Appreciating Home

April 4, 2017

Appreciating home.  I have been travelling the last few days, and have had really good accommodations along the way:  My sister’s home that felt like home, a resort hotel for a wedding, and an economy motel, that had its failings but was adequate for my needs and the price.  Some things make me appreciate home.  Of course, I miss my cats.  Access to familiar stores and their content is important.  And one thing I take for granted at home, a walk in shower.  When I purchased my home in 1992,  I liked the idea of a walk in shower for a couple of reasons.  Although I was planning to put in a “doggie door,” my dog had trained himself to pee on the tile in the bathroom floor in my apartment, so I felt he could be trained to pee in the shower, in an emergency.  Well he so appreciated the “doggie door,” that no other options were necessary. 

However, I also appreciated not having to climb into a bathtub to take a shower.  Well, in 1992, that was a personal preference, not a physical issue.  Technically, it is still not a physical issue, but I have noticed that the step feels higher, and it makes me realize how much I appreciate the walk in shower.

I also appreciate being familiar with local TV programming, which is very different in New England than in Lubbock, Texas.

On the other hand, every bed I slept in had something in common with my bed at home:  multiple layers of covering.  Not one layer is very thick, but every layer adds warmth to a bed.  I appreciate not just the warmth, but the comfort that comes from the weight of covers.

Being with family was great.  But being home is great, too!

April, The Giraffe

April 3, 2017

April the Giraffe.  My sister introduced me to Aprilthegiraffe.com, a website following the gestation of April who lives at Animal Adventure Farm in upstate New York.  This privately owned zoo is in Harpursville, NY  which is near Binghamton, NY.  The director, Jordan Patch, is marketing the birth of this giraffe calf, and getting publicity and donations for his organization along the way.

Patch's family has their own story: 

http://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/connections/2016/06/24/animal-park-owners-baby-faces-fraught-health-journey/85403558/

This is a truly remarkable family!

A Wonderful Trip

April 3, 2017

This has been a wonderful trip.  It started with my younger sister asking me, not once, but twice, to spend time at her house, and even offering to ferry me to and from the airport.  What a generous offer.  I accepted the opportunity to spend time with her, but felt I needed my own vehicle, aware we would have some divergent schedules during this time.  Then, my sister realized she was obligated to give a presentation at a library about her trip to South Africa.  She was concerned about being double booked, but I was delighted to travel with her to the presentation and hear about her first Africa trip.  We made contingency plans in case I arrived late, but all went well with my travels, and I found her house with just a small misdirection, and we were able to travel to the presentation together.

It has been since the fall of 1970, when I moved off to college, that this sister and I shared a bedroom.  After some initial introduction to physical space, it felt like we took up where we left off. I absolutely enjoyed the presentation at the library.  It was wonderful.

I followed her to the resort where the wedding of my niece was scheduled to take place, and we shared a room.  We did some sightseeing that day, and later that night, I was blessed with a personal presentation of her second Africa trip, to Uganda.  How marvelous. 

All went well, even when I lost my room key card, it was not a hardship.  I did not replace it, we just made do.  After the wedding, when we repaired to my brother’s room to visit with another brother, niece, and in-laws on the third sister’s side of the family, all went well. We both showed up with refreshments, and the in-law commented we were raised by the same mother.  How apropos!

The sense of family and belonging during this time is something I have not felt, I think, since the death of my mother.  I have returned to the Northeast since then: the wedding of two nieces, a trip I made on my own, and a Crochier family reunion.  But this was so special. 

Thank you, sister.  You are an amazing women, and I love you very much!

Fundraising

The daughter of my niece sent out a fundraising email that was bogus. She only sent it to me, another aunt, and her grandparents.  I tried to participate, and could not, so I called her mother tonight, who basically told me her daughter sent this out without adult supervision. So it was a scam.

So, my reaction is this child is very creative, intelligent and imaginative. I hope that is all that is at work, because a scam could mean other things.   I hope not.

Being Distant Does Not Mean Being Different

 A member of my extended family is nearing the end of her life. She is very brave, and through Face book, has kept us apprised of her circumstances.  We have not been close in our adult lives, but we are still related.

This situation reminds me that although we may be geographically distant, that does not mean that we should separate our hearts.  Geography knows no bounds when love is involved.

