shore a thunder and lightening show began. It wasn’t raining where we were, but you should have seen the cloud to cloud lightening! Our own magic fireworks!
I sort of joked that we better get back inside before we became the next days headline in the local newspaper. “Class of 1976 Fries On Deck”!
It felt so good to be part of this wonderful group of people again. I think of them all often, keep in touch now via Facebook and enjoy or Reunions every five years!
Mom
It’s been three years since my Mom passed away. It’s a strange thing, losing your parents. When we are young, I don’t think we consider that one day that older generation will be gone, and we will be the older generation. But Mom and Dad are both gone from this earth. I cannot call them on the phone, or get a letter from them or even send Mom flowers. And remember all the times that your Mom or Dad were there just to listen to you, when life was getting you down? No, those days are over and now my sister and I are the older generation in our family, along with our cousins.
We miss you Mom. And we speak of you quite often. How thrilled you would be with your two newest grandchildren, April and Quinn and how you would have enjoyed Mel’s and my long weekend in Falmouth. We visited so many of your favorite places.
Rosamond Ruth
June 28, 1929 – August 21, 2013
And remember when you told us that we would know that you were close by if we saw a lovely Butterfly? Well, we saw you and knew you were with us when we went to Ghelfi’s to get Melodie’s favorite chocolate, Heavenly Hash!
Miss you, Mom and we think of you every day!
Luck
Did I tell you what happened during my trip to Falmouth?
I was on Route 24 and it was pretty empty of traffic. The truck ahead was going a little slow, so I passed him. (I normally don’t pass, I just kind of hang in there, but he was going very slowly)
Anyway, just as the rear end of my car passed his cab, I heard and felt a tremendous explosion! I looked in the rear view mirror and both the truck’s front tires had blown!
The driver was holding the truck steady and decelerating on the truck’s wheel rims! Rubber flew all over the road and out the sides. There were sparks from the rims.
I suddenly realized if I had been behind him or next to him, my car would have been severely damaged and I could have been injured.
Then I told my phone to call home, I felt like I was losing it! I started telling hubby what had happened and then I had a panic attack and started hyperventilating. Hubby told me to pull over and he talked me down.
Later I was speaking to a friend at the reunion, and she said she thought I’d had a PTSD flashback to the car accident I had in 1985. I do not remember the accident, as I was knocked unconscious, but apparently my subconscious does remember and so did my body. It was such a terrible thing.
When I began to think normally about it all, I realized what our Veterans must go through. Imagine having a flashback to things that happened in battle? Certainly my car accident had been horrific, but I had never had an uncontrollable response like that before. I’d never even considered it, until I heard the explosion and felt it shake my car.
One more thing. I have to hand it to this Big Rig driver. He did an amazing job holding that truck straight until he could safely pull off the road. That was an amazingly skilled driver! My hats off to you, wherever you may be!
Friday Five
This weeks Friday Five has me looking back, over the years, at all the time spent with members of the graduating class, at Falmouth High School in 1976.
- I was born at the mid point of November in 1958. Back then you had to have turned 5 by the first week of that month, or they held you out a year. I had gone to Mrs. Marshall’s Nursery School with so many of my classmates, yet when school started, I was held out a year! Talk about miserable. I could read some and write and when all my friends went to school I was at home.
- The following year I did start school, and really, I had a blast with the kids in my grade and as we went forward, I settled in, but I also managed to keep track of the grade ahead of me.
- In High School, I fell in love with a classmate in the next class. We became inseparable. Like Frick and Frack. My only problem was that we wanted to get married, but I would have another year left of school. So, that summer between my Sophomore and Junior year, I took four courses at Summer School in order to have all the credits I needed to skip ahead a grade. I actually loved Summer School, and I think I learned more. I had wonderful teachers, and class size was just a few kids in each class. At the end of the Summer of 1975, I entered school as a member of the Class of 1976. Right back where I belonged!
- My first husband and I married that December, and recently I learned that we caused quite the scandal, as my sister was told we “had” to get married. This made me laugh like crazy because although I did get pregnant a few months later, Mandy was born the day after our first wedding anniversary!
- So many of these men and women, I have known well, since I was a baby, and many more became friends through Drama Club or the band. But for me, in the end, graduating with the Class of 1976 was just right!
Falmouth, Oh Falmouth
No matter how old I get, or how long I live in another place in this world, Falmouth, Massachusetts will always be my home.
It’s funny because growing up on Cape Cod, I just thought everyone had the ocean at their back door to be their own magical play ground.
I grew up in a house a mere five minute walk to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Surf Drive Beach. My mother claims I could swim before I could walk, and that from the moment I met the ocean, something calming happened to me.
I know I loved being at the beach. Mom would pack a cooler with drinks, Peanut Butter and Marshmallow Fluff sandwiches and chips. By the time we sat to eat the sandwiches, they were always a little sandy, but you know, I just didn’t care.
There were days the sun failed us, and I would swim anyway, until my lips were blue and Mom would drag me out. And the days it rained…I know I was unhappy because the very best spot in the world was either on the towel by the shore or in the water!
