Longer Than I Can Remember

 It has been longer than I can remember...

...but I am finally back.

In some ways, it seems like a lifetime ago.

But the lake has waited.

The paths Snowdog and I walked have begun to grow over, receding into their natural wildness.

Life here has continued regardless of my presence or absence.

While many have moved on, some friends have remained faithful...

And some have been with me for longer than I can remember.

One Last Mother's Day Gift

 I mentioned that my mother passed away this past December.

However, all things weren't quite laid to rest then.

But let's start at the beginning.

I had a brother I never knew except from my mother's mentions of him.  His name was Keith. 

He was my parents' first child, born in the summer of 1949.

Things were very difficult in many ways back then and especially so for my parents.

When Keith was 7 months old, he died from pneumonia.

My mother carried the pain of that loss for all her years.

She, like many of that era, believed illnesses like pneumonia and colds were caused by getting cold and she frequently said that Keith would perhaps not have gotten sick had she had a proper blanket for him.

It was a statement we heard so often growing up that, one Mother's Day, my sister gifted my mother a baby blanket she crocheted for Keith.

My mother kept and treasured that blanket and, somehow, it found its way back to my sister when my mom went into assisted care and, when my mother passed, into her casket, along with a photo of Keith.

My mom had always said she wished that Keith would be buried with her when she died, but at least some of us were a bit surprised to learn that she also reduced that wish to writing and made it a formal part of her funeral arrangements.

It was bitter cold here in December when my mom died.  While the cemetery said they would be able to tent and warm the ground to inter my mother, they were hesitant about using that process to disinter Keith since he was buried in a simple wood box and they were concerned about damaging what remains there would be.

So, rather than interring my mother then and later disinterring her and Keith when the ground thawed, a difficult decision was made to have my mother's body held over at the funeral home until spring.

While spring was slow in its coming this year, it did eventually come....

...and, on Friday, Keith's remains were tucked into the blanket in my mother's casket and the two were finally laid to rest together next to my father.

 

One final Mother's Day gift, Mom.

Love you most.

The end. I win.

Magnolias on Monday

 

Happy Monday, Happy May.

The Magnolias are finally blooming.

They are such odd little things to me - putting out their beautiful blooms long before their leaves.

There is not much new here.  The days have been gray and gloomy.

{Rajah Roo}

I fear that soon that everyone here will soon melt into a morass of grayness.

I finally finished (?) hooking Early Bird (design by Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm).

The question mark is there because I am not thrilled with my background hooking and the longer it sits about unbound, the more the urge to do some reverse hooking takes hold.

We'll see.  For now, it is keeping the other unbound rugs company on my table. 

I have also made progress on "Sepia Sampler," another design by Lori from Notforgotten Farm. 

For some reason, this has been a really soothing stitch - except that border.  Believe it or not, the stems are a different color than the leaves on the "clover" (at least they look like clovers to me) so there is a great deal of starts and stops.  I probably should have changed out one of the colors so the difference was more noticeable, but it's too late now.

And I'm not certain why I'm bothering to tell you this since the colors are not showing properly on the photo.

Have I mentioned it's gray and gloomy here?

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In the reading department, this is one I finished a few months back already.

I had enjoyed another book by this author, Anxious People, which I mentioned in this post so, of course, I had to read another by him.

Like Anxious People, this book does not fall within the genre to which I generally gravitate.  It is quirky and different and, again, I find the author's wry humor irresistible.

It is the story of young Elsa, whose grandmother is, well, nuts.

When Elsa's grandmother dies, Elsa is charged with tracking down people her grandmother has wronged in her life and apologizing to them.

It turns into an adventure of fairy tales and imaginary kingdoms and all-too-real heartbreak.

And like any good fairy tale, there is a lot of wisdom packed inside if you're open to finding it.

It's about grief, forgiveness and, most of all, embracing being different - something some of us can relate to too well.

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Well, I'm off to get some bread in the oven.  After a week of thinking I need to break my hermitage and get some groceries, I decided it's easier to bake.

Here's hoping your Monday has some Magnolias and fairy tales in it.