Sunday Serenity

Cody-dog checking to see if my dad and my bestest since child-hood friend (Bobbi) have fed the catfish properly.
Of course, Cody's judgement entirely depends on the number of treats she gets. Smart dog!
April 2012

When do friends become family

and family becomes friends?

When life is at its very best!

~~~

xoabb

ahhh...it's all good!


A very wonderful Mother's Day to the best mom ever - my mom!
xoxoxoxoxoxo 

Thanksgiving, With a Lovely Tradition Revisited...

Last year my oldest daughter began "The Thankful Leaf" Tradition. As silly as some of us thought it was at the time, it's a tradition that's lasted for a second year, and I dare say, will last for many a year to come, (tho some of it really isn't pretty - chalk it up to youth)!

It seems that each year there is a theme beyond our thankfulness that most of us are aware of - this year that theme was that Bly, Hailey and Lauren promised to do all the dishes...(snicker!)

Before our most magnificent dessert, with photo, and the before our sideways rendition of "So Long Farewell", I give you our Thankful list:

~I am thankful for my family, friends & good health - and I am thankful that Bly, Lauren & Hailey are doing the dishes!

~I'm grateful that we are all here to celebrate my son's first Thanksgiving and that Bly, Lauren and Hailey and Genevieve [family friend] are doing the dishes.

~I am thankful for a stick, and for dinosaurs. (This next part was added by her uncle, who is also her bro's godfather, but which Ella TOTALLY agrees with:-): Also I am thankful for my baby brother and his godfather who is my very favorite! ~Ella

~I am thankful for my family, friends, getting drunk @ noon on a Tuesday and that Bly, Hailey and Lauren agreed to do the dishes.

~I'm thankful for friends and family & Bly doing the dishes.

~I am thankful for my family! ~Simone

~I'm thankful for Bly - Hailey - Lauren for doing the dishes after...and it just so happens that I happen to have three paires of rubber gloves in the car for them!

~I'm thankful for family and friends. And that Bly has said he will do the dishes.

~I'm thankful for this big discombobulated Thanksgiving celebration and all the friends and family that make it so. Oh, and Bly doing the dishes!

~Great food made by great cooks!

~Life can be beautiful when you know you are loved!

~I am thankful 4
The health of our family,
The love our family shares,
The Sisca dumpster [inside joke]
& Bly doing the dishes!

~I am thankful for
My healthy 3 girls
(4 including CC [our dog])

~I am thankful for the most (tied for most
with Ella) beautiful godson in the world and am
also thankful that Ella loves me the most. I am
also thankful for the night I was conceived,
because I really like being here with all of you!

~I'm thankful that Bly agreed to do the dishes
tonight...and wash my car!

~I'm thankful for the Murray/Blystone/Varco
families for taking me in today. And for Bly for
agreeing to do the dishes!

~I'm thankful for being with family and friends to
enjoy this day...and that Bly has said he'd do the dishes!

~I'm thankful for my friends, family and THIS FOOD!
And BLY! Thankx!

~I am very grateful that Hailey, Lauren and Bly agreed to
do the dishes and other clean-up! Love, Grandpa Murray

~God Bless Bly Lauren and Hailey for doing a full clean-up
after this amazing dinner with such a great family!

~~~~~

Bon Appetit's recipe for the best damn ButterFinger Frosted cake EVER!
(Daryl, we LOVE that cookbook!)

~~~~~

And last, a sideways (use your imagination!) So Long Farewell:

Sideways, (because I do not know how to edit it), of a lovely song.

A Small Blip on Life's Journey

This quote is on a plaque in the rose garden of TIRR hospital in Houston:

"...The realization of potential usefulness remaining to any man appears to be entirely apart from muscular weakness...It is an adjustment that repeatedly demonstrates to all of us that success in living is not success in bodily movement.. Creativity, responsiveness, fraternity, responsibility, and equality are not measured by muscle strength...It is as if the man within the shell of mortal clay unleashes himself from the bonds of muscular might

and uses the tiniest strengths for the greatest purposes."

William A. Spencer, M.D.

Founder and First President of TIRR

Feb. 1958

