‘Family’ Category

  1. The Eve of the Feast of St. Nicholas

    December 5, 2012 by myeye

    When we were children, it was tonight that the Christmas season really began.  Tonight was the beginning of twenty days during which we just could not behave (we were generally pretty good kids).  Before bedtime on December 5th, we would write notes to St. Nicholas detailing what gifts we would like for Christmas.  We would each place a shoe by the front door.  Our note and a handful of oats were in each shoe because on the eve of his feast day, St. Nick would ride his white horse around the world and collect letters from children.  The oats were a snack for the horse.  When we got up in the morning, oats were scattered out the door into the front yard, the letters were gone and we each received a small bag of nonpariels and other chocolates.

    That meant the Christmas season had started.  It would end on Christmas Eve when we went to bed early, were awakened a few hours later to open gifts.  Christmas Day was a religious holiday, so we took care of business on Christmas Eve.

    I definitely have the urge to leave a shoe, a note, and some oats by the front door tonight.  However, since I am dieting, the nonpariels would be a bad (though not unwelcome) thing.  Besides, I would then be required to be good for twenty days — that may not be possible.

    Category Blogging, Cool Stuff, Family, Musing | Tags: | 1 Comment

  2. We Have Our Dogs, Our Computers, Our Golf Clubs, and Each Other

    June 27, 2012 by myeye

    My son and his wife live in Colorado Springs.  Their home is up above The Garden of the Gods and they never dreamed that the wildfire could get to them.  Because of high winds, the Waldo fire doubled in size last night.  This morning, law enforcement came into their development and gave everyone 10 minutes to evacuate their homes.  The fire had not yet reached their area, but evacuating with the fire burning around them was not what the authorities wanted to deal with.  So, when my son called me, he reported was that he and Debi were safe, they were staying with friends, the dogs were running the friends’ five acres, their cars, computers, and golf clubs were safely with them.  Debi also grabbed five years of tax returns — isn’t that a commentary on government that we would think we needed our tax returns — even more than family photos and letters?

    I am hoping for rain for the Springs and for the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico where the largest fire in our history still burns.  It has destroyed nearly 300,000 acres.  Meanwhile the most active hurricane season in history is underway, already with more named storms than we had in the year of Katrina.

    Today my mother would have been 87 years old.  Sadly she missed out on the last 48 years.  She was widowed when she was 36, when she was 39 she died of cancer.  She never met her grandchildren.  How often I wish I could send her a plane ticket to come visit with me, and to enjoy Adrienne and my sons and their wives — she’d have loved the baddogs, too.  Many things in life are just not fair!

    Category Family, Other Places, Weather | Tags: | 8 Comments

  3. Happy Birthday, Daddy

    May 5, 2012 by myeye

    If he was alive, my father would be 106 today.  . . . doesn’t sound THAT old anymore.  But he isn’t alive.  He took his own life when I was 14, leaving my mom with seven of us — I was the eldest.   I learned many things from my dad.  He ran away from home and he joined the circus when he was 16 — really — he could ride horse back Roman style, walk a tight rope, and juggle fruit.  In grade school, my friends wanted to come to my house to see my dad do tricks.  He loved dogs.  I was born into German Shepherd Dogs with which he had earned obedience titles.  The dogs kept track of us kids — streets, streams, and strangers were on the list of no-nos.  Dad owned a riding academy.  When I was three (or so), someone smoked in the barn and set it on fire.  An ambulance took us to my grandmother’s home so we didn’t hear the screams of the horses perishing in the fire.  I don’t think Daddy was ever the same.  He suffered from asthma so eventually we moved from the Chicago area to New Mexico where he worked as a cross-country truck driver while studying electronic repair.  That was back in the day when electronic repair meant fixing radios and televisions.  Imagine!  There were no computers yet.

    My mom died of cancer three years following my dad’s death.  Sometimes (like today) I dredge up the faint memories I have and savor them for a little while.  Happy birthday, Daddy.

     

    Category Family, Musing | Tags: | 3 Comments

  4. A Day To Worry — Just A Little

    March 10, 2012 by myeye

    I just received word from one of my nephews that my brother-in-law Lloyd suffered a stroke.  He and my sister were in Ecuador when it happened.  (They travel all over the world).  They are back in the states and the docs are assessing the damage.  So far, it seems relatively minor.  Good thoughts please.  He’s only a tiny bit older than am I.

    Category Family, Health and Welfare, Other Places | Tags: | 6 Comments

  5. Spring Bouquet

    March 7, 2012 by myeye

    My daughter in law, Debi, brought me a bouquet of flowers on Monday.  They are jauntily perched among the stacks of paper in my office — definitely the bright spot in the midst of all the chaos.  (Nola is here as well.  She is a bright spot, but she is a big part of the chaos.)  Enjoy!

    and then PhotoShop turned them into watercolor.

    Category Art, Cool Stuff, Family, Nola, Work | Tags: | 3 Comments

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