DRIVING IN THE CEMETERY PICKING MULBERRIES AND EATING BONGO BANANA'S/TRIBUTE TO UNCLE SAM COSIMANO

Trying to resolve some technical issues that will not allow me to post this post. I am so sorry for the delay. I am going to try once more or just scrape it and rewrite it and post it again! Fingers crossed, prayers said!

This is a google image of the type of Chevy truck my dad drove and my mother taught me to drive. I had all my driving lessons in the Roselawn cemetery. I need to sort more photos and see if I have a picture of that truck. It had a camper shell on it and the grand kids loved to play in the back of it.

Good memories. Miss you dad.

Here is the entrance to the Roselawn cemetery. The roads are very narrow and it was a great place to learn how to drive. I can parallel park really well since I learned to drive on these narrow roadways.

Here is a google image of the roads. It is a very nice place and most of our relatives were laid to rest here. I have good memories of this place because my mother was a true saint and she had the patience of Job when she taught me how to drive. I do not have that kind of patience and I would be a nervous wreck if I had to teach anyone to drive.

 My dad was brave to lend us his truck to take those lessons. He loved that truck and there were many good memories in it. My dad took excellent care of his vehicles and I learned a few tips in caring for your vehicle from my dad. He checked all the car fluids on a daily basis and always changed the oil regularly. He never owned a car that did not run like a new car should! Thanks mom for the driving lessons and thanks for taking such excellent care of our poodles GiGi and Renee. Love my mom's apron!

This is from a Mulberry tree. That is also a great cemetery story. Uncle Louie use to take all of us kids for a ride. Those were the days where you piled into a car and no one had a seat belt and we all survived. Times were different then. When we got to the cemetery we always picked the mulberries. You had to be quick or the birds would eat them all. Just ask my niece Karla. She and Aaron and the kids lives in Grandma and Grandpa Kocman's house these days. There is a Mulberry tree out front and it hangs so close to the porch those birds make a purple mess on the front porch! But those berries are wonderful and eating them straight off the tree is a real treat even today.

Look at those juicy berries. Oh good memories.

As a kid those trees looked twice as big as they really are. They are so full and produced so many berries. Uncle carried a lot of change in his pocket and when got to the cemetery and were picking the berries he would drop change and we were so clueless we would find it and act so surprised every single time! He made sure all the kids got enough change. Then he would take us to the Dairy Deluxe in Bessemer and we all got the same thing, he would order Bongo Bananas for everyone!

This is how the Dairy Deluxe looked back then. Of course, it is no longer there. Replaced by these high end ice cream joints,so sad.

Gosh those Bongo Bananas were good.

Although this photo was taken, probably at the Perseren Home in Rye, Colorado this is Uncle Louie Steblay and his bride Auntie Ang Jacklovich-Steblay. They were such good folks. Lots of wonderful memories with these two Bojons!

Before I sign off tonight I want to thank my cousins Kay and Joanne and Juliane for sharing so many wonderful photos with me. I want to thank my sissy Mary for all her input with photos and stories. I have Kay's permission to share some of her stories and I will get through those and they will make you laugh and certainly smile. Thanks Karl in PA. for all the cool finds you send my way! God bless each and every one of you with many blessings.

Juliane shared so many wonderful photos today with me. It was a difficult day for her because today was the anniversary of the day she lost her dad. I borrowed two of her photos of Uncle Sam to share here. He was a wonderful man. A handsome Italian fellow from upstate New York who married my dad's baby sister Millie. I will share them together very soon. Loss is always tough, loss of a parent is unreal. It is so hard to explain if you have not been through it. so I wanted to say hi to my Uncle who is probably helping God out artistically or talking about cars or just being who he was, a really nice, honest, decent, hard working man who loved his phamily a lot. There are many more stories to share but I will close with this:

Lahko noč.