Sunday........whew

I showed you the inside of one of these Iris a few posts back, but wanted to show you a large group of them in bloom. They're done now, and actually I just finished trimming them today. These line all 3 fence rows in the back, plus the 2 sides of the house. All are from starts from Mom and Dads yard years ago that I've continued to separate and plant and plant and plant. So...it seems those of you who voted on which badge to use for my blog....hit it right on the head.

We've had a very busy couple of days. Many of you will remember my niece Janet, who had cancer and spent such a long time in the hospital etc. She and her mother came for a visit a few days ago. She looks great, feels great. Was wonderful to see her again. She's now on her way traveling to Switzerland! A summer study abroad type program. How awesome is that. One day a group of us went to The Arts Fest here in town...it was hot but we had a great time anyway. Walked alot and then collected up with the rest of the family that evening for a cook out after SIL picked up the ladies from the Spa. More fun. Then while the men went fishing, some of us spent the day at the zoo with my oldest nephews's son. Great fun...another hot day for sure; but hadn't been to the zoo in a long time so really enjoyed it.

Today..........spent time trying to finish up some stuff in the yard, while hubby played golf, and well thats about it. I'm tired.

Hope you all had a fabulous wkend and have a good week planned.

I've made several updates over on the Bridge, so please stop in to see the wonderful projects. Finally I was able to finish a project...really the first yarn since Mom's passing. I'm still having a hard time getting motivated to knit and crochet again. Though I did spend time the other day organizing my office and got yarn also organized. Perhaps that will help.

Take a virtual trip with me on my travel blog, I've updated there as well.

Memory Monday, I love you Mommie

Working my way through the alphabet, I'm now at E.........egads.........e?

Energy and Etiquette come to mind.

Energy, well...my Mom was scrappy and full of energy. I remember her stories of cooking on a one burner hot plate when she and Daddy first got married. I remember her washing dishes in the bathtub or doing laundry kitchen sink when things weren't working right, I remember her wringing out clothes by hand when the old wringer washer was on the frists and money was too tight to call the repair man. I remember her cooking, cleaning, washing, shopping, sewing, mending all the time. She was non stop. We had one used car which Daddy took to work, so........ when any of us kids were sick she walked to school to get us and bring us home. I remember Spring Cleaning when it truly was a job and you washed the inside and outside of the cupboards, the windows, beat the rugs outside and always ----------ALWAYS cooked a home cooked meal for your loved ones. I remember when she got her first job outside the house, she was an Avon Lady. She walked her entire route and that was in all kinds of weather. I remember home made bread, hand made clothes, and so much more. Energy.........and then some. She didn't have a computer or time saving devices like we all have; she didn't have older family members to babysit because she needed or wanted a night of peace, or time with the girls. No, that's not what women in her time did. They were a mother and a wife full time.......... 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

Etiquette
Mom taught me Etiquette.......from table manners (don't put your elbows on the table, don't chew with your mouth full, don't interrupt adults, put your napkin in your lap, break your bread into 3 pieces and only butter the piece you're currently eating after putting butter on your plate, ask to be excused from the table, don't eat until every one has been served, on a date don't order the most expensive item on the menu, always thank your hostess, dance with everyone who asks you to dance, go out with the first person who asks you (thinking of school dances, you can't say no to one and then accept from another.........very bad form), someone should always thank and dance with the adult chaperons, don't say you don't like something to the hostess when being serve dinner---eat lightly and take small portions, and I'm sure there were other things..

Oh my yes....another one I remember is, don't flop in your chair or sofa, sit...there really is a difference. Don't put your feet on the furniture with or without shoes on..........and always give up your chair or place in line to someone who is your elder.

One year she got me a book about proper etiquette which I found accidentally before she had a chance to wrap it for Christmas. I know there were other things in the book that don't come rolling off my tongue at the moment.

I've passed along many of these traditional rules to my daughter in her growing up years. In her college years she told me how handy they had come in when she was in very adult situations which made her comfortable with her behavior.

Thanks Mom! You know I think this came out when our daughter taught a table manner class for her 5th graders--- Right down to how to set the table. The final, was in fact when she prepared a special breakfast for them and they served each other.

Mother's are indeed very special; cherish them.

**if you're reading my blog for the first time, you may not know I lost my mother a few short weeks ago. You can scroll back a bit and read more.

Thank You! My 3rd Award (Kreativ)

Jan, over at Ignite to Write gave me this award some time ago. Way back on April 26th to be exact. It was in the middle of things at the hospital not being good, and I intended to get back to it later........hadn't thought it would be this much later; but in truth I forgot about it. Was cleaning out some things on my computer and came across the photo. Yikes!

The rules with this award are to:
list 7 things you love
Link back to the person who gave you the award
Pass it along to 7 other bloggers.

Long over due, here I am

1. My wonderful husband
2. My Darling Daughter
3. The rest of my family
4. Memories from Family and Friends
5. Special Friends
6. Good Wine
7. Time Outside

I link to Jan above, both on her name for her page, and using the title of her blog and award to the actual post where she bestowed this lovely honor on me. HUGS and Thanks!!!

7 blogs........wow, thats the hard part:

• Sandie over at the Corral, she's very creative/kreativ with her blogging as she blogs about her craft, how to do things, and through her blog helps many people
• Jan over at Animal Talk, cause she's creative/kreativ with her animal stories and entertains us
• Beth Crochet Princess, because her blog is very attractive/creative/kreativ, she blogs about lots of different things, she's a very kind and giving person on many different fronts. She needs a BIG HUG from all of us right now, she's lost a grandchild, and the mother of a Dear Friend. (((((HUG)))))
• Priscilla over at Hooks or Needles, because she makes awesome stuff, really awesome stuff hop over and take a look. One day I want to knit as well as she does.
• Elsie, over at Yarn Tales, because her blog truly is creative/kreativ...just plain adorable
• Tammy over on her blog, take a look at her blog and you'll see what I mean about creative/kreativ
• Andrea over at Octopi's place---did someone say creative/kreativ?