This situation also reminds me that being different is a kind of separation.  But, being different should not separate our hearts.  Indeed, being different is not a reason to separate our hearts, but is a reason to recognize our differences, and more importantly, recognize and rejoice in our similarities. 

Thank You to My Brother

I should have written this yesterday, but got distracted.  My oldest brother sent me a giant crossword puzzle.  That was so sweet of him.  It is something I am enjoying working on. I called my brother to thank him. My brother said he could send me the solution. I told him to wait until I had had a chance to work on the puzzle. Yeah, puzzle.

Family Reunion, Just Nice

So, I traveled to New England to attend the family reunion for the Crochier side of our family, which is my mother's side.  My mother and all of her siblings are deceased, so the matriarch is the wife of my mother's oldest brother.  The reunion was at her house, and organized by one of her sons, and my cousin, who is the oldest of the Crochier cousins.  That cousin and her now deceased husband have made partying a science, and have wonderful set ups for partying, usually at her house, but not always. 

Because my elderly aunt was concerned about mobility, the party was at her house.  My cousin and her children loaded up and brought the party to my aunt's house.

My aunt's children and some grandchildren were present, of course, and several of my cousins from another uncle, with some of their children. My oldest cousin, her children, and some of her grandchildren and great grandchildren were present.

All my siblings were present.  Some of my nieces were present. Some of the children of my nieces were present.  The partner of one of my nieces was present. I live in Texas and have family in Phoenix.  Most of the rest are spread out in New England, with one niece living in the Upper Midwest. It seems we do not get together enough.  This was a good opportunity to do just that.

I arrived in New England Wednesday night. It was rainy until Saturday morning. The skies cleared and it was a beautiful day.

It was just a nice reunion.  Nothing special.  A chance to get together, visit, catch up.  No problems. No personality clashes. Just being nice with nice people.

As it should be. 

I am grateful to my cousins and aunt who decided it was time for a Crochier family reunion.  The last one we had was in August 1962, when Meme and Pepe Crochier celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary!  It was time!

I Am So Blessed

I think about my life and how things are for me, and I am so blessed.  I have good friends. I have concerned coworkers. I have an extended family who are there if I need them.  I have fun pets. I have a career that I enjoy, and that I feel allows me to contribute back to society.  I can participate in my professional organization and have good colleagues with whom I can interact, receive support, and with whom I can work in harmony.  I am able to give back to my community by volunteering on a board of directors of a non-profit agency that is well respected and does good works in the community. I have access to health care if I need it. I have a home. I am able to express my feelings, negative or positive, to my elected officials about the state of the government.  I am able to participate in activities which I enjoy.

I am so blessed.  I am sure I have missed some of my blessings. Count your blessings. They are probably many, more that we might initially think about.

Genealogy Roadshow

I am watching Genealogy Roadshow http://www.pbs.org/program/genealogy-roadshow/ on PBS.  This is a really interesting show looking at individual genealogies, and the histories of the families.

This show is even better than Antiques Roadshow http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/.  Antiques Roadshow explores the history and value of artifacts.  Genealogy Roadshow explores the history of humans.

I love the history of humans. That is the true meaning of history.

Reminiscing

Sadly, the father of a co-worker died last night. He had been ill for quite some time, and he had been in Hospice care.  He had been in a care home, as my co-worker needed to work, but needed him tended to. Some few weeks ago, she moved him back home.  He perked up for a while when he first moved home, but most recently went into a coma, and peacefully, as she described it, died.  For that, I am thankful.

That, and the sharing at work today of how my ancestors Anglicized their names, has awoken in me some very wonderful memories about my parents and grandparents.  I have been sitting here, listening to some very good music, and telling myself stories about my family.  Memories that I cherish and exemplify the best of my family. 

I do not go down memory lane very frequently.  But when I do, I try to find the pearls and gems that I most appreciate. And those have come to me tonight.

I am so thankful that I have a warm, full, rich store of memories of my family. 

Cabbage and Barley

I remember a stew of cabbage and barley at my paternal grandparents' house, when I was a child.  The truth be known, their house almost always smelled of cabbage, onion and garlic.  I do not recall my mother cooking cabbage and barley much.  I remembered eating it some, but we usually only ate at my paternal grandparent's house when it was a holiday, and cabbage and barley is not holiday food. It is good cold weather, stick to your ribs, food.

