Everly Jane Is Growing Up

Our youngest great-grandchild was a month old the last time we saw her. So when grandson Devin said they would like to come down to see us this weekend, I was happily surprised.

I had seen photos and videos of her online, but that's not the same as seeing her in person. 

What a cute, happy little girl she is.

So much personality.

Me, grandson Devin, his wife Jessica and Everly.

The little ones grow and change so fast. I can't play with them as I did with my grandchildren, but I do love being around the great-grands.

This picture was going to be the "meeting of the minds" -  Everly and great-grandpa Bud with the two of them looking at each other and touching foreheads, but I didn't take the photo fast enough. 

While we were eating lunch, Everly crawled under the table.

It was something of a full circle moment for me. I remember playing under Grandpa & Grandma Lynam's table when I was about five or six. 

More than three-quarters of a century later, there was another little girl doing the same thing under the same table.

Youngest grandchild and youngest great-grandchild.  It was so nice to spend time with them. 

The Last of the Peasant Skirts

I missed out on the hippie peasant skirts during the 1960's (though I did wear bell-bottomed jeans) - instead I went all in on mini skirts.

I had a 3 pc. suit like this one - only mine was sunshine yellow. The first time I wore it to work Mom saw me walking toward the post office. She was appalled by the shortness of the skirt - then doubly dismayed when she realized it was her daughter wearing it. 

But I loved that suit as well as all my other mini skirts. Twenty some years later and the skirt lengths had moved to below the knee - more mid-calf and longer. I liked those lengths, too. Perhaps because I was older, but the long skirts really were my all time favorites. So much so that you can still find several of them hanging in my closet - though I seldom wear them. 

Denim was my favored fabric. I had a denim dress and several denim skirts. Yep, they're still in my closet too. The nostalgia for those times keep me from donating them.

Then there were my peasant skirts. I had so many of them - all prints except for two single color - one black and one bottle green. I liked their softness and the swishy feel of them. They were casual and laid back. Those I have donated, except for this one.  Other than to a wedding or two, I only wear slacks or jeans now, keeping a few skirts just in case.

The last time I wore my peasant skirt was to Xmas in July in 2018. Almost all my children, spouses, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were there. We had a great time.

Here I am pictured with my step-son's partner, Juliet, and my daughter Kari.

There was one final family Christmas in July the following year - a pool party at Grandaughter Katrina's. 

Then Covid changed everything.

May '25 Books

Only seven books read this month. Too much time and money spent on plants? 😍

Fat Tuesday, Chill Factor and Blind Tiger are all by Sandra Brown an author I decided to read my way through.

The Shell Collector is a book of short stories by Anthony Doerr. This book is from my own collection, but one I hadn't read for years. Doerr is one of the most impressive authors I've read. His prose is beautifully exquisite.

The Girl on the Cliff and The Lavender Garden by Lucinda Riley are both books I read several years ago - long enough that they were almost new to me. Both worthy of a second read.

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak is a classic. With the impression the 1965 movie made upon me and the fact my love of the story has never diminished, you would think that I might have read this book before now. Had I? I wasn't even sure, but I had not. 

In February I read Lara Prescott's novel, The Secrets We Kept, about smuggling Pasternak's manuscript out of Russia and into print. That was the impetus I needed to finally read Dr. Zhivago. The hardest part was keeping all the Russian names straight. Almost always, I like the book better than the movie. In this case, the impressions the movie made on a younger me cannot top the book. 

I've yet to compile a list of the books I want to read in June, but I have a few a mind. Happy summertime reading to all.  😎 🌞

Decoration Day

For the first time, that I remember, we only made it to three cemeteries this year - Lenox, Prairie Rose and Quincy. Even when we lived in WDM, I always 'came home' on Memorial weekend. First to take my Mom and Grandma Delphia to the cemeteries and then, when they were gone, to decorate their graves, too. Grandma once said: "I know you will decorate my grave, but who will decorate yours?" ((I'm sorry, Grandma, but I didn't make it to your's and Grandpa Joe's this year.) 

