Odds and Ends

Today has been rather quiet. My cousins and I had a very yummy breakfast at Bob Evans. Of course, I ate too much.

This afternoon, my cousins Kevin and Bonnie visited and we had a nice chat, discussing some of the fun times and sad times.

The following picture is one of me standing on my Aunt Iona’s sidewalk across the street from where I lived. The tree trunk you can partially see is a maple tree. It and some like it used to drop leaves in the fall that we would rake and jump into. What a ball that was! If I did it now, I’d probably break my keister.

The picture came from my cousin Alger’s collection courtesy of my cousin Linda. Boy, do I ever have a lot of cousins – so many, it’s hard to keep track of them all. While at Bob Evans this morning, my cousin Ethelyn introduced me to my cousin Kenny’s daughter Gini, who works there at the restaurant. There was another picture that had my name on the back of it, but it couldn’t have been me since it was developed October 11, 1943. I wasn’t developed until May 20, 1945. Yes, for those of you having trouble figuring this out in your head, that makes me 65.

I love to look at pictures of the family taken years ago, not just to remember or find out what people looked like, but also for the background of the pictures. The neighborhood where I grew up has changed completely. The houses I remember are all gone. Old pictures nudge the memory of places grown fuzzy with age.

The following picture was taken in front of my Aunt Iona’s house. I know this because I remember the striped canvas awnings. She later replaced them with plain white awnings.

My cousin Ethelyn who was named for my mother and in whose yard my camper is parked, is the young girl in front. My cousin Phyllis is on the left and my Aunt Lillian from South Carolina is on the right. Phyllis and Aunt Lillian have both passed away, but pictures like these warm the heart.

When I think of the pictures we have that have no indication of who the people are, where they were taken and when, I want to cry. I am going to try to do a better job of identifying pictures. Funny, we always think we’ll remember, but now many of the people who might remember are gone and the knowledge they have is gone with them.

Babylon Rising

By the way, I just finished reading Babylon Rising, the first book in a series by Tim LaHaye, who with Jerry B. Jenkins, wrote the Left Behind series. It’s a great book and I can’t wait to read the second in the series. Esther is bringing it with her to Georgia where we’ll meet and attend our niece Melody’s wedding. We’re going to listen to it as we travel back to Florida. This series which talks about the end times really gets you thinking.

Until next time…