THURSDAY MISHMASH

This was Mother's Day 2013 and the kids were being silly. Except Rebekah, she was taking a pretty picture. The hubby was the cameraman.

Auntie Ang as a young woman. Rotten cancer, specifically breast cancer, stole her away from me. A better mentor, shopping buddy and lunch date there will never be. She was so strong willed and I am pretty sure it rubbed off on me. I never stop remembering her and all the fun we had together. She taught me this, when I married, "His money is your money, your money is your money, got it?" She told that same thing to my than new hubby. Uncle Louie backed her up, "Avery, he said, she's not kidding, just remember it and you will have a good marriage." A woman who was a crafty gal and my uncle, the Colorado history walking book. I miss them so much and can never remember a miserable time with them, except when they passed away.

We hung out together at our phamily reunion held at my mom's cousin's son's ranch in Westcliffe, Colorado. Wow! A beautiful and amazing place and they had a Brahma Bull. He was a prize winning stud and I wish I had snapped a photo of him. He had a barnyard filled with waiting bovine ladies.

The sweetest, most humble, faithful and strong woman I knew plus I was doubly blessed to have her all to myself (most times) until I was in the 6th grade. My grandmother Steblay was the most amazing woman. Having lost her sight when I was 8, she was an unbelievably remarkable human being. Never wavering in her faith and never feeling hopeless with her job as mother and father when her husband, my grandpa Joseph, passed away unexpectedly in his 40's and left left her with a house full of children to raise. He and their youngest son Anthony (Tony) who was 17, lost their lives in a gold mining accident in Victor, Color Leaving my grandmother in charge of her remaining children, Uncle Louie was 18 and he also worked at the mine, having just come up for a break when the accident occurred. He spoke about it until his passing in 1990. He crushed his soul but he never lost his ability to continue on  even those darkest days. My mother was 13 and often I reminded of the incredible pain she must have felt but I always loved her stories of her dad and how much he loved all of his little girls, Mary, Cecilia, Ann, Elsie and Jo. She buried two younger baby girls as well, Frances and Rose. My daddy bought a headstone for  Frances and I need to go home and snap a photo. But Rose was buried in the old cemetery and unfortunately it has decayed badly and there is not much of a record to find a grave. Heartbreaking for me. My great grandfather is buried on the edge of the old cemetery and his grave has sunk so badly and it is quite unfortunate the cemetery in Pueblo, Roselawn, does absolutely nothing to preserve these old grave sites. It is interesting though, the people on their board of directors have loved ones buried in perfectly manicured graves. Political favoritism  hmmmmm?

So much sadness in our world, I choose God's love and having been praying for Denise who use to blog at Shorty Bear's. Her husband had found her unresponsive and the doctors are telling Eddie there is no brain activity. Pray for this couple. She has been nothing but a shining light for Jesus and my heart is sad that she won't be there to chat with and ask questions to.

My morning is beautiful today but can we all relate to Garfield! Some days it is a chore just to move one muscle.

Snoopy has a great idea about life! I like his idea better than what I hear on the news. I have gotten to the point I check the weather and flip the TV off. More and more people are getting away from TVS and turning them off permanently . Our middle had a college professor who said, television is for fools and he would never own one. I think he may have hit on something here.

Been there, done this!

A sneak peek at one of the Tea Cup/Mug exchange packages I received from Brenda in Georgia. She made this sweet tea wallet just for me. Made my heart smile. We eat breakfast out on the weekends or when the hubby has a day off during the week, the local Village Inn does not serve any herbal teas, only black tea and Earl Grey. This is a great little wallet to tuck into my purse and order their tea and replace the plain with something I love, I am a real fruity kinda gal some days and love different fruit flavored teas.

A pleasant and dreamy thought today. I am a bit sad. Although I have a few followers at my blog My Tata's Cottage I do not have any comments on my tea giveaway post. I really have some lovely tea things to giveaway and I wanted to have three winners. It is simple to enter, follow the new blog and answer a few simple questions. It will help me choose the most delightful gifts for you if you are one of those winners. Please stop by.

Have a perfectly beautiful day and share some kindness along the way.