I hope you'll all take the time to visit each of these special people, look over their blogs and give them your congratulations. You'll notice when you visit, I like a wide variety of blogs...

Hugs to all, Congrats to all, and many thanks to Ignite to Write for giving me this award. It's very much appreciated.

Proud Mommy here!

We left town on Thursday after hubby got off work and drove to Morgantown, WV...half way, or there abouts. Left after breakfast the next day to arrive in Baltimore in time to check in, unpack and head to an afternoon reception. Our daughter and a friend from DC joined us at the hotel briefly before we headed to the College for the reception.
She's part of Operation Teach, similiar to Teach America except through The Church. The reception was very nice. The program is a two year program where you teach, live in community housing and live on a stipend; work full time teaching and go to grad school for your Masters. She's been teaching 5th grade in a need based area. She's worked very hard these past 2 years, working and going to school full time, singing in the Handel Choir of Baltimore.

After the reception we attended The Baccalaureate where they spoke alot about service to others and giving of yourself. It was very moving. Then we collected a 2nd friend of our daughters from the train station and headed to dinner. We ate dinner in Little Italy in Baltimore, near the Inner Harbor at Cafe Gia's. Food was very good, service ok...laid back and friendly. Hubby walked with another gentlemen to a nearby store to buy several bottles of wine as they do not have license yet and allow bring your own bottle.

Sat...way too early, the 5 of us were up showered and making our way downtown to the convention center for the graduation. Graduation's always seem long as you sit in not so comfortable chairs most of the time; but still very exciting. We're very proud of our daughter. Congrats Chrissy! We then headed to lunch in the Federal Hill area (also near Inner Harbor) at Ropewalk, where the 3 other girls in her community house who were graduating were collecting up with their families. Got our daughters 2 friends back on the train to head back to DC, and then we headed back to the hotel to relax a bit. Later we ate pizza in and called it a day.

Sunday after breakfast at the hotel we headed to her house to pack up as much as we could. Our car was really loaded, leaving just enough room for our suitcase for the return trip home. Packed up her office primarily, books and supplies that she'll not need for the remainder of the school year. Left our car at the hotel and used her's to go to dinner that evening, again in Little Italy. Italian food is always a plus for us. Dalesio's, a very quiet and relaxed location, right across the street on Eastern from Cafe Gia's where we had been on Friday. They do serve wine here, so no need to walk and purchase, definately not as laid back. One room was filled with Italian speaking folks, which was pretty cool.

I highly recommend both establishments, though I believe the veal was better at Cafe Gia, the connolli' was better at Dalesio's.

Memory Monday, Mom

I'm calling this Memory Monday. I have memories and it's Monday... I may do this for awhile. I've posted memories of words that begin with the letters A, B, and C...so next up is the letter D.

Dancing and Delaware Dam.
Dancing, I was a young teenager getting excited about going to school dances, or dances during the summer months at the cities playgrounds that were run by the Recreation Department. Dancing...dancing with boys, pretty darn exciting in those days. Mom was always a good dancer. So, on Sat. we often turned on the TV, moved a chair or two and danced with Jerry Razor a local TV personality on a teenage dance show, or the more widely known American Bandstand with Dick Clark. Mom would show me steps as we watched and tried to figure out what they were doing on TV. So, the flip side of this was, I knew how to dance; but lots of the boys back then didn't. sigh...lol Still good memories though.

Delaware Dam. A place the family often traveled to in order to fish, to picnic and to just spend the day together outside. We traveled about an hour from home to get there, which seemed like forever to us kids. Sometimes we'd fish, sometimes we waded in the water, sometimes we'd roll down the grassy hills. We thought those hills were huge when we were kids. Seems everything seems so much bigger when you're young. Sometimes we walked across the dam which had an open grate and you could see the water below to get where we going for the day. I was always afraid, not sure why...but always felt relieved when we got safely to the other side.

Thanks for the memories Mom.
The purple iris is one of many in the backyard. They line the fence rows and are quite beautiful. The starts came from Mom and Dads backyard long ago. I had a vase full of them on the table last night, since Daddy was coming to dinner.

Badges, BlogUpp, and Bridge

Ok, the voting is in...see my new badge! I like it; but am keeping the lightpost in my file in case I want to change it somewhere down the line. Thanks to all who took the time to vote and voice your opinions, much appreciated. Please feel free to grab my badge and add to your blog. That way clicking will bring you here easily. Right click on above picture and save to your computer, add widget to your blogspot blog, click browse and find the picture on your computer; then add url for my blog which is http://4ccccs.blogspot.com/ I really need to change that, if I can remember all the places it's listed that way in order to get it changed. But, for now...I'm leaving it, even though it's a weird url.


This badge is one I made for Jan, my SIL. I know she'd love visitors. I also know lots of you are animal lovers so think you'll enjoy her blog. Tell her I sent you traveling her way.

Have you noticed my BlogUpp widget? It's cool. Click on it and you can find other interesting blogs. Add one to your own blog easily. No registration required. Simply click on the widget, once on their page, add your url and presto......you have a widget. Cut and paste the code on your blog and have fun visiting. It truly is quick, easy, and very enjoyable to go blog walking in places you might not otherwise have known about. Have fun!

And now for my 3rd B...funny how everything today was a B word! I've updated things over on The BridgeThanks so much for all the help. Please take a look and see what people working together can accomplish. And...please feel free to help spread the word, even if you yourself don't knit or crochet. Thanks!