Wishes and thoughts

(The photo was taken in November when we went to Vermont for Thanksgiving.)
First, I want to wish my son, Keith, a very happy birthday. He was a leap year baby, I tell him that is why he is who he is! He is home this week from school and will be going back on Monday. He graduates from Sterling College, Craftsbury Common, Vermont in May and then will seek a new path to follow. He is my adventurer son, likes to travel and live his life doing his thing. He hopes to find a job studying the black/brown bears, he has spent summers in Minnesota working at a black bear sanctuary. He is majoring in conservation ecology and loves the outdoors.

Happy Birthday Keith, we love you!
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

This morning I entered two of my style Raggedy Ann dolls in the doll show.

In a little while we will be going back to look at all the dolls. I am

going to bring my camera to take some photos, I love

old dolls. I do not plan on getting anything this year

since I am having the crown moulding installed and back splash for the kitchen and fireplace mantel redone. We also want to get a new

chair for the family room and some sort of bookcase later on too.

***************

I have been slowly tearing apart the living room and dining room

so when the carpenter arrives on Monday he

can start work. . .my house is a mess, it is like

a maze trying to get to the upstairs.

I still have to take my stuff off the walls in the kitchen, but

I am going to wait until I have a room to move

the stuff into. I am anxious for my house to get back to

normal. . .I am an neat/clean freak and I am trying to not

look at the mess. I know I will love it when it is

finished, I have waited a long, long time to have this done!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

My Dad-For My Family-To Remember Him

My apple napkin holder hand carved by Dad for me 40 years ago. I use this everyday!A trunk made by my Dad, my sister and I shared this for storage of sweaters,

after I was married and had my children it became a toy box and now

I use it to store seasonal displays for my family room. It is near my fireplace.

My Mom and Dad, this was just before I was born, the original photo was taken in 1947~!

My Dad working behind the counter at Quimby's Lodge/Inn in Vermont.The cover of the issue of the Vermonter where they had the article about my Dad and the bear. The article and a photo of Quimby's Lodge/Inn. A photo of my Dad and my oldest brother, with the bear.Quimby's Lodge and Inn, I took this when we went to visit two years ago, it has never changed. . .you can see in the photo of the article. Then we moved to New York, this was our farm house and my Dad, I still remember sitting on that front porch! This photo was taken right after he purchased the farm, he sent the photo to Miss Quimby and they kept it all these years in their photo albums.
My Dad's bank book, the last entry was July 16, my birthday, we then moved to New Jersey. The last amount was $50.00.

The first entry.My son with a black bear, in the summer he works in Minnesota with bears!~
The photo is dark, but you can see a bear on the left.

Today would have been my Dad's 106th birthday. I remember the day my Mom called to tell me that he had passed away, we had just moved to another state and I was thankful that I had been able to go home and visit him before he left us. He loved cardinals, they were one of his favorite birds, after my Mom told me that my Dad had passed away I looked out the window and sitting in a large pine tree with boughs heavy with snow was a bright red cardinal and he seemed to look at me and then flew away. Seeing the bird made the pain easier to deal with, I knew my Dad was in peace.

He could put a stick into the dirt and a plant would grow, he had a really green thumb and enjoyed gardening. He also was a woodworker and carved scenes of Vermont where my family once lived and he worked. One of his wood carvings won an Honorable Mention at an art show in Princeton, NJ. He was so happy and we were all so proud. I learned to use tools, garden and do 'man's work by hanging around my father.

Our family left Vermont to move to Cazenovia, NY, where my Dad bought a diary farm, I loved living there. For me it was my own personal adventure park, but it was a lot of hard work for others in the family. I have his bank book from when we lived there, it shows the first deposit made on February 23, 1951. The last entry, which happened to be on my birthday, was on July 16, 1956! Our income was from the sale of milk. My brothers had all enlisted in the Army and running the farm was too much for my Dad alone, so we moved to New Jersey where he worked at Walker Gordon Farms. He loved New York State and Vermont and he would call it "God's Country", for many years after we moved to NJ we would vacation to Vermont and Canada, in Canada we would visit my Mom's family.

