Suddenly

That's how things happen, very suddenly.  The Friday before Thanksgiving my Uncle Jack was killed in a car accident.  He was on his way to the VA hospice to talk to a fellow marine veteran who was dying.  Uncle Jack, or Bill as he was called by everyone but his family, was a writer......a newspaper man for many years and although retired still wrote a weekly article for his local newspaper.  He had written a couple of books and had one more child than my parents.....so he was obviously competitive!    


This is not a tribute to my uncle.....that is not mine to write....just a sort of goodbye and a reminder of how suddenly life changes.

Aunt Frances, Uncle Jack, Aunt Ada, Aunt Evelyn and mama

These pictures are from our family reunion in 2005.  Aunt Frances and Uncle Jack were the two surviving siblings from my dad's family.  Mama and Aunt Evelyn the wives of two of his brothers, my dad and Uncle Joe.


Uncle Jack was a real writer, not a play blog writer like I am, so when I got an email from him after this blog post, it really meant a lot to me.  Below is the email.




Eularee fowarded me you blog on your mother's birthday. I tried to comment, but you bloggers blocked an old newspaper straight matter man. Said I didn't belong in your world and gave me a list of old folk homes. I read it and viewed the pictures on line and it brought back fond memories of better days. But I must complain that I am supposed to be the writer in the family and you are trying to put me to shame. But I had a lovely time visiting with a lady I love and respect and even got a glimpse of a bunch of nieces and nephews and of course my sister Frances. Give my love to all you Duncans. Jack the blacksheep from Oregon.


Eularee is Uncle Jack's daughter and my cousin.  She's also a talented writer among many other things.


Uncle Jack was just going about his life when suddenly he was gone.  He went from this world to be with Jesus.....suddenly. 


We will all miss him, but celebrate his life with our memories.


**********************************
My brother may be slightly upset at me for writing about him.....but he's bound to get over it!

Shortly before Uncle Jack's accident, my brother was badly hurt in an accident at home.  One moment he was on a ladder cutting a tree branch and the next he was on the driveway, having hit the steel bumper on another brother's truck on the way down.  He recovered although he may be just ever the slightest bit brain damaged.







Also in the last couple of weeks, a friend had unexpected open heart surgery and one had a stroke while out fishing with his grandchildren.  


Things. Happen. Suddenly.


Take no one and nothing for granted........

  

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving all....

Or as the turkey's around here like to say.....

Disguise me as a deer any day!

I'm thankful for so much!  My blessings are too numerous to count and I don't have time right now because I'm trying to finish my Thanksgiving day cooking but I have lots of them!

Visits

I've often talked about how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends.  It's especially fun to get to visit with them and with family!  Last week was a week for visits and it was lots of fun!

First I went over to see a couple of my dear friends a town or two away and even got to keep little Anna Cross for a few hours while her mama was in a meeting.

Anna Cross was happy to get home and see Lily who was just as glad to see her.

Anna Cross was supposed to change into her t shirt and take a nap, but instead decided to put on a pair of her mama's shoes and show me her baby doll.   Seriously, she couldn't take a nap.....she had company!

We played and played and had such a good time with all her toys.  Anna Cross wanted me to ride her horse, but I told her I might be a little too big.  

A little later Mary Grace and Grady came to visit....I'm not sure who was more excited.....me or Anna Cross.  She loves her cousin Grady!

Mary Grace   

These two know how to play 

 Katie got home and we all had a good time talking and catching up on what has been going on in all our lives.  It was the cliff note version or we'd still be there!  

Anna Cross and Grady were forced to sit with me and get a picture sat with me so I could have a picture with them.  Emily, you'll want to lecture me on my posture!

 We had a great time visiting before Mary Grace and Grady had to go home and Katie, Anna Cross and I called it a night.  

  Anna Cross wasn't feeling well and was headed to the doctor, so we said our goodbyes and I headed home to get ready for more visitors.

I pulled over and took a few beach pictures on my way home

Even though it was a short visit, I was so glad to get to spend some time with Katie, Mary Grace and their children.  Thanks Katie, for the yummy dinner and for stocking your refrigerator with diet pepsi.....in the bottle, just because you know that's how I like it!

Later in the week Tommy, Claudia and Charley came to town.  Tommy and Matt's mom was visiting from Minnesota, so they had good visits at Matt's new house and Saturday Mema came and we all had dinner here and had a nice visit.

And of course, I can't find a picture of Matt's house so just use your imagination here!  Someday I'll get a handle on how to keep my pictures in good order, or maybe not.

Here are a few pictures of our time together.