~~~

Our good friends' son, (and a close friend of our son, Bly) traveled to Cancun for a vacation with a bunch of his buddies in early July. The first day they all arrived, this young man, with the entire world at his feet, and all his friends went to the beach to play in the surf. Something most of us have done at one time or another. Within 45 minutes, he had dived into the surf and hit his head on a rock. Thank God one of his friends was an EMT. He was rushed to Houston, one of the best spinal cord injury treatment cities and has been there ever since. Thankfully, he could not possibly have a better support system. His parents, along with his girlfriend are just amazing in their attitude and support of and devotion to him. He also has legions of friends who are standing by his side as well.

It's the small victories that get him through the days now.

As his mom wrote yesterday: "....4 p.m. came all too fast when {his girlfriend} had to leave once again and the reality of being "stuck" in Houston was difficult. We had a talk about how he and all of us take even the smallest of things for granted, like even being able to scratch your nose! He waited for {his girlfriend's} phone call to hear that she got home safe and sound before turning in for the night. All in all it was a good weekend after much advancement since arriving here late Monday. He would rather be back home with everyone but knows that TIRR will give him the best there is to offer. Once again a small blip on his life's journey."

I can't stop thinking how in the blink of an eye an entire life can change irrevocably.

~~~

xoabb

The above quote was originally posted on CaringBridge at the request of his father. I am honored to repost it here.

Hands of a Master Gardener

Hands that love this earth
Create sustainable land
That nourish us all

~

We've begun a lecture series at our Fodor Farm Community Garden and the first lecture I was able to attend was given by a gentleman who is a Master Gardener. Wow! In the hour and a half he spoke, I learned more than I thought possible! Did you know you should use shredded newspaper beneath your tomatoes so they're protected from splashing water and because they're also a good form of nourishment? Me neither! And that we who live by the shore are lucky enough to be able to harvest our very own oyster and crab shells - free of charge - that when crushed are wonderful additions to our gardens? Or to plant your tomato seedlings in no less than a 5" pot and when it's ready to be transplanted, strip all but the top leaves off, then plant it horizontally in not-so-deep (amended always) soil, then cover it with a section of banana peel and then soil? WOW! Whoda thunk? He taught us about the whole nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium conundrum, which I wouldn't possibly remember if I hadn't written it down. Hopefully that'll be on his web site soon (hint!). Then, to top off a most excellent talk, he walked to all our plots and told us what we were doing correctly and then also told us (quite gently) what we were doing wrong (that was just about everything for me...sigh).

A very loverly, most wonderful Saturday morning!

~~~

xoabb
expecting good garden things!

P. S. - Here's the most bizarre thing that happened at the lecture/talk: I raised my hand to ask a question of this master gardener, (who had an accent and told us he, too was an interloper like many of the species we find in our gardens). He said: "Yes, Ann, what is your question?" I thought I knew I'd never seen him before so convinced myself he said "Yes, ma'am, what is your question?" He never said another word, we went on our garden tour, I showed him my plot (totally overplanted the carrots, among other things), he gave me tomato and other advice and I took his card.
Flash forward 4 hours. I finally looked at his card so I could go to his website and get the formula for sterlizing seeds. And found out:

His name is Nick Mancini.
The very gentleman who cut my hair for years, years ago...
Before he disappeared off the face of the earth.
Now I know, it was to become a Master Gardener.
(And also lose quite a bit of himself.)
He looks just wonderful - and seems so damn happy!
He recognized me after all these years and I had not a clue!

Strange how paths reconnect...
Wonder if he'd give this old mop of mine a new do...
Boy is it ever needed!

You can visit Mr. Mancini's gardening site here.