He was sort of a folk hero in Vermont where he worked at Quimby's Lodge/Inn as a jack-of-all-trades, a fishing guide, he worked behind the counter selling tackle and fishing stuff and souvenirs, he helped care for the horses in the stables and doing whatever, wherever he was needed. There was a bear that had become a problem and was trying to get into the cottages, getting into garbage and then after the bear startled a horse throwing the rider to the ground the owner of the Inn, Miss Quimby, asked my Dad to kill the bear and he did with one shot. He was written about in the Vermonter and was a hero at Quimby's and in the villages around the area. Two years ago I went there to visit and the Inn has not changed, I was about 14 when I last was there with my Dad and Mom. It was strange going back, the new owner let me take photos of photos from the many photo albums they had. It was like going back in time and getting to visit with my Dad once again. The truth be told, he told us years later he never wanted to kill the bear, but he also felt if someone did get hurt he would have felt responsible. Now, many years later, my son goes to college in Vermont, about 40 miles from where my life first began. He has always had an interest in bears; in the summer, he works with bears! He is studying their habits and feels a bond with them. . .funny how life can take you down a road where it runs parallel with times of long ago.

My Dad may have been a hero for many because he shot a bear, but he was a hero to all of us. . .he taught us the meaning of working hard for what you need, to care for what you own, to respect others and be kind and caring. He would say that you do not have to enter a church to pray, that you can pray where ever you are and he said he felt the closest to God when he worked in his flower gardens. He was a loving Dad and I still think of him everyday.

Happy Birthday to my Dad

Love,

PS-I am not a sports fan, but I am hoping the Arizona Cardinals win the Super Bowl, just because of their name. . .Cardinals!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Granddaughter

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Micaela,

Happy Birthday to you.

It seems like yesterday my son called and said that our first grandchild had been born, our first and only granddaughter, Micaela. My daughter and I were so excited to have a little one come into our life, the sad part was they lived in Virgina at the time and we knew that watching her grow was going to be hard because we would not see her often. When she was about 3 weeks old we took a flight to go see her for the very first time.

She was so sweet, a perfect little baby girl. She looked like my son did, the resemblence was incredible. Today she looks like her daddy and her mommy, the best from both of them so that means 100% of each!

Not only is she a pretty young lady now, but she is very bright, a top student in her class, she makes us all very proud.

Today our Micaela is eleven years old, time has flown by and this precious little baby girl is quickly growing into a beautiful young lady.

Happy Birthday Micaela, we LOVE YOU VERY, VERY MUCH!

I wish with all my heart I could spend the day with you!

Love,

Grandmartha

xoxoxoxoxox

Happy Birthday to my Dad

My father passed away 33 years ago in March. Today he would have been 105. I learned so much watching him while he did repairs around the house, he was a "Jack of all Trades" and he could take any tree, plant or flower, put it into the ground and it would grow. I guess I learned the love of gardening from watching him. When he was working in his gardens you could see he was at peace. He called me "Little-Girl", (I wish that I was a little girl in size!) he would often say to me that he felt the closest to God while working in the flower gardens and he believe that one could pray anywhere, not only on Sunday in a church. He was a talented wood carver as well. So today as I sit and think of him and go back in time to when he was with us I am thankful that he was my father.

This photo is a photo I took from a photo album at Quimby's Resort in Vermont. My father worked there not only as a manager but as a tour guide. He was a legend in his own right in that area, he is still remembered in the Northeastern Kingdom of Vermont. There was an article written about him in The Vermonter, a Vermont publication. Two years ago I went back to visit this area, when I was a child we would go there every summer for vacation and to Canada to visit my Mother's family. It is odd how my third son decided to go to College in Vermont, Sterling College in Craftsbury, Vermont, which is maybe 60 miles from where my Father and Mother once lived and I started my life. At the time of his choice we had no idea how close it was to where my family started out.

Happy Birthday Dad!