Sunday, May 14, 2006
Happy Mother's Day
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
To 'Bookworm' (over all these years)... to 'Mom' and 'ArtMom' and 'BrownShoes' and 'NoApologies' and her partner (doing their mothering once removed as teachers) and 'znglass' .... and any other lady who drops by this page ... i.e., you, Mary Ellen ... and my daughters Kelly and Erin. Happy Mother's Day to all of you nurturing souls!
Which brings me around to my mother Alyene (1915-1999). She did not seem like a nurturing soul. Hugs and kisses and physical affection were not big items in her family toolbox. But we never missed a meal, never went off to school in rags or tags, and never missed a character-building licking when we'd earned one. She was a coyote trapper, a summer-time canning fanatic, a store-keeper, a rockhound, a postmaster, and a mother of six children. She saw two sons off to Viet Nam, but dodged the bullet on that one when they both returned physically unscathed. For all her married life, she was the designated Thanksgiving Day cook. Relatives from both sides of the family, close friends, and the occasional drifting-by rockhound would all gather to partake of her turkey, sage dressing, mashed potatoes, etc., and pies. Her greatest joy in her elderly years was to have a bunch of her kids gathered around the dining room table swapping stories about all the childhood and youthful adventures that had been carefully concealed from parental knowledge over the years. I cannot imagine having had a different Mom.
# posted by Clear Creek Girl : 9:33 AM
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I never knew how beautiful she was! I do recall great stories of her, and her kindness the time I met her.
Thank you for the greeting FG -
I am utterly charmed by this picture of your mother Alyene in her dressy dress,
a little self-conscious out there in the yard.
She may not have been terribly tender, but I know one of her sons,
and he has the soft, sweet, custard-filled heart of a lamb.
(Even though he be a lion.)
bs
I am utterly charmed by this picture of your mother Alyene in her dressy dress,
a little self-conscious out there in the yard.
She may not have been terribly tender, but I know one of her sons,
and he has the soft, sweet, custard-filled heart of a lamb.
(Even though he be a lion.)
bs
Thank you for your kind remarks bs. I think that is her wedding dress and they have just returned from the county seat to Dad's home. In the background, across the way at my grandparent's house, you can see her thirteen year old brother-in-law, Don. In a few short years, Don would participate in the initial invasion of North Africa as a member of the U.S. Army Signal Corp. He got this assignment because he had been raising and racing homing pigeons as a boy.
From raising and racing homing pigeons as a boy to invading North Africa...what did one have to do with the other??
bs
bs
At the time he enlisted, the Army was still using homing pigeons (to some extent) for communications. Homing pigeons were less susceptible to German interception than were radio messages.
But of course.
Thanks for setting me straight
(and glad to know you are up and
about your usual shenanigans).
bs
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Thanks for setting me straight
(and glad to know you are up and
about your usual shenanigans).
bs
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