Category: Memories

Kathleen Alynne November 8th 1978

(to speed up click the plus sign)

My youngest daughter Katie was born 28 years ago at 5:29 AM. She weighed 8 pounds and 10 ounces, and was 23 inches long. She had little red curls and green eyes.

As Katie grew she was best friends with her sister, Amanda. They went everywhere together, did everything together and more than anything loved each other deeply.

Katie was a happy child. I enjoyed her sense of humor, her quick smile and her silly little giggle and the dimples she had in her cheeks! They somehow suited her red curls and green eyes, making her look a bit like an elf!

I was lucky to have her in my life for 6 1/2 years. Yes, it should have been more, many, many, more, but I am grateful for the time we had and for the love we shared.

So, today on her birthday I will think of her with love, and yes, an ache too. Until the day when God reunites us, our love will remain, somehow frozen in time.

Thursday 13 #26

food-turkey
Why I Am Looking Forward To Thanksgiving

1. Chestnut Dressing. This is a family tradition and both my cousin Janet and I are addicted to this.
2. Pumpkin pie. I think this is my all time favorite pie. Made with a little bit of brandy, Mmmmmmm!
3. Mashed potatoes with butter, not gravy. I know a lot of people like gravy with their potatoes, but not me. Gravy is for the turkey and stuffing.
4. Butternut squash made with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. This year I will have my own squash on the table.
5. Turkey. The best kind of poultry ever. I just love it!!! The day after Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches are the very best!
6. Apple pie I love that too. Let’s just say that dessert has many layers in our house!
7. Cranberry sauce. It is the perfect condiment for a turkey meal!
8. Plum pudding with hard sauce. My mom makes the plum pudding from an old family recipe. It’s fabulous!
9. Gravy. Home made and smooth. (God willing that my gravy will be lump free this year!)
10. Pickles, and relish and olives. We love to have these on the table to dress up the meal.
11. Pearl onions. Not one of my favorites, but Hubby really loves them.
12. Fresh green beans.
13. The traditional, day after turkey sandwich. 2 slices of hearty bread toasted. Mayonnaise and cranberry sauce spread on each slice. About 2 Tbs. stuffing spread on the toast, and then several slices of turkey. My all time favorite sandwich and one I look forward to every year!!!

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FOOD

Food

A few years ago, as I was leaving to visit Uschi in Germany, Hubby’s parting words to me were, “Don’t eat too much!” (he said this because he knows of my love for German food).

Well, the food was great and it became a joke, whenever we sat down for a meal, we took a picture and emailed it back to Hubby at home. This is a small collage of that trip and the food, glorious food, that I ate!

**Note to all** This is a true story. Not even the names have been changed to protect the guilty!


Thinking of The Past

I wonder what people did after eye surgery, before continuous, 24 hour satellite TV and computers with adjustable font size?

I remember back in say 1966 my grandmother had cataract surgery on her eyes. I think she had them both done at once. Of course this is back in the days before they inserted lenses back into the eyes. This meant that once you had healed you wore those thick coke bottle glasses that made your eyes look far too large for your face!

After Gram’s cataract surgery she had to lie perfectly still on a chaise for several weeks. Her recovery was much worse and much harder than mine. TV was only on from 6 AM until say 1 AM. They did not have books on tape, and computers? Lets face it, back then one simple computer took up an entire building and all it could do was a series of mathematical calculations. E-mail? What e-mail.

Gram didn’t seem to care. I think she must have had an incredible imagination. I remember going over to see her and talk to her and tell her all about my school day.

Papa would put drops in her eyes, in such a loving manner and he would bring her tea or lemonade. Whatever she wanted.

Have you ever seen the movie, “When Peggy Sue Got Married”? I love that movie because in it, when Peggy Sue is tossed back in time, she goes to visit her much loved grandparents. She gets to talk to them again, to visit, to hear their voices, to feel their love, one more time.

I’ve thought a lot about my grandmother during this time. I can understand how she felt and what she went through. She was a kind, happy woman who loved her family more than anything.

I still miss her.

A Wedding At Breakfast

I went to a wedding this morning. Mine.
I was sorting through some video’s and I came across our wedding tape. While Hubby and I had our second cup of coffee, I put it on. There we were in all our wedding finery, starting our life together. Eighteen and a half years ago.
I had planned the entire wedding. The music, the theme and the flowers. Of course for this wedding I was paying for the entire thing, (well, Hubby and I) so no one could veto my desires. We watched. We saw our daughters, so young, and so beautiful back then, (of course they are even more beautiful now!)our parents, (Hubby’s parents have gone now) and my dear Uncle George who walked me down the isle and gave me away. And sitting in the front row with my mother was my beloved “Uncle” Betty who passed on in December of last year.
The day was filled with promise and love. The comic relief was when Hubby choked saying his vows! I was unusually soft spoken, but we got the job done.
At one point I was weeping into my coffee and I realized that on the film, Uncle Betty was weeping too. Everyone thought she was a tough cookie, but she was really a sentimental woman, who cried watching one of her girls get hitched.
It was one of the happiest days of my life and it was so much fun to relive it, and to see those wonderful much loved faces once again.

Sweet Magic

This morning was full of sweetness. I was sitting watching the men’s final at Wimbledon, and Greta climbed up into my lap. She wiggled and snuggled and the next thing I knew she had fallen asleep with her head resting under my chin, just like a baby. For a few minutes my arms felt pleasantly full of a little bundle of love. Sweet magic.


You know, one of the things I have learned in my life is to stop and enjoy the moments, be they little or big. Sometimes when you stop and do something unusual, you will find something wonderful happening, and sometimes when you least expect it, MAGIC!

One of my best stories of sweet magic was finding Shubi.
We didn’t go to Germany to get a dog. We went to see our friend, Otto, who was ill. We wanted to spend time with him, and we were visiting and having a good time, but I missed Otto’s old dog, who had passed away. I mentioned this and how much I also wanted a dog like their late dog.
The next day I was holding Shubi in my arms.

Sweet Magic.


This sweet magic lasted between us for the ten years we shared.
So sweet magic comes to those who know enough to sit down and let it come to them, as much as to those who remember to always keep their eyes open to the possibilities in life.