Years later, I stumbled upon a recipe for it, when I was married to my first husband. We liked to try recipes, and we both liked this.  He especially liked it on mashed potatoes.  He would ask for it, if time went on and we did not have it.

I remember one time telling my mother what we were fixing for dinner. She told me she did not like it, but my father did, so my grandmother would send some down to him when she made it. (Both sets of grandparents lived within a few houses of where we lived, when I was a child.)

My father was not a real picky eater, but he had his definite preferences, as did my mother. I am not sure who deemed the meal selection pattern at our house, but if the primary meal was something one of the five children in our family did not like, there was a second selection available.  I thought that was common, until I went to college and my best friend from college told me she had never seen that!  Wow! What amazing parents I had!

I remember not liking ham when I was young, because it was too salty. I remember not liking spaghetti with marinara sauce because it was too spicy. (Ketchup was the spiciest I could handle.)

Very late in my mother's life, I learned that she liked breakfast for any meal, and mustards of various kinds. (I do not think she bought specialty mustards until later in life. But at Christmas time, my father received many, many gifts from the suppliers he used: he was given gifts of alcoholic beverages, fruit baskets, cheese and whatnot trays. Many of these cheese and what not trays had specialty mustards on them.) 

I should have clued to the breakfast for any meal preference, because very often, in winter weather especially but not exclusively, we had oatmeal, sausage and toast for dinner, especially on Saturday night. Or pancakes and oatmeal and sausage for dinner.  Which was fine by me. But it was on a family trip, when we went to a restaurant that served breakfast all day, that my mother declared her delight at having breakfast any time of the day!

I used to like breakfast foods, especially grainy, nutty and fruity cereals.  Because, in my teens, I became lactose intolerant, and because I liked a hot breakfast, I used to put peanut butter and hot water on my cereals, making a sort of peanut butter milk for the cereal. Over the years, I have gotten away from breakfast cereal.

I still like a hot breakfast, especially in the cold weather.  But I like soup for breakfast.  Although they do not like me because of the lactose intolerance, I especially like cream soups for breakfast.  I also like spicy eggy food for breakfast.

My food tastes have changed.  I loved sweets as a child.  Sometime after I moved to Texas, I developed a definite preference for salty food rather than sweet food.  And, I have developed a definite addiction for spicy food.  I read somewhere that capsaicin is addictive.

I know that when I travel out of West Texas, I seek out spicy Mexican style food.

Well, it is the time of year to eat cabbage and barley, so that is what is on the stove tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is the greeting I sent to my family and friends this year.  I hope they do not mind if I share it here:

 

To all of you, my wish is for you to have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving.  Every day I am reminded about how much I have to be thankful for: Family, Friends, Freedom.  Opportunities to enjoy and appreciate life. The opportunity to believe in God and express my beliefs safely.  Health and the opportunity to seek health care if I need to. A community in which I can live without having to constantly worry about my safety, and to know that when I have a concern about my safety, there are services in place to help me. A country that appreciates these things, and those who safeguard these things for us, and sets aside times throughout the year to commemorate the people who safeguard these things.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Sympathic Cold, But No Power Outage

It was cold enough last night for the furnace in my house to turn on last night. I am thankful for that, and I have a very warm bed in which to sleep.

The sun is bright today, the air temperature was never below freezing this morning, and has mightily warmed up, to 58 °.  However, there was a very early, large snow storm in my childhood home area. In addition to the snow, there are wide spread power outages, and some of my family have informed me they are safe but without power (cell phones, ipads, etc.)  I am experiencing sympathetic cold.  The sun is brilliant in my back yard. The winds are from the north, so my back yard is protected from its full force. I will be able to enjoy my back yard today.

Currently, though, I am feeling chilled and have the space heater helping me to stay warm.

Tornadoes in New England

Tornadoes in New England are a rare phenomenon but they were there today: My wish is that my family is safe and every one else is safe. too. From the Weather Channel, it seems that the family in Western Massachusetts is safe. However, the family in the Worcester or eastern Massachusetts, may not be as safe...Mid-day, I received an email from a sister, who is in York, maine, and who was obviously okay.  I heard from a brother in Connecticut who was safe. A nephew on Facebook in Worcester commented on the danger, but did not seem to be in direct danger. The same is true from a nephew-in-law who tells me they are safe.  Praise be to God.