With the increase in prices and the dearth of artificial flowers (probably caused by Trump's tariffs), there was very little decorating done. 

I only had two artificial bouquets - the white one behind my parents' stone and a smaller version between sister's and nephew's gravestones.

There was one other couple nearby while we were there. Surprisingly, I recognized the woman even though she was wearing sunglasses and I hadn't seen her in 45 years. Tentatively I said, "Marcia"? I told her my name then we had a nice 'catching up' visit. Our families had both been part of the Fairview Church neighborhood in the 1950's. 

At Quincy, I left some cut peonies on Grandma & Grandpa Lynam's grave and those of their two daughters, Evelyn and Leona. I can guess who placed the sunflowers. Grandma's grandniece recently retired and moved back to Corning. I'm sure it was her. She thought the world of 'Aunt Bessie'.

Even though it was a comparatively short journey and I was glad to be back home, it would not have felt right if I'd missed Decoration Day. 🌼🌻🌺

April '25 Books

It seems as though the months spin around so fast. The middle two weeks of April found us both incapacitated with extreme fatigue and a persistent cough. I didn't feel like doing anything else, but at least I could read. Ten books read this month.

Rainwater by Sandra Brown is the first book of her's that I've read. Early on I got her confused with Sandra Dallas whose books I loved and quickly read my way through. For some reason that put me off trying any of the Sandra Brown books - but I am now.

First Lie Wins is Ashley Elston's first adult novel - also one of Reese's Book Club picks.

Society of Lies is Lauren Ling Brown's debut novel and also one of Reese's Book Club picks. Seeing a pattern here?

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld is, you guessed it, another Reese's pick. You may recall I said I was going to read my way through her book club picks. 

To Die For is by David Baldacci - one of my favorite authors. He is so popular it is several months before I get a chance to read his newest book. The library got it in November, so it was six months I waited - but so worth it!

The Testaments was the last Margaret Atwood book I had yet to read. It is a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, which was my least favorite Atwood read. I only read the sequel because Atwood is such a good writer.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith was her first novel written in 1948. It is a book from my own shelves and had been years since I first read it. I had not realized she also wrote The Hundred and One Dalmations.

The Perfect Divorce by Jeneva Rose is the first book of her's I've read. This was a very good suspense story with lots of twists and turns.

Michael Connelly is another of my favorite authors. The Waiting is his sixth Harry Bosch and Renée Ballard novel.

All The Colors Of The Dark by Chris Whitaker is the second book of his that I've read. It is a mystery, a thriller and a love story.  It, along with the Baldacci and Connelly books were my favorites this month.

April is ending on a high note - catkins on the birches, willows and oaks, green, green, green everywhere, three Canada geese couples with goslings around the pond with one more still nesting and birds, birds, birds everywhere, including a pair of robins intent upon building their nest on top of our front door light. I haven't seen it yet, but I heard a wren and am on the lookout for our first hummingbird.

Tomorrow - May Day. Do the kids still leave May baskets, ring the door bell and run away, hoping, or fearing, to be caught and kissed?

It doesn't matter what else is happening, Mother Nature still reliably brings the beauty of Spring.

April showers are a big part of all the greening going on. 

Let the rain sing to you.

April Rain Song By Langston Hughes

Let the rain kiss you

Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops

Let the rain sing you a lullaby

The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk

The rain makes running pools in the gutter

The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night

And I love the rain.

Cogito, ergo sum

"I think, therefore I am."   René Descartes

I Sit Beside the Fire and Think

  By: J.R.R. Tolkien

I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen

Of meadow flowers and butterflies in summers that have been

Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were

With morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair

I sit beside the fire and think of how the world will be

When winter comes without a spring that I shall never see

For still there are so many things that I have never seen

In every wood in every spring there is a different green

I sit beside the fire and think of people long ago

And people that will see a world that I shall never know

But all the while I sit and think of time there were before

I listen for returning feet and voices at the door