Grave Visits; sweet memories, Memorial Day

Once again the calendar tells me it’s time. It’s May: time to make my annual pilgrimage to the cemetery where my parents are buried. This year, once again, I’ll visit the cemetery by myself, alone. Mother has been gone for almost seven years; Dad, much longer. As I wander the rows of the cemetery where they’re buried, I walk among perfectly aligned white grave markers sunk into the hallowed ground. Grecian urns rise over most graves, planted with waving flags and red geraniums. The flowers are planted by florists honoring the wishes of distant relatives. I know where to find my parents’ graves: side by side they rest near the middle of the vast cemetery. I scan the names of others, recalling long-remembered faces of names engraved on the stones. On a prior visit, I saw a pink paten leather child’s purse placed on a tiny grave. Some personalities live on.


I treasure this time to remember. The air is sweet, flavored by the fragrance of flowers and memories.

Assistance to kids in the community

I'm so proud to be a member of Assistance League of Mpls/St Paul, a "hands-on" helping organization in our city!  We've recently voted to provide aid to children at the schools ALMSP sponsors in North Mpls.  This week's toronado has destroyed so many homes in that area of the city, which already struggles with daily life.  Each year ALMSP provides school uniforms, winter jackets and boots to kids attending several schools there as well as tutoring and reading to children on a weekly basis.  Now we'll add snacks for the children.  Teachers and bus drivers tell us that kids come to school asking for food.  Some are not getting regular meals nor attention to school work.   Emergency needs can be attended to through Assistance League in many helpful ways.   

chocolate addiction; diet; crummy rainy day

Oh, I'm so disgusted with myself!  I had vowed last week with a pal to lose some poundage, brought on by this crummy rainy weather!  Well, I've failed miserably!!!! YUCK!  I'm sure it's due to my desperate addicition to chocolate bars with almonds purchased at Aldi's Market!  They are sooooooooo delicious, melt in my mouth and satisfy my cravings totally.

Meanwhile, my body is expanding and I'm dismayed at the results.  No interest in exercise; I'm bored with CURVES though I still enjoy walking Buddy my frisky Beagle through the wooded park to check the newest wildflowers.  Several times a week we walk the road of Casco Point, about a mile and a half for a good jaunt and see the neighbors and greet our dog pals.  But it's not enough. 

Then the 70% humidity descended after the rain with tornado warnings, keeping me inside the house.  My hands and feet ballooned....who feels like exercising then?  But eating comes naturally.  Maybe next week I'll be more disciplined.  If the weather clears and feels crisp, I'll get energized and feel like a brish walk.  I'll try to drink gallons of water to curb my hunger pangs.  Perhaps I'll need to TOTALLY eliminate chocolate.  If it's not in the house, I won't have any sweet tasty yummies to nibble on.  I'll try that...next week.

Mom

Happy Mom's Day weeken! Glorious weather today and tomorrow is expected...and we certainly deserve glaring sunshine and warm temps. Boats are appearing on the lake; the docks await spectators who enjoy relaxing on the water; gardeners are digging, at least raking the leaves off the soil in preparation for planting.

Is it too soon for buying flower baskets to hang on the deck? Geraniums will do fine, but petunias are a bit more delicate. Can't wait to see colorful baskets of flowers appearing on neighbors decks and at their front doors. Floating petunia blossoms mixed with pansy faces and verbena, asparagus ferns and those tiny blue/purple flowers. They make me feel happy and energized.

It's time to get out the lawn chairs and my watercolors. The woods are filled with wildflowers popping up wherever sunshine can reach them. Nothing creates a finer composition than nature in the woods. Delicate blossoms sprout of hepatica, trillium, May flowers,spring beauties, and Dutchman's Breeches. Jack in the Pulpits will be appearing shortly, but so will the ticks which tramatize me and Buddy. The papers today warn of lyme's disease so difficult to treat and to get rid of. Guess I'll forego our treks into the woods to survey new plants...looking on from afar is just fine.

Time to get outside to rake leaves and pick up sticks in the yard in preparation for mowing and planting. Got to stake some tall leaves already tipping over and place the bird bath. Sunscreen and a hat to ward against skin cancer are important for me to remember as well as a filled water dish for Buddy. Can't wait for my bench to be installed on the dock so I can read out there on the water and survey Carmen's Bay and its goings-on!

authors, writers, cookbooks

Hard to believe that a woman wrote a book, however simple and short, in less than 2 hours.  She added ghat it was published as is, the first draft, with only 2 added punctuation mark changes and interted a short paragraph.  WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!   I can't seem to finish this book about a kid playing in the jail, enjoying the prisoners her dad had incarcerated, and her mom, who cooked 3 meals a day for the family and prisoners.  Her food kept the jailed guys returning every fall for a stay through the holidays.  Three months in jail seemed to be the standard sentence for "drunk and disorderly" charges.  I'm in the process of adding an insert of Mom's recipes of comfort food filled with butter, fat and Cream of Mushroom soup.  Naturally, jello was the standard salad or a wedge of iceberg lettuce with a 1/2 peach topped with a dab of Miracle Whip and a cherry.  Colorful, it truly was...and sooooooo yummy!

So how did this woman get her tiny book published?  Guess I need to do some soul-searching and get back to work on this story of my growing up behind bars!