Daddy and Charley very absorbed in tv

I like plums

Charley liked climbing and standing on this little stool

Four generations

Playing with Grammy Jane

Peek a Boo with Uncle Matt

Chatting at dinner

It was a big week and next week is Thanksgiving???

I'd really be interested in the answer to this question.  How many of you shop on Black Friday?

Sixteen years and counting!

Wow, I completely missed blogging about our anniversary!  

You can read about the actual day here and here and maybe a few other places, but I wanted to add a couple of pictures that I recently scanned.

I don't know how you got my bouquet, but hand it over! 


That's what it looks like I'm saying.  A dear friend of mine at the wedding.  I'm not sure why she did have the bouquet, but I'm sure she was going to give it back!

I love this picture of us with Russell's grandmother.  What a wonderful lady she was and the superhero loved her so much.  She was in her 90's when we married and she lived to 107.  Incredible!

One of the things that has been such a blessing in my life is having such wonderful family given me by marriage.....that was a slick way to get out of saying inlaws.....I don't like that word.  I always figured that if I became one flesh with my husband, his family was mine too.

Anyhow, we had a great anniversary day.  We went to the superhero's mama's house and sat and watched the sunset, then went to dinner at Car*aba's.  Being an Italian restaurant.....and being as we were having the Ironman Triathalon the next day, all the athletes were there loading up on carbs, so we had a long wait.
It was well worth waiting and we loaded up too.

We didn't get a picture at the restaurant, that wait staff was way to busy.

I don't know how the time has gone so quickly.  Some days have been like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but most have been wonderful.  We have more gray hair now and carry a few extra lbs. but it's been a great time and I pray we have many, many more years ahead!

A visit and a confession...

But not necessarily in that order!

First the confession......

We didn't stay home and give out candy last night for Halloween.  Nope.....I knew if I bought candy, I would be the one eating it, so I suggested we go out to eat and not come home until after trick or treating was all over and done!  

AND.........

since the superhero's sister is here for a little visit, it all worked out beautifully.  We went over to my MIL's house, sat out on her back porch on the bay watching a dolphin roll in the sunset and had a glass of wine.  Once we were all relaxed and the sun was down, we went to eat at Ca*pt. A*nder*on's.....a great place for seafood.  After a really great meal, we headed home and managed to miss all the little trick or treaters, thus saving millions of calories from sliding down my throat and straight to my middle!  Whew, that was close.

Oh, the really good food we ate?  Well,  I'm not counting that, silly.

Backing up to Sunday, we all went to church, then after a bite of lunch, it was off to make a few rounds with sister Sue.

I'd like to tell you a little about Sue......or should I say Dr. Sue.  She's a professor at D*ke Univers*ty where she does research and don't ask me the specifics because I don't know.  She writes papers that we can't read because we can't understand the titles.  She travels all over the world giving talks or some such thing.  She's married to her wonderful husband Johnny who grew up in my part of town and they have three children.  She's a pretty busy lady, so she's taken some time to come down and visit mama and spend a little time with us too.

First we took her to see our youngest son Matt's new house, then it was off to our farm to show it off.   We spotted the Axis deer  and watched him for a while before he bounded off into the rough.

Then we headed over to what was at one time land owned by superhero's grandfather.  Forty Forty thousand absolutely breathtaking acres of forest and lakes and ponds.  The grandparents lived there where they turpentined (don't hold me to any technical terms).  All the grandchildren had a great time there and loved going.  It was a bit sad to see that the house had been torn down where they spent many a happy day.

We drove to some of the lakes and ponds which are very low since we have had practically drought conditions for some time.

They're looking out over the pond and standing next to what used to be an old bridge.

This is one of the smaller ponds

After we had ridden a long, long way, we stopped at everyone's favorite pond, Big Blue Pond.  This big oak tree was what Sue said she remembered from coming up as a child.  The family used to have a shack they would stay in that was one big room and a bathroom.  It was long gone by the time I came into the family, but I've had many good times here.

Sue and Russell

Russell and me

Sue, Russell and their mom

We sat our chairs out by the old oak tree and had wine and snacks.  We usually just bring our wine in water bottles, but since we had company, we brought real wine glasses.  We sat and watched the sky change from one glorious scene to another

The sun going down behind Blue Pond

The sky was lighting up like it was on fire

We stayed until almost dark, then packed it up and headed home.

We had to have one last look

When Russell and his cousins are gone, that will be the end of going there.  Our children won't be able to go.......grandfather retained hunting and fishing rights down through his grandchildren, so this will all end and I hope someone else sits and watches the beauty!  I hope it's never developed but stays in it's natural beauty.

We also saw several deer running across the roads.

The beauty of creation.  The wonder of the Creator!