So my sister and I drove by our old house on Clipper Lane, and noted Mom’s Lilacs are all gone now. We drove to the end of the lane, and the fence I hit with my bike (when I was learning how to ride a two wheeler) was still there. I teased Mel that she really should have taught me how to use the brakes as well as ride my blue Schwinn Bike!
We drove along Surf Drive from Falmouth to Woods Hole. Some things have changed, but there is this amazing Cape Cod style home, with graying shingles and blue trim and shudders. All around this house were flower beds and a little further down the hill was a small pond. This house has been just the same all of my 57 years! It quite literally took my breath away!
There was also Nobska Lighthouse. I recall the sound of it’s fog horns, during my youth. I would lie in bed at the end of my day, as the fog rolled in, and listen to the deep groan of the horn.
You must get the feeling that I love Falmouth very much and that I always will. It is home. It is where I was married (both times) and where my babies were born.
Yes, how lucky I was, to grow up where the grass was always green, the ocean always welcoming, and the sand always felt warm against my skin.
I Did It All
It seemed that when we arrived back on Monday night, we took a vegetable and fruit inventory. I will only say that we had far more cucumbers, green beans and tomatoes than I knew what to do with.
First thing on Tuesday morning I started peeling, scooping out the seeds, and cubing, 6 quarts of cucumbers and then chopping the onions, green and red peppers and then set things up to sit overnight so that on Wednesday I could finish the Moon Glow Pickles and can them. Trust me, 6 quarts of cucumbers is a heck of a lot of them!!!
I also hand sliced 16 cups of cucumbers, and four onions to make Bread & Butter pickles. Those had to sit for just a few hours, before being finished and canned that day!
I prepared the green beans, blanched them and got them prepared for freezing. It still amazed me how many beans we had this year!
Wednesday I prepared 12 pounds of tomatoes and made them into juice. I also sauteed, 2 pounds of hamburger, 2 pounds of sweet Italian sausage, chopped onions, peppers, carrots, celery, and garlic, for the sauce. Then I set that to slowly simmer until the Spaghetti Sauce was all done. Some I left out for our dinner, but I froze 6 full meals of spaghetti Sauce for this winter.
Hubby came in on Wednesday with a basket of peaches. Four pounds of peaches. Our entire crop this year. He wanted me to make my Heavenly Peach Jam. So on Wednesday I got everything prepared, and then set that aside overnight to mellow and we canned it on Thursday.
Meanwhile, I did 5 loads of our laundry from the Savannah trip and packed my suit case for Cape Cod and my Reunion with my much loved and missed Classmates.
Somehow I got all the canning done, the suitcases packed, the car loaded and I was up at 5:30 AM on Friday and out the door at 6:30 AM! Whew!
As I drove down route 93 heading south, I realized how much I had accomplished! And I was proud that I actually got it done.
When I arrived at my hometown, Falmouth, Massachusetts, I was overcome with love for the place where I grew up, the people who shaped my life, and the beauty of the beaches.
Reunion Day 1
As we drove to Savannah, Georgia, we were in touch with our friends, Jim and Geraldine. They were flying in from Boston, and we were due to arrive at the hotel at the same time on Wednesday, August 3rd. We spoke, at about 2 PM and Jim jokingly said that the race was on, to see who got there first!
We did not speed, (honestly, Hubby would have, but I am the enforcer in the car!) and when we pulled up to the Savannah Hilton Desoto, I did not see them.
The hotel is a Valet only hotel and suddenly we had three of the guys out helping us unload the car, and put our suitcases on the cart. I also brought my pillow, because since surgery, my pillow is the only thing that makes me comfortable!
As we stood unloading…the shuttle arrived from the airport! Jim and Geraldine got out and I stood there waving my arms and hollering out their names.
We won!
So, here we are, standing in front of the most beautiful hotel, with all of our luggage. We went into the hotel to check in. Hubby and I decided to use some of my Hilton Points and we upgraded to a large corner room. It was amazing! We had a huge, King size bed, and a window facing the down town area, and the balcony facing the Savannah River and St. Johns Catholic Church.
After we settled in, (our friends were in the next room) our friends came over for drinks and snacks. Then we went down and registered with the Reunion staff.
Now here is a weird and I guess funny thing. When filling out the Reunion information, I typed my name (MARIBETH) then in a red marker, I wrote: Please note: my name is spelled, MARIBETH.
If you guessed that they misspelled my name then you are correct. I could not believe that anyone could possibly miss that note. There is not much that bugs me, but that sure did!
Their answer to their mistake? They took a black sharpie marker and turned the Y into a thick i . Next year I will send a short essay on the misspelling of names, and how ignoring a request can be hurtful!
That night we walked from the hotel to a gourmet restaurant, whose name escapes me at the moment, ad had a nice meal. One thing I found interesting was that we were constantly looking for Savannah food, and just couldn’t find any. There was an abundance of fast food, or gourmet, but not that good old Southern food that I was looking forward to.
After dinner we returned to the hotel, had a night cap and hit the hay.
More tomorrow, on what would prove to be the most interesting day of our Reunion trip!