Family & Friends – Page 2 – The Dackel Princess

Sixteen Years

I noticed today that it is now sixteen years since I started to write Dackel Princess. Where has the time gone? I recall thinking that only three or four people would ever read me, and those people were all related to me.

Here is the LINK to the first entry I made all those years ago

However, over the years I have met so many great people as they found my blog. It really has been a thrill!

It all started with Shubi and then Greta and Fritz. My original three all those years ago.

Shubi, Greta, & Fritz

Shubi was at the end of her time with us, and Greta and Fritz were puppies! Time sure does fly when one is having fun! And these three were so much fun!

Of course, soon Greta took a husband and she brought to us, Arnie & Anneliese. Fritz went to Rainbow Bridge and we got his niece, Lili.

Arnie, Anneliese, & Lili

Of course, Anneliese left us in January, but there is still a lot of doggy love in this house!

During this time I also became an Oma! That is the best yet! Two beautiful and very special people named Savannah and Quinn came into my life. They are the loves of my life, along with my wonderful daughter, Mandy.

So in 16 years, so much has changed, but the love continues and the joy of sharing my life with my family, friends, and my pets continues. Each day presents an opportunity to find something new in life!

So Happy 16th Blogoversary to me!

The Weekend Wrap ~ May 3rd

My weekend saw both very busy and then very quiet times. I spent time, just sitting watching the birds come to eat. I made meals, cleaned out the fridge, and took Arnie out for walks. We had rain, and wind, and then sunny skies! And the Forsythia bloomed.

Meanwhile, back to my cleaning, after really working hard and nonstop on the entire plugs issue, I found myself a wee bit sore and so took most of the day on Sunday off.

My plan for Monday is to change sheets and vacuum the bedroom. And should I be lucky enough to have a little ambition left, I will be washing bathmats, and mopping floors.

I sure wish that this shoulder thing would go away and I could do a full day’s work without feeling achy.

Today would have been my brother’s 70th Birthday. He passed away when he was just 26 years old from Cancer. We all still think of him often and miss him.

Dickie was a super talented musician, with a beautiful voice!

We love you and will always keep you close in our hearts. Maribeth Dackel

Missing My Friend, Candy

On Thanksgiving 2018, my friend Candy was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. I will never forget the night she called me. She had just gone to a walk-in clinic for her cough. They x-rayed her lungs and found the masses.

She called me as she sat in her car in the parking lot. She knew. I kept trying to explain away what the doctors had found, but Candy being a nurse knew.

How lucky I was to have been her friend all of those years. We could go for a while not talking on the phone and then one of us would call the other and it was like we just talked yesterday. It was always easy to talk to Candy. She understood me in so many ways, that no one else did.

When Candy and her husband visited us back in 2013, they both fell in love with our Greta. So much so that a few months later they got their very own wire-haired dachshund. Aurora went everywhere with Candy and she was the real joy in her life.

Candy was an identical twin. I speak to her sister Mary when I can. Needless to say, she is feeling an unimaginable loss. I knew this would be very hard for her.

I was not only blessed to have been Candy’s friend all these years but during her last days on this earth, I was able to give back to my friend all that she had given me, by caring for her.

My darling friend Candy passed away on February 7th, 2019. She was one of the finest women I have ever known. She gave of herself constantly and never asked for anything in return. She was one of my constants in life. One of those people that I depended on just to be there.

Candy and her darling Aurora.

I’m not sure I will ever “get over” losing this wonderful friend, who was more like a sister to me. I think perhaps I will not. I will learn to live with it.

Oh, how I miss this wonderful woman. But as I told her the last time I saw her, “Love never dies, Candy. I will see you next in God’s Garden”.

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Grandma Honey

February 4th would have been my Grandma Honey’s 123rd birthday. It’s difficult to imagine her at that age. She passed from this world into the next 37 years ago. She was a very important woman in my life and taught me so much. Even now, I miss her like crazy!

Here she is, Mary Frances the day she married my Papa, Frederick Carl.

Here is a picture of Mel and me with our much loved, Grandma Honey, at Goodwill Park.

Grandma Honey and Papa Fred. Theirs was truly an epic love story! They met when they were less than ten years old. Grandma was friends with Papa’s sister, Katchen, and spent a lot of time at the house teaching Katchen to speak English. The family had recently arrived from Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany, and aside from the eldest sister, Hedwig, who worked as a Nanny, no one spoke a lot of English.

Anyway, Papa always said he fell in love with her then, and as a teenager, he would chase off any beau that tried to court her. My great grandfather eventually allowed them to become engaged but insisted that Mary finish college before they married.

They were married until Mary eventually passed from this life to the next. He joined her 8 months later.

Happy Birthday, Uschi!

Today is the birthday of my best friend, Uschi!

Oh, how I wish she lived just down the street and I could bake her a special cake and bring it over, with a bottle of champagne, and celebrate the day of her birth!

Friendship

There’s a miracle of Friendship
that dwells within the heart,
And you don’t know how it happens
or where it gets its start…
But the happiness it brings you
always gives a special lift,
And you realize that Friendship
Is God’s most perfect gift.
-Jean Kyler McManus-

So Happy Birthday, my dearest friend and sister!

Sending you all of my love!

Happy Birthday to my Mom

She was born Rosamond Ruth Prussman, to parents Frederick and Mary on June 28, 1929. She had a much loved older brother, Robert, and a cousin George, (who grew up like a brother to her). In fact, until the day they passed, they really adored each other.

Mom’s brother, Robert, and his wife Cynthia.

Aunt Betty, Larry, Janet, and Uncle George.

She met my Dad when she was 13 and she was dancing and my Dad played the piano. I asked Dad once what made him look twice at Mom and he said “It was a bright red sweater that she was wearing! She looked so beautiful in it! I was hooked!”

A collage of their life together.

They married early on, and Dad finished getting his teaching degree. They moved to Monument Beach, Massachusetts,

and lived in a little white cottage in the Burtonwood section, where my brother, Richard, and my sister Melodie were born.

Then they moved to Falmouth, Massachusetts, and shortly after, Mom had me.

My parent’s stayed married for well over 60 years.

Mom was with him until the end of his life, and really until the end of hers too. She never remarried. I think in her mind and her heart she was always Jimmie’s girl!

Her last days were spent, not in fear of dying, no, Mom knew Jesus Christ and she knew she would see Dad again. She just worried about Mel and me and all of our cousins.

Me, Mel & Janet with Mom.

This was the last time we were together before Mom was diagnosed with Liver Cancer. It was a wedding. Mom was so happy to be with us all. I almost didn’t go because of my facial surgery, but I am so glad I did now. Seeing her so happy and sharing that day with her, left us all with wonderful memories.

The last time I saw her, at Hospice Care, Mel and I, sat there, with Janet and the four of us were talking quietly. I asked Mom how we would know if she was with us. She smiled and said, “You will see butterflies, and that will be me.” This really surprised me because she always had related to beautiful flowers in the past.

But you know what? We see beautiful butterflies all the time. And we smile!

Family Party June 26, 2010 027

Happy Birthday, Mom!

We Love you and we miss you!

Why Tuesday Is The Best Day Of My Week

During this horrid Covid-19 lock-down there were not too many days I would have termed as my good days. It was a very narrowly lived life. I fixed three meals a day and would go out once a week to collect mail and groceries, before racing home and jumping into the shower to de-germ myself.

My State has been doing very well. We have been on the way down with new cases, with only 15 new patients on Monday and Tuesday. Best of all, there have been no deaths in a few days!

Last Tuesday my back row group of WW Attendees, my pals, my gals, my friends, all met up at a local park in my town. We get there early and bring our own lawn chair to sit on. We share the Big Lake (Lake Winnipesaukee) with the ducks and geese and the Ultra-Lite Planes, and we sit there talking and smiling at each other, while we enjoy being together once again.

Most of us have been devoted friends since 2008. We gathered a few more into our group and we share our ups and downs and struggles, and best of all, when the chips are down for one of us, the others are there!

In fact, after my Staph Infection, I quit WW. I told the girls I wasn’t coming back. I was miserable, depressed, and in pain, both physically and emotionally.

My girls arranged a lunch with me and took me out. They encouraged me, with their love and concern to come back. I realized I didn’t just need my Class, I needed them. So I went back.

From 2017 until 2019 I didn’t do too well in Class. But I never missed one meeting unless I was sick. Wednesday Morning = WW Class.

I wonder if WW will reopen our Class? I’m thinking that they may not. It isn’t that the Class wasn’t big enough, we were 50-75 people strong year-round. But the one strike against us is that we are all middle-aged women, and we do not fit WW’s new Branding. Too bad because there are a lot of us 60+-year-olds who have been loyal members for years.

Anyway, We’re going to keep meeting at the Lake for the Summer, and will figure out what to do in the Autumn when things begin getting colder around here. But, for now, we have each other once again!

TBT: My Dad

It’s fun to look at my Dad in this picture. He was in his late teens before graduation from High School when he signed up in the Navy.

Since Dad was pretty young, my grandfather had to sign papers so Dad could join the Navy. Dad wanted to serve overseas, but he spent most of his time in the service State-side. He did secretarial work and also played the organ for all church services on the base as well as the funerals.

Dad was short a few credits when he returned and he made up the classes he had missed and graduated from High School and was accepted at college.

He and Mom married at about this time. They’d been sweethearts since they were 13 & 14 years old and in the end, they were married over 60 years.

Dad graduated from The New England Conservatory of Music. And after that, they moved to Cape Cod where they lived nearly all of their married life and raised us, three kids.

And yes, the littlest pip-squeak is me with one of my Mom’s horrible hair-cuts.

Dad taught school, music, and he played the organ at several churches in town for Sunday services, weddings and funerals. He also gave lessons, and during our busy summer months, Dad worked as a Police Officer. Mostly he worked on the desk, answering phones, typing reports, and dispatching officers.

Dad was a man in motion really. I recall very few times growing up when Dad wasn’t busy with doing things that helped others.

I’m thinking about him this week because Sunday is Father’s Day. How I miss him, and his corny jokes and wicked sense of humor.

Happy Father’s Day Daddy!

TBT: The Cousins

Family

This picture was taken back in 2011.

This is my family. In green, my cousin, Janet. In yellow, my sister, Melodie, In lavender, my cousin Rikki and in blue, me. We’re New England’s version of Steel Magnolias.

We have all been through so much in our lives, but we are a tough bunch and never give up!

We have a cousin (not pictured) and he is the only man in our little group. He is dearly loved, although he was not with us on this day.

Lobster Fest 2019

Today my cousins Janet and Larry, and Janet’s husband Dave came up for our annual Lobster Fest. They stopped to pick up the Lobster, steamers and corn all fresh from the sea and the garden, on their way up here and they arrived by 10 o’clock.

I’d been cleaning and puttering all morning and I’d managed to set the table, put out the dishes and I got the pots we would need too.

The Lobsters before being cooked!

When Dave and I unpacked the loot, we worked together deciding which lobsters to cook in which pot and when and where to cook the corn and steamers. For those who do not know, Steamers are Clams.

My cousin Janet took this picture of Dave and me after we put everything we had cooked on the table!

Dave and I cook so well together. Since we had 5 pots that all needed full flame on the burners, we did a bit of juggling and in about 40 minutes (By this time it was about 12:45) we served up the luncheon. If anyone left here feeling hungry, it was their own fault.

I took this one of my plate.

We each had a two-pound Lobster, Corn on the Cob, Steamers, and Potato Salad. I never really appreciated the size of a two-pound Lobster until I found myself unable to finish mine!

Janet took this picture of her two-pound Lobster! Just look at that sucker!

I cleaned the rest of my Lobster, and the rest of Jack’s Lobster and we have enough for a nice meal tomorrow. I really must be getting old if I am unable to finish my Lobster!

My homemade potato salad with eggs. A real hit today!

One really great thing about cooking the meal with Dave was that at the end of the meal, Janet washed all the cooking pots. I managed to get all the other dishes into the dishwasher, but all those pots! She made quick work of them, and she told me that she really likes washing dishes. I’m thankful. At this point in the day, I was getting pretty tired.

So Lobster Fest 2019 is over and a success! I love eating Lobster, but more than that, I love getting together with my family! Thanks, Janet, Dave